Theoretical and Methodological Substantiation of the Assessment and Development of Logistics Infrastructure

The paper presents the research results in the field of theoretical and methodological substantiation of the assessment and development of a logistics infrastructure that can operate at various levels, including regional and national. The analysis carried out has made it possible to divide all assessment methods into two groups: those based on expert assessments and those based on quantitative data. As expert methods for assessing the logistics infrastructure, such international approaches were studied as  LPI index (Logistics Performance Index); global competitiveness index; TTCI index (Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index), where “Infrastructure” subindex includes indicators related to both the main component of the logistics infrastructure (related to the activities of air and rail transport, as well as the quality of air and ground infrastructure), and to the supporting one (number of hotel rooms, car rental companies, ATMs), as well as the annual rating of World competitiveness of the countries of the world (IMD World Competitiveness Ranking); index of involvement of countries in international trade (ETI); methodology for assessing the quality of transport infrastructure, developed by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation within the framework of the program “Development of the transport system”. Studies have shown that there are few works using quantitative methods for assessing the logistics infrastructure, for example: a method for a comprehensive assessment of the transport infrastructure of a region by A. M. Kudryavtsev and L. N. Rudneva, Yu. V. Kataev’s method for a multi-level assessment of the development of transport infrastructure, methodology for assessing the attractiveness of the region’s logistics infrastructure for accommodating key objects of the warehouse and transport network developed by A. N. Rakhmangulov and O. A. Kopylova, researches of F. Carlucci. While preparing plans for the development of logistics infrastructure, it is proposed to use existing approaches, combining expert and quantitative assessment methods.