What is agglomeration in terms of economy

Financial outlines and technological solutionsof the modern information world are changing so quickly that it is impossible to follow the variable economic meaning of the usual words, meanings and concepts. Say, what is agglomeration? It would seem that it is much simpler: a region of the country or a large industrial center, around which industrial and technological chains are formed, local labor and financial capital markets, scientific and training centers.

However ... this picture is typical for the 30-70'syears, when the actual issue was the formation of industrial agglomerations. But the fact of the matter is that the market has already ceased to be exclusively industrial. Factories and factories are given entirely to devalue financial instruments - loans, deposits, derivatives. And in place of traditional technologies comes information and control over information flows. Now it is more than difficult to answer the question about what an agglomeration is. Especially if we take into account the administrative domestic experience of designing artificial agglomerations.

Russian motivation was different fromWestern European: instead of economic efficiency, the convenience of bureaucratic management came first. Cities and villages, respectively, "attached" to the basic industrial center, which determined any prospects for the development of subordinate "satellites." Under these conditions, the terms of the economy did not work. The main thing was to build a model of centripetal management of all the resources provided. Of course, not to mention the control, which is simply "off scale".

Dictionary of Economics, published by the publishing house"Infra" in 1999, gives the following definition: agglomeration is "a compact arrangement, a grouping of settlements, united not only in a spatial sense, but possessing developed production, cultural, recreational connections." In other words, a little changed, but the Soviet understanding of this term still remains.

In order to understand what isagglomeration, you need to understand how modern production is organized. So, the first is no vertical, hierarchical connections. Relations are exclusively equal, horizontal, on the basis of mutual interest. If there is no such interest, then the production linkage does not work. The second - the production cycle consists of three components: the development of ideas (innovative solution) - financial tools - a technological solution. Thus, the answer to the question of what agglomeration is is lying in the plane of the organization of labor (not of production in the "classical" sense) so that in one space and in the shortest possible time, under the condition of optimal capital investments, create a successful new product on the market . And best of all - a new brand.

In Russian conditions, speaking about what isagglomeration, you need to clarify that at best, it should be about inter-municipal cooperation. This is due not only to the fact that in municipal and state ownership there are still critically many enterprises. The point is lack of financial and management tools for the formation of such associations as agglomeration. Yes, and technological and scientific basis by and large, too, no. One enterprise, even the largest one, is not a reason to unite ... A conceptual project is needed, like the project of the Ruhr area or Silicon Valley, then the result will be. And in an orderly manner, as we love it, nothing will turn out ....