Towards a framework for measuring creative economy: evidence from Balkan countries

Purpose – The creative process through which the territorial resources, knowledge and culture are used, exploited and configured to match needs and to achieve congruence with the changing business environment has become a crucial process for competitiveness. This is even more relevant for economies of developing countries which are continuously struggling to reap the benefits of globalisation, as well as to grasp the new opportunities for competitiveness. As such, this paper aims to try to concentrate on the dynamic perspectives of the creative economy of countries by distinguishing between the potentialities and performance. The paper tackles the influence that creativity capacities might have on performance of countries. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology consists in identifying creative economy indicators from a diverse data set of the World Economic Forum and distinguish them between potential and performance indicators. Findings – Data reveal as good progress and emphasis is being devoted to increasing the level of creativity; however, the Balkan countries still holdup in their capacity to boost innovation. Practical implications – The paper provide a new focus of research on creativity measurement that is significant for understanding what creative capacities territories possess and the ability to make proficient use for growth and innovation. Originality/value – This paper proposes a new operational framework formeasuring and interpreting the creative economy indicators by identifying not only indicators that gauge the potentialities of a country, but also indicators that are linked with the performance dimension, as well as the relationship amongst them.