INTEGRATION OF SMALL BUSINESS FORMS INTO AGRO-INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS BARRIERS AND MODELS OF COOPERATION

Mindlin Yury Borisovich

The article examines the problem of the inclusion of small forms of management - peasant farms and private subsidiary farms - in the agro-industrial clusters of Russia. The relevance of the study is due to the structural deformation of the domestic agro-industrial complex, expressed in the polarization between large agricultural holdings and millions of small producers in the absence of a developed middle management and effective cooperative ties. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, regulatory legal acts and empirical research materials, the barriers preventing the integration of small farms into cluster structures are systematized. Three groups of barriers are identified: institutional and economic, related to the inequality of market power and discriminatory conditions of access to sales markets; structural and organizational, due to the lack of cooperation infrastructure and a shortage of qualified personnel; socio-cultural, rooted in a low level of trust and lack of traditions of networking. The conclusion is substantiated that it is necessary to reorient the state cluster policy from supporting formal cluster formations to stimulating real cooperative ties and creating institutional conditions for the integration of small businesses. This implies abandoning the practice of «assigning» clusters «from above», switching to supporting initiatives emanating from manufacturers themselves, and developing flexible, differentiated tools to stimulate cooperation that take into account regional and industry specifics.

Keywords:small business forms, agro-industrial cluster, small business, cooperation, cluster policy.