PRINCIPLES OF REGIONAL SYSTEM’S STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The research is directed towards establishing the principles of strategic management, the evolution (progressive or regressive), of the regional system; set in the contemporary sustainable development concept. The assumptions made are based on research of the causal interrelations between the regional system elements, through the cybernetic approach and system analysis of natural and social environment. The presented “conditional research mode” for strategic management of evolution of the regional system shall be adopted as a “key” and “path” to implementing the sustainable development concept (through the “regional cycle”). For this purpose compiled are the following conditional frameworks of the research: current status of the “natural” environment is presented as “conditional factor” for recovery of its natural balance and the “social” environment is in its capacity of “resource factor” expressing the managerial function of personality. The author’s thesis has its respective theoretical and practical scientific argumentation based on the contemporary strategic management principles of evolution of complex systems. They are expressed through inclusion of instrumental methods of spatial analysis: forecasting, planning and feedback. Besides, they comply with the functions of regional system (multivalence, dynamism, inertia and sustainability) which set the demarcation lines between the regional system’s microstructure elements (producer, consumer, reducer). The applied method for analysis of the natural and social environment shall function through change of the impact of the anthropogenic or technogenic circle of substances over the biological and geological one. This is a process based on the introduction of the term “regional cycle” containing in itself the specific microstructure of the regional system being social environment (producers) and its derivatives (consumers and reducers); and respectively the ecological condition (being the natural environment). Applying the “sustainable development” concept through “strategic management of regional system’s evolution” is presented through research of the functions of regional system’s cyclic structure. It characterizes with four research cases (subsequently) describing a regional cycle and forming preconditions for the strategic management of its evolution. The cases have a very precise direction of impact “from top to bottom” defining the sequence in the processes of strategic management of regional system’s evolution. The conditional alignment of cases in a “regional cycle” is also a constant. It is condition for the actual application of the proposed research model. The results from the research of the causal interrelations between regional system’s elements are presented in details. Without a doubt there is large dose of relativity when establishing the demarcation lines between the elements of the microstructure in the regional system (i.e. there is a risk of voluntarism or passiveness). But the case may be reviewed as also an argument (supporting the research thesis), expressing the impact of the “dynamism” function. The forecasting process (at its own terms) expresses the function of “inertia”. Respectively the one of planning is equalized by the “multivalence” function. Feedback on the other hand is the main mean for monitoring of the “sustainability”.