PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AS A POLICY INSTRUMENT FOR THE SUPPORT OF SMES: A COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND PROSPECTS FOR UKRAINE
Abstract
The article examines public procurement as a policy instrument for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of international economic relations and post-war economic recovery in Ukraine. The study proceeds from the premise that public procurement should be interpreted not only as a mechanism for meeting public sector needs, but also as a structured channel of state demand redistribution capable of influencing competition, market access, supplier diversification, and the financial sustainability of SMEs. Particular attention is paid to the comparative economic analysis of different models of SME support through procurement systems in the European Union, the United States, Canada, China, and Ukraine. The paper identifies the principal barriers that constrain SME participation in public procurement, including excessive transaction costs, disproportionate qualification requirements, financial restrictions, informational asymmetry, and administrative complexity. It is substantiated that the economic effectiveness of procurement policy depends on the institutional design of procurement procedures, the scale of digitalization, and the degree to which the system reduces entry costs for smaller suppliers. The comparative analysis makes it possible to distinguish several models of SME support in public procurement, namely target-based, competitive-inclusive, barrier-reduction, large-scale stimulating, and digital-transformational ones. It is argued that Ukraine is gradually forming a digital-transformational model based on the ProZorro system and Prozorro Market, which creates new opportunities for SMEs by expanding access to competitive procedures and reducing transaction costs. The article concludes that the further development of public procurement in Ukraine should be linked to simplification of supplier access, expansion of standardized digital tools, improvement of procurement analytics, and integration of procurement policy with the broader objectives of entrepreneurial development, regional resilience, and post-war reconstruction.
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