SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEURSHIP. SEARCH FOR DIRECTIONS TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY

The relevance of the study is due to the constant search by state authorities and economic regulation for various forms of support for the development of small and medium-sized businesses, the development of forms of acceleration of innovative small industrial businesses. Both in Russia and abroad, there is a search for various forms of support for SMEs as the basis and framework of the economy. The purpose of the study is to systematize the areas of research on the productivity of small and medium businesses, to identify areas for improving its efficiency. The research methodology is based on the continuity of processes and the dialectic of the development of the small business system in the current economic conditions. The methods of statistical analysis and sociological assessments made it possible to identify the areas of development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Komi Republic. The object of the study is the economic activity of SMEs, including the factors of SME development in the Komi Republic. The study results are a comprehensive reflection of the directions for increasing the efficiency and productivity of SMEs. Those findings made it possible to generalize the leading areas, such as digitalization of production processes, innovative partnership and diffusion of innovations of large businesses and SMEs, the need for state regulation of increasing the innovative activity of SMEs. In the article, the author reveals a set of measures for economic regulation and the deployment of measures to stimulate innovative activities of SMEs. The results of generalizing the directions of Russian and foreign research made it possible to identify the leading directions of the scientific discourse of SMEs, determine the range of relevant research in the field of small and medium-sized businesses, reveal the problems of increasing productivity and efficiency, and justify the need to introduce innovations and digitalization into the process of economic activity of SMEs.