CC BY
35
Pulod Kh. AZIMOV
Cand. Sc. (Econ.), Associate Prof. of Industrial Management Dept.
Tajik Technical University named after academician M. S. Osimi
10 Academicians Rajabovs Ave., Dushanbe, the Republic of Tajikistan, 734042 Phone:(992)934-23-44-00 6-mail: [email protected]
Khurshed D. MIRZOBEKOV
Sr. lecturer of Economics and Logistics in Transport Dept.
Tajik Technical University named after academician M. S. Osimi
10 Academicians Rajabovs Ave., Dushanbe, the Republic of Tajikistan, 734042
Phone:(992) 907-97-09-33 e-mail: [email protected]
Directions for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship in National Transport (Case of the Republic of Tajikistan)
Small and medium-sized business plays a crucial role in ensuring the dynamic and sustainable development of the national economy, because it performs important socioeconomic functions. The transition to the model of socially oriented market economy in the Republic of Tajikistan led to changes in the structure of the national economy that manifested in the emergence of new types of economic activities and massive involvement of the private sector in solving social and economic problems of the country's development. The transport sector is one of the key sectors of any economy. In modern conditions, development of small and medium enterprises in the transport sector of the Republic of Tajikistan faces a number of challenges. The study details the main groups of problems of small and medium-sized businesses in the national transport sector including legal, administrative, and economic ones. In addition, the authors propose directions for developing small and medium enterprises in the transport sector of the Republic of Tajikistan.
JEL classification: L92, M21, R40
Keywords: small and medium-sized business; small and medium-sized enterprises; entrepreneurship; the Republic of Tajikistan; transport; passenger transport services; development mechanism.
The relevance of the study and problem formulation
s The fundamental role of entrepreneurship in national economies that function within mar-Qr I ket model raises no doubts. The importance of entrepreneurship in any economic sector is ¡3 justified by numerous effects obtained by the state due to its development, including the following key groups of them: -§ 1. Economic effects:
N
g • appearance of independent economic entities that generate significant tax revenues for j state budgets of various levels;
^ • evolution of the system of competitive relations in the sphere;
¡3 • provision of goods, works and services to the population at more acceptable conditions;
s • reproduction of society's innovative potential;
© • development of country's backward territories and regions; etc.
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2. Social effects:
• greater possibilities to support self-actualization of general population;
• improved employment;
• reduced social tension;
• increased population incomes;
• dynamic growth of the quality of human capital in a country due to population gaining new skills and necessary entrepreneurial experience in a particular field;
• narrowed gap between the rich and the poor; etc.
The content and essence of entrepreneurial activities, the importance of this economic phenomenon have long been studied and were described in the classic works by R. Cantillon, J.-B. Say, A. Smith, J. Schumpeter, and others [7; 10; 11].
Thus, entrepreneurship and level of its development become an important indicators of socioeconomic well-being of the country.
Let us note that the problems of small and medium entrepreneurship have also been investigated by contemporary economists in Tajikistan [1-3; 6; 9] and Russia [4; 5; 8]. However, the issues of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in the sphere of transport services in Tajikistan remain poorly reflected in the scientific literature, what also makes the topic of the present paper a relevant subject to study. Organizational, legal and economic mechanisms for managing the development of small and medium entrepreneurship in transport in the Republic obviously require further research. The present study aims to structure the problems of development of small and medium entrepreneurship in transport in Tajikistan and identify directions for its improvement.
The state of small and medium entrepreneurship in transport in the Republic of Tajikistan
The transition to market economy in the Republic of Tajikistan, appearance of economic, political, institutional and social relations peculiar to this model to some extent are mirrored in the national legislation. Yet many problems of scientific-methodological nature remain unresolved because of the need to regard them allowing for the specifics of economic sectors and types of economic activities, including the issue of entrepreneurship in the sphere of transport.
In our view, it is necessary to draw on the experience of the leading countries, where small and medium entrepreneurship plays an influential role (Fig. 1), and take it as one of the reference points for designing the mechanisms of small and medium entrepreneurship functioning in Tajikistan.
Fig. 1. Share of value added of small enterprises in total value added in some developed countries, 2012, %1
1 Source: Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2015. Value added by enterprise size. OECD Library. Available at: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/industry-and-services/entrepreneurship-at-a-glance-2015_entre-preneur_aag-2015-en.
The sphere of transport and its segment of passenger transport are systemically important for any economy. The passenger transport in Tajikistan is no exception. In modern conditions, the country faces a practical necessity to involve small and medium-sized enterprises in the sphere of passenger transport, which can possibly result in the following effects for the state:
• support the development of backward territories;
• involve general population in entrepreneurial activities; at this, in the sphere of passenger transport there are no such barriers that are typical of other fields of economic activities (for instance, not always high qualification or extensive expertise in transport are required);
• stimulate employment and self-employment;
• stabilize the situation in passenger transport;
• intensify competition in the market of passenger transport services and this way contribute to improvement of their quality and infrastructure for entrepreneurial activities in this field;
• attract additional investment in development of companies offering passenger transport services;
• ensure the development of related economic sectors and types of economic activities, thus generating a multiplicative effect for the economy.
It is worth mentioning that on the whole, transport sector of the Republic of Tajikistan demonstrates unsteady rates of development (Fig. 2).
12,0 -1-1-1-1-1
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Fig. 2. Share of transport sector in GDP of the Republic of Tajikistan in 2010-2014, %1
This way, despite positive rates of growth in goods, services and works provided by transport companies, the share of this sector in the country's economy decreased from 14.8% in 2010 to 13.2% in 2014, what is explained by lower rates of growth of the transport sector compared to the dynamics of the country's GDP.
Problems of development of small and medium entrepreneurship in transport in the Republic of Tajikistan
The transport sector in Tajikistan experiences many problems, yet this study focuses on passenger transport as one of the key directions for development of small and medium entrepre-neurship in the country.
The specifics of passenger transport services and corresponding market are clearly seen in its structure. The key criterion used to structure the passenger transport services market is mode of transportation. Official statistics indicate that road transport has occupied a dominant position in the transport system of the Republic (Fig. 3).
1 Sources: authors' calculations based on Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Tajikistan. Agency on Statistics under President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2015; Banking Statistics Bulletin of the National Bank of Tajikistan. Available at: http://www.nbt.tj/ru/statistics/statistical_bulletin.php.
100 80 2 60 s -С и 40 97,5 97,8 97,7 97,9 97,7 97,8 97,9
80,1 79,8 77,9 76,4 73,8 70,8 -□ 70,9
20 0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
—■— Share of road transport in total passenger transport —□— Share of road passengers in total passenger flow
Fig. 3. Share of road transport in total passenger transport and passenger flow in the Republic of Tajikistan in 2008-2014, % 1
Thus, the sphere of road passenger transport in Tajikistan is a priority direction for development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in transport.
Development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in passenger transport in Tajikistan requires solution of a number of problems. It is necessary to point to that the problems of entrepreneurs in Tajikistan are comprehensively reflected in an extensive specialized study undertaken by the World Bank and characterizing business environment in the country. According to its findings, Tajikistan is listed among the states, which recently have been demonstrating remarkable improvements in conditions for entrepreneurship2.
The ranking of the Republic of Tajikistan according to some sets of indicators of the Doing Business Report by the World Bank is given in Fig. 4.
Rank
- - O - - DB 2015 Rank —■— DB 2016 Rank
Fig 4. Rankings of the Republic of Tajikistan according to the Doing Business Report by the World Bank, 2015-2016 (data for the beginning of the year)3
1 Source: authors' calculations based on Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Tajikistan. Agency on Statistics under President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2015.
2 2015 Doing Business Report by the World Bank. Center for Human Technologies. Available at: http://gtmarket.ru/news/2014/10/29/6969 (in Russ.).
3 Source: Tajikistan. Doing Business 2016 data. The World Bank Group. Available at: http://www. doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/tajikistan#close.
The data in Fig. 4 show that lately the conditions for doing business in Tajikistan have improved in such areas as getting credit, paying taxes and trading across borders, though there are still many unsolved problems there. The state of affairs in enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency did not change, whereas the situation in such areas as dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, protecting minority investors have deteriorated.
Among the problems of small and medium entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan it is strictly necessary to stress the problem of legislation covering the activities of small and medium-sized passenger transport companies. In such context it is worth pointing to the imperfection of tax legislation of the Republic which results from the fact it is relatively young (the last revision of the Tax Code of the Republic of Tajikistan was enacted in 2013). As for improving tax legislation concerning SME, it is important to establish stimulation mechanisms for involving SME into the sphere of passenger transport services as well as to design measures to decrease tax burden on these companies.
The World Bank research states that currently in Tajikistan the tax burden for companies is heavier than in other countries of Central Asia and Europe, what is mirrored in all aspects of corporate taxation:
• corporate tax;
• taxes concerning labour resources;
• other types of taxes.
In addition, in the Republic there is a vast number of tax payments made by businesses for a calendar year (28), and, accordingly, the amount of time spent on arranging for these payments is immense (on average, 278 hours compared to 176.6 hours in developed countries and 232.7 hours in other countries of Central Asia and Europe).
The improvements should be effected in other aspects of entrepreneurship regulation in Tajikistan:
• licensing. The legislation in this field1 suffers from significant drawbacks, including duplication and contradictions in laws and does not allow for modern conditions of conducting business in transport sphere. The need for changing and refining licensing regulations in transport sphere is emphasized in the findings and conclusions of analytical reports by various specialized organizations2;
1 Law of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 29, 2000 no. 22 "On transport". Available at: http:// base.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=2214; Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan of December 30, 2009 no. 696 "On approval of the Statute of road transport of the Republic of Tajikistan". Available at: http://base.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=71577; Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan of November 9, 2000 no. 458 "On approval of the Regulation on forwarding services using road transport in the Republic of Tajikistan". Available at: http://base.spinform.ru/show_doc. fwx?rgn=20209; Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan of April 3, 2007 no. 172 "On approval of the Regulation on peculiarities of licensing of certain types of activities". Available at: http://base.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=17301.
2 See: Analysis of the regulations of the Republic of Tajikistan in the field of licensing. Official website of the National Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses of the Republic of Tajikistan. Available at: http://www.namsb.tj/phocadownload/beilibrary/tj_licensing_analysis.pdf; Business Environment in Tajikistan as Seen by Small and Medium Enterprises. International Financial Corporation (the World Bank Group), 2003; Business Environment in Tajikistan as Seen by Small and Medium Enterprises. International Financial Corporation (the World Bank Group), 2006. Available at: http://documents. vsemirnyjbank.org/curated/ru/2006/01/8916641/business-environment-tajikistan-seen-small-medi-um-enterprises-2006; Business Environment in Tajikistan as Seen by Small and Medium Enterprises. International Financial Corporation (the World Bank Group), December 2009. Available at: http://www. ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/3a0ee4804b59e2cea4cfb56eac26e1c2/TJ_BEE_ExSumRus12152009.pdf?MO D=AJPERES&attachment=true&id=1339074934679.
• competition. It is essential to create conditions to support competition in passenger transport services market and limit the opportunities for the market's monopolistic development;
• fares. It is important to formulate a sensible fare regulation policy for small and medium-sized businesses.
Another set of problems of SME development in the sphere of passenger transport services in Tajikistan is connected with multiple administrative burdens existing in the country. The majority of administrative burdens appear when entrepreneurs first enter the market. Specifically, the main difficulties include time and cost of registering a company, which are far more considerable than in developed countries as well as in some other countries of Central Asia and Europe1.
Among the most significant problems of systemic nature, which impede the development of small and medium-sized businesses in Tajikistan, it is necessary to mention limited access of small and medium-sized businesses to investment resources and loans. The analysis of the official statistics of the National Bank of Tajikistan revealed that in recent years the country's economy has not demonstrated a stable positive growth in loans provided to transport companies (Fig. 5)2.
a 600 - 6
ьо g
Ïh
500
400
5,2
л 300
■3 200
о ïg
100
0
& -100
3,3 3,9
2,7 77,3
17 / 1,7
0,7 32,3
61,3 45,2
о
-ri ^
Usa
-о С
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о С
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Share of loans provided to transport companies in total volume of loans — Rates of growth of providing loans to transport companies
Fig. 5. Indicators of providing loans to companies operating in transport sector of the Republic of Tajikistan in 2008-2014, % 3
There are some difficulties in this area that hamper small and medium enterprises' access to finance. For instance, borrowers' interests are poorly protected and entrepreneurs suffer from insufficiency of information about loans4.
The situation is even worsened by high interest rates existing in the national banking system, which, according to the data for the beginning of 2016, amount to 24.7% on any loan in the national currency5.
5
4
3
0
1 Source: Tajikistan. Doing Business 2016 data. The World Bank Group. Available at: http://www. doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/tajikistan#close.
2 See: Banking Statistics Bulletin of the National Bank of Tajikistan. Available at: http://www.nbt.tj/ ru/statistics/statistical_bulletin.php.
3 Source: authors' calculations based on Banking Statistics Bulletin of the National Bank of Tajikistan. Available at: http://www.nbt.tj/ru/statistics/statistical_bulletin.php.
4 See: Getting Credit. Doing Business. The World Bank Group. Available at: http://www.doingbusi-ness.org/data/exploreeconomies/tajikistan#getting-credit.
5 Monetary sector. Interest rates on credits. National Bank of Tajikistan. Available at: http://www.nbt. tj/ru/statistics/monetary_sector.php.
Directions for improving mechanisms for small and medium entrepreneurship development
in transport in Tajikistan
Thus, taking into account the nature of the problems specified, in our view, it is necessary to invest efforts into the following directions for improving mechanisms of small and medium entrepreneurship development in transport in Tajikistan:
1. Creation of program-legal and organizational bases for development of small and medium entrepreneurship in passenger transport services sphere, what can be done through drawing up a special (departmental) program for small and medium entrepreneurship development in transport. Such program should primarily aim at development of SME as a way to form competitive environment and increase the efficiency of the national transport system. The main tasks of the program should include:
• setting conditions and mechanisms for SME development in road transport and road facilities;
• setting conditions and mechanisms for SME development in rail transport;
• setting conditions and mechanisms for SME development in air transport;
2. Development of specialized tools to support small and medium businesses in transport financially. Such tools may take the form of:
• direct state support of the most important directions of small and medium entrepreneur-ship in transport through target financing;
• subsidies for banks working with small and medium-sized businesses;
• tax incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises in passenger transport services sphere in Tajikistan.
3. Development of tools to ensure information and consultancy support for entrepreneurs who are planning to start a new business in transport services sphere or grow already existing operation, including through:
• arranging seminars and other types of meetings for representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, government authorities, and consultants on entrepreneurship and enterprise;
• drawing up and providing access to information and guidance materials on business planning allowing for the specifics of entrepreneurship in transport;
• utilizing the resources of mass media to promote the ideas of small and medium entre-preneurship in transport.
4. Introduction of operational monitoring systems to control the efficiency of the measures taken to stimulate small and medium entrepreneurship in transport.
Therefore, under the conditions when the transport sphere in Tajikistan does not keep up with the required pace of development, a set of measures should be introduced to accelerate its progress. These measures can take the form of a special program for small and medium entrepreneurship in transport, which will specify responsible officials, goals and tasks as well as ways of their fulfillment. As a result, the sphere of small and medium entrepreneurship in transport may become one of the growth areas of Tajikistan's economy.
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***
Направления развития малого и среднего предпринимательства в сфере транспорта страны (на примере Республики Таджикистан)
П. Х. Азимов, Х. Д. Мирзобеков
Малый и средний бизнес играет важную роль в динамичном и устойчивом развитии национальной экономики, выполняя необходимые социально-экономические функции. Переход к модели социально ориентированной рыночной экономики в Республике Таджикистан обусловил изменение структуры народного хозяйства, проявившееся в возникновении новых видов экономической деятельности, массовом вовлечении частного сектора в решение социально-экономических задач. В исследовании определены группы проблем малого и среднего предпринимательства в транспортной отрасли Республики Таджикистан: правовые, административные, экономические. Предложены основные направления развития малого и среднего предпринимательства в сфере транспорта Республики Таджикистан.
Ключевые слова: малый и средний бизнес; малое и среднее предпринимательство; предпринимательство; бизнес; Республика Таджикистан; сфера транспорта; пассажирские транспортные услуги; развитие; механизмы.
Источники:
1. Ахмадбекова Н. М. Формирование и становление малого и среднего бизнеса в переходной экономике Республики Таджикистан // Фундаментальные исследования. 2016. № 1-1. С. 99-103.
2. Ахмедова Н. Р. Конкурентоспособность предпринимательских структур в условиях переходной экономики // Российское предпринимательство. 2013. № 18 (24). С. 13-19.
3. Баратова Н. Малое и среднее предпринимательство: проблемы развития и их решение // Вестник Таджикского государственного университета права, бизнеса и политики. Сер.: Общественные науки. 2015. № 3 (3). С. 38-44.
4. Дупленко Н. Г. Типология малых предприятий // Вестник Удмуртского университета. Сер.: Экономика и право. 2013. Вып. 2. С. 25-30.
5. Забегин А. В. Развитие предпринимательства в сфере автосервиса как элемент формирования автотранспортной инфраструктуры национального хозяйства // Вестник Тамбовского государственного университета. 2009. Вып. 2 (70). С. 345-349.
6. Исоков А. Направления развития финансовой поддержки малого и среднего предпринимательства // РИСК: Ресурсы, информация, снабжение, конкуренция. 2013. № 4. С. 96-99.
7. Квасов А. С. История экономических учений: учебник / под ред. А. С. Квасова. 3-е изд., пе-рераб. и доп. М. : ЮНИТИ-ДАНА, 2012.
8. Неупокоев Н. Ю. Трансформация функций городов-центров агломераций и ее влияние на политику поддержки предпринимательства // Вестник Алтайского государственного аграрного университета. 2015. № 3 (125). С. 202-205.
9. Нозимов Б. Р., Шокиров Р. С. Современное состояние развития институциональной среды малого предпринимательства в Республике Таджикистан // Вестник Таджикского государственного университета права, бизнеса и политики. Сер.: Общественные науки. 2015. № 4 (65). С. 77-84.
10. Покидченко М. Г., Чаплыгина И. Г. История экономических учений : учеб. пособие. М. : ИНФРА-М, 2015.
11. Черняк В. З. История предпринимательства : учебник. М. : ЮНИТИ-ДАНА, 2012. Сведения об авторах:
П. Х. Азимов, канд. экон. наук, доц. кафедры Таджикский технический университет производственного менеджмента имени академика М. С. Осими
Контактный телефон: (992) 934-23-44-00 734042, Республика Таджикистан, г. Душанбе, е-шаП: [email protected] Пр. академиков Раджабовых, 10
Х. Д. Мирзобеков, ст. преп. кафедры Таджикский технический университет
экономики и логистики на транспорте имени академика М. С. Осими
Контактный телефон: (992) 907-97-09-33 734042, Республика Таджикистан, г. Душанбе, е-шаП: тЬигеЬе^80@таП.ш Пр. академиков Раджабовых, 10
