The effectiveness of functioning of economic systems and their competitive advantages are largely determined by the quality of management. The latter is also true for regional businesses operating in the modern market, burdened with aspects of cross-border interregional, and interstate competition. The purpose of the study presented in this article is to determine the model of the educational program for developing the competence of managers that allows the manager to manage his own labor activity in the interests of innovative development in conditions of high competition, due, inter alia, to the geographic location of the region. The subject of the study is the phenomenon of managerial economic thinking, the content of which (principles, methods, means, forms) is revealed in the relevant educational program. The theoretical results of the research consist in justifying the legitimacy of developing the required methodological base in the context of research on the problem of the phenomenon of economic thinking, as well as in determining the phenomenon as methodology and competence. The substantive aspects of the educational program on the development of managerial economic thinking among managers in the conditions of corporate training are revealed. The results of the experiment conducted in North Kazakhstan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the period from 2009 to 2016 showed statistically significant changes in the following criteria: development of the principles of the phenomenon of managerial economic thinking; attitudes towards various aspects of one's own work; results of their own work.