Zaytseva Elena M.

The article is devoted to the issue of improving the efficiency of municipal support of small and medium businesses (SMEs) development based on bringing the existing methodological tools for its implementation in compliance with modern management technologies, relevant to the opportunities of digital economy transformation and external environment challenges. According to the author’s hypothesis, one of the key factors in solving the problem under research is the elimination of the contradiction between the growing importance of the institution of local government in the multi-level support for SME development in Russia, its role in the sustainable municipal economy development and underdeveloped methods for assessing the efficiency of measures proposed by municipalities and organizational and economic mechanism for their implementation.

Based on the generalized theoretical basis and systematized methodological approaches to solving the problem, the article provides the author’s interpretation of structure and content of the principles for assessing the efficiency of municipal support for SMEs development, proposes a conceptual model of assessing the performance of local governments and gives recommendations to improve the organizational and eco- nomic mechanism for its implementation.

The scientific novelty of the proposed assessment model lies in the construction of its algorithm on the conceptual provisions of a balanced scorecard, adapted to the specifics of the sectoral structure of the territorial economy and to the features of the ecosystem approach to researching the field of municipal SMEs as a socio-economic cluster. Of special concern in the model is the choice of strategic directions for supporting the SME field on the basis of SWOT analysis matrix, developing network interactions between SMEs and large corporations, including monotown enterprises, universities, research centers and other stakeholders. The performance assessment, which reflects the nature of the compliance of the implemented measures with strategic goal-setting, is supposed to be carried out in an organic relationship with the calculation of indicators of the four types of efficiency: economic, budgetary, social, investment, followed by the calculating the integral performance indicator. In order to reduce transaction costs and improve municipal services quality, the article provides grounds for the expediency of improving the organizational and economic mechanism for implementing the proposed model through applying the project approach to the municipal activities.

The article deals with the problem of effective management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the construction of a balanced scorecard (BSC) in relation to assessing the effectiveness of SME development support. The application of BSC will make it possible to build a systematic model to assess the state of the SME sector (both at the regional and municipal levels). In this case there will be a smooth transition from the strategic goals of development of the territory to specific targeted support measures and the indicators selected on this basis to assess the effectiveness of support. As a result of the evaluation, the model will allow to return to support tools in order to change or adjust them. The authors’ decision to use the BSC for the management of SMEs development is due to the successful application of this approach to achieve the strategic goals of commercial organizations, which allows to expand its usage to the sphere of state and municipal administration.

Building an assessment model based on the BSC will ensure compliance with the necessary measures for the effective management of SMEs in a particular territory. These principles (dynamism of assessment, connection of assessment with measures of public administration, consideration of regional specificity, formation of assessment indicators) were first developed by the authors as a result of analysis and systematization of the proposed classification (based on the purpose of assessment, type of indicators, consideration of regional assessment factor) of approaches to the problems of SMEs sector assessment existing in the Russian scientific literature. The paper analyzed their features and identified the limitations to the effective application of these approaches. Further, the paper considered the main features of the existing SMEs development assessment model based on the BSC worked out by the Russian researchers, and identified the main opportunities for improvement of the existing model.

Purpose. Consideration of peculiarities of public relations activities in public administration under different political regimes. Methods. Comparative analysis on various grounds of such ways to manage public relations, journalism, advertising and public relations activities. The need to implement this analysis was caused by the aim of defining the essential signs of public relations activities, the knowledge of which is a prerequisite for deeper analysis of specificity of its functioning in the sphere of public administration. The author analyzed the characteristics of the implementation of PR activities, depending on the actual political mode. Results. The author presented full characteristics of public relations activities, taking into account aspects such as the purpose of the activity, conditions for implementation, which are understood as the actually existing political regime, the range of the means used. In his characterization of public relations activities, the author uses the category «soft force of influence». In the article the author describes in detail a transition and management model of public relations activities, depending on the type of political regime. Fundamental differences in the transitional and managerial models exist as a result of the different nature of origin, their use in very different circumstances: in the situation of the so-called transitional and actually realized model of democracy. Scientific novelty. Scientific novelty of the research is to identify the essential characteristics of models of PR-activity, in determining their policy differences. Describing the patterns of public relations, the author separates the notions «public relations» and «PR-communication».

Purpose. To reveal real existence and peculiarities of patriotism subjects in information environment of Magnitogorsk. Methods. The author analyzed the existing theoretical approaches to the patriotism notion; used possibilities of материальcontent analysis of papers to investigate peculiarities of a patriotic component of Magnitogorsk information space. Results. The author considered the main essential features of the modern Russian mono cities exemplified by Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk region, and typical characteristics of informative space of such settlements stipulated by the economic development factor (monocentric character of economy). In the article, the author substantiates the necessity of including patriotic subjects into informative space of the modern Russian society. To conduct qualitative-quantitative analysis of newspaper articles, which allows revealing the essence of a patriotic component represented in the topical picture and affecting public conscience, the author identified the most empirical indicators of patriotism. They are – support of public authorities, consciousness of own belonging to the Russian state, willingness to maintain its independence and sovereignty, striving to peace, love to own country, region, settlement, memory about historical past, pride in their common historical past, pride in his profession, respect for the Russian society and desire to solve its problems. Scientific novelty. The author gives his own definition of the patriotism notion as a component of public consciousness; introduces own vision of information space characteristics that allows excluding the existing limits of all the given approaches and patriotic component of Magnitogorsk information space.