Regional Development Institutions: Status and Effectiveness (On the Example of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Regions of Southern Russia)

Abstract

The article considers the state and evaluation of the effectiveness of regional development institutions in the field of small and medium-sized enterprises. The relevance and novelty of the research are connected with the process of reforming the institute of development at the federal level – the SME Corporation – and related changes in the regions in the context of the implementation of the national project “Small and Mediumsized Enterprises and Support for Individual Entrepreneurial Initiatives,” as well as the digitalization of the economy. The methodology of the study was a cumulative-comparative regional synthesis with the calculation of statistical and economic-mathematical indicators. A database of the characteristics of the state of SMEs was formed on the basis of open sources of information. Based on it, it was found that due to digitalization, the overlapping functions between the federal and regional levels of SME support have increased. At the same time, the outlines of regional development institutions for SMEs differ by region. The centers providing guarantees, microfinance, and consulting services are common. The system for assessing regional development institutions for SMEs is based on determining the directions of development for the SME sector as a whole. It is proven that this does not reflect the effectiveness of the work of the SME regional development institutions. It is predicted that as the functionality of the digital platform develops, the multiplicity of currently existing regional development institutions for SMEs will die off and build up by analogy with the work of the Multifunctional Center. It is proposed to continue work on the creation of a system for evaluating the effectiveness of work with SMEs. For this purpose, directions for expanding the digital profile of an entrepreneur are proposed. This will allow us to move on to assessing the effectiveness of all federal and regional development institutions at the microlevel.