Types of entrepreneurship depending on size. Big business

The entire commercial sector in the national economy is usually divided according to different criteria. For example, generally accepted in world practice is a gradation into the official (legal) and shadow (criminal) economy, state entrepreneurship (state corporations) and the private sector, into the raw materials and manufacturing business, into material production and the service sector. One way conditional classification entrepreneurship is its division in size - in terms of turnover, profit, and the number of employees working at the enterprise.

Of course, this breakdown of the total mass of economic entities is always approximate, but it can be very useful for regulatory measures, statistical observation, legislative support.

Our brief analysis Let's start with such an economic and business category as demand.

Demand is always the guideline for entrepreneurial activity. Where there is no demand, business becomes impossible, since people and enterprises are ready to part with money only in exchange for goods, works and services that they need. this moment needed.

Demand is a variable quantity; it appears and disappears, grows rapidly or exists in small volumes for a long time. Depending on the parameters of demand, markets for certain products begin to form - raw materials, semi-finished products, fuel, clothing, food products, machines, equipment, entertainment. Increasing demand creates growing markets that provide profits to the companies involved in their work.

Large, massive demand is satisfied, as a rule, by large enterprises organized in the form of network structures, holdings, public joint stock companies and international corporations. Typically, such enterprises operate in areas such as aircraft manufacturing, production of passenger cars and trucks, in the financial and banking sector, oil and gas industry etc. Such companies, most often, are transnational and operate in many markets at once - both national and foreign.

Medium-sized enterprises, with several hundred employees, operate in a niche of less volume demand - for example, in the markets for goods and services of a geographically limited region - a city, region, republic.

The small business sector is mainly trade and services. In Russia, three quarters of small enterprises work in this field, although the state is trying to change this structure towards real production, involving small enterprises in the system of government procurement and tenders. So far it’s not going very well, but big plans are being made. As for the development of small and medium-sized businesses, by 2020 it is planned to involve 40 million people in this area of ​​entrepreneurship and increase the contribution of small businesses to GDP to 40%. Let us recall that at the beginning of 2018, the share of small businesses accounted for only 21% and remained quite stable over the past 10-15 years. The state is trying to involve citizens in the sphere of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) for good reason:

• firstly, along with the growth in the number of SMEs, the number of products produced increases, i.e., GDP and the well-being of the population grow;
• secondly, the unemployment situation is improving, since the organizers of SMEs not only provide themselves with work and profit, but also create jobs for other people.

In addition to large, medium and small businesses, microbusinesses are often mentioned, which include microfinance organizations, individual entrepreneurs, farmers and partly self-employed citizens.

If we talk about specific criteria for classifying enterprises into one or another gradation, then for the countries of the European Union they are as follows (see Table 1).

If we talk about our country, currently in Russia there are the following criteria for classifying business entities as micro, small and medium-sized businesses. Small businesses are understood as commercial organizations, in which the average number of employees does not exceed the following maximum levels:

1. The average number of employees for the previous calendar year should not exceed the following maximum values ​​of the average number of employees for each category of small and medium-sized businesses:

a) from 101 to 250 people inclusive for medium-sized enterprises;

b) up to 100 people inclusive for small enterprises; Among small enterprises, microenterprises stand out - up to 15 people.

The average number of employees of a small enterprise for the reporting period is determined taking into account all its employees, including those working under civil contracts and part-time, taking into account the actual time worked, as well as employees of representative offices, branches and others separate divisions legal entity.

1. Revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) excluding value added tax or the book value of assets (residual value of fixed assets and intangible assets) for the previous calendar year should not exceed the limit values ​​​​established by the Government of the Russian Federation for each category of small and medium-sized businesses.

In accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 9, 2013 No. 101 “On the maximum values ​​of revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) for each category of small and medium-sized businesses”, the maximum values ​​of revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) for the previous year excluding value added tax are for

— microenterprises — 60 million rubles;

— small enterprises — 400 million rubles;

- medium-sized enterprises - 1000 million rubles.

See: Vershinina A.P. Small business: inclusion criteria and classification.

We all often hear terms such as small, medium or large business. However, not everyone understands the differences in these concepts. It is necessary to understand and know which business is considered small and which is medium or large. Especially for beginning entrepreneurs.

When choosing a business idea and writing a business plan, it is important to clearly see the future picture of the business and understand how large you want to make your business. You can open just a small souvenir shop, or you can become a large supplier souvenir products in your region. Or do you have plans to completely conquer the whole world - entering the world market of souvenirs under your unique brand.

In order to understand for yourself what your business will be called in one case or another, we will give the differences between small, medium and large businesses. We will not dwell in detail on the small features of each type of business, but will only show the overall picture of the business.

What are the differences between different forms of business?

All forms of business - small, medium and large - are compared with each other according to the same criteria. The most basic of them is the amount of profit. It is obvious that the profit of a small enterprise will always be many times greater less company large businesses, and the profits of medium-sized businesses will be somewhere in between.

However, this rule does not always work. There are crises and upswings in every business, so a situation may occur when the profit of a small enterprise exceeds the profit of a medium-ranking enterprise for some period of time. reporting period. But then it makes sense to think about the fact that such an enterprise has the right to be called not small, but medium-sized, and it is necessary to transfer it to the “next level.”

In addition to profit, business forms are also compared in terms of production volume, product sales, number of working personnel, number of branches, etc. Only after comparing all the characteristics of a business can we talk about its belonging to one form or another.

What kind of business is called small?

This form of entrepreneurship, such as small business, is naturally the most common. Most people who want to start their own business choose a small business. And it is precisely this form of entrepreneurial activity that almost all the ideas we write about in the section relate to.

Small businesses include all companies with an average annual number of employees of no more than 50 people. As for the scope of activity, it could be basically anything: shops, small manufacturing companies(production of small volumes of products), travel companies, dental and other medical offices, various training courses, hairdressers, etc.

Small businesses are companies that target a strictly defined audience of clients and cover a small area of ​​activity. Since there are not many employees in small enterprises, they usually have a close relationship.

What are the main characteristics of a medium-sized business?

Mid-market companies are those that already have larger annual revenues, have hundreds of employees, and have larger and more diverse resources to operate.

This form of business no longer includes just private shops and agencies, but entire networks of enterprises that work for a large audience and cover entire cities and even regions. For example, a chain of stores in a region or a transport enterprise that organizes its work within one region is a medium-sized business.

If in a small business great importance personnel plays, then in a medium-sized business the quality of products (services) and their effective sales come to the fore. In a medium-sized business, more or less regular and thoughtful management appears, which is quite simple to organize (compared to large businesses).

Their small size makes it easy for mid-sized businesses to remain flexible and adapt to changing market conditions.

What is big business?

Speaking of large business, we already imagine a company whose activities cover an entire country, several countries or the whole world. Such companies are most often known, the media talk about them and discuss them a large number of consumers.

Large businesses can afford to display commercials for their products on the most famous TV channels at the most popular broadcast times. Large businesses open their branches and representative offices in different countries ah and provides jobs for hundreds of thousands of people.

Almost any company that everyone hears about is a big business. As an example, we can cite manufacturers of equipment used throughout the world: Samsung, Nokia, Phillips and others. Food manufacturers: Nestle, Danone, Kraft Foods. Automotive corporations and popular clothing brands with billions in revenue are also big business players.

The basis for the success of big business is efficient business models built in such a way that, after decades, they continue to work, surviving in constantly changing conditions and generating profits amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Entrepreneurial activity in a market economy is represented by large and small business, large and small enterprises. The size of an enterprise is determined primarily by the number of employees. As a rule, on this basis, enterprises are divided into:

· Small – up to 50 employees;

· Average – from 50 to 500;

· Large – over 500;

· Particularly large – over 1000 employees.

Automation of production leads to the fact that other characteristics also play an important role in determining the size of an enterprise - sales volume, size of assets, profit received.

The entry into force on January 1, 2008 had a positive impact on the development of small and medium-sized businesses. Federal Law“On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in Russian Federation”, which brought certainty in relation to small businesses and determined its categories based on the average number. An enterprise with up to 100 people is a small enterprise, and from 101 to 250 people is a medium-sized enterprise. The criteria for the share of participation in the authorized capital have also changed. Legal entities whose share of participation of foreign citizens and foreign legal entities in the authorized capital exceeds 25%, as well as the total share of participation of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, public and religious organizations, charitable and other foundations exceeds 25%.

Economic rationality big business is determined, first of all, by its technical activity: a large company provides best option for capital investments in the interests of the investor in conditions of competitive risk. Competitiveness gives a large firm the opportunity to mobilize significant amounts of capital.

A large company is engaged in short-term and long-term planning of its activities, develops a marketing strategy, has high personnel potential, and has the ability to solve social problems at the enterprise. All these advantages allow large enterprises to establish their position in business.

But entrepreneurship is represented not only by large, but also by small enterprises. Small enterprises have an average life cycle six years, and sometimes three years. Some of them go bankrupt, some voluntarily cease their activities, and some become larger. But the number of newly born enterprises constantly exceeds the number of those that have ceased their activities.

Compared to large companies, small businesses have clear advantages.

û To organize a small business, large investments in fixed assets are not required. This has a positive effect on production costs and allows us to attract young, active and talented entrepreneurs.

û Flexibility and mobility. Small firms respond more quickly to changes in the market situation and market demands.

û Duplication and interchangeability of workers. With a certain division of functions between employees, a small team is characterized by mutual assistance and support for each other.

û High speed of information movement. It is ensured due to the smaller amount of information in a small enterprise, and direct direct communication between the manager and subordinates.

û Good manageability with relatively low management costs.

Small businesses operate on the principle of “need-oriented”, adapt to the needs of their clients, and offer the market something new and really effective. Representatives of small businesses know how to think forward. Large companies often succumb to the temptation to produce as much as possible large quantity products, forgetting about the requirement not only to produce, but also to sell it.

Along with the advantages, there are always disadvantages. Let us highlight the most significant of them:

Much high degree risk. An entrepreneur works under the fear of going broke and becoming bankrupt.

The importance of capital accumulation. To “stay afloat” it is necessary to expand production; There are restrictions on obtaining a loan, because A small entrepreneur does not have the opportunity to pay high interest rates.

Limited scope of activity. Small businesses have no place in industries that require large capital investments.

The limited range of products makes a small enterprise vulnerable from the point of view of market conditions.

Inability to compete on equal terms with large-scale production due to the modest scale of production and limited resources.

Of course, the shortcomings and failures of small business entities are determined by both internal and external reasons and the operating conditions of small enterprises. Experience shows that most failures of small businesses are associated with a lack of management experience or professional incompetence of small business owners.

So, modern entrepreneurship is a synthesis of large and small production. Large-scale production forms the “skeleton” of the entire production system, and small-scale production - “soft and flexible fabrics”, without which large-scale production cannot exist. One of the most important features of the classification of enterprises is its size, determined primarily by the number of employees. Thus, enterprises are divided into small enterprises - up to 50 employees; medium – from 50 to 500; large – over 500; especially large ones – over 1000 employees.

Small and medium-sized businesses are concepts often considered in a single context. It is not always correct to identify them, however.

Small Business Facts

Term "small business" can be used both in an informal context and in the provisions of regulations. As for the first option of its use, it is largely carried out based on the subjective perception of a particular person about the peculiarities of conducting commercial activities on an appropriate scale. In most cases, people tend to understand this as a completely modest entrepreneurial activity, often carried out in individually. A person who has a small store, kiosk, workshop, in the understanding of Russians, is the owner of a “small business”.

However, there are also legal criteria for classifying certain commercial activities into the category in question. Based on the provisions of Federal Law No. 209 of July 24, 2007, as well as Resolution No. 702 of July 13, 2015, enterprises are classified into micro, small and medium-sized depending on:

• on the number of employees;
• from annual revenue.

In accordance with the norms of Federal Law No. 209 and Resolution No. 702, it is legal to classify as small enterprises those firms in which:

• employs 15-100 people;
• annual revenue is 120-800 million rubles.

Obviously, not every owner of a small store or workshop is able to build a business that meets the noted criteria. If the indicators of his commercial activities do not reach those listed above, from a legal point of view his company should be classified as a micro-enterprise.

Thus, a Russian entrepreneur can de facto call even his smallest company a “small business”. But to comply with this de jure status, you still need to try to bring its indicators to those established by law. Otherwise, you will have to be content with the status of a “microenterprise”.

Facts about medium-sized businesses

In turn, the concept "medium business" can also be understood at the level of everyday, subjective perception or revealed in regulations. Regarding the first aspect, a “medium-sized” company in Russia is usually understood as a company that, on the one hand, is not very large-scale, but on the other hand, plays a very noticeable role in the economy of a city or region. This may be, relatively speaking, not one small store or workshop, but a network of several organizations of the corresponding type.

The legislative criteria for classifying firms as medium-sized are also spelled out in the provisions of Federal Law No. 209 and Resolution No. 702. In accordance with them, a “medium-sized business” is an enterprise in which:

• employs 101-250 employees;
• annual revenue ranges from 800 million to 2 billion rubles.

In turn, if a Russian entrepreneur opens even the most modest chain of stores or workshops on a city or district scale, then, in principle, his brand can already be considered as meeting the noted criteria for being classified as a medium-sized business.

Comparison

From the point of view of everyday perception of both categories, this is, firstly, significance, and secondly, scale. However, both criteria are very subjective. In turn, from the point of view of a company’s compliance with legislative characteristics, a medium-sized business can, strictly speaking, be 2.5 to 16.67 times larger than a small one, in terms of staff size or revenue.

Table

So, we found out what the difference is between a small business and a medium one. Let us display the criteria we have identified in the table.

Business is entrepreneurial activity. It is led by subjects market economy, government bodies with help borrowed money at your own risk or at your own expense. the main objective The above activity is to generate profit for the further development of your enterprise.

An individual enterprise is a form of business organization in which the owner of the company is one person, who simultaneously performs the functions of a manager and bears unlimited property liability.

Sole proprietorship is based on the individual or family ownership of the entrepreneur. No distinction is made between capital and personal property of an entrepreneur. Property liability applies to all property of the entrepreneur, regardless of its inclusion in the capital. Capital from individual entrepreneur small - this is the disadvantage of individual entrepreneurship.

This form of entrepreneurial activity also has advantages: each owner owns all the profits and can make any changes himself. A sole proprietorship is not a legal entity, so the owner only pays income tax; it is exempt from corporate tax. This is the most common form of business, typical for small shops, the service sector, farms, as well as the professional activities of lawyers, doctors, etc.

Partnership (partnership) is an association closed type with a limited number of participants carrying out joint activities on the basis of shared ownership and taking direct part in management. A partnership is also not a legal entity, so partners are only subject to income tax and do not bear any limited liability for all debts of the company.

The advantages of a partnership are that it is easy to organize; uniting partners allows you to attract additional funds and new ideas. Disadvantages include:

– limited financial resources in a developing business that requires new capital investments;

– ambiguous understanding of the goals of the company by its participants;

– the difficulty of determining the extent of each in the income or loss of the company, in the division of property acquired together. The partnership firm organizes brokerage houses, audit firms, service departments, etc.

A corporation is a collection of persons who have united for joint business activities as one legal entity. The ownership of a corporation is divided into shares, so the owners of the corporation are called stockholders, and the corporation itself is called a joint stock company. Corporation income is subject to corporate tax. Owners of corporations have limited liability for the corporation's debts, determined by their contribution to the shares.

The advantages of the corporation include:

– unlimited possibilities raising capital through the sale of shares and bonds;

– division of shareholders’ rights into property and personal. Property rights include the right to receive a dividend, as well as part of the value of the company’s property upon its liquidation. Personal rights include the right to participate in the management of the affairs of a joint stock company. The shareholder may not take part in management without losing anything in property rights;

– attracting professional specialists to perform management functions;

– stability of the corporation’s functioning. The fact is that the departure of any shareholder from the company does not entail the closure of the company.

The disadvantages of the corporate form of business organization include:

– double taxation of that part of the corporation’s income that is paid in the form of dividends to shareholders;

– favorable opportunities for economic abuse. It is possible to issue and sell shares that have no real value;

– separation of ownership and control functions. Owner-shareholders are interested in increasing dividends, managers are interested in expanding production.

There are other disadvantages of corporations, but their advantages outweigh them, which is why a corporation is the most economically significant form of business organization.

In a developed market economy, state ownership does not lose its importance. In this regard, it is necessary to analyze another important form of entrepreneurial activity - state entrepreneurship.

State entrepreneurship is the direct participation of the state in productive activities.

In every country, the economy has a public sector of the economy, which represents common feature modern market economy. It is formed by enterprises that are either fully owned by the state or under its control through ownership of a controlling stake. The share of this sector varies in different countries: from 3 – 4% in the USA to 15 – 17% of the gross internal product in Western Europe. In the public sector, as a rule, there are low-performing or even unprofitable enterprises that are irrational to use in private enterprise. In order to support enterprises that private entrepreneurs abandon, the state sometimes nationalizes them. Thus, in a worsening economic situation, the public sector is expanding. The state, as it were, takes upon itself the problem of bringing the economy out of the crisis, preserving scientific and technical potential, and the task of technical and technological re-equipment of enterprises. On the contrary, when the economic situation is favorable, the public sector decreases. The state relies more on private initiative and focuses its efforts in this situation on solving social and other problems.

State entrepreneurship has its own special potential, the task of which is not to maximize profits, but to maximize public welfare. Moreover, the scope of state entrepreneurship is not limited to production public goods. It is indispensable in stimulating priority areas of scientific and technological progress and fruitful in solving problems of natural monopoly.

In the Russian Federation, state entrepreneurship is carried out in two forms - state unitary enterprises and joint-stock companies with state capital.

State unitary enterprises are divided into:

a) federal. These include those enterprises whose property rights belong to the State Committee for State Property Management,

b) government. These are those enterprises whose property rights have been transferred to the Property Management Committees of the republics within Russia, national administrative entities, territories, regions, Moscow and St. Petersburg,

c) municipal. These include those enterprises whose property rights have been transferred to the Property Management Committees of district and city authorities.

Legal regime state enterprises also applies to firms of other forms of ownership if the share of state property in their capital is more than 50%. The presence of the public sector in the economy, along with government regulation, allows us to call the modern market economy a mixed market economy.

One and the same form of organization of entrepreneurial activity may include relations of property powers, principles of organization and management that are heterogeneous in nature, which requires their appropriate legal registration. Therefore, in practice, entrepreneurial activity is carried out in specific economic and legal forms, reflecting not only the functional features of the organizational forms themselves, but also national characteristics legal regime countries.

Based on the size of the company, they are divided into: small business, medium business and large business. Optimal size of a firm is determined by the size of transaction costs, depends on the industry, technology, degree of integration of the firm, etc.

The economic and technical power of a country is determined by big business. A large business is more durable than a medium or small one. Its monopoly position in the market gives it the opportunity to produce cheap and mass-produced products designed to meet the needs of the general consumer.

Comparative production efficiency at large, medium and small enterprises allows us to determine the potential advantages of large businesses, which are based on investment opportunities, capital maneuvering and production diversification.

The contribution of big business to Russia's GDP can be estimated in the range of 20-22%, and taking into account state monopolies (Gazprom, Transneft, RAO UES) - up to 27-28% of GDP. Large business enterprises account for 25-30% of credits and loans received by the real sector of the economy (and taking into account state monopolies - about 40-50%), which indicates greater availability of borrowed funds for them; 20% of the country's banking assets are in the hands of banking monopolies merged with industrial ones, which amounts to about 8% of GDP.

Analyzing the threat of monopolization Russian markets It can be stated that the largest domestic companies, even controlling 70–80% of sales in Russia, as a rule will not be able to impose anything on their consumers, since by the standards of the global market, they are very medium-sized companies. Domestic companies are several times smaller in size than their competitors. AvtoVAZ, with a turnover of $2 billion, is 100 times smaller than its partner General Motors; Power Machines, with a turnover of $350 million, is 290 times smaller than General Electric.

Therefore, it is not so much necessary to strengthen the antimonopoly component economic policy(not to mention radical recipes for separation large companies), how much stimulation of creative competition, as well as mergers and cooperation of firms. Without the development of large businesses, including financial and industrial groups, Russia will not be able to take a noticeable position in the world market.

Medium-sized businesses play a less prominent role. It is fragile, since it has to compete with both large and small businesses, as a result of which it either develops into a large one or ceases to exist altogether. The only exceptions are companies that are a kind of monopolist in the production of any specific product that has its own regular consumer (production of disabled equipment, repair of city clocks, etc.).

Small business (small enterprise) is a small enterprise of any form of ownership, characterized by a limited number of employees and occupying a small share in the total volume of activities in the country or region that is core for the enterprise.

Small business, or small entrepreneurship, is represented by the largest layer of small owners. In terms of their standard of living and social status, they belong to the majority of the population of developed countries. The small size of small enterprises, technological, production and management flexibility allows them to respond in a timely manner to changes in market conditions.

The economic role of small business in developed countries world is determined by the fact that the vast majority of enterprises operate in this sector of the economy, operate most of active population and produces approximately half of GDP.

The place of small business in the economic life of different countries is clearly shown in Table 10.1.

Table 10.1. The share of small enterprises in the economy of the leading countries of the world and Russia (data as of the beginning of 2000)

What do top managers actually do, how exactly does Russian reality contradict the classics of business literature, and what keeps Russian companies afloat, despite their shortcomings? We compare small, medium and large businesses.

Business is an entrepreneurial activity. It is carried out by subjects of a market economy, government bodies with the help of borrowed funds under their own responsibility or their own funds. The main goal of the above activities is to generate profit for the further development of your enterprise.

Large business is one of the foundations of the economy today. Large firms, due to their resources, depend on market conditions to a lesser extent. In other words, large business has a reserve (stock) of resources that can be used in the event of unfavorable events market conditions. In addition, many large firms, due to their high share, influence the market (for example, by changing prices). This, in turn, leads to attempts at monopolization, as it weakens competition. In this regard, it is carried out in relation to the largest companies.

Large business is a rather broad definition. This concept characterizes the unification of several enterprises around a specific technological chain, product group or general group senior managers and owners. The main quantitative indicator of a large association is the volume of sales of services and goods (turnover), since the size of market capitalization and profit largely depends on the accepted behavior of players in the stock market or the accounting system.

It should be noted that large firms make a significant contribution to the development of many industries, in particular, knowledge-intensive (complex) and capital-intensive (requiring large capital expenditures). Often, when assessing the production performance of certain goods, it is clear that it is large businesses that have been able to achieve the greatest progress. Large concerns are able to develop the development and mass production of ships, cars, power equipment, agricultural machinery, semi-finished products and materials (plastic, aluminum, steel). In addition, large enterprises can organize massive production of ore, oil, gas and other raw materials. All this determines a certain ambivalent attitude of the state towards large enterprises. On the one hand, they are trying to limit them through antimonopoly policy. On the other hand, large business is supported as the basis of capital-intensive and knowledge-intensive areas.

In many developed countries, large-scale enterprises occupy a leading place in the economy. Typically, large businesses account for 50 to 60% of GDP (gross domestic product). Undoubtedly, large enterprises dominate many engineering industries(instrument making, electrical industry, transport engineering), chemical industry, fuel and energy complex, non-ferrous and mining industries.

Large business contributes to growth in a number of industries. In particular, this concerns higher education, production software, finance, healthcare, trade and other areas. For example, in America the share of large-scale enterprises accounts for about 47% work force and 60% of GDP.

In Russia, large forms are considered more efficient than the bulk of small and medium-sized companies, both in terms of productivity and profitability. The special position of Russian big business made it possible to concentrate the main financial flows during the period of reforms. As a result, large companies were able to organize fairly strong teams of highly qualified and highly paid managers. At the same time, the size is noticeably smaller than in other developed countries.