Fridman Yu.A., Rechko G.N., Loginova E.Yu. Kuzbass as an Object of Strategic Planning: Current Practice

Yuriy A. Fridman
Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Galina N. Rechko
Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Ekaterina Yu. Loginova
Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Abstract. The article features Kuzbass (the Kemerovo Oblast) as the object of research. This compact region has exceptional population labor skills and a developed infrastructure. It has opportunities to create and improve value chains in both primary industry (coal, iron ore mining) and processing (ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, gas-based chemistry, oil refining, timber processing, and agriculture), as well as to use its high recreational potential. Kuzbass is also a unique territory since, for a long time, it has utilized strategic planning to search for optimal development paths. This region was the first in Russia’s practice of planning to raise a question on the need to reconcile the interests of business and implemented several such models, including pioneering ones. The research subject is the models of Kuzbass economic development, including strategic ones. An analysis of various model structures demonstrates that the more advanced the mechanisms that transform resource development into general economic one, the more effective the model is. We show that no strategy can complete all socio-economic tasks arising during its implementation. It is important to understand that the main purpose of strategic planning is to form a foundation for completing the tasks of general economic development in a region and, at least, to launch completion mechanisms. It was the practical use of such models that allowed Kuzbass to “sprint forward” at certain stages of development; on the contrary, the use of models with no mechanisms for converting “resource mentality” into “development mentality” set the region back decades.

Key words: Kuzbass, business, authority, development strategy, economic models, regional self-accounting, special economic zone, territorial production complexes, development harmonization.

Citation. Fridman Yu.A., Rechko G.N., Loginova E.Yu. Kuzbass as an Object of Strategic Planning: Current Practice.
Regionalnaya ekonomika. Yug Rossii [Regional Economy. The South of Russia], 2019, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 79-87. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/re.volsu.2019.1.7