RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

Triple Helix principles and cultural barriers in a post-transition business environment 391
changes frequently. Albania is currently in the second stage of development, an economy led
by economic efficiency, with special focus on the columns 6 to 10, higher education and training,
efficiency of goods and services market, labor market efficiency, development of financial
market, technological development and market size. Countries such as Bosnia, Bulgaria,
China, Ecuador, Egypt, Georgia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Macedonia, Montenegro,
Romania, Serbia, Tunisia, Ukraine etc., are at the same stage as Albanian economy. Meanwhile,
a great part of neighboring or regional countries, are one or two steps ahead our country,
such as Croatia, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Slovenia, etc. Albania persists to have poor
performance in most indicators of Global Competitiveness Index. On the other hand, referring
to Global Innovation Index, during the period 2010-2015, the results are disappointing
for Albania. In 2010, Albania was ranked in place 81/142, while in 2015 it was ranked in
place 87/144, 6 positions lower than 5 years before. In this context, the cooperation between
business, university and government can help Albania to have a better performance in these
two indexes in the future. Actually, this cooperation is insufficient, mainly because of national
and organizational culture. The main objective of this paper is to explain how culture affects
the cooperation between main pillars in a post-transition society and how this effect becomes
a strong barrier for successful competitiveness and sustainable development.
Research question, hypotheses and methodology
This paper is mainly focused on the triple helix principles and their applicability into Albanian
context. The research question of this paper is: How does the organizational culture affect
the implementation level of triple helix principles? To answer this question, the hypothesis
is: Organizational culture in a post-transition country such as Albania has a negative effect
in the level of triple helix principles implementation. This paper is mainly based on analytical
and critical literature review. The main purpose of the paper is to understand the role of
the culture to the level of cooperation between university, industry and government through
a qualitative evaluation of this role in this cooperation. A specific objective of this paper is
to open a debate about the specific indicators or instrument that might be used in order to
collect quantitative data about the role of the culture to the cooperation level of Triple Helix
pillars. Open innovation principles will be suggested as a good way to change the organizational
culture and also to foster the cooperation between institutions in Albania.
Literature review: organizational culture and triple helix paradigm
Organizational culture itself is closely linked to the organization’s structure and leadership
style. A strong challenge arises nowadays in the field of organizational cultural is how
to move from the traditional organizational culture to innovative culture in the organization?
A study in 2014, conducted by the ”Strategy &” (formerly known as Booz & Company) shows
how this transformation must escalate into three main levels, which correspond to the three
main elements of the culture of the organization.
The first level of change should start from the symbols. The idea is that they do not disappear
completely, but on the other hand, they should not be seen as something rigid and
unchangeable. For example, employee uniforms, regardless of the symbol that may have in