Determinants of Technological Development in Small and Medium-Sized Industrial Enterprises

Abstract

Modern small and medium-sized industrial enterprises operate under the influence of many multidirectional, far from orderly factors. Enterprises should take them into account when they choose the directions of technological development. The aim of the study is to identify the main driving forces of technological development in small and medium-sized industrial enterprises. The systematization of scientific literature devoted to the problems of technological development in small and medium-sized enterprises from different countries revealed the access to financial resources as the key determinant of innovations. Regression analysis of consolidated accounting data for the period from 2010 to 2022 indicates a direct dependence of the increase in fixed assets on the increase in total assets and an inverse dependence on the increase in accounts payable of Russian small industrial enterprises, while medium-sized industrial enterprises are characterized by a direct dependence on the increase in long-term borrowed funds. In addition, the inverse dependence of the fixed assets profitability on the volume of accounts payable, the total volume of short-term and long-term borrowed funds and the level of taxation was revealed for both small and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Russian small and medium-sized industrial enterprises have an unbalanced structure of financing sources, characterized by the inflated share of accounts payable and a lack of own funds. The improvement of the situation can be facilitated by the attention of the government to the problem of differentiation of interest rates on debt financing depending on the size of the business and the expansion of opportunities for using of benefits by small and medium-sized enterprises aimed at technological development.