Theoretical and methodological foundations of strategic management of local business development
Abstract
The article substantiates the theoretical and methodological foundations of strategic management of local business development as a multi-level system of goal coordination. It is shown that an enterprise strategy does not exist in an institutional vacuum. Its content and implementation depend on the interaction among the enterprise’s micro level, the mesolevel of local self-government, the sectoral specificity of the entrepreneurial environment, and the macro level of state policy. The study aims to reveal mechanisms for aligning local business goals with territorial community strategies, regional priorities, and national documents on developing the entrepreneurial environment. Based on an analysis of classical, resource-based, ecosystem, and territorial approaches to strategy-making, the study establishes that Ukraine has already formed a formal planning vertical. The article shows that management quality depends not on the number of documents but on the density of links among them. The article proposes a logic of nested goals, in which each lower level concretizes the higher one: from national priorities through the regional strategy and the territorial community strategy to the local SME support program and the enterprise’s goals. Operationally, this relationship is described by concretization functions that select relevant priorities, adapt them to the scale of the territory or the business, and fix indicators, resources, implementers, and timeframes. A break in any link produces parallel sets of intentions and leaves the enterprise as an object of fragmented support. Real alignment is defined as the intersection of goals at adjacent levels. Further research should empirically test the model using community materials and develop indicators of business participation in updating local strategies. Keywords: strategic management; local business; small and medium-sized enterprises; territorial community; strategy coordination; regional policy; SME development program; multi-level alignment.