Leasing as an Integrated Form of Entrepreneurial Activity

The article analyzes the diverse aspects of determining the economic content of leasing as an integral form of entrepreneurial activity, which includes rental, credit and investment relations. It is noted that in the functional aspect, leasing is an institution that provides technical re-equipment of enterprises and acceleration of scientific-technological progress through direct investments in material and financial forms. It is underlined that leasing has a complex triple basis and contains simultaneously elements of a trade agreement, investment and lease forms of activity, which are closely combined and interact with each other, forming a novel economic and legal form of entrepreneurial activity. At that, the right to use the property is separated from the right to own it. In some cases, after the expiration of the lease term, the lessee’s right to purchase the object and the ownership of it may be provided. It is shown that the functioning of leasing as an independent type of entrepreneurship is based on the possibility of dividing the components of ownership into two constituents – the use of the object (its use in accordance with the purpose and with the aim of generating income) and the right of absolute property of the person. At that, too, leasing is considered as one of the mechanisms for overcoming the crisis in the economy and improving the investment climate. It is substantiated that the further development of the leasing business requires improvement of leasing mechanisms and the further, more complex schemes for fulfilling the agreements, since leasing relations are a special type of financial relations, the specificity of which is that leasing is used, first of all, as a form of investment financing, contributing to an increase in the economic potential of both individual economic entities and the leasing services market in general. A refined definition of leasing as an independent, system-forming, integral, economic and legal form of entrepreneurial activity is proposed, including a whole range of economic relations – investment, credit, rental, and trade.