Innovative development of the economy is considered now as a necessary condition for increasing its competitiveness. The most important mechanism for implementing this strategy is the development of the National Innovation System. In developing the directions and mechanisms for the development of the Kazakhstani innovation system, the experience of foreign countries in the field of stimulating innovative activity and the formation of effectively functioning national innovation systems becomes particularly topical. The developed countries (the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, etc.), as well as the states that are intensively developing innovative systems (South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the countries of Latin Of America). These countries are characterized by high dynamics of the development of research and development (R & D), significant expenditures for maintaining and stimulating innovations, active support of the education and research complex, and careful attention of governments to the development of national innovation systems. Experience South Korea is particularly interesting due to the fact that this country is one of the most dynamically developing in the innovation plan. The article examines the methodological aspects of the study of the innovative eco-environment by the example of a cross-national study of Kazakhstan and South Korea. The author, relying on the results of the study of actors of the innovative eco-environment in Kazakhstan and South Korea, demonstrates the possibilities of combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, placing emphasis on interviewing and case studies for the derivation of the theory. This article describes the most problematic issues in the collection and analysis of actors in the innovative environment in different countries, taking into account country differences. Recommendations are formulated to conduct research on various representatives of the innovative environment. Along with this, the opportunities for applying the resource-oriented approach for analyzing the internal environment of the innovation company are also described. As a result, an author's qualitative model is proposed for analyzing the innovative environment in a cross-national perspective, which allows describing the environment statically and dynamically, and can also be modified depending on research tasks, national innovation environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]