Methods of Costs Allocation for Equipment Maintenance and Operation in Determining Industrial Products’ Costs

The method of costs allocation for equipment maintenance and operation has been analyzed. It is especially important to properly allocate costs by type of product at those industrial enterprises, where a complex range of products is produced as a result of a single production process. The main method for calculating the product cost unit in industry is calculating the product cost and expense budget. Differentiated methods should be used in allocating indirect costs between particular products or types of products, depending on the nature of a cost, its economic nature, and its connection with the process of forming production cost. In calculating production cost, costs for production maintenance and management are identified, having a very diverse composition. A big group of expenses connected with equipment operation (depreciation on operating equipment and vehicles; maintenance repair of the equipment and shop-floor travelers; wear of low-value tools; the wages of workers engaged in equipment maintenance; maintenance materials) is singled out in a special spending pattern. It is established that quite accurate results are also used in a number of industries. For example, the method of allocation of indirect costs allows the maintenance costs and equipment operation costs to be reasonably allocated, thus making it possible to more accurately calculate the production cost and make management decisions on this basis. It should be noted that, since indirect costs include a large number of various production costs, which differ in many economic respects, allocation of all indirect costs should not be carried out on a single basis.

The Essence of the Competitiveness of Coastal Regions

The article aims at defining the key theoretical concepts related to providing the competitiveness of coastal regions and studying the essence of the terms "coastal region", "competitiveness", "competitiveness of the coastal region". The features and characteristics of the coastal region are determined, the classification of the region's competitiveness is expanded, which has helped to suggest a new interpretation of the "coastal region" term. A coastal region is an administrative-territorial unit that due to its geographic position has access to the sea coast with its own waters, specializes in coastal economic and ecosystem activities, creates its own maritime complex of industries with the appropriate infrastructure, faces specific social problems and environmental requirements, has its own cultural and historical heritage, the latter reflecting the maritime theme. A binary understanding of the “coastal region” term is suggested: coastal regions are treated as oblasts and as territorial communities, the administrative boundaries of which extend to the coastline. It has been found out that the competitiveness of a coastal region is an indicator emphasizing the region's ability to respond to external challenges; ensuring the use of ecosystem approach to designing the best possible region's economic structure; overcoming seasonality in tourism and recreation; taking into account the specifics of social and environmental problems of the region; preserving the cultural and mental identity of the region to create favorable conditions for the inhabitants. To create a concept for ensuring the competitiveness of coastal regions it is necessary to make not only theoretical generalizations, but also a comprehensive diagnosis of the current state of competitiveness, which is impossible without discussing the components of competitiveness, as comprehensive assessment will be done with regard to them.

Adaptation of International Approaches to Creating a Statistical Indicators System for the Water Management Analysis at the City Level

The article aims at substantiating the theoretical and methodological foundations for creating a unified statistical indicators system and statistical analysis of the water resources management at the city level. The advantages of using standardized indicators in the field of sanitation and water supply at the city level are identified and characterized in accordance with ISO 37120: 2014 «Sustainable cities and communities – indicators of urban services and quality of life». Both the main and auxiliary indicators of urban services and quality of life on «Water and sanitary conditions» and «Sewage» topics are systematized as for their formulas, application features and data sources. It is established that, according to the Water Risk Filter, Ukraine can be divided into four regions depending on the water risk, namely, low, moderately medium, medium, and high water risk levels. Based on these data, such cities from the Global Register of Cities developed by the World Council on City Data (WCCD) were selected: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Guadalajara (Mexico). Their indicators in the field of sanitation and water supply were analyzed. It is established that these cities are characterized by a high level of water supply and sewerage services, as well as a fairly high level of the access to high-quality sanitary and hygienic conditions. The situation with quality indicators of water management is worse. For example, advanced waste treatment is only carried out in Dubai. In Guadalajara, 21% of urban wastewater is not treated at all. It is established that in general, Dubai is the leader in the quality of water supply and sanitation services, while Guadalajara is the outsider city, showing the lowest quality levels of most of the studied indicators. The national system of indicators is suggested to be expanded by including such an indicator as «Average annual duration of water supply outages per 1 household»

Modeling the Instability of Development of Complex Hierarchical Systems

The article suggests using modern instruments of dynamic analysis, i.e. the theories of phase, cointegration, and bifurcation analysis and the catastrophe theory to improve the methodology to study the dynamic pattern of the development indices of complex hierarchical systems (CHS) and their relationship. The article elaborates the main directions for creating research models, which would describe the interaction between the development indices of CHS, grounded on estimating and analyzing pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis phenomena in hierarchical social and economic territorial systems. A conceptual framework algorithm is designed to model the dynamic pattern of the CHS development using modern economic and mathematical instruments to study the dynamics of time-series data and assess the relationship of CHS indices. Complex models have been implemented to monitor the key CHS development indices based on the phase and cointegration analysis of the relationship between the following processes: investment and GDP; GDP and industrial production dynamics; GDP dynamics and import volumes dynamics; wages dynamics and industrial production dynamics; migration and natural population growth. As part of the implementation of a comprehensive model for monitoring key indices of CHS development based on bifurcation analysis and the catastrophe theory, the supercritical Hopf bifurcation is built in the relationship model of imports and GDP; surfaces of the functions of Kaldor’s model and a three-dimensional Kaldor’s model are constructed. The suggested complex toolkit for research models of the CHS development instability gives us the opportunity to draw conclusions about the reasons and factors of the occurrence of endogenous (self-generating) fluctuations and bifurcations; about the probability of catastrophes and crises arising in complex hierarchical economic systems. The solution of problems caused by the CHS development instability on the basis of complex application of phase, cointegration and bifurcation analysis will allow us to predict crisis situations in advance and to offer methods of their prevention, to find complex ways out of crisis situations.

Assessment of Innovative Activity of Ukrainian Enterprises in the Field of Technology Transfer

The article aims at clarifying the classification features of the forms and directions of technology transfer, and analyzing empirical data on technology transfer operations in Ukraine. The effectiveness, efficiency and immediacy of technology transfer depend on the choice of its rational forms and directions of technology transfer. The combined form of transfer is considered to be most promising, as it encompasses the advantages of both the vertical and horizontal transfer forms based on the open innovation business model. Ukraine has prerequisites for the implementation of this form of technology transfer, but it is necessary to increase the innovative activity of industrial enterprises and research organizations, and to increase funding for innovation. In the future the authors plan to suggest an organizational and economic mechanism to increase innovation activity at the enterprise level. In 2007-2019 research and development at industrial enterprises (R&D) accounted for about 15% in the total cost of innovation, in average. The lowest share of R&D in total expenditures on innovation was observed in 2011 (7.5%), and the highest share was observed in 2018, comprising 26.3%. The share of costs for vertical transfer is 69.6-89.5%, which is much higher than that for horizontal transfer, which is 10.5-30.4%. The main reason for the decrease in the level of technology transfer at Ukrainian enterprises is the limited funding from the state and the negative investment climate in the country. The share of non-commercial transfers has been lower than 1% since 2012. Combined transfer based on digital technology platforms is virtually absent.

Innovative Approaches to Develop «Smart» Cities: the Legal Framework in Ukraine and the European Experience

Over time, the role of cities as centers of economic, political and cultural life has increased significantly; they are major participants in the globalization process, affect economic growth and state policy. Cities are the main elements in many spheres of public life: they determine the education level and trends; the largest production facilities are placed in them or near them; city dwellers work as managers of different levels and shape state policy. Thus, the issues of urbanization, life and development of large cities, towns and areas around them are central to the consideration of self-government. Today, effective local governance and, consequently, effective development and promotion of the people’s well-being are viewed through the prism of achieving a balance between economic development, environmental protection and social development. Due to high population density, cities possess significant potential for creativity and innovation, energy conservation, environmental friendliness, socio-cultural diversity, etc., so it is the dynamic interaction of these features that drives European development. Setting sustainable development of cities and territories as a goal makes it important to take into account European experience not only in solving the existing problems of their functioning, but also in choosing priorities for the development of modern cities based on innovative approaches and the introduction of "smart" components. The significance of forming the required legal framework for an individual administrative and territorial unit (region, territory, city, community, etc.) to function, and of assessing its state for further use in public management of territorial development, determines the importance of developing and implementing an effective system of legal documents to address socio-economic problems and encourage sustainable regional (territorial) development in Ukraine.

Institutional Support for the Development of Public-Private Partnership in the Public Governance System

Theoretic aspects of the formation and development of public-private partnership (PPP) are studied. By using a systemic approach, it is determined that the most important factor in improving the efficiency of public-private partnership is its institutional support. It is substantiated that globally, the PPP is mostly initiated by public authorities, which can be explained by a number of reasons. Firstly, public authorities are responsible for the country's strategic development. Secondly, public authorities formulate "rules of the game" for businesses and individuals, plan capital investments, and select PPP entities that are a priority in terms of public interest. In fact, it is the state that undertakes to address objectives facing society. Therefore, nowadays the importance of creating a favorable institutional environment to develop PPPs is recognized at all the levels of economic management and is emphasized in the scientific community. It is proved that the interests of public authorities, private businesses and the community are reconciled through the complementation of political, legal, and socio-economic norms and rules of conduct. The functions of public authorities at the national and regional levels of government are systematized.

Transition to the Knowledge-Based Economy within the Modernization Paradigm for the States in the Core and Semi-Periphery of the Global Economic System

The article generalizes the features of modern transition from industrial to post-industrial (or knowledge-based) economy within the modernization paradigm for the states in the core and semi-periphery of the global economic system. It is proved that among the historical diversity of national modernization phenomena one can single out two alternative models: an innovative model and a catching-up one. It is substantiated that the innovative model is most typical for the countries forming the core of the world economic system, while the catching-up model is more typical for countries in the periphery of global development. It is revealed that modern intellectual production covers, first of all, economic sectors producing information and knowledge. At the same time, intellectual capital also functions in productive industries, influencing their indicators as well. That is why knowledge workers, who form the intellectual strata of society, are considered to be subjects of intangible intellectual production, the latter making up the core of knowledge economy. Their main function is to produce intellectual products (socially valuable knowledge), in contrast to groups, whose social function is to embody these values and knowledge. It should also be noted that concrete historical forms of knowledge objectivisation, ways of their reproduction and, accordingly, historical types of intellectual layers can differ considerably. It is concluded that knowledge-based economy is considered as a sphere of economic activity, which nowadays is characterized by intensive use of intellectual capital as the main economic resource, in the fields of material production as well.

Areas of Regional Policy Implementation with Reference to Ensuring Economic Security

The article is aimed at identifying the main areas of regional policy with reference to ensuring economic security. It is proved that the state regional policy is an integral part of the state policy aimed at providing the spatial organization of a region, maintaining balance, eliminating regional differentiation. The mechanism of regional policy provision is considered. The powers of regional policy actors in Ukraine are apecified. The global and local goals of regional policy are characterized, the goal hierarchy is created with respect to ensuring regional economic security. Estimates of the local goals of regional policy on achieving the strategic goal of regional policy are defined. The main global goals of regional policy are highlighted, in particular: territorial integrity, socio-economic integration and spatial development, sustainable development of the region’s diversified competitive economy, development of rural territories and territories adjacent to cities, development of human capital and life quality, effective regional development management. It is determined that the following local goals are estimated highest for achieving the strategic goal of regional policy: protection of regional interests, territorial unity, prevention of deepening imbalances in regional development, rationalization of agricultural production pattern aimed at increasing its productivity, development of a competitive industrial sector.

European Experience in Adapting Social and Economic Development to Crisis Situation: Programs and Financial Instruments

The paper presents analysis of European counter-crisis response programs: investment initiatives in response to the coronavirus; REACT-EU package of measures; a long-term recovery program (budget for 2021-2027) and Next Generation EU; and a banking package of measures titled “Supporting businesses and households amid COVID-19”. The sources of financial instruments for the recovery and adaptation of EU member states to the transcrisis state are described, and the most effective mechanisms for supporting entrepreneurship in the COVID-19 crisis are shown. The example of Slovakia and Poland is used to demonstrate the European experience in organizing the credit process, providing guarantees, intensifying social entrepreneurship in the face of the ongoing epidemic shock. The European investment trends and the participation of financial intermediaries in the post-crisis recovery are determined and used as a basis to characterize nationalization of the European long-term investment process. The special role of the state and the formation of state funds in the process of ensuring the effective adaptation of the Ukrainian financial and institutional environment to new challenges is substantiated; the importance of developing long-term programs for adapting the Ukrainian economy and society to the challenges of sanitary, humanitarian, climatic and political and economic nature, as well as forming appropriate institutions is shown. It is concluded that, given the peculiarities of the operational behavior of Ukrainian banking institutions, which are now focused on operations with government securities and commission activities, the adaptation investment process should be provided by public financial institutions.