Digital servitization of the Russian agro-industrial complex: functional roles of regions based on multidimensional scaling
Abstract
Relevance. While all Russian regions are potentially capable of occupying functional niches in the national agro-industrial ecosystem, prior studies have focused mostly on agricultural regions and have assessed digitalization potential using a limited set of indicators.
Research Objective. The study aims to identify and analyze the functional roles of Russian regions within the ecosystem of agricultural servitization.
Data and methods. Using 2023 data from Rosstat, the study applies hierarchical cluster analysis to group regions with similar digital profiles and multidimensional scaling to visualize their roles in the digital agricultural servitization ecosystem.
Results. The analysis identified three distinct types of Russian regions in the emerging digital servitization system: regions that generate digital solutions, regions that serve as pilot sites for testing these solutions, and regions that primarily receive them.
Conclusions. By moving beyond purely regional comparisons, multidimensional scaling highlights the functional roles of regions in the digital servitization of the agro-industrial complex. This approach shifts the focus from regions’ “digital readiness” to their roles in the national ecosystem, thereby advancing research on digital servitization and offering a basis for more differentiated state policies on agro-industrial digitalization.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15826/recon.2026.12.1.002
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