Yerlan Shildibekov

Sustainable regional development projects are a challenge for all countries, regardless of their geographic location, cultural differences, or level of economic development. Kazakhstan is also facing this challenge and tries to counteract this process by actively implementing regional development projects and programs. However, project effectiveness and project value remain bottlenecks as these projects are aimed to improve lives and work in rural areas and eliminate inequality; therefore, managing such projects is a complex issue. This study seeks to obtain data that will help to address these research gaps and to identify value aspects of such projects from the end-users’ perspectives – local communities. This can help to understand how to select projects with high value and enhance their effectiveness.
For this purpose, in 2020, a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews of end-users of regional development projects implemented in local communities were conducted. 301 respondents from main mining towns included in the regional development program of the Republic of Kazakhstan have been surveyed and 18 deep interviews have been conducted. The results show that Kazakhstani regional development projects appear to have a low level of value from the perspective of main stakeholders and beneficiaries – local communities. Project value evaluation has also revealed that a concept of value is different for local government authorities, project teams, and local communities. The study expands knowledge on the management of regional development projects, revealing the importance of understanding the value for such projects to achieve success and enhance their effectiveness.

Nowadays, leading world companies widely use methodology, standards, and project management tools in many areas of project-oriented activities, including investment, innovation, and information projects. Last years the implementation and functioning of the country’s enterprises’ project management system have been actively discussed in Kazakhstan.
This work aims to identify critical processes of project management planning that affect the effectiveness of projects at the enterprise of the military-industrial complex of Kazakhstan. For this purpose, a survey of top managers of defense industry companies was conducted. A total of 28 respondents were interviewed, working at 18 enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan and directly participating in the implementation of projects. Data were personally collected by a questionnaire survey conducted during 2019. To verify the formulated model’s assumptions and success, correlation analysis, and other relevant tests were used. Using the model of project management planning quality (PMPQ), process efficiency has been assessed, and critical factors for the effectiveness of defense industry projects have also been identified. The results show that the Republic of Kazakhstan’s defense industry complex projects has a low level of efficiency and an average score for the use of project planning processes. Project efficiency evaluation has also revealed critical knowledge areas for defense projects like human resource management, schedule development, and define scope. The research expands knowledge in PM, revealing the importance of planning processes for the defense industry that need more focus to achieve top-level success and effectiveness of projects.

Acknowledgment
This study is the second part of grant AP05134488 that has been funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.