Abstract
The specificity of the situation in global economy is that the speed of technological development is very high, so it is necessary to adapt quickly to changes. The share of small and medium-sized enterprises to gross domestic product is 20% in the Russian Federation and 60-70% in Western countries. This chapter presents the results of the assessment and monitoring of the status of small and medium-sized enterprises, which has been conducted by the business community. The chapter describes the mechanism of increasing the interest of the local government in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Also, it highlights the special importance of relations between enterprises and universities for training, in order to meet the challenges of innovation development in the regions. The opening of the Department of Innovative Entrepreneurship at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University is a logical and actual sphere of development. Finally, the chapter introduces the concept of the School of Technological Entrepreneurship.
TopThe Research Study
Opora Russia, in cooperation with PJSC Promsvyazbank, regularly holds researches of entrepreneurial moods, whose results are reflected in the RSBI Index, which is updated every quarter. The index is based on the results of the survey of the top managers of SME and is an indicator of the economic situation. The value of the OPORA RSBI Index above 50 points is interpreted as an increase in business activity, while a value below 50 points represents a decrease in business activity (OPORA, 2017).
The RSBI Index includes the changing of the investment indicators, the availability of financing, human resources, and sales results, considering the cumulative level of business activity in the SME segment. A special role is assigned to the industrial RSBI subindex.
In April 2016, OPORA RUSSIA carried out an anticrisis monitoring of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. 387 entities of SME of various economic activities were involved in the survey, 78% of which are legal entities and 22% are individual entrepreneurs (OPORA ROSII, 2017).
The crisis causes changes in the external environment of the companies related to the availability of funds, human resources, and real estate, to the behavior of customers and suppliers, administrative and criminal pressure. Changes in the external environment affect different aspects of the companies: changes in the volume of sales and profitability, in the number and salaries of employees, in the selling prices, and in the amount of debt.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Innovative Entrepreneurship: Type of commercial activity characterized by a special variety of organizational links, development and flexibility of its functional structure, wide adaptive capabilities, and use of venture capital.
Technology Entrepreneurship: Business based on sustainable competitive advantage which is the innovative high-tech (knowledge-intensive) idea.
Small and Medium Business: Consumer cooperatives and commercial organizations entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (with the exception of state and municipal unitary enterprises), as well as individuals entered in the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs and carrying out entrepreneurial activities without the formation of a legal entity. The category includes other entities that meet the conditions which are listed in the Federal Law of July 24, 2007, 3209-FL About the development of small and medium business in the Russian Federation .
Regional Development: Mode of functioning of the regional system, which is oriented to the positive dynamics of the parameters of the level and quality of life of the population, provided with a stable, balanced, and multifactorial reproduction of the social, economic, resource, and ecological potentials of the territory.