Barriers and opportunities for hi-tech innovative small and medium enterprises development in the 4th industrial revolution era

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problems of the sustainable development, to explore the level of innovation in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing SMMEs sectors, which most affects on the state of the environment, to identify the causes of low innovation in the industry and to examine these factors influence on the effectiveness of SMMEs manufacturers innovation strategies, as well as to invent a new innovation strategic approach to overcome innovation problems in the economic growth of fast moving consumer goods SMMEs manufacturers. The study is aimed to determine the level of innovation and factors contributing to low innovation in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) SMMEs manufacturers, which hinder their economic performance. Mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative questionnaire is used for primary data collection. Sample consists of 120 SMMEs. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (23.0) was employed for data analysis. The study results are presented with figures and diagrams. This study will be a useful tool for general public and relevant stakeholders in this sector.

Information economy, being the newest type, in the course of formation acquires its distinctive features, which include a significant change in the needs of investors, producers, consumers and other economic relation participants. In order to achieve a competitive information economy, state support for high-tech industries is needed. It is crucial to create a clear legal framework, give boost to the formation of intellectual capital based on other countries' experience. Implementation of the strategy for high-tech industries development in Ukraine is a decisive step in creating a platform for information technology dissemination, creation of new competitive products with high added value. The purpose of the article is to investigate the transformation to the information economy, to analyze the industry competitiveness, to define the opportunities for information sphere improvement. The theoretical aspect of the emergence and formation of the information economy category is studied, the approaches to the defining this economic category and its derivatives have been studied and generalized, essential features of the information type of economic relations have been investigated, and their main components have been determined. In the article, the relationship between the level of information economy development and the competitiveness of domestic enterprises' products has been described, the factors influencing high-tech industries development in Ukraine are considered, and suggestions as for increasing the assistance to the development of knowledge-intensive sectors, including information technology, are proposed.

Using a panel of 28 European Union countries for the period 2003–2014, the authors provide empirical evidence for the relationship between innovation, technological specialization, and income inequality. The results of the fixed effect panel regressions show two important findings. Firstly, the positive link was found between innovation, as measured by patenting activities, and income inequality as measured by Gini index and the top 10% income shares of the richest. Secondly, the authors also found the positive correlation between technological specialization, as measured by the Coefficient of Variances (CV) of Revealed Technological Advantage Index, and income inequality. Overall, the study enriches the previous literature suggesting that innovation may increase the gap of income distribution through the mechanism of Skill-Biased Technical Change (SBTC) and the Schumpeterian view of entrepreneurial rent. More importantly, this study is the first which found that not only the level of innovation does matter to the income distribution, but also how the innovation activities are specialized or diversified. Concentrating the activities into few narrow sectors (i.e., increase technological specialization) may also lead to the increase of income inequality.