Fuzzy assessment of the effectiveness of financial support for small and medium-sized businesses
Abstract. The subject of the author`s research is elements of the financial support system for SMEs: support tools, infrastructure organizations, SMEs, their relationships, the integrative effect and its assessment. This article is part of research aimed at studying the impact of regional financial support on the activities of SMEs. The purpose of the author`s research is to develop a model for assessing the effectiveness of financial support for the activities of SMEs. The impact of government support on the activities of SMEs has been studied by different researchers, various methods for assessing the impact are proposed, and this article uses a mathematical apparatus that is atypical for this area of research. The author proposes to use a fuzzy assessment of the impact of support on the activities of SMEs using the mathematical apparatus of the theory of fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic and a fuzzy inference system. The article presents the developed model of fuzzy assessment of the effectiveness of regional financial support for SMEs. This model is tested on empirical data. The obtained result is compared with other studies, which confirms the quality of the model. A positive assessment of the impact of regional financial support on the activities of SMEs in the Samara region was also given. Assessing the effectiveness of support has important practical significance; it can provide an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of regional economic policy, the distribution of budget funds and the activities of infrastructure organizations.
Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), financial support, fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, fuzzy inference system, efficiency assessment.
Highlights:
♦ assessment of the effectiveness of financial support for SMEs is important for assessing the effectiveness of regional economic policy, budget allocation and the activities of infrastructure organizations;
♦ the model of fuzzy evaluation of the effectiveness of support using the mathematical apparatus of the theory of fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic and the fuzzy inference system allows us to evaluate a complex economic system;
♦ the impact of financial support is positive and significant for the activities of SMEs, financial support in the Samara region and the activities of a specialized infrastructure organization are effective for recipients of support.
Sergey V. Andreev - Institute of Finance, Economics and Management of Togliatti State University, Togliatti, Russia