Economic Security of Entrepreneurship: Specifics of Management in the Context of Financial Instability

The financial stability at the macro level mainly refers to the state of equilibrium in the system operation, where the financial system efficiently performs its key economic functions, such as resource allocation, risk transfer, and making payments, and can do so in the event of shocks, stressful situations, and periods of profound structural changes [17]. The financial sustainability is primarily considered as a property of the financial system to return to equilibrium after cessation of the impact of certain negative factors [18]. According to V.N. Alferov, the financial stability of the company is the state and distribution of its financial resources, which ensure the company development, its solvency and investment attractiveness in terms of tolerable risk [19].

At the same time, T. Kovaleva equates these two concepts and explores them much broader, not reducing only to the state of the financial system. In particular, T. Kovaleva believes that the financial sustainability reflects the property of the entire economic system rather than the financial system in the narrow sense, and should be understood as the state of its operation, when a) it is in a dynamic state of financial equilibrium; or b) its deviation from equilibrium lies within the prescribed limits in case of exogenous or endogenous shocks, and it is able to return to financial equilibrium mode [20].

FI is primarily associated with a specific situation where "the economy operation potentially deteriorates with price fluctuations of financial assets or the inability of financial institutions to meet their contractual obligations" [21], when "prices of some key financial assets deviate sharply from their fundamentals, and the operation of credit markets is thrilled, due to which the aggregate expenditures deviate significantly from the normal level" [22]. As a result, the functioning of the key elements of the financial system is disrupted, and the latter is unable to withstand shocks and prevent their destructive impact on the real economy [23].

Kh. Minsky, whose opinion the authors also share, was one of the first to point out that the FI was in the very nature of the market economic relations. In particular, it is noted in his papers [24], [25] that the modern capitalist economy endogenously generates a financial structure, which is subject to FI by its nature. His "hypothesis" is based on the theory of debt deflation (I. Fisher) [26] and the mechanism of the investor behavior in the context of uncertainty (J.M. Keynes) [27].

Close attention to FI as an object of scientific interest at the micro level arose following the research aimed at analyzing individual economic entities [28]. Research in this area gradually approached the realities of business practice, which primarily contributed to the accumulation of statistical data and the improvement of information storage and transmission systems. Economists (A. Cesa-Bianchi, A. Rebucci, P. Aghion, P. Bacchetta, A. Banerjee, P.A. Ivanov, G.R. Sakhapova) focused their research on the nature and causes of crisis situations in the activities of economic entities [29]–[31]. As such, the idea of FI as a condition caused solely by external factors, such as competition and the cyclical nature of economic development, has gradually given way to more complex explanations.

According to Yu.S. Kalinina, an enterprise as a business entity in a stable financial condition is described by a high level of solvency, an absolute or slight dependence on borrowed funds and their rational use, and great performance of core activities [32]. In other words, the financial sustainability of an enterprise is conditions (prevailing at a certain point in time) under which there is not only support for the already existing level of operation, but also the presence of conditions for the enterprise to reach a quantitatively and qualitatively new level (increase in production capacity, entry to new markets, new technological level, increased investment activity, etc.). FI of the enterprise, according to the scientist, is primarily manifested in the deterioration of the conditions of its operation.

According to P.V. Trunin, the phenomenon of enterprise FI can be divided into two stages by its nature. The first stage, most often hidden, is the fall in the marginal efficiency of capital, company's performance, profitability, and profit volumes. The second stage of FI is unprofitable production. This problem is solved by means of strategic management and is implemented through voluntary restructuring of the enterprise. At the same time, it is proposed to expand the concept of FI of an enterprise and combine actual enterprise FI and the crisis state (which the author understands as regular defaults, overdue loans to banks, overdue debts to suppliers, and budget defaults) into one group and consider the failure of an economic entity as the last crisis point of FI [33].

The purpose of the study is to analyze the features of managing the ES of a business entity in the context of FI.

Hypotheses of research is as follows: FI requires timely diagnosis of the financial condition of an enterprise and the nature and depth of financial problems, which must necessarily include a forecast of the possible bankruptcy, in order to ensure the ES of a business entity.

According to the results of the research, it can be concluded that the purpose set in the research has been compassed.

III. METHODS

To compass the purpose, the online video survey of experts via Skype was used to determine the following main questions of the research:

– generalization of expert opinions on priority models for assessing the financial condition of a business entity;

– analysis of international practice in preventing bankruptcy of business entities.

Financial analysts from Kazakhstan (11 experts), the Russian Federation (9 experts), and the Federal Republic of Germany (5 experts) were involved in the expert survey – 25 experts in total.