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The role of small medium and large enterprises in the economy. The role of small businesses in the economy

Each company is unique and inimitable, but still has common features. The classification of firms allows us to distinguish large, medium and small firms. This means that they differ not only in the number of employees and size of assets, but also in gross revenue for the year. In modern economic policy in developed countries, the prevailing point of view is that small firms are unable to compete with larger ones. The state, in turn, is obliged to control the situation, helping weak firms and restraining the monopoly of strong ones. A large company is more stable in business. It will not leave the market as a result of imbalance of supply and demand, fluctuations in interest and tax rates and exchange rates. As a rule, such a company is organizationally developed, it has a huge number of branches, sometimes even in other countries, and operates in various industries. Thus, it has a number of advantages over medium and small firms. 1. Based on the possibility of using economies of scale, a large firm has lower average costs per unit of production compared to small competitors. 2. Large firms are able to master technological innovations, achievements of science and technology, and make progress in production. They are able to pay for the work of a whole circle of scientists and developers of new technologies. Thus, it turns out that with an increase in the rate of scientific and technical progress, the share of small firms will begin to decline. This is due to the fact that small firms with unstable output and budgets are sometimes unable to cover production costs, not to mention making a profit and further development. Of course, they do not have the funds to improve their activities, as a result of which they cannot withstand competition and leave the market. 3. Large firms have influence on economic dynamics in knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive industries. The fact is that they are able to pay the high cost of research, development and technology and can afford long payback periods without losing profits and market share. However, as the size of the firm increases, the costs of control increase. At the same time, the degree of controllability and speed of response to any changes in the market situation drop sharply. This can leave the firm isolated and unable to react in a timely manner. As for small firms, they are more flexible and respond to even the slightest economic changes, on which further development depends. In addition, they are significant in the labor market and contribute to solving the employment problem in the country. Of course, the most optimal state of business is to have both large and small firms, since each of them is of particular importance for the development of the economy.

Small business provides the necessary mobility in market conditions, creates deep specialization and cooperation, without which its high efficiency is unthinkable. Secondly, it is capable of not only quickly filling niches emerging in the consumer sphere, but also paying for itself relatively quickly. Thirdly, create an atmosphere of competition. Fourthly (and this is perhaps the most important thing), it creates that environment and spirit of entrepreneurship, without which a market economy is impossible.

Small and medium-sized enterprises play a significant role in employment, production of certain goods, research and scientific-production developments.

The fact that small enterprises are capable of providing work to unemployed labor resources on a large scale is evidenced by the fact that in the United States, 40%, and in Germany 49% of the total workforce, were concentrated in small firms in 1990. This is the social role of small businesses.

Despite the fact that most of the scientific potential is concentrated in large companies, small and medium-sized firms across a wide range of products are more likely to begin developing and releasing new products.

The success of small businesses in this area can be attributed to the following reasons. Increasing specialization in scientific developments has led to the fact that in many cases small firms take an easier or riskier path and work in unpromising industries. Small firms are also willing to take on the development of original innovations, since the release of a fundamentally new product reduces the importance of large laboratories with established areas of research. In addition, small firms strive to establish mass production as soon as possible. Thus, the significance of developments carried out by small enterprises is quite important, first of all, from the point of view of expanding the market for the goods and services offered, which, in turn, actively stimulates the production process in order to most quickly satisfy the (newly born) demand motivated by developments, carried out by small and medium-sized enterprises.

If you trace the path of an invention used by large monopolies, it often turns out to be the result of the work of individual scientists or small firms. However, subsequent implementation is carried out by companies that have the necessary financial and material resources for this.

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, increased qualifications and the degree of involvement of more and more wider sections of the population in the entrepreneurship system.

Large enterprises attract small, highly specialized firms that produce individual parts and assemblies for them. Around the monopolies, especially in the mechanical engineering and electronics industries, there are usually several tens of thousands of small enterprises that benefit from the financial and technical assistance of the monopolies.

The importance of small businesses also lies in the fact that, waging a fierce competitive struggle for survival, they are forced to constantly develop and adapt to current market conditions, because in order to exist, they need to earn a living, and therefore be better than others, so that the profit goes to them .

Mass production of consumer durable industrial products (cars, refrigerators, televisions, etc.) by large enterprises creates a need for appropriate industrial repair and maintenance services, which are often provided by small enterprises.

The activities of small enterprises in less developed areas of Western European countries are the basis of their entire social and economic life and a decisive prerequisite for their further economic development.

At the same time, in small enterprises there is higher labor efficiency; small firms meet the needs for scarce types of goods and services at lower costs based on the development of local sources (raw materials) and at the same time provide greater employment. They increase budget revenues, stimulate scientific and technical progress, and perform other important functions for the economy. At the present stage, the increasing role of small businesses in the economy of Germany, the USA and other developed countries is not an accident, but a necessary pattern caused by the very course of history.

Introduction

1 Small and medium enterprises

1.1 Small enterprises and their role in the economy

1.2 Medium-sized enterprises and their “niche” strategy

2 Large enterprises

2.2 “Proud Lions”, “Big Elephants”, Hulking Hippos”

3 Government support for small businesses

3.1 World experience

3.2 Ukrainian experience

Literature

Introduction

The question “How does the modern capitalist market function?” has now acquired unexpected urgency due to radical changes in the economy of our country.

One may get the impression that the entire mechanism of a market economy comes down to only the operation of the economic law of supply and demand, which spontaneously brings prices, production and consumption of goods into mutual correspondence.

The modern capitalist market cannot be understood without studying the main actors, as well as the processes occurring in it, i.e. without studying capitalist firms and their behavior in various situations. Small and medium-sized firms, specialized companies, leading monopolies, exporters - each of these types of firms performs its own irreplaceable functions. Only their complex interaction determines the catastrophic or favorable development of events in the capitalist market, and only this ultimately gives flexibility to the entire market economy.

The modern period of development of the domestic market economy will enter the period of formation of the market economy. Of course, we would all like this period to end faster and for us to witness the rise of our economy.

In order to avoid a number of mistakes, you need to know what economic relationships to strive for, whose experience to use, how an individual entrepreneur and the community of entrepreneurs as a whole acts to ensure the prosperity of their company, their family, and their state.

I believe that the relevance of the topic I have chosen is undoubtedly and will remain so as Ukraine enters the world capitalist market.

In my work I will try to conduct a comparative analysis of the activities of large, medium and small enterprises, show their role and place in the economy and obtain appropriate conclusions.

1 Small and medium enterprises

1.1 Small enterprises and their role in the economy

Every year, about 700 thousand new companies are created in the United States, most of them small firms. As soon as they are born, they immediately join the competitive struggle, which at first glance they do not have the slightest chance of winning.

In fact, small companies usually do not have high-performance equipment and have difficulties with financial resources. As a rule, they do not have particularly attractive products in their production program and are constantly afraid of being squeezed out of the market by more powerful competitors. It is not surprising that the number of firms going out of business is almost equal to the number of newly created ones.

Thousands of entrepreneurs operating in any capitalist country in the field of small business seem to be experiencing great difficulties, but, however, on the whole they are satisfied with their situation.

A study conducted in England confirmed that 82% of small company owners would not like their businesses to become large. When asked about the optimal size of their firm, they generally thought it should have no more than 27 people.

Table 1. Distribution of commas by enterprises in the 80s, % of all employees in the economy

It should be noted that the desire for small business is not decreasing, and in recent years has even been growing. Table data 1 allow us to judge the scale of small business.

It is known that monopolies cannot completely oust small enterprises from the market. But the numbers are different: those given in the table. 2 indicators on the share of small firms suggest that (at least in quantitative terms) small enterprises represent the largest sector of the capitalist economy.

Indeed, in most capitalist countries at least half of all employees work in small and minute enterprises, and for some countries this proportion is much higher. Thus, in ultra-modern Japan, half of all workers are employed only in the smallest firms, and together small and tiny enterprises provide work for 1/2 of all employed Japanese.

The role of small business is great not only quantitatively, but also functionally, in other words, in terms of the tasks that it solves in the economy. In our opinion, small firms form a kind of foundation on which higher “floors” of the economy grow and which largely predetermines the architecture of the entire building. First of all, this relates to the integrating role of small companies, connecting the economy into a single whole (hence, by the way, the Latinized designation for this type of company comes from commutators, i.e. connectors).

The fact is that, in principle, in a market economy, the presence of effective demand for a certain product should automatically give rise to its supply. But a characteristic feature of modern efficient production is its selectivity: it is not economically justified in all conditions.

Thus, large-scale production is usually effective only when more or less similar products are produced in large quantities. Otherwise, a large firm, if possible, does not produce unprofitable goods. This could potentially be a source of deep imbalances in the economy.

The simplest example: a car is a serial, standard product and therefore is produced profitably by large firms. Gasoline for cars is again produced at a profit by other large companies. But it makes no sense for giant firms to maintain gas stations (except for those located on the busiest highways), because daily revenue is too small, wage costs are high, etc.

Without small business, a paradoxical situation would arise. Abundantly produced and abundantly supplied with petrol, cars would not be able to move freely across the country due to the lack of a network of petrol stations in remote areas. And this is true in almost any industry.

Only commutators are ready to take advantage of every business opportunity; all other companies are very picky in this sense.

Specialized production, say, is profitable for significantly smaller series than large-scale production, but it is carried out only where special and rather long-term needs have been formed (the manufacturer must accumulate enormous special knowledge in a very narrow area and, naturally, incurs the associated costs only with firm confidence that such a business has a future).

Venture (risk) capital is ready for any area of application, but only when there is a chance, if successful, to receive extremely high profits.

In other words, without small businesses, a “patchwork economy” would emerge. Some market needs would be fully satisfied, and the rest (i.e., on the basis of which it is impossible to develop a large-scale, ultra-profitable or specialized business) would be ignored.

Small and large firms differ not only in size. They interact with the market differently.

Small business

Small firms (small business) strongly depend on the situation that develops in the market, and are almost unable to change this situation, even if it is unfavorable for them. Each of the small firms does not have enough resources for this, and they are almost unable to coordinate their activities, at least on most issues. Even their joint lobbying of their interests in political life is usually less effective for them than for large firms, which can mobilize large resources for this. As a result, small firms are much more likely to go bankrupt. Thus, in Russia, the retirement rate of small businesses (the share of firms that ceased to exist in a year) is 8% versus 1% in the economy as a whole.

At the same time, small businesses in many countries provide a huge portion of employment (which is very important given high unemployment), are more sensitive to competition and consumer demands, and most importantly, are an incubator of entrepreneurship. Because of this, in most countries, society supports small businesses, persuading the state to impose reduced taxes on these businesses, provide them with preferential loans and other types of assistance in order to strengthen the sustainability of small businesses. As for Russia, small business is poorly developed here, primarily due to insignificant support from the state. The number of people working in small businesses in our country is about 10% of all employees, and its share in the gross domestic product is even smaller.

Big business

Large firms (big business) are less dependent on market conditions due to their greater resources, more precisely, "organizational fat" those. a reserve stock of resources that companies can use in the event of unfavorable conditions. Moreover, many of the large companies can influence the market due to their high market share. Thus, a decrease or increase in nickel prices by the Russian company Norilsk Nickel changes the situation on the entire world nickel market. Such opportunities to influence the market lead to attempts by large companies to monopolize it (see clauses 2.6 and 12.4), thereby weakening one of the foundations of the market - competition. Therefore, the state pursues an antimonopoly policy in relation to the largest companies (see Chapter 12).

At the same time, large companies make a large contribution to the production of many goods, especially those that are complex (knowledge-intensive) and require large expenditures of capital (capital-intensive). “As soon as we look at the production indicators of individual goods, it turns out that it is the large concerns that have made the greatest progress,” Schumpeter wrote. Only large companies are able to organize the development and mass production of aerospace equipment, cars and ships, agricultural machinery and energy equipment, as well as mass production of raw materials (oil, gas, ore) and mass production of materials and semi-finished products (steel, aluminum, plastics). Hence the state’s ambivalent attitude towards large companies: on the one hand, they try to limit them (through antimonopoly policy), and on the other hand, they are supported as the pillars of knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive industries.

Big and small business in entrepreneurship

It is a collection of large, medium and small firms. Statistics from most countries clearly classify large and small businesses, while medium-sized businesses occupy an intermediate position. The combination of firms of different sizes is not the same in different sectors of the economy and is determined primarily by economies of scale.

The role and place of big business in a market economy

In most developed countries of the world, large business occupies a leading place in the economy. As a rule, it accounts for more than 50% (and often more than 60%) of GDP. It certainly dominates in many branches of mechanical engineering (in general and transport mechanical engineering, in the electrical industry and instrument making), in the chemical industry, in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and in the mining industry. The concentration of production is also growing in many service sectors. This is especially true for such service industries as higher education, healthcare, finance, software production, information services, transport, trade, etc. So, in the USA, for example, the share of large businesses (statistics refers to large enterprises with 500 employees) and more people) account for about 60% of GDP and 47% of the total labor force. The sales volumes and scale of capitalization (i.e., the market value of share capital) of individual largest companies amount to tens and even hundreds of billions of dollars and are quite comparable to the GDP of many countries around the world. The scale of capitalization of the General Electric Corporation, for example, in 2002 was about $380 billion, Exxon Mobil Corporation - $300 billion, Optiruy - $255 billion, Intel - $204 billion.

But in Russia the role of big business is even greater than in other countries. In 2002, large and medium-sized businesses (there are no separate statistics on large businesses in Russia) generated almost 89% of GDP. This, however, is not an advantage of the Russian economy, but its disadvantage and indicates the insufficient development of small business. The level of capitalization of the largest Russian companies, which does not exceed tens of billions of dollars (Gazprom, RAO UES of Russia, LUKoil), also lags noticeably behind developed countries.

The role and place of small business in a market economy

Small business plays an important role in the modern economy. In different countries, the criteria for classifying companies as small businesses are different. In the United States, according to official statistics, small businesses include all enterprises with fewer than 500 employees. In Russia, small businesses include commercial organizations in whose authorized capital the share of state property of the Russian Federation and constituent entities of the Federation, municipal property, property of public and religious organizations, charitable and other foundations does not exceed 25% and whose average number of employees does not exceed the following limits sizes: in industry, construction and transport - 100 people, in agriculture and the scientific and technical sphere - 60, in retail trade and consumer services - 30, in wholesale trade, other industries and other types of activities - 50 people.

Small enterprises are still poorly developed in Russia. In 2002, there were only 882.3 thousand small enterprises in the country employing 7.2 million people (11% of the total number of employees), which is not comparable with the world average of 40-60% of the total number of employees. In 2002, small enterprises in Russia produced only 11% of the country's GDP, while in the United States they produced more than 40% of GDP.

Small businesses in Russia are extremely unevenly distributed throughout the country. So. in the early 2000s Moscow accounted for about 25% of these enterprises, St. Petersburg - 10%, they employed more than 25% of the total number of workers in small enterprises. At the same time, in approximately 1/3 of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, less than 0.5% of the total number of such enterprises was registered.

The distribution of small enterprises across sectors of the Russian economy is very uneven. In 2002, three industries accounted for almost 80% of those employed in small businesses: 39% of those employed were in trade and public catering, 20% in industry, 18.6% in construction.

The weak development of small businesses in Russia is largely due to the underdevelopment of mechanisms for state support. Many developed countries have a well-developed system of government support for small businesses. So. In the USA, the government actively supports small businesses. In order to support small businesses, back in 1953, a special federal agency was created in the United States - the Small Business Administration (SBA), designed to provide financial, advisory and organizational assistance to small entrepreneurs. AMB has more than 100 branches in state capitals and major cities. AMB provides many services to entrepreneurs free of charge. AMB also provides loans to entrepreneurs from its own sources (in the amount of no more than $150 thousand). participates in loans from commercial banks (if these loans are worth at least 350 thousand dollars), provides government guarantees in the amount of up to 90% of the loan amount (but no more than 350 thousand dollars).

In addition to the activities of the AMB, representatives of small businesses receive support from regional executive authorities, under which there are 19 thousand commissions for economic development. The main goal of these commissions is to promote business development in a particular region and the growth of production of promising goods and services that are in demand in that particular area. These commissions provide small businesses with the following types of support:

direct business support: financial (providing government loans and credit guarantees), in personnel training;
technical assistance, including the provision and payment of consulting and design services; legal, organizational and financial, engineering development, marketing, etc.;
administrative and economic services: rental of premises, accounting services, administrative services.

Small businesses have many advantages over large ones - they are more mobile, adapt faster to the challenges of the external environment, and many small firms implement scientific, technical and management innovations faster. The disadvantages of small businesses include fewer opportunities to attract funds.

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