Economic development as the factor of the territorial identity of the region (on the example of the Republic of Mordovia)

Introduction. The activity assessment of modern regions as economic territorial subjects of the Russian Federation is mainly connected with their image, which is the instrument of strategic development and influencing the degree of business activity, the assessment of investment potential, stimulating the interest of investors in implementation of economic projects and development of resource opportunities of a region. The positive image of certain territories creates a positive image of the country in general, forms its business reputation and raises the authoritativeness degree at the international level. Therefore, both the federal and regional authorities pay much attention to issues of the image conceptualization of regions and its advance to increase their territorial competitiveness. However, the index of economic development forming the image of the successful region is not always indicative of a population’s high standard of living, satisfaction with the policy of the authorities that leads to dissonance and discontent of internal audience. Researches in the field help to define strengths and weaknesses of image strategy and to determine the potential for increasing in efficiency of the economic sphere and for improvement of population’s quality of life as a result. Materials and methods. System, complex and analytical approaches acted as the theoretical and methodological strategy of the research combined with applied methods such as elements of the multiple-factor analysis, case study and the results of expert poll “The Republic of Mordovia: problems and prospects of image formation of the region”. Results. During the key industries production analysis of the Republic of Mordovia, key indicators of economic growth and their ratio with other regions of Russia and the country in general were reflected. It is established that three main directions are the basis of the economy of Mordovia: the lighting industry, agricultural industry and production based on innovative development. The percent ratio rates of economic growth in comparison with previous years are considered in details and the importance of the enterprises of the republic in the sphere of the all-Russian innovative development is shown. Discussion and conclusion. The Republic of Mordovia continues to develop manufacturing installations, which provides annual positive dynamics. It is promoted both by support of the federal government, and encouragement from the local management. Not only the interregional trade, but also the cooperation with foreign countries develops in the sphere, which brings a certain income. Except the analysis of production, also economic problems of Mordovia are expressed, such as - the national debt to the federal center and low indicators on the salary of workers not only among Volga federal district, but also across all Russia are reflected. A difference between the economic indicators forming image for external (investors, the federal authorities) and internal audience (first of all the population of the republic, labor migrants), results in discrepancy and discontent of the public.