On the specialization of small entrepreneurship subjects in Russia

The paper presents some patterns and trends in the development of small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, their distribution by type of economical activity, and their specialization in producing goods or providing services. We have discussed mean and specific values of indicators for small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs. We have considered such indicators as the quantity and turnover of the subjects of small entrepreneurship, and also the quantity of their employees for 14 types of economical activity. We have offered an assessment of the changes in basic indicators of small entrepreneurship in 2014 in comparison with 2011. The current relative stability of the structure of the distribution of a set of small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs by type of economical activity has been demonstrated. Based on the results of our analysis we have established that the mean number of employees is less than 6 for small enterprises, 2 for individual entrepreneurs, that is, the absolute majority of small entrepreneurship subjects are microenterprises. We have proved that about 90% of all subjects of small entrepreneurship and their total number of employees specialize in 6 main types of economical activity (wholesale and retail trade, operations with real estate, manufacturing, transport and communications, building, agriculture). We have established that the shares of small enterprises and entrepreneurs producing various goods in the total number of subjects of small entrepreneurship are 11.34 % and 17.91 % of the number of employees, respectively. Accordingly, the subjects of small entrepreneurship in the service sphere comprise 88.66 % from the total number of enterprises and entrepreneurs and 82.09 % from the total number of employees. Thus, nowadays much more subjects of small entrepreneurship specialize in providing services, than in producing goods. Based on the results of the study, we propose introducing changes to legal documents that would ensure the decrease in the complexity of accounting and reporting; ensuring priority development of small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs working in agriculture and forestry; increasing the support of entrepreneurship specializing in science research, education, healthcare, the provision of social, communal and personal services; encouraging the provision of fundamentally new services.