SUPPORT FOR SMALL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN RURAL AREAS: A PROFILE-ORIENTED APPROACH

Abstract

The article substantiates a profile-oriented approach to the selection of support instruments for small entrepreneurship development in rural areas, aimed at shifting from a uniform support model towards a targeted framework that takes into account the specific opportunities and constraints of territorial communities. It is established that the effectiveness of small entrepreneurship support largely depends on the correspondence between the instruments applied, the entrepreneurial potential of a community, and the barriers limiting its realisation.

A scientific and methodological approach to assessing the entrepreneurial potential of rural communities is proposed based on six interrelated components: resource, human, institutional, infrastructural, social, and innovative. A distinctive feature of the proposed approach is the differentiation between indicators reflecting resource availability and those characterising the actual level of resource utilisation, which makes it possible to identify untapped reserves for entrepreneurship development. The assessment results are proposed to be represented through an integral index, a structural profile of entrepreneurial potential, and a map of untapped reserves.

The expediency of separately assessing the community's barrier profile and positioning it within the “potential – barrier level” matrix is substantiated. Such positioning makes it possible to identify the type of community and the corresponding strategic orientation of support and provides the basis for the differentiated selection of priority support instruments. The principles of profile-oriented selection are formulated, and an algorithm is proposed that consistently integrates the assessment of entrepreneurial potential, identification of key barriers, determination of promising areas of entrepreneurial activity, selection of relevant support instruments, and their prioritisation with regard to the expected speed of return.

The proposed approach is tested using rural territorial communities of the Khmelnytskyi region as case studies. The need to differentiate organisational support mechanisms according to community profiles is substantiated, including the development of a local innovation ecosystem, activation of untapped reserves through appropriate organisational forms, and consolidation of resources through joint investment mechanisms. The practical significance of the proposed approach lies in improving the validity of managerial decisions made by local self-government bodies, ensuring a transition from uniform to targeted entrepreneurship support, and promoting a more rational allocation of limited support resources.