SOCIAL WELL-BEING AND HUMAN CAPITAL: INTERDEPENDENCE AND MUTUAL INFLUENCE

Currently, in the context of the transition to digital technologies in all sectors of society and solving the problems of increasing national competitiveness, the study of aspects of the formation of human capital in Russia is an urgent topic in the scientific community. An important factor in the formation of human capital is social well-being — a subjectively assessed level of happiness of a person, his satisfaction with his own health, safety, availability of social benefits, opportunities for individual development. The article discusses the theoretical aspects of the mutual influence of social well-being and human capital. Definitions of the studied concepts are given, publications of Russian and foreign scientists on the issues of ensuring social well-being and the formation of human capital are analyzed.It is concluded that in the conditions of modern global socio-economic trends, the social well-being of a person depends on external factors, which necessitates the implementation of appropriate socio-economic policies aimed at reducing the negative impact of the external environment and ensuring sustainable development and accumulation of human capital.

How Can National Competitiveness of Less Developed Countries be Enhanced? : A Case Study of Laos

<p>The current literature focuses primarily on the national competitiveness of developed or developing economies. However, minimal research exists on understanding the national competitiveness of less developed countries (LDCs) whose strengths in factor endowments, government institutions and the extent of global integration are not the same as those of developed or developing countries. This study aims to fill this research gap by exploring factors contributing to the competitiveness of Laos. Laos is a small, poor and land-locked country in Southeast Asia with rich natural resources. To achieve the study objectives, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior government officials, industrial representatives, professors and NGOs in Laos. The findings suggest three key factors are critical for enhancing Lao competitiveness: factor endowments, the role of government, and global integration. Laos‘ factor endowments include hydropower, mining, agriculture, garment and textile industries, and services. Laos is interacting more with the global economy as it gets set to embrace membership of the World Trade Organisation after approximately 15 years of membership of ASEAN. The government is playing a critical role by developing Lao factor endowments and developing policies required for global integration. However, the country faces challenges of value addition to the existing natural resources, developing and leveraging human capital, and further improvement in rules and regulations.</p>

How Can National Competitiveness of Less Developed Countries be Enhanced? : A Case Study of Laos

<p>The current literature focuses primarily on the national competitiveness of developed or developing economies. However, minimal research exists on understanding the national competitiveness of less developed countries (LDCs) whose strengths in factor endowments, government institutions and the extent of global integration are not the same as those of developed or developing countries. This study aims to fill this research gap by exploring factors contributing to the competitiveness of Laos. Laos is a small, poor and land-locked country in Southeast Asia with rich natural resources. To achieve the study objectives, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior government officials, industrial representatives, professors and NGOs in Laos. The findings suggest three key factors are critical for enhancing Lao competitiveness: factor endowments, the role of government, and global integration. Laos‘ factor endowments include hydropower, mining, agriculture, garment and textile industries, and services. Laos is interacting more with the global economy as it gets set to embrace membership of the World Trade Organisation after approximately 15 years of membership of ASEAN. The government is playing a critical role by developing Lao factor endowments and developing policies required for global integration. However, the country faces challenges of value addition to the existing natural resources, developing and leveraging human capital, and further improvement in rules and regulations.</p>

Superconductor Electronics Research: National Competitiveness and Funding Activity

Devices based on superconductor electronics can achieve much higher energy efficiency than standard electronics. Research in superconductor electronics could advance a range of commercial and defense priorities, with potential applications for supercomputing, artificial intelligence, sensors, signal processing, and quantum computing. This brief identifies the countries most actively contributing to superconductor electronics research and assesses their relative competitiveness in terms of both research output and funding.

The potency of Myrtaceae Family from Cibodas Botanic Gardens (Cianjur, Indonesia) as botanical pesticide

Pratiwi RA, Nurlaeni Y. 2021. The potency of Myrtaceae Family from Cibodas Botanic Gardens (Cianjur, Indonesia) as botanical pesticide. Biodiversitas 22: 4648-4664. Cibodas Botanic Gardens (CBG) is a biodiversity reservoir that can be explored for the discovery of new candidates for botanical pesticides. Myrtaceae has been reported to provide biological activity against pests or pathogens due to their essential oil contents. This research was conducted to inventory and categorize Myrtaceae collection in CBG that had the potency to be botanical pesticide. The list of Myrtaceae collection of CBG obtained from Unit Registration and Collection CBG per 2021. Database fulfilling regarding the bactericide/fungicide/herbicide/insecticide potency of the Myrtaceae of CBG’s collection was carried out through digital references search. Our result showed that there were 73 species of Myrtaceae (from 18 genera) that are potential to be botanical pesticide sources. There were 17 species that are considerably had a high potency. Most of them belong to the Eucalyptus and Melaleuca, followed by Backhousia, Leptospermum, Psidium, and Syzygium. The data resulted from this study is expected to serve as baseline information for further research about the formulation, efficacy, and conservation management of botanical pesticides from Myrtaceae for sustainable use. Furthermore, the development of biological pesticides is a step to improve the quality of Indonesian export products so as to increase national competitiveness in the globalization era nowadays.

The Role of Regional Agro-Industrial Cluster Enterprises in Improving National Competitiveness

Introduction. The relevance of the research problem is due to the fact that in modern conditions, making a profit is not the only goal and criterion for the successful functioning of enterprises. If recently the activities of many enterprises have been aimed at gaining a market share, now the leading companies are changing their priorities trying to increase the number of regular customers, boost the efficiency of resource use, and meet the consumer demand. Based on the research conducted, the article identifies the role of the regional agro-industrial cluster enterprises producing poultry products in improving national competitiveness. Materials and Methods. The empirical and information base of the study was made up of statistical materials on the stated topic, as well as of departmental reports and accounting statements of the considered enterprises of the regional agro-industrial cluster of the Republic of Mordovia for 2015–2020. The methodological and empirical base used made it possible to competently and professionally analyze the competitive advantages of the considered enterprises and develop recommendations on how to increase their competitive strengths in the national market of poultry products. Results. The conducted research of competitive criteria for goods by regional producers of poultry products made it possible to identify the main areas of activities of these enterprises aimed at improving their competitive positions. The tools for assessing the competitiveness of poultry farming have been theoretically substantiated and developed on the basis of identifying the importance of competitive criteria for regional producers, such as price, quality, packaging, assortment, and image of the manufacturer. Specific recommendations have been developed aimed at strengthening the competitive positions of the enterprises of the regional agro-industrial cluster and at identifying key priorities for the development of a competitive strategy, in order to save resources without losing product quality. Discussion and Conclusion. The recommendations produced will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the regional producers of poultry products. The results of the study can be used by regional authorities when clustering a region and developing territorial programs for socio-economic development.

Innovation And Entrepreneurship For Competitiveness In The ASEAN: An Empirical Analysis

ASEAN economies face new challenges in achieving sustainable, inclusive development, namely entrepreneurial innovation, impacting ASEAN's competitiveness. This research investigates the relationship between the power of innovation, entrepreneurship, and national competitiveness at the ASEAN country level. This study also examines how innovation and entrepreneurship can affect a country's competitiveness and inclusive development. The results of the comparative analysis based on means-testing using an independent sample t-test at the ASEAN level show a significant difference between the group of countries with a low-medium level of innovation ability and the group of countries with a high level of innovation ability. High levels of innovation imply that these countries have high competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and inclusive development levels. Meanwhile, the regression and correlation analysis results show that several ASEAN countries have high national competitiveness due to high levels of innovation, entrepreneurship, and inclusive development. The findings of this study may help develop policies to boost national competitiveness in inclusive growth.

DO CLUSTERS AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT FOSTER NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS IN BULGARIA? A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH EU COUNTRIES

The business environment and cluster development in given economy have a defining role for the development, maintenance and enhancement of national competitiveness and this has been proven repeatedly in theory and in practice. Cluster development in Bulgaria started with some delay compared to the other European countries. In Bulgaria, companies even though being a member of a cluster, they do not fully realize their advantages in terms of competition and joint efforts. The reason is that clusters in Bulgaria are still in a process of building efficient internal interactions between their members. The study focuses on the way and the extent the state of business environment and cluster development foster national competitiveness in the case of Bulgaria and selected Central and Eastern European EU member states countries. For the purposes of the study of business environment the Diamond Model of Michael Porter is employed and it is carried out through the World Economic Forum’s indicators of Global Competitiveness Reports. Both, business environment and the level of cluster development in Bulgaria are evaluated in a comparative context with selected Central and Eastern European EU member states countries. The results of the study show domination of limitations and obstacles to enhancing national competitiveness. We may conclude that the state of the business environment, the level of cluster development, and their interaction are not very favourable for more intensive competitive development of Bulgarian economy.

THE PROCESS OF RELIGIOLIZATION IN MODERN KAZAKHSTAN: SPECIFICS AND TRENDS

Kazakhstan as the middle country of Eurasia experiences deterministic influences on the course of a number of societal processes including religious ones. Sovereign development turned out to be synchronized with deideologization which replaced it with re-deideologization, the transformation of ideological identity. The dilemma of secularity / religiosity is manifested ambivalently, the number of explicit and non-obvious supporters of the transition to religious statehood is increasing. Religiosity appears to be procedural rather than spontaneously functioning. The risks associated with the loss of intellectual potential, distancing from the traditions of ethno-confessional identity, the growing influence of quasi-religious archaization, decrease in national competitiveness are increasing. Religiolization of Kazakhstani society is a new trend, manifests itself as a tendency for the interaction of non-religious and religious content of life, has an impact on the development of society, the state and dynamics of changes in human capital. Systematic interdisciplinary studies of the process reveal its philosophical, sociological, political, religious, psychological and legal dimensions. Accordingly, the processes of religiolization can be effectively studied through monitoring, analysis, reconstruction, conceptualization, modeling, predictive assessments and the development of scientific and practical recommendations for actors of state and political administration. The article examines the concepts of the process of religiolization of the Kazakhstani society with a focus on the political dimension.