Accelerating the rate of economic growth is a crucial problem of modern development. Approaching this problem, governments should focus on the existing restrictions of each individual country as well as on the new global trends in development. Aim. This study focuses on one of the emerging global development trends: green production and consumption. In the long run, green production can become a new factor of economic growth. Tasks. This study aims to analyze foreign experience of transition to green economic growth and determine the positive aspects of this process at the level of both public management and business structures. Results. On the one hand, promoting the idea of green economic growth guarantees a government’s motivation to develop a new national innovation policy, measures for government support of the innovative behavior of businesses, and the implementation of a new model of economic growth. On the other hand, businesses are also motivated to manage environmental risks and invest in green production and technologies. The experience of transition to green economic growth examined in this study allows the following factors to be considered as crucial for the success of such transition: 1) the need for structural reforms that would integrate the principles of a green economy into the system of public and corporate management; 2) the need for structural reforms that would reorient the national financial system toward funding a new green model of economic growth; and 3) government stimulation to guide green innovative behavior of businesses and create a demand for green innovations.

This study aims at systematizing known approaches to the identification and classification of clusters. The classification proposed by the authors is enhanced with a new criterion based on the clusters’ capability to produce an impulse for regional economic development, and the concept of “propulsive clusters” is introduced. Aim. This study aims to compare approaches to the identification and classification of economic clusters and propose measures to increase the effectiveness of cluster policy through priority stimulation of propulsive clusters. Tasks. This study determines the necessity and expediency of cluster development of the Russian economy; systematizes approaches to cluster identification and determines the features of cluster structures; substantiates the need to identify propulsive clusters, determines their sub-types, and describes the mechanism of their impact on regional growth; and provides guidelines for increasing the effectiveness of regional policy based on the cluster approach. Methods. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition as well as comparative and retrospective analysis to systematize approaches to cluster identification. Structural analysis is employed to describe the properties of clusters, and analysis of empirical data substantiates the need to identify propulsive clusters and describe their properties with due consideration of the life cycle theory of systems. Results. This study specifies the classification of clusters and explains the mechanism of their impact on regional socioeconomic development. Moreover, it introduces the concept of propulsive clusters and their classification. Furthermore, it determines the problems of stimulating the formation and development of propulsive clusters and provides guidelines for their observation in government policy. Conclusions. The wide variety of cluster types requires an individual approach to each of the created or functioning clusters that are defined by the government. This contradicts the need for the standardization of the means of government influence on cluster formation processes. Thus, the clusters and their features that are the most important for a particular region should be prioritized.

This study examines government support for agriculture in the Republic of Buryatia amid sanctions on agricultural products imposed by Western countries. Aim. This study aims to reassess the role and importance of agricultural production by considering the enhanced competitiveness of agricultural producers of the agroindustrial complex and determine major directions toward government support for agriculture (government program). Tasks. This study analyzes the current state of agricultural products; examines the dynamics of government support for the region’s agroindustrial complex in terms of funding sources; indicates the changes in the mechanism of and directions toward agriculture funding to increase the effectiveness of government control; determines target indicators that characterize performance with regard to goals set in the Program for Socioeconomic Development of the Republic of Buryatia as part of the government program. Methods. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition to examine government support for agriculture in the Republic of Buryatia, determines trends in the development of the Republic’s agroindustrial complex, and assesses the amount of subsidies to the government program events based on a program approach. Results. In Russia, the transition toward long-term strategic planning becomes an important tool with regard to government support for agriculture. Therefore, selection and formulation of tasks in the government programs for the development of the region’s agroindustrial complex is a priority direction toward government support for Russian agricultural producers. Conclusions. Insight into agricultural production of the Republic of Buryatia enables us to analyze the funding of events aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of agricultural producers in the region’s agroindustrial complex and determine priority directions toward the funding of government support for agriculture.

Recognizing the increasing global role of information communication technologies (ICT), the development and implementation of ICT affects economic growth and results in positive changes in regional eco-economic development. Despite the rapid development of the ICT industry over the past decade, Russia has fallen behind other developed countries and is currently stagnating. Aim. This study aims to identify major problems of ICT development in Russia that resulted in its stagnation. Tasks. This study compares foreign and Russian experience in the creation of institutional conditions for ICT development and substantiates the necessity for institutional reforms. Results. This study offers reasons for the slump in ICT development and analyzes foreign and Russian experience in the creation of institutional conditions and factors for the development of the ICT component of regional eco-economic space modernization. Moreover, it examines the effect of ICT on regional eco-economic development and substantiates priority directions toward the strategy of regional eco-economic development based on the principles of green growth. Therefore, institutional changes and government policy are substantiated, which could enhance the competitiveness of the ICT industry and improve its innovative investment activity. In particular, focus is placed on one of the crucial problems of effective ICT development, i. e., educational reforms aimed at satisfying the market’s increased demand for qualified creative experts.

Aim. This study aims to analyze the problem of cooperation between local authorities and Cossack autonomy to determine trends in the development of rural areas. Tasks. This study examines the theoretical foundations of Cossack authority in the system of local autonomy and determines legal framework for joint regulation and cooperation between local authorities and Cossacks for the sustainable development of rural areas. Materials and methods. Data provided by the Stavropol Krai Committee for Nationalities and Cossack Affairs serves as the statistical basis for this study. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition, particularly an analysis systems approach, to examine local and Cossack autonomies and legal method to evaluate the legal framework of activities in the area under examination. Results. The results of the study reveal that Cossack societies can significantly contribute toward the solution of socioeconomic problems by cooperation with local authorities.

Rapid technological development and enhanced competitiveness in the era of globalization require significant changes in the structure and management of economies at the macro- and micro-levels. The success of enterprises resulting from new trends in international and national economic structures is of scientific and practical importance, and the directions of their future essential changes. Such success and its substantiation can be achieved by using strategic management. Aim. This study aims to substantiate the need to develop innovative development strategies for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness in the face of globalization. Tasks. This study analyzes various approaches to the interpretation of notions such as “innovation” and “innovation management” and examines the process of developing a strategy for an enterprise with the purpose of expanding innovative activities. Results. It is determined that, nowadays, elements traditionally viewed as success factors for enterprises are no longer adequate. Global and macro changes in economic structures are breaking the laws of the business world and prompt the reorganization of labor and work places. This makes innovative strategies and their management crucial for small and medium enterprises in the era of globalization.

Aim. This study aims to analyze the financial strategy of the Bank of Russia in terms of the quantitative effect of bank rate (key interest rate) on the Russian economy based on econometric modeling. The conclusions obtained can be used to optimize the financial strategy of the central bank in terms of key interest rate and its effect on the Russian economy. Materials and methods. This study introduces a computer technology for the creation and evaluation of simultaneous equations according to the basic indicators of the Russian macroeconomy and key interest rate using the econometric software package Stata. The analysis is based on the official quarterly data provided by government statistics and the Bank of Russia from the fourth quarter of 1994 to the fourth quarter of 2014 (81 quarters), which allows a quantitative assessment of the financial strategy of the central bank. Results. Analysis of the quantitative effect of bank rate (key interest rate) on the Russian economy using econometric modeling, i. e., evaluation of simultaneous equations according to the basic indicators of the Russian macroeconomy and key interest rate, reveals that this effect is far from optimal. For example, the effect of the average weighted quarterly bank rate (key interest rate) from the fourth quarter of 2000 to the fourth quarter of 2014 results in a lower average quarterly contribution to the aggregate income of the population. The population loses an average of 26,991 billion rubles at 2014 values quarterly, which decreases consumption and GDP. Meanwhile, the negative effect of the bank rate on the chain index is minimal.

This study examines cluster models for regional banking infrastructure. Aim. This study aims to develop an effective methodology for intra-regional management of the banking sector of the economy to give an impetus to the most important elements of regional banking infrastructure as well as to optimize the content of the infrastructure and its interelement relations. We define the concept of “decision making” and demonstrate key stages of the decision-making process in management using a cluster approach. Tasks. This study develops optimal mechanisms for the management and creation of an infrastructure network that would meet the requirements of the loan market. Conceptual clustering is used to build a corresponding classification structure. Results. It is determined that cluster analysis is an effective way to set up interaction in weakly structured economic formations. The use of firmly determined mathematical modeling in the analysis and examination of systems that are highly susceptible to the socalled psychological factors indicate low adequacy and are ineffective from a practical standpoint. Further, the predominant trends in the development of the banking sector in the North West region directly correlate with the current state, growth dynamics, and features of the system of infrastructure roles. Thus, this study concludes that positive changes need to be made to the operation of companies involved in the functioning of the banking sector, including their small and moderate constituents. Such companies should also be integrated in the banking business.

This study examines the distinctive features of insurance models for the risks faced by small and medium enterprises in Russia. Aim. This study aims to determine major distinctive features of insurance models for the risks faced by enterprises as well as the major distinctive features of the risks faced by small enterprises in an uncertain market environment. Tasks. This study determines the sequence of steps that the Chinese monetary authorities need to take on in their way of reforms. It also examines the aggregate of applied measures and clarifies the reasoning of Chinese monetary authorities who do not want to rush monetary liberalization. Methods. This study uses general methods of scientific cognition to examine the distinctive features of insurance models for the risks faced by small and medium enterprises in various aspects. Results. When risk is defined as a category of deviation from the goals of small enterprises, the following situations are distinguished: possible deviation of the actual outcome of the small enterprise’s activity from the expected one and risk of losing control over its revenues and expenses during the implementation of an investment project or business operation. Conclusion. Conceptually important features of diagnostic risk assessment for small and medium enterprises in an uncertain market environment are examined. These features are analyzed from the point of view of prominent scientists, whose opinions are then used to substantiate methodological aspects of conceptual factors for the emergence of uncertainty considering possible risk categories. The concept of acceptable risk of economic process is also examined.

The role of strategic management has significantly increased over the past few decades due to the need to solve complex problems of socioeconomic development. This process has not gone unnoticed in the Republic of Abkhazia, which has adopted its first strategy of socioeconomic development in modern history. The strategy will be in effect until 2025 and includes a strategy for the development of the national economy, in addition to a conceptually determined socially oriented market model. Examination of the strategy for the development of the national economy revealed a discontinuity between the strategy of economic development in the banking sphere (one of the priority directions is increasing the role of the banking system in the economy) and the proposition to develop the banking system, which resulted in this study. Aim. This study aims to examine possible ways to increase the role of the banking system in socially oriented development to present problems, solutions to which would facilitate the sustainable development of the Abkhaz banking system aimed at increasing its role in the economy. Tasks. This study analyzes the current state of the Abkhaz banking system; examines major scientific approaches toward increasing the role of the banking system in the development of national economies; and explores the experience of several countries in the application of a socially oriented model. Results. An analysis of the state of the Abkhaz banking system indicates that this sector is in decline and that its role in the development of real economy is insignificant. Combined with the presence of political will and strategies, it proves that developing a mechanism to increase the role of the banking system in the sustainable development is vital. Examination of major scientific approaches toward increasing the role of the banking system in the development of national economies proves the expediency of government control measures amid the crisis of socioeconomic development. International practices reveal that different approaches exist to the problem of the banking system’s contribution to the socially oriented development of the economy: the response of the Islamic world to the correctness of interest rate with active involvement of Islamic banks can be seen through the examples of the development of the Iranian banking system and the experience of countries that traditionally have a socially oriented development model, such as Germany, Austria, and Sweden. Conclusions. The theoretic, methodological, and practical aspects of a socially oriented model need to be examined by numerous experts to reorganize the banking system of the Republic of Abkhazia.