Opening remarks

Dear readers!

We are proud to bring to your attention a new issue of the Electronic Journal of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The issue includes articles that touch upon both theoretical and practical problems, such as the reconstruction of the theory of foreign trade by K. Marx, an analysis of the behavior of companies in the market of food products delivered via the Internet, causes of the crisis in the tourism industry in Russia, a study of the life cycle model of textile industry clusters of China, mechanisms for increasing the efficiency of the selection of leaders for the civil service, and the state and prospects of Russian society, economy, Russian civilization as a whole.

The article “Reconstruction of Marx's Theory of Foreign Trade: How Rich Countries Got Rich” presents an analysis of the theory of foreign trade by K. Marx. Volume I of "Capital" includes a thesis, according to which countries that export high-tech goods increase national wealth. Volume III considers the law of the average rate of profit at the national level, which is carried out by redistributing the value created in labor-intensive industries in favor of capital-intensive industries through prices: prices for labor-intensive goods fall, and prices for capital-intensive ones rise. The law of the average rate of profit operates at the international level. The wealth of non-industrial countries is redistributed in favor of industrial ones. Marx's theory reconstructed in this article explains how rich countries became rich and why poor countries remain poor.

The author of the article "Strategies of the Russian Companies in the E-Grocery Market" examines factors of the external and internal environment that influenced the change in the shares of companies on the Russian e-grocery market and provided strategic competitive advantages to the leaders. Over the three years (2019-2021) of e-grocery development in Russia, different players were in the lead in each of the periods. Platypus, X5 Retail Group and Sbermarket occupied from 13% to 19.5% of the total market volume. Based on the data obtained from the analysis of the market using the SV matrix, the Russian e-grocery market has moved on from the stage of creation and competition between small players to the stage of maturity and the struggle between consolidated alpha companies. Rising barriers for entry for new players in a mature market mean that new companies need sufficient capacity at the start to secure their positions.

The article “Tourism Industry of Russia During the Crisis of 2022” analyzes the causes of the deep crisis of tourism in Russia and shows ways out of the difficult situation the industry is in. Much attention is paid to the need for the development of domestic tourism and support for outbound and inbound tourism. The importance of the measures taken by the Government of the Russian Federation for the development of domestic tourism, including cashback, the law on zeroing the VAT rate for hotels and others, was confirmed.

In the article "Life Cycle Analysis of Textile Clusters: The Example of Chinese Textile Enterprises in Zhejiang Province" the author considers the main schools of the life cycle theory of industrial clusters and chooses the theory of five stages of the life cycle of industrial clusters, proposed by T. Andersson, as a theoretical basis. The object of the study was the textile industry cluster in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, where the largest number of textile enterprises in China is concentrated. Using the location coefficient identification method based on the public databases of the China Bureau of Statistics and Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Statistics from 2002 to 2022 to identify textile industry clusters in Zhejiang Province, the author found that the results calculated by the location coefficient identification method are consistent with the five-stage development model of T. Andersson's cluster. From 2017 to 2020, the development of industrial clusters entered the transformation stage and the pace of development slowed down. In the face of the risk of recession, through external measures such as supporting the government's industrial policy and domestic measures such as technological and market innovation, the Zhejiang Textile Industry Cluster has successfully carried out the transformation and entered into a new life cycle.

The author of the article “Personnel Competency Competitions in Russia: Increasing the Efficiency of Manager Selection for the Civil Service” used the example of the “Leaders of Russia” competition to identify the strengths of open mass personnel competitions (OMCC) in terms of the impact on the career prospects of their participants, increasing the effectiveness of personnel policy, as well as dissemination in society of ideas about the importance of meritocratic principles in the selection of personnel for leadership positions. The article highlights advantages of OMCC, such as the efficiency of candidate selection and competitive procedures. Problems are also shown, some of which have accessible solutions, while others can be corrected only to a small extent without deviating from the declared goals and principles of the competition. The author finds that a departure from the fundamental principles of the OMCC is not beneficial. It is concluded that the introduction of a system for assessing the competencies of candidates, in which the qualities of applicants for leadership positions will be identified through a competitive selection system, will improve the quality of public administration as a whole.

“Emergency and Sovereignty of Russia” provides an overview of the panel discussion held on December 9, 2022 in a mixed format at the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University in the framework of the international scientific conference " Sovereign Russia in Revolting Reality: Economics, Technologics, Culture". The conference was organized by the Research Laboratory of Philosophy of Economics together with the scientific council of the Center of Social Sciences of Moscow State Universi-ty. The speeches of the participants are included, with various positions considering the state and prospects of Russian society, economy, and Russian civilization as a whole.

This journal issue also includes an anniversary overview of the main achievements of the Department of Philosophy and Methodology of Economics (2013-2023) with an outline for its further development.

We are looking forward to your feedback on the articles published in this issue and welcome possible future cooperation and contributions.

Editor-in-Chief
The President of the Faculty of Economics
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Professor Vasiliy P. Kolesov

Deputy Chief Editor
Head of the Department of
Philosophy and Methodology of Economics of the
Faculty of Economics of
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Professor Leonid A. Tutov

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