SMALL BUSINESS IN NORTHERN REGIONS OF RUSSIA IN THE CORONACRISIS CONDITIONS: FACTORS, ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS OF DEVELOPMENT

Resumo

Objective: This study examines formation issues of the small business entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Northern regions of Russia in the conditions of coronavirus crisis. The importance of small business in the regional economy is not only legally enacted but is also scientifically based and disclosed by researchers. Social and economic infrastructure with a wide range of service support for small enterprises plays a special role in the activity of small enterprises in the Northern oil and gas producing regions. The purpose of the study is to analyze and economically assess small businesses development in the Northern oil and gas producing regions, using the case study of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra based on retrospective data and to elicit existing relations between the state-of-the-art of small business and the periods of crisis events as well as to assess major problems and constraints. Methods: In this paper, the research is based on the Northern regions of Russia with a high level of state support for small businesses activities. Results: The authors of this study suggest that the coronavirus crisis has had a significant impact on the transformation of small business in Northern regions of Russia and this negative impact of the crisis may cause adverse consequences for the entire economy of the region. This assumption is verified using the case study of changes in basic parameters of small business and the impact of crisis processes on its development. Conclusion: The revealed regional features of the economic development in the Northern regions of Russia are considered by the authors not only as being negative factors but also as potential opportunities; for example, amid biological threats, those Northern regions being remote from the Centre and borders were in a better situation, in terms of spreading infection, etc.