TOWARD CONTEXT-SPECIFIC EVALUATION TOOLS: THE CASE OF MOLDOVA’S ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM

Entrepreneurial ecosystems have become the object of particular interest in research and policy over the past decade, as a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) can spur innovation, job creation, and regional development. This has led to an increase in the number of methodological frameworks and indices aimed at measuring the quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems across countries, based on a common set of entrepreneurship conditions. However, a growing critique in the literature is that “one-size-fits-all” models may obscure local contextual differences. As a result, a need has been identified for context-specific local entrepreneurial ecosystem assessment tools that can provide nuanced insights, reflecting the heterogeneity of relevant factors within a country. The case of the Republic of Moldova illustrates this need. To bridge this gap, a group of researchers from the National Institute for Economic Research of ASEM developed and tested a multidimensional assessment methodology for Moldova’s EE. It was designed to cover eight key components of the ecosystem – Financing, Human Capital, Infrastructure, Innovation, Entrepreneurial Culture, Markets, Legal Framework and Regulation, and Exposure to Internal and External Risks – broken down into 134 context-relevant indicators. Using a nationwide survey of 204 entrepreneurs, we assessed each component via a composite coefficient that reflects entrepreneurs’ evaluations. Based on the results obtained for each component of the EE, the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Evaluation Coefficient (Kee) was calculated, representing the weighted average evaluation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem per component. The obtained results highlight specific strengths and weaknesses in Moldova’s ecosystem and underscore the importance of localized diagnostic tools.