National competitiveness and sustainability of the Russian Federation is largely dependent on competent strategic planning and forecasting of social and economic process. The current stage of globalization development requires developing strategic documents for foreign economic activity at the federal level, which adds relevance to the study in hand. The article deals with the history of building the strategic planning system in the Russian Federation and presents a review of national strategic documents aimed at improving the foreign economic activity and increasing the export potential of the country. The authors adduce the changes in the list of state programs which are effective from January 1, 2022. They pay special attention to the analysis of the strategies of the Central Black Earth marcoregion areas.

Gas industry of the Far East has accumulated high potential and can act as a driver of social and economic development of the macroregion. It is possible to form a multiplicative impulse for social and economic development of all the region in the context of development of gas industry of the Far East through implementation of large-scale strategic priorities and projects. Gas export to the Asian-Pacific countries is one of such perspective strategic opportunities that can create a whole strategic direction. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to justify network gas export as a strategic direction of the gas industry of the Far East. Theoretical and methodological basis of the study lies in the certain methodological provisions of sectoral strategizing which are based on the general theory of strategy and involve conducting OTSW-analysis as an effective tool for monitoring and justifying strategic opportunities. The analysis allowed revealing two strategic opportunities which prove high perspective of network gas export from the Far East: “Asian-Pacific region as ‘the energy window of opportunity' and ‘ecological window of opportunity' in the Asian-Pacific region”. Concentration of the whole range of interest groups (global, national, public, regional, sectoral, corporate), high resource and technology potential as well as the scale of projects devoted to network gas export (exploration and development of gas fields, increasing natural gas production in the region, infrastructure development) will enhance economic and social effects. It justifies network gas export as a strategic direction of gas industry of the Far East. Its implementation will give multiplicative impulse to the social and economic development of the Far Eastern Federal district.

The article analyzes global technological, environmental and epidemiological trends, which are a basis for identifying strategic opportunities for the long-term development of the global meat market. This process, in turn, is aimed at creating new production models aimed at personalizing needs and responsible consumption. The analysis of the development trends of the Russian cattle farming sector represents decrease of the production and consumption potential, insufficient implementation of export opportunities and monopolization of the sector. Digitalization of value chains of the backbone agroindustrial holdings, which are supposed to be the sector leaders possessing the highest production and innovation potential, is able to create a number of strategic opportunities. Their implementation can facilitate overcoming the negative trends in the domestic cattle farming and strengthening the position of the Russian manufacturers at the international level. On the basis of the theory of strategy and methodology of strategizing developed by Vladimir L. Kvint, and by means of OTSW-analysis method the author of the article makes assessment of strategic opportunities of digitalization of the backbone agro-industrial holdings in the cattle farming sector. On the basis of foreign and Russian research studies and statistic data the author proves that digitalization of corporations is significant for improving the quality of life of the population. OTWS-analysis revealed that digitalization of backbone agro-industrial holdings is able to create such strategic opportunities as improving the quality of meat products, facilitating personalization of the needs' satisfaction and formation of the responsible consumption and production culture, increasing production efficiency, strengthening of export potential, increasing manufacturers' innovation activity in regional food markets. Implementation of the strategic opportunities revealed allow backbone agro-industrial holdings in cattle farming sector to create a number of competitive advantages and modernize strategic management systems.

The authors of the article study the basic risks in development of hydrocarbon offshore fields in the Arctic as well as methods of managing the existing risks. Development of hydrocarbon offshore fields in the Arctic is connected with numerous challenges due to its unique natural and climatic conditions (ice pack, squally winds, rough sea, etc.). Any activity in such conditions makes high demands for the investment (realization of such projects is extremely capital intensive) and for environmental and industrial security. Due to the high level of work complexity currently only one offshore field is being developed in the Arctic. However, Russian energy companies are considering the perspective possibility of extraction of hydrocarbon resources in such conditions. In order to explore the Arctic offshore fields efficiently it is necessary to apply the methods of risk management which are able to minimize the possibility of unwanted events. In most cases the method of risk management is chosen depending on the stage of realization of the project on developing an offshore field: prospecting, exploration or exploitation of a deposit. The authors of the article conditionally divide the risk management methods into two categories: universal (which can be applied at any of the above mentioned stages of the deposit's development) and unique (to be used only at one certain stage). The analysis conducted made it possible to reveal the main advantages and disadvantages of the risk management methods under consideration. The combination of universal and unique methods became the basis for the risk management system which takes into account the specifics of the stages of development of Arctic offshore hydrocarbon fields.

The municipal solid waste management reform plays a significant role in improvement of the country's ecology and contributes greatly to the country's economics by recycling waste and recovering recycled resources. The most important condition of the implementation of the reform is separated collection of the waste and the opportunity to recycle all the suitable waste. The author presents a list of basic legal acts which regulate the municipal solid waste management process and points out provisions related to the requirements and conditions for separate collection of waste. The study conducted proves that it is advisable for the population of the country to fulfil the conditions for the separate collection of municipal solid waste. The relevance of the study is backed by the data on the existing landfill areas in Russia and Moscow, their annual growth rate, and unfavorable situation regarding the collection of municipal solid waste in the regions of Russia. This includes large volumes of solid household waste produced and an extremely insignificant share of recyclable solid municipal waste in it in relation to its total volumes. The author gives recommendations on how to improve the municipal solid waste management which will make it possible to recycle the suitable waste, bring it back into the country's economy and, thus, move towards the circular economy.

World trade transformations make the variability of cargo delivery logistics more strategically significant. In order to determine sector strategic priorities the authors of the article set innovative objectives of maritime transport logistics to optimize the international shipping process. The authors justify the need for innovative decisions in modern maritime logistics based on strategic analysis of the trends in transport structure of the global cargo traffic with the consideration of competitive advantages of maritime transportation. Transformations in the international trade are considered to be one of the key trends affecting the development of transport and logistics sector. The authors make use of extensive analytical material to show the way the transformation of the world trade affects the contents of the logistic schemes of maritime cargo transportation in terms of the dynamics of its quantitative indicators, commodity and geographical structure. In accordance with the study the authors conclude that the sectoral strategic development of maritime transportation ought to correspond to the innovative type of development of intermodal transportation taking into account the crucial factor of time.

All over the world development of small innovative businesses (startups) is connected with the high level of risk, and thus, there is acute shortage of financial resources at the early and later stages of functioning of these enterprises. Revealing and analyzing strategic trends and patterns of development of financing infrastructure of small innovative businesses is an important stage of building a strategy and it will afterwards make it possible to obtain strategic opportunities and neutralize potential threats to this market of capital. The article presents analysis of strategic development trends of the venture investment market. The results of the analysis are used as the basis for strategic trends of development of the market of angel investment, grants and instruments of attracting financial resources of the “new money” such as crowdfunding and crowdlending. The author of the article has conducted a study of strategic trends of development of financing infrastructure of small innovative businesses at a global and national levels. The study will allow further identification of opportunities and threats and formation of strategic priorities for developing this market of capital.

The purpose of the article is developing strategic initiatives on supporting technological startups in Russia. Startups are innovative businesses aimed at such tasks as promotion of new products and services, capitalization growth and earning income for investors; they also contribute to diversification of Russian economy, growth of employment within post-industrial net economy, IT sector and creation of a new country's image worldwide. When developing strategic initiatives the authors relied heavily on the methodology of strategizing suggested by Vladimir Kvint, Foreign member of RAS. The existing trends in changing investment models when more and more corporations are moving from selling products to selling solutions allow optimizing investment by transferring internal processes to outsourcing. It creates additional opportunities for startups as small innovative businesses. Significant opportunities for development appear due to a vast domestic market and fast growth of information technology, and companies and universities' readiness to provide startups with organizational support. It is especially important as unlike sustainable businesses startups have not reached stable sales, do not generate sufficient cash flow and operate on the funds of investors and founders. The authors explain that technological startups can rely on Business Model Canvas that allows flexible transformation of business process in the search for the optimal offer for the consumers as well as provides for development of corporate strategy. Sustainable financing model for small innovative companies is significantly different from standard financial models. The authors conclude that it is essential to create business-accelerators to support startups. They can be founded either by big companies, universities, development institutes or by private foundations. Startup funding sources are not limited to venture investment. They can involve new tools like mutual funds for qualified investors. In addition, the authors present strategic initiatives which can be used by Kaspersky iHub to support startups in information technology and to optimize the performance of a business-incubator.

The authors consider the problem of standardization in the system of professional education under the modern conditions. In the Soviet time unification in the system of professional education was comprehensive and based on the model curricula approved by the corresponding sectoral ministries. In 1992 the Law on Education of the Russian Federation introduced educational standards to preserve the unity of professional education in the country. At the same time the formation of the higher education structure of our country was taking place. In 2000 educational and methodical associations developed uniform standards for each area of training of graduates - the second generation standards. After Russia entered the European Educational Area the standards were developed for each direction (specialty). The fundamental difference of the third generation standards involved new approaches to the assessment of the results of higher educational training: transition from the traditional orientation on formation of knowledge, skills and abilities to the assessment of social, personal and professional competences of the graduates. Introduction of competencies as the results of the training into standards implied transformation of the system of students' education and training in order to obtain these competences. However, the universities preserved traditional system of lectures and seminars, which involves the transfer of information and its memorization by students. After numerous modernizations the third generation standards have become prescription in nature and have lost their relevance The authors suggest developing standards for organizing educational process for each category of educational programs (Bachelor, Specialist, Master) to represent general requirements for the term and form of training, the program structure and the conditions of their implementation. The educational and methodical associations together with representatives of potential employers ought to develop qualification characteristics for the graduates of the training directions (specialties). The characteristics ought to be systematically updated according to the transformations of the labour market. Educational programs developed by the universities ought to become the main documents within the professional education system. The education system will be constructed on the basis of academic freedoms and autonomy of educational institutions responsible for the quality of the students' training.

In continuation of the article “Conceptual foundations for the use of modern financial technologies in the Russian industry the authors summarized the open-source data devoted to using modern financial technologies for successful digitalization of the Russian economics. The authors study initiatives of the Government of the Russian Federation presented as part of the National Program “Digital Economics of the Russian Federation”. The initiatives are devoted to the issues of implementation of modern financial technology (FinTech). The authors also analyze the dynamics and structure of financing six federal projects included into the National Digitalization Program. Among multiple projects of the above mentioned National Program they distinguish the initiatives connected with active development of FinTech. Analyzing the results of the National Digitalization program during the first three years of its implementation (2019-2021) it is possible to establish significant impact of modern financial technologies on the digitalization of the Russian economics. The authors consider the state of the regulatory and legislative framework regarding the issues of implementation of modern financial technologies into the national economy in three directions: an enhanced qualified electronic signature, turnover of digital financial assets and the Bank of Russia's regulatory sandbox. The authors summarized characteristics of various directions of the FinTech Association's activity in Russia. The Association has taken on the role of a coordinator in the sphere of development of methodology and promotion of modern financial technologies. The authors introduce a set of tools for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of economic processes subject to the use of financial technologies in various fields. It is advisable to assess the impact of “Fin Tech” on the indicators that characterize financial and economic activity of a company (or a group of companies): from the “revenue” to “weighted average cost of the company's capital” and “the company's economic value added”.

Increasing the marketing efficiency is an acute problem in the conditions of competition in the modern market of goods and services. Understanding the significance of marketing efficiency helps companies identify the priorities in developing a market policy. This explains the necessity to find ways to optimize it. The authors of the article present a study of marketing efficiency in banking, defining the basic trends and key indicators. They analyze the activity of banking services market and show the significance of using digital technologies in modern conditions. The authors take into consideration the fact that the marketing efficiency can be characterized as a function of improving a market policy by experts in order to optimize the resources used for achieving higher indicators both for short-term and long-term strategic goals. The topicality and novelty of the article are connected with identifying the pandemic's influence on marketing policy in banking. Increasing marketing efficiency will facilitate both the optimization of setting the priorities in companies' market policies and improvement of the quality of marketing resources to maximize the revenue.