Economic Autonomy of Regions in the New Reality

The article expands on the concept of new reality (new normal) for Russia, which includes the increased role of individuals and larger economic autonomy of territories in their interaction with the federal center. The rationale is based on the hypothesis that, in the new reality, the improved wellbeing of people and elimination of economic disparities between the territories can be ensured by expanding their economic autonomy, because it leads to the increase in their intellectual, industrial and technological capacity. In this study, the author used the basic provisions of the classical economic theory, the theory of behavioral economics, interdisciplinary approach, and the method of statistical groupings. The article presents the trends in the economic autonomy of the territories, which include a decrease in the number of donor regions and differentiation of territories in terms of their socio-economic indicators. It substantiates the assumption that the differentiation of territories puts constrains on their socio-economic development and may lead to the emergence of a «regional peripheral economy,» the attribute of which is the dependence of the periphery from the center, reduced local initiative, and slowdown of technological development. The article identi es the need to use the mindset of people, their psychological attitudes in the economic development, the «second invisible hand of the market» and «soft power» in order to move beyond the «regional peripheral economy.» The conducted study demonstrates that the expansion of economic autonomy of the territories is not the increased self-isolation of regions and municipal entities, but consists in the need to retain a signi cant part of the income from the production of goods and services created by local people, so that it could be autonomously used by regional and municipal authorities and directed to improving the wellbeing of territory’s residents.The author proposes to prepare a regulatory and legal document in order to ensure and strengthen the economic autonomy of the territories, and makes speci c proposals on the principles of its content and structure.This article has been prepared with the financial support of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Project No. 15–14–7-2

Regional Economic Policy: Structured Approach and Tools (The Oretical Formulation

The subject matter of the article is the development of a doctrine of coordinated regional development and the study of the structural quality of development of regional systems based on the theoretical analysis of institutional factors (parameters) that determine the technological efficiency of the regional economy. The purpose is to show possibilities of technological changes and the shift of economic growth in a particular regional system, with strict limits for accelerated development, with emphasis on industrial regions. For this purpose, we generated a number of structural models, analyzed the impact of technological factors on parameters of growth of the regional economy and determined conditions for development of industrial regions. We applied correlative and regression analysis to establish a statistically significant correlation between relevant parameters, used econometric models to show the possibility to estimate parameters of growth through control parameters, including technological factor. The structural aspect of regional economic growth is measured by dividing investments into two classes: old and new technologies. It is possible to increase the technological efficiency of the regional economy by improving results with regard to used (old) technologies and applying new technologies. This approach fundamentally refines the priority queue algorithm for regional development, provides a choice of a strategy of regional technological development. When resources are directed only to the latest technologies, the disproportion in development of the regional economic system can dramatically increase, and parameters related to diversion of resources and creation of a new resource will determine the growth rate of the region. The behavior of investment in old technologies has a major impact on the rate of regional economic growth in Russia, while investments in new technologies are minor and did not have an equivalent impact on the economic growth rate compared with old technologies. Institutional corrections that define parameters of resource diversion from old technologies and creation of a new resource for development, will determine the quality of new economic growth

Creating Social Value within the Delivery of Construction Projects

The purpose of this paper is to present the current knowledge surrounding social value and show how lean approach supports social value realisation in the delivery of construction projects. A critical literature review was adopted, to gather the current knowledge surrounding social value from mainstream management sciences, construction management and lean literature. A total of 70 studies were critically reviewed. The study reveals that the separation theory propagated by Friedman, (1962), tends to separate social value from economic value, thus making organisations care less about delivering social value. The study found that there is still no clear or single criterion for measuring social value delivered and there is a dearth of scholarly publications on social value especially in construction management literature. The investigation shows that lean production approach has the potentials to enable construction organisations to conceptualise the community and the physical environment where they operate as customers, which contributes to the delivery of social value objectives in construction projects. This study conceptualises the community and the physical environment around where the construction project is executed as customers using lean production approach and shows that the Transformation, Flow & Value view support smooth workflow which enhances the achievement of social value objectives. This creates a new insight into how social value can be realised in construction project delivery. This study extends the on-going debate around the need for social value in construction project delivery and contributes to construction management and lean construction literature on social value. Future studies could build on this to obtain empirical data and develop an approach/method that would support the evidencing of social value delivery in construction projects

Assessing construction innovation: theoretical and practical perspectives

Innovation is key for productivity improvement and advancements in different sectors of the economy, including the construction sector.  The criticism of the slow pace of innovation in construction industry may be unwarranted, considering the structure of the industry and nature of the construction business.  The loosely coupled nature of firms, mostly Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), delivering ‘projects’ through partial engagement, together with the distinction between the project innovation and firm innovation makes it difficult to extract innovations in a meaningful way.  The problem also lies in conceptualising, defining, articulating and assessing innovation in construction.  The literature is replete with research into construction innovation, however, there is limited research into understanding how innovation is perceived and narrated in practice.  The paper aims to explore how innovation is assessed and narrated in construction, specifically analysing theory and practice perspectives.  A theoretical model was constructed from a structured literature review illustrating existing discourse and narratives of construction innovation assessment.  A qualitative analysis of ‘Professional Excellence in Building’ submission documents to the Australian Institute of Building was performed to identify the practice perspective of innovation.  The findings suggest that internal organizational and process innovation account for the majority of improvements identified.  Importantly a taxonomy of narrative is developed that articulates how the construction industry in Australia views industry innovation

Intangibles, Global Networks & Corporate Social Responsibility

Network organisations emphasise the importance of corporate and product intangible assets. In global competition, the managerial economics of intangibles imposes new network policies of corporate social responsibility, dominated by global social issues such as economic sustainability, eco-responsibility, worker protection and so on.Intangible Assets; Network; Global Competition; Corporate Social Responsibility DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.4468/2010.2.02brondoni

Clusters and supply chain management: challenges and obstacles

Purpose: This paper provides an insight into cluster supply chain (CSC) management by identifying challenges and obstacles in the design, implementation and improvement of CSC. This evaluation aims to propose future research directions for the management of CSC. Research Approach: A systematic review of published research on CSC management between 2006 and 2013 is conducted in order to round up previous research in this area and identify the gaps in the design, implementation and management of CSC; up on which the paper closes with a proposed agenda for future work. Findings and Originality: There is a limited understanding of the supply chain cluster concept and the implementation of its practices in addition to the lack of studies that focused on how to model, manage and improve the performance of CSC. Therefore, this paper would contribute to knowledge by providing an insight into CSC management and identifying future research directions for developing SC cluster theories in order to maximize the integration of supply chain and accordingly improving the performance of firms. Research Impact: A limited number of studies have been conducted to demonstrate the potential impact of CSC. The previous research did not provide a comprehensive review focusing on the evolution and the development of CSC idea. The review in this paper will summarise the research up to now in CSC area in order to identify challenges and obstacles in the design, implementation and improvement of CSC and propose future research directions. Practical Impact: This paper helps companies to understand benefits that can be raised from creating CSC and gives them directions for improving their capabilities to create CSC and select SC partners, which consequently help in increasing their competitiveness in terms of enhancing performance and increasing sustainability

Economic Impacts of GO TO 2040

The economy of the Chicago metropolitan region has reached a critical juncture. On the one hand, Chicagoland is currently a highly successful global region with extraordinary assets and outputs. The region successfully made the transition in the 1980s and 1990s from a primarily industrial to a knowledge and service-based economy. It has high levels of human capital, with strong concentrations in information-sector industries and knowledge-based functional clusters -- a headquarters region with thriving finance, business services, law, IT and emerging bioscience, advanced manufacturing and similar high-growth sectors. It combines multiple deep areas of specialization, providing the resilience that comes from economic diversity. It is home to the abundant quality-of-life amenities that flow from business and household prosperity.On the other hand, beneath this static portrait of our strengths lie disturbing signs of a potential loss of momentum. Trends in the last decade reveal slowing rates, compared to other regions, of growth in productivity and gross metropolitan product. Trends in innovation, new firm creation and employment are comparably lagging. The region also faces emerging challenges with respect to both spatial efficiency and governance.In this context, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) has just released GO TO 2040, its comprehensive, long-term plan for the Chicago metropolitan area. The plan contains recommendations aimed at shaping a wide range of regional characteristics over the next 30 years, during which time more than 2 million new residents are anticipated. Among the chief goals of GO TO 2040 are increasing the region's long-term economic prosperity, sustaining a high quality of life for the region's current and future residents and making the most effective use of public investments. To this end, the plan addresses a broad scope of interrelated issues which, in aggregate, will shape the long-term physical, economic, institutional and social character of the region.This report by RW Ventures, LLC is an independent assessment of the plan from a purely economic perspective, addressing the impacts that GO TO 2040's recommendations can be expected to have on the future of the regional economy. The assessment begins by describing how implementation of GO TO 2040's recommendations would affect the economic landscape of the region; reviews economic research and practice about the factors that influence regional economic growth; and, given both of these, articulates and illustrates the likely economic impacts that will flow from implementation of the plan. In the course of reviewing the economic implications of the plan, the assessment also provides recommendations of further steps, as the plan is implemented, for increasing its positive impact on economic growth