What is the difference between a medium business and a large one? Which businesses are small, medium, large. Strengths of large business

Small and medium business (SME) is a social, legal and economic category that includes companies and individual entrepreneurs with a small number of employees and profit. Entrepreneurship of this type responds flexibly to changes in market conditions, but needs additional support for development

Small business is a type of entrepreneurship characterized by a small number of employees (up to 100 people), average revenue (up to 800 million rubles per year), emphasis on equity... This is not only an economic, but also a socio-political category, whose representatives are characterized by a special worldview.

Businessmen of this type quickly adapt to new changes and are highly adaptable to any working conditions. SMEs often open up those market edges that look too risky and dangerous. Import of Chinese goods, long-term coatings for nails, making sushi - all this was first mastered by small companies, and only then he tried to crush big business for himself.

There are over 6 million small businesses in the United States, each generating up to $ 10 million in revenue annually. These organizations employ about a third of the entire working-age population with permanent or temporary work. It is from here that the notorious "middle class" is formed, which constitutes the backbone of the country's economic well-being.

RF: legislative consolidation of small business

In our country, there is Federal Law No. 209 of 24.07.2007 "On the development of small and medium-sized ...", which defines the basic principles for classifying a company in this category. Requirements for organizational form, the average number of employees and revenue (maximum). The maximum income that an organization can receive is subject to revision by the Government of the Russian Federation, the current Resolution is valid from August 1, 2016. Information about all individual entrepreneurs and organizations belonging to this category is collected in special Registry.

The main signs of a small business

The above Federal Law lists different requirements for which this or that enterprise falls into the required category. Legal entities cannot have the total share of participation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, foreign firms, religious charities, public associations over 25%. In addition, the company cannot be owned by other companies that are not SMEs in the amount of more than 49%.

In the 1st half of 2016, about 218,500 small enterprises were created in Russia, while 242,200 companies left the market. Just a year ago, the trend was different: instead of one organization that left the market, two new firms appeared. The largest number of them is in the Central Federal District - 1,636,987. The record holder for the number of SMEs is Moscow: 451,979 micro-organizations, 170,000 entrepreneurs: comparable to the population of a small European country.

Who is the engine of small business in Russia?

Approximately every 10 able-bodied people in the Russian Federation work for themselves. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of self-employed (about 70%) are not registered as individual entrepreneurs and operate illegally. The reluctance to formalize the status is associated with bureaucracy, high contributions to the FIU and uncertainty about their own future. Another factor is that people simply do not see where their money is going, which causes legal nihilism.

Small and micro businesses are based on the following areas:

1. Construction, renovation and decoration (at least 20%);
2. Programming, computer repair and related industries (about 11%);
3. Interior design (10%);
4. Hairdressing and beauty services at home (6%);
5. Tutoring (5%).

Small business in Russia - powerless and illegal?

In the Russian Federation, about a third of the population are citizens who are of working age, are not registered as unemployed, but are not registered in any enterprises either. Approximately half of these people are interrupted by odd jobs, people have been employed in organizations for years, but receive an "envelope salary." This is more typical for the province, where there are no other conditions for employment and employment.

However, another 8-9 million are representatives of small "gray" businesses who work either in splendid isolation or in small teams. Compare this with the number of legal individual entrepreneurs - 3.7 million people - and we get real figure the shadow market. After all, all the money that the self-employed rescue is in the economy, but for objective reasons cannot be invested in banks, equipment and further development own business.

Small business problems in Russia

1. Difficult access to support, subsidies, loans, new technologies;
2. External administrative measures government agencies(high fines for violations of the law);
3. Difficult competition with large organizations in certain areas (trade, production, transport);
4. Inappropriate tax policy, drawing too many resources out of the new venture.

Differences between small and medium-sized businesses

MB - mainly self-employment or seasonal employment of workers to perform unskilled tasks: harvesting, transportation, packing. A company or individual entrepreneur is localized in one locality and collects a small profit. Medium business is the obligatory attraction of a larger number of personnel (both qualified and unskilled workers), investments, active investment in the development of the enterprise.

Summary

So, small business is a pioneer in those areas in which it is difficult and risky for the state and large companies to invest. People come up with original models, and although many entrepreneurs "burn out", some businessmen earn start-up capital for further growth.

Real help from the state should consist in creating conditions under which it will be easier for self-employed to legalize than to work in a “gray” way. In other words, people just need to be left alone for a while and wait to see what happens.

Small and medium business are concepts that are often viewed in a single context. However, it is not always correct to identify them.

Small Business Facts

Term "small business" can be used both in an informal context and in the provisions of regulatory enactments. As for the first option for its use, in many respects it is carried out based on the subjective perception of a specific person of the peculiarities of conducting commercial activities on an appropriate scale. In most cases, people tend to understand as such a completely modest entrepreneurial activity, often carried out on an individual basis. A person who has a small shop, kiosk, workshop, in the understanding of Russians, is the owner of a “small business”.

However, there are also legal criteria for classifying certain commercial activities in the category in question. Based on the provisions of Federal Law No. 209 dated July 24, 2007, as well as Resolution No. 702 dated July 13, 2015, enterprises are classified into micro, small and medium-sized, depending on:

• on the number of employees;
• from annual revenue.

In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Law No. 209 and Resolution No. 702, it is legitimate to refer to small enterprises as those firms in which:

• 15-100 people work;
• the size of the annual revenue is 120-800 million rubles.

Obviously, not every owner of a small shop or workshop is able to build a business that meets the above criteria. If the indicators of his commercial activities do not match those listed above, from a legal point of view, his firm should be classified as a micro-enterprise.

Thus, a Russian entrepreneur can de facto call even his smallest company a “small business”. But in order to comply with this de jure status, one still needs to try to bring its indicators to those established by law. Otherwise, you will have to be content with the status of a “micro-enterprise”.

Medium Business Facts

In turn, the concept "Medium business" can also be understood at the level of everyday, subjective perception or revealed in regulations... Regarding the first aspect, it is customary to understand a “medium” company in Russia as a company that, on the one hand, is not too large-scale, and on the other, plays a very noticeable role in the economy of a city or district. This can be, relatively speaking, not one small store or workshop, but a network of several organizations of the corresponding type.

The legislative criteria for classifying firms as medium-sized ones are also spelled out in the provisions of Federal Law No. 209 and Resolution No. 702. According to them, a "medium-sized business" is an enterprise in which:

• 101-250 employees work;
• annual revenue - from 800 million to 2 billion rubles.

In turn, if a Russian entrepreneur opens even the most modest chain of stores or workshops on a city or district scale, then, in principle, his brand can already be considered as meeting the above criteria for classifying it as a medium-sized business.

Comparison

From the point of view of everyday perception of both categories, this is, firstly, the significance, and secondly, the scale. Moreover, both criteria are very subjective. In turn, from the point of view of the firm's compliance with legislative characteristics, a medium-sized business can be, strictly speaking, 2.5 to 16.67 times larger than a small one, in terms of state size or in terms of revenue.

table

So, we figured out what is the difference between a small business and a medium business. Let's display the criteria we have identified in the table.

Small businesses are small and medium-sized businesses. An organization that meets the criteria approved by law can obtain this status. Companies from the list of SMEs are exempted from inspections and have the advantages and benefits of accounting and tax accounting, participation in public procurement.

Let's figure out which organizations and individual entrepreneurs in 2020 fit the definition of a small business.

The main criteria for small businesses

• fall within the income limit;
• fall within the limit on the number of employees (the number of small businesses should not exceed 100 people);
• fall within the limit on the share of participation of other companies in the authorized capital.

Small businesses are considered companies and entrepreneurs regardless of the tax regime, if they meet the conditions. These can be firms and individual entrepreneurs on the STS, UTII, patent, OSN.

From 01.08.2016, the calculation of the maximum income for the past year includes not just all cash receipts, but all income from the tax return. Here are the criteria for classifying an enterprise as small in the form of a table.

Table 1. Indicators of income and number of employees.

Another significant factor is the share of participation in the capital. Let's supplement the criteria for a small business 2020.

Table 2. Shares in equity.

The number of employees in 2020 is determined on the basis of the average headcount, a report on which is submitted annually to the tax office.

As for the shares in the authorized capital, Federal Law No. 209 dated July 24, 2007 provides for exceptions. Limits do not apply to:

• shareholders of the high-tech (innovative) sector of the economy;
• participants of the Skolkovo project;
• companies that practically use the latest technology developed by their founders - budgetary or scientific institutions;
• companies whose founders are included in the government list of persons providing state support for innovation.

But income for the past tax period is assessed by tax returns.

The Federal Tax Service has explained what small and medium-sized businesses are: the criteria for assigning 2020 are contained in a letter dated 18.08.2016 No. 14-2-04 / [email protected].

Small business audits 2020

For such enterprises, there are shorter inspection times. Any regulatory body can inspect a small business entity for no longer than 50 hours per year. And for micro-enterprises, the maximum period is 15 hours per year.

For 2 years (from 01.01.2016 to 31.12.2018) "kids" were given supervisory holidays. Such a benefit for small companies and individual entrepreneurs was established by Federal Law No. 246-FZ dated July 13, 2015. But this only applied to scheduled inspections. If a complaint is received from a consumer or government agencies have information about a company's violation of the law, the inspectors will come with an audit.

The period of validity of the "supervisory vacation" established by Federal Law No. 246-FZ, which expired at the end of 2018, was extended for 2019 and 2020 by the Federal Law, it is published on the official portal of legal documentation. But it must be borne in mind that supervisory vacations do not apply to inspections carried out by the method of risk-based control, and this method is used by such departments as the Federal Tax Service, the Ministry of Emergencies, FAS, Rosprirodnadzor, Rosalkogolregulirovanie and Rospotrebnadzor. Consequently, the SME entity is not exempt from inspections of these departments.

In addition, there are no supervisory vacations for those enterprises that are engaged in licensed activities:

• banks;
• insurers;
• CHOPs;
• subsoil users;
• pharmaceutical companies;
• carriers;
• and many others ( full list of 52 points is given in Article 12 of the Federal Law dated 04.05.2011 No. 99-FZ "On licensing certain types of activities").

Proof of status is not required for small businesses

The organization does not need to be separately registered and receive confirmation that your company is an SME. The status is also saved automatically in the future. It is enough that the company or entrepreneur meets the listed conditions. Moreover, even if within one or two years you exceed the established limits, the status of the enterprise will remain. A change in status occurs only when the maximum indicators for the number of employees, the amount of income or shares in capital are not met for three consecutive calendar years (part 4 of article 4 of the Federal Law No. 209).

Deposits are now insured

From 01.01.2019, the deposit insurance rule applies to small businesses as well. But in order to claim reimbursement of deposits, the company must be entered in the register of SMEs. This is what

Despite some common features, in practice, the actual activities of entrepreneurs differ greatly. This is due to the fact that in certain types of business there are various competitive advantages and risks, the implementation of the first and overcoming the second forces entrepreneurs to modify the mechanisms of their business. There are features in the mechanisms legal regulation and legal support entrepreneurial activity in different types of business.

A modern market economy is characterized by a complex combination of industries of various sizes - large, with a tendency to monopolize the economy and medium and small enterprises that arise in industries that do not require significant capital, equipment and cooperation of many workers. The size of enterprises depends on the specifics of industries, their technological characteristics, and the effect of economies of scale. There are industries associated with high capital intensity and significant production volumes, a large share of fixed assets among the costs of an entrepreneur. Large businesses are concentrated in these industries. These include the automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, metallurgical industries, most of the extractive industries. The fastest growing sectors are those that determine scientific and technological progress, since they accumulate financial, production and human resources faster than others. In industries that require small capital costs, where the share of personnel costs in the costs of entrepreneurs is high, small size of enterprises is preferable.

Firms of different sizes play different roles in ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of a market economy, have various risks and benefits. There are large, medium and small businesses.

Big business defies simple definition Usually, the term "big business" is applied to such giants as IBM and General Motors. Among the largest companies in the world in different time included such companies as General Electric (USA), Roal Dutch (UK - Denmark), Coca-Cola (USA) ,. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (Japan), Exxon (USA). This list also included one Russian company, Gazprom. The main element of the capitalist economy, the bearer of the evolutionary process in the economy is to ensure the stability of the market economy and its main components: prices, production structure. Most of the products brought by the mass are produced today on them. It is thanks to large enterprises that business is developing, which is based on mechanisms to reduce production costs. Large firms are carriers of scientific and technological progress, they accumulate and then introduce methods of rational entrepreneurship. In addition, most modern large firms are international companies operating in global markets, which allows them to take advantage of the relatively cheap resources of the world economy by locating different stages of production in different countries. These properties of big business are most clearly manifested in the activities of modern transnational corporations. The latter, due to the huge concentration of resources and the centralization of financial and material flows within the corporation, are able to create for themselves an effective market and social infrastructure. Coming to less developed countries, transnational corporations themselves create communications, form a model of behavior for workers and consumers, and actively influence domestic and international legislation.

Along with competitive advantages, large business also has weaknesses... The growth of a firm is often accompanied by a decline in the effectiveness of its management. Very often, large firms have the ability to regulate the demand and prices for their products, which reduces incentives to increase efficiency and makes large business inflexible. These characteristics of large firms create opportunities for sustainable business development in medium and small sizes (Table 1.1).

Table 5. Strengths and weaknesses of large business

If the concept of big business is mainly an economic concept. The legislation of both foreign countries and Russian does not specifically highlight the concept of "big business". Small business is defined both economically and legally. As the experience of countries with highly developed economies shows, it is the most important component of a market economy. V modern conditions the role of small business in the market economy is growing.

For often in a small business, you can find family business: it is inherited by the relatives of the owner, which dictates the direct involvement of the latter in all the activities of the enterprise.

The functions of a small enterprise, first of all, are economic, determined by its role as, first of all, an employer; secondly - a manufacturer of products and services, thirdly - a catalyst of scientific and technological progress, fourthly - a taxpayer, fifthly - an agent of market relations.

An equally important function, in my opinion, is the social one. So, through small forms of entrepreneurial activity, many people reveal and realize their creative potential. Basically, it uses the labor of socially vulnerable groups of the population (women, students, disabled people, pensioners, refugees, etc.), which cannot find employment in large enterprises. Small enterprises are the main place of industrial training and a kind of "testing ground" for young personnel.

But all of the listed advantages of small business do not manifest themselves automatically. The problem is that small businesses are generally much more at risk than large firms. The advantages and weaknesses of small business are presented in table 1.2.

Table 6. Advantages and weaknesses of small business

Small businesses are unstable. Half of the enterprises die in the first period of their existence, but immediately their place is taken by newly emerging firms. The level of bankruptcy of firms is especially high in the first three years.

Small business is highly dependent on market conditions. The small size does not allow the creation of modern structures and effective specialized management within the company. Most small firms are characterized by unity of ownership and management. Most relationships within the firm and business partners are based on informal relationships. Small firms often turn to informal resource markets, finance business with private loans, use own funds and funds of friends and relatives. It is not uncommon in small business to use the informal and even the shadow labor market (attracting illegal immigrants, minors, etc.). Competitive advantages and the profitability of production is provided at the expense of implicit costs, which are often based on high (higher than in large enterprises) labor intensification and working hours, and low resource costs in comparison with large business. All this determines the extremely unstable and highly risky nature of small business.

In short, the main difference between small businesses is that regardless of their country of origin, in most cases it is a typical intuitive business. Without active support from big business and the state, small business is a source of economic and social risks. Therefore, the legislation of developed countries distinguishes small business in a special category and is actively supporting small business.

In the modern market economy, in addition to large and small businesses, there remains a significant layer of medium-sized businesses. As well as large business, medium-sized businesses do not have a special legal status. It occupies an intermediate position between small and large business, located at opposite poles of the economy, and plays an extremely important role. He acts as an intermediary and liaison between large and small businesses, between small businesses and the state.

The small size of firms, the instability and high riskiness of small business do not allow it to establish stable direct links with big business. Medium business takes on this role, creating a complex network of various in form, legal and organizational design of relations with both large and small businesses.

The sphere of activity of small and medium-sized businesses is very extensive. The main areas of activity of small businesses are trade and catering, agriculture, industry and construction. However, it should be noted that the most common type is trade and brokering (over 70%). About every tenth entrepreneur is engaged in production activities, about the same amount is provided to the population with transport, construction and domestic services are engaged in the processing of agricultural products. A small number of small businesses are employed in the information, medical and real estate services market.

The main consumers of products and services of small and medium-sized businesses are the local population, as well as residents of nearby cities and settlements... In addition, their products and services are used by private firms and entrepreneurs, government agencies and organizations, trade and intermediary organizations.

The important role of small and medium-sized businesses is that it provides a significant number of new jobs, saturates the market with new goods and services, satisfies the numerous needs of large enterprises, and also produces special goods and services.

In the existing conditions of market relations in Russia, small and medium-sized businesses are one of the most promising forms of management.

The main features of small and medium-sized businesses are: activities in the economic sphere with the aim of making a profit, economic freedom, innovative nature, the sale of goods and services on the market, flexibility, as well as the limited scope of its causes a special, personal nature of the relationship between the owner and the employee, which allows you to achieve real motivation of personnel and a higher degree of satisfaction with work. Relatively small markets for resources and sales do not allow the firm to have any serious influence on prices and total industry sales of goods. In small business, there is a personified nature of the relationship between the entrepreneur and clients, i.e. a small business is designed to serve a relatively narrow circle of consumers. Small businesses rely mainly on relatively small bank loans, their own funds and the “informal” capital market (money from friends, relatives, etc.). Also in small business there is a high share of working capital compared to the main fund. If for large enterprises this ratio is 80:20, then for small ones it is 20:80.

Small and large firms differ not only in size. They interact with the market in different ways.

Small business

Small firms (small business) strongly depend on the situation in the market, and almost cannot change this situation, even if it is unfavorable for them. Each of the small firms does not have enough resources for this, and they are almost unable to coordinate their activities, at least on most issues. Even their joint lobbying of their interests in political life is usually less effective for them than for large firms, which can mobilize large resources for this. As a result, small firms are much more likely to go broke. Thus, in Russia, the rate of retirement of small businesses (the share of firms that ceased to exist in a year) is 8% versus 1% in the economy as a whole.

At the same time, small business in many countries provides a huge part of employment (which is very important with high unemployment), is more sensitive to competition and consumer demands, and most importantly, it is an incubator of entrepreneurship. Because of this, in most countries, society supports small businesses, persuading the state to impose reduced taxes on this business, provide it with preferential loans and other types of assistance in order to strengthen the resilience of small businesses. As for Russia, small business is underdeveloped here, primarily due to insignificant support from the state. The number of people employed in small businesses in our country is about 10% of all employed, and its share in the gross domestic product is even less.

Big business

Large firms (big business) less dependent on market conditions due to their large resources, more precisely, "Organizational fat" those. a reserve stock of resources that companies can use in the event of adverse conditions. Moreover, many of the large companies can influence the market due to their high market share. Thus, a decrease or increase in nickel prices by the Russian company Norilsk Nickel changes the situation on the entire world nickel market. Such opportunities to influence the market lead to attempts by large companies to monopolize it (see paragraphs 2.6 and 12.4), thereby weakening one of the foundations of the market - competition. Therefore, the state pursues an anti-monopoly policy in relation to the largest companies (see Chapter 12).

At the same time, large companies make a large contribution to the production of many goods, especially complex (knowledge-intensive) and requiring large capital expenditures (capital-intensive). “As soon as we look at the indicators of production of individual goods, it turns out that the greatest progress has been made ... by the large concerns,” wrote Schumpeter. Only large companies are able to organize the development and mass production of aerospace equipment, cars and ships, agricultural machinery and power equipment, as well as mass production of raw materials (oil, gas, ore) and mass production of materials and semi-finished products (steel, aluminum, plastic). Hence the ambivalent attitude of the state towards large companies: on the one hand, they seek to restrict them (through antimonopoly policy), and on the other hand, they are supported as pillars of knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive industries.

Big and small business in entrepreneurship

It is a collection of large, medium and small firms. The statistics of most countries clearly classifies usually large and small business, while medium business occupies a sort of intermediate position. The mix of firms of different sizes is not the same in different sectors of the economy and is primarily determined by economies of scale.

The role and place of big business in a market economy

In most of the developed countries of the world, big business occupies a leading place in the economy. As a rule, it accounts for more than 50% (and often more than 60%) of GDP. It undoubtedly dominates in many branches of mechanical engineering (in general and transport engineering, in the electrical industry and instrument making), in the chemical industry, in ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, in and in the extractive industry. The concentration of production is also growing in many branches of the service sector. This is especially true for such service industries as higher education, healthcare, finance, manufacturing software, information services, transport, trade, etc. So, in the United States, for example, the share of large business (statistics refers to large enterprises with 500 or more employees) account for about 60% of GDP and 47% of the total work force... The sales volumes and the scale of capitalization (i.e. the market value of the share capital) of individual largest companies amount to tens and even hundreds of billions of dollars and are quite comparable with the GDP of many countries of the world. The scale of capitalization of the General Electric corporation, for example, was about $ 380 billion in 2002, the Exxon Mobil corporation - $ 300 billion, Optirui - $ 255 billion, Intel - $ 204 billion.

But in Russia the role of big business is even higher than in other countries. In 2002, enterprises of large and medium-sized businesses (there are no separate statistics on large business in Russia) accounted for almost 89% of GDP. This, however, is not an advantage of the Russian economy, but its disadvantage and speaks of the insufficient development of small business. The level of capitalization of the largest Russian companies, which does not exceed tens of billions of dollars (Gazprom, RAO UES of Russia, LUKoil).

The role and place of small business in a market economy

Small business plays an important role in today's economy. V different countries the criteria for classifying companies as small businesses are different. In the United States, according to official statistics, small businesses include all enterprises employing less than 500 people. In Russia, small businesses include commercial organizations, in the authorized capital of which the share of participation state property RF and subjects of the Federation, municipal property, property of public and religious organizations, charitable and other foundations does not exceed 25% and whose average number of employees does not exceed the following limit values: in industry, construction and transport - 100 people, in agriculture and scientific and technical sphere - 60, in retail and consumer services for the population - 30, in wholesale trade, other industries and in the implementation of other types of activities - 50 people.

Small businesses are still underdeveloped in Russia. In 2002, there were only 882.3 thousand small enterprises in the country with 7.2 million people employed in them (11% of the total number of people employed), which is incomparable with the world average level of 40-60% of the total number of people employed. In 2002, small enterprises in Russia produced only 11% of the country's GDP, while in the USA, more than 40% of GDP.

Small businesses in Russia are extremely unevenly distributed across the country. So. in the early 2000s. Moscow accounted for about 25% of these enterprises, St. Petersburg - 10%, they employed more than 25% of the total number of workers in small enterprises. At the same time, less than 0.5% of the total number of such enterprises were registered in approximately 1/3 of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

The distribution of small businesses across sectors of the Russian economy is very uneven. In 2002, almost 80% of those employed in small business accounted for almost 80% of those employed in small businesses: 39% of employed were in trade and public catering, 20% in industry, and 18.6% in construction.

The weak development of small business in Russia is largely due to the underdevelopment of mechanisms for its state support. In many developed countries there is a well-developed system of state support for small businesses. So. in the United States, the state actively supports small business. In order to support small businesses, back in 1953, a special federal agency, the Small Business Administration (AMB), was created in the United States to provide financial, advisory, and organizational assistance to small entrepreneurs. AMB has over 100 branches in state capitals and major cities. AMB provides many services to entrepreneurs free of charge. AMB also provides entrepreneurs with loans from its own sources (no more than $ 150 thousand). participates in loans of commercial banks (if these loans are in the amount of at least 350 thousand dollars), provides state guarantees in the amount of up to 90% of the loan amount (but not more than the amount of 350 thousand dollars).

In addition to the activities of AMB, small business representatives receive support from regional executive authorities, under which there are 19 thousand commissions on economic development... The main goal of these commissions is to promote business development in a specific region, increase the production of promising goods and services that are in demand in this particular area. These commissions provide small businesses with the following types of support:

• direct business support: financial (provision of government loans and credit guarantees), in personnel training;
• technical assistance, including the provision and payment of consulting and design services; legal, organizational and financial, engineering development, marketing, etc .;
• administrative services: rent of premises, accounting services, administrative services.

Small business has many advantages over large business - it is more mobile, more quickly adapts to the challenges of the external environment, scientific, technical and managerial innovations are introduced faster in many small firms. The disadvantages of small businesses include fewer opportunities to raise funds.