Adaptation Mechanism for Adapting the Territory of Advanced

Social and Economic Development in the Conditions of the Covid- 19

Pandemic: Based on Materials from the Sakhalin Region

Lyudmila Yurievna Filobokova

and Konstantin Borisovich Belovitsky

MIREA - Russian Technological University, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: Territory of Advanced Socio-economic Development, Negative Consequences of Covid 19, Management

Adaptation Mechanism Tools.

Abstract: Russia is strong in its regions and the level of its development is determined by the state, considered as the

results of the management of territorially localized spaces, some of which operate in accordance with Federal

Law-473 of December 29, 2014 “On Territories of Advanced Socio-Economic Development in the Russian

Federation". Wherein, the global negative factor, the COVID-19 pandemic, predetermined the need to form

a mechanism for adapting the management of the socio-economic development of territories, considering this

impact. The management adaptation mechanism shall be directed not only to neutralize the negative impact,

but also to create a stability margin that allows the systems of the regional economy to maintain a given

reproduction trajectory. This task seems to be the most difficult for the regions recognized as the territory of

advanced socio-economic development. The authors carried out the studies, the results of which are presented

in this article, while a reasonable mechanism affects such management tools as strategic planning,

management technology and industrial policy. The authors put forward and defend the hypothesis that in the

context of the need to overcome negative consequences of a global nature, it is necessary to find additional

support points for growth and intensify their use in management practice. The authors consider the oil and

gas complex as such an additional reference point for the Sakhalin Region.

1 INTRODUCTION

The problem of implementing the policy of regional

development in Russia is associated with presence of

imbalances in socio-economic development, while

the degree of differentiation of the levels of individual

regions of the country is extremely high. Ensuring

sustainable socio-economic development of Russia is

viewed as a global goal, which is subordinate to

strategic, tactical and operational targets, while

having an independent content.

The Russian Far East is the largest region,

covering more than 36 % of the entire territory of

Russia. Development of the Far East is determined by

a wide range of factors, some of which must be

recognized as positive, such as the composition and

capacity of the natural resource potential, the

implementation of transnational oil and gas projects,

and some of the negative factors are territorial

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4542-3835

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5760-9584

remoteness from the center, natural and climatic

conditions, a high level of costs, due to the transport

component. This circumstance often leads to the raw

material specialization of the development of a

territorially localized space. One of the independent

subjects of the Russian Federation, which are part of

the Far Eastern Federal District, is the Sakhalin

Region, the development of which has been carried

out since 2015 in accordance with Federal Law FZ-

473 of December 29, 2014 "On the Territories of

Advanced Social and Economic Development in the

Russian Federation" [12].

It shall be noted that the theory of growth poles

was considered by both domestic and foreign

researchers, but its substantiation was first noted in

the works of F. Perrou, defending the hypothesis that

the activation of points of economic growth is capable

of providing advanced development based on the

processes of concentration of regional resources and

292

Filobokova, L. and Belovitsky, K.

Adaptation Mechanism for Adapting the Territory of Advanced Social and Economic Development in the Conditions of the Covid- 19 Pandemic: Based on Materials from the Sakhalin Region.

DOI: 10.5220/0011119500003439

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference "COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals" (RTCOV 2021), pages 292-298

ISBN: 978-989-758-617-0

the creation of sources for starting self-development

[7].

In the territory of the Sakhalin Region, 3 projects

are being implemented aimed at ensuring advanced

socio-economic development - Mountain Air,

Kuriles, Yuzhny. The Mountain Air project covers

the tourist and recreational sector, the Kuriles project,

the fishery complex, and the Yuzhny project, the

agricultural complex. Implementation of these

projects, no doubt, improves the quality of life of the

population of the island region, making it less

dependent on food supplies to Sakhalin Island and the

Kuril Islands. However, the long-term nature of the

COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on all

aspects of public life, including the socio-economic

development of the territory, predetermine the

development and justification of the management

adaptation mechanism, which was the purpose of the

study conducted by the authors.

To achieve the goal, the following tasks were

consistently solved:

 study of the existing management mechanism

for the territory of priority socio-economic

development - Sakhalin Region;

 assessment of the adaptability of the mechanism

for managing the socio-economic development

of the Sakhalin Region to the long-term nature

of the negative impact of the COVID-19

pandemic;

 development and substantiation of measures for

the control impact of the adaptation mechanism

for managing the socio-economic development

of the Sakhalin Region in the context of the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring not

only the neutralization of negative consequences,

but also the involvement of new anchor points of

economic growth in the process.

2 STUDY METHODS

The projects implemented within the framework of

the law, designed to give impetus and ensure the

advanced socio-economic development of the

Sakhalin Region, affect three segments of the island

economy (agriculture and the agro-industrial

complex, industrial fishing and the tourist and

recreational sector), which, according to the authors,

in the current situation (in the conditions of COVID-

19) do not have the margin of safety (sustainability)

that will neutralize the negative consequences and

provide the region with a trajectory of outrunning

growth.

Scientists of the German school - A. Weber, U.

Izard, I. Thünen noted that the emergence of "growth

poles" is determined by the existence of a key

industry that develops most dynamically and is

capable of being a locomotive for the development of

the entire territory [5]. The authors share the position

of these researchers and believe that such a

locomotive that can give an impetus to self-

development for the territory of the Sakhalin Region

is an industrial complex, which provides more than

70 % of participation in the formation of GRP and

more than 90 % of the contribution to the total

amount of tax revenues to the budgets of all levels.

Wherein, it shall be noted that the COVID-19

pandemic, which is of a global nature, negatively

affected the development results of the industrial

complex of the Sakhalin Region in 2020 (Table 1).

In general, for the full range of industrial

enterprises of the Sakhalin Region in 2020, there is a

decrease in the rate of industrial production by

22.49 %. As positive shifts, it seems possible to

recognize the growth rates in manufacturing

industries. The region's foreign trade turnover also

significantly decreased (Table 2).

Table 2: Dynamics of the foreign trade turnover of the

Sakhalin Region for 2018-2020 (billions of US dollars )*.

Indicators 2020 2018

Rates of

growth, %

Foreign trade

turnove

12,224,3

15,963.1

76.58

including: export of

goods

11,323.7

15,272.7

74.14

including import of

goods

900.6

690.4

130.45

*developed by the authors on the basis of data from the

statistics authorities of the Sakhalin Region

Table 1: Dynamics of the volume of shipped goods by the full range of industrial producers of the Sakhalin Region in 2018 -

2020 (billion rubles)*.

Industries of industrial production 2020 2018

Rates of growth, %

1. Shipped goods of our own production 843.4 1,088.1 77.51

2. Includin

minin

752.4 1,006.0 74.89

3. Manufacturin

industries 68.6 60.8 112.83

4. Su

of electricit

as and steam, air conditionin

18.2 18.4 98.91

5. Water supply, sewerage, organization of waste collection and disposal,

activities to eliminate pollution

4.2

2.9

144.83

*developed by the authors on the basis of data from the statistics authorities of the Sakhalin Region

Adaptation Mechanism for Adapting the Territory of Advanced Social and Economic Development in the Conditions of the Covid- 19

Pandemic: Based on Materials from the Sakhalin Region

293

Table 3: Dynamics of the population permanently residing in the Sakhalin Region in 1994 - 2020 (people).

Indicato

1994 2010 2014 2019 2020

ulation

ermanentl

residin

in the re

ion 688,848 501,279 491,027 488,948 485,621

Despite the implementation of one of the projects

of advanced socio-economic development "Yuzhny",

the purpose of which is to reduce the region's

dependence on external food supplies, the import of

imported goods in 2020 increased relative to the

corresponding period of 2018 by 30.45 %.

However, the most convincing evidence of the

need to make adjustments and develop an adaptive

mechanism for managing the socio-economic

development of the Sakhalin Region is the negative

dynamics of the population living in the region (Table

3).

The mechanism for managing the development of

the Sakhalin Region is represented by a wide range of

tools, the main of which the authors highlight is

strategic planning. The main planning documents,

which secure the regional development of the region

for the period up to 2025, are:

 the strategy of socio-economic development of

the Sakhalin Region for the period up to 2025,

approved by the resolution of the Government

of the Sakhalin region on March 29, 2011.

No. 99 (as amended by the Decree of the

Government of the Sakhalin Region No. 10

dated January 15, 2014 and No. 192 dated

April 25, 2015);

 the investment strategy of the Sakhalin Region

for the period up to 2025, developed in

accordance with the requirements of the

standard for the activities of the executive

authorities of the constituent entity of the

Russian Federation to ensure a favorable

investment climate in the region, approved by

the decision of the supervisory board of the

Autonomous non-profit organization "Agency

for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New

Projects" dated May 03, 2012 [9].

Strategic planning of these documents was carried

out using the methodology of target program

planning. The methodology of this toolkit was

developed during the period of the planned economy

by domestic scientists and assumed the "directive"

development of the task and bringing it to the

performers. The authors of the study express their

doubts about the use of this toolkit for strategic

management of the socio-economic development of

the region, both as a whole in a market economy, and

in the context of a long period of negative impact of

the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors agree with the conclusions of experts

about the advantages of the program-targeted method

of management, the main of which they admit are the

indicative, systemic nature of programs, the

possibility of concentrating limited resources.

Wherein, the authors focus on such aspects as:

 the lack of regulatory legal acts that make it

possible to form an adequate organizational

structure for managing the subject and its

economic entities (there are 4 economic zones

in the territory of the Sakhalin Region) in the

context of the COVID-19 pandemic;

 the local nature of the measures taken and the

lack of interconnection with the imperatives of

a prompt and adequate response to the ongoing

negative changes caused by the pandemic;

 the imperfection of the methodological base,

allowing to find the main and additional anchor

points that can be the framework of the regional

system in overcoming the negative

consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guided by Article 8 of FZ-172 dated June 28,

2014 "On Strategic Planning in the Russian

Federation", the authors offer the following

methodological approaches to strategic planning as

the main toolkit for managing the socio-economic

development of the Sakhalin Region in the context of

the COVID-19 pandemic:

 assessment and constant monitoring of changes

in internal and external conditions, restrictions,

imbalances, in the development of the region

and its economic zones with development and

introduction of appropriate corrective measures;

 introduction into the practice of planning the

calculation and assessment of the effectiveness

of corrective action measures in the

relationship “deviation of the system from a

given trajectory – identification of the causes

and materiality of the impact – comparison of

resource potential and alternative solutions

(decision No. 1 ... n) – selection of the most

optimal solution – testing and approbation of

the solution – implementation of the solution –

continuous monitoring – the result of

implementation of the solution – control and

analysis – adjustment";

 ensuring the practice of auditing the

effectiveness of the strategy at the stage of

developing a solution (developing a strategy

and making adjustments).

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Academician A.I. Tatarkin developed the theory

of integrative strategizing of the development of

territories and highlighted such principles as

territorial determinism, verification of territorial

decisions, taking into account territorial individuality,

systemic and structural integrity, innovation priority

[10].

The authors not only share the conclusions of the

authoritative scientist of the Ural school of regional

studies, but also note its importance in making

decisions on the management of a region recognized

as a territory of advanced socio-economic

development while maintaining a given trajectory

during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The principle of territorial determinism provides

for identification of deterministic connections and

relationships between:

 the result of the negative impact of the COVID-

19 pandemic and the level of socio-economic

development of the region;

 the level of socio-economic development of the

region and the planned state of advanced socio-

economic development;

 the main reasons-factors of negative influence

and controllable variables that can neutralize

them;

 resource potential and controlled variables that

can neutralize the negative impact.

The principle of verifying territorial decisions, in

essence, provides for the search for several alternative

reference points for growth and advanced socio-

economic development of regional economic

systems.

According to the results obtained in the course of

many years of the study into the cause-and-effect

relationships of the state and socio-economic

development of the Sakhalin Region (since 1994), the

authors note that in their choice of pivot points for

growth, development specialists focused on

problematic aspects, without considering the

potential and strategic prospects for development of

Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands.

The oil and gas complex, which forms the basis of

the island industry and the regional economy as a

whole, according to the authors' conclusion, for a long

time period (in the medium and long term strategic

perspective) will remain the point of growth that can

build the framework of the economy of the

territorially localized space, give impetus for self-

development and ensure diffusion of innovative

processes to ensure not only neutralization of the

consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also

create a margin of safety for advanced development.

Wherein, it shall be noted that the established

practice of managing the oil and gas complex, in spite

of the transnational projects it implements (Sakhalin

1-9), continues to be focused on export supplies of

raw materials without deep processing. This is

confirmed by the reduction in export earnings in 2020

relative to the corresponding period in 2019, with an

increase in the volume of export supplies.

The most vulnerable point of the oil and gas

complex, requiring the adoption of appropriate

measures, is the low added value of the sold product

due to raw material supplies (the region receives

about 20 % of possible market prices in the context of

deep processing of hydrocarbons).

The main reason for the decades-old situation is

the underdevelopment of the region's infrastructure

and the main focus of efforts in the development of

an adaptation mechanism for managing the advanced

socio-economic development of the Sakhalin region

in the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, the

authors offer to direct it to its development (Fig. 1).

The main infrastructure base of the Sakhalin

Region was formed in the post-war period and was

completely focused on raw materials supplies of oil,

timber, coal and other natural resources. The realities

of today require developed infrastructural support

that can form a base for deep processing of raw

materials, a departure from the raw material

economy, and two factors such as the capacity of

natural resource potential and developed

infrastructure support are basic controllable variables

that can both neutralize the negative impact of the

COVID pandemic-19, and create a margin of safety

for the transition to a mode of advanced socio-

economic development.

The authors consider the principle of innovation

priority, substantiated by A.I. Tatarkin, it in the

context of the developed approaches to filling

industrial policy (Table 4).

The authoritative Russian scientist A.I. Tatarkin

noted that “it is impossible to develop a region and

develop development strategies without relying on

regional production capabilities” [11]. This

conclusion is relevant for the Sakhalin Region, which

has a number of distinctive features of management,

but the COVID-19 pandemic predetermines the

introduction of adjustments to the complex and

systemic process of managing the regional economy,

responding to negative changes of a global nature.

Adaptation Mechanism for Adapting the Territory of Advanced Social and Economic Development in the Conditions of the Covid- 19

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Figure 1: Multifunctional type of infrastructural support of the industrial complex of the territory of advanced socio-economic

development - Sakhalin Region.

Table 4: Block model of industrial policy of the Sakhalin region in the context of adaptation to the imperatives of ensuring

advanced socio-economic development in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Block model of

industrial policy and its

constituent elements

Theoretical and methodolo

ical block, includin

scientific and research elements

Program-target block adapted to the conditions of the region, the long-term nature of the

COVID-19 pandemic, imperatives of advanced socio-economic development

The resource block, represented by such elements as natural resource, personnel (human

ital

)

, innovation, and etc.

The block of regulatory and legal support, including acts of the regional level, allowing to

adapt the system of the regional economy both to the conditions, and the set development

goals.

Information support block, including digital technologies and tools

Anal

tical su

ort block, includin

data from inde

endent auditors and consultin

Control su

ort block

(

includin

erformance audit, monitorin

and examination

)

The block of forecasting and planning by branches of the industrial complex, built into the

general system of forecasting and strategic planning of the regional economy

Management mechanisms of the industrial complex as a whole and its separate constituent

element (the economic subject of the system), formed on the basis of flexibility, adaptability,

com

lexit

and

rom

t res

onse to chan

Methodolo

ical su

ort of mana

ement tools, includin

scientific

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3 STUDY RESULTS

As shown by the results of the study carried out by

the authors, the COVID-19 pandemic not only had a

negative impact on the socio-economic development

of regional economic systems, but also made it

possible to "highlight" the problems, the

neutralization and elimination of which need to

develop a mechanism for adapting integrated and

systemic management. This problem is most acutely

manifested in those systems of the regional economy,

the development of which is carried out in accordance

with federal legislation on advanced socio-economic

development. Assessment of the state and level of

development of such a region - the Sakhalin Region,

made it possible to identify the deterioration of the

main socio-economic indicators and, as a result, a

decrease in the population permanently residing in the

region. Wherein, Sakhalin Island and the Kuril

Islands are a strategic facility that ensures Russia's

national security in the Far East. In order to neutralize

the problematic aspects of the regional development

of the Sakhalin Region, the authors have developed

and substantiated measures to adapt the mechanism

for managing the socio-economic development of the

region in the direction of a given vector ahead of

schedule. The offered measures affect such

management tools as strategic planning and industrial

policy aimed at developing infrastructural support,

improving the planning methodological apparatus,

and enhancing innovation processes. However, first

of all, the authors offer variability – as a prerequisite

for optimizing management decisions. The authors

also draw the attention of the authors to the need for

a multipolar approach to the identification of "growth

points", considering the oil and gas complex as the

most justified alternative activator of advanced

development.

4 DISCUSSION OF STUDY

RESULTS

Both domestic and foreign scientists, whose opinions

and views on certain positions could not coincide,

paid attention to the issues of formation of "growth

poles".

J. Friedman, when substantiating the stages of

formation of "growth poles", focuses on the

concentration of resources in local cores [8]. The

authors also believe that giving impetus to ensure the

advanced development of territorially localized

space, it is necessary to focus on those local nuclei

that are capable of providing a given trajectory of

reproductive processes. This circumstance requires

reflection in the context of substantiating the adaptive

mechanisms for managing meso-level systems that

are under the negative impact of the COVID-19

pandemic.

L.A. Abalkin, A.V. Buzgalin doing study in the

field of the theory of economic development, given a

special place to regional industrial policy [1, 4]. It is

difficult to disagree with this approach, since

industrial policy is one of the elements of the general

mechanism for managing the regional economy. In

the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, appropriate

adjustments are required in the content of individual

elements of industrial policy, which, according to the

authors, will allow adapting to the ongoing negative

changes.

L. Filobokova in her study draws attention to the

need to use cluster forms of organizing the regional

economy, allowing the use of pivot points of growth

[13].

Modern scholars researchers also continue their

study in the theory of "growth poles", in which the

authors note E.I. Antonova, O.E. Gerasimova, A.E.

Kogut [2].

Researches in the field of trajectories of

sustainable development of regional socio-economic

systems are being carried out by K. Ketov and D.

Vavilova, giving a special place to labor resources

and production capital [6]. The authors share the

position of these researchers and note that in

substantiating the reference points for the framework

of the regional economy in its advanced socio-

economic development, such a factor as production

potential is of particular value.

S. Barmatova pays attention to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic on the sustainability of the

modern world order in her studies, considering the

pandemic as an indicator [3]. The authors consider the

pandemic not as an indicator, but as an external factor

that has a negative impact on the state of regional

economic systems and the effectiveness of their

management. Assessment of the influence of this

factor and the introduction of appropriate adjustments

to neutralize them, according to the authors, shall

become part of the management process, built on the

basis of constant adaptation to the ongoing changes.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic is the global negative

factor that has affected the entire world economic

system, including its constituent element of the meso-

Adaptation Mechanism for Adapting the Territory of Advanced Social and Economic Development in the Conditions of the Covid- 19

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level, which includes the regional economy. The

socio-economic development of all regions of Russia

is subordinated to a single goal - improving the

quality of life of the population and saving it, which

corresponds to the strategy of sustainable (balanced)

development. Wherein, in the composition of the

constituent entities of the Russian Federation there

are those whose development is focused on the vector

of advanced socio-economic development. Such a

region is the Sakhalin Region, which is completely

located on the islands (Sakhalin and the Kuril

Islands). The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative

impact on both the economic and social processes

taking place in the region, as evidenced by the decline

in the population permanently residing in the region

and the fall in its GRP. According to experts, this

phenomenon will accompany social production for a

rather long period of time, which obliges to develop

mechanisms for adapting management in order to

neutralize negative consequences, create a margin of

safety for regional economic systems and ensure their

movement along a given trajectory.

Within the framework of this understanding of the

current situation, the authors conducted the study, the

results of which are presented in this article. The

stated goal of developing and justifying the

management adaptation mechanism and the tasks

requiring resolution to achieve the stated goal have

been fully implemented. Wherein, it is not entirely

correct to believe that this study is complete, since

this process is continuous, despite a certain increase

in scientific knowledge in the field of the subject and

object of study.

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