The development of small business in Russia has a short history in the economic development of the country. Small business dates back to 1990, when it began to form through the creation of limited liability companies, which became part of their successors to previously created cooperatives.
Small business is a business that relies on the entrepreneurial activity of small enterprises and small firms that are not part of production and industrial associations and corporations. The subjects of entrepreneurial activity of small and medium-sized businesses include commercial organizations with the formation of a legal entity, as well as individuals engaged in commercial activities without the formation of legal entities, but with the inclusion of individual entrepreneurs in the unified state register , as well as peasant and farm enterprises.
In the first half of the nineties, the development of small business in Russia received a new round due to the massive process of privatization of state enterprises. The redistribution of state property further contributed to the development of entrepreneurship. In 1995, the federal law “On State Support of Small Business in the Russian Federation” was adopted, which regulated general issues and the development of small business in Russia. Also, organizational and legal norms, criteria for small enterprises, including aspects of state support for small businesses, taxation issues and many others were determined.
The development of any form of entrepreneurial activity depends on two conditions - on the economic situation in the country and the ability of the object of entrepreneurial activity to use the rights granted to it for further implementation of economic goals and profit. These factors act on the development of a small business, which is very sensitive to the conditions created for it.
The history of Russian entrepreneurship in a short time has passed all stages of evolutionary development. As a result, certain capitals were formed that contributed to the expansion of investment in all spheres of the national economy.
Currently, the development of small business in Russia is included in the program of demonopolization of all structures of the country's economy. At this stage, the disaggregation of large-scale monopoly industries is envisaged, through the separation of production units into independent small organizations, as well as the creation of subsidiaries. The state program has also developed an infrastructure for supporting small business represented by a network of the largest Russian banks that have been operating in the lending market for many years, including small and medium-sized businesses. Among the banks that will issue soft loans to small businesses are Sberbank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Bank Uralsib and others.
To date, a group of world experts identified a number of reasons that impede the development of small business in Russia:
- The difficult economic and financial situation in the country, the decline in production, the weak legal protection of entrepreneurs, the severance of economic ties.
- Low level of legal and economic knowledge of entrepreneurs themselves, poor business ethics, both in business and in the public sector.
- Negative attitude towards entrepreneurs of a part of the population.
- Weak actions of state support in the field of small business.
- Decreased purchasing power of the population for mass production.
However, as world experience shows, small businesses are second to none in their ability to revive the economy and get it out of the crisis.