Clusters as an effective tool of the organizational and economic mechanism of ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas

Abstract

Goal. To carry out a scientific and metho­dological justification of the feasibility of forming clusters as an effective tool of the organizational and economic mechanism of ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas. Methods. General scientific approaches, such as dialectical, systemic, and synergetic, as well as special methods are applied: abstract-logical method (induction and deduction techniques, analogies and comparisons), the method of theoretical generalization, structuring, analysis and synthesis, monographic, various techniques of the economic-statistical method. Results. The theoretical foundations and scientific approaches to the formation of clusters and the process of clustering in rural areas were studied; the positive experience of the practical creation and functioning of clusters in the Volyn region was described and analyzed; the main principles and tasks of cluster organization were singled out and systematized; proposals were developed regarding the prospects of clustering in rural areas to effectively implement their existing sociodemographic and production-economic potential. Conclusions. The experience of the functioning of cluster associations in the rural areas of the Volyn region, which is ensured by the efforts of entrepreneurial, communal, credit-financial, and scientific structures, state authorities, and local self-government, shows that the development of clusters can contribute to increasing the overall level of competitiveness of the rural area, improving its investment potential and economic growth, improving the quality of life of the rural population. The strategic guidelines for the sustainable development of rural areas, which take into account the established vector of state development and are based on the effective functioning of self-governing, competitive, and financially sustainable rural communities, and the creation of cluster associations based on them, are substantiated. The obtained results, formulated conclusions and proposals will contribute to the solution of theoretical and practical problems of the formation of the agricultural production cycle based on the “chain of added value”, the development of competition, the creation of new jobs, the increase of investments, the solution of ecological and food problems as the basis of the sustai­nable development of rural areas in Ukraine.