The article summarizes the results of the research conducted and theoretical and methodological approaches in strategizing and strategic management with considering the development principles. The author introduces the model of strategic management of spatial development based on the chaos theory of infl ation in the economic environment. The article also defi nes the notion of “structurizing” as a sort of strategic management. The design of economic structures is considered as the implementation mechanism for the strategy developed according to the balanced scorecard (BSC) methodology. The article reveals the specific features of maintaining the competitiveness of a regional spatial and sectoral structure from the viewpoint of sustainable development concept. The author suggests the SEEIT-method of analysis and synthesis to evaluate the competitiveness level from the spatial and sectoral perspective (analysis) and create competitive advantages of regional spatial and sectoral structure (synthesis). The author’s definition of sustainable development provides the basis for formulating a concept of transient competitive advantage which meets the modern conditions of competition.

The author analyzes the foundation of mining and metallurgical industry of Tajikistan using the available historical publications and predictive research of scientists of the Republic of Tajikistan and Russia, as well as mass media sources. The main purpose is to show the availability of mineral resources, historical and contemporary demand, condition and prospects for their development. It is noted that Tajikistan mining and geological surveys conducted by world scientific researchers revealed numerous remains of the Bronze Age settlements in the North and South of Tajikistan. The remains prove that alongside cattle breeding and farming the Persian and the Tajik people of that time were also engaged in mining, metal mining and pottery. The author adduces arguments for organizing international expedition to discover historical areas of formation of metallurgical production. The findings of the expedition include extremely interesting millennia-old achievements in development of job safety system and metal production in different territories. The results of the research were used to distinguish the characteristic features of the areas, their potential opportunities for further development of metallurgical industry in Middle Asia and especially in the Republic of Tajikistan. The development of mining and metallurgical industry in Tajikistan is of high expediency due to availability of mineral resources and cheap labour force. The measures taken on its sustainable supply of electric power and fuel resources are of special interest. The author points out that functioning of mining and metallurgical enterprises with the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) being the most significant of them resulted in creating a number of highly skilled jobs and building industrial facilities in the central region of the Republic. Analysis of the state of placement of hydropower resources in Middle Asia allows setting the priorities for development of this process in the Republic of Tajikistan. The author outlines major managerial problems of metallurgical industry in the Republic of Tajikistan and highlights the important peculiar features of management of mining enterprises under market conditions. For example, the transition to new institutional management methods due to implementing the tolling method of management provided the TALCO with the opportunity to escape bankruptcy and preserve the company.

Evaluation of effi ciency of exploiting capital is an important part of a company’s economic activity. A reasonably formed system for monitoring effi ciency of exploiting the capital will provide the company with appropriate basis for managerial decision-making such as adjustment of scale and structure of investment and choice of sources of capital. When considering measures aimed at eliminating negative phenomena influencing the efficiency of exploiting business capital it is essential to use a complex of various analysis patterns to make perfect managerial decisions. The authors examine a complex of individual indicators which to their mind are essential to be used in analyzing efficiency of exploiting business capital in coal and mineral industry of Vietnam. The calculations revealed that a number of individual indicators which characterize efficiency of exploiting business capital for particular enterprises within the corporation of coal and mineral industry of Vietnam were significantly different from the average and showed considerable fluctuation. Therefore, development of measures to eliminate negative phenomena influencing the efficiency of exploiting business capital should include calculating both individual indicators and a generalized indicator (the evaluation vector) which could be used to study the character of their fluctuation as well as the values of the parameters under consideration.

Russian mechanical engineering and especially its scientifi c sector are in deep crisis due to the general economic decline, acute shortage of resources, low quality management of the industry and inappropriate assessment of the role of mechanical engineering in economic development. Advanced development of mechanical engineering provides manufacturing with new strategically signifi cant technical means and technologies during the country’s partial economic isolation, and eventually becomes the main provision for innovative development of the country. As the resources are limited it is necessary to create a comprehensible sciencebased strategy for innovative development of a machine-building enterprise. The strategy ought to be based on a system of technological priorities, scientifi c research trends and developments built on corresponding research and production structures, human resources, scientifi c research and experience. Targeted approach to the distribution of the resources allocated for innovative activity is connected with their being concentrated on the priority projects and developments. Their list should be created according to objective criteria and all the risks and limitations arising. Reindustrialization of the national mechanical engineering within the modern scientifi c and technical environment should be considered as the most important factor and mechanism for strengthening the Russian economy. During the process the limited resources should be wisely distributed between creating new technological trends and restoring lost positions in the global technological environment. It is an extremely vicious policy to provide the country with serious advantages in new technological trends and at the same time deprive it of the basic technologies. The technological side of innovative activity in mechanical engineering is not as well-developed as institutional and fi nancial stimulation mechanisms. One of the reasons for  that is lack or insufficient level of guidance documents which regulate certain innovative activity on creating new technologies and improving the existing ones, on fi nding and implementing methods for raising production efficiency by means of new technological solutions.

Modern oil-pricing is more dependent on the stock market conditions than on the cost price or demand and supply laws. The price is infl uenced by a great number of objective and subjective factors. The ability to analyze these factors is the basis of the modern stock market trade. Thus, stock quotes are the key to analyzing oil market in the short-term perspective. The authors study current trends informing pricing factors of the oil market and their influence. They point out the peculiarities of using orders as pricing tools, adduce Russian experience on pending orders at the oil market, analyze the specificity and prospects of using pending orders for analyzing oil market. So, changes of the conditions can be predicted much faster than by using traditional statistic methods of analyzing transactions. The authors conclude that using such a tool as a pending order will lead to better understanding of the market conditions for the main Russian oil brand (Urals). It will make the market more predictable and controllable by the government which will mitigate the consequences of drastic changes in oil prices and the changes of the cost of energy and fuel arising from that making the economy more resistant to crises. More accurate forecasts will increase the Russian traders’ income from the transactions. The authors use international researches devoted to stock market trade and data analysis, and information from software developers who design programs for analyzing stock market data.

The article deals with the key aspects of the problem of determining the “carbon footprint” of industrial production. Rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emission within the past two centuries can cause irreversible changes in the Earth’s climate. Various manufacturing industries including “production and consumption of energy” create more than half of the “Earth’s carbon footprint”. The authors present a brief analytical overview of the “carbon footprint” problem in the context of solving a significant issue of global warming. They suggest references to current research and publications of Italian, Chinese and Spanish scientists. For example, Italian researchers proved that social innovations as well as transition to low-carbon technologies can be of good effect in reducing the “carbon footprint”. Chinese researchers (by analyzing 45-year-long data on the quantity of developed natural resources, energy consumption and population growth, “carbon footprint” and carbon dioxide emissions in the USA) proved that in the long-term perspective consumption of natural resources and renewable energy sources can improve the quality of the environment while population growth and consumption of non-renewable energy sources can contribute to its deterioration. Spanish researchers explored the connection between the “carbon footprint” and national peculiarities of people’s life. They listed the basic features of current energy transformation of the global economy (towards increasing the volume of renewable energy sources). The authors considered basic methods of regulating the “carbon footprint” of industrial production: by means of legal prohibition or improvement of pricing mechanism. They introduce the “Strategy of long-term development of Russia with low level of greenhouse gases till 2050”. The article contains information on reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in Russia.

The article observes the factors which infl uence oil price volatility in reproduction of oil caused by ambiguity of the OPEC Plus agreement in early March 2020 and intensifi ed by reduction of oil products consumption with the new coronavirus infection at the background. The authors point out that understanding of the process of managing an open futures position until its expiration date has positive effects on the trading effi ciency both in contango and backwardation situations. They also reveal that risks are the main constraining factor for derivative fi nancial tools of underlying assets in both commodity and stock markets. Oil and gas companies, whose income tax is an essential part of oil and gas regions’ budgets and whose mineral extraction tax and export duty go to the federal budget, require government support for hedging risks. The support should be provided by means of direct budget damper mechanisms or indirect measures such as stimulation of development of financial and industrial groups. They can possess enough investment potential for hedging risks of derivatives in conditions of high oil price volatility. The article presents cluster analysis of foreign economic activity of oil and gas regions of the Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District. The activity is focused mainly on products of fuel and energy complex as well as chemicals, plastic and synthetic rubber. By means of simplex method the author developed the optimization isoline map for risks of changing future prices of oil derivatives, losses when covering a margin account to maintain ownership and risks connected with price volatility of the underlying asset.

The authors analyze the patterns of strategic transformations in developed and developing countries by 2050. They paid special attention to basic global present-day trends and forecasting the changes in chemical industry. The article examines the predictive model of strategic solutions of the European Union based on strategic long-term vision of the modern competitive economy’s prosperity. The authors present the analysis of scenarios of transition to waste-free and effective technologies suggested by Europe. They take into consideration scientifi c and technological development and determine major reference points for development of chemical industry in Russia by means of examination of the developed models, scenarios, strategies, programs of transformation in different countries of the world and transition to carbon-neutral waste-free economics. The authors consider predictive scenarios of development of Russia’s chemical industry.

Maintaining high productivity of mining equipment is one of the key tasks in achieving the necessary competitiveness level at a coal mining company. As the coal stocks are becoming more and more complicated, the requirements for the quality of coal are raising and global price volatility is increasing, mining enterprises should operate more effectively than ever. The purpose of the study is to reveal and analyze reserves for raising effectiveness of exploiting the potential of excavator and automobile complex on a coal mine, and to develop organizational measures on their implementation. On order to achieve this goal the authors applied the following methods: chronometric observations to determine rational parameters of the cycles of loading and transportation of rock mass, the production experiment method to compare performance of excavator and automobile complex under different organizational conditions, working day photography to study the structure of the working day of the staff, graphic modelling of the working routine of excavator and automobile complex to reveal the opportunities for improving the consistency and rhythm of excavation and transportation. As a result, the study revealed unproductive work time of excavator and automobile complex which can be reserve for raising effectiveness of exploiting the equipment by 15–40%. In order to reduce loss of work time and to increase productivity of excavator and automobile complex the authors point out two directions: 1) higher quality of work conditions including improvement and maintenance of working platforms and roads; establishing appropriate traffi c routes; further training of excavator and truck drivers; 2) effi cient management of excavation and transportation in operation during a shift by means of controlling the rhythm of production.

Alongside with physical and fi nancial components a signifi cant role in a company’s resource pack belongs to the elements of intellectual capital: employees’ competence, formalized sources of knowledge and relations with the key stakeholders. However, numerous studies reveal that in manufacturing and service companies the elements of intellectual capital are distributed unevenly and the process of investment in those components is organized differently. The article is aimed at developing a theoretical approach according to which such differences appear at the stage of value creation models. These are considered as the fundamental organizational variables determining the essence and structure of the business models implemented. The research is focused on manufacturing product-oriented companies which can maintain several value creation models simultaneously. The novelty of the study lies in using differentiated strategies of investment in intellectual capital through value chains, workshops and networks, which raise the level of management reflection towards the differences in determining the role and priority of certain resources in maintaining a manufacturing company’s competitiveness. The approach suggested is of high practical significance as it contributes to methodological support for managing the set of a manufacturing company’s investment projects on developing human, structure and relation capital.

The empirical research conducted by the authors revealed a number of models for diversifying defense enterprises in Russia. The model characteristic for Rosatom State Corporation has been examined in a precise detail. The main parts of the model include strategy, product, technologies, technology transfer, structural organization, marketing, financing, state regulation. The parts consist of a number of elements configured in various ways depending on the tasks to be done, external conditions, resources, etc. The model takes into consideration three basic targets: raising sustainability of a large holding company’s activity; diversifying activities of the defense enterprises that are part of the state company; performing government functions such as developing high-technology industries, exploring areas of presence, shaping public policy in these directions. The model involves exploiting technologies developed by the enterprises of the state corporation, by traditional defense partners, by external non-defense partners including foreign ones. These technologies provide the basis for creating new civil products with market novelty, high technology, perspective, profitability, and also there must be a possibility to manufacture these products at the enterprises of the state corporation. The peculiar features of the model include arranging diversification at three levels – the corporation level, the division level and the enterprise level; using an integrator – a company which unites and coordinates activities of different enterprises in a certain direction, provides marketing, attracts external partners, deal with customers, etc. Development of the model involves development of innovative facilities in the areas of presence, more active cooperation with non-defense organizations, developing forms of transfer of technologies.

The topic of the article is of great current interest due to increasing inconsistency between the real results of executive officers’ activity and the results required for maintaining the path of sustainable economic development of coal mining enterprises in Russia. The author suggests methodological approach to maintaining executive officers’ competitiveness at the coal mining enterprises; define such notions as an executive officer and executive officers’ competitiveness, and revealed some major characteristics of social and economic results of executive officers’ work. The article presents the approach to estimating competitiveness which makes it possible to determine the competitive positions of executive officers and take urgent action to improve them. The authors introduce an enlarged scheme of maintaining competitive position of an executive officer based on the development of his managerial potential and competitive environment at the coal mining enterprises. They present methodological tools for estimating managerial potential and competitive environment of a company. In conclusion the author points out the priority of transformation of labour relations and institutes to improve competitive positions of the executive officers of coal mining enterprises.

The article deals with the problems of professional education at the current stage of national economy’s development. The authors attract attention to the difference between the approaches to improving secondary and higher professional education. Government agencies of the highest level focus on improving the system of higher education and labour force training, but training of mid-level specialists has recently fallen out of their sight. Lately a great number of colleges have become part of higher educational institutions. However, during the latest reorganization of the Ministry of Education and Science, which resulted in foundation of the Ministry of Education, secondary professional education fell under the jurisdiction of the latter. The authors suggest uniting secondary and higher professional education into one single system and consider that as higher education. Line engineers will be trained at colleges (even on the basis of basic general education) but probably the term of training will be a little longer due to the fact that colleges are expected to be part of the university structure. Such educational programs could be implemented in regional branches of head universities to provide local industries, small and medium businesses with skilled workforce. The practice of students’ training proved that the division of Bachelors’ and Masters’ competences by the type of their future job is senseless as students do not determine their preferences for future occupation during the period of their studies. The authors suggest developing generalized competence models of graduates. The models could be used to formulate the requirements to the graduates with different level of education. Graduates with professional education will receive diploma together with a supplement containing the list of competences obtained. New Federal State Educational Systems of all levels of higher education read that professional competences are established by an educational institution itself. Therefore, the authors suggest considering issuing university diplomas instead of those of state educational standard.

The article deals with the studies of Doctor of Science (Economics), Professor, Senior Researcher of the School of Economics of Russian Academy of Science, member of New York Academy of Sciences, honorable economist of Russian Federation and a well-known expert in long-term planning Vasiliy M. Ivanchenko, whose works became the important basis for developing strategizing methodology. Therefore. the research of the great scientist was analyzed in accordance with the theory of strategy and Vladimir Kvint’s methodology. The authors point out the stages of V.M. Ivanchenko’s life including his work in the USSR State Plan and practical implementation of his fundamental knowledge in preparing and carrying out A.N. Kosygin’s reform.