The role of small business in developed countries

Modern society is experiencing an extremely severe crisis, which manifests itself in politics, economics, ideology and other areas of society. Once again, Russia faces the need to choose guidelines for its further development, and here one cannot be mistaken.

The transition to market relations in the domestic economy determines the need for organizational and economic innovations in all areas of economic activity. One of the most important areas of economic reforms contributing to the development of a competitive market environment, filling the consumer market with goods and services, creating new jobs, forming a wide circle of owners is the development of small forms of production.

The experience of the leading countries of the modern world clearly proves the need for a highly developed and efficient small business sector in any national economy. Therefore, the revival of Russia cannot be carried out without a given sector of the economy corresponding to this development, since it is precisely this locomotive that literally drags economic and social development.

Economic practice in small business is causally dependent on the deepening specialization of social production and the differentiation of goods and services. Economic maneuverability, decision-making flexibility, spatial and spatial mobility make small business necessary in a modern, post-industrial society.

Active growth in the share of small enterprises in the structure of the economy of Western countries began to occur in the mid-70s and early 90s. Today, in the most developed countries of the West, small firms account for 7090% of the total number of enterprises. For comparison, you can take, for example, the United States - where 53% of the total population is employed in small business, Japan - with its 71.7% and the EU countries, where about half of the working population is employed in similar enterprises. Only these figures indicate the great importance of small businesses for the economies of these countries.

The effectiveness of these firms is supported by the fact that they introduce 17 times more innovations and developments at $ 1 cost than large enterprises that give life to only 10% of new technologies, the remaining 90% are introduced by small enterprises and independent inventors.

The development of small business is necessary only because they give life to old large-scale enterprises and in alliance with them receive significant benefits both for themselves and for the market economy as a whole. This is evidenced by the following figures: in the USA small business accounts for 34.9% of net income, and in Japan 56.6% of all products in the manufacturing industry are produced by small businesses.

As you know from the very definition, “small business” is an entrepreneurial activity carried out by subjects of a market economy under certain criteria established by laws, government agencies or other representative organizations that explain the essence of this concept.

As world practice shows, the main criterion indicator, on the basis of which enterprises of various organizational and legal forms belong to small businesses, is primarily the average number of employees employed in the enterprise during the reporting period. In a number of scientific works, small business refers to activities carried out by a small group of persons, or an enterprise managed by one owner. As a rule, the most common criteria on the basis of which enterprises relate to small business are:

• •    number of staff;

• •    amount of authorized capital;

• •    value of assets;

• •    volume of turnover (profit, income).

According to the World Bank, the total number of indicators by which enterprises are classified as small businesses (businesses) exceeds 50. However, the most commonly used criteria are those described above. In almost all countries, the determining criterion is the number of employees for the reporting period.

Here are the criteria for classifying enterprises as small businesses, applied in countries with developed market economies.

In determining measures of support to small businesses at the level of the EU countries, other indicators can be applied, and countries belonging to the EU can use their own indicators when classifying enterprises as small. Other Economic organizations establish their own measures for classifying firms as small businesses. So the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes economically highly developed countries, defines enterprises with the number of employees up to 19 people. as “very small”, up to 99 people. as “small”, from 100 to 499 people. as “average” and over 500 people. how big.

Let's consider how enterprises are classified as small countries with developed economies and find out what the world experience of small businesses is.

In the UK, the classification of enterprises as small businesses is based on data on turnover and the number of employees (various by sectors of the economy). The smallest companies are those with the number of employees from 1 to 25 people, and the small ones are from 25 to 99. At the same time, firms with employment below 200 people are considered small in the manufacturing industry, while in trade this is an enterprise with an annual turnover of less than 400 thousand pounds. Under the Companies Act, a UK small business must meet two of the following criteria:

• •    turnover no more than 2.3 million Euro;

• •    assets no more than 1.5 million Euro;

• •    the average number of employees is up to 50 people.

In France, small enterprises are those where the number of employees does not exceed 100 people. and the amount of funds is not more than 7.5 million Euros. Moreover, in various sectors of the economy, the size of the company is evaluated differently. If in agriculture and food industry firms with employment of more than 200 people. are considered large, then in the equipment manufacturing industry the number threshold is 500 people.

In Sweden, the system of classifying enterprises as small is similar to the French one, but there are also such indicators as the stages of growth, industry, geographical area of activity, specific characteristics of owners and managers (women entrepreneurs, foreigners), types of problems specific to the enterprise.

In Germany, there is no definite concept of small business, but in accordance with the classification of the federal ministry of economy, small firms are those with up to 49 employees. and an annual turnover of less than 500,000 Euros. Small and medium-sized firms are firms run by legally independent owners directly involved in production. They take full economic risk and finance their activities, as a rule, without attracting credit funds.

It should be noted that here, as in many other countries, the industry structure of the enterprise also plays a role. Moreover, in some sectors, the number of employees (manufacturing and mining) plays a decisive role, and in others, the turnover (construction, trade, services). The criteria are different for enterprises operating in different sectors of the US economy.

In the United States, small enterprises are considered that are managed by independent owners and do not occupy a dominant position in commodity markets.

Summarizing all of the above, I would like to draw attention to the fact that small business affects the structure of the market and the expansion of market relations, primarily as a result of changes in the number of market entities, advanced training and the degree of involvement of more and more broad segments of the population in the system of entrepreneurship and business administration.

The development of specialization and cooperation involves small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the sphere of influence of large associations.

Sources used:

• 1.    Lapusta M. G., Starostin Yu. L. Small business M. INFRA-M, 2006

• 2.    Myagkov P., Fesenko E. Small business: state support is required. M. -2008.

• 3.    Onoprienko V.I. “Small Enterprises: Experience, Problems” M.: Profizdat, 2008

• 4.    Seregin A.S. “Small Business Efficiency.” M .: Economics, 2007

• 5.    Afanasyev V. Small business: problems of formation. "Russian Economic Journal", 2005

"Экономика и социум" №12(67) 2019