Business practices of entrepreneurs of the South of Ukraine in the field of services (end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to highlight the peculiarities of the deployment of entrepreneurial activity in the field of providing services to the population of the southern Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Research methods were used: problem-chronological, historical-genetic, retrospective. Scientific novelty: on the basis of a wide range of sources, the entrepreneurial practices of representatives of the business circles of Southern Ukraine in the field of household services of the population in the modern period have been characterized. Main results. It is noted that in the post-reform period, a large group of entrepreneurs was formed in the region (numbering approximately 3.5 thousand people), who were engaged in business activities in the service sector, making quite considerable fortunes. After all, entrepreneurial activity in this area did not require the involvement of significant capital and was characterized by a sufficiently fast turnover of funds. At the same time, guild service establishments in the Kherson province brought the biggest profits to their owners. In particular, hotels in Odessa had an average profit of 46,000 rubles per year. In turn, non-guild enterprises in the field of services also brought the largest profits to their owners in Kherson region – 19–20 %, and the lowest income – 13–14 %, had the owners of similar establishments in Katerynoslav region. In Tavria province in 1896, this figure was 15 %. Accordingly, it was in the Kherson region at the end of the 19th century the largest number of guild and non-guild individual private enterprises operating in the service of the population – 1575 establishments. Using the example of the city of Odesa, it was found that in terms of social composition, among the owners of service establishments in 1913, the majority were burghers, who owned 96 enterprises or 46,8 %. The representatives of the peasantry took the conditional second place – 54 institutions or 26,3 %. This was followed by merchants and honorable citizens – 21,5 %, as well as representatives of the nobility and officials – 5,4 %. After all, by creating numerous hotels, inns, restaurants, taverns, coffee shops, hairdressers and baths, these businessmen played a significant role in meeting the various needs of the residents of the cities of Kherson, Katerynoslav and Tavria provinces. Attention was drawn to the fact that ethnic Russians, Jews and Germans predominated among the representatives of business circles who created enterprises in this branch of the national economy. At the same time, Ukrainians by origin were quite actively involved in the activities in the field of service. Type of article: descriptive.