The paper considers some issues connected with developing the innovation theory in Russia and abroad drawing on Russian scientific literature and textbooks. It is revealed that while understanding the need for an innovative way for the development of national economy, Russia lacks a harmonious and conventional innovation theory. The paper presents a critique of theoretical positions of a number of Russian authors concerning classification and essence of innovation, the corresponding terminological paradigm alongside the main mechanisms of innovations diffusion. We provide a comparison and corresponding generalization of our approach to diffusion mechanisms with those of foreign scientists. We note that the insufficient preparedness of many researchers in contextual understanding of both foreign terms and some notions of political economy poses significant obstacles to the development of innovation theory in Russia. We finally offer some recommendations to improve the innovation theory in Russia.

Well-being of countries depend on several factors. According to new institutional economics one of the main factors of national well-being is the level of institutional development. Drawing on econometric analysis, we prove this hypothesis and show that such indicators as constitutional culture, behavioral prerequisites and perception of institutions are indispensable for the well-being of a country. The paper presents various approaches to "measuring" these indicators and issues related to this.

N this paper we present the results of the analysis of firm behavior in two-sided market with product differentiation. Based on the developed model, we study the conditions when it is profitably for a firm to launch two versions of a product: full and test platform models. In our analysis we draw on the methods of microeconomics, industrial economics, game theory and contract theory. The main conclusions confirm the benefit from versioning strategy in a firm in case of strong indirect network effects in the market between the two groups of agents. Product versioning allows the firm to separate agents more effectively: the first group with high product and connection value and the second group that generates high network effects. We noted that product differentiation is preferable for agents from the second group.

The article discusses the role of sharing economy in hospitality and tourism sector. The paper argues that sharing economy business models are perceived as sustaining innovations at the time of their emergence. To date they demonstrate the features of disruptive innovations, exerting a growing and ambiguous influence on all key elements of tourism industry structure. The example of Greece discussed in the article shows the opportunities and threats for new business models in hospitality and tourism, as well as the need for existing market players to adapt to new conditions and to improve legal framework and mechanisms for their implementation. All these will help to mitigate possible negative effects of sharing economy development and to create conditions for realizing the benefits of sharing economy for business, government and society.

This article presents the analysis of implementation and interpretation of antitrust legislation in Russian courts, in the field of anti-competitive agreements cases. This article proceeds from the previous research which provided the analysis of the court decision database of litigations with the Russian competition authority (the FAS) initiated in 2008-2010. In this research (which covers court cases of 2011-2015) we provide the database of 646 court decisions and examine the tendencies of applying antitrust prohibitions and legislation in courts. We show how the database structure varies from the point of view of main markets and types of agreements, taking into account the standards of proof. The analysis reveals that the Rule of reason (ROR) approach was not actually applied in courts, despite legislative possibilities. Type 1 errors risks tends to decrease, especially in public procurement cases, cases of banks and insurance companies cooperation. Requirements in the field of market analysis in decisionmaking are also increasing.

This article presents the basic aspects of noncommercial concession theory and determines the possible results of its use. Noncommercial concession is an analog of franchising, which transfers advantages of its use onto the level of subfederal and local authorities interaction. Legal framework of noncommercial concession is based on the regional laws and regulations, signed between regional and municipal governments. Intermunicipal social and economic development alignment is a result of noncommercial concession introduction that reduces social tension in both donor municipalities and recipients. The main instruments of intermunicipal alignment are: unification of regional and municipal control and planning systems, creation and implementation of uniform strategic and branch planning documentation system, a possibility for regional government to exert a directive influence on local governments within the signed contracts, accelerated development on the territory of the Russian Federation using noncommercial concession, those branches which have been recognized as priority ones resulting from a comprehensive analysis of the current situation.

The paper offers a comprehensive approach to analyzing the processes of environmentally sustainable development (ESD) and green economy (GE) through the prism of interaction between business, the state and the society. The authors grouped twelve factors of ESD and GE in Russia into four categories: those that relate more to the society (formation of an eco-friendly lifestyle, development of eco-activism, popularization of eco-volunteerism), the state ( need for modernization of economy, participation in international cooperation in the field of sustainable development, implementation of state projects of international importance, achievement of environmental sustainability in urban development) and business (development of environmental regulation of business, emergence of green business opportunities, proliferation of sustainable norms and standards of doing business), as well as background factors ( use of new technologies that promote ESD and GE, and actualization of environmental problems). The approach presented allows us to systemically evaluate the processes of ESD and GE and can be applied both for theoretical studies and for achieving practical results.

In the complex and unpredictable environment of the XXI century, in advanced and emerging economies it is becoming increasingly important for investors to adopt new techniques that allows for the most accurate assessment of net present value (NPV) of an investment project through a risk premium or risk adjustment. The existing methods of risk assessment do not always meet the modern requirements of investors due to various limitations and shortcomings. Therefore, the article provides a new technique that allows to assess the NPV taking into account not only the negative but also the positive impact of environmental factors. Drawing on this technique, the authors propose to evaluate the influence of environmental factors using the triad of STEP-, SNW- and SWOT-analysis based on heuristic and expert technologies. It is proposed to check the agreement of the results of evaluation through the Chi-square criterion. The methodology further uses these estimates to calculate the risk premium and adjust the risk to determine the NPV.

The academic research in the area of service marketing generally assumes friendly or neutral context of the encounters between employees and customers while providing or consuming the product. Recently, however, scholars are witnessing a new notion, namely ‘Dark Side of Marketing’ (DSM) which entails an increasing stream of pertinent publications in the literature. DSM is a complex yet multifaceted notion and refers to adverse effects of marketing paradigm implementation for humans, businesses and environment. Deviant behavior is a notable phenomenon pertinent to the nature of DSM, as it is mostly examined in relevant studies in comparison with other DSM manifestations. Deviant behavior is also emphasized in DSM studies because of its definitely negative impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, WOM and, ultimately, on business performance metrics. To date, there is no DSM studies completed in the context of the Russian service industry as literature witnesses although this research question bears an apparent relevance for local business. This paper is destined to bridge this gap by defining the deviant behavior antecedents and gauging their consequences for marketing actors at the servicescape. The research results are based on empirical study of data collected from n=133 sample and on the analysis with utilization of Structural Equitation Modeling (SEM) method.