The paper analyzes the shifts in government priorities in terms of support of big and medium manufacturing enterprises amid 2008—2009 and 2014—2015 crises. Based on the data of 2009, 2014 and 2018 surveys of Russian manufacturing firms, using logit regressions we identify factors that affect the receipt of financial and organizational support at different levels of government. The analysis shows that in 2012—2013 the share of manufacturing firms that received state support shrank significantly as compared to 2007—2008; moreover, the support concentrated on enterprises that had access to lobbying resource (such as state participation in the ownership or business associations membership). In 2016—2017 the scale of state support coverage recovered. However, the support at all levels of government was provided to firms that carried out investment and provided assistance to regional or local authorities in social development of the region, while the factor of state participation in the ownership became insignificant. The paper provides possible explanation for these shifts in the criteria of state support provision in Russia.

The paper considers the factors explaining violent pressure of law enforcement agencies on businessmen in Russia in recent years. This phenomenon has been analyzed from the viewpoint of “destructive entrepreneurship” concept (Baumol, 1990) and “limited access order” framework (North et al, 2009). The paper stresses the key role of economic and political organizations in defending entrepreneurs’ interests. It proposes a number of policy recommendations on incentive system design for law enforcement agencies and development of their public communications with business and civil society organizations.

The phenomenon of high growth medium-sized companies is a major focus within industrial policy in recent years and it has induced an active discussion in many countries about the practicability of the use of state-backed support instruments designed to promote these firms. The new state project to provide support to private high-tech companies-leaders has started in June 2016 upon an initiative of the RF Ministry of Economic Development. The rating "TechUspekh" ("TechSuccess") has been chosen as the main database for further selection of the companies—participants of this project. The article describes main results obtained from the sampling study of the companies included in this rating in 2015 and also brings out a set of possible recommendations for state-backed support measures for such leading companies-"tech-gazelles". The last subsection is devoted to the review of the latest public support programs for the fast-growing mid-sized companies in a number of foreign countries.