Articles

In this article, the authors express their views on the place and role of goal-setting in the administrative process and assess the importance of constructive growth based on state strategy and the underlying public interest. They also try to prove that the presence of scientifically-grounded goals, their consistency and functional clarity are the basic conditions for state efficiency an d the high quality of state administration. The article also considers the issues of goal-setting in difficult conditions of modern-day life, in situations where strict methodological and ideological guidelines and relevant organizational, procedural and heuristic algorithms are not available. Only a “philosophical vision of the future” and normatively-approved performance indicators of the executive bodies are clearly not enough.

All this necessitates the shaping of a modern “culture of change” in the administrative apparatus and its specialists, the ability to not bureaucratically restrain or destroy, but create, multiply and stimulate, while retaining the best practices that have been accumulated throughout the state-building history and the best public administration experience; not to hamper, but implement, new things and master more effective ways. The authors define the concepts of “strategy”, “goal” and “goal-setting”, identify a number of politically-, organizationally- and functionally-interrelated target subsystems within them, and prove that the tasks of modernization and social renewal can be implemented effectively only by a stable, well-structured, highly professional state apparatus, as well as a well-organized and reputable public service.

Summary conclusion: administrative goals and measures for their effective implementation should be politically, legally and economically justified; they should reflect the deep interest of the society, and be implemented systematically and continuously. The key to success is consistency, strategic orientation, professionalism, responsibility and constructive action.

The article reveals the reasons for the increasing interest of researchers in business models. The article notes a certain coincidence in the approaches to the analysis of business models. The article shows that business model-transforming innovations are a more important source of competitive advantage in comparison with product innovations. The article summarizes the most used approaches to the analysis of business models and reveals their General drawback. The authors of the article identified two groups of criteria that must be taken into account for the correct identification of strategic business units and development of their own strategy for each of them. The paper proves that the starting point in the formation of a business model is the choice of a competitive strategy and reveals the relationship between the business strategy and the business model. The article reveals various approaches to the development of competitive strategies, a significant part of which is undervalued in the science and practice of business. The authors focus on the importance of taking into account critical (key) success factors when forming a business model.

The research is aimed at studying the role of social guarantees in stimulating the work of public civil servants. Social guarantees of state civil servants are the most important incentives for officials. Researchers give ambiguous assessments of state social guarantees in terms of labor incentives. Therefore, the purpose of the work is to evaluate the stimulating impact of state social guarantees on the activities of civil servants and suggest measures to improve the application of social guarantees. The research used methods of system analysis and general scientific methods. To achieve this goal, the article substantiates the importance of social guarantees in the system of motivation of civil servants, analyzes the state social guarantees, and assesses the effectiveness of their application in the civil service. Based on the results of the study, the authors assess the stimulating influence of state social guarantees on the activities of state civil servants. It is established that some social guarantees, which are long-term in nature and aimed at forming long-term service relationships, have a weak connection with service experience, which reduces their stimulating influence. Based on the author’s analysis of the identified problems of the impact of state social guarantees on the activities of civil servants, the need to strengthen the stimulating role of social guarantees related to seniority, including: a monthly Supplement to the official salary, the provision of housing subsidies, state awards and other guarantees, by further differentiating the length of service and the amount of guarantees. As a perspective for the study of social guarantees, it seems appropriate to develop a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of their application in the state civil service of the Russian Federation.

The article is devoted to the preparation and realization of strategically important documents concerning country’s regional policy and its spatial development. One of the problems with these documents is their insufficient scientific validity, which prevents forecasting future events as well as the conditions for their occurrence. The article states that ensuring the scientific validity of the documents grants the appearance of suitable conditions for crafting an accurate, state-of-the-art document that would not only satisfy the legal requirements in this area of public relations but also would contain regulations that would provide smooth practical implementation.

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential benefits and risks arising in the process of university-business cooperation (UBC) from the perspective of three key actors — universities, commercial companies and the state. Advantages and limitations are grouped into four categories: financial and economic (gaining or losing additional income and other financial benefits / losses from cooperation), organizational or administrative (changes in the organizational structure, business processes, use of human potential), related to the main activity of organizations (the quality of the organization’s mission implementation), as well as image-building (the organization’s position in ratings, brand recognition, goodwill). The analysis showed that a competent assessment of the resources available to organizations, understanding of differences in corporate culture, studying best practices of similar projects’ implementation, and also legal support of these relationships, which will help to avoid many risks and negative consequences in the future, are of great importance for the success of university-business cooperation.

The article is devoted to a review of modern practice of implementing state policy on career guidance for youth. It is indicated that the choice by young people of the future sphere of professional activity is mainly situational-factorial, and not predictive-conscious in nature. A list of the main groups of factors motivating the choice of the future profession by modern Russian youth is given. The purpose of the article is to prove the need to strengthen the role of the state in the professional orientation of youth. On the basis of the study, the need was identified to intensify the strategic approach within the framework of this state policy, to build on a systematic basis holistic work on the formation of labor resources and career guidance for youth in accordance with the current situation and prospects for the development of the labor market, the synthesis of ongoing career counseling measures at all levels of youth education, strengthening collaboration of a wide range of participants (state and non-state institutions, federal and regional actors of state policy). As a measure to strengthen the state policy on career guidance for youth, it is proposed to switch from a tactical career guidance model to a career management model based on an analysis of the current state and a forecast analysis of future labor market transformations.

The article is devoted to the key factors determined pattern and scale of Red Army and German Army losses during the operation to Kalinin city liberation in December, 1941. Author studied the conditions of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in the context of their influence on the losses of the warring sides. The difficulties of the Soviet and German armed forces on the tactical and operational levels are revealed. The personal dimension of the decision making process predetermined the course and the results of the battle is considered.

Shcherbatov’ literary utopia can be considered as a treatise on the methods of public administration. It contains a description of three methods: “spatial management”, “feedback” and “personal behavior management.” They constitute a unity that allows preserving, developing and enhancing communication between the authorities and the population of the country. Each of these mechanisms is described in territorial, temporary and mental space of the “ideal” state. Shcherbatov saw the potential use of these mechanisms in modern Russia. But he understood that there were no conditions for their implementation in the management system The mechanisms proposed by him were not invented by him. Separate elements of each of them existed in the socio-political thought of European education. It was due to Scherbatov, that he discerned the possibilities of using this kind of mechanism, which was much ahead of his time.

The article is devoted to the problem of adopting the law “On Political Parties” in the second half of the 1990s. Based on a study of various sources, the author attempts to finalize this law after it was rejected by the Federation Council in early 1996. The adoption of this law was dictated by the need to exclude numerous non-political organizations from the electoral process. The total participation of these organizations in the 1995 parliamentary elections led to conflicting results and cast doubt on the effectiveness of the majorityproportional electoral system. Howevear, despite the intentions of the deputies, who, it would seem, were interested in the speedy adoption of this normative act, work on the document had stalled. The reasons that did not allow the adoption of this document again were in several factors. This is, firstly, an extremely difficult political situation in which the Duma of the second convocation acted, constantly standing on the verge of dissolution. Secondly, a significant amount of legislative work was influenced, which the opposition Duma was forced to carry out under constant time pressure. Thirdly, deputies feared that this law would be used against opposition parties. However, the decisive factor, which for decades did not allow achieving results, was the absence in Russia of strong parties and a developed party system. On the other hand, the refusal to fix the special rights and obligations of political parties in a special law can be considered as a feature of the Russian constitutional law of the 1990s. The then legislation allowed not only ideological, but also organizational pluralism for numerous socio-political associations.

The article addresses an acute issue of forming a modern pension system in the Republic of Kazakhstan in conditions of emerging market economy and aging population. The article examines the development and implementation of the national pension system in Kazakhstan in the 1990’s and 2000’s with the transition from state Pay-As-You-Goto a predominantly accumulative pension system, at the same time maintaining minimum social guarantees and increasing the official retirement age in the country. It also traces the transition from a decentralized system of mandatory funded pension insurance based on non-state pension funds to a centralized system represented by a Single accumulative pension Fund, with a gradual leveling of retirement age of men and women to 63 years. Drawing on SWOT analysis, the article identifies the priority directions for the development of the pension system in Kazakhstan with the formation of a multi-level model designed to ensure an increase in pensioners’ standard of living. The final part of the article presents the authors’ analysis of the national pension system and its place within the rating of the countries participating in the Global retirement index MMGPI and its sub-indices. The authors suggest certain measures for its improvement, such as raising the minimum retirement security, introducing additional compulsory insurance of employers’ contributions, tax incentives for voluntary pension savings, diversification of investment strategies including the right of citizens to choose a managing company.