Mesoeconomics is ... What is studying mesoeconomics

In economic theory, there is the term "mesoeconomics", which is quite popular not only in the scientific literature, but also in the concepts of practical management. What does it mean? How can it be interpreted correctly depending on the context? To what extent does this term relate to science?

Term meaning

The terminology of the term in question is somewhat different. What is the first? Mesoeconomics is (if you follow the theoretical concepts common in the Russian expert environment) that has signs of a close legal and, in some cases, territorial integration, a set of economic entities that are predominantly related to medium and large businesses. The totality of the firms in question implies more often the community of property and assets.

The Greek word "mesos" means "intermediate". It should be understood as follows: firms form an alliance that can be characterized as occupying an "average" position between the aggregate of small enterprises and the national economy of a single country. That is, the mesocompany, on the one hand, is large enough not to be considered a small or medium-sized business, on the other hand its scale is still not large enough to compare with the GDP of the state in which it is located.

Scientific discipline?

There is a second interpretation of the term. Mesoeconomics is a scientific discipline. It is an integral part of economic theory. Mesoeconomics studies the activity of enterprises at the level of individual industries. For example, trade, military-industrial complex, IT-technologies, etc. In this sense, "mezo" means something in between macro and microeconomics. That is, those disciplines that examine the activities of individual firms or the national economy as a whole.

Certainly, in some respects, what mesoeconomics studies, and those firms that are characterized by consolidation within the same system, can also be viewed in one context. It all depends on the structure of the particular study. For example, if it examines, say, the economy of the central district of the city by the example of a set of firms operating in one industry.

In a number of contexts, the term "mesoeconomics" is used to denote the subject of economic research, when it comes to economic processes at the level of individual regions - with the appropriate federal structure of state power, such as in Russia or the United States. That is, "meso" in this case is something between the economy of cities and the national economic system.

How did mesoeconomics appear?

If we talk about the first interpretation of the term, how long has it existed? According to many experts, mesoeconomics is the result of the natural development of processes connected with the industrialization of national economies, which began to be especially intensively observed at the beginning of the 20th century. Then, in connection with the improvement of equipment, the concentration of capacities producing goods began to increase.

Concentration of production

As a result, high-performance plants began to be built on relatively small areas. Settlements began to turn into large industrial centers. The city's economy could now function on the basis of enterprises located only in it. The enlargement of production began to reach such a scale that individual groups of companies in terms of turnover began to exceed the budgets of some states.

What preceded mesoeconomics? Analysts usually refer to this period as reflecting the realities of "microeconomics" - the medium of interaction between relatively small, independent manufactures - manufactories, private factories. They could be built, for example, the economy of the village, but not a large megalopolis - as it became possible after the emergence of such a phenomenon as mesoeconomics.

Characteristics of mesoeconomics

The main feature of mesoeconomics experts call centralization. It can occur in two versions - horizontal and vertical. In the first case, companies that produce the same type of product (or group of goods) are united, in the second - companies are consolidated within the totality of different production stages. A mixed version is also possible. And in this case, we will talk about diagonal centralization, the scale of which can be very impressive, as well as the diversity of those spheres in which enterprises operate. In fact, a local, small economy can be formed in the same multi-sectoral structure as the national economy.

The influence of mesoeconomics

The emergence of mesoeconomics has become a factor of significant changes in the forms of market relations. The branch mesosystems that unite firms within the same sector of the economy have started to form . For example, banking or industrial. Many experts believe that mesoeconomics is the leading form of modern enterprise interaction, and not just a phenomenon typical of the beginning of the 20th century.

Structure of modern meso-enterprises

How is the structure of the interaction of firms consolidating within mesoeconomic systems organized today? As a rule, these are holdings in which there are two types of capital - real and speculative. The first is the actual (for example, balance sheet) assets of firms, the second - securities (usually rotating on the free market). In many cases, mesoeconomics is the environment in which the largest companies operating in the state are consolidated (in which case the industries where these firms operate are also leading). It happens that there are few such enterprises in quantitative terms, but they concentrate the bulk of the capital in the entire national market.

Quite often, when firms use their position, they set prices that suit them. But in this case, in many states, antitrust mechanisms have been developed at the level of laws. Therefore, many modern experts believe that mesoeconomics is a phenomenon that is useful from the point of view of developing the economic systems of the countries of the world. First of all, from the point of view of social function. But not only.

Stability - in consolidation

What kind of problems of the economy can the enterprises that form mesosystems solve? Enterprises operating within large associations tend to be more resilient to crises. They also create more jobs, regularly pay taxes. In addition, the stability of merged firms contributes to the resolution of economic problems such as the stability of the national financial system: more powerful business structures take more bank loans and return more stable than, for example, small businesses.

Mesoeconomics and business relationships

What characterizes the interrelationship of businesses forming mesoeconomics? First of all, this is the desire to enter into long-term partnership contracts. This gives companies the opportunity to jointly respond to changes in market conditions, the growth or fall in prices in the sales or, conversely, supply. Consolidation of efforts in a number of cases directly affects supply and demand, and also forms new markets. Contractual obligations, as a rule, are supported by a high level of responsibility. In the event of default, the firm, in accordance with the contract, must give the partner part of the assets.

The role of meso-enterprises for the state

Above we said that companies that form themselves "mesostructures" perform a meaningful function for the state - provide jobs to citizens, pay taxes. But this role is not limited to mesoeconomics. Among other important functions is the supply of resources to the state for conducting foreign economic and political activities. The scale of business consolidation can, of course, be greater than the economy of a district or city. As we have already said, the real option is real, when it is comparable with the GDP of a single country.

However, the nationality of mesoeconomics is, as a rule, a big plus in the foreign policy arena. Especially when it comes to representative offices abroad, influence on foreign markets, brand recognition in other countries of the world. Mesoeconomy can be the face of the state in the external arena. Especially if they position themselves as a national company, not an international one.

Specificity of management of mesoeconomies

What is the management structure of companies that form mesoeconomies? As a rule, they have those who own a controlling stake or other assets of firms. The peculiarity of the functioning of such enterprises is that management structures sometimes have nothing to do with the owners of the organization. The CEO in many cases is an ordinary employee who does not hold a share in the firm's ownership, or is a minority shareholder. This is sometimes due to the fact that companies representing different sectors of the economy can be present in the structure of mesoeconomics. To manage all of them simultaneously the owner, most likely, simply will not be in time. And that's why he is likely to invite to the position of the top manager of a hired employee.

Meso-economics and financial-industrial groups

The simplest (from the point of view of legal mechanisms of consolidation of enterprises) form of association of firms is a public joint-stock company. It has, as we said above, real capital used to create additional value, as well as speculative, in which investors are invested. What other forms of organization of mesoeconomics?

According to many experts, the largest implementations of the meso-economic association are financial and industrial groups. These structures are a set of firms that can influence not only certain areas of the economy, but also the national (and in some cases, the international) economic system. Financial and industrial groups are called upon to unite efforts of different companies in technological aspect, in terms of consolidation of capital, management resources, expansion of the market. The resources of such firms in terms of social function are also very significant. As a rule, financial and industrial groups are significant not only for intra-national markets on a national scale, but also in the international arena.

The composition of the financial and industrial group usually includes companies representing different spheres of the economy. It can be industrial corporations, banks, insurance companies, retail chains, research organizations, in some cases - state structures.

Ownership structure of mesoeconomies

How are the mechanisms for determining the ownership of enterprises forming mezo-economies built? As a rule, here we are talking about the distribution of shares according to the holding principle. That is, there is a leading structure, which owns controlling stakes in subsidiaries. It is rare that a phenomenon occurs in which the owner of the company remains a person or organization that does not enter de jure into mesoeconomics. At the same time, each enterprise can conduct quite an independent economic policy (however, within the limits of the powers stipulated in the relevant contracts).

Mesoeconomy and the oligarchs

Who are the oligarchs from the point of view of Western economic theory? These are entrepreneurs who own the largest enterprises, the scale of their activities allows managing not only the sectoral financial flows, but also bank capital, investments in national and international stock markets. That is, the oligarchs are actually the main actors of the world mesoeconomy.

Can well-known Russian entrepreneurs who own assets worth billions of dollars be considered "classical" oligarchs? Experts believe that it is possible that they will acquire such status in the near future. As one of the main criteria of the oligarchy is independence from state-owned companies, doing business outside the national political course. The largest Russian entrepreneurs, in turn, made capital, using a political resource or taking advantage of the opportunities that the state opened in the years of privatization.