Abstract
Abstract The article presents the author's methodology for the formation of a key indicator system for the evaluation of the ecological and economic potential of the metallurgical cluster. This being the case, special attention was paid to the development of an indicator system for evaluating the second-level potentials uniting the environmental and economic components of the integrated study subject. The study aims to develop a comprehensive methodology for evaluating the ecological and economic potential adapted to unique features of the metallurgical cluster of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In preparing the material, the authors used comparative analysis and integral economic and statistical indicator building methods. Individual assessments of the first and second tiers were integrated by calculating criterion integrated indicators. The study concluded that a balanced evaluation of the ecological and economic potential of the metallurgical cluster can be obtained by integrating estimates of second-tier potentials representing the joint influence of a group of enterprises in the metallurgical industrial cluster. The provisions and conclusions of the described paper can be applied by the management of iron and steel companies to justify corporate development programmes, as well as regional authorities to identify areas of investment attractiveness growth of the region. The empirical basis of the analysis was obtained from the results of studies carried out as part of the research work “Improvement of the state policy regulation for accelerated clustering of the industrial regions”, executed under grant financing of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.