Objectives and Constraints of Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Small and Medium Size Enterprises in Russia and Bulgaria

We analyze the principal objectives and constraints of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), using data from a survey of 437 owners and top managers (CEOs) of SMEs in Russia and Bulgaria. The CEOs display similar views and identify a small number of specific constraints as being the most important ones. The constraint on external financing is a particularly serious one and the SMEs use internal finance as a fall-back option. Our econometric analysis indicates that characteristics of the entrepreneur, firm and the firm's environment are important but varying determinants of which constraints are identified as the most important ones. Our results also suggest that the nature of disruption of production and of the financial constraints after the fall of central planning was more ubiquitous and all-encompassing in Russia than in Bulgaria.