CHARACTERISTICS OF SHAPING AND REALIZING THE SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES’ INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL

The article examines the issues related to the processes of formation and use of the small and medium enterprises’ innovative potential. The innovative potential’s importance in organizing the activities of business entities as a measure of their readiness to produce and commercialize innovative products is noted. It is considered the influence of small and medium enterprises on the national economy development from the standpoint of saturation of local markets with quality products, job creation, ensuring socio-economic development at the regional level in the context of the implementation of innovative development state programs. The analysis of domestic and foreign publications related to the peculiarities of organizing the small and medium business enterprises’ innovative activity, the problems of shaping and using their innovative potential is carried out. The author’s understanding of the essential content of the innovative potential category is presented, its components and characteristics are given. The roles of external and internal factors in the formation and implementation of innovative potential are identified, the need for close cooperation with academic and scientific institutions, especially for small and medium enterprises, is emphasized. The importance of the marketing component of small and medium enterprises’ innovative potential is established. The expediency of including the digital component to the structural parts of the potential as an important factor in strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises in the economy’s digital transformation is substantiated. The analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of small and medium business entities in front of large enterprises in the organization and implementation of innovative activities in the context of innovative potential realization is presented. A set of indicators is presented, which can be used to assess the effectiveness of processes of innovative potential’s formation and implementation. It is concluded that data acquisition procedures are complex for such an assessment.