THE CONCEPT OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE ENTERPRISE: WHY DO WE NEED IT?

This article addresses the theoretical concept of economic security of the enterprise (ESE) and discusses its features in post-Soviet countries based on a review of the Ukrainian scientific literature. This study includes an explanation of the specific conditions of economic and social transformation as well as of the developments in post-Soviet economic science that led to the introduction of the term “economic security of the enterprise”. This research intends to explain the concept of ESE in post-Soviet economic thought and discusses its utility for different stakeholders. The main research questions are therefore: What are the approaches to a definition of ESE within the concept of ESE in Ukrainian economic thought? How can the main features of ESE be defined? What are the benefits of the concept of ESE for a firm's stakeholders? Our study is based on a qualitative content analysis of the Ukrainian economic literature considering ESE. We conducted a content analysis of the definitions of ESE presented in over 50 dissertations defended in Ukraine during the period 1999-2011. This analysis allows us to identify the distinctive features of the concept: ESE is presented as a generalizing concept, in which terms such as competitiveness, threats, and profitability point out only one aspect of the phenomenon neglecting others. The notion of economic security of the enterprise has a complex internal nature that includes a variety of structural interactions among internal elements of a firm and its external environment, and thus we suggest to define the notion of ESE via its static and dynamic dimensions. Being a broader concept than other widely applied concepts (such as Enterprise Risk Management), the concept of ESE can be of special interest for business managers as well as public authorities due to its ability to propose a solid foundation for economic security on local, regional and national levels. In this context, the economic security framework gives public authorities a basis for policy decisions regarding the future of enterprises.