part of this paper, a crude systematization of success determinants into personal, firm-specific and environmental factors was used. The analysis of literature on firm survival and success factors revealed a mixed picture as different studies came up with contradicting results. Only few key findings were revealed to have consistent re-sults, which are further presented and discussed in this paper. Furthermore, a critical review of the success factor literature revealed also that utilization of different success measures, biased and unrepresentative samples, inappropriate analytical methods and the lack of a theory-driven approach all contribute to inconsistent results. Finally, it was also identified that the research community faces a paucity of literature in the field of regional and pre-entry determinants and how they impact on business success and survival.