Intersectoral complexes: state and possible directions of development

Like any country with a transformational economy, the Republic of Belarus today is experiencing an exceptionally difficult period of social, political and economic reorientation, the transition from a command-administrative economy to a socially-oriented economic system. At the same time, it should be pointed out that, thanks to the verified and deeply thought-out socio-economic policy of the current leadership of the country, the consequences of the transformational crisis in Belarus have been generally overcome: the pre-crisis level of production has been reached; stable economic growth has been ensured; the country is characterized by a very low level of unemployment and a steady increase in real incomes of the population; according to the human development index, Belarus is confidently catching up with the group of developed countries of the world; the coefficient of differentiation of the population by income level is much lower than in all other post-Soviet countries; the population of the country in the absence of local armed conflicts and terrorist acts that swept literally the entire planet has the opportunity to calmly and fruitfully to work, to learn, to raise children.

This became possible for the reason that the country’s leadership, not succumbing to the false calls of our overseas “friends” for “landslide” privatization and “indiscriminate” liberalization and, guided solely by the national interests of the Republic of Belarus, managed to preserve and increase the industrial and production potential of the country, not allowing to turn the labor of Belarusians into outlandish acquisitions such as expensive foreign villas, football clubs, luxury yachts, personal airliners, etc. therefore, the population of the country at the Republican referendum on October 17, 2004 expressed its desire to continue the development of the country in this direction.

To consolidate the achieved success, it is necessary to focus special attention on the development of material production industries and intersectoral complexes of the regions. At the same time, the development of regions in countries in transition to the market, as a rule, is reduced to two scenarios:

1) gradual de-industrialization of the regions and the country as a whole, which inevitably leads to a weakening of the innovative potential, “brain drain”, the dominance of imported goods, the aging of fixed assets, an increase in the share of manual labor, degradation and depopulation of the population and, ultimately, to the loss of economic independence of the region and the country;

2) a phased and purposeful transformation of the scientific, technical and innovative potential of the regions and the country as a whole, which, in combination with a well-thought-out industrial and investment policy, can ensure technical and technological re-equipment and modernization of production, its access to the frontiers of scientific and technological progress, increasing the competitiveness of products manufactured in the regions.

In general, thanks to the above factors, the Republic of Belarus today is a modern, industrially developed state, which is characterized by an industrial model of the structure of employment of the population, most of which work in the production sector. Therefore, it is logical to choose a second scenario for the development of regions, industries and intersectoral complexes.

Thus, the specifics and features of the integrated socio-economic development of the regions predetermine the division of industries into two groups:

Group 1 – industries (objects) of region-forming importance, which determine the role of the region in the social and territorial division of labor and are the basis of its economic development (industry, agro-industrial complex, construction, external transport, communications and science); Group 2 – branches of social development (objects of service importance related to meeting the needs of the population and providing general economic conditions for the development of objects of the first group). These industries include: housing and communal services, trade and public catering, intraregional transport, healthcare, education and culture, etc.

To develop the industries of both groups and ensure long-term economic recovery, bring the regions to the forefront in the scientific and technical sphere and increase their competitiveness, it is necessary to actively move in fundamentally new, avant-garde directions. First of all, it is necessary to pay special attention to the development of laser, information, electronic technologies and optical production technologies, since it is in these areas  that a powerful scientific and innovative potential has been accumulated in the country and its regions. It is very important to accelerate the development of equipment, devices and devices for data transmission – telephone, videotelephone, telegraph, facsimile, etc. – using digital high-speed fiber-optic communication systems.

A new group of products, the production of which can be deployed at the enterprises of the cities of the republic, is electronic equipment for medical and environmental purposes, environmental control devices, diagnostic intelligently oriented medical complexes, household appliances based on laser-optical technologies, high-performance lasers for technological applications. Industry science should also concentrate its efforts on solving urban problems themselves:

creation of new materials for the construction of residential and other buildings, new types of buildings and structures; production of buses and trolleybuses; development of its own machine-building base for urban sectors; rational use of resources, including secondary resources; environmental protection; industrial waste treatment and the creation of a reliable waste disposal system; wastewater treatment and  reuse; electronization and technicalization of urban life; electrification of urban vehicles, etc.

After solving the listed tasks related to the presence of a certain scientific, technical and innovative reserve, special attention should be paid to the development of fundamental scientific research. In particular, it is necessary to develop a number of comprehensive programs that provide for theoretical and experimental studies of the fundamental interactions of structures and particles at the subnuclear, nuclear and macroscopic levels, the creation of high technologies (plasma, laser, informational), the solution of problems of small and non-traditional energy, healthcare and many others.

An important role in the structural restructuring of the economy of the regions can be played by the development of their innovation infrastructure, which is usually understood as a set of organizations or its divisions that carry out innovative activities in the region and contribute to it. Such organizations include:

a) an innovative incubator is a complex multidisciplinary complex, usually occupying a separate building and implementing a wide range of innovative and information services. The incubator provides these services to third-party firms for 2-5 years, after which these firms leave the incubator and begin independent activities;

b) a technological park is a scientific and production territorial complex, which includes a number of centers: research, innovation, marketing, training center and information technology center;

c) technopolis is an integral scientific and production structure created on the basis of a separate city, in the economy of which technoparks and incubators play a significant role.

The creation of technoparks in the regions, including on the basis of scientific and technical centers and military scientific and production complexes, is considered very promising for Belarus. To expand their network, it is necessary to involve technical universities and institutes of the regions, as well as enterprises and organizations where advanced developments of scientists will be brought to production. Since the effective operation of technoparks and the research and production complexes functioning on their basis requires the appropriate infrastructure (commercial banks, exchanges, computer centers, marketing firms, centers for training and retraining of personnel, etc.), in some specific cases we can even talk about technopolises. In particular, the President  of the Republic of Belarus set a very ambitious task to create a Belarusian “Silicon Valley” in the country.

The developed innovation infrastructure in the regions is able to ensure the interested use of their intellectual potential not only in obtaining new scientific results, but also in their commercialization, the development of a wide variety of forms of business throughout the innovation cycle: research – development – production – consumption.

Particular attention in the Republic of Belarus should be paid to the development of the real sector of the economy and, above all, to industries. At the same time, the development of industry should be aimed at solving the following main tasks:

meeting the needs of the national economy of the region and the republic in industrial products and, above all, at the expense of its own production and own resources of the Republic; increasing the output of knowledge-intensive and competitive products so that it is possible to purchase raw materials and energy resources from other countries.

In the structure of production of industrial and technical products, priority is given to products necessary for the region and the republic, first of all, for the re-equipment of enterprises of the machine-building complex, light and food industries, the construction industry, the needs of agriculture and households, the service sector and other branches of the social complex. Given the insufficient provision of the regions with fuel and energy resources and a significant dependence on foreign (especially Russian) supplies, energy saving should become one of the important tasks of industrial development.

Priorities include:

high-tech branches of the machine-building complex, including the former defense sector, electronics, instrumentation, computer engineering and communications, metal-cutting machine tool building, production of welding equipment, electrical engineering, etc .; sub-sectors of light industry based on local raw materials; food industry, which is a complex of diversified enterprises with a large range of products; fuel and energy complex, designed to meet the needs of the state in all types of fuel and energy resources (the provision of the Republic of Belarus with its own fuel and energy resources does not exceed 15%).

The development of industry in the Republic of Belarus (as well as in almost all other countries of the world) is carefully predicted and planned, since a comprehensive forecast of the main parameters of the industry is being developed at the level of the regions of the republic and the city of Minsk. It is formed taking into account the priority areas of development of this most important branch of the national economy, as well as the demographic, natural resource and economic potential of each region while ensuring self-financing of expanded reproduction.

The comprehensive forecast of industrial development takes into account:

scientifically based assessments of possible and permissible socio-economic and environmental burdens on each region; real material, technical, financial and economic capabilities of individual regions; the impact of scientific, technical and technological achievements on long-term trends in the development of individual industries and industries.

Further, the comprehensive forecast determines: the degree of satisfaction of the needs for its products both in volume and in assortment; sources of covering these needs (own production, supplies from other regions, imports); volumes of export outside the regions, including exports; the possibility of introducing the achievements of scientific and technological progress in order to improve the consumer and operational properties of products, cover their own needs, as well as ensure mutually beneficial commodity exchange with other regions.

Another important direction in the development of the real sector of the economy is the improvement of the domestic agro-industrial complex (AIC), in which the foundations of a multi-structured economy have developed today. In particular, there are three groups  of farms in the republic by forms of ownership:

1) agricultural enterprises based on the state form of ownership (state farms, state-owned enterprises, pilot production farms, seed-growing sovkhozes, etc.);

2) agricultural enterprises of non-state ownership, represented by collective and reformed enterprises;

3) business entities of non-state form of ownership, represented by peasant (farmer) and personal subsidiary plots.

One of the most promising areas for improving the agro-industrial complex is its reform, taking into account the territorial aspect. So, among the main ways to improve crop production are called:

improvement of the structure of sown areas in all regions in order to ensure food and fodder grain through its own production (except for the import of special types of it); increasing potato production, especially in the areas of the central part of the Republic of Belarus, which has the most favorable conditions for its cultivation; concentration of sugar beet crops in the Brest, Grodno and south-western regions of the Minsk region, which have the most favorable soil and climatic conditions for its cultivation, within the framework of the state target program “Belarusian sugar”; increasing soil fertility in all regions through the rational use of organic and mineral fertilizers.

Territorial tasks of animal husbandry:

maximum utilization of rich grass and plant resources in all regions, which constitute the main reserve for increasing the productivity of cattle breeding; increase in production at livestock breeding complexes for fattening pigs and poultry in Minsk, Brest and Grodno regions due to better provision of them with concentrated feed; restoration of technical equipment of agricultural production in all regions of the Republic of Belarus, as the degree of deterioration of its machine and tractor fleet has reached 70%.

Forecasting and planning of production development in individual sectors of a single agro-industrial complex is carried out according to product subcomplexes. At the same time, the indicators reflect: the material and technical base of agriculture; volumes of agricultural production; balances of its gross resources with the identification of the volume of industrial processing of raw materials; availability of tanks for storage of raw materials and finished products, etc. When forecasting and planning the development of the processing industry, the agro-industrial complex takes into account: the need of the population of the region or the republic in food products; volumes of raw materials, material and labor resources; availability of production facilities and the need for their full use; introduction of new technologies and achievements of scientific and technological progress; smoothing and elimination of seasonal production, etc.

The development of the region is impossible without the construction of new and modernization of existing industrial enterprises, production, social, managerial and market infrastructure facilities, i.e. without the intensification of the investment and construction process in the region. The role and importance of the construction complex are determined, first of all, by the specifics and multi-purpose purpose of its products. It creates a solid basis for the further wider and deeper development of the country’s economy with the development of new territories and natural resources. Construction has a huge impact on the state of scientific and innovative activities in the region, since it, providing conditions for the reconstruction and re-equipment of production, contributes to the speedy introduction of the latest achievements in science and practice, reducing the duration of the construction cycle from project development to the finished structure. All this makes forecasting and planning of the construction complex of the regions of the Republic of Belarus very, very relevant in the process of implementing the state regional administration.

Forecasting the development of the construction complex of the regions is carried out on the basis of an analysis of its functions, including:

implementation of works on the commissioning of production and non-production facilities; material and technical support of the construction complex with local building materials, building structures and parts; development of self-financing of the construction complex.

In the process of such forecasting, it is envisaged: determination of the need for products and services of the construction complex in physical and cost indicators; calculation of the requirements for material and technical resources for the implementation of construction; linking the volume of construction production with the capacities of construction organizations performing contract work; provision of financial resources (capital investments) of objects under construction.

Forecasting and planning of the volume of construction work in the region is carried out taking into account the prospects for the development of all sectors of the national economy and the needs of the population. The total amount of construction work is correlated with the needs for material, labor and financial resources, is justified by the availability of capacities of construction and installation and repair and construction organizations, as well as the need for building materials, structures and parts on the basis of enlarged standards for spending 1 million rubles. construction and installation works.

The scope of work of the construction complex is coordinated, linked to production facilities. The development of a balance of production capacity should be considered in close connection with the balances of production and distribution of building materials and structures, since construction capacity largely depends on the types of buildings and structures and on the type of structural materials used for their construction.

When developing balance sheets, it is necessary to:

calculate the needs for building materials for new construction, expansion and reconstruction of capacities, major repairs; determine the volume of cooperative supplies; determine the volume of production of building materials in the region and supply to the republican fund; clarify the coverage of needs through supply from the republican fund, import from other districts under cooperative supplies and direct contracts.

At the same time, it is necessary to point out that, analyzing and predicting the development of specific intersectoral complexes of the region, it is very important to consider the latter as an integral entity, a single complex, taking into account the entire range of its regional ties. The basis of a comprehensive study and planning of regional relations are reproductive cycles in the economy of the region, which are understood as parts of the regional system that reflect one or another aspect of social reproduction.

Regional reproductive cycles include:

reproduction of labor resources of the region, as a process of restoration and development of the most active part of the population – the labor resources of the region; reproduction of credit and monetary resources of the region, which is a relatively separate environment of relations regarding the formation, purchase, sale and placement of free monetary funds, the regulation of their flows in accordance with changes in supply and demand. Its main tasks are the implementation of distribution functions and financial support for solving the problems of integrated socio-economic development; regulation of distribution relations between enterprises, local budget and banking system; increasing the efficiency of the use of monetary and financial resources of the region in the process of lending and circulation; reproduction of the investment process in the region, reflecting the process of increasing the main part of the production potential – capital; reproduction of natural resources and ecological potential of the region; reproduction of production services provided by branches of production infrastructure (transport of all kinds, communication and communication services, organization of promotion of goods and services from manufacturer to consumer, etc.). Among the main problems in the field of reproduction of industrial services are: achieving proportionality in the development of basic, auxiliary and service industries; accelerated capacity building of  production infrastructure; the concentration of small-scale infrastructure and, on this basis, an increase in the level of production efficiency in this area; pooling resources to finance production infrastructure facilities planned for construction in the region; the establishment of intersectoral and inter-farm clusters in the region; rationalization of management systems for the development of production infrastructure, transfer of unprofitable production units to the system of regional management bodies; coordination of activities of transport organizations, energy and heat supply, water supply and sewerage facilities, communal facilities.

Regional reproduction proportions are relative indicators characterizing the relationship between products and resources, between individual types of products, between costs and results, and other indicators related to the explanation of economic dynamics. Among the main regional reproductive proportions can be called the ratios between the most important branches of the national economy: industry, agriculture, construction, transport, trade, banking sector; between the level of development of basic industries and infrastructure; the state of capital construction and the cash capacities of construction organizations; production and non-production spheres; the level of development of production and labor resources; production and non-production infrastructures; branches of production of means of production and consumer goods, etc.

Depending on the nature of the relationships between the elements of the reproduction process, the following groups of regional reproduction proportions can be distinguished.

1. General economic proportions reflecting the distinctive features of regional reproduction, the role of the region in the country’s economy.

These include the relationships between:

gross social product and gross domestic product (GDP); saving and consumption of GDP; the real and financial sector; large diversified complexes, etc.

2. Macrostructural proportions, as the ratios between individual groups of enterprises united in the industry.

The proportions of this species include the ratios between:

district-forming, service and auxiliary industries; extractive and processing industries; basic industries that produce material goods, and infrastructure industries that ensure the promotion of products from producer to consumer; the scale of investment activities and branches of the construction complex; the development of agriculture and industries that process agricultural raw materials; the need for transport services and the development of various modes of transport, the road network.

3. Production proportions, which are a very extensive list of relationships between sub-sectors of the economy, as well as between the costs of one type of resources for the production of another.

4. Socio-economic proportions reflecting the standard of living of the population of the region and forming under the influence of decisions taken by participants in the regional reproduction process, such as the business sphere, the national government, regional authorities and the population.

This group includes the proportions between:

private and public consumption; effective supply and demand in the regional market of consumer goods and services; population size and housing development; housing and public services; the size of the population and the scale of development of the social sphere.

5. Demographic proportions reflecting the interrelations of demographic and economic processes of regional reproduction.

This group of proportions reflects the relationships between:

the growth and attrition of labour resources; sex and age and production structure of the population; labour resources and the availability of jobs; employed in the production and public service sectors; urban and rural populations; the size of the population and the level of development of social infrastructure; the number of employed and non-working population of working age.

6. Ecological proportions characterizing the relationship between the development of natural potential and the level of socio-economic development of the region.

This group includes the proportions between:

raw material potential and production capabilities of its use; development of production and level of environmental protection; potential resource capabilities and maximum permissible production load; exploitation and reproduction of natural resources (forests, land, water, fauna and flora).

The formation of this group of proportions involves the development of balances for each type of natural resources and policies for their use.

7. Financial proportions reflecting the circulation of financial and monetary resources. These proportions underlie the mechanism for managing the regional economy, ensuring such relations and connections between all participants in regional reproduction that would be conducive to the achievement of development goals and the balance of interests of all interacting parties.

The main proportions of this group include the proportions between:

produced net products and national income used in the region; the budget of the region and the resources necessary to carry out the functions of regional authorities; shares of taxes and payments received by the federal and regional budgets; internal and external financial sources that ensure the development of the region; created by the aggregate social product and used resources of reproduction.

Financial and economic proportions play a decisive role in combining all proportions into a system that forms a regional reproduction process.