Contrary to various arguments such as “plan or market”, it should be recognized that any activity – economic, managerial, etc. – necessarily involves the presence of some meaningful target principles. Another thing is that these principles can be implemented in forms that differ both in the breadth and depth of coverage of the planned changes and the intended methods of their implementation. The sphere of state and municipal administration (in general – public authority), where objective goal setting is traditionally considered as one of the main conditions for achieving the desired result, also fully falls under this general principle. And in modern conditions, the sphere of activity of public authority remains a necessary “field” for the use of targeted management principles. Moreover, the consistent transition to the strategic nature of such management gives the presence of such principles, their objectivity, of particular importance. The article mentions some approaches to long-term goal setting that have developed in the domestic economy during the planned period of its functioning, and also examines modern interpretations of the advancement of target settings in the sphere of economic and social development.

There are quite a lot of scientific works devoted to the problems of goal setting in state governance. However, the corpus of the studied precedents has not been considered as a single object of study. It inspired to move from analysis to synthesis and try to suggest a typology of the revealed goal-setting problems, which was the main purpose of this study.

As a result, five types of goal-setting problems were identified: issues of achievability of goals, irrelevance and inconsistency of goals, as well as incidents caused by managerial and institutional reasons. This article analyzes only the issues of achievability of goals, the irrelevance and inconsistency of goals. The problems of goal-setting in state governance, caused by managerial and institutional reasons, are expected to be investigated in the next work.

The article explores the objectives outlined in strategic planning documents and program-based management frameworks within the cultural sector. It examines inconsistencies between the national development objectives, the Integrated action plan, and the objectives of government programs related to culture. With regard to the Integrated action plan, the article substantiates the existence of a two-tiered objective structure, distinguishing between strategic and operational objectives, and investigates how these objectives are aligned. The author introduces an alignment matrix for objectives and activities, which enables an assessment of consistency at different levels. The study identifies cases where strategic planning logic in the cultural sector is disrupted, such as replacing strategic objectives with operational ones or incorporating new strategic objectives into the Integrated action plan that were not previously included in sectoral strategic documents. The misalignment of objectives in the cultural sector creates risks for achieving both sectoral development priorities and national objectives. These inconsistencies negatively impact public administration performance metrics and highlight the need to reconsider the structure of the Integrated action plan and update approaches to objective-setting. The quality of objective-setting, the realism of the defined objectives, and the degree of their alignment directly affect the actual implementation of public cultural policy and the overall functioning of the cultural sector.

Business needs to seek and use best practices in the field of improving organizational efficiency, one of which is the headcount management. The purpose of the study is to develop methodological approaches to headcount management that ensure optimal and efficient work of personnel, taking into account the goals and objectives facing the company. The main research method is the analysis and generalization of best practices in the field of personnel management, the study of the experience of successful companies conducting optimization. The analysis showed that the best option for assessing the optimal number of employees, taking into account current market conditions, development strategy and long– term plans, is the use of long-term standards. The proposed methodological approaches can be used to bring the number of personnel to an optimal state, reduce costs, and increase organizational efficiency in any commercial organization on condition that they are adapted to the specific features of the company, industry, and market situation.

The aim of the study is to identify the perception of Russians regarding the factors that determine health and to assess the relationship between individual characteristics and this perception. The research is based on the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), Health and Health Care module, 2021. Logistic regression models were constructed, where the dependent variables included people’s perception of environmental conditions, poverty, genetics, and behavior as determinants of health. It has been established that the environment is perceived as the most important factor for Russians, while the perception of other factors as causes of poor health is recognized as less significant. People with different sociodemographic and economic characteristics have different views on health factors, which is partly explained by personal experience; for example, people with low incomes are more likely to recognize poverty as a health factor.

The article examines the features of geopolitical fragmentation in the agri-food sector. Geopolitical events and armed conflicts, accompanied by the widespread use of economic sanctions and the growth of protectionist policies in international trade have a particularly strong impact on the agri-food sector and food security. Due to the low elasticity of supply and demand, as well as the high concentration of production and sources of food exports, raw agricultural products and, above all, grain, in the world markets of which Russia occupies leading positions, are highly susceptible to geopolitical risks. It is shown that Russia, in the context of geopolitical fragmentation, can strengthen its position in regional food markets. The main risks to the sustainability and stability of Russia’s food security due to the concentration of agricultural export destinations are identified. It is noted that India and the countries of Southeast Asia, which are expected to experience growth in food consumption in the next decade, offer new opportunities for the development of Russian agricultural exports with high untapped potential. In order to minimize the risks of excessive concentration of export directions, Russia needs to develop a balanced strategy that will allow developing exports without jeopardizing the domestic market.

The analysis of the scale and dynamics of consumption of various types of primary energy sources in the global economy over a long-term period is carried out. The volumes and dynamics of carbon dioxide emissions generated as a result of consumption of various types of primary energy sources are studied. The influence of changes in the scale of consumption of various types of resources, their specific carbon intensity, as well as structural shifts in the global economic consumption of primary energy resources on the volume of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is considered and quantified. The prospects for the transformation of the global structure of primary energy consumption are presented in the context of the global climate agenda and forecast scenarios for the development of global energy.

This study explores the impact of political news on the stock prices of Russian companies over the period 1 September 2021 –– 31 August 2023. The sample includes 200 companies, for each of which the industry of activity and the region of location of the headquarters were determined. Political news data were sourced from 50 Telegram channels, and 20 thematic topics were created using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model. The research tests hypotheses of the impact of political news on stock returns throughout the entire period in both regional and industry contexts. The results show that integrating political news improves return forecasts for 117 companies, with effects consistent across industries and regions. The study highlights the political news topics that had the most significant impact on Russian companies during the analyzed period.