For solving the existing problems such as loss of sales and customer dissatisfaction, it is necessary to improve promptly the properties of manufactured products in accordance with the dynamically changing market demands. This requires the development of special methods and models for making managerial decisions in conditions of uncertainty and risk. Such decisions could become an algorithm for artificial intelligence of digital technologies, which determines the relevance of the study. The subject of the study is choosing the most significant decisions in conditions of uncertainty and risk. The goal is to find opportunities for making informed decisions for poorly structured, non-formalized processes when developing new product designs with characteristics that meet the rapidly changing needs of the business environment. The solution uses the method of prioritization with expert assessments, groupings, comparisons. The result of the research is the development of a priority setting model with the identification of existing shortcomings and the proposal of changes and additions that eliminate shortcomings in relation to the problem being solved. The author concluded: the developed model, when used in management decisions, allows us to determine the best functions of the product for their inclusion in the design of the innovative model; to make a rating of the significance of functional properties for the consumer and the manufacturer. The development of a methodology with the elimination of the shortcomings of previous studies is a scientific novelty. The obtained methodology contributes to maximizing the demand and competitiveness of the management model, operational innovative changes in the properties of the product corresponding to the rapidly changing demands of the competitive business environment and can be used in the formation of a knowledge base in neural networks of digital technologies. It solves the problem of responding to dynamic changes in consumer preferences, as well as introducing technological innovations in the production of goods, that entail changes in the company’s business processes focused on improving the quality of the final product, which determines the success of strategic business development. The companies’ management may apply the results of the research in the development of corporate governance strategies, researchers, university students, etc.

The following paper’s research subject is to determine the role of the board of directors of an organization in the framework of information and communication technologies governance (hereinafter — ICT governance) at a company’s digital transformation stage. The article aims to study and identify trends and features of ICT governance, taking Russian and foreign experience into account. Methods of generalization, synthesis, comparative analysis of up-to-date approaches are used in the paper to outline the role of the board of directors during a period of dynamic technological changes in the company and factors increasing its ICT governance effectiveness. The author summarizes and analyzes the ICT governance specifics, including the features of its application, the necessary organizational changes, as well as the main tasks of the board of directors in this domain, which determines the scientific novelty of the study. The effectiveness of ICT governance exercised by the board of directors is considered by the author as an assessment criterion of a company’s readiness for digital transformation and a necessary tool to ensure that members of the boards of directors perform their duties. It is concluded that it depends on many factors and requires considering various organization specifics and its development strategy on a case-by-case basis. The research results may be relevant for the Russian corporate practice and further studies in this area.

The subject of the paper is the improvement of methodological approaches to the formation of an objective assessment of the system of financial indicators that comprehensively reflect the achieved and projected level of development of economic entities. In these conditions, the issues of substantiating the perimeter and content of the information and analytical support system for the functions of operational and strategic business management are being updated. The purpose of the study is to develop methods of analysis and algorithms for calculating the most important characteristics of assessing the performance of economic entities for internal management and external stakeholders based on a complementary approach to the use of classical methods of forming a piece of information and analytical base by clarifying the values of the indicators used in financial and management reporting and supplementing the list of analytical indicators. To achieve the goal, the author has identified several tasks related to the critical analysis of the existing methodological apparatus for evaluating the performance of commercial organizations. Also, the author updated the content, and clarified the algorithms for calculating indicators to form reliable information and analytical base necessary for making managerial decisions by various subjects of business relations. The author analyzed the supplementing the system of analytical indicators for assessing and forecasting business performance in accordance with the doctrine of sustainable development; expansion of the model range of factor analysis to get a holistic view of the impact of external and internal drivers on the level of financial stability and profitability of business entities. To substantiate the scientific hypothesis, form methodological provisions within the scope of the research, generalize the empirical base and develop practical proposals, the research clarified and supplemented the algorithms for calculating several performance indicators traditionally used in analytical practice, as well as initial indicators of financial and management reporting, have been involved. The practical application of the proposed adjusted procedures for calculating indicators contributes to getting a reliable and aimed assessment of the quality of the management system of organizations in the real sector of the economy. Also, it promotes a reliable measurement of the influence of factors of the external and internal business environment on its effectiveness, the development of an optimal resource potential management policy in order to increase competitiveness, strengthen financial stability and increase investment attractiveness.

At the present stage of the development of the global business community, we pay more and more attention to the principles of environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibility. Financial intermediaries in their activities considered the influence of natural and climatic factors. Their risks sometimes turn out to be more tangible than, for example, the financial condition of customers. The subject of the study is the development of measures to implement ESG principles in banking products, and its purpose is to study implementing the above principles in Russia at the present stage of business models and setting tasks aimed at overcoming the difficulties of software in sustainable development. The research used the methods of comparative, statistical and factor analysis, identification of trends, graphical comparison, etc. The existing studies on this topic allowed us to determine the need to use ESG principles in banking business models and to identify the motives for their implementation. In the author’s conclusion, Russian banks are guides and an example of making business in line with the principles of environmental, social and governance. The speed, depth and sustainability of their application by other financial intermediaries will depend on economic incentives, government support, and the development of regulatory requirements. The transformation of the business community (according to the new rules of conduct) will bring the entire economy of the country to sustainable development. The author considers a promising topic for further study as the introduction by the mega-regulator of mandatory standards for the activities of financial intermediaries for assessing climate and environmental risks, as well as the development of a supplier audit directive on the criteria for implementing ESG principles. This determines the scientific and practical significance of the study.  

The paper depicts ways and means of solving one of the key problems that the Government of the Russian Federation has identified as a priority in 2020 and for subsequent years. This includes the reduction of unfinished construction projects (UCP), the financing of the construction of which was carried out at the expense of the federal budget, in particular, industrial facilities without attracting additional budget allocations. The purpose of the work is to create a management mechanism that allows in a short time to involve in the economic turnover of UCP, the construction of which was carried out at the expense of the federal budget. Within the framework of existing regulatory and legislative rules and restrictions, the mechanism comprises methods that allow organizing the transfer of property to another level of ownership, privatization, completion of construction at the expense of extra-budgetary sources, as well as write-off and disposal for UCP. The proposed ways and methods of management make it possible to involve the maximum number of UCP in the economic turnover in the shortest possible time. Federally owned objects that have not aroused interest in the regions and that lack investment attractiveness for private investors should be completed at the expense of the federal budget, or written-off and disposed of. The authors used the described methods in fulfilling the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the UCP and allowed to increase several times the number of involved projects compared to previous periods.

The research subject is the state of the restaurant business in the Republic of Belarus (RB) as an important part of the country’s hospitality industry. The purpose of the work is to form proposals in the prospects and current trends in the development of this industry, including considering the improvement of the restaurant business management system in the RB. The authors examined the specifics of its interaction with several industry complexes (detailed with tourism). Also, the paper identified the prospects and directions for its development, studied the features of management in this area, determined areas for improving the restaurant business management system in the country. The authors used statistical and comparative types of analysis, a systematic approach, and the use of a categorical apparatus in the food industry as a methodological basis of the study. The practical significance of the work spreads in the development of proposals that contribute to the effective development of this industry in the future and to overcome certain difficulties that currently exist in this market. As follows, the formation of professional management, the application of modern methods of work in this market beginning from implementing marketing concepts to the use of Internet marketing tools, as well as gastronomic tourism development and intensive interaction with the tourist infrastructure.  

The paper compares the state and solutions to the problems of forming and assessing the competencies of graduates of the educational system in the field of management in Russia in 19th century with the conditions of the digital society of modern post-reform country. The study emphasizes the similarities and differences in ways to this topic both on the part of the educational community and from the business sphere. Why do similar problems arise again? What are the reasons for the divergence of ideas about the competencies of managers in the education system and in business? What government programs, as well as methods and technologies of teaching and learning, have tried in the past and are trying now to minimize the discrepancy between the needs of business for competent managers and training programs? The paper confirms the hypothesis that the Russian education system, both in the past and in the present, does not fully meet the expectations and business assessments in training management specialists. And this, in turn, confirms the spiral cyclical nature of the evolution of managerial thought.