The article generalizes methodological approaches to creating a mechanism for selecting strategic priorities of development of regional spatial and sectoral structure. The author studies the tendencies of choosing priorities of development in accordance with the basic principles of sustainable development, “consensuses” of various types, “inclusive economics”, “stakeholder economics”, “donut economics”, “sharing economics”. The conclusion is that methodological approaches under consideration are a kind of reflection of sustainable development principles. They serve as a transitional stage to noospheric approach that reflects balancing of “interests of a human”, “interests of the nature” and “interests of technology”. The author applies to this conception to suggest a mechanism for selecting strategic priorities of development of regional spatial and sectoral structure. Such a mechanism for selecting strategic priorities of development is supposed to be a “bridge” for the transition to “noonomics” as a new stage of development.

During the period of digitalization and building the knowledge economy the conditions and nature of human labour (including people’s intellectual work) are significantly changing. The author analyzes a vast amount of publications on the topic and concludes that building intellectual potential is largely dependent on the effectiveness of models of crossfunctional and interpersonal coordination used, as well as on how various groups (hierarchy levels) of the company are prepared to cooperate with each other. Therefore, the author points out a vital role of social and cultural factors, following tradition and ensuring the continuity of development for success in enlarging intellectual potential. The article emphasizes the importance of preserving key social skills of the employees in the context of development of digital technology and remote interaction. The author points out the limited potential of “creative class” representatives in an industrial company which makes development of tools for internal entrepreneurship, implemented with the support of its own staff, even more acute. So, the new reality presupposes that the most important task of increasing intellectual potential of an industrial company and obtaining dynamic capabilities essential for its development should be solved with the consideration of the action of inertial forces. Thus the process will be of more uniform and stable character, and it will ensure the continuity of various social and historical practices which existed in Russia and the USSR. The institutional environment for reproduction of innovation formed at the corporate level should involve modern international models and methods of job organization and take into account cultural and historical peculiarities of development of the Russian society.

Recent vital structural and functional transformations in the national science resulted in decreasing of the social significance of the country’s science and scientific potential. Analysis of statistic data demonstrates noticeable decline of scientific human resources potential and reduction in the number of research organizations. Moreover, government funding becomes the main driving force for development of scientific research in Russia, and the role of Russian business and other sources is of secondary importance. The situation in the national science and lack of funding for research and development in particular caused such negative tendencies as slowing down innovative transformations in the country, outflow of qualified human resources, lower quality of scientific research and its efficiency. Due to low speed of developing advanced research and development the national mechanic engineering is lagging behind in developing new technologies which proves that this sphere of applied science is in unsatisfactory condition. Applied science is developing in two main directions: directive and natural science. The first option presupposes that development of science is influenced mainly by external factors such as material production needs and the state of social and economic sphere of the society. The second direction is based on the determining role of the internal logics of the scientific development and the continuity of scientific ideas between the old and new knowledge. Natural science way of developing applied (technological) science is not explored properly; government support of scientific schools is obviously insufficient. It results in their gradual degradation with rare exceptions. This can also happen to a new trend in mechanic engineering technology – additive manufacturing of products from metals and alloys. If new knowledge is not generated purchasing of foreign equipment becomes inevitable, and such equipment quickly becomes obsolete both morally and physically.

In the age of technological and social transformation aimed at establishing basic principles of implementing state economic policy under the challenges of the 4th industrial revolution the role of modernization process in the Russian industry is increasing. The authors justify strategic landmarks for technological modernization of industrial enterprises of Russia. To this end they made comparative analysis of innovation and technological, economic development of a number of countries and Russian Federation as well as estimated the preparedness of certain world countries to transformations in economics caused by changes of technological patterns during the 4th industrial revolution. It has been stated that Russian Federation has structural disproportions slowing down economic development of the country. It also demonstrates the need for performing structural transformations to carry out disruptive development and achieve global leadership. At present there is no single methodology of controlling disruptive development in transformation conditions caused by the need for reindustrialization and digitalization of the country’s economy. Besides, there are not any projects on creating a set of theoretical and practical tools adapted to the Russian institutional specificity aimed at increasing strategic technological competitiveness of the industrial complex and achieving global technological leadership including justification of the practicability of technological modernization of industrial enterprises which would take into account the specificity of the modern stage of the Russian economics’ development. So, the authors have conducted research to reveal the essence of the technological modernization of industrial enterprises by means of grouping basic approaches to this definition. As a result they also suggested classification of the basic types of strategies for technological modernization at the national enterprises.

The article deals with estimating economic efficiency of a robotic complex (RC) at the EFKO group plant which stacks ready dairy products on trays and in bottles from 6 production lines onto pallets using a palletizer robot and conveyor equipment for products and pallets. The authors demonstrate an RC scheme with the description of its components. They have collected and analyzed the information on the current productivity, weight and size characteristics and location of production lines of a robotic complex for stacking dairy products. The article presents the principle for calculating the required productivity and lifting capacity of the palletizer robot. The authors demonstrate a preproduction model mounted at the EFKO group plant. The complex makes it possible to reduce the labor intensity, improve the quality of stacking, decrease the number of human errors. Its implementation and exploitation will reduce the number of employees. The article presents calculations of economic effect on the stage of planning and after the project’s realization. To this end the authors use traditional methods of investment and qualitative analysis. They determine basic economic indicators such as the amount of capital investments and the terms of the RC implementation, change in the number of staff, maintenance costs, reduction of the “working” area of the warehouse due to the placement of the equipment. The article contains the basic landmarks for determining the standard payback period. According to the data received the authors additionally calculated the indicators of economic efficiency: profitability ratio of capital investment into automation, percentage reduction in unit cost, labor productivity growth. The authors monitored the RC performance efficiency after its implementation at a real production plant of the EFKO group. In conclusion they compare the results of the monitoring with the calculations of the economic effect made at the planning stage. The results adduced can be useful for those who develop automation equipment for packing and storing, and to those who are interested in productivity and quality improvement.

The authors present their methodological recommendations for choosing a software complex to make managerial decisions within a corporation’s activity. They study the system of management in state-owned corporations and give reasons for its improvement by means of implementing IT-decisions. Digitalization is transforming managerial decision making process in corporations in accordance with the speed of decision-making, timely maintenance of production process, ways and forms of information transmission. The authors prove that top-management’s responsibility for a company’s competitive positions in the market is growing fast due to the more intensive implementation of information technology and continuous development of innovative decisions. As state-owned enterprises have a complicated interdependent structure, the system of their management becomes a process which should conform with conceptual basis and principles of transformation of a company’s activity within digital economics. The authors prove that suggested recommendations for using big data technologies, determining and implementing IT-decisions make it possible to increase the efficiency of the management system by means of optimizing business process.

The authors study two basic approaches to modeling human behavior that have a long history. The first one is connected with shaping desired behavior models. Such models can be found in sacred books of many religions. The second approach is connected with characterizing behavior by means of a certain associative image. The authors present a comparative characteristic of both approaches and reveal their methodological difference. The article describes the problems that arise while using associative models of employees’ behavior in a modern organization. At the same time the authors point out the increasing for many countries significance of the approach connected with shaping desired employees’ behavior models. So they use system basis to structure the basic tasks of shaping desired employees’ behavior models. It helps an organization to find a necessary number of employees’ behavior models. They will facilitate achieving the organization’s objectives, solving its tasks, effective exploitation of the resources and achieving the results. The attention is mainly paid to minimization of the increasing threats of the external environment, particularly to neutralization of the influence of those organizations and individuals whose values do not meet the interests of a certain society and business entities. The authors reveal strategic and current relevance of shaping desired employees’ behavior models for organizations and state, and suggest the way to solve this task. The central place is given to government agencies and the leader’s personal example. The article contains a list of major works to be done within a national project on neutralization of the increasing negative influence of the external environment. There is also a list of conditions for harmonic combination of both approaches to modeling employees’ behavior in practice to obtain additional managerial effect. The authors insist that government regulation of shaping desired employees’ behavior models in organizations is inevitable historically. Delays will only increase the lost profit and the costs for compensating the growing damage.

The authors study the problem of improving the level of training of university and college graduates by using modern approaches, based on the principles of quality management, in the system of professional education. In order to develop creative economy, the government of Russian Federation focuses on scientific and educational centers including regional ones which work on the basis of organizations of professional education. According to many experts, the level of training in regional higher educational institutions and branches of those located in the capital of the country does not comply with innovation requirements. There is a need for building modern material base in the regional higher educational institutions and colleges; there is a need for decent salaries for the staff. Educational institutions should accept the ideology of quality to be followed by all the employees not in words, but in deeds. The learning process used for centuries and based on the transmission of knowledge from a teacher to a student has exhausted itself. The basic principle of quality management is the process approach. The basis for students’ high level of training is organization and implementation of the educational and training process in educational institutions. The main subjects of the process are teachers and students. The efficiency of the educational process will increase if such approaches as consumer-orientedness, leadership and personnel interaction are used. The authors suggest making analysis of interdisciplinary links of the content of academic disciplines set out in the working academic programs. They also point out the advisability of a system of training in the classes of leading teachers. The readers’ attention is attracted to changing the ideology of controlling students’ knowledge and skills from punitive to diagnostic. The article contains recommendations to conduct regular surveys among the students and teachers to discover the areas of educational improvement. The results of the surveys should become the basis for making decisions. Implementation of the principles of quality management does not require large material costs.

The issue of fighting poverty is especially acute today. Scientists from different countries of the world have come to a common opinion that targeting is the most important component of the existing mechanisms of social protection of the population. There is an assumption that legislative equality is not identical with social equality. Equalization of incomes of the population and strengthening of the middle class can only be achieved after the formation of targeted social protection of the population. The targeting of social guarantees should include a large list of mechanisms for its regulation, including a differentiated approach and a flexible framework focused on an individual approach. Needy families, whose incomes slightly exceed the established limits, should be able to receive social guarantees from the state in a short amount. At the same time, the establishment of criteria requires constant change, focused on the quarterly living wage of the subject in question. The statement of a fixed income in the current market conditions is unfair. When establishing targeted assistance, it is especially important to take into account the financial condition of the family, not only in terms of income, but actual expenses. It is here that each situation must be considered separately, taking into account external factors. Therefore, there arises an objective need for interaction between social protection bodies of the population with credit (financial) institutions, state tax authorities and other services through the introduction of a single database. This will make it possible to avoid receiving benefits for citizens receiving “shadow” income, as well as to save financial resources for the population in need. Support for the needy segments of the population should not be only quantitative – there should be a qualitative component. The number of planned support programs and implemented programs does not indicate an effective policy, since official statistics on the number of those in need may not correspond to the real picture and the target figures may be underestimated. As part of the implementation of programs to help the population, a conditional number of citizens may be planned, determined according to funding, however, the number of those in dire need may differ significantly. The effectiveness of the implementation of social programs can be determined by a significant reduction in the number of citizens living below the poverty line. There is an objective need to reform the current system of social protection of the population. External and internal economic factors cause changes in wages, employment levels, purchasing power, etc., all of this affects the change in the average per capita income of the population, the real size of wages, etc. To equalize incomes, support the poor and reduce social risks, it is necessary to create a new format based on the principle of targeting.