Strategic Planning and Strategic Errors: Russian Realities and Trends

Abstract

The article considers some aspects of the current state of strategic planning in the Russian Federation with emphasis on regional strategic planning. The Russian practice of national and regional strategic planning and implementation of critical strategic decisions is illustrated by model “success stories” and cases of missed opportunities and implementation failures. The basis is a case study of the strategies and development programs of the country’s eastern territories, the Program for Reindustrialization of the Novosibirsk Oblast Economy for the Period up to 2025, the Program for Reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the strategic initiative Siberian Science City. It is concluded that successful examples of regional strategies show that their positive results have been essentially achieved by activating a mechanism for interaction and cooperation of the main stakeholders (federal and regional authorities, business structures, institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and civil society institutions). At the same time, failure of a number of national strategic initiatives was largely predetermined by neglect of such a partnership, which resulted in the wrong choice of strategic guidelines and implementation mechanisms. Several new trends in the strategic planning system are analyzed.