Identification and characteristics of small and medium-sized businesses in rural areas of Russia

One of the areas of public administration is a targeted and efficient use of budgetary funds allocated to support the population, businesses and infrastructure of the territories. It requires constant updating of the characteristics of the object of managerial influence and receiving feedback. Without accurate identification of the target management object, knowledge of its properties, as well as development trends, high-quality management is impossible. Currently, Russia is implementing state programs for the development of rural areas and the development of agriculture (“Comprehensive development of rural areas”, “Development of agriculture and regulation of markets in agricultural products, raw materials and foodstuffs”). In scientific works, the role of small business in economic development, in rural development as well as in ensuring food security is universally recognized. However, management bodies, business analysts, researchers do not have information about how small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)s are developing in rural areas of Russia. This work is one of the first to raise issues of identification of SMEs in rural areas. Based on the developed methodology, rural SMEs were identified from available open sources by category, their characteristics were given in terms of the dynamics of the number, density of businesses, sectoral and regional structure, and their support in the form of subsidies and grants was analyzed. State support failed to stabilize their number, which decreased from 2019 to 2021. Agriculture is not a leader in the sectoral structure of SMEs (in terms of the number of businesses), occupying a significant third place after trade and transport. However, it is this industry that accounts for the main support. The total share of trade, transport, agriculture in all regions is at least 40% of the total number of rural SMEs. Thus, support for these industries will have a beneficial effect on the development of most small businesses in rural areas.

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