The influence of the modern informational revolution on the development of value and rational megatrends in the post-socialistic economy

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The results of investigation are described as to the influence of the informational revolution on the formation of post-industrial megatrends in the post-socialistic economy and conclusions are drawn about the transformation of the industrial economy in post-socialistic countries into the science-intensive post-industrial economy. Especial attention is paid to the justification of the following megatrends: "Spiritual and Creative Activity" (as a most important prerequisite and a consequence of the informational revolution), "Innovation and Information Development" (as the main direction of the economy) and "Socialization of Economic Relations" (as a way to the formation of value characteristics of the post-industrial development stage). The influence of the informational revolution on the formation of the megatrends in the post-socialistic economy is proved to depend on the chosen model of transformational changes, the involvement of the country's economy into the global one, the level of scientific and technological development of the economy during the pretransformational period and the rate of socialization of economic relations.

Keywords: informational revolution, megatrend, value and rational, knowledge economy.

industrial innovation economy information

Відображено результати дослідження впливу сучасної інформаційної революції на становлення мегатрендів постсоціалістичного господарства та зроблено висновки щодо перетворення індустріального господарства постсоціалістичних країн на наукоємне постіндустріальне. Особливу увагу звернуто на обґрунтування таких мегатрендів, як "Духовно-творча діяльність" (як найважливіша передумова і наслідок інформаційної революції), "Інноваційно-інформаційний розвиток" (як головний напрям господарювання) та "Соціалізація економічних відносин" (як шлях до становлення ціннісних характеристик постіндустріальної стадії розвитку). Підтверджено, що вплив інформаційної революції на становлення мегатрендів постсоціалістичного господарства залежить від обраної моделі трансформаційних перетворень, включення економіки країни в глобальне господарство, рівня науково-технічного розвитку в дотрансформаційний період, а також ступеня соціалізації економічних відносин.

Ключові слова: інформаційна революція, мегатренд, ціннісно-раціональний, економіка знань.

Отражены результаты исследования влияния современной информационной революции на становление мегатрендов постсоциалистического хозяйствования и сделаны выводы относительно преобразования индустриального хозяйства постсоциалистических стран в наукоемкое постиндустриальное. Особое внимание обращено на обоснование таких мегатрендов, как "Духовно-творческая деятельность" (как важнейшая предпосылка и следствие информационной революции), "Инновационно-информационное развитие" (как главное направление хозяйствования) и "Социализация экономических отношений" (как путь к становлению ценностных характеристик постиндустриальной стадии развития). Подтверждено, что влияние информационной революции на становление мегатрендов постсоциалистического хозяйствования зависит от выбранной модели трансформационных преобразований, включения экономики страны в глобальное хозяйство, уровня научно-технического развития в дотрансформационный период, а также степени социализации экономических отношений.

Ключевые слова: информационная революция, мегатренд, ценностнорациональный, экономика знаний.

The impact of the modern informational revolution on the formation of megatrends in the post-socialistic economy has been mainly studied in the context of methodological conclusions about the content and consequences, which were drawn during the second half of the twentieth century by Daniel Bell, Peter Drucker, Alvin Toffler and other western theorists. According to the logic of these findings, the researchers in the formation of postindustrial society in Ukraine such as V. Golikov, G. Zadorozhnyy, S. Mochernyy, A. Chukhno [1 - 4] and others note that the informational component gradually becomes a major determinant of the economic, social and cultural development of the post-socialistic Ukrainian economy. Apart from the works mentioned above and those by other authors, the following sources were used in the article: analytical reports of Razumkov Center "Innovative Development in Ukraine: Existing Potential and Key Problems of Its Realization" [5], materials of the analytical report "Prospects for Innovative Development of Ukraine" [6], as well as regulations [7] and concept papers [8] which define innovative development of the country until 2020.

One of our articles (devoted to the justification of the content of value and rational megatrends of economic development in post-socialistic countries) [9], concludes that most of the megatrends are influenced by the informational revolution or become its consequence. This is evidenced by the names of these megatrends which reflect the integration into the transformational processes and consequences of the informational revolution. The following categories, such as "knowledge economy", "informational economy", "informational society", "intellectual capital" and other categories which reflect various components of industrial development, have already been studied in the domestic scientific literature. At the same time the initial condition of economic studies, which summarize megatrends in the post-socialistic economy, has the effect of lack of researches devoted to the influence of the informational revolution on the formation of megatrends' value and rational components. According to the information given above this article seeks to fill this gap and draw conclusions on improving the efficiency of this process with respect to Ukraine.

Thus, the megatrend of the post-socialistic economy "Spiritual and Creative Activity" reflects the transformation of the worker executive into a creative managing person. It is obvious that the formation of such a personality contributes to the transformation of the educational system in socialistic times into its current value, which can be characterized by greater availability, better informational provision and democratization that has a positive effect on the formation of citizens' spiritual and creative potential. The extent of this process can be illustrated by the following data: 2.2 million students were studying in Ukrainian universities of all accreditation levels during 2012 - 2013 academic years [10]. The share of the employed educated population has increased up to 13 %, even though it has been two times lower in comparison with the post-industrial countries. For instance in the EU educated people account for only a quarter of all the employed population, in the USA their share is 36 % and in Japan it amounts to 38 % [5].

New possibilities in the formation of a spiritual and creative personality during this period have appeared due to the computer and network informational technologies, which have opened unlimited access to scientific, professional, spiritual, aesthetic and other types of information to a vast number of people. Owing to this, the conditions for the implementation of the "lifelong learning" idea have been created. The scale and dynamics of this process are reflected by the statistics: there were 13.6 million Internet users in Ukraine in 2011 and their numbers throughout this year has increased by 19.3 % [11]. However, these conditions have been mainly implemented by self-study, while the distance learning system is mainly developed with private initiative. Because of the limited volume of the article the rate of citizens' access to spiritual, intellectual, professional resources and informational networks cannot be highlighted in the research. Though, it should be noted that individual's spiritual and creative abilities are not only formed but are constantly maintained and developed supplementing and exceeding primary levels of intellectual training obtained at school or university.

The information outlined above shows that the formal level of spiritual and creative personal development allows the formation of other megatrends in the post-industrial economy, which are called "Innovation and Information Development" and "Knowledge Economy". Nevertheless, according to the Razumkov Center studies, innovational development is determined not only by the availability of an educated workforce but especially by the steadily increasing influence of science and technology for socio-economic development and structural changes in the economy, which are relevant for post-industrial environment. The analysis of these indicators in the Ukrainian national economy shows that only 0.01 % of the world high technology market accounts for Ukraine, while more than 20 % accounts for the U.S., 14 % for Japan and more than 10 % for Germany. In terms of technological development Ukrainian and Russian post-socialistic economies take 69th and 84th places among all the countries respectively, while Hungary and Poland, which are integrated into the EU's economic structure, take 32nd and 34th places [5]. This comparison reveals a peculiar feature of the innovative development in post-Soviet countries. This peculiarity states the fact that the implementation of the economic transformation policy in post-socialistic countries is mainly subordinated by the support of inferior technological structures (raw materials extraction and its primary processing), while the production of knowledge-intensive industries has declined or ceased at all. For example, half of the budgetary funds for household purposes in Ukraine are directed to the development of fuel and steel industries. At the same time, the volume of production in electronic industry declined by more than 100 times in 2004 in comparison with 1991 [5]. It happened not only because there had not been material and intellectual backgrounds in the country, but also as a consequence of the chosen model of transformational changes, which does not require innovations, does not envisage investment in human capital and is based on low-tech forms of economy and remains competitive by only using cheap labor. Therefore, the most important feature of the informational revolution's influence on the transformation of the post-socialistic economy is insufficient severity of the post-industrial focus of economic processes and the lack of preconditions for the introduction of innovative development as the main trends in the economy. The conclusions of the analytical materials made by Razumkov Center in 1994 are worth pointing out, as they are even more relevant for the present stage of economic transformations, which is characterized by a further gap between scientific and technological levels of production in Ukraine and in post-industrial countries. Raw materials are mainly exploited in the Ukrainian economy as well as in most other post-Soviet countries while high-technology production can be observed only as a barely noticeable inclusion.

The statement of this fact gives rise to the famous question - "What should be done?" It is obvious that the answer to it may be found through the studying of researches on the post-industrial development of advanced capitalistic and post-socialistic countries. These countries have made significant progress while transiting to "knowledge economy" that provides the space for individual's spiritual and creative activity and is the main source of further social progress. The works by John Naisbitt, who investigates the megatrends of the postindustrial development in the U.S. and the megatrends of the post-socialistic economy in China, are the most relevant in this aspect. Particularly, he justifies the fact that the most important megatrends of the post-industrial development in the U.S. are the transition from commodity to information production, connection between the technical progress and the service sector and globalization of economy [12, p. 22, 62, 84]. Summing up the experience of post- socialistic China, he described eight "pillars" of its modern development, the most significant of which are "Balancing Top-Down and Bottom-Up" (democratic planning), "Joining the World" (integration into the global economy), "Freedom and Fairness" (socialization of economic relations) and "From Olympic Medals to Nobel Prizes" (scientific research development) [13, p. 12]. John Naisbitt's generalizations match the megatrends of the post-socialistic economy which have been outlined by us in the previous articles. They are: "Transformational Development Is the Way to a Global "World-economy", "Environmental Housekeeping" and "Socialization of Economic Relations". In our opinion these megatrends blaze a trail to the formation of value characteristics of post-industrial megatrends which are innovation and creative activity of an economic entity.

As it has already been noted above, post-socialistic Poland and Hungary had a weaker starting background for innovation development than Ukraine and Russia, but due to the economic integration in the EU they surpassed the latter in terms of innovation and technological development at the beginning of this century. Consequently it is evident that the integration of the post-socialistic economies into the global one is the main condition of their transition to the postindustrial stage which is based on the achievements of the informational revolution.

It is well-known that the informational revolution has resulted in the disappearance of the society's class structure and the assertion of priority of intellectual property over all of its other kinds. Due to the fact that all the employees in the informational society have ownership of knowledge, intelligence, discoveries and improvements made by them, the informational revolution contributes to socialization of economic relations where the differences between people are determined by their valuable wealth rather than the intellectual one. In post-socialistic societies, where the proper conditions for individual's creative activity have not been established yet because of insufficient development of knowledge economy, the socialization of economic relations allows creating financial incentives for employees and increases their creative character. Because of this the United States implement the program of democratization of economic relations, which aims to transform private economic relations into the collective ones by the middle of the XXI century [14].

Investigation of the influence of the modern informational revolution on the formation of the megatrends of the post-socialistic economy leads to the conclusion that this process depends on a number of factors and conditions. Firstly, it depends on the level of scientific and technological development of the economy during the pretransformational period. Secondly, it is influenced by the chosen model of transformational changes and its orientation to the interests of society or certain social groups. Thirdly, it is connected with the involvement of the country's economy into the global one. Finally it is affected by the rate of socialization of economic relations and the creation of incentives for employees to enhance labour creativity. At the same time, a successful solution to all of these problems does not only depend on the objective prerequisites for the development, but also largely relies on the ability of political elites to give preference to national interests and put them above the interests of certain social groups.

References

1. Golikov V. Informatizatsiya kak faktor postindu- strialnogo razvitiya Informatization As а Factor of Post-Industrial Development V. Golikov Ekonomika i prognozuvannia. - 2003. - No. 1. - P. 9-22.

2. Zadorozhnyy G. V. Globaliziruyushcheesya zna- nieemnoe khozyaystvo: problemy renty i kvazirenty : monografiya. [Globalizing Knowledge Economy: Problems of Rent and QuasiRent] : monograph / G. V. Zadorozhnyy, O. V. Katsuba. - Kh. : Tochka, 2013. - 236 p.

3. Mochernyy S. K voprosu o postindustrialnom obschestve [On the Issue of Post-Industrial Society] / S. K. Mochernyy // Ekonomika Ukrainy. - 2002. - No. 9. - P. 52-58.

4. Chukhno A. Postindustrialnaya ekonomika: teoriya, praktika i ikh znachenie dlya Ukrainy [Post-Industrial Economy: Theory, Practice and Its Importance for Ukraine] / A. Chukhno // Ekonomika Ukrainy. - 2001. - No. 12. - P. 49-54.

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