Stepan Zemtsov: At federal level, there is lack of understanding of differences related to conditions of SMEs development at different territories

As expert underlined, there was lack of understanding at federal level of the differences related to conditions of development of small and medium entrepreneurship (SME) at different territories including unification of legislation, provision of support regardless of the type of business and its location. Legal constraints do not provide stimuli for ecosystem to implement policy focused on creation of local business network, conditions for its scaling, improvement of entrepreneurs’ role in the life of local communities, change of role played by universities in setting up start-ups. In this connection, researchers had a goal to reveal local specifics in development of SME in Russia in order to provide a platform for implementation of a required regional differentiated policy.

Stepan Zemtsov reported that seven types of ecosystems were identified resulting from this work and a number of recommendations were proposed for conducting a regionally differentiated business policy. In the most developed ecosystems (type 1 and 2), it is necessary to focus on supporting medium-sized fast-growing companies, especially in technological sectors of the economy.  In ecosystems with a high role of processing industries located near the largest agglomerations (type 3), support is needed for cluster initiatives to form networks for interaction with transnational (TNC) and state corporations. In regions with less developed entrepreneurial ecosystems and deteriorating dynamics (North Caucasus Federal okrug, Far Eastern Federal okrug, Russian Arctic) measures are needed to bring out enterprises of the shadow sector, in particular, it is possible to eliminate tax revenues for self-employed in rural areas. In addition, the following special social policy measures will be required: free entrepreneurship education and free advice on SME development. 

Presentation for the report