Opening address of editor-in-chief.

On September 28 in Russia there is a professional holiday — Day of the nuclear industry worker. The domestic nuclear industry since its foundation in 1945 was one of the most important for the country — for defense, for power engineering and for other branches of the economy as well. Of course, behind the industry achievements there is the heroic work of hundreds of thousands of nuclear scientists, of the whole country. But there are some iconic figures, starting with Kurchatov and his colleagues, who guided the solution of grand objectives and added many glorious pages in the Russian and world history. Their personal biographies are largely interlaced with chronology of the nuclear industry development. Among these people there are also “atomic” ministers of different years. Today we are talking to Lev Dmitrievich Ryabev, the Soviet and Russian state and economic figure, Minister of Medium Machine Building of the USSR, deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, winner of the USSR and the RF State Prizes, active participant in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and construction at the earliest possible time of the Shelter Object, awarded the highest awards of the country. We will talk about the history of the nuclear industry, its achievements, problems and prospects, as well as about the qualities that allow to solve successfully the key tasks set by the country’s leadership.

Today, the narratives of V.P. Chichkanov are dedicated to the success stories of strong-willed persons, amazing people — His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, Nobel Prize winner in physics Zh.I. Alferov, director of the Federal Bailiff Service of the Russian Federation D.V. Aristov and the General Director of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company A.A. Kozitsyn.

The article, for the first time in the domestic economic literature, presents results of the institutional-economic analysis of the unique phenomenon of the new technological order economy — digital platforms (DPs). Digital platform is positioned by the authors as a mediatory transaction institute (organizational attractor), functioning in a hybrid reality. Given the innovative nature of unique features inherent in the digital platforms and the lack of academic research on this topic, it can be stated that DPs are of particular interest for economic science and business practices.

The article examines the impact of digital on human resources management, and its strategic component on the basis of the positions of leading experts in recent years. The content characteristics of a new generation of employees are given that determine the context of such topical areas of HR activities as motivation, recruiting, leadership. Conclusions are made about a meaningful change in the HR management activities, author also reveals some problems and prospects for using Big Data in HR.

In August 1982, the newspaper Pravda published an article by A.I. Prigozhin and S.V. Hainish “Consultant is required” — the first publication on management consulting, just emerging in the USSR. At the same time in Moscow, a course of lectures was given in this area, hundreds of listeners who already knew firsthand such terms as problem diagnostics, innovation policy, a consultant shared their experience with interest and enthusiasm. What evolution has done management and investment consulting for nearly 40 years, how to build a successful business in today’s Russian environment and what should be changed in the mind and business culture, what mechanisms must be used to ensure the continuous development of the company — these and many other issues of management consulting were discussed by Alexander Ageev and Stanislav Hainish, Director of the Center for Management and Investment Consulting (IMI Consulting) of the International Research Institute for Management Problems, head of managerial courses on organizations active development, leading field management consultant in Russia, the author of more than 100 monographs, scientific articles and a holder of three certificates for inventions.

The article presents the analysis of primary sources on the concepts of business models and business modeling. The mainstream types of approaches to the process of business modeling and their fundamental differences from each other are identified and described. Furthermore, the article describes a situation in which business modeling is used in business practice, such as attracting financial capital and the creation of new activities. In particular, the relationship between necessity for the business modeling with the stages of the emergence and development of the product market is discussed.

The article analyzes “soft power” as an instrument for implementing foreign policy strategy in modern conditions; a comparative analysis of the impact of the “soft power” components on the electorate is made; the author analyzes opposite directions of the goal-setting vectors of “soft power” in conditions of total globalization and transition to multipolarity; it is stated that polycentrism determines the self-identification of societies and realization of national interests, the existence and development of historical, linguistic, traditional cultural and ethnic characteristics of nations and peoples, as well as the role of the state as an institution, maintaining social justice, which gives a definite specificity to the mechanism of implementing the “soft power” policy; the article also reflects the increasing role of information space in the context of globalization.

The article presents various types and structures of social formations. Сivilizational and formational approaches are considered, their comparative analysis is given. The author presents classification structure of civilizations and the place of human values with elements of civilization. He also deals with issues of interrelations, mutual influence and interaction of civilizations with regard to present-day problems of society and communities. The levels and forms of civilizations interaction are compared taking into account the processes of globalization, glocalization and humanization. The function of compatibility and interaction of factors of civilizations general development is formulated.

The article analyzes the philosophy of space and time attempting to show the difference in approaches to the problem of time among Western and Russian philosophers. Western philosophy sought to understand time through psychologism. The extreme expression of the Western psychological are manifest in the concepts developed by St. Augustine and Kant. Augustine believed that time exists only in the human soul, while Kant believed that time and space are forms of perception of reality that cannot fully be grasped. Russian philosophy, in contrast, has aspired to ontologism. In the 20th century the Eurasians conceived of an original concept of a transformed ontology, thus creating their own version of a philosophy of space and time. This outlook had direct links to the discovery of quantum physics. Pyotor Savitsky believed that time absorbs and releases energy and that energy triggers the process of history. Based on this concept of energy, Lev Gumilev developed a historical concept and theory of ethnogenesis, the formation of national identity.