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the economy of European countries might be witnessed by the EU initiative “Small Business
Act” (SBA) intended for maintaining small and medium-sized enterprises. The measures
defined in this Act are based on ten guiding principles starting with entrepreneurship and
needs-based administration and ending with internationalization. The annual fact sheets of
SBA carried out in 2014 demonstrate the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises on
the economy of Lithuania – in 2013 the added value was 68.8 percent, the workforce
amounted to 76.5 percent, while the European Union workforce – 58.1 and 66.9 percent,
respectively (SBA fact sheet, 2014).
The enterprise success is in essence affected by the compliance of the employee
entrepreneurial competencies with the contemporary labour market demands. A rapidly
changing labour market raises new requirements for higher school graduates in the sphere
of entrepreneurial competence development. Beginner specialists should have professional
and general competencies that help them find a job or create their own workplaces and be
successful in domestic and international labour markets.
According to the data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Lithuania has
increasing level of indicates: entrepreneurship as a good career choice – 69 percent, high
status to successful entrepreneurs - 58 percent. It shows growth of positive attitude to
entrepreneurs within the country’s population. As it was stated in the report: “The average
entrepreneur in Lithuania is young, educated and innovative creating jobs, managing many
resources, with a highly internationalized business. However, they also have a strong fear of
failure (45 percent). People are confident in their own abilities to start a business, however,
they are slightly less positive about the opportunities available to do so. Level of perceived
opportunities indicator reaches 32 percent and it shows the space for improvement” (Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Reports, 2014).
To reduce fear of failure level (45 percent) and to raise the level of perceived opportunities
(32 percent) is the challenge for the Lithuania in the nearest future. The same as to
encouraging growth – enabling firms to expand and develop, improving early-stage
education – entrepreneurship should be encouraged at schools, widening the market –
increasing internationalization in a small country, promoting creativity.
Considering the increasing business globalization and changes in domestic and international
markets, the impact of entrepreneurship on the country's economic growth and the
creation of the added value of enterprises and the entrepreneurial competence
development should be the object of considerable attention.
Research objective - to identify the entrepreneurial competencies which meet
contemporary labour market demands and which are essential for specialists who have their
business in Lithuania or abroad.
The empirical research involved small and medium-sized enterprises. The research
participants were the heads of Lithuanian manufacturing, trading and service enterprises
that have their business in international markets (the EU countries, Russia, Central Asia).
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