Business Climate Assessment in a region: objectives and methods

In order to attract foreign direct investments and to develop entrepreneurship in a particular region or in a country in general it is necessary to develop a favorable business climate. In recent years, Russia and, accordingly, its regions are developing rapidly, which leads to an increase in inflows of foreign investment, domestic investment, as well as the development of small and medium-sized businesses. This trend is leading to increased competition between regions within a country. However, for a favorable business climate it is necessary to improve conditions for doing business, as well as to take care of prestige, image and status of the subject.Despite numerous studies of the business climate assessment in the literature there is no uniform definition of this term. Moreover, this concept is very often identified with the concept of the investment climate. Therefore, in this paper reveals the essence of the term of "business climate", identifies the factors on which it depends, and considered what exactly is different from the investment business climate.There are special methods of business climate assessment that allow to identify positive and negative aspects of the development of entrepreneurship in any subject. This thesis explores the basic methods for assessing the business climate. Also, the calculated estimate of the entrepreneurial climate in the Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow region by the method by rating agency "Expert" , the method by Austria Bank and the method by Moscow State University. A comparative analysis of the results for the three evaluations and conclusions shows that one estimate is different from another. In the study, a survey was conducted of three companies involved in the production and sale of construction materials. CEOs gave their assessment of the business climate in Nizhny Novgorod region on the proposed indicators. In conclusion, comparing the results of the evaluation of three methods and survey companies was formulated the conclusion about how to change the existing estimations in order to improve their results and provide them with the highest quality.