Assessing the entrepreneurial potential of national economic actors in the design of management systems for large corporate networks

Establishing entrepreneurial management systems to enhance corporations’ innovation performance requires appropriate design methodologies to be developed. The initial stage of the design process involves creating a method for assessing stakeholders’ potential within corporate entrepreneurial networks as the primary mechanism for managing the composition of actors, which constitutes the purpose of this study. The methodological framework is grounded in the theories of entrepreneurship, networks, and potentials. The methods of comparison, analysis, and synthesis, along with cartographic visualization tools, were applied. The study relies on data from SPARK-Interfax, the Federal State Statistics Service of Russia (Rosstat), the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, and the Presidential Grants Foundation. The authors’ method for assessing entrepreneurial potential of actors in the national economy is based on comprehending entrepreneurship through its distinctive characteristics (innovativeness, creativity, openness to knowledge sharing, and rational risk-taking) and centers around designing and reconfiguring the composition of actors within large corporate entrepreneurial networks. Empirical testing with data from 83 Russian regions reveals that entrepreneurial potential is highly differentiated across the territories in terms of both integral indicators and actor groups. The study identifies regions leading in specific components of entrepreneurial potential: the highest potential of infrastructural business is observed in Moscow; the potential of civil society institutions that promotes the development of distinctive entrepreneurial characteristics is the greatest in the Magadan oblast; the Republic of Kalmykia excelled in the population’s educational and communicative levels; and the Republic of Tatarstan exhibited the most effective public administration practices for implementing innovation-driven strategies. The results confirm that combining the potentials of actors from various groups yields the highest systemic entrepreneurial capacity, which underscores the effectiveness of a network approach to organizing corporations’ entrepreneurial and innovation activities.