This publication is based on a summary report of discussions held at meetings of the Russian Academy of Science’s Institute of Economic Forecasting organized by the Institute’s senior management in early 2016. These meetings were dedicated to identifying and exploring the methods of restoring economic growth in Russia. The report sets primary objectives and directions for the country’s economic development in upcoming years. Aim. This publication aims to communicate with a wider audience, specifically the readership of the “Economics and Management” journal, the fundamental principles of forming an anti-crisis policy in the country, including key macroeconomic and financial measures that aim to restore the economic growth proposed by scientists at the Institute of Economic Forecasting. Results. The basic definitions in the report are relevant insofar as restoring economic growth will make it possible to generate resources that are required for solving the problem of economic restructuring in 2017-2025. Over this period, active transition toward internallyoriented investment growth should begin, providing structural and technological modernization that facilitates significant increases in production efficiency, enhances the competitiveness of the Russian economy, and creates a potential for export expansion (based on the formation of “new” revenue).

This study is dedicated to examining the practice of territorial and political order in Russia. Despite the fact that the issues of spatial organization in Russia are examined throughout many centuries, this is not a paper on history. It focuses on the forms of territorial management in economics and politics examined in various historical contexts. It is impossible to understand modern Russian practices of governmental territorial management without analyzing historical analogies. Aim. This study aims to analyze the prerequisites for the formation of territorial and political order in Russia from the key principles of theoretical understanding of territorial regulation as an interdisciplinary phenomenon and process. Tasks. This study determines key methods for the scientific analysis of regional management practices and identifies historical analogues of certain modern approaches. Methods. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition and scientific practices of economic history to examine the principles of analysis of a country’s territorial and political order and adequate approaches to economic management. Results. It is demonstrated that the restructuring of the Russian economy is an objective process with wide geographic and historical boundaries. Examining the past experience makes it possible to avoid repeating the same mistakes and predict trends in the development of the spatial organization of the economy.

Company towns and settlements with a high degree of dependency between the social wellbeing of the local community and the economic performance of a particular town-forming enterprise play a special part in the general pattern of population distribution in the Murmansk region in particular and the Arctic region of the Russian Federation as a whole. Some of the crucial problems in the development of company towns in the Murmansk region that exacerbate the situation in the field of the social well-being of the population include negative situation in the labor markets, direct correlation between the municipal social policy and the economic performance of townforming enterprises. Aim. This study aims to determine the specifics and characteristic features of the formation of labor resources in the Arctic region of the Russian Federation. Methods. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition. Data provided by the Kirovsk State Archive of the Murmansk Region serves as the statistical basis for the research. Results. The research establishes that the formation of labor force in the northern regions and the Arctic region has a state problem with a correlation between the interests of the country’s strategic presence in the northern latitudes, tactical economic performance of the “Arctic firm”, and provision of socio-economic well-being for employees and their families.

This study is dedicated to examining over 20 years of experience in the activity of civil servants in present-day Russia, analyzing and evaluating its effectiveness in the solution of socially significant problems. Aim. This study aims to determine the range of problem situations and substantiate subjectactive guidelines for the modernization of the activity of state civil servants. Tasks. This study performs a social diagnosis of compliance of the expertise of state civil servants with the current requirements and challenges of ensuring the life and vital activity of the country’s population and substantiates the need for an adequate economic thinking as well as economic, social, and organizational and legal responsibility. Methods. The achievements of Russian scientists in the formation of state civil service and such methods as overt observation, content analysis, interviewing of experts and state civil servants serve as the theoretical and methodological basis for the study. Results. Limitations in the modernization of state civil service are determined, which prevent initiative, development of professional skills and responsibility, and a mechanism for the development of the subject and active position of state civil servants in the solution of socially significant problems is developed. Conclusion. Identification of the range of problem situations, empirical evaluations, and subject and active guidelines in the work of state civil servants make it possible not only to specify, but also to implement new professional competences indicative of willingness to accept innovation, ethicality and tolerance, respect and observance of human rights and freedoms, as well as to define a civic position based on personal responsibility for the result of work.

Aim. This study aims to determine the directions for the improvement of corporate information systems involved in the composition of supply chains during the production of a certain end product and services that would allow enhancing the competitiveness not only of companies, but of the supply chain as a whole. Tasks. This study analyzes the requirements for information systems, functional capabilities of the existing information systems in the field of supply chain management, and identifies major trends in the development of software for solving logistical problems. Methods. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition, scientific and analytical articles, and information on the developed software provided by vendors. Results. When taking a decision to develop new software for a company involved in the supply chain, the developers need to take into account the existing requirements for the functional capabilities of information systems as well as the existing trends in their development. Such systems should be capable of storing information about daily operations that would be accessible for other members of the supply chain and predicting future needs based on the accumulated information. The majority of the information systems for networking that are heavily used in the industry rely on cloud computing to some extent. Other than that, information systems use artificial intelligence in order to make decision-making possible. Conclusion. In the modern economic conditions, the focus shifts from the competitiveness of a company to that of the supply chain in which the company is engaged in the production and sale of a certain product and/or service along with other members. Enhancing competitiveness requires joint use of modern information systems capable of ensuring cooperation between the members of a supply chain at minimal costs through information sharing and implementation of joint planning.

The current level of technological development as well as globalization and internationalization processes have a significant impact on the functioning of all areas of economic and social life, particularly in the field of business and entrepreneurship. On the one hand, new opportunities for realizing entrepreneurial initiative and expanding existing business constantly emerge. On the other hand, the number of significant factors that affect the success of entrepreneurial activity also develops. Business structures now more often face the need to process large amounts of data in a very limited time. In this regard, incorrect and ineffective decisions may be made, since the previously developed management techniques are extremely sensitive to incomplete information. One of the most promising directions in these circumstances is the application of the theory of soft computing, since it is characterized by its insensitivity to data anomalies. Aim. This study substantiates the need to apply energy entropy methods vis-a-vis the theory of soft computing and thus expounds their relevance and appropriateness for forming organizational structures that can be efficiently operated in contemporary contexts. Results. To create a more sustainable and dynamically optimal business structure with data processing methods based on soft computing, it is proposed to use chaos theory, particularly energy entropy theory, which views an enterprise as being a complex system that adapts to changes in the external environment. This article examines five universal laws of entropy and provides further interpretation regarding the development of business systems. The authors conclude that entropy as a universal measure of any process in a system can be used in organizational design and the development of managerial decisions, particularly in the absence of complete information or lack of time to process all available data.

Aim. This study aims to examine the practical relevance of analytical model solutions for cash balance management in the context of skipping model prerequisites. Tasks. This study develops simulation models for cash balance management with due regard to the specifics of cash balance management that are not taken into consideration in the analytical models. Methods. This study uses simulation modeling methods. Results. Simulation models for cash balance management are developed. Numerous test runs with different source data are conducted. Conclusion. Analytical solutions are far from optimal when skipping model prerequisites, but they can be used in practice. Application of such solutions is beneficial compared to strategies based on “managerial experience”. Simulation modeling makes it possible to adjust the parameters of a management strategy according to the selected critera.

This study examines the specific features regarding the development of a uniformity measurement system as a key element of the economics of quality. Aim. This study evaluates the prospects of applying fractal approaches in the description of a uniformity measurement system. Tasks. This study determines the place of a metrological center in the overall system that ensures traceability, comparability, and compatibility of measurement results with due regard to its viability in the context of an altering external environment. Methods. This study employs general methods of scientific cognition, results of Russian and international research, and data provided by the metrological organizations of the Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology. Results. A uniformity measurement system has fractal properties, several levels of fragmentation (nesting), and a structure similar to a corporate power supply system. Being an irregular fractal, a metrological center is an enterprise that optimizes itself in terms of the production process and mechanisms for achieving goals. Structurally, a metrological center is a combination of subsystems. Problems solved by the metrological center are examined at the level of national secondary standards. Conclusion. While developing a local measurement unit transmission system, the organization should ensure viability and dynamics based on the continuous analysis of internal and external factors.

This article is dedicated to the issues of managing the educational segment of the social space in the context of institutional transplantation. Aim. This study aims to identify the currently prevailing management methods in the educational segment of the social space. Tasks. This study determines the consequences of the implementation of such methods and examines the role and place of social partnership in the educational segment of the social space. Methods. The conducted study uses methods of scientific analysis and synthesis as means of general scientific cognition, and methods of bibliographic content analysis. An institutional approach is also employed. Results. The conducted study shows that in the modern Russian educational system, managing authorities tend to introduce in Russia (or “transplant” in the language of V.M. Polterovich) relatively new institutes that have had a positive effect in other countries, mostly industrialized Western countries. Among such institutes in the field of education are the Unified State Examination, State Final Examination, Bologna process, etc. As shown through the example of transplantation of the Bologna process, such transplantation results in institutional conflicts both within the educational segment of the social space and on its (external) boundaries. The issues of the formation and development of social partnership in the field of education as a management method are addressed. Conclusion. Introduction of relatively new institutes typical of the more industrialized economic systems to the Russian socio-economic system as a whole and the educational segment of the social space in particular is often accompanied by weak adaptability/establishment and, as a consequence, provokes institutional conflicts, leading to further revivification of bureaucratization in the educational system. At the same time, the institute of social space is an effective method of interaction of educational institutions with public and local authorities, subjects and institutes of labor market, the business community, social organizations, etc.

This article analyzes the impact of the regulations for the distribution of subsidies from federal budget on the efficiency of support for small and medium enterprises in the regions. Aim. This study aims to provide guidelines for the improvement of federal support for the regional entrepreneurial development policy centering around the formation of stimuli that would motivate regional authorities to take into account local economic and social features. Tasks. This study determines the sequence of changes in the federal support for the regional entrepreneurial development policy and evaluates its efficiency using alternative statistics: above all the substitution of small and medium enterprises for the self-employed, which reflects the essence of this indicator more accurately. The study also develops guidelines for the corresponding economic policy in relation to entrepreneurship. Materials. Theoretical analysis uses statutory instruments regulating the entrepreneurial development policy, data provided by the Federal State Statistics Service, which serves as the empirical basis for the study, examination of labor force, economic activity of Russian population, and data provided by the Analytical Center of the Russian government. Results. Firstly, increased subsidies in the regions have no effect of the proportion of entrepreneurs among the economically active population, i.e. the society’s interest in this type of activity does not increase. Secondly, it has no significant effect neither on the size of their business, nor on its efficiency. Thirdly, the numbers of small and medium enterprises and the self-employed show different dynamics. Therefore, use of only the first of these two indicators may not fully reflect the development of entrepreneurship. Conclusion. According to the results of the study, the “self-employed” indicator should be used more widely in the assessment of the efficiency of entrepreneurial development policy. Additionally, it is important to give more decision-making freedom to the regions: the existing rules of federal support significantly limit the capabilities of regional authorities. In this regard, they have no stimuli to take into account local economic and social features.

Ski resorts have been developing and growing in popularity over the past few years, which has led to an increasing demand for associated services, enhancing competition between resorts. This provokes scientific and practical interest in the development and use of effective tools for optimizing ski resort development. Aim. This study examines the feasibility of using new Internet technologies for developing the product portfolio of hotels and assessing the efficiency of investments in the strategic development of ski resorts. Materials and methods. The possibility of applying the Internet of Things technology in the hotel business of ski resorts is examined vis-a-vis a comparative analysis of the ski resorts of Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. Results. Major options and trajectories for improvement by implementing Internet technologies are delineated. Recommendations are provided for improving the efficiency of enterprises in the hotel business by expanding the range of services provided and investing in technical infrastructure to harness and benefit from Internet of Things technologies.

Insurance and Risk Management: Problems and Perspectives