Modern Human Capital Management Trends in Russian SMEs

Abstract

This study aims to analyze modern trends among Russian latent and manifest entrepreneurs regarding personal qualities needed to succeed in entrepreneurship activities, their attitudes to entrepreneurship entry, business sectors with most business opportunities as well as constraints that make impact on entrepreneurship entry decision. Entrepreneurship is increasingly acknowledged as an important driver of national and regional economic development. In Russia small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) management makes up a considerable part of All-Russian management. Currently, in the era of scientific and technological progress, the characteristics, behavior and attitudes of this group are changing, thus, actualizing the research into the specifics of Russian present-day entrepreneurs. The authors analyse the findings of two empirical surveys into the nature of entrepreneurship in Sverdlovskaya Oblast (2017, 2018). It is concluded that the attitude to entrepreneurship has changed in the Oblast, as modern younger population perceives entrepreneurship as an essential and integral component of the national economic system and demonstrates readiness to enter this field. Overall, the analysis identified a standard set of qualities required to succeed in entrepreneurship, except for the ability to establish relationships, that can be attributed to the unique nature of entrepreneurship in Russia. Among business sectors entrepreneurs are more oriented to do business in trading, followed by manufacturing and agriculture sectors. As for constraints, imposed by the environment, the entrepreneurs mostly encounter financial problems, including taxation and lending activities. Keywords—entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs’ survey, entrepreneurship characteristics, attitude to entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship environment, constraints