2.12.2. The most important features of entrepreneurship
2.12.3. The main content of entrepreneurship in the field of production

2.12.1. Entrepreneurship– an integral part of the economic activities of managers and specialists of enterprises, commercial and financial organizations. Entrepreneurship is one of the most active forms of economic activity. People's behavior goes beyond ordinary patterns when they risk something (property, loss of popularity, money, position, etc.).

Entrepreneurs do not always know whether they will sell all their goods (services) and how profitably. They take risks: after all, similar goods and services come to the market from other manufacturers. This circumstance precisely creates the conditions for the emergence of such activity, which is expressed in the eternal search for improving one’s situation in comparison with the existing one, and always forces one to do something in order to prosper and develop.

Entrepreneurship – is the process of creating something new that has value, and entrepreneur - This is a person who spends all his strength on it, takes all the risks, receiving money and satisfaction with what he has achieved as a reward.

In accordance with Article 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation entrepreneurial activity – independent activity carried out at one's own risk, aimed at systematically obtaining profit from the use of property, sale of goods, performance of work or provision of services by persons registered in this capacity in the manner prescribed by law.

2.12.2. To the most important features of entrepreneurship relate:

· autonomy and independence of economic entities. Any entrepreneur is free to make a decision on a particular issue, but within the framework of legal norms;

· economic interest. One of the main goals of entrepreneurship is to obtain the maximum possible profit. Pursuing his purely personal interests of obtaining a high income, the entrepreneur also contributes to the achievement of public interest;

· economic risk and liability. With any, even the most verified, calculations, uncertainty and risk remain.

All of the above signs of entrepreneurship are interconnected and operate simultaneously.

2.12.3. The main content of entrepreneurship in the field of production is concluded It involves finding and creating demand for products (work performed, services provided) and satisfying it by manufacturing (creating) and selling products (work performed, services provided) as goods.

Business entities There can be either individual individuals or associations of partners. Individuals, as business entities, act in this capacity by organizing a sole or family enterprise. Thus, in accordance with Article 23 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a citizen has the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity without forming a legal entity from the moment of state registration as an individual entrepreneur. The rules that regulate the activities of legal entities that are commercial organizations are accordingly applied to entrepreneurial activities of citizens carried out without forming a legal entity. Such entrepreneurs may limit themselves to spending their own labor or use hired labor.

2.13. Entrepreneurial activity, forms of implementation, entrepreneurship formula and entrepreneur’s capital

Entrepreneurial activity

Entrepreneur's actions and profits

Section 1. The concept of entrepreneur.

Section 2. Statements about entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneur- this is a person engaged in his own business, having his own business in order to make a profit or other benefit.

Concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship

Definition of an entrepreneur as proposed by Howard H. Stevenson, a professor at Harvard University. In 1983, in the article “A Perspective on Entrepreneurship,” he wrote: “Entrepreneurship is the science of management, the essence of which we can formulate as follows: the pursuit of opportunity without regard to the resources that are currently under our control.”

In the modern sense, an entrepreneur is a person who carries out entrepreneurial activities.

Each entrepreneur can have his own business or can help other entrepreneurs create businesses.

The right to entrepreneurial activity is one of the fundamental human rights and is protected by Art. 34 of the Russian Constitution. This constitutional right is in fact inseparable from the right to freely dispose of one’s property and carry out economic activities.

Therefore, citizens who engage in business sporadically without having any documents giving them the right to engage in this activity, for example, persons who resell goods, also call themselves entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial activity carried out by a person who is not registered as an entrepreneur or who does not have the right by law to engage in his chosen type of activity is illegal entrepreneurship and is subject to criminal prosecution.

Russian pre-revolutionary trade legislation called an entrepreneur a merchant. A merchant, from the point of view of trade law, was recognized as someone who was engaged in trade transactions in the form of a trade on his own behalf.

The legislation of other states knows the figure of a merchant. The status of a merchant is recognized for a person who carries out transactions and other business operations in the form of entrepreneurship on his own behalf.

In the former USSR, the figure of the entrepreneur first acquired legal recognition after the USSR Law “On Individual Labor Activity” came into force on November 19, 1986.

This Law allowed individual labor activity in the field of handicrafts, consumer services, as well as other types of activities based exclusively on the personal labor of citizens and members of their families. Documents certifying the right of citizens to engage in individual labor activities were registration certificates or patents issued for a certain period.

The Russian Law “On Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activities” of 1991 established the right of citizens to conduct business activities both individually, without using hired labor, and by creating enterprises with the involvement of hired workers. Such citizens were registered as individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity.

Entrepreneurship is an independent economic activity carried out at one’s own risk, aimed at systematically obtaining profit from the use of property and/or intangible assets, the sale of goods, the performance of work or the provision of services by persons registered in this capacity in the manner prescribed by law. Entrepreneurship and business are the most important attribute of a market economy, permeating all its institutions.

Can be carried out by a legal entity or directly by an individual. In many countries, in order to conduct business, an individual is required to register as a sole proprietor.

Entrepreneurship can be done in different fields. In addition to general entrepreneurship, there are social and technological entrepreneurship.

The efficiency of business activity can be assessed not only by the amount of profit received, but also by changes in the value of the business (the market value of the enterprise).

Forms of entrepreneurship

Individual

Collective:

General partnership

Partnership of Faith

Limited Liability Company

Additional liability company

Closed joint stock company

public corporation

State

Illegal entrepreneurship is especially highlighted.

Based on the nature of the activity, they distinguish between production, trade and commercial, credit and financial, service (provision of services), etc.

To protect its interests, the business community, according to the law “On Non-Profit Organizations”, can form various associations.

Sources of start-up capital for starting a business can be:

Own funds.

For an individual entrepreneur - his personal funds and savings, his own property (premises, equipment, car).

For a legal entity - its authorized capital formed by the founders. Most often this is equity financing. Active participants in new projects are venture funds and business angels.

Loans from a bank or from individuals (debt financing).

Free assistance (grants or subsidies).

In addition, to help budding entrepreneurs there are government and public organizations, technology parks and business incubators.

Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich August von Hayek and other representatives of the Austrian school of economists did a lot to understand the nature of entrepreneurship. They considered entrepreneurship as one of the main resources (factors) of the economy along with land, labor, capital, information and time. Entrepreneurship typically aims to save time by reducing transaction costs.

American economist Joseph Schumpeter defined it as an entrepreneur: a person who tries to turn a new idea or invention into a successful innovation. In particular, entrepreneurship is a force of creative destruction that operates in markets and production while creating new products and business models. Creative destruction ensures dynamic and long-term economic growth.

Frank Knight and Peter Drucker, considering risk as an integral attribute of entrepreneurship, identified the following types:

statistical risk.

Knight's uncertainty or true uncertainty, which not only cannot be calculated, but also cannot be foreseen.

For example, before the advent of the Internet, it was impossible to estimate the market for existing successful projects such as Google or YouTube.

William Baumol studied the position of an entrepreneur who creates disharmony and causes rejection in the traditional market.

Business law is a complex integrated branch of law, a set of legal norms that regulate, on the basis of a combination of private and public interests, relations in the sphere of organization, implementation of business activities and management of it.

Proponents of the concept argue that the independence of this industry is due to at least three factors.

Firstly, entrepreneurial activity as a subject of regulation has a number of specific features that distinguish it from other spheres of human activity.

Secondly, in addition to the private sphere, there will be entrepreneurial activity in the public sector of the economy. Public entrepreneurship requires special legal regulation that goes beyond the traditional framework of private law.

Thirdly, in modern conditions, a specific form of relationship between the state and the market has formed, in which the regulation of business activity requires special methods, often alien to private law due to the fact that they are based on public law, authority principles.

The modern concept of business law as a branch of law, a branch of legislation, science and an academic discipline is based on the fact that the market in the classical sense and the state-regulated and socially oriented market in modern conditions (and this is precisely the task of forming a market economy) are not same.

Proponents of the concept argue that in addition to private business, there is and will continue to be business activity in the public sector of the economy. However, the point is not only the presence of a special form of entrepreneurial activity - state entrepreneurship, which requires special legal regulation that goes beyond the traditional framework of private law. In modern conditions, a specific form of relationship between the state and the market has formed, in which the regulation of business activities by methods of private law (traditionally, therefore, within the framework of civil law) is simply impossible.

The idea that this kind of relationship can be regulated within the framework of traditional private (civil) law will inevitably lead in legislative practice to one of two consequences: to the inclusion in the civil code of elements of a state, public legal nature that are alien to it, or to the idea of ​​regulating state entrepreneurship on non-market basis.

From this we can conclude that since civil law, as well as commercial law as a private law, organically does not accept the institution of a market-state economy, a state-regulated and socially oriented market, then, consequently, the need for the emergence of Business Law objectively arises.

The variety of points of view on entrepreneurship also determines its many definitions. In the encyclopedic dictionary of the entrepreneur, entrepreneurship is defined as a special type of activity aimed at increasing personal and social wealth. The integral essential features of entrepreneurship are:

freedom in choosing directions and methods of activity;

independence in decision making;

responsibility;

focus on obtaining commercial effect and probable profit.

American scientist, Professor Robert Hisrich defines entrepreneurship as the process of creating something new that has value, and an entrepreneur as a person who spends all the necessary time and effort on this, takes on all the financial, psychological and social risk, receiving a reward money and satisfaction.

English professor Alan Hosking states: “An individual entrepreneur is a person who runs a business at his own expense, is personally involved in the management of the business and is personally responsible for providing the necessary funds, makes decisions independently. His reward is the profit received as a result of entrepreneurial activity and the feeling of satisfaction that he experiences from engaging in free enterprise. But at the same time, he must assume all the risk of losses in the event of bankruptcy of his enterprise.

In a professional sense, entrepreneurship is considered as the ability to organize one’s own business and successfully carry out the functions associated with running one’s own business.

Currently, the process of forming the theory of entrepreneurship continues, which has already gone through three stages. The first stage, which arose in the 18th century, was associated with a focus on the entrepreneur's bearing of risk. The French economist of Scottish origin R. Cantillon in the 18th century first put forward the position of risk as the main functional characteristic of entrepreneurship.

The second stage in the scientific understanding of entrepreneurship is associated with the identification of innovation as its main distinguishing feature. The founder of this direction is one of the largest representatives of world economic thought, Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950).

In his innovative works, I. Schumpeter considered the entrepreneur as a central element of the mechanism of economic development. In his opinion, the basis of economic development is the special function of the entrepreneur, manifested in the desire to use a “new combination” of factors of production, which results in innovation. I. Schumpeter identifies three target motives in the activities of an entrepreneur:

need for dominance, power, influence;

the will to win, the desire for success achieved in the fight against rivals and with oneself (“the need for achievement” - this is how the American psychologist D. McClelland later described it);

the joy of creativity that comes from doing things yourself.

The third stage is distinguished by focusing on the special personal qualities of the entrepreneur (the ability to respond to changes in the economic and social situation, independence in choice and decision-making, the presence of management abilities) and on the role of entrepreneurship as a regulating principle in a balancing economic system.

The ideas of L. Mises and F. Hayek were developed by the American economist I. Kirzner, who sees the main role of the entrepreneur in achieving such regulation of the system, in adjusting it in such a way that would ensure the movement of markets to a state of equilibrium, i.e. the entrepreneur is "balancing" force.

The current stage of development of the theory of entrepreneurial function can be attributed to the “fourth wave,” the emergence of which is associated with a shift in emphasis to the managerial aspects of the analysis of entrepreneurial actions, and, consequently, with the transition to an interdisciplinary level of analysis of entrepreneurship problems.

Currently, theoretical research pays attention not only to entrepreneurship as a way of doing business on an independent, independent basis, but also to intra-company entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a special type of economic activity (by which we mean expedient activity aimed at making a profit), which is based on independent initiative, responsibility and an innovative entrepreneurial idea. Economic activity is a form of individual participation in social production and a way of obtaining financial resources to ensure the livelihoods of himself and his family members. This form of individual participation in social production is one social functional duty or a combination of them, when he acts as the owner of any objects, real estate, etc., that bring him a constant and guaranteed income.

Entrepreneurship acts as a special type of economic activity, because its initial stage is associated, as a rule, only with an idea - the result of mental activity, which subsequently takes on a materialized form.

Entrepreneurship is characterized by the obligatory presence of an innovative moment - be it the production of a new product, a change in activity profile or the founding of a new enterprise, a new production quality management system, the introduction of new methods of organizing production or new technologies.

Entrepreneurship as a special form of economic activity can be carried out both in the public and private sectors of the economy. In accordance with this, they distinguish:

public entrepreneurship;

private entrepreneurship.

State entrepreneurship is a form of carrying out economic activity on behalf of an enterprise established:

state management bodies that are authorized (in accordance with current legislation) to manage state property (state enterprise);

local government bodies (municipal enterprise). The property of such enterprises is a form of segregation of part of state or municipal property, part of budget funds, and other sources.

An important characteristic of such enterprises is the fact that they are liable for their obligations only with property in their ownership (neither the state is liable for their obligations, nor are they themselves liable for the obligations of the state).

Private entrepreneurship is a form of carrying out economic activity on behalf of an enterprise (if it is registered as such) or an entrepreneur (if such activity is carried out without hiring labor, in the form of individual labor activity).

Of course, each of these types - public and private entrepreneurship - has its own distinctive features, but the basic principles of their implementation largely coincide. In both cases, the implementation of such activities requires initiative, responsibility, an innovative approach, and the desire to maximize profits. The typology of both types of entrepreneurship is also similar.

Entrepreneurship as a form of initiative activity aimed at generating profit (entrepreneurial income) involves:

carrying out intermediary functions, i.e. providing services related to the promotion of a product to the market and its transfer in an appropriate (socially acceptable) form from the direct manufacturer of such a product to its consumer.

Sayings about entrepreneurship

The concept of “entrepreneur” was first introduced by the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say around 1800. J.-B. Say defined it this way: “The entrepreneur transfers economic resources from the sphere of low productivity to the sphere of high productivity and reaps the benefits.”

According to Vladimir Dahl, “an entrepreneur is an enterprising trader, capable of enterprises, large-scale turnover, a brave, decisive person, daring to do business of this kind.” The entrepreneurial function is the business of a private business person.

In the Economic Dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron, an enterprise is understood as “an enterprise the management of which is designed to generate income through the sale of products, in the form of sale or exchange. This feature distinguishes the enterprise from natural forms of farming, in which production is designed directly to satisfy the needs of members of the household. Pure natural forms of farming are becoming less and less common, as farms are gradually being drawn more and more into the exchange system.”

In the “Popular Dictionary” (1991), edited by G. Ya. Kiperman: “entrepreneurship is one of the effective means that help maintain incentives for highly productive work, business motivation. The real owner is always an entrepreneur, whether we are talking about an individual citizen or a work collective. Entrepreneurship includes any types of economic activity, unless they are prohibited by legislative acts of the Russian Federation and the republics.”

The textbook “Psychology of Entrepreneurship and Business” defines an entrepreneur as “a person of a certain personal make-up who, in his desire to make a profit, independently chooses the method of economic activity, bears property responsibility for its results, and at the first stage of his activity combines the functions of an owner of capital and a hired manager and the employee."

The Large Economic Dictionary (edited by A. N. Azriliyan) indicates that “an entrepreneur is a person who is engaged in entrepreneurial activities, seeks funds for organizing an enterprise and thereby takes on entrepreneurial risk. Entrepreneurial initiative is a form of production and sales management, including the development of new competitive ideas as a permanent process, the prompt implementation of the most fruitful ideas and the organization of a system of measures for the fastest and most effective sale of new products obtained using new technology.”

S.I. Ozhegov wrote in the “Dictionary of the Russian Language”: “an entrepreneur is a capitalist, the owner of an enterprise, a major figure, an enterprising and practical person.”

In “The Book of a Business Person,” edited by T. A. Krayukhin and E. S. Minaev, “scientific entrepreneurship is a form of activity in the field of creating scientific and technical products and providing services in order to obtain the greatest possible profit.”

Howard H. Stevenson, a professor at Harvard University, wrote in the article “Entrepreneurship Perspectives”: “Entrepreneurship is the science of management, the essence of which we can formulate as follows: the pursuit of opportunity without regard for the resources that are currently under our control. "

The current Civil Code of the Russian Federation calls such citizens individual entrepreneurs.

Sources

Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia, WikiPedia

scheme.rf – Schemes

bestreferat.ru – Abstracts

Definition of the concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship in modern scientific literature

In principle, there will be great difficulties in defining the concept of “entrepreneurship”, since this will require studying its content from a historical perspective, from a sociocultural aspect, from the point of view of motivation and influence on social development.

Currently, there is a fairly significant number of scientific works and special literature devoted to the problems of entrepreneurship. It is studied in economics and law, sociology and psychology, history and philosophy, ethics and cultural studies, as well as a number of other scientific disciplines.

Interest in the study of entrepreneurship in our country today has really grown significantly. And this is partly due to the development of market relations, the building of civil society and corresponding changes in the system of social relations. And no matter how large the amount of published literature is, there are just as many different interpretations of this phenomenon. The palette of definitions of the concept of “entrepreneurship” is quite wide: from the everyday designation, where anyone working in the non-state sector of the economy can be considered an entrepreneur, to the “sublime”, where entrepreneurship is defined as “a type of activity that successfully combines science, art, poetry, creative thought, moderate risk, sports and the lifestyle of a business person."

Let's try to give those definitions of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship that are available in the literature used for this scientific research; This will help to further identify the essence of this phenomenon.

"An entrepreneur is a pioneer in the formation of civil society, an important factor in social progress." This is “a revolutionary in economics, breaking established traditions.” "Entrepreneurship is a systemic integrity, an element of a market economy."

“Entrepreneurship is a special kind of economic and organizational activity”, “a powerful factor in transforming people’s consciousness, liberating the individual through creativity.”

“Entrepreneurship is the product of a centuries-old, deliberate, purposeful practice of adapting a person and humanity to the world around him,” “a social institution,” “a lever of civilized regulation of the needs initially given to man by nature in understanding and satisfying his interests and needs.”

“An entrepreneur is a person who spends the necessary time and effort and takes financial, psychological and social risks, receiving money and satisfaction as a reward.” "Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process of wealth creation" requiring "organizational talent, creativity, a desire to grow wealth, and a willingness to take risks." It is “the process of creating something new that has value, absorbing time and effort, involving the assumption of financial, moral and social responsibility, a process that results in monetary income and personal satisfaction with what has been achieved.”

The variety of definitions of entrepreneurship is due to the peculiarities of this phenomenon, which consists in the high dynamics of variability of its content and forms. Our idea of ​​it changes in accordance with the development of this phenomenon itself.

All these definitions, one way or another, demonstrate the distinctive features of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship itself, entrepreneurial behavior, and are characteristics of the social portrait of an entrepreneur and the motivations for his activities. And even on the basis of the above, some collective image of an entrepreneur can be compiled, but it is unlikely to be complete; it will also not satisfy the purpose of this study.

Some researchers note that “this phenomenon can be considered insufficiently studied” even in foreign literature, despite the fact that interest in its study does not subside to this day; that it “does not have a clear definition of the concept of entrepreneur” and is most often satisfied with stating the very fact of its existence; that the debate is mainly about the distinctive and socially significant features of an entrepreneur.

Some authors point to a similar lack of a clear definition of this term, interpretation of its content in domestic reference literature, or point to the vagueness of its definition, which makes it possible to identify an entrepreneur with a manager, businessman, etc.

Other researchers consider it important to note that entrepreneurship is a developing phenomenon and in it there is also a division of labor and the formation of corresponding specific “entrepreneurial groups”, which “are so dissimilar to each other that they will soon become cramped within the framework of one explanatory concept, which means they will need more subtle analytical tools."

The role of the entrepreneur in the world in the historical aspect is undoubtedly changing, as well as the idea of ​​him and the content of this concept is changing. In particular, in each country it can have its own content, reflecting the specific socio-cultural characteristics of the development of a given society. If even “any economic problem, being essentially universal, can have its own social aspect, determined by the characteristics of the country,” then this can fully be attributed to the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, which is not only socio-economic in nature, but also psychological, historical and etc.

The literature being studied indicates the origin of the term “entrepreneur” and even the “fatherhood” of its appearance by the famous English economist, who also developed one of the first concepts of entrepreneurship - Richard Cantillon. In his understanding, an entrepreneur is, first of all, “a person operating under risk conditions,” since all categories of workers that he classifies as entrepreneurs: traders, farmers, artisans, one way or another operate under risk conditions - they buy at a certain price and sell unknown in advance.

It is noted here that the concept of “intermediary” (entrepreneur) can be considered as preceding the appearance of the term entrepreneur, and then the development of this term occurs in accordance with the division of entrepreneurial functions proper - into investing money in order to make a profit ("venture capitalists" appear - owners of capital) and to force capital to work to meet social needs (this is how businessmen - employers) appear. The reason for this division was the so-called industrial revolution, which occurred in the 18th century and managed to identify and delimit these two main functions.

The end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries can be characterized by the fact that the concept of an entrepreneur was essentially identical to the concept of a manager - at this time the greatest emphasis was placed on the economic aspect of entrepreneurial activity: an entrepreneur is considered to be someone who organizes and manages an enterprise for personal gain, and at the same time bears responsibility for any losses, including those occurring through no fault of his own. And only by the middle of the twentieth century there was a distinction between these concepts. "The entrepreneur operates in an unstructured environment" characterized by rapid change, and "the manager operates within a structured management hierarchy." “A manager is characterized by purposefulness in actions, dictated by a fairly strict logic of development and preservation of existing organizational and economic structures,” and “an entrepreneur has the ability to set unique goals and design business goals.”

The most complete distinction between the two concepts of “entrepreneur” and “manager” was made by V.V. Marchenko, who notes that today in the West these are two different professions, fundamentally distinguishable: in the type of strategic orientation and in the approach to the implementation of the plan, in the form of acquisition or attracting resources and methods of using them, including differences in the organizational structure of the respective business enterprises.

If an entrepreneur is focused on finding new opportunities for the development of the enterprise, then a manager is focused on implementing the plan and efficiently using available resources. The success of entrepreneurial activity is determined by his ability to quickly navigate and act, and the activity of a manager is determined by his commitment to the established order. An entrepreneur strives for flexible use of funds, looking for opportunities to temporarily attract them, while a manager is interested in accumulating and inflating funds. An entrepreneur, one way or another, attracts resources from outside from time to time, the manager recruits work using the available resources. And finally, the organizational structure of a managerial enterprise is, as a rule, characterized by a hierarchy with strict observance of subordination; on the contrary, in an entrepreneurial organization horizontal connections, including predominantly informal ones, are more developed.

It can be said that since the mid-twentieth century, the concept of an entrepreneur generally corresponds to its main today's interpretation - “innovator”. Innovation, the “ability to invent” itself, is something that is characteristic of any person, what distinguishes him from the animal world, and yet this trait is considered as an integral characteristic of entrepreneurial activity.

Entrepreneurship can be considered to have originated in the West; the “entrepreneur” is the “child” of capitalism and the “bearer of the capitalist way of life.” The development of entrepreneurship also had its own ideological roots. So, for example, “Protestantism” can to a certain extent be considered “as the ideology of entrepreneurship. Lutheranism - as the ideology of professional excellence. Calvinism - as the worldview of entrepreneurs and financiers.” Entrepreneurs, of course, are also the creators of civil society.

But entrepreneurship, in a sense, is a universal phenomenon that is generally inherent in human society; the latter can be quite convincingly substantiated when analyzing the distinctive features of entrepreneurial activity and the motives for engaging in it.

And yet, the specifics of Russian society, its sociocultural characteristics allow us to talk about differences in domestic and foreign interpretations of this concept.

In Western literature, entrepreneurship is often associated with the capitalist mode of production and the desire to maximize profits; it is generally of an economic nature. Entrepreneurship can be interpreted as “everything new that is not prohibited by law and brings profit” - in this understanding it can be considered synonymous with the concept of “business” - “making money from money through useful productive activities.”

N. Smelser defines an entrepreneur as “a person who increases capital and risks investing it in a business that promises to return the invested amount plus profit; a central figure in the process of development of capitalism and modernization.”

The specifics of the Russian state can be determined by the fact that by the beginning of the revolution, capitalist relations could not be called developed in comparison with the West. At present, they have only just begun to develop after a long period of denial of their positive impact on social development. Russia has been weaned off entrepreneurship for 70 years. In this regard, the concept of entrepreneurship may already have a significant difference from its foreign understanding.

Until the recent past, the concept of entrepreneur was used in the context of the criminal code, which had an article of a corresponding nature. And this undoubtedly influenced the development of entrepreneurship in Russia, especially at the initial stage. Moreover, the researchers noted a negative attitude towards entrepreneurship itself and entrepreneurs, since the majority of the population considered the latter to be recruits from the criminal environment. This is how the respondents in the first years of perestroika formulated their attitude towards entrepreneurs: they are “mafiosi”, “businessmen who came out of the underground”, “an element associated with the criminal world” who is “cruel to strangers, but generous to their own”, he is “integrated into the power structures ", "poorly educated and prone to liking women and alcohol."

But life confirmed otherwise. Talk about the legalization of the shadow economy was not entirely true, since here we are talking about a fundamental difference in the “rules of the game.” Only that part of the shadow economy contingent that could be interested in changing these rules and was potentially capable of adapting to new forms of interaction could become entrepreneurs. And research confirms the fact that today “the work of former black marketeers and speculators in market conditions motivates them to advocate honesty and integrity in business transactions.” Thus, most entrepreneurs in the past were not at all involved in shadow business relations.

Currently, the concept of entrepreneurship is legalized and used in legislative acts. For example, in the law “On Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activities”, where the latter has its own interpretation - “entrepreneurial activity is an initiative, independent activity of citizens, their associations, aimed at making a profit”, and it is also stated here that it “is carried out at your own risk and under the property liability" of the entrepreneurs themselves, "within the limits determined by the organizational and legal form of the enterprise" (Article 1). In the Civil Code, Art. 2 of which clarifies the target orientation of this activity - “systematic receipt of profit in the manner prescribed by law.”

This is the so-called legal definition of the essence of entrepreneurship, although it was actually born of social practice and subsequently received its legislative design and consolidation.

But legal formulations do not reveal the essence of entrepreneurship, its multilateral and diverse connection with social life.

LECTURE NOTES

Energy

The chemical industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries.

The chemical industry uses various types of energy: electrical, thermal, nuclear, chemical and light energy.

Electric is used to drive electric motors. It is produced by hydroelectric power plants, thermal and nuclear power plants.

Thermal energy is used to carry out diverse physical processes that are not accompanied by chemical reactions (melting, drying, evaporation). A variety of fuels serve as a source of thermal energy; when burned, fuel gases are formed.

Nuclear energy is used to produce electrical energy in nuclear power plants.

Chemical energy is used in the production of large-scale chemical products. Chemical energy is usually released in the form of heat during various exothermic reactions.

Light energy is used to carry out a variety of photochemical reactions.

Let's consider the comparative characteristics of various energy sources in kWh/kg:

Hard coal – 8.0

Peat – 4.0

Natural gas – 10.6

Uranium – 22.5∙10 6

Thermal energy, the source of which is a variety of fuels, occupies a large place in the energy balance of chemical processes.

In addition, fuel or fuel components in most cases serve as raw materials for the chemical industry.

Topic 1. CONTENT OF BUSINESS ACTIVITY

Entrepreneurship as one of the specific forms of manifestation of social relations contributes not only to increasing the material and spiritual potential of society, not only creates favorable soil for the practical implementation of the abilities and talents of each individual, but also leads to the unity of the nation, the preservation of its national spirit and national pride.

Behind the word “entrepreneurship” there is a “business”, an enterprise, the production of a product (useful thing) or service (intangible product). Entrepreneurial activity is often called business.

The word "business" is spread all over the world. Modern economic theory distinguishes two concepts: “business” and “entrepreneurial activity”. "Business" in English means business. Dictionaries clarify what kind of business we are talking about: it means economic activity, an activity that produces profit. “Businessman”, accordingly, is a businessman, a person seeking profit. It is easy to see that the words “business” and “businessman” are very close in meaning to the concepts of “entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneur”. In Russian practice, they can be considered synonyms, especially since the words “business” and “businessman” are absent in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

The business formula is simple: D - D 1 - a businessman invests money D in the business and upon completion of the business receives D 1, money with an increase, i.e. with profit.

The general scheme of entrepreneurship is shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 – Business scheme

F – factors-resources of entrepreneurship;

D F – payment for the use of factors;

T – the final result of entrepreneurial activity;

D T – revenue from the sale of the result.

However, a number of economists make the following distinctions between these concepts. The difference lies in the motives for doing business and the motives for doing business.

In the first place among the motives for doing business, personal enrichment is given, and in the first place among the motives for doing business is human self-realization. The second place among the motives for doing business is the desire to take risks and play in the market; the second place among the motives for doing business is personal enrichment.

Based on the above, business is an economic activity that produces profit, and this profit goes only for personal enrichment. Entrepreneurial activity also ultimately gives profit to a person, but he divides this profit into two parts: the first goes to personal enrichment, and the second (often large) goes to the development of the business. That is, entrepreneurial activity is an activity related to the search for new markets, new technologies, and new areas of capital investment.

Innovative ideas are at the heart of entrepreneurial activity. An innovative type of thinking distinguishes an entrepreneur from a businessman. An equally important difference between an entrepreneur and a businessman is the focus on the consumer, on meeting the needs of the market, and not on one’s own enrichment. By satisfying the growing needs of the population for this or that product, for this or that service, constantly improving and modifying the product, the entrepreneur realizes self-realization and, as a result, makes a profit for himself.

Since ultimately an entrepreneur expects to receive profit or income, any type of activity that generates income can be called entrepreneurial.

Today there is no generally accepted definition of entrepreneurship in the world. There will be great difficulties in defining the concept of “entrepreneurship”, since this will require studying its content from a historical perspective, from a sociocultural aspect, from the point of view of motivation and influence on social development.

Currently, there is a fairly significant number of scientific works and special literature devoted to the problems of entrepreneurship. It is studied in economics and law, sociology and psychology, history and philosophy, ethics and cultural studies, as well as a number of other scientific disciplines.

Interest in the study of entrepreneurship in our country has grown significantly today. And this is largely due to the development of market relations, the building of civil society and corresponding changes in the system of social relations. And no matter how large the amount of published literature is, there are just as many different interpretations of this phenomenon. The palette of definitions of the concept of “entrepreneurship” is quite wide: from an everyday designation, where anyone working in the non-state sector of the economy can be considered an entrepreneur, to a more complex one, where entrepreneurship is defined as “a type of activity that successfully combines science, art, poetry, the rise of creative thoughts, the degree of moderate risk, sports and the lifestyle of a business person.”

To identify the essence of the concept of “entrepreneurship”, we present a number of its definitions (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 – Diversity of opinions in the definition of the term “entrepreneurship”

Entrepreneurship concept	Literary source
Entrepreneurship is an independent activity carried out at one’s own risk, aimed at systematically obtaining profit from the use of property, sale of goods, performance of work or provision of services by persons registered in this capacity in the manner prescribed by law.	Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 2)
Entrepreneurship is understood as a special kind of production and economic activity, which includes elements of risk (R. Catillon)
Entrepreneurial activity is “the connection, combination of three classical factors of production - land, labor, capital” (J. B. Say, “Treatise of Political Economy”, 1803)
Entrepreneurship in a market economy is “a self-initiating and self-regulating activity, which, in the presence of basic factors of production, arises spontaneously” (A. Smith)	Semenov V.P. Management of the innovation and investment process in entrepreneurship: theory and methodology. – St. Petersburg: SPbGTEU, 2003. – 184 p.
Entrepreneurial activity is a connection, a combination of four factors of production - land, labor, capital, organization (A. Marshall)	Entrepreneurship: Textbook for universities / Ed. prof. V. Ya. Gorfinkel, prof. G. B. Polyaka, prof. V. A. Shvandara. – 3rd ed., revised. and additional – M.: UNITY-DANA, 2001. – 581 p.
“Entrepreneurship is primarily associated with personal freedom, which gives a person the opportunity to freely manage his abilities, knowledge, information and income.” The essence of entrepreneurship is “the search and study of new opportunities, a characteristic of behavior, not a type of activity” (F. Hayek)
“It’s the process of creating something new that has value.” An entrepreneur is “a person who spends all the necessary time and effort on this, takes on all the financial, psychological and social risks, receiving money and satisfaction with what has been achieved as a reward.”	Khizrich R., Peters M. Entrepreneurship, or How to start your own business and achieve success: Issue 1. Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship: Trans. from English – M.: Progress, 1990, p.20
“Entrepreneurship is associated with innovation, and the entrepreneur himself is a courageous person with original thinking who achieves the successful implementation of new ideas” (P. Samuelson)	Mocherny S.V., Nekrasova V.V. Fundamentals of organizing entrepreneurial activity: Textbook for universities / Ed. ed. prof. S. V. Mocherny. – M.: Priorizdat, 2004. – 224 p.
Entrepreneurship is “a form of business activity based on risk and an innovative approach to the system of existing economic (economic) relations, in which the production and supply of goods to the market is focused on generating business income (profit)” (A. V. Busygin)	Busygin A.V. Entrepreneurship: Textbook. – M.: Delo, 1999. – 640 p.
“Entrepreneurship is an independent activity of citizens, carried out on their own initiative and aimed at making a profit” (A. A. Krupanin)	Krupanin A. A. Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship: Educational and Practical Guide. – St. Petersburg: SPbGTEU, 1992
“Entrepreneurship is “production and commercial activity organized on the basis of economic, legally legalized freedom, private initiative and entrepreneurship” (A. I. Semenenko)	Semenenko A.I. Entrepreneurial logistics. – St. Petersburg: Politekhnika, 1997
Entrepreneurship is “innovation and economic enterprise, denying complacency, stagnation, complacency, wastefulness. Entrepreneurial activity, by its nature, is always associated with a certain risk and financial responsibility for possible failures and failures, i.e. for the results of their or other economic decisions"	Kabakov V. S., Mizaylushkin A. I., Shimko P. D. Entrepreneurship and management in the small sphere. – St. Petersburg: SPbGTEA, 1998
The meaning of the term entrepreneurship is revealed through the four functions of an entrepreneur: 1. An entrepreneur takes the initiative to combine the resources of land, capital and labor into a single process of producing a product or service.	2. The entrepreneur takes on the difficult task of making major decisions in the process of running a business.

3. An entrepreneur is an innovator, a person who seeks to introduce new products, new production technologies, or even new forms of business organization on a commercial basis.

4. An entrepreneur is a person who takes risks.

Campbell R. McConnell, Stanley L. Brew. Economics. – S., 1996

The role of the entrepreneur in the world in the historical aspect is undoubtedly changing, as well as the idea of ​​him and the content of this concept is changing. In particular, in each country it can have its own content, reflecting the specific socio-cultural characteristics of the development of a given society. The literature indicates the origin of the term “entrepreneur” from the famous English economist Richard Cantillon, who developed one of the first concepts of entrepreneurship. In his understanding, an entrepreneur is, first of all, “a person operating under conditions of risk,” since all categories of workers that he classifies as entrepreneurs: traders, farmers, artisans, act under conditions of risk - they buy at a known price and sell unknown in advance.

The end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries can be characterized by the fact that the concept of “entrepreneur” was identical to the concept of “manager”. At this time, the greatest emphasis is placed on the economic aspect of entrepreneurial activity: an entrepreneur is considered to be one who organizes and manages an enterprise for personal gain, and at the same time bears responsibility for any losses, including those that occur through no fault of his own. And only by the middle of the twentieth century there was a distinction between these concepts. An entrepreneur works in an unstructured environment characterized by rapid change, while a manager operates within an established management hierarchy. A manager is characterized by purposefulness in actions, dictated by the strict logic of development and preservation of existing organizational and economic structures, and an entrepreneur has the ability to set unique goals and design business goals.

If an entrepreneur is focused on finding new opportunities for the development of the enterprise, then a manager is focused on implementing the plan and efficiently using available resources. The success of entrepreneurial activity is determined by his ability to quickly navigate and act, and the activity of a manager is determined by his commitment to the established order. An entrepreneur strives for flexible use of funds, looking for opportunities to temporarily attract them, while a manager is interested in accumulating and inflating funds. The organizational structure of a managerial enterprise is, as a rule, characterized by a hierarchy with strict observance of subordination, while in an entrepreneurial organization, on the contrary, horizontal connections, including predominantly informal ones, are more developed.

It can be said that since the mid-twentieth century, the concept of an entrepreneur generally corresponds to its main today's interpretation. This is an innovator. Innovation, the ability to invent, is characteristic of any person, which distinguishes him from the animal world, and yet this trait is considered as an integral characteristic of entrepreneurial activity.

In Western literature, entrepreneurship is often associated with the capitalist mode of production and the desire to maximize profits; it is generally of an economic nature. Entrepreneurship can be interpreted as everything new that is not prohibited by law and brings profit. In this understanding, it can be considered synonymous with the concept of “business” - making money from money through useful productive activities.

The specifics of the Russian state can be determined by the fact that by the beginning of the revolution, capitalist relations could not be called developed in comparison with the West. At present, they have only just begun to develop after a long period of denial of their positive impact on social development. Russia has been weaned off entrepreneurship for 70 years. In this regard, the concept of entrepreneurship may already have a significant difference from its foreign understanding.

Until the recent past, ordinary people could describe an entrepreneur as a “mafioso”, “a businessman who came out of the underground”, “an element associated with the criminal world”, who is “cruel to strangers, but generous to his own”, he is “integrated into the structures of power”, “poorly educated and is prone to liking women and alcohol.” To date, the concept of “entrepreneurship” has been legalized and used in legislative acts (the Law of the Russian Federation “On Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activities”, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, etc.).

“Entrepreneurship” is a key category in the development of modern society, state and economy. The term “entrepreneurship” was first used in economic publications in the 18th century in the works of the French economist R. Cantillon. Fundamental provisions on entrepreneurship were formulated in the works of classical economists of the 18th-19th centuries and reflect a wide range of theoretical approaches to the definition of entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur as an economic entity carrying out quite risky activities that connect various factors of production and types of activities and involve a variety of methods to achieve set goals .

In modern economic literature, there are various interpretations of this complex category, however, it should be taken into account that most of the interpretations proposed in the literature are of a subjective-semantic nature and are almost the same in terms of content. In this regard, we can propose the following (fairly general) interpretation of this category: entrepreneurship is an initiative independent activity of citizens aimed at generating profit or personal income, carried out under personal property responsibility or on behalf and under the legal responsibility of a legal entity. As a rule, the term “entrepreneurship” is interpreted as a specific form of combining various factors of production by a business entity.

The definition of “entrepreneurial activity” in regulatory documents is contradictory from both an economic and legal point of view. Their interpretation does not reveal what kind of activity can be considered entrepreneurial. In particular, the legal aspects of relations between entrepreneurs (mutual benefit) in the process of doing business are not fixed. The emphasis is on making a profit without an economic justification for the origin of costs, which causes discrepancies in the legal acts that define and regulate business activities.

Based on the definition of entrepreneurship contained in the Civil Code and the semantic content of this discipline ensuing from this definition, as well as taking into account the specific economic conditions in our country during the transition to a market economy, we can formulate the following ordered idea of ​​entrepreneurship as an object of study. Analysis of the definitions of entrepreneurship, which are given in works on this topic, allows us to identify its most general features (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 – Main features of entrepreneurial activity

These include:

– presence of personal initiative;

– creating your own business for the purpose of making a profit;

– responsibility, primarily financial, for the results of activities.

Not every small business is entrepreneurial. To be entrepreneurial, an enterprise must have special properties in addition to being small and new. An entrepreneur is characterized by the fact that he tries to create something new and different from what already exists, changes and transforms value systems.

Another characteristic feature of entrepreneurship lies in its belonging to relatively short-term, tactical methods of action. Entrepreneurship in the narrow sense of the word does not directly refer to an economic strategy designed for a long-term period. However, strategic projects may also contain entrepreneurial ideas and individual pockets of entrepreneurship. So, for example, if a long-term project has as its main goal making a profit, involves risk and responsibility, and is not based on trivial ideas, it can rightfully be considered entrepreneurial. However, in most cases, entrepreneurial actions fit into relatively short-term transactions.

As an academic discipline, “entrepreneurship” can be considered as a synthesis of a number of subjects, each of which is an integral part of it and allows us to illuminate a very voluminous and complex problem from different angles. With this approach, the main sources feeding the academic discipline “Organization of Entrepreneurial Activities” naturally include economics, management and marketing.

Business activities are carried out and organized at a specific time (business time), called the duration of the business operation. The faster the operation occurs, the more the turnover of working capital accelerates, costs are reduced and, consequently, the profitability (profitability) of business activity is higher.

To become an entrepreneur, it is not enough to own a certain amount of money or a set of means of production; you must properly manage them so that they can bring D, profit.

What should a new entrepreneur know and be able to do? He must know how entrepreneurial activity is carried out, in what order practical actions are carried out, what obstacles await a businessman on his way, what mistakes he can make and what chances of success he has. An entrepreneur must be able to prepare a business, organize production, and sell a product. He must be able to assess specific market situations, make the right choice, be able to make independent decisions, and must rely only on himself.

Thus, behind the words “entrepreneur” and “entrepreneurship” there is an enterprise, i.e. a complex and significant matter.

An enterprise in Russia is understood as an independent economic entity created in the manner prescribed by law to produce products, perform work and provide services in order to meet public needs and make a profit. The enterprise independently carries out its activities, manages its products, the profit received, the remainder after paying taxes and other obligatory payments. The main features of the enterprise are:

– a certain isolation;

– legal status;

– name of the enterprise and its organizational and legal form.

An enterprise, therefore, is an independent economic entity with the status of a legal entity and separate property.

The activities of an enterprise (any business) are regulated in Russia by the following set of documents: Civil Code, Law “On Limited Liability Companies”, Law “On Joint Stock Companies”, Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”, Resolution “On Licensing of Certain Types of Activities”, Law “On Production Cooperatives”, Law “On Cooperation”, etc.

The concept of “entrepreneur”, “entrepreneurial activity”, legal relations between entrepreneurs can be studied in chapters 1-4 of the Civil Code.