The Development of Small Entrepreneurship in Russia

Entrepreneurship, Private sector, SME, Transition

The development of small entrepreneurship in Russia

The paper summarises the findings of field research projects on emerging Russian entrepreneurship carried out by the author over a six-year period. The main stages of small and medium enterprise (SME) formation in Russia since the late 1980s are considered. Then, the dynamics of the SME sector are analysed, using available official statistics. Major market entry problems are reviewed, followed by an analysis of the institutional system for the development and support of SMEs. Specific issues of SME involvement in the informal/shadow economy are reviewed. Finally, the most recent trends in small entrepreneurship development are considered. The study offers answers to the following challenging questions: How has the profile of small entrepreneurship changed within the last decade? Why did expansion of the SME sector stop in the mid-1990s after dramatic increases during the early years of the decade? Are the administrative and economic barriers to market entry becoming stronger or weaker for small entrepreneurs? What are the outcomes of the policies and measures intended to build up a system of institutional support for SMEs? To what extent are small enterprises involved in the informal economy? How did the August 1998 financial crisis affect the SME sector? Both quantitative and qualitative data are used for tackling these issues on a national and regional level, and particular emphasis is given to the Tomsk region. – entrepreneurship ; private sector ; SME ; transitio

The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy

The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy contributes to the understanding of the ambivalent nature of power, oscillating between conflict and cooperation, public and private, global and local, formal and informal, and does so from an empirical perspective. It offers a collection of country-based cases, as well as critically assesses the existing conceptions of power from a cross-disciplinary perspective. The diverse analyses of power at the macro, meso or micro levels allow the volume to highlight the complexity of political economy in the twenty-first century. Each chapter addresses key elements of that political economy (from the ambivalence of the cases of former communist countries that do not conform with the grand narratives about democracy and markets, to the dual utility of new technologies such as face-recognition), thus providing mounting evidence for the centrality of an understanding of ambivalence in the analysis of power, especially in the modern state power-driven capitalism. Anchored in economic sociology and political economy, this volume aims to make ‘visible’ the dimensions of power embedded in economic practices. The chapters are predominantly based on post-communist practices, but this divergent experience is relevant to comparative studies of how power and economy are interrelated

Wie in Rußland Märkte entstehen: Vertragsdurchsetzung und Markteintritt

'Der Bericht untersucht die Entwicklung einer neuen Unternehmerschaft im Rußland der späten neunziger Jahre. Er behandelt die Beziehungen der Unternehmer zu ihren Geschäftspartnern und ihre Perzeption der Marktinfrastruktur. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird der Vertragsdurchsetzung und den Schwierigkeiten, die beim Markteintritt entstehen, gewidmet, darüber hinaus werden die von russischen Unternehmern entwickelten Geschäftsstrategien betrachtet. Die Studie basiert auf Datensätzen, die 1997-1998 in zwei Erhebungen unter Managern und Unternehmern in privaten Betrieben gesammelt wurden. Die Erhebungen wurden vom Autor und von einer Forschungsgruppe des Moskauer Zentrums für Politische Technologien (Leitung: I. Bunin) durchgeführt. Das amerikanische Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) hat die Studie finanziert.' (Textauszug)'The paper is aimed to delineate the main trends in the development of new Russian entrepreneurship in the late 1990s. It deals with the relationships of entrepreneurs with their business partners and the market infrastructure. Special attention is given to business contract enforcement and market entry problems. Relevant business strategies developed by Russian entrepreneurs are considered. The analysis is based an data collected in two surveys conducted in 1997-1998 of non-state enterprise managers and entrepreneurs. The surveys have been conducted by the author and research team of the Centre for Political-Technologies (Moscow) (head - I. Bunin). The U.S. Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) funded the research.' (extract