Medium-sized industrial enterprises in a region: An overview of the development

The article provides an overview of the medium-sized industrial enterprises’ development in Sverdlovsk oblast for 2008–2016. The research hypothesis states that the medium-sized enterprises are one of the most flexible entities and could become the key driver of the industrial sector, but this requires a policy to combat the problems of their small number and instability. Methodologically the research is based on the approaches to classification of medium-sized enterprises in accordance with Russia’s legisla? tion. The industrial sector in Sverdlovst oblast, which ranks 6–7th in Russia by volume of production but now is dropping, is central in this paper. Compilation of the medium-sized enterprises rankings by the annual sales volume excluding VAT appears as the core research instrument. The database of the research includes enterprises’ annual and quarterly reports, which are represented in SPARK-Interfax database. The paper presents the complied rankings of the medium-sized and large enterprises in Sverdlovst oblast for 2008 and 2016. The authors arrive at two main conclusions. First, growth rates of production in middle-sized industrial enterprises are higher compared to large enterprises in Sverdlovst oblast; second, the middle-sized industrial enterprises in rankings are rather instable – only 1/3 of companies have kept their places and 1/10 have managed to become large enterprises in 2008–2016.