IMPACT OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES ON ECONOMIC SECURITY

Ensuring the safety of its citizens is the basic duty of every state. In addition to military and political aspects, economic factors largely shape its level. Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME), as an economical category, have become the subject of interest of both economic and security sciences. This was a natural consequence of the economic transformation process, which along with large state-owned enterprises, resulted in the creation of MSME forming the foundations of the private sector in the economy. The main purpose of the study is to identify and analyze factors conditioning the competitiveness and entrepreneurship of MSME and to assess functioning in aspects of their influence on economic security. The research was carried out using methods of logical inference, critical analysis of the literature on the subject, and above all, using the method of expert assessment (Delphi method). The expert assessment method belongs to the group of heuristic methods. The essence of heuristic methods is to come to new solutions by formulating hypotheses. Due to the research area covering two scientific disciplines: management and quality science and security science, the adopted scientific methods have allowed for objective conduct of the research process. As research shows, it is thanks to MSME that the economy owes its growth and ensuring its uninterrupted functioning, which translates into Poland's economic security.