Competitive advantages of economic sectors in the Vologda oblast

The main prerequisite for emergence and development of competitive advantages of the regional economy branches are natural resource opportunities and entrepreneurial ability of their use. These advantages should be always strengthened and enhanced. This need is actualized by the goal to achieve sustainable socio-economic development of the region in the conditions of market economy and globalization processes and maintain a competitive immunity, i.e. an ability to compete with other territories and subjects for various resources and develop despite potential endogenous and exogenous shocks. Considering economic development of the Vologda Oblast, it should be noted that having a structure of gross regional product similar to the adjacent areas (RF subjects) the oblast is in the top three by GDP per capita. In addition, the provision of sustainable growth in this indicator is largely due to the use of competitive advantages of the economy. The purpose of this article is to identify competitive advantages (real and potential) of economy branches in the Vologda Oblast and reveal growth areas for the near future. The article describes the current state of basic branches of the economy in the Vologda Oblast and highlights their existing and potential competitive advantages. In most spheres the competitive advantage are associated with updating of organizations’ fixed capital and production technologies, manufacturing of quality goods, works and services, lowering production costs, developing new types of competitive products, export items and import-substituting products. The development of competitive advantages is considered in the concentration of significant fiscal and private resources, including by means of public-private partnership, aimed at technological upgrading, introducing resource-saving innovations at enterprises, supporting cost-effective projects that contribute to the development of production infrastructure, etc. The expanded entry of the Vologda Oblast business entities to the commodity market of Russian regions and other countries will be contributed by the implementation of significant investment in transport infrastructure.