GEM at CEPOR
www.gemhrvatska.org
www.gemconsortium.org

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Survey, commonly known as GEM, is a result of the desire to find an answer to the question Why some national economies grow faster than others?, and investigate the causes of different degrees of economic development of different countries. The uniqueness of GEM is in its international dimension, which ensures the comparability of the level of entrepreneurial activity in different countries, and in the used conceptual framework and database with which its theoretical and practical soundness are continuously tested. GEM is the largest study of entrepreneurial activity in the world.

The survey was first implemented in 1999 in G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and USA), to which Denmark, Finland and Israel were attached. Since then, project has been implemented in a growing number of countries each year.

Croatia has been involved in the GEM research since 2002 and is part of a group of countries that have built a strong information base for identifying trends and patterns of entrepreneurial activity. Longitudinal and international comparisons (with groups pf countries to which Croatia belongs to and with which it is compared: EU and countries with a high level of gross domestic income per capita) are made possible by using standardised indicators calculated from data collected with the same research tools in accordance with a theoretically based conceptual framework.

The GEM survey is conducted annually, collecting data from the adult population and experts. The data collected from a representative sample of the adult population express self-evaluation, expectations and perception about certain aspects of the entrepreneurial process (from individual attributes and social values to certain phases of the life cycle of entrepreneurial activities: start-up, growth, exit). Interviews with selected experts provide insight into their opinions on the quality of the entrepreneurial environment and on the problems of interaction between entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial environment.

In Croatia, GEM survey is headed by the SMEs and Entrepreneurship Policy Centre CEPOR from Zagreb (www.cepor.hr ).

Croatia GEM team include professors and researchers from the J.J. Strosssmayer University in Osijek, Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek, Croatia:

Professor Slavica Singer, Professor Emerita, team leader

Professor Sanja Pfeifer, PhD

Professor Natasa Sarlija, PhD

Professor Suncica Oberman Peterka, PhD