Research Report: Romanian SME Businesses and the EU's Influence

This research report investigates the influence of the European Union on the development and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Romania. The study examines the benefits and drawbacks of EU membership for the Romanian SME sector, considering factors such as government policies, investment climate, and the impact on start-ups. The report analyzes the role of SMEs in Romania's economic growth, the relationship between new trends and developments and business expansion, and the impact of the EU's policies on the sector. It employs a qualitative research approach, incorporating a literature review, research methodology, and a Gantt chart to outline the research process. The findings highlight the importance of government support, technological advancements, and the evolving business environment in fostering SME growth within the context of Romania's integration into the EU.

Research Project

Table of Contents
TITLE:.............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Overview of the Research................................................................................................1
1.2 Background of Research...................................................................................................1
1.3 Aims and Objectives.........................................................................................................1
1.4 Research Questions..........................................................................................................2
1.5 Gantt Chart.......................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
2.1 Influence of development of new start-ups in Eastern Europe.........................................3
2.2 Impact of Small organisation on growth and Productivity of Romania..........................4
2.3 Relationship between new trend and development in Romania and growth of small
business...................................................................................................................................5
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................5
3.1 Type of Research..............................................................................................................5
3.2 Research design................................................................................................................6
3.3 Data Sampling..................................................................................................................6
3.4 Data Collection.................................................................................................................6
3.5 Ethical consideration........................................................................................................7
3.6 Resources..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

TITLE:
“To determine the influence of developing small - medium size business in South Eastern
Europe after joining to the EU: - A case study on Romania”
1.1 Overview of the Research
Small and medium size businesses play a very important role in the overall growth as
well as development of the economy, thus it becomes crucial to manage these SME Business
effectively over period of time. There is a diverse impact on business in south eastern Europe
when this part of the Europe has decided to enter into European Union, Especially SME Business
has seen effective growth due to the fact that various benefits has been derived by these
businesses through efficient policies of the EU regarding growth and development of SME
Businesses. A proper research in this regard would give a better idea as to what benefits and
drawbacks are there for south eastern Europe after their decision to join European Union
(Babajide, 2012).
1.2 Background of Research
The present research will try to outline the various benefits that are being derived by the
SME sector of Romania, once the country has decided to get into European Union. The research
will also help in specifying the various disadvantages that are there for entering the EU. These
disadvantages can be with regards to restrictions that will be imposed by the organisation and its
adverse effects on the working of SME Sector. Romania is the 12th largest country as well as it
among the most populated country in EU. Thus, it is essential to make sure that right kind of
policies is made for the 20 million people of the country. The country is having a GDP of 0.5
Trillion euro with a per capita income of around 26,000 euro. A detail discussion will be carried
out on the SME Sector within the country and its impact on Romania’s Economy in general
under the current research.
1.3 Aims and Objectives
Research aim can be called as a wide statement of desired results. It is a common
intention for which overall research is going to be conducted. It fulfils the major purpose to
reader behind conducting a research. In addition, research aim can also be called as a broad
statement and focused on what is going to be achieved in the future. The aim of this research
project is “To determine the influence of developing small - medium size business in Eastern
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Europe after joining to the EU: - A case study on Romania”. Research objectives, on the other
hand, are the proper strategies which described the way to achieve research aim. All steps which
take need specific lists of tasks in order to attain goals of research project. Research objectives
should be sensible and precisely decided (Obeng, Robson and Haugh, 2014). They make an
accurate use of concepts as well as data. The research objectives of the current report are as
follows:
 To determine the influence of development of new start-ups in South Eastern Europe.
 To identify the impact of Small organisation on growth and Productivity of Romania.
 To analyse the relationship between new trends and developments in Romania
and growth of small business.
1.4 Research Questions
Research questions explore the various problems as well as issues related to the research.
Their aim is to provide a brief explanation about a particular issue which must be addresses in an
effective way. It tries to define an area of interest and not a declarative kind of statement. Some
of the research questions that this report will address are as follows:
 What is the influence of development of new start-ups in Eastern Europe?
 What is the impact of Small organisation on growth and Productivity of Romania?
 What is relationship between new trends and developments in Romania and growth of
small business?
1.5 Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart specifies the schedule of activities that were conducted for the purpose of
making this report and what was the duration for the same. It helps a reader in getting a
background of the research and understands the sequence in which the research has taken place,
so as to get a better view of the whole report in an effective way (Piergiovanni, Carree and
Santarelli, 2012). The following Gantt chart gives an effective explanation of the research’s
activities as well as duration:
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LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Influence of development of new start-ups in North Central Europe
Romania is one of the biggest country of Eastern Europe and the current policies as well
as regulations of the governments in whole eastern Europe has recommended a more liberal
policies for the start-ups and Small businesses. The aim is to generate employment on local level
and also ensures a higher level of per capita for people who have been deprived of a higher
income up till now (Li and Rama, 2015). Major countries within the eastern Europe has able to
recognise the fresh talent in terms of youth that they possess, which they now want to capitalise
into by giving them a better level playing field for as well as effective performance over period
of time. Studies have suggested that Its way much easier to start a company in countries like
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Poland and Romania then in Big countries like UK and France. This is because, the restrictions
and policies of the government for fresh start-ups and SME’s is not much and they have made a
better investment climate in their concerned regions, which has further boosted the overall
sentiments of entrepreneurs as well as businessman. The investment in early stages of business in
Eastern Europe has risen from 10 million$ to 230 million$ that is a huge increase and is growing
rapidly as well. There are around 30,000 start-ups in Eastern Europe and these have contributed
in the overall growth of the economy of these countries over period of time. The availability of
the resources in Eastern Europe is not as much as Western Europe but this has not made them
feel discouraged and they tried to keep up the pace with Western Europe by drawing a large
amount of investment within themselves. The countries in Eastern Europe are now trying to open
up their economies more, which has created a better and effective business environment that
leads to higher growth of small business in the longer run (Rudina, 2013).
2.2 Impact of Small organisation on growth and Productivity of Romania
Romania, Population wise, is one of the biggest countries of Europe and thus is able to
garner a lot of investment for the purpose of new start-ups as well as businesses over period of
time. According to Sterlacchini, 2017, The government of Romania has came up with a
comprehensive plan to ease out the process of conducting business in the country, and they have
been able to make a conducive environment for Start-ups as well as SME to flourish and grow. It
has been ranked at number 68th in terms of offering a conducive business environment to its
investors. This has resulted in drawing a large number of investors for the economy as a whole.
Most of the capital has gone to people who are being regarded as Cyber- Entrepreneur as their
capital is invested in businesses like E-commerce and other net based ventures. Also there were a
large number of set-ups which were continuously conducting business on a smaller scale,
policies have been framed to make them grow and compete effectively on national as well as
international level. Small organisation has been able to draw a huge amount of VC Funding
from various international sources, because of the fact that Romania is considered as one of the
most attractive destination for investing in Eastern Europe. This has generated sustainable
employment along with making necessary innovation growth in the economy. This kind of
progress has boosted the confidence of investors within the country, thus a higher capital
formation can be seen within the country due to these factors (Omri, Frikha and Bouraoui, 2015).
It is also expected that the Romanian Economy will going to be among the largest in Eastern
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Europe, if a higher growth track can be achieved by the country going forward. The
technological progress that has taken place within the nation in recent past is one of the primary
reasons for SME Growth and Prosperity. The aim should be to maintain the same kind of
government policies that will boost the sentiment of investors as well as entrepreneurs.
2.3 Relationship between new trend and development in Romania and growth of small business
The recent trends as well as developments that are taking place within Romanian
economy have lead to a better as well as effective growth of the small business. As per the Views
of Santarelli, 2017, the fairly young generation within the country along with economic and IT
Boom that is hitting the country has to a perfect blend for growth of small and medium scale
organisations. The youth has demanded a better place in the Government systems in terms of
better jobs as well as employment. This has ignited protest within the country also, this has
forced government to pay attention on various kinds of hindrances that individual faces while
conducting business and opening up a new venture for themselves. This has resulted in framing
of effective as well as efficient policies that will enable proper development of SME Sector in
general. The export market has been opened up for the purpose of reaching a larger countries and
taking the name of home country on international level. Also, various schemes related to
subsidies have been introduced by the government which has further boosted the sentiments of
businessman to launch a manufacturing unit within the country. The growing number of youth
population is also an added advantage for the country which may lead to a better as well as
efficient economic growth in the future due to fresh energy as well as innovation that they give
to the nation (Dahles and Susilowati, 2015).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Methodology refers to an activity through which necessary information is
gathered for the purpose of arriving at certain conclusion regarding a topic. It basically refers to
various public researches, questionnaires along with survey and interviews etc. These are
research techniques that are being used for the purpose of gathering relevant information. These
can be based on historical as well as present researches.
3.1 Type of Research
There are distinctive type of research that can be used by the researcher for the purpose of
conducting a particular research, these are applied, quantitative, qualitative research. Applied
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research tries find solution to a particular problem in the whole research, while quantitative
research is research is based upon numeric figures or statistics; its aim is to measure the amount
of information and then compare it with past records. Such information is used for future period.
The major objective of quantitative research is to evolve mathematical model, hypothesis or
theories concern to phenomena. On the other hand, Qualitative research is basically collecting
information from others viewpoint. The current report is based on qualitative research as it gives
fair information for the purpose of effectively reaching to certain conclusion.
3.2 Research design
A effective research design will make it easy for the researcher to make out working
activities of the research effectively. Basically, there are three types of research design; these are
descriptive, experimental as well as exploratory. Descriptive research design tries to provide
answers to the questions like who, when, why etc. Whereas experimental research design is a
blueprint of procedure which enables that investigator has to put a control over all aspects which
can hamper the results of an experiment or research. Exploratory research is conducted to sort
out problems, when there is no earlier study can be made available for the purpose of making and
framing an opinion. The present Research is based on descriptive research bbecasue it is a better
and effective way of conducting research (Ștefănescu-Mihăilă, 2015).
3.3 Data Sampling
It is the process of collection of sample from a wide range of population. Under this, A
sample is collected from a population and the opinion of those sample population is regarded as
the opinion of whole population, this is because the sample, basically represent the whole
population. For the purpose of Current Research the sample is taken of 30 Respondents. This
will give a better point of view of the population in general.
3.4 Data Collection
It is the various methods which are being used to collect relevant data for the purpose of
research. Under this, decision needs to be made whether data has to be collected from primary
sources or secondary sources. Primary sources include Questionnaires, Interviews, and Surveys
etc. While Secondary sources include Various Journals as well as books written by different
authors Internet and other sources of information also comes under secondary source of data
collection. Current research is done by obtaining data from both the sources in an efficient
manner (Cristea, Marcu and Cârstina, 2014).
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3.5 Ethical consideration
While conducting a research, A researcher has to face various ethical issues. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to conduct the research in the most ethical way possible. In
performing his research, a researcher accumulates data from respondents which are quite
personal in nature and thus it is his responsibility that the same shall be used only for the purpose
for which it is obtained and not misused in any way. Also, the research shall be completed in the
time and budget which has been allocated to the researcher. Thus, these are some of the ethical
considerations that a researcher shall fulfil while undergoing a particular research effectively.
3.6 Resources
These are the resources that are being used for the purpose of effectively carrying out a a
particular research, these resources are primary and secondary in nature. The data is collected
from primary sources like Interviews, Questionnaires, and Surveys while secondary resources
include journals, books and Internet based information. It is the responsibility of the researcher to
make sure that adequate research resources is accumulated and research is conducted that will
help in conducting the research in more appropriate manner (Islam, 2014).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Babajide, A.A., 2012. Effects of microfinance on micro and small enterprises (MSEs) growth in
Nigeria. Asian Economic and Financial Review. 2(3). pp.463-477.
Obeng, B.A., Robson, P. and Haugh, H., 2014. Strategic entrepreneurship and small firm growth
in Ghana. International Small Business Journal. 32(5). pp.501-524.
Piergiovanni, R., Carree, M.A. and Santarelli, E., 2012. Creative industries, new business
formation, and regional economic growth. Small Business Economics. 39(3). pp.539-560.
Rudina, L.I.P.I., 2013. The growth performance of small business under the view of life-cycle
model. Management research and practice. 5(4). pp.58-67.
Omri, A., Frikha, M.A. and Bouraoui, M.A., 2015. An empirical investigation of factors
affecting small business success. Journal of Management Development. 34(9). pp.1073-
1093.
Dahles, H. and Susilowati, T.P., 2015. Business resilience in times of growth and crisis. Annals
of Tourism Research. 51. pp.34-50.
Ștefănescu-Mihăilă, R.O., 2015. Social investment, economic growth and labor market
performance: Case study—Romania. Sustainability. 7(3). pp.2961-2979.
Cristea, M., Marcu, N. and Cârstina, S., 2014. The relationship between insurance and economic
growth in Romania compared to the main results in Europe–a theoretical and empirical
analysis. Procedia Economics and Finance. 8. pp.226-235.
Islam, A., 2014. Economic growth and crime against small and medium sized enterprises in
developing economies. Small Business Economics. 43(3). pp.677-695.
Li, Y. and Rama, M., 2015. Firm dynamics, productivity growth, and job creation in developing
countries: The role of micro-and small enterprises. The World Bank Research Observer. 30(1).
pp.3-38.
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