Subjects of economic security of a city

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to define the term «economic security of a city» and assess the current importance of studying this question. Economic security of a city is determined, from the one part, by how efficiently the city’s functions are performed from the viewpoint of consumers of goods from city-forming enterprises, from the other part, by how economic interests of social groups that perform a particular city’s function are met. City’s social groups are the main subjects of its economic security. The identified social groups are differentiated by the source of income and are directly related to the city’s functions. The study proposes to range social groups by the extent of their influence on the city’s policy. This allows identifying the material interests of these groups and linking them to the city’s economic security. The differentiation of economic interests between city-forming and city-maintaining enterprises allowed focusing attention on city’s strategic aspects of development. Analysis of the existing approaches to economic security of city revealed that they are based on the countering the recurrent threats that are possible to interpret as adverse effects of managerial decisions made earlier. The approach existing in literature is focused on the quick definition of city’s economic security and makes it impossible to define the city’s strategy from the position of ensuring its economic security. The proposed definition of city’s economic security makes it possible to proceed to formation of the general strategy of a city in terms of ensuring its economic security, as well as to identify the functional strategies to realize it.