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INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO DEFINING THE COMPETITIVENESS: ENVIRONMENT, STAKEHOLDERS, INTERESTS

Nikolay Leontiev, V. Chalov, F. Yurlov, A. Plekhanova, K. Kolesov

Abstract

As shown by researchers in the field of management, the goal of strategic management is to increase the competitiveness of various economic actors. At present, in connection with a significant increase in competition, the issues of increasing competitiveness are of paramount importance for economic agents of any kind. At the same time, the constant complication of economic conditions, increasing demands on the economic entities performance not only of economic, but also of social, environmental, etc. character, leads to the need to improve the concepts of management in general and competitiveness in particular. Thus, the authors posed the task of analyzing existing approaches to understanding competitiveness, identifying their inconsistency with the current requirements of society and suggesting a new direction for developing a concept of competitiveness. The analysis of works in this area showed that a multilevel approach to competitiveness is usually used. Competitiveness is investigated at macro, mezo, and micro levels. In accordance with this the objects of research are at the state, territory and firm levels. Further authors’ research is devoted to the analysis of the essence of competitiveness at the firm level. The study showed that the authors of the works devoted to this issue adhere to one of two basic approaches to understanding competitiveness. In the first case, it is considered that competitiveness is expressed through productivity, etc. indicators. In the second case, it is assumed that competitiveness is expressed through sales figures, etc. The generalization of works on the definition of competitiveness allowed the formulation of general principles for determining competitiveness: the conditions for the existence of competitiveness (market competition), the way to determine competitiveness (comparison), the target benchmark of competitiveness (meeting market needs). Application of the developed principles allowed to identify shortcomings in existing concepts of competitiveness and to determine the direction of the authors’ concept of competitiveness. The basic drawback of all existing approaches to understanding competitiveness is the use of economic selfishness (egoism) theory and economic growth theories as the foundation for constructing all subsequent conclusions. This is expressed in the primacy of the main target - the satisfaction of the needs of the consumer. The dominant position of this principle leads to a thoughtless build-up of the existing and the formation of unreasonable consumption in the present at the expense of deterioration of the natural and social environment, the exhaustion of resources, both material and human. The innovative approach of the authors' team is based on the transition from theories of economic selfishness and economic growth to the theory of sustainable growth as a conceptual basis for defining the competitiveness. The main principle of forming the competitiveness should be the satisfaction of the needs of a wide range of stakeholders, the interests of both present and future generations. In this paper, the authors propose an innovative concept for the formation of competitiveness of economic entities that meets the most pressing problems and challenges of the modern economy.

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