Approaches to the Study of Factors Stimulating the Development of Cooperation Between Large and Small Businesses in Russia and the Republic of Belarus

Abstract

The authors understand the cooperation of small and large enterprises as a model of synthetic knowledge, individual judgments of which, being within the boundaries of the economic theory of cooperation, lose their former autonomy. And individual judgments of synthetic knowledge integrate with new approaches to answering big challenges and become elements of a new system. A specific fundamental task is the initial development of a number of new provisions derived from the theory of economic cooperation, which substantially express answers to objectively arising external situations. As such provisions, the authors propose to develop the following. First, Russian and Belarusian economists are still mistakenly considering small businesses exclusively as subordinate elements of their national economies. At the same time, modern researchers often do not consider an objective change in the role and importance of cooperation between small and large businesses against the backdrop of constantly changing economic conditions and consumer preferences. Second, large-scale production both in Russia and the Republic of Belarus continues to satisfy the demand for standard consumer goods. They recognize the advantages of small businesses in responding to the individualization of consumer demand. Moreover, shifts in socio-economic structures, changes in consumer sentiment require a significant reevaluation of the importance of cooperation of small and large enterprises for the economies of Russia and Belarus. Third, the declared economic internationalization in Russia and Belarus, in the context of the actual centralization of production, on the one hand, creates the prerequisites for cooperation between large and small farms. On the other hand, disintegration processes that are becoming apparent, as well as the growth of small business observed both in Russia and Belarus, create prerequisites for cooperation between large and small enterprises. Therefore, the following becomes necessary: rethinking the forms of interaction between large and small enterprises, conducting a comprehensive analysis of the advantages of cooperation and its disadvantages, identifying the specifics of the interaction of large and small businesses in the economies of Russia and the Republic of Belarus. The authors propose research approaches that fill the stated problems.