Influence of national economic competitiveness on economic growth

The most important trend of modern development is economic globalization, which refers to the increasing scale of international exchange in an increasingly open, integrated, not recognizing the boundaries of the world economy. It is associated not only with traditional varieties of foreign economic relations, but also with the following processes that increase the intensity of the latter: technological progress; trade liberalization and other forms of economic liberalization; expansion of the sphere of activity of organizations through the use of new means of communication; common standards of market economy and free trade; transition from traditional forms of communication to communications. The formation of international relations, taking place on the basis of the global economic infrastructure, is accompanied by competition, as well as the desire of a number of states to increase their influence on world politics. Globalization could not but reflect on the forms of competition, which, like the phenomenon of world integration, began to go beyond the home country of an international firm. The presence of certain properties and abilities of the country, allowing it to compete in economic competition, determines its level of competitiveness. In turn, national competitiveness determines not only the country's position in the world economy, but also acts as a guarantor of its economic security, contributes to the implementation of a program to achieve sustainable economic growth.

In the last quarter of the last century, interest in exploring the categories of competition, national competitiveness and economic growth began to grow particularly. This is due to the growing internationalization of economic life and the increasing complexity of the interrelations and interdependencies of firms and companies from different countries. It is economic internationalization that goes deep into production processes, and often precedes them in the form of research and development, has significantly complicated the relationship of competing companies and especially individual countries, which requires a serious analysis of the new situation and, above all, problems associated with disclosure of the relationship of the concepts of competition, the competitiveness of the national economy, economic growth and globalization.

The nature of the development of the world economy in the last century is described mainly by the struggle to achieve competitive advantages. In modern conditions, competitive relations between manufacturers develop under the influence of the dominance of the consumer market, therefore, in order to effectively conduct competitive rivalry, it is necessary to have certain advantages over competitors.

In our opinion, the competitiveness of a firm, financial industrial group or industry can be more accurately defined as the ability to form and maintain sustainable competitive advantages. It is sustainable competitive advantages that express the ability of firms, FIGs and industries in a given country to produce goods with a higher efficiency in the use of production resources as compared with competitors.

To achieve a certain level of competitive advantages can be influenced by various factors that are sustainable and long-term in nature or are the result of random circumstances. The above applies not only to certain firms, but to the country as a whole (a vivid example is the situation in the fuel and energy complex of Russia, which greatly affects the general economic situation in the country, but depends significantly on the state of the global situation).

Consequently, the entire set of competitive advantages can be divided into random competitive advantages, which are caused by the presence of favorable circumstances, but not directly caused by the activity of economic entities, and competitive advantages, which are consciously and deliberately formed by economic actors.

The competitive advantages of the first type are due to the action of exogenous factors. Such external factors may favorably affect the competitiveness of a product, company or economy as a whole in a fairly long time, but they are unstable and unstable, as they are random in nature. These are competitive advantages of low order and can be obtained quite easily by competitors (cheap labor or raw materials). For example, in consumer electronics, the cost advantage of labor from Japan has long passed to Korea and Hong Kong, and their firms are threatened by even greater cheapness of labor in Malaysia and Thailand.

In turn, competitive advantages, purposefully created by economic agents, are the expression and result of a conscious process of forming a strategy of high competitiveness. Such advantages, as a rule, are of a long-term nature and are sustainable; therefore, they are called competitive advantages of a high order. The advantages of a high order include technology, the reputation of firms, the level of training and retraining, long-term intensive investment, strategic marketing. The advantages of a high order include innovative in nature, organizational, and managerial activities, since in these areas almost all sources of advantages are taken into account1. Management includes the methodology for the implementation of competitive factors.

Sustained competitive advantages (high order) in contrast to unstable (low order) are not created under the influence of the economic situation on the macro and meso level, the dynamics of prices for goods and factors of production, but express the characteristics of real production, contributing to the growth of its efficiency (productivity). Due to the fact that the competitive advantages of the first type are random and unpredictable, the prediction of their appearance and the impact on them from the subjects of the economy is almost impossible. Therefore, the efforts of economic actors focused on achieving competitive advantages of the second type.

When studying the problems of competitiveness, many scientists pay a lot of attention to the category of competitive potential1, regarding it as availability, material, financial, human (including intellectual) and other resources. Competitiveness in this case acts as a realized competitive potential.

In our opinion, there is a certain identity between the above factors of low order competitiveness and the competitive potential considered in the context of the national economy. That is, the competitive potential is manifested in the provision of resources able to meet the production, information, innovation and marketing needs of business entities. From a macroeconomic point of view, all national firms will have the same access to resource capabilities and, accordingly, the competitive potential is about the same throughout the country. At the same time, the realization of the potential depends entirely on the management of a particular enterprise and can only be considered at the micro level. At the same time, state authorities should ensure access of economic entities to resources with the minimum possible number of restrictions.

Therefore, it can be said that both firms and the state are involved in creating sustainable competitive advantages. However, their participation in this process is different. In the aggregate, firms and the state create only potential competitive advantages, and they can be realized, that is, only those who produce competitive goods and services, that is, firms, can turn into real competitive advantages. In other words, competitiveness depends on the effectiveness of the organization of the process of production and marketing.

Thus, firms or their associations (financial-industrial groups, industries or sub-sectors) are holders of competitive advantages, namely and only firms can realize them. The state is not the holder of competitive advantages, only creating an environment and conditions for their formation. Accordingly, the state cannot both realize (retain and develop) the created competitive advantages, it is the prerogative of the firms. In this context, in our opinion, one of the key theses of Mporter, that not countries, but companies, compete in the international economy, should be interpreted.

The desire to have competitive advantages in the production of goods and services is a result of external pressure, competition in the market and is based on accumulated wealth. National wealth is directly related to the production of the social product and its reproduction. It grows due to the excess of the produced social product over the current consumption in a given year. It follows that the source of wealth is the social product, which is reproduced on an extended basis. The main elements of national wealth are the main production assets, working capital assets, inventories and reserves, natural resources and non-productive assets.

The value of effective demand is growing along with increased competition among manufacturers, as many countries with cheaper resources can offer similar products at low prices. At the same time, in order to preserve business and attract growing savings, national producers are forced to improve the production and sales process along with individualization of products. The intensification of competition forces each production entrepreneur to quickly adapt to the demand and shape new consumer preferences.

The competitiveness of the national economy is the ability to realize the main target task of its operation - sustainable socio-economic development with the provision of a high quality of life for the population. Therefore, it is the state that should determine the direction of economic development in the long term, and socio-economic policy will determine the competitive advantages of national production. In the context of the issue under consideration, the task of the state at the present stage is to ensure the best competitive advantages (resource capabilities) of national producers compared to other countries. At the same time, competitiveness will be defined as the effectiveness of managing an entity with its competitive advantages in order to achieve victory in the competitive struggle for satisfying objective or subjective needs.

As already noted, the competitiveness of the national economy is expressed in the ability to achieve sustainable socio-economic development, expressed primarily by an increase in aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Speaking about the sustainable economic development of the world or national economy, as a rule, implies the achievement of sustainable economic growth rates.