СТРАТЕГИЧЕСКОЕ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЬСКИХ СТРУКТУР В СФЕРЕ ВНЕШНЕЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ С УЧЕТОМ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЙ СПЕЦИФИКИ

Abstract:
Government support measures are formulated based on regional sectoral priorities, whereas the sustainability of an entrepreneurial structure in the field of foreign economic activity is constrained by factors that depend on the type of its activity. In the academic literature, methods for ranking sustainability factors, typologies of foreign economic activity participants, and support instruments are developed separately, which makes it difficult to substantiate the selection of appropriate measures for the strategic support of business entities. The purpose of the study is to develop a procedure for the strategic provision of sustainable development of entrepreneurial structures engaged in foreign economic activity by linking the measured hierarchy of sustainability factors with existing support instruments, using the Donetsk People’s Republic as a case study. The research hypothesis is that the hierarchy of factors differs across business models of foreign economic activity participants; therefore, undifferentiated assessment may distort the selection of support measures. The scientific novelty lies in the typological calibration of factor weights using sectoral priority coefficients and the introduction of a coverage coefficient for the sustainability vector by existing support instruments. Methods: theoretical screening and expert filtering reduced a pool of 80 factors to 22 factors grouped into four vectors; factor weights were established using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, with the judgments of ten experts aggregated by the geometric mean and consistency controlled; profiles of four business models were obtained through separate expert sessions. The results showed that customs clearance time and cost, availability of qualified personnel, entrepreneurial capabilities, and the military-political situation occupy leading positions within the respective vectors, while the profiles of the business models differ substantially. Practical significance: the proposed four-stage framework identifies areas where expanding support may have the greatest effect for public authorities and provides enterprises with a basis for selecting appropriate support programmes. Further research is associated with developing an integrated sustainability assessment, expanding the empirical base, and applying the procedure to other regions characterized by high institutional uncertainty.