Author(s):
1. Sofia Gomes, 2. Isabel Neira Gómez, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Abstract:
Several empirical studies on the topic of entrepreneurship begin with the measurement of entrepreneurial activity and the evaluation of their impact on local economies, national and transnational. In this paper, there is provided a survey and collection of the main measures of entrepreneurship collected in different international databases (GEM - Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, OECD - Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme, the Compendia - Comparative Data for International Analysis , WBGES - World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Snapshots and IBE - International Benchmark of Entrepreneurs) and comparison of these measures with the use of a statistical analysis using three different techniques - rankings of the variables of entrepreneurial activity, graphic dispersion and cluster analysis . We used SPSS (Statistics Package for Social Sciences), version 19, for the analysis of graphic dispersion and cluster analysis. The results confirm the multifaceted dimension of entrepreneurship is that the various measures of entrepreneurial activity gathered by different databases should be used in empirical studies and analyzes conducted with social and political interest in a complementary manner, since the indicators collected entrepreneurship for each database differ in their definition, sample population (different countries , years and collected population involved) and application and, as such, choosing an indicator of entrepreneurial activity at the expense of another may significantly influence the results of empirical studies.

Key words:
Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Activity, Business Creation, Rankings and Analysis of Cluster Analysis

Date of abstract submission:
08.10.2013.

Conference:
REDETE 2014 - Researching Economic Development and Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies