Strategic Assessment of Competitive Advantages of Russian Regions for the Creation of Open Diffuse Agglomerations

The article proposes a methodical approach to assess competitive advantages, determine the degree of readiness of regions to create a new type of agglomerations — open diffuse agglomerations. The need to develop open diffuse agglomerations is due to the requirements of strategy theory, strategizing methodology to use new asymmetric approaches to obtain breakthrough results.The aim — to develop and test a methodological approach to a comprehensive assessment of the competitive advantages of Russian regions for the creation of open diffuse agglomerations.Methods. The study is based on the general theory of strategy, the methodology of strategizing by academician V. L. Kvint, and the theory of competitive advantages by M. Porter. The methods of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, rating assessments (with additive and multiplicative convolution of individual indicators), and cluster analysis were used.Results. Competitive advantages of the region for the creation and development of open diffuse agglomerations should be assessed by indicators of demographic and economic density, urbanization, spatial concentration of population and economic activity, density and quality of roads. According to the results of rating assessments, cluster analysis, the Kemerovo Region — Kuzbass is among the leading regions of Russia in terms of readiness to create open diffuse agglomerations. The most pronounced competitive advantages are a high level of urbanization, a low degree of spatial concentration of population and economic activity, good quality of roads.Conclusions. Kemerovo Region — Kuzbass has clear competitive advantages for the formation of open diffuse agglomerations, which allows for the successful implementation of the corresponding strategic priority for the development of the region.