The Role of Small Manufacturing Enterprises in Innovation Development of the Real Sector of Economy: Economic and Statistical Study

The aim of the economic and statistical study presented by the authors is the evaluation of the role of small manufacturing enterprises in innovation development of real sector of Russian economy. Compared to developed countries, Russia is characterized by a relatively low innovative activity of small industrial enterprises, as well as by their smaller contribution to employment and to the increase of living standards of the population. At the same time, small industrial enterprises have the highest potential for innovation growth, especially in high-tech economic activities. The similarity of small enterprises’ definition in Russia and in the European Union, the magnitude of innovative activity of small enterprises in Europe, and the development of instruments to support innovative companies make studying the European experience in stimulating the innovative activity of small enterprises in the real sector of the economy in order to adapt it to domestic practice relevant.

The authors reveal the potential areas of innovative activity growth for small manufacturing enterprises on the basis of foreign experience as well as develop recommendations on support for small entrepreneurship in industrial sector. The research is based on Community Innovation Survey (CIS), national reports of European countries on the topic, the federal statistical surveys № 4 and № 2-MP provided by the Federal State Statistics Service.

The study revealed key drivers of European small enterprises’ innovative activity: well-developed cooperation with other organizations, substantial investment in R&D, broad coverage of small business enterprises with support measures. Best European practices of small enterprises’ innovative activity and the analysis of the main barriers of Russian small enterprises’ innovative activity allowed to define the promising directions for supporting small business the real sector of economy of Russia: developing modernization programmes for enterprises, extending the access to borrowed financial sources, developing cooperation ties between small business enterprises. The authors highlighted growth points of innovative activity of small manufacturing enterprises that can be taken into account while developing support measures in order to increase small business’ innovative activity, create new jobs and provide population employment.

1. Muller P. et al. Annual Report on European SMEs 2020/2021: Digitalisation of SMEs. European Commission; 2021. 185 p. Available from: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2826/120209.

2. Section 502 Small Business Report on the Modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). U.S. Small Business Administration; 2018. 60 p. Available from: https://cdn.advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/20094150/Section-502-Small-Business-Report-on-the-Modernization-of-the-North-American-Free-Trade-Agreement-NAFTA.pdf.

3. Key Small Business Statistics 2020. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Small Business Branch Research and Analysis Directorate; 2020. 33 p. Available from: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/vwapj/KSBS_2020-v2-ENG.pdf/$FILE/KSBS_2020-v2-ENG.pdf.

4. Small Business Counts. December 2020. Australian Government, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman; 2020. 32 p. Available from: https://www.asbfeo.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-11/ASBFEO%20Small%20Business%20Counts%20Dec%202020%20v2_0.pdf.

5. Innovation Activities of Enterprises in the Years 2018–2020. Warszawa, Szczecin: Statistics Poland, Statistical Office in Szczecin; 2021. 120 p.

6. Hollanders H. et al. European Innovation Scoreboard 2020. EU: MERIT; 2020. 98 p. Available from: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/186963.

7. User Guide to the SME Definition. European Union: European Commission, 2015. 60 p. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/conferences/stateaid/sme/smedefinitionguide_en.pdf.

8. Oslo Manual 2018: Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation. The Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities. 4th Edition. Paris, Luxembourg: OECD Publishing; 2018. 258 p. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304604-en.

9. Kuznetsova I.A., Fridlyanova S.Yu. Development of Methodology for Statistical Measurement of Innovative Activity amid Reforming of International Standards. Voprosy Statistiki. 2020;27(1):29-52. (In Russ.) Available from: https://doi.org/10.34023/2313-6383-2020-27-1-29-52.

10. Harmonised Data Collection for the CIS 2018. Final Version (as of 26 April 2018). Eurostat, Unit G4 ‘Innova tion and Information Society’; 2018. 17 p. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/Annexes/inn_cis11_simsci_cy_an2.pdf.

11. Study on the Effectiveness of Public Innovation Support for SMEs in Europe: Final Report. European Commission; 2021. 243 p. Available from: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2826/7745.

12. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. An SME Strategy for a Sustainable and Digital Europe. European Commission; 2020. 19 p. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/communication-sme-strategy-march-2020_en.pdf.

13. Gokhberg L.M. et al. Indicators of Innovative Activity: 2021: Statistical Digest. Moscow: NRU HSE; 2021. 280 p. (In Russ.). Available from: https://issek.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/465578843.pdf (accessed 18.06.2022).

14. Lola I.S. Investment Activity of Industrial Enterprises in Russia in 2019. Moscow: National Research University «Higher School of Economics»; 2020. 15 p. (In Russ.) Available from: https://issek.hse.rudata/2020/10/29/1359053455/Investment_activity_2019.pdf.

15. The Report «Business Climate in Russia in 2016». Moscow: Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; 2017. 122 p. (In Russ.) Available from: https://rspp.ru/document/1/f/9/f9c2ca5f8cd104f8d5d40f2a7b50fced.pdf.

16. The Report «Business Climate in Russia in 2019». Moscow: Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; 2020. 149 p. (In Russ.) Available from: http://media.rspp.ru/document/1/2/c/2cd8e6449df96c264fe0cb9a2cd9d874.pdf.

17. Hervas-Oliver J.-L. et al. The Drivers of SME Innovation in the Regions of the EU. Research Policy. 2021;50(9). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104316.