Author:

Ekaterina K. Medentsova, Saint Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Svetlana V. Zdolnikova, Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Abstract:

The need to forward the transformation of Russian industry towards circular economy underlies the emergence of new forms of inter-industrial interaction of actors based on the use of the industrial symbiosis potential. The paper aims to construct a theoretical-methodological approach to evaluating the sustainable development of a regional collaborative complex based on industrial symbiosis under the new normal. The concept of circular economy, the theory of dissipative structures formulated and advanced by Ilya Prigogine, Isabella Stengers, and Hermann Haken along with the evolutionary approach constitute the methodological basis of the study. Structural-logical and comparative analysis, classification methods are applied. The paper systematises existing forms of interorganisational relations (coordination, integration, cooperation, collaboration) in complex production systems and specifies the role and the place of regional collaborative complexes among them as an evolutionary more advanced form of organisation of inter-industrial interactions. The authors describe specific properties of the complex production systems such as synergy and mutualism that are inherent in regional collaborative complexes based on industrial symbiosis, as well as determine the possibilities for evaluating the corresponding synergistic and mutualistic effects. The main finding of the research is an original theoretical-methodological approach that encompasses an algorithm for evaluating the sustainable ESG development of a regional collaborative complex supposing an integrative assessment of the system using ESG indicators and allowing for the synergistic effect of industrial symbiosis and mutualistic interactions in regional collaborative complexes. The results contribute to addressing the problems of sustainable development of interorganisational interaction forms and can be helpful while formulating the sustainable development strategies at meso level.

Keywords: sustainable development; industrial symbiosis; regional collaborative complex; interorganisational relations; mutualism; synergistic effect.

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For citation: Medentsova E. K., Zdolnikova S. V. (2025). Assessing the sustainable development of a regional collaborative complex under the new normal. Journal of New Economy, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 25–46. DOI: 10.29141/2658-5081-2025-26-4-2. EDN: IEUIGE.