Сhallenges and prospects of youth start-up movement research as a new trend of Russian entrepreneurship development

Abstract

The revision of the role of entrepreneurship has led to a reassessment of the importance of entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial intentions as sources of startup movement in Russia. This fact determines the relevance of the youth startup movement study as a new trend in the youth entrepreneur environment. It also stresses the importance to reveal factors that promote the development of the movement and factors that restrict the development of Russian startup companies that require government and public support. In this regard, the purpose of the original research is to work out methodological and methodical tools to identify reasons, challenges and consequences of the startup movement development as it will allow us to create more efficient mechanisms of its promotion in Russia. The study is methodologically based on an interdisciplinary approach that reveals a set of economic, social, psychological and cultural factors that characterize the behavior of young people involved in the startup community. To identify the trends and restrictions of the youth startup movement development in Russia desk and field studies of founders and representatives of 150 Russian youth startup companies participating in the Startup Village (Skolkovo, 2018) Exhibition have been conducted and 109 websites of the corresponding startup companies have been investigated. As a result of the expert survey and the content-analysis of the websites the importance of startup companies for the development of the entrepreneur activity of the youth has been revealed. The key challenges for the development of youth startup companies have been identified. Among the most significant challenges are the lack of the demand for innovation technologies and products at the markets, low quality of management decisions, the lack of professional knowledge when developing or promotion innovation products and technologies, insufficient financial and state support at early stages of project implementation, low government response for startup initiatives, low effectiveness and efficiency of startup activity. The elaboration of programs and measures of the state youth policy may become one of the mechanisms for the development and support of the youth startups. The measures may become the foundation for the technologies that will involve young people in the startup movement taking into account their inclination and willingness for entrepreneur activity. We believe that the study of the socio-economic structure of the startup movement, the mechanisms of its increase and the reasons for leaving the startup community are a promising area of future research.. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]