Entrepreneurship in Small Towns in the Region of Łódź in the Assessment of Business Owners

The main aim of this article was to learn the opinions of entrepreneurs of the smallest towns in the Łódź region (of no more than 5,000 inhabitants) on the conditions under which they pursue their own business. In particular, closer analysis referred to: cost of running own business, current conditions for establishing and running a company, barriers to starting a business, as well as the prospects and possibilities for further development. The research was carried out through questionnaire interviews, on a group of 300 respondents, who in the smallest towns in the region of Łódź run a registered business. The study, although of the sounding nature, showed that respondents generally poorly assess the con- ditions for running own business. Still, they show considerable optimism, particularly with regard to the possibility of improving the conditions in which they operate and of increasing the profitability of the company. The position expressed by the respondents creates a positive image of a small town, where the entrepreneurship has a chance to develop, provided that it will be stimulated by individual decisions of entrepreneurs, not by “necessity” or the situation of “no way out”.