Union of small and medium-sized businesses in the Sverdlovsk region: the test of the pandemic[Союз Малого И Среднего Бизнеса Свердловской Области: Испытание Пандемией]

Based on the analysis of federal and regional Plans of Measures to support entrepreneurship during the pandemic and the documents of the current archive of the Regional Union of Small and Medium-sized Businesses, the article draws conclusions about the impact of the pandemic on the sphere of small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia and the Middle Urals. It describes the main activities of the Union of Small and Medium-sized Businesses of the Sverdlovsk region in 2020. The methods of comparative analysis, generalization, and classification were used in the research process. The paper discusses the problems of overcoming such negative consequences as insufficient financing of small and medium-sized businesses, existence of corruption and excessive control and supervision. Conclusions are drawn about the degree of attractiveness for entrepreneurs of specific types of support during the pandemic. The main activities carried out by the Union in 2020 are described. Special attention is paid to the work of the Fifth Tax Forum of Small and Medium-sized Businesses of the Sverdlovsk Region, held on November 25, 2020. The leaders of the Union prepared and presented to the participants of the Tax Forums a number of proposals to improve the legislation, both at the regional and federal levels. Scientific novelty: this is the first research that presents a generalized statistics on the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Middle Urals during the pandemic; it reveals the degree of effectiveness of measures to support small and medium-sized businesses in 2017–2019 and in 2020. A number of measures are proposed to improve the activities of the Union of Small and Medium-sized Businesses of the Sverdlovsk Region in the form of recommendations to the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region and the ministries.