Competitiveness, competitive advantages of the organization: concepts, factors of ensuring competitiveness

Abstract

Competitiveness is not an abstract concept, but a set of interrelated factors that provide an organization with a certain advantage over other market participants. The key element here is competitive advantages – unique characteristics of an enterprise or its products that allow it to occupy a more advantageous position in the market and receive higher profits.Competitiveness is a direct characteristic of a business entity and is achieved through the possession of competitive advantages. In essence, competitive advantage and competitiveness are two interrelated concepts. They have common features: competitive advantages are a factor condition of competition, and competitiveness is the degree of success in the competitive struggle.Improving competitiveness is a strategic goal of an enterprise, and competitive advantages are the tools and resources that allow achieving this goal and ensuring sustainable development in the conditions of fierce market competition.The article considers approaches to defining the essence of the concept of "competitiveness of an organization": resource, which is based on the study of production factors to improve competitiveness; managerial, the authors of which paid special attention to effective government policy; investment, considering the direction of investment resources in scientific, technical and human capital; innovation, which is based on determining the influence of such a factor as innovation; combined, combining theories of several approaches. The relationship between the concepts of "comparative advantages", "competitive advantages" and "competitiveness" is analyzed. A classification of factors ensuring competitiveness according to various characteristics is given: basic and developed, general and specialized, natural and created; external and internal factors; depending on the intended purpose of the created labor product; success factors and others.