Сущность, специфика и различные подходы к трактовке и классификации малого и среднего бизнеса / The Essence, Specificity and Various Approaches to the Interpretation and Classification ofSmall and Medium Business

In the modern world, small and medium businesses are the important component of the market economy. However, in order to understand the role of SMEs, it is necessary to understand the essence and specifics of small and medium businesses, for which, in turn, it is necessary to understand by what criteria and with what approaches organizations are classified as SME subjects. Due to the lack of a universal approach to defining small and medium businesses in the scientific literature, the presence of similar definitions in specialized and educational literature and the use of both quantitative and qualitative criteria and their combinations within the framework of various approaches, it became advisable to analyze some definitions, theoretical approaches to classifying SMEs, as well as to carry out a comparative analysis of the criteria for classifying SMEs practically applied in various countries, in order to better represent the essence and specifics of small and medium businesses in nowdays realities.