The Role of Small and Large Businesses in the Socio-Economic Development of the Region: New Imperatives and Trends

This article examines large and small enterprises and their role in the development of regions. The article analyzes the diversity and evolution of the views of Russian and foreign authors on the priority and expediency of state support. Most attention is paid to the analysis of the role of large and small enterprises in the regions where the largest Russian metallurgical corporations operate. The Vologda Oblast, Severstal’s territory of operation, was selected as the primary region of this study, in the capital structure of which there is no officially confirmed share of non-residents. The authors propose a method of evaluating large enterprises’ “contribution” to regional development using an integral indicator. Based on this analysis, we conclude that the state does not need to specifically support either large or small enterprises to stimulate regional development. But instead aid enterprises of optimal size, determined in each specific case, considering their specialism, organizational and legal form, and the market conditions of their products or services. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.