May 26, 2014. Poor cooperation between small, medium, and large enterprises is seen as one of the major obstacles by Sverdlovsk Region-based entrepreneurs, representatives of the local business community said at a press conference today.

The main reasons why this cooperation between small, medium, and large enterprises is stuck at the budding stage is the difference of cultures, the connections that exist between large companies and their suppliers, and the lack of information on the companies’ potential, says Vice President of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Mikhail Cherepanov.

A recent rating created by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives and based on the findings of a survey that involved 13,000 businesspeople, none of the so-called experimental territories scored more than 3- in the small enterprise support category, says the Head of the Agency’s Sverdlovsk Region representation Daniil Mazurovsky.

‘Specific complaints have to do with the government order: only 4.1% of state orders are placed with the SMEs, while the promised percentage was 15%. Everyone talks of corruption and on the pressure exerted on them by the constituency-level executive authorities,’ Mazurovsky said.