Geoeconomic Fragmentation: Challenges and Opportunities of Multilateralism in Small and Medium-Sized Business Development

The article assesses the positive and negative sides of globalization, discusses the consequences of geoeconomic fragmentation caused by the deglobalization process. It is substantiated that at the current stage, geoeconomic fragmentation and the breakdown of world order pose serious challenges to small and medium-sized businesses. Multilateralism is considered as an opportunity for cooperation or a formal alliance between many countries to achieve a common goal and overcome the obstacles caused by geoeconomic fragmentation. Bibliographic research assesses the obstacles to geoeconomic fragmentation and summarizes the findings of researchers on the possibilities of multilateralism. A quantitative study was conducted using multivariate, alternative and scale-based questions. The study identified the consequences of the negative and positive impact of geoeconomic fragmentation on small and medium-sized businesses. The article identifies the main limitations of the research, provides conclusions on the main obstacles to geoeconomic fragmentation, and develops recommendations on the possibilities of multilateralism.