Union of small and medium-sized businesses of the Sverdlovsk region during the years of sanctions: the maximum possible?

Abstract

Based on the documents of the current archive of the Regional Union of small and medium-sized businesses, the article draws conclusions on the main directions and tools for regulating the activities of the Union of small and medium-sized businesses of the Sverdlovsk region in the period 2016-2019. The issues of overcoming such negative consequences as a sharp reduction of SME financing, manifestations of corruption, imperfection of control and supervisory activities, and the quality of management activities of authorities that provided support to small and medium-sized businesses in the Sverdlovsk region are considered. There are both obvious and hidden barriers to the development of small and medium-sized businesses. The article describes the main activities carried out by the Union in recent years. Special attention is paid to the work of the Coordinating Council of non-profit organizations engaged in anti-corruption activities. The role of the Union in the preparation and development of the Anti-corruption social contract of business in the Sverdlovsk region is indicated. One of the most important events was the annual Tax forums (with the participation of up to 200 representatives of small and medium-sized businesses). The leaders of the Union prepared and presented to the participants of Tax forums a number of proposals for improving legislation, both at the regional and Federal levels. Scientific novelty: for the first time, a summary of statistics on the development of small and mediumsized businesses in the Middle Urals for 2016-2019 is presented and conclusions are drawn about the stagnation of this dynamics. A number of measures to improve the activities of the Union of small and medium-sized businesses of the Sverdlovsk region in the form of recommendations to the Governor of the Sverdlovsk region and relevant Ministries are proposed.