Identifying Hurdles for Innovators: the Case of Russian Rural Areas
Identifying Hurdles for Innovators: the Case of Russian Rural Areas

Author(s): Sergei Polbitsyn
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Economy
Published by: Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze
Keywords: Rural entrepreneurship; agriinovation system; rural development; Russia
Summary/Abstract: Purpose:The paper presents the research results that specify current institutional and economic hurdles toruralinnovative entrepreneurshipdevelopment in Russia. To surmount the obstacles to rural business development, mandatory would be to consider the existing legal, economic, political, social standards, requirements and policies. The aim of this paper is to identify the social, economic and legislative factors that decelerateruralentrepreneurship developmentin Russia. Design/methodology/approach:The research design is based on the survey that was conducted among business owners and top managers of entrepreneurial firms located in rural areas in Russia. The survey was designed as a combination of Likert Scale directing from “strongly disagree” -1, to “strongly agree” -5. A simple random sample of 30 respondents was generated each year of the survey. The survey was conducted for 10 years. The collected data was analyzed after employing special software Stata 11. Findings: Results suggest that the lack of qualified personal, the lack of information on potential markets and technologies and the high risk of innovative activities are named as the most significant hurdles to rural innovative entrepreneurs in Russia. Research/practical implications: The reported research relied on self-reports and on a sample from the one region of Russia. Future research should be multiregionaland multinational to test the assumptions of the present study.The paper reveals that local authorities could play more significant role in fastening the territorial economic development supporting innovative entrepreneurs with market and technology information. Originality/value: The present study provides evidence about the hurdles to innovative development of rural entrepreneurship inRussia. Results could be of value to policy makers focusing on the development of small businesses andentrepreneurshipand the promotion of entrepreneurial and innovative capabilities inruralcontexts.

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