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This paper aims to measure the cost of procurement because public procurement procedures prescribed by legislation not only enhance transparency and competition but also entail certain transaction costs for both customers and suppliers.

These costs are important to the efficiency of the procurement system. However, very few previous studies have focused on estimating procurement costs. This paper proposes a methodology for public procurement cost evaluation.

This paper shows how procurement costs can be calculated using a formalized survey of public customers. This methodology was tested with a representative group of public customers operating in one region of the Russian Federation.

The authors formulate the policy implications of this paper, as they relate to the improvement of public procurement regulations and argue that this methodological approach can be applied in other developing and transitioning economies.

Modernization of Russian higher education is carried out with the purpose of its successful integration into the global educational environment. However, the contemporary management model of most Russian universities demonstrates a low efficiency level. The purpose of this paper is to identify the problems of organizing the universities’ strategic development and to seek the opportunities to achieve strategic competitiveness of Russian universities.

The basic research methods included the following: content analysis, expert evaluations, analysis of the modern concepts of universities strategic management, comparative analysis of high school practice of strategy development, and government regulations in historical perspective.

The major result of the study is the conclusion that the most important problem of the competitiveness of Russian universities is the lack of strategic flexibility. We can say that there is a structural nature of the management crisis affecting the whole system of university education. Over the past 25 years, there has been a radical change in the basic institutional conditions for the development of higher education institutions in Russia: the volumes and changed model of financing; the market landscape and the regional environment; the conditions and the nature of the interaction with international partners, etc. At the same time, in most cases, the platform of this system and standards of internal policy have remained unchanged. Russian education practically lost its individuality. This paper shows the experience of strategic management at leading federal and regional universities of Russia, analyzes the implementation of their development programs, and gives examples of best practices in the use of strategic planning tools.

The relevance and value of the paper is the following: for the first time, thorough attention has been paid to the accumulated potential of Russian universities, which has been formed over a long evolutionary path and now can be positioned as an important management resource in the organization of strategic management for enhancing the global competitiveness of the national system of higher education.

This paper aims to define relevant forms of co-creation activities and customer engagement in value co-creation geared toward increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty in the Russian hotel industry.

Secondary data analysis of hotels’ websites, annual reports and published interviews was conducted to investigate how hotels co-create the experience environment. Also, content analysis of tourist comments in social media was conducted to assess the relationship between customer engagement in value co-creation and customer satisfaction. The sample for this study includes hotels located in Moscow using customer experience as a source of value creation.

Based on the analysis of best practice of customer engagement in value co-creation in the hotel industry, a classification of co-creation activity forms was developed. Five forms of co-creation activities have been identified: feedback, co-production, firm-driven service innovation, customer-driven customization and co-creation. Applied data also provide insights on the development of the hotel industry in Moscow. The majority of hotels engaging customers in value co-creation in Moscow are international. Hotels more often use customization, service innovation and especially co-production than co-creation, as co-creation is a new market strategy for the Russian market. The high-price-segment hotels more often use customization, whereas hostels usually implement value co-creation with clients. It can be explained by the difference between the target audience and the resources available. This study helps to understand whether forms of customer engagement in value co-creation in the Russian hotel industry match international experience and findings of theoretical studies.

The sample group represents only hotels in Moscow, and the study utilizes only qualitative techniques. An increase in both the sample size and geographical diversity and a study using both qualitative and quantitative techniques may generate more insights relating to customer engagement in value co-creation in Russian hotels.

This is an insightful comparative study of customer engagement in value co-creation practices of hotels with different attributes, and the study identifies new opportunities to engage customers in value co-creation in the hotel industry.