Territories’ predisposition assessment to “smart” companies’ location

Currently, one of the urgent issues for the Russian economy is to create conditions for the expansion of “smart” companies in the regions on which depend on the society transition to a new type of technological structure, innovative development and the country’s competitiveness. The hypothesis of the study is that some regions are more predisposed to the appearance of “smart” companies on their territories, while others do not have the appropriate conditions for developing innovative and digital technologies. To prove this hypothesis, the article reveals the concept of a regional 3D model of a “smart” company and offers a methodology for assessing regions’ predisposition to the emergence of such organizations. A special feature of the author’s methodology is an integrated indicator which is the result of the synthesis of graphical and analytical evaluation methods. The methodology allows identifying territories with favorable conditions for expansion of organizational ambidextrity, innovative development and companies’ digitalization. It was tested in Russia’s regions in 2010-2017. As a result, the paper has identified the typology of regions according to five criteria reflecting the predisposition to the emergence of “smart” companies, and has built their rating. The approbation of the author’s methodological developments allowed establishing that industrially developed regions can be considered digitalization poles. The work shows that the Ural Federal District acts as a stable basis for the emergence and successful functioning of “smart” companies, as all its entities, except the Kurgan Oblast, fall into the top twenty territories favorable for their development. This pattern is not typical for other federal districts. In conclusion, the authors have determined principal development trajectories of the main elements of the 3D model of a “smart” company at the meso-economic research level in the following areas: “smart” personnel, “smart” environment, “smart” innovations and solutions.