No 3 (2020)

In the modern post-industrial paradigm of regional development, a priority issue is the formation of a spatial environment to implement the intellectual and innovative resources of enterprises, which will maximize the economic potential of the territory. The organization of territorial innovation clusters is in the focus of the attention of the governments of the world powers. The clustering of the economy contributes to increasing competitiveness and stimulating the country's innovative development. The paper considers clusters as a priority form of organization and development of the socio-economic environment of the region in the context of digital transformations. The study presents the theoretical basis for the formation of a territorial innovation cluster. The author determined the areas of theoretical research of economic environment: geopolitical development, placement of production factors, and socio-economic development of regions. The study presents the classification of the approaches to the areas of theoretical research of regional development. The paper identifies the main features of modern territorial innovation clusters and highlights the main features of cluster formations. The author notes the possibility of successful interaction of competing companies within a cluster. The author considers synergy in the field of research and development work as the most important effect of the functioning of clusters. The innovation component is defined as the main characteristics of the cluster since it is the focus on creating a new product that determines its competitiveness. Based on the analysis of the works of foreign and domestic scientists who studied the problem of clustering, the author clarifies the definition of an innovation cluster in the digital economy. The author presents the concept of the innovative cluster architecture in the digital economy, defines the conditions for the success of its functioning, and describes the nature of the interaction of cluster members in the context of digital transformations. The author justifies the necessity of using the “Industry 4.0” key technologies in their activities. The paper studies the current trends of state policy in the sphere of innovative development. The author considers the goal and shows the effectiveness of the implementation of the program to support pilot territorial innovation clusters.

The paper analyzes key indicators of foreign economic activity of the Mari El Republic in terms of export and import operations. The level of development of the region’s foreign trade largely determines the general state of the territory’s economy, the volume of gross regional product, the possibility of expanding trade operations, the potential inflow of foreign direct investment, and, ultimately, characterizes the living standard of the republic population. The construction of models of export and import volumes in the region allows identifying types of economic activities, the development of which will make it possible to increase the volume of foreign trade operations, and carry out targeted control of budget spending. Based on the statistics of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Mari El Republic and the methodology of multiple regression analysis, the author determined the factors of significant impact on the volume of export-import operations, identified their absolute and relative effect on the scale of foreign trade transactions. The selection of factorial features during modeling is performed by using the algorithm of the step-by-step method, which allows excluding statistically insignificant indicators from the model. The model of export volumes shows a significant impact on the size of the region exports for the production of other non-metallic mineral products and the production of electronic, optical, and electrical equipment. The import value model shows the determining effect of the food production index on the number of goods imported into the region. The built dependencies make it possible to persistently develop the industrial sphere of the Mari El Republic, plan the introduction of import-substituting technologies and productions, reasonably increase the output of products and mass consumer goods, expand exports of high-tech and knowledge-intensive products in the necessary ratio, and, ultimately, contribute to the creation and development of new industrial productions.

The transition to the digital economy, the intensification, and globalization of the business digital transformation trend influence the changes and the possibility of applying many traditional technologies and methodologies, including project management. Managing business digital transformation projects faces many challenges and issues, taking into account the fact that digital transformation is a constant process. The paper presents the analysis of the application of the traditional, agile, and hybrid approaches to project administration. The author analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the existing approaches to project management and proposed using a hybrid approach to manage business digital transformation projects as one of the principal management tools while forming a digital transformation project management strategy. The paper considers the methodological support for project management and proposes the options for implementing a hybrid approach. The author developed the system for evaluating projects, which is based on the existing estimation models and takes into account the specifics of business digital transformation projects and the recommendations and explanations stated by the PMI experts in the Agile ruling documents. The proposed evaluation system will simplify the process of selecting the most efficient combination of the traditional and agile approaches, which is necessary to increase the manageability of the processes of developing the products and solutions in the sphere of digital transformation. The proposed criteria system can be used as an element of the knowledge subsystem of a project team and a project office that will significantly simplify and speed up the management decision-making process and make it more clearly arranged.

One of the urgent problems of the spatial development of Russia is the issues of the effective functioning of single-industry towns. In this regard, the paper presents the results of the studies of the socio-economic development of single-industry towns in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Based on official statistical data, the authors evaluated the demographic and socio-economic development of single-industry towns of the Republic of Bashkortostan: Belebey, Beloretsk, Blagoveshchensk, Kumertau, Neftekamsk, Uchaly. The study found the trends of demographic development common for all single-industry towns of the Republic of Bashkortostan: single-industry towns lose the most promising part of the working-age population, and in the medium-term horizon, this fact can lead to the shortage of highly experienced labor power and the lack of the necessary personnel reserve for the development of single-industry towns. The study identified that the provision of housing in the single-industry towns is below the average republican level; however, due to the increase in the decline in the birth rate and negative migration growth, the positive dynamics have been formed in terms of housing provision per capita. The authors considered the approaches to ensuring the balanced development of single-industry towns, diversification of their economy, and the labor market, presented in the scientific literature. As promising processes for enhancing the economic life of single-industry towns, the authors considered two areas: the maintenance of human resources and the development of the industrial and logistics potential of territories. The authors proposed measures aimed at preserving the personnel potential of single-industry towns, as well as the formation of special areas on the territory of single-industry towns for the localization and subsequent development of innovative industries of foreign companies under the management of a foreign company .