The general objective of the project “proactive PLUS – competitiveness for the future” is to increase the competitiveness and adaptability of enterprises, including start-ups from the South-West Oltenia, South Muntenia and Centre development regions to the changes and dynamics of the economic sectors with competitive potential identified according to the NCNS and in correlation with the fields of intelligent specialisation according to SNCDI, by stimulating the development of the competences of entrepreneurs, managers and employees. Changes in companies in Romania, especially in the case of start-ups, occur much slower than is necessary for our country to exceed the status of less developed country in the rankings of EU Member States on important indicators of competitive position. Improving SME indicators does not frequently lead to better performance due to significant delays in the development of supporting factors, especially transport infrastructure, capitalising creativity, strengthening entrepreneurial initiative. Vulnerabilities of the private environment exist especially in terms of international investments of Romanian companies, productivity in the manufacturing industry, innovation, energy efficiency and the development of competitive economic agglomerations at territorial level. The contribution to improving the competitive advantages at territorial level, measured by the participation of the economies of the counties in exports, is significantly unbalanced, in favour of seven counties located in the west and center of the country, which, together with Bucharest (17 %), make 60 % of Romania’s exports. The contribution to improving competitive advantages is significantly reduced in the case of services, the most important economic sector, by 67 % of GDP, whose exports are at a small and slightly decreasing world market share. From the above, we note the need for SMEs, especially start-ups to implement solutions that allow to overcome the obstacle to exploiting a competitive potential recognised on the market, but incompletely valued to create added value and prosperity, to create opportunities for professional empowerment of employees at any level of skills, to discover valid strategic alternatives and to develop effective strategies. The initiatives expected from the private sector, through which it can contribute most importantly to the general development of society, also include directions of action with an impact on solving what the European Commission calls societal challenges, namely globalisation, demographic change, environmental degradation, migration, climate change, energy consumption, as well as the economic and social consequences of the crisis. The economic value creation activity now reflects the change in the conditions of economic growth from the industrial to the knowledge-based economy, knowing transformations at the level of