The motives for entrepreneurial activity in the regions lacking self-development potential

The research subject of the article is the features and the conditions of entrepreneurship development in the regions of Central Russia. The authors emphasize the relevance of motivation for entrepreneurial activity to achieve strategic targets in the regions lacking self-development potential. The aim of the article is to identify the motives of entrepreneurial activity in the regions lackingself-development potential and to reveal the contradictions in the development of business activities of the investigated regions. The authors use the methods of comparison and analogy, analysis and synthesis, abstract-logical method when describing the quality of the institutional environment facilitating effective business activities, the dialectical method when detecting the contradictions for entrepreneurship development. The study determined that the institutional environment of entrepreneurial activity established in the regions lacking self-development potential constrains the innovative capacity of business and does not motivate entrepreneurial activity to achieve strategic goals (expansion and retention of market, increase of sales growth rate, etc.). One of the main motives for entrepreneurial activity in the regions is the enterprise’s self-preservation (survival in the long run) contributing to the raising of the regions’ self-development potential given the formation of “debt economy”. The obtained results can be used by public authorities both at Federal and regional level as an information base for development and implementation of the measures of entrepreneurship’s state support in order to create a high-quality institutional environment for its implementation in the regions lacking self-development potential, as well as by professionals studying this issue. The article focuses on the development of the theory of state regulation of entrepreneurial activity of the regions lacking self-development potential. Further exploratory research may be focused on the identification of the underutilized sources of the regions’ self-development potential raising and the development of tools for the creation of conditions for its achievement.