Antimonopoly regulation and the problem of supporting medium and small businesses in Russia

The formation of market relations can not be imagined without healthy competition. The latter ensures the improvement of the quality of products manufactured by various enterprises within the framework of one economic sphere. The struggle of companies for customer loyalty contributes to the improvement of the life of members of society.

The seizure of a niche market by one enterprise is fraught with a drop in the quality of its products. The reason is that the consumer in this case does not have the opportunity to choose the best product, and is forced to purchase only what the company has provided to meet their needs. To avoid such situations, the state assumes the responsibility to adopt appropriate acts and programs, that is, to implement antimonopoly regulation. This term has various variants of interpretation, the following wording will be used in this article.

Antimonopoly regulation is the activity of the state aimed at establishing and implementing rules for conducting economic activities, developing the market and protecting fair competition.

Most European countries began to transition to a market system after the bourgeois revolutions of the century before last. Antimonopoly regulation in this part of the continent arose as a response not only from the state, but also from the society to the attempts of some companies to seize market niches that are in demand.

The development of private business as the economic core of society in most Western countries has a long history. Today, its support is not only a normative expression, but it is an entire institutional system. At the same time, it is completely legitimate, and businessmen enjoy preferential programs of various insurance companies, commercial banks, regional guarantors, charitable associations and industry funds. All these institutions provide active support to the developing business.

The Russian experience of the formation of market relations is connected with completely different prerequisites. The period of the Soviet Union is characterized by a complete monopolization of the main economic sectors. The economy concentrated in the hands of the state excluded the very possibility of market development. A sharp transition to capitalism at the end of the last century was a blow to the economic sectors of the country. Antimonopoly regulation in these conditions for a long time remained nominal, not finding its expression in anything, except for the norms of the law of the same name.

Today, the level of market development is much higher than in the late 90s of the last century, but, as before, is not satisfactory. The reason is that in Russia natural monopolies occupy a significant share of the economy. In addition, the transition to capitalism in the absence of appropriate prerequisites and the timing of its implementation did not have the best effect on the formation of small and medium-sized businesses.

Antimonopoly regulation is not capable of raising entrepreneurship, and for the development of the latter, an institutional base has not been formed. Thus, the state is forced to toughen measures to prevent the capture by a single enterprise of a significant market share of a particular product. But a significant part of the funds that go to antimonopoly regulation of the economy could be used to support small and medium-sized business structures.