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Driven by innovative solutions and business models, the Unicorn companies have developed widely. Nevertheless, the existing research is fragmented and limited mainly by descriptive approaches to examing the rise of these companies. We examine the association between the country-specific factors and the emergence of Unicorn companies in certain countries. Cross-sectional linear and logistic regression models are used on the dataset of 100 countries, 51 of which have a minimum of 1 Unicorn, and the rest have not anyone. The results allow us to conclude that the probability of Unicorn emergence depends on the entrepreneurial culture, human capital, and regulatory environment of the country. In other words, entrepreneurial spirit, education, and a favorable legal environment can lead to the appearance of a Unicorn in the country. The further development and appearance of more Unicorn companies are ensured by the availability of financing and the development of IT- infrastructure. Key characteristics include the growth of venture financing and the openness of firms to new technologies in the country. The study contributes to the existing research in part of focusing on the quantitative analysis of the association between the country-specific factors and the Unicorns’ activity.

The application of innovation decisions in the financial sector led to the appearance of FinTechs, tech-driven companies that disrupt or contribute to traditional financial services. The appearance of new actors has changed the relationships between incumbents, regulators, consumers, and other actors and intensified competition in the financial sector. Building on the modified Panzar-Rosse model, we examine the competitiveness among FinTechs on the dataset of 75 FinTechs from Russia. The results show monopolistic competition, close to a monopoly among FinTechs in Russia. The revealed situation is explained by high barriers to the entry to sector and also by country features, as imperfect legislation, lack of financing of FinTechs' activity. The results of the research highlight the necessity to attract attention from policymakers to improve the competitiveness environment in the financial sector in Russia.

Building on the resource-based view of entrepreneurship, we examine the association between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and company performance, measured by return on assets, return on equity, and return on invested capital. We use regression models on a dataset of 60 observations of Russian companies including RAEX agency ESG ratings from 2018 to 2019. The results show that, in line with expectations, companies that comply with ESG principles demonstrate significantly better financial performance than other companies. This result holds true irrespective of the performance indicator used. Moreover, the governance factor is strongly related to company performance, providing implications for companies' policymakers in terms of the utility of adopting ESG information. The study provides insights into the resource-based view of entrepreneurship, demonstrating that ESG factors, and mainly the governance factor, create a competitive advantage for companies and allow superior performance.

Building on the resource-based theory, we examine the association between the digitalization of the economy and the quality of higher education in Russian regions. We use the regression model to analyze data collected in Russian regions from 2011 to 2018. The quality of higher education is measured by the education potential in the regions. Regional factors of economic digitalization are categorized by mobile and Internet activities, technological background, and innovation activities. The information database contains official dates drawn from federal and regional statistical sources. The results showed that regions that had higher levels of innovation activities had a higher quality of higher education. On the contrary, mobile and Internet activities had a weakly negative influence on the quality of higher education. Our results are controversial with respect to the technological background of the region and its influence on the quality of higher education. Nonetheless, the study provides insights into the resource-based theory, demonstrating that the factors of economic digitalization increase the competitive advantage of the region regarding education, and they play an important role in regional sustainable development.