Article
Кластеризация предпринимательских оценок отраслевых событий в малом торговом бизнесе
The paper presents an analytical aspect of business surveys data processing, which allows highlighting key points in the dynamics of small retail businesses economic development in various phases of business cycle (case study: retail trade). In the introduction in addition to calculating balance characteristics and composite indicator of business conditions the authors substantiate the necessity to implement methodological approach to studying behavioral models of economic entities that are attributable to small retail enterprises, based on the statistical distribution of respondents’ answers. In reviewing cluster analysis individual data for clustering is suggested as variables that are an entrepreneurial assesses the actual and expected trends in real time. Features of the application technique of cluster analysis in determining the different «behavioral patterns» can be classified as individual responses of economic agents at different stages of the business cycle. A more thorough examination of this information may be useful in analyses of various operational indicators of organizations activity. This aspect is essential for investigating small business aggregate behavior in specific phases of business cycle, when it is necessary to detail business reaction with respect to actual or expected economic events.
Scott L. Newbert, PhD, is associate professor of management, Harry Halloran Emerging Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship, and Anne Quinn Welsh Faculty Fellow in Honors at Villanova University. His research on the socioeconomic impacts of entrepreneurial activity and valuation strategies for small firms has been published in numerous journals, including Strategic Organization, Small Business Economics, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. He received his doctorate in strategic management and entrepreneurship from Rutgers University.
Purpose: Today many programs supporting clusters are introduced in Russia and other countries. The purpose of the research is to provide a relevant quantitative study assessing the effectiveness of cluster policy. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the effectiveness of Russia's cluster policy is analyzed using regression analysis. The survey covers data on 516 Russian enterprises divided into two groups: companies from supported clusters and firms that are members of similar but not supported clusters. To the classical variables of Cobb-Douglas production function (companies’ revenue, number of workers, capital of the company) we added cluster program dummy variable. The main question of the research is whether companies in supported clusters operate more effectively than other companies. Findings: The analysis provided quite interesting results. It was found that governmental support which was received by 27 innovative clusters didn’t have any effect on the revenue of the companies. This means that Russian innovation clusters work equally efficiently, regardless of whether they have government support. Research/practical implications: We have not found short-term effects on the enterprises associated with the supported clusters. The obtained results indicate that cluster policy conducted from 2012 to the present time requires adjustment. In this regard, the authors propose recommendations on further implementation of cluster policy. Originality/value: We have described the production function of Russian companies which work in the clusters. We have found that there is no significant effect on companies' output from government supporting of the clusters in Russia. Effectiveness of cluster policy has never been evaluated empirically before this research. Keywords: Cluster, Cluster Policy, Cluster Policy Impact Assessment, Innovative Territorial Clusters
This paper sets out to analyse the need for better “transparency tools” which inform university stakeholders about the quality of universities. First, it gives an overview of what is understood by the concept of transparency tools and those that are currently available. Authors then critique current transparency tools’ methodologies, looking in detail at the question of data sources, the risks involved in constructing league tables and the challenges in using composite indicators. Lastly, authors argue in favour of developing a new principle for transparency tools: that of multidimensional ranking.
The article summarizes the data from a few tens of in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs – representatives of a small business from six rural districts of the North-East of Kostroma region. The purpose of the interview was to discover expectations and suggestions from entrepreneurs to the local and state government. Interview data reveal the profound contradictions between the business and the government, some of which are hidden from the external observer. These contradictions are based not only on results of the local authority actions, but also on the specific current status of local government that makes it impossible to effectively interact with the business. On the other hand, the development of local businesses has led to a peculiar configuration of the business community, also making it difficult to communicate with the authorities. Particular feature of Middle Russian North business, especially in the highly subsidized Kostroma region, is its total focus on the use of natural resources, almost exclusively forest. Single-industry raw material specialization of the entrepreneurship as well as very narrow and underdeveloped segment of service makes entrepreneurs completely dependent on arbitrariness of local authorities. This, however, does not protect them from the territorial invasions and capture of the market by big outside mining and network companies. As a result of such two-sided attack local business is trying to get protection from the local government that leads to inadmissible merging of business and government and monopolizing of business in almost every rural district. Direct consequences of such a merging are government inefficiency, lack of incentives for business development, and stagnation. Some “evolutionary stable strategy” has been developed, that does not allow winning any of the actors yet saving them from loses in competition with the outside players. Understanding of the inefficiency and dead-end of such an interaction by some entrepreneurs forces them to raise claims to local authority. Interviews analyses resulted in the list of complaints and suggestions on how to optimize an interaction between the local business and local authorities.
This paper sets out to analyse the need for better “transparency tools” which inform university stakeholders about the quality of universities. First, it gives an overview of what is understood by the concept of transparency tools and those that are currently available. Authors then critique current transparency tools’ methodologies, looking in detail at the question of data sources, the risks involved in constructing league tables and the challenges in using composite indicators. Lastly, authors argue in favour of developing a new principle for transparency tools: that of multidimensional ranking.
The paper examines the structure, governance, and balance sheets of state-controlled banks in Russia, which accounted for over 55 percent of the total assets in the country's banking system in early 2012. The author offers a credible estimate of the size of the country's state banking sector by including banks that are indirectly owned by public organizations. Contrary to some predictions based on the theoretical literature on economic transition, he explains the relatively high profitability and efficiency of Russian state-controlled banks by pointing to their competitive position in such functions as acquisition and disposal of assets on behalf of the government. Also suggested in the paper is a different way of looking at market concentration in Russia (by consolidating the market shares of core state-controlled banks), which produces a picture of a more concentrated market than officially reported. Lastly, one of the author's interesting conclusions is that China provides a better benchmark than the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe by which to assess the viability of state ownership of banks in Russia and to evaluate the country's banking sector.
The paper examines the principles for the supervision of financial conglomerates proposed by BCBS in the consultative document published in December 2011. Moreover, the article proposes a number of suggestions worked out by the authors within the HSE research team.