Associations of organizations. Business associations An association of independent companies or financial institutions that

On the Throughout the development of market relations, organizations have striven for various kinds of interactions and associations. These are strategic alliances, consortia, cartels, syndicates, pools, associations, conglomerates, trusts, concerns, industrial holdings, financial and industrial groups. Despite the absence in the Civil Code of Russia (as well as other countries) of the above names of organizational forms of company integration to designate a specific legal entity, all these forms of associations actually take place, which means there is a certain management structure for such associations. Therefore, the manager needs to know what they are.

Concern- a form of association (usually diversified) of independent organizations linked through a system of participation in capital, financial ties, agreements on community of interests, patent and license agreements, close production cooperation.

The main features of the concerns are as follows:

This is one of the toughest forms of company integration. Within the framework of this form, the activities of the organizations forming it are fully controlled.

Within the framework of the concern, financial and economic management, scientific and technical policy, pricing, and the use of production facilities are centralized.

The parent company is usually organized as a holding company, which is the majority shareholder of the subsidiaries.

The companies included in the concern remain nominally independent legal entities in the form of joint-stock companies or other companies, but in fact are subordinate to a single business manager.

Large concerns unite from 10 to 100 or more organizations, including production, research, financial, sales, etc. For example, General Motors unites 126 plants in the United States, 13 - in Canada, production and sales divisions in 36 countries. The concern's products are sold through its own distribution networks and dealer networks, which comprise more than 15 thousand: firms.

Conglomerate- a form of company integration, uniting under a single financial control a whole network of heterogeneous enterprises, which arises as a result of the merger of various firms, regardless of their horizontal and vertical integration.

The main features of the conglomerate:

The merged organizations, as a rule, retain their legal and industrial and economic independence, but turn out to be completely financially dependent on the parent company.

The main levers of conglomerate management are financial and economic methods. ;

Conglomerates are characterized by significant decentralization of governance.

The conglomerate is Mitsubishi, Hanson and others. For example, Hanson acquires technologically simple firms in stable market sectors, seeks to reduce production costs in the acquired company and strictly controls the work of managers, making sure that they fit into the allotted budget. Thanks to austerity and control measures, the conglomerate is getting good results from once unprofitable businesses.

Consortium- a temporary union of economically independent firms, the purpose of which may be different types of their entrepreneurial activities, more often for a joint struggle for obtaining orders and their joint execution.

The main feature of the consortium: the participants, as a rule, do not form any organizational structures, with the exception of a small apparatus (usually the board of directors of the consortium).

An example is the Airbas Indastri consortium, which controls about 30% of the civil aircraft market. The consortium members were 4 leading aircraft building companies in Western Europe: Aerospatiale (France), Daimler Chrysler Aerospacte (Germany), Brtish Aerospacte (Great Britain) and CASA (Spain). The purpose of creation is the design and manufacture of aircraft. The consortium is registered as a legal entity under French law in the organizational and legal form “association for economic interests”. This organizational and legal form was chosen due to the fact that it does not imply the formation of a single capital by the participants, there is no need to reflect profit or loss, to submit financial statements. The consortium has its own central management office, numbering 2,700 people, dealing with management, marketing, sales and after-sales service of aircraft.

A new type of consortium has emerged, in which states are participants, for example, INTELSAT, the International Consortium for Satellite Communications.

Cartel- a form of integration of firms of the same industry, which enter into an agreement among themselves concerning various aspects of commercial activity: agreements on prices, sales markets, volumes of production and sales, assortment, terms of employment. Cartel agreements often exist behind the scenes, in the form of secret clauses or "gentlemen's agreements."

One of the features of cartels is the existence of a system of coercion, including the identification of violations and sanctions against violators. Under antitrust laws, in most countries cartel agreements are prohibited if they cover more than a specified percentage of the market, excluding agriculture.

Syndicate- This is a kind of cartel agreement; a form of integration of homogeneous industrial organizations created for the purpose of marketing products through a common sales office, organized in the form of a special trading company (joint-stock company with limited liability, etc.), with which each of the syndicate participants concludes an agreement on the same terms | sales their products.

Pool- a form of integration of organizations, characterized in that the profit of all participants in the pool goes to the general fund (boiler) and then is distributed among them in accordance with the previously established proportion. The combination of organizations in the form of a pool is usually temporary. Let's note some types of pools:

Exchange- pooling of funds to raise or lower the price of shares on the stock exchange and | in a speculative game.

Trade- an association in which the participants agree on the accumulation and delay in warehouses of any goods until the moment most profitable for its sale at increased prices as a result of an artificially created shortage. This kind of action is very familiar to Russians.

Trust- a form of integration, in which the organizations included in it merge into a single production complex and lose their legal, industrial and commercial independence. Leadership is carried out from a single center. The total profit of the trust is allocated in accordance with the equity participation of the individual enterprises.

A feature of trusts is that this is the most rigid integration of all those considered. It brings together all aspects of the economic activity of the organization, and not any party, as in a cartel or syndicate. Organizations are losing their legal, economic, industrial and commercial independence. The trust is distinguished by the homogeneity of its activities, all organizations are subject to a single leadership.

Association- a voluntary association of legal entities or individuals to achieve a common economic, scientific, cultural or any other, usually non-commercial goal. This is the mildest form of integration. The Association is not responsible for the obligations of its members, but the members of the Association bear subsidiary liability for its obligations in the amount and in the manner prescribed by the constituent documents.

Strategic alliance- an agreement on the cooperation of two or more independent organizations to achieve certain commercial goals, to obtain synergy of combined and complementary strategic resources of organizations. Today it is the most promising form of integration. It is predicted that in the 21st century they will become the most important weapon of competition. Forging alliances is the fastest and most inexpensive way to implement a global strategy. In strategic alliances, it never comes to merging organizations. Within the alliance, strategic planning and management are jointly coordinated, which makes it possible to profitably agree on long-term partnerships. Some of Toshiba's strategic alliances can be cited as an example:

Alliance with Swedish Ericsson, one of the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturers, to develop new communications equipment;

Alliance with Sun Microsystems, a leader in microprocessor manufacturing, to develop portable

Alliance with IBM and Siemens to develop and manufacture high-power memory chips for use in computers.

System of management methods Essence and classification of methods

For an organization to function successfully, it needs to be managed in a systematic and transparent manner. Various management methods are used to achieve these goals.

Control methods are understood as a set of methods and means of influencing the controlling subject on the controlled object to achieve certain goals. Among the methods of management, a special place is occupied by methods of personnel management. These are ways of influencing collectives and individual workers :? the purpose of coordinating their activities in the process of realizing the goals of the organization.

It should be noted that distinguish between management methods and management process methods. The methods of the management process define the ways of performing individual operations, procedures, and works that form the management process, including the rules for defining goals, methods for developing and optimizing management decisions, organizational and practical work for their implementation. These also include methods for performing certain functions: forecasting and planning, organizing regulation and control, etc. In contrast to the methods of the control process, with the help of which only individual work is performed, the methods of control characterize the complete act of influencing the control object.

Of greatest importance is the classification of management methods on the basis of objective laws inherent in social production, taking into account the specifics of relations that develop in the process of joint labor. On this basis, economic, administrative and socio-psychological methods of management are distinguished. All these management methods are organically linked.

In associations of independent enterprises, the members of the company depend on each other, coordinate all or part of the activities, exchange shares, but the rights in the field of management are not transferred to anyone. The organizational structure is symmetrical. Such associations include syndicates, alliances, industrial (commercial, financial, consulting) groups, network organizations.

Syndicate- an association of similar industrial enterprises, created for the purpose of marketing products through a common sales office, organized in the form of a special trading company or partnership (joint-stock company, limited liability company, etc.), with which each of the syndicate participants concludes the same in terms of their terms an agreement for the sale of its products, which also carries out the purchase of raw materials for the participants of the syndicate. The syndicate form is most common in industries with homogeneous mass products: mining, metallurgical, chemical.

The main features of the syndicate:

The syndicate is not a legal entity;

Preservation by the participants of the syndicate of legal, production, but limitation of commercial independence;

A kind of cartel agreement;

Elimination of internal competition among its participants;

Centralization of sales of products of participants through a single sales body (depending on the terms of the agreement through a single sales body, not all, but only a certain part of the products of the syndicate participants may be sold);

The members of the syndicate maintain their own sales network, which is closely connected with the syndicate sales office or company;

Implementation of raw materials procurement for syndicate members through a syndicate sales office or sales company;

General structure of promoting goods and services to markets, sales management, as well as planning in terms of sales and marketing.

Strategic alliance- an agreement on the cooperation of two or more independent firms to achieve certain commercial goals, to obtain synergy of combined and interconnected strategic resources of the companies. The Alliance is an analogue of a syndicate in the financial (investment, banking) sphere.

The main features of the strategic alliance:

Cooperation agreements between firms that go beyond normal trade transactions, but do not lead to a merger; this type of business association is based on the conclusion of medium-term or long-term, bilateral or multilateral agreements;

In a strategic alliance can enter not only suppliers and customers, but also competitors;

Within the framework of strategic alliances, joint coordination (centralization) of strategic planning and management of participants in activities is carried out;

Strategic alliances are created on the basis of horizontal inter-firm cooperation, as well as between companies engaged in related fields of activity and possessing complementary technologies and experience;

The Alliance is usually not a separate legal entity;

Strategic alliances are quite mobile, free for partners, more focused on the future, reduce ambiguity and uncertainty in partnerships, increase stability in the provision of resources and distribution of products and services.

Industrial (commercial, financial, consulting) group- an association of enterprises pursuing a coordinated industrial, commercial, financial or consulting policy. Businesses usually keep general records and manage general finances. Sometimes the members of the group exchange shares of each other or form joint ventures. An industry group option is networking.

Associations of independent enterprises (entrepreneurs) are created when there are several (many) enterprises of the same profile that have and are aware of common interests, goals and are not direct competitors. The relationship between the association and its members is contractual; you can enter and leave the association at any time without the consent of its other members. At the same time, the members of the company do not lose their independence and rights of a legal entity.

Cartel- unification, as a rule, of firms of the same industry, which enter into an agreement among themselves concerning various aspects of the company's commercial activities - on prices, sales markets, volumes of production and sales, assortment, exchange of patents, terms of employment, etc. The purpose of creating a cartel is to make a profit in the common interests of the participants by eliminating or regulating competition between cartel participants, as well as by suppressing external competition.

The main features of the cartel:

Contractual nature of the association;

A form of collusion of a group of producers with the aim of completely or partially eliminating competition between them and obtaining monopoly profits;

Preservation of the ownership rights of the cartel members to their enterprises and the economic, financial and legal independence provided by this;

Consolidation of a number of companies, usually of the same industry and product line;

Joint activities for the sale of products, which may apply to a certain extent to its production;

Regulation in the first place of the marketing of products;

The presence of a system of coercion, including the identification of violations and sanctions for violators.

In accordance with antimonopoly legislation, in most countries cartel agreements are prohibited, except for certain industries (primarily agriculture), and a permitting procedure for their activities has been established in the presence of special conditions. As a rule, cartels associated with fixing prices, dividing the market and limiting output and production capacity, that is, those agreed measures that are aimed at distorting or restricting competition, are prohibited by law.

The ban can be lifted for the following types of cartels:

Cartels with a small market share (for example, within the European Union: if the market share covered by the agreement does not exceed 5% of the production of a certain product and the average annual turnover of the companies participating in the agreement does not exceed ECU 200 million);

Cartels whose activities are based on the development of a new market;

Cartels that benefit the economy of the entire country, such as promoting technological progress;

- "crisis" cartels, that is, cartels that reduce, for example, excess production capacity.

In Western Europe, where there is special legislation dividing cartels into "desirable" and "harmful", there are hundreds of officially registered cartel agreements, not counting those that exist without registration. Cartels are illegal in the United States. Their functions are performed by trade and industrial associations (unions of entrepreneurs), which carry out inter-firm regulation of the market across the industry.

An agreement to form a cartel is not always a written agreement. Cartel agreements often exist behind the scenes, in the form of secret clauses supplementing any official text, or in the oral form of "gentlemen's agreements." A type of cartel is a pool.

Pool- a form of company merger, providing for the consolidation of the funds of its participants for the joint exploitation of a certain part of the market and the distribution of income at the end of the "pool" period, in a predetermined proportion.

The main features of the pool:

An entrepreneurial association formalized by a simple partnership agreement;

The organizational form of integration is one of the forms of monopolistic associations of companies, a kind of cartels;

Pooling of companies is usually temporary;

Within the pool, rules for the distribution of general costs and profits are established;

The profit received by the participants in the pool first goes into the common share ownership of the participants, and then is distributed among them in accordance with the simple partnership agreement.

Consortium- a temporary contractual association of economically independent firms, the purpose of which may be different types of their coordinated entrepreneurial activities, more often for a joint struggle for obtaining orders and their joint execution.

The main features of the consortium:

A consortium can be created with or without a legal entity;

As a rule, within the framework of the consortium, the participants do not form any organizational structures, with the exception of a small apparatus (for example, the board of directors of the consortium);

The organization of the consortium is formalized by an agreement;

The contractual nature of the relationship between the participants, the consortium and the customer, as well as third parties;

The companies that make up the consortium fully retain their economic and legal independence, with the exception of that part of the activity that is related to achieving the goals of the consortium;

The purpose of creating consortia is to unite efforts for the implementation of a specific project, usually in the field of its main activity, the implementation of science and capital-intensive projects, including international ones, or the joint implementation of large financial transactions;

Companies can be part of several consortia at the same time;

Enterprises can participate in a specific consortium with part of their resources, and use the rest in other areas of business.

V network organization some of the functions essential for the business, primarily production, have been transferred on a contract basis to third-party contractors. In networked organizations, information cooperation comes to the fore, and industrial integration complements it.

Conglomerate- organizational form of company integration, uniting under a single financial control a whole network of heterogeneous enterprises, regardless of their horizontal and vertical integration, as well as production community.

The main features of the conglomerate:

Integration of enterprises of various industries without the presence of a production community and target unity;

The merged companies, as a rule, retain their legal and production and economic independence, but are completely financially dependent on the parent company;

Conglomerates are characterized by significant decentralization of governance;

The main levers for managing conglomerates are financial and economic methods, indirect regulation of the activities of divisions by the holding company at the head of the conglomerate;

In the structure of the conglomerate, a special financial core is formed, which, in addition to the holding, includes large financial and investment companies.

One of the types of informal associations in modern conditions is the formation of a multitude clusters, that is, interconnected business units that implement one program based on common competitive advantages. The relationship between the members of the association can be of a different nature: technological, functional, organizational, economic, financial.

The principal characteristic of the cluster is its initial orientation towards the realization of the interests of the territory (territories), in contrast to other types of associations, created based on the interests of their participants.

Another feature of the cluster is manifested in its performance of the economic function of realizing the competitive advantages of the territories external to it. In other associations, either the competitive advantages inherent in one or another of their members are realized, or the competitive advantages that have arisen as a result of integration. The creation of a cluster complements the original advantages due to the emergence of new ones inherent in the cluster itself as a system.

One of the goals of the cluster is either the creation or development of new technologies, products, services. Other types of unions can also have this purpose, but it is not required. Much more important for Russian business units is the optimization of financial flows in order to reduce the loss of earned income “to the side”.

The advantages of a cluster for its members are objective, that is, they do not specifically depend on any of them. Therefore, clusters are potentially more stable than other types of unions.

To the essential characteristics inherent in clusters, as a special type of associations, it is necessary to include, first of all, technological links that are formed between related industries and mediate the movement of material resources between cluster members. Technological ties in the general case are a necessary, simplest form of relations in the conditions of the existing division of labor, mediating economic and organizational ones.

In fact, for a cluster, the initial system-forming links are functional, since a synergistic effect arises in connection with the combination of elements that functionally complement each other. It is functional ties that determine the nature of organizational and economic ties. The role of organizational and economic ties is in the institutionalization of a set of business entities and its transformation into a cluster as some kind of integrity.

The peculiarity of the cluster is that the business units included in it, in the process of their interaction, enhance the competitiveness of other business units. A chain reaction of increasing competitiveness arises as a result of the inclusion in the cluster of enterprises that realize the natural competitive advantages of territories and form new advantages through the activities of supporting enterprises.

CONTROL QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. Give a definition of integration.

2. Identify the main forms of commercial integration.

3. What organizational forms of integration are associations of dependent enterprises?

4. Give a definition of a holding.

5. What are the ways to create holdings?

6. What is the purpose of creating holdings?

7. What is a concern?

8. What are the characteristics of the concern?

9. Why are the enterprises of the concern dependent?

10. What is the structure of a multinational company?

11. What is a trust?

12. What are the features of the trust?

13. Are all enterprises in the trust subordinate to the parent company?

14. Give the definition of a financial and industrial group.

15. What organizational forms of integration are associations of partially dependent enterprises?

16. What is the definition of a syndicate?

17. What are the characteristics of the syndicate?

18. Give a definition of a strategic alliance.

19. What are the features of a strategic alliance?

20. Describe the essence of combining enterprises into an industrial (commercial, financial, consulting) group.

21. What organizational forms of integration are associations of independent enterprises?

22. Give the definition of a cartel.

23. What is the purpose and features of cartel creation?

24. What is a pool?

25. What are the main features of the pool?

26. What is a consortium?

27. What are the main features of the consortium?

28. Describe an integrated structure - a conglomerate.

Ivanov Yuri Vasilievich, Ph.D. in Economics., Associate Professor, Moscow State Aviation Institute (Technical University), Russia

Translation will be available soon.

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Annotation:

First group. Consolidation of independent enterprises, which include:
a) associations (unions);
b) cartels;
c) consortia;
d) network organizations.
Second group. Consolidation of partially dependent enterprises, including:
a) syndicates;
b) alliances;
c) industrial (commercial, financial, consulting) groups.
Third group. Consolidation of associates, which include:
a) concerns;
b) financial and industrial groups.
Let's consider the features and for what purpose each type of association is created.

JEL classification:

Business combinations are referred to as integration transformations. The most common variants of business combinations can be summarized in three groups.

First group. Consolidation of independent enterprises, which include:

a) associations (unions);

b) cartels;

c) consortia;

d) network organizations.

Second group. Consolidation of partially dependent enterprises, including:

a) syndicates;

b) alliances;

c) industrial (commercial, financial, consulting) groups.

Third group. Consolidation of associates, which include:

a) concerns;

b) financial and industrial groups.

Let's consider the features and for what purpose each type of association is created.

In the event of a merger of independent enterprises, the members of the group retain their independence and rights in full. The structure of the union is symmetrical, since all of its members have the same rights and responsibilities.

Association (union)- a non-profit organization created under an agreement between enterprises in order to coordinate their entrepreneurial activities, as well as represent and protect their common property interests. They are created to exchange information, reduce the cost of paying for invited consultants, lobby the collective interests of entrepreneurs who have entered the association.

Cartel- an agreement on the division of the market, which implies the coordination of business plans in terms of sales plans.

Consortium- temporary contractual association for the implementation of joint projects. Most often, consortia are created for the development of mineral deposits, less often in the manufacturing industry. At the same time, an enterprise can participate in a specific consortium with part of its resources, and use the rest in other areas of business.

Network organization. In these organizations, part of the essential business functions, primarily production, are transferred on a contract basis to third-party contractors. In the networked organization, informational cooperation links come to the fore, and the usual industrial integration complements it.

Associations of independent enterprises (entrepreneurs) are created when there are several enterprises of the same profile that have and are aware of common interests and / or goals and are not direct competitors. The relationship between the members of the association and the association is purely contractual, you can enter and leave the association at any time without the consent of its other members, the members of the association do not lose their independence and rights of a legal entity.

In the second case (association of partially dependent enterprises) the members of the association depend on each other, coordinate all or part of their activities, exchange shares, but the rights in the field of management are not transferred to anyone. The structure is symmetrical in this case as well.

Syndicate- an association that has a general structure for promoting goods and services to the markets, carrying out general sales management, as well as general planning in terms of sales and marketing.

Alliance- an analogue of a syndicate in the financial (investment, banking) area.

Industrial (commercial, financial, consulting) group- an association of enterprises leading a coordinated, respectively, industrial, commercial, financial, consulting policy. Businesses usually keep general records and manage general finances. Sometimes the members of the group mutually exchange shares of each other or form joint ventures. An industry group option is networking.

V third case(association of dependent enterprises) some members of the association transfer some management functions to others, losing some of their independence. The structure is asymmetric, with different rights and responsibilities for different members of the association. Such associations include the concern and the FIG.

Concern- This is a merger of enterprises, in which part of the functions (financial management, supply, sales) are centralized in order to reduce costs. In addition, concerns usually have a focal point. Often a concern is an organizational analogue of a technological combine (a metallurgical combine, a worsted-cloth combine, a timber industry complex).

Large world concerns with dozens of enterprises, branches and representative offices in different countries of the world are called transnational corporations. A classic example of TNK is Samsung. Its structure is shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Dynamics of transformation (merging) of Samsung. in TNK

Financial and industrial group- a set of legal entities acting as a parent company and subsidiaries, either fully or partially combined their tangible and intangible assets on the basis of an agreement on the creation of FIGs for the purpose of technological or economic integration for the implementation of investment and other projects and programs (Federal Law “On financial and industrial groups ”dated November 30, 1995).

The first officially registered in 1993 was the Uralskie Zavody FIG, Izhevsk. The group includes 20 participants, about 40 thousand employees, financial and credit institutions: “Euro-Asian Insurance Company”, Euro-Asian Bank for Economic Development, Izhevsk. Areas of activity: telecommunication equipment, communication systems, medical equipment and devices, equipment for the fuel and energy complex and agro-industrial complex, building materials.

The number of registered FIGs is constantly increasing. As of 01.01.98, 72 FIGs were registered, uniting 1,500 enterprises and organizations, almost 100 financial institutions. About a hundred more initiative groups carried out preparatory work to create FIG. Experts believe that 150-200 large FIGs should be expected to appear in the near future.

In addition to officially registered FIGs, there are unregistered, but actually existing groups, for example, Alfa Group.

The process of creating associations of affiliates in Russia he walked and continues to follow two paths: from above and from below.

Above, in the process of privatization of state-owned enterprises, industrial and financial groups were created, which in some cases grew into FIGs. The basis for such a merger could be a central administration (Energomashcorporation), a plant (Ust-Ilimsk LPK), or an amalgamation (LUKoil). These forms in Russia are now very fluid: oil companies began the consolidation process from a form close to an unofficial FIG, then gradually grew into concerns, and in the future, after the exchange of shares of subsidiaries for main ones, they are reorganized into open joint stock companies. In the literature, this process is called - the creation of "vertically integrated companies".

The second way to create such associations is from below. The leaders of successful commercial companies and banks, which were already formed in the new conditions, began to create groups almost simultaneously with the creation of the main business. Thus, commercial and financial groups appeared, and then financial and commercial ones. The names of some of them have already been given more than once in this article.

As a result of privatization and further evolution, these two paths began to merge, and as a result, a new industrial and financial backbone of the economy is gradually being formed in Russia - several dozen powerful groups. Today it is about half of the Russian economy.

Banks have played and are still playing a significant role in FIGs.

Integration transformations can be carried out independently of each other, or they can be sequential stages of one integration process. For example, an enterprise producing finished products finds a new supplier of raw materials or semi-finished products and enters into a short-term contract with him. Over time, a short-term contract is replaced by a long-term one, cooperation ties become long-term. Further stages of integration can be: a syndicate - a concern - a single enterprise.

It should be borne in mind that here we are considering only transformations, i.e. reorganization that changes the number of legal entities. In practice, especially in the popular economic literature, these terms are used broadly. For example, “merger” is the purchase by one company of a block of shares in another company, “alliance” is an agreement between two banks on the implementation of a common financial policy.

The issues of enterprise integration are considered in detail by O. Williamson. “I believe that to explain the observed trends in vertical integration,” he says, “it is necessary to combine industry life cycle analysis with transaction cost studies. ... The likelihood that forward integration is justified by lower transaction costs is much greater for products sold prior to maturity. " (Integration "forward" - the inclusion of sales organizations in the company). "The main benefits of vertical integration from the point of view of the economic theory of transaction costs that I apply are savings in management rather than production costs."

The emergence of divisional structures in the 1920s is easily explained in terms of saving transaction costs. “The scope of the multi-divisional structure, originally used by firms operating in relatively specialized business areas, was further expanded to manage diversified assets (within a conglomerate) and foreign direct investment (within a multinational corporation) with its help.

In the first case, we are dealing with a vital organizational trade-off in which the firm selectively internalizes some of the functions normally associated with the capital market. The formation of TNCs was also not ubiquitous, but was typical of more technologically advanced industries, characterized by increased rates of R&D and more complex technology transfer procedures. The dynamics of foreign direct investment defies explanation on the basis of the “monopolistic” hypothesis, but it becomes quite understandable when it is studied on the basis of the theory of transaction costs ”.

3. Vinslav Y., Voitenko A., Germanova I., Voroshchuk A. Development of post-Soviet TNCs: economic, legal and political problems // Russian economic journal, 1999, no.
4. Vinslav Yu, V. Dementyev, A. Melentyev, Yu. Yakutin. Development of integrated corporate structures in Russia // Russian economic journal, 1998, №11,12.
5. Golubeva S. Transnationalization of Russian financial and industrial groups // Russian economic journal, 1996, no.
6. Ivanova N. Empire Samsung // Expert, 1997, No. 40.
7. Soskovets O. Business associations contribute to economic recovery // Financial news, January 22, 1998.
8. Williamson O. Economic institutions of capitalism. St. Petersburg, Lenizdat, 1996.
9. Khusnutdinov M., Vinslav Yu. Convention on transnational corporations: conditions of adoption, content and implementation problems // Russian economic journal, 1998, no.
10. Tsygichko A. Prospects of corporate building in Russia and the CIS // The Economist, 1998, no.
11. Sharifov V. Experience of informal financial industrial groups of holding type: the role of financial institutions // Russian economic journal, 1997, no.

In the sphere of commodity circulation, both single enterprises and associations of enterprises with the formation of various organizational and legal forms can function.

A combination of enterprises is a combination of two or more organizations with the possible participation of non-profit organizations or individual enterprises in order to coordinate joint activities, represent and protect property interests, solve common economic problems and achieve other joint goals. The choice of the form of association allows you to find the best option for protecting the association and the enterprises that make it up.

The specificity of the organization of commercial activity in associations of enterprises may consist in the centralization of sales or supply functions. For example, the most important contracts, as well as purchases, are carried out by the parent company, which gives an economic effect when purchasing large quantities of goods.

Consolidation of enterprises is a historically established form of integration and cooperation in the field of entrepreneurial activity. The organizational forms of enterprises have evolved in the following order: individual entrepreneurship - partnership - legal entity (society) - association of legal entities.

Business combinations differ depending on the objectives of the combination and the degree of autonomy.

I. Depending on the goals, the following types of associations are distinguished.

Type 1. Cartel - a form of association, which includes enterprises of the same industry for joint commercial activities. The members of the association jointly determine the prices for the goods sold, the proposed areas of sale and other conditions.

The following features are characteristic of cartels: the contractual nature of the association; preservation of the ownership rights of the members of the association to their enterprises and production products; preservation of the legal, financial, industrial and commercial independence of each member of the association.

Cartel members independently sell the created products on the market, agreeing on a quota - the share of each enterprise in the total volume of production. A kind of cartel association is a syndicate.

Type 2. A syndicate is an association of enterprises manufacturing homogeneous products. The purpose of creation is to establish control over the market for the sale of a certain product. At the same time, the members of the association sell goods through a single sales office or purchase raw materials together for further distribution among the participants. A sales office is created, as a rule, in the form of a limited liability company. The economic and legal independence of the syndicate members remains.

View 3. Pool - an ego temporary agreement between enterprises for the purpose of jointly carrying out certain commercial transactions. Pool members do not lose legal independence and are created to consolidate funds and minimize business risks.

The types of the pool include: a ring is an agreement between enterprises for the purchase of a certain product (work, service) to monopolize trade; A corner is an agreement of commercial organizations for the purpose of accumulating and using capital to seize the markets of any product, acquire a controlling stake in an organization and other similar purposes.

Type 4. Concern - is an industrial complex uniting various factories, often not connected or having the most distant technological and production links with each other.

The concern is a union of formally independent enterprises, within the framework of which the main enterprise organizes financial control over all members of the association. Formally, the enterprises of the concern retain their independence, but in fact they are financially dependent on the parent company - the management of the concern.

An important function of the concern is the organization of a well-functioning sales apparatus, which significantly increases the competitiveness of enterprises. In addition to production and sales functions, the management board of the group can perform banking functions for controlled companies.

II. Depending on the degree of independence, the following types of business associations are distinguished: consortia, conglomerates, financial and industrial groups, holdings.

Type 1. A consortium is a temporary voluntary association of enterprises for solving a specific economic problem. Consortia are created to implement large-scale projects. A consortium agreement may be entered into for the purpose of participating in international tenders. The consortium's action can be one-time, short-term and long-term. This association does not have the rights of a legal entity, although the enterprises included in it are legal entities. After completing the assigned task, the consortium ceases to exist or is transformed into an association of another type. Consortia can be created in the form of joint ventures with foreign partners.

View 2. A conglomerate is a diversified association concentrating in its hands the production of a wide variety of goods that have nothing in common with each other in their industrial technology. For example, metal smelting, movie rental, sports goods production. The word "conglomerate" means a random mechanical connection of dissimilar elements. A conglomerate is a kind of concern.

Type 3. Financial and industrial groups (FIGs) are created by combining enterprises, financial and credit institutions, investment organizations in order to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of production, attract investment and accelerate scientific and technological progress.

The main features of FIGs: organizational unity; united property; legal independence; uniform pricing policy.

The head of the FIG bank, which manages the monetary capital of the association, and also coordinates all spheres of activity of the participants. In commercial transactions, each enterprise of the association acts independently.

Type 4. Holding - an ego association of any organizational and legal form that owns a block of shares in other enterprises in order to establish control over them. The enterprises of the holding enter into commercial transactions on their own behalf. However, the right to resolve the main issues related to their activities belongs to the head (parent) enterprise. There are two types of holdings: financial and mixed (non-financial).

A financial holding company can only carry out financial transactions. It brings together capitals, but not enterprises.

In a mixed holding, the parent company has the right to conduct its own business. It includes: the parent (parent) holding company and subsidiaries. Subsidiaries cannot own shares in the parent holding company, and the parent company, having shares in subsidiaries, effectively controls their activities.

Type 5. Trust - a form of association, in which the enterprises included in it, completely lose production, commercial and legal independence, acting according to a single plan. It is characterized by a high degree of centralization of management.

Thus, there are forms of business amalgamation that differ in varying degrees of independence. Organizational forms of business amalgamation are selected based on the field of activity and the specifics of the market conditions.