AGRARIAN CORPORATE SECTOR: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The author considers the development of theoretical and methodological foundations for research of agrarian corporations and the corporatization process of the agrarian sector of Ukraine’s economy. It is found that the current domestic legislation does not contain a single and comprehensive definition of a corporation in general and an agrarian corporation in particular. Meanwhile, their existing definitions show some inconsistency in the interpretation of the definition of a “corporation” in various legislative acts.
Formation of corporations is inseparable from the processes of concentration and integration. The main features of the institutional unit affiliation with the corporate sector are: the pooling of resources (capital and/or property), internal structuring and separation of property rights from the rights of management (control).
The corporation is an economic system with certain social functions. The corporate segment in agriculture is formed of agricultural enterprises, their associations and cooperatives. At the same time, agrarian corporations should not formally include the state and private enterprises with a sole proprietor, as well as farms. The agrarian corporate system is not homogeneous either in composition or in the nature of regulation. It should be structured according to certain characteristics (for example, according to the size of land-use and/or livestock). Accordingly, the development trends of various segments, their impact on the dynamics of macroeconomic indicators and the effectiveness of the state regulation of the industry should be examined.
Ukraine’s agrarian corporate sector demonstrates a generally positive development dynamics. It produces almost half of all agrarian output and more than half of plant-growing. Agricultural corporations make the main contribution to ensuring a positive balance of foreign trade in agricultural products. At the same time, corporations are responsible for distorting the structure of exports, namely for the prevalence of several groups of commodities in exports. Holding entities, whose activities are not legalized, dominate in the agrarian corporate sector.