Resources and Sustainable Growth of Industrial Metallurgical Enterprises: an Empirical Assessment

The article is devoted to an estimation of resource's portfolio influence on sustainable growth of industrial enterprises. We clarified terminology and systematized approaches to measuring the enterprise's sustainable growth and the factors affecting it. On the basis of the author's previous studies, we have the hypothesis that investments in the material assets are the most profitable for the Russian industrial enterprises development. Due to institutional and macroeconomic factors, enterprises tend to minimize long-term investments. We used SPARK Interfax data of industrial metallurgical enterprises for 2009-2015. Author did econometric estimation of asset's influence and resource portfolio in general on growth in the short-, medium- and long-term periods. The results illustrate that investments in the resource portfolio have a negative impact on business performance. Investments in financial and material assets have the greatest influence on the profitability's increase in the industrial metallurgy enterprises. Any intangible assets investments negatively affect the future enterprises profitability. Investments in resources for metallurgical enterprises are more profitable in the medium term than in the short or long term. The average strength of the correlation between resource's investment and sustainable growth testifies to the presence of other factors. In fact, institutional and macroeconomic factors determine the development of Russian business. It means, Russian owners can't control enterprises. This result confirms the author's previous theoretical conclusions.