INTEGRATING THE CLUSTER APPROACH INTO THE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
OF REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES 

Sergeeva Irina Anatol'evna, Doctor of economical sciences, professor, sub-department of management, Penza State University (40 Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia), iransergeeva@yandex.ru

 637.5

Background. The main problems affecting the performance of regional industrial enterprises are: lack of floating capital and investments, significant physical and moral depreciation of fixed assets, low competitiveness, unbalance in foreign trade, excess of imports over exports, weak domestic demand, inefficient mechanisms
of state support, the conservative character of production, unbalanced tariff policy of natural monopolies. Under such conditions, the cluster strategy is the most effective tool of the industrial policy. It guarantees establishing stable economic relations between partners on the basis of integration. It has been successfully implemented worldwide. The cluster approach ensures profitability, higher competitiveness and market expansion. The purpose of the study is to prove the necessity of integrating the cluster approach into the development strategy of the regional industrial enterprises, to identify competitive advantages of clusters as compared to other structural forms.
Materials and methods. The research objectives were accomplished by using official data of the Government of the Penza region, as well as by analyzing Russian economists’ works on the problem. The methodology is based on: a monographic method that allows the authors to study the previously proposed approaches
to the development of industrial enterprises, legislation in this sphere and its drawbacks, as well as positive experience of foreign countries in solving the problem; a statistical method for the analysis of data related to the development of regional clusters; a comparative analysis to identify the competitive advantages of the cluster as compared to other forms.  
Results. We have identified a number of conditions that stimulate the development of clusters and some more conditions that repress the development of clusters in the region. We have stated the main guidelines of the cluster policy in the region. We have proved the necessity of the cluster approach integration into the industrial enterprises’ development strategy. We have monitored the clusters’ activities and their development in the region, as well as the cluster competitive advantages.
Conclusions. The study of the clusters’ competitive advantages emphasizes the urgent need for the integration of the cluster approach into the industrial enterprises’ development strategy that promotes solving a wide range of tasks during transition of the Russian economy to the innovative and socially oriented type of development.

industrial policy, industrial enterprise, cluster approach, integration, strategy of development.

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