PROBLEMS OF STIMULATING SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESS AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Abstract

One of the problems of the slow development of small and mediumsized businesses in transitive economies is the lack of coherence between the business development programs implemented by local authorities and the real needs of business entities. This result was confirmed on the basis of a survey of small and medium-sized businesses (150 respondents) on the example of one of the local communities of Ukraine. It is proved that the low efficiency of entrepreneurship development programs is due to the methodological flaw that persists in the formation of strategies of community development at different levels. Building the analysis of existing problems and the choice of community development priorities on the methodological principles of environmental analysis, including SWOT analysis, further adjusting strategies using dynamic strategic analysis and balancing of the territorial community project portfolio are not carried out, as a result of which programmatic indicators of goals achievement areusually not achieved. This is based on the example of an analysis of five topical development strategies that have been developed using a common methodology, each of which supports entrepreneurship as one of the priority operational goals. In order to increase the efficiency of local business development with the support of the authorities, it is proposed to combine the methodology of strategic community development management and the methodological principles of project management.Another problem is that most business support programs are not synchronized with the expected results of regional and territorial development strategies. The main principle «the principle of integrity, which is ensured by the development of mutually agreed forecast and program documents of economic and social development of Ukraine, certain sectors of the economy and certain administrative-territorial units for short and medium term and longer period», which is enshrined in the Law of Ukraine On state forecasting and development of programs of economic and social development of Ukraine.To implement this principle, regional authorities and local governments are endowed with appropriate powers in the field of small and medium business development, including: 1) determination of regional and local priorities and types of state support taking into account national priorities; 2) development of projects of regional and local programs of small and medium business development, ensuring their implementation taking into account national priorities, national and regional socio-economic, environmental, cultural and other features, monitoring the implementation of such programs. However, today there are no such tools, and therefore at the stage of program development are laid uncoordinated and unattainable planned results and indicators. These problems of application of programtargeted management  in the mechanisms of stimulating small business are exacerbated by the lack of connection with development strategies. After all, programs of different levels are just a tool to achieve strategic and operational goals of strategies. In the absence of such a connection, the value of both strategic planning, the results of which become declarative, and the program-targeted  management system, which consumes resources aimed primarily at obtaining products of projects and programs, the set of which does not create proper results, without which it is impossible to change the state of the system, for which strategies and programs are developed.