The economy is its efficiency and competitiveness. Abstract: Competitiveness in the global economy

Alexander Idrisov
Managing partner
"Pro-Invest Consulting"

I. Competitiveness of the economy - the basis for development

Russia is part of the world economy, and it is a fait accompli.
The most important goal of the Russian Government is to create a competitive economy that ensures the country's leadership in the international market.
The basis of a competitive economy is a competitive industry. All actions of the Government: developed programs and legislative acts, procedures of state regulation and measures of state support should be subordinated to the main and priority goal today - ensuring the competitiveness of Russian enterprises, and, consequently, the competitiveness of the economy and the country as a whole.
The competitiveness of the economy is primarily the activation of exports. Export development is the most important task of the Government.
The competitiveness of Russian industry is the flag that the Government should carry in its hands as the main symbol of economic transformation. This is the idea that can unite people, regardless of their political preferences and position in society.
There will be a competitive industry, there will be:

    export and foreign exchange earnings (independence from the state of international commodity markets);

    stable tax revenues to the budget;

    employment;

    social and political stability;

    deserved position of Russia in the international arena.

II. Competitiveness of enterprises

The main components that ensure the competitiveness of enterprises are:

    Quality of products and services

    Marketing and sales strategy

    Personnel qualifications

    Technological level of production

    Tax environment in which the company operates

    Availability of funding sources

Unfortunately, the level of competitiveness of Russian enterprises is very low. Almost the single and most important reason for low competitiveness is unskilled management or the complete absence of what is called regular management. We have it all: highly educated people, natural resources, huge market potential, and the ability to purchase the latest equipment. Moreover, despite the widespread opinion, business leaders have every real opportunity to attract the necessary capital. However, they must present a clear marketing strategy, business development plan, and also convince investors that they are the qualified managers who are able to implement these plans.

III. Investments

As mentioned above, almost any Russian company has a real opportunity to raise capital. The investment problem is not technical, but psychological. The overwhelming majority of heads of Russian enterprises are guided by only two sources of financing - the state or bank loans. Both of these funding options are the least realistic in the current environment. Most businesses are unable to provide banks with liquid collateral for loans, and government funding is unlikely to be available to many. At the same time, there are all the necessary conditions for attracting private investment: the presence of high interest from private investors and the high potential of the Russian market. Despite the events of recent days, the interest of foreign investors operating in the field of direct investment continues unabated. One of the obstacles on the way to attracting investment is that Russian enterprises are not able to provide a business plan developed in accordance with international standards, on the other hand, business leaders demonstrate the "dog in the hay" effect: "I will die, not share." The Russian head of the enterprise, as a rule, owns a controlling or significant shareholding and is not ready to attract investment through the sale of shares. In world practice, even in developed countries, it is impossible to find an industrial enterprise that would provide financing only through loans. All the most significant industrial corporations, leading the market, list their shares on the stock exchange and consider this to be the greatest good. Another, no less important problem hindering the investment process is the tax system, forcing the management of the enterprise to conceal income in order to survive in today's conditions. The concealment of income contradicts the main requirement of professional investors - "transparency", that is, complete and correct disclosure of financial information.

The task of the Government is to take control of investment processes and take actions that will neutralize the reasons that hinder its development.

1. A serious program of intensive training of business leaders in modern methods of corporate strategic planning is required. No plan - no clear and realistic funding strategy, and therefore no action.

2. Tax legislation should, on the one hand, be attractive to investors, and on the other, stimulate directors of enterprises to disclose financial information.

3. The transition to international accounting standards has already been announced, it should be intensified.

4. It is urgent to take measures to restore and develop the stock market. This is not only a tool for attracting capital to the real sector, but also an opportunity for the population to preserve and increase (with the normal operation of the stock market and a stable political situation in the country) savings.

5. To develop efforts to create a favorable investment climate and, above all, to take tough measures to combat crime. Order and reliability are the most important incentives for any investor.

IV. Governmental support

State financial support (direct government funding, loan guarantees, etc.) should be addressed only to those enterprises that are really unable to provide financing from commercial (non-government) sources (bank loans, private investors, the stock market). Commercial enterprises representing potentially profitable commercial projects should under no circumstances be considered as objects of government support. This is the main principle that the Government must follow, without any exceptions.

Enterprises that do not have the ability to attract funds from non-budgetary sources include:

1. Defense companies that have restrictions on information disclosure, and therefore do not have the ability to provide complete financial information to the investor. Provided that these enterprises still play an important role in the process of ensuring the country's defense capability. Otherwise, this enterprise should take actions to separate the non-defense part of production into a separate legal entity that will be able to provide disclosure of financial and economic information, and, therefore, attract private investment.

2. Research organizations, the research results of which represent an outstanding scientific result and cannot be offered to industrial enterprises. Otherwise, such projects should be financed either by enterprises interested in research results, or by venture funds, including state ones.

3. Socially significant government projects that cannot be commercially viable under existing conditions.

IV. Privatization

The results of privatization are deplorable. The main goal - the creation of an effective owner - was not achieved. Ineffective property management leads to a deterioration in the condition of enterprises, and sometimes to their complete liquidation, which is a direct damage to the interests of the state. The state is not only deprived of budget revenues, but also forced to cover social costs. The development and implementation of a special program for creating effective owners is required. For this, it is necessary to demand from the owners plans for the development of enterprises, demonstrating the ability of the enterprise to overcome the crisis and increase competitiveness. A condition must be set that in case of non-fulfillment of the agreed plans, the shares of the owners will be sold at market value to the new owners, who have submitted the most effective development plans, as judged by independent experts. This measure should ensure the dynamism of enterprise reform processes.

V. Enterprise Restructuring

A number of Russian enterprises have historically inherited redundant infrastructure that makes it impossible for them to be profitable. Such enterprises cannot under any circumstances secure financing from commercial sources. They must either increase profits several times, or reduce assets and costs. Such giant enterprises, as a rule, are of great social importance for the region and cannot simply be liquidated. However, all attempts of state financing of these enterprises will lead to the loss of budget funds. The only way out of the situation is the development and implementation of restructuring projects. Due to the lack of qualifications and experience, the company's management is not able to independently develop and implement the restructuring project. The state should provide assistance in financing the services of professional management consultants selected on a competitive basis. By the way, today on the market there are a sufficient number of Russian consulting firms capable of carrying out such work.

Vi. Government regulation

Tax legislation, duties, tariffs, etc. should be developed taking into account the main goal - whether this measure will contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Russian enterprises. For example, the introduction of duties on the purchase of electronic components led to the complete elimination of all planned projects to create consumer electronics in Russia and the loss of an entire industry. On the other hand, according to the experience of China, if you plan to sell a milk tanker to China, you have to pay up to 100% duty. If the first measure reduced the competitiveness of Russian enterprises, then the introduction of measures similar to those in China can help to strengthen their competitiveness.

The imposition of taxes on advertising prevents Russian enterprises from fully competing with Western firms. The inability to sell the assets and products of the enterprise below the cost price (tax on losses) puts the enterprises in an extremely disadvantageous position in relation to their competitors, reduces the possibility of liquidating illiquid assets and replenishing the working capital. On the other hand, high duties on imported industrial equipment, which is necessary to ensure the competitive quality of Russian products, lead to an increase in the cost of goods and, accordingly, a loss of competitiveness.

It is also very important that government regulation measures stimulate the development of industries aimed at deeper processing of raw materials. That is, measures of state regulation should provide unconditional assistance to the development of industries, the purpose of which is the end consumer. Not a consumer of a transistor, but a consumer of a TV. Not a leather consumer, but a shoe consumer. Such an approach, on the one hand, will ensure the development of the consumer market and the strengthening of the positions of Russian manufacturers in it, on the other hand, it will stimulate the development of industries engaged in intermediate technological redistributions. Measures to stimulate deep processing will contribute to the creation of viable industrial groups with common strategic goals, each link of which will be interested in the effective work of the other. This list can be continued, but the main thing is that the principle of taking certain regulatory measures should be the same: they should be aimed at strengthening the competitive position of Russian enterprises.

  • Leadership and Management

Keywords:

1 -1

In the external market, it is a complex mechanism for realizing competitive advantages based on the effective use of available resources in order to increase production and sales of goods and services in the world market.

Country competitiveness factors

The concept of "competitiveness of a country" implies the production of goods that meet the needs of the international market and specific consumers. These products must be of high quality and meet the level of world standards.

It should be borne in mind that any product after entering the world market begins to gradually spend its competitiveness potential. In order to slow down this process, it is necessary to constantly improve the quality and operational characteristics of the product, and the production of a new product should be carried out systematically in order to create conditions for its entry into the world market.

To ensure the country's competitiveness in the international market, it is necessary to constantly study the situation on the world market and the level of competition development in accordance with the phases of the product life cycle. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the advisability of releasing a new product before the old one has exhausted its capabilities.

Thus, the country's competitiveness in the world market is characterized by a set of parameters of a product offered for sale in the external market, which distinguish this product from analogue products in terms of the degree of satisfaction of consumer demands and the level of costs for its acquisition and operation.

  • the ability of a country to produce more material assets than their competitors in world markets;
  • the degree of a country's ability to produce goods and services under conditions of a free and fair market (the Commission on Industrial Competitiveness under the President of the United States);
  • economic opportunity to pay for the funds received (World Development Bank);
  • the country's ability to produce goods and services that meet the requirements and create conditions for increasing public resources at a rate that allows for sustainable GDP growth rates and at the level of world values.
Factors that determine the country's competitiveness:
  • the dynamism of the economy, assessed by such indicators as the rate of economic development, the position of the national currency, the volume of production of the most important goods per capita, etc .;
  • industrial production efficiency:
  • the dynamism of the market, assessed by indicators of the level, volume of consumer spending per capita, etc .;
  • the state and development of the country, assessed based on the activities of commercial banks;
  • determined on the basis of the size and growth rate of the population and, the skill level of the labor force, etc .;
  • the role of the state, assessed by the degree of impact based on the study of the level of taxation, the share of the public sector in the national income of the country, etc .;
  • resources and infrastructure - the provision of the country with various types of resources with the degree of infrastructure development is investigated;
  • the socio-political situation in the country - the indicators characterizing it are the amount of income and its distribution, labor relations in industry, etc.

Competitiveness structure each country varies greatly, since no state can be competitive in all, or at least in the majority. Ultimately, countries succeed in certain industries because their domestic conditions are, where appropriate, the most dynamic and promising.

In contrast to the categories of competitiveness of products, goods, enterprises belonging to the field of microeconomics, the competitiveness of the national economy has a pronounced macroeconomic character.

At the present stage of economic development, ensuring the country's competitiveness is the most important problem that characterizes not only the country's position in the world market, but also determines it to a large extent.

World Competitiveness Ranking

Assessment of the country's competitiveness

Among the most common methodological approaches to assessing the level of a country's competitiveness are the methods of the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

1. The World Economic Forum, 1986, estimates by 8 groups of aggregated factors (381 indicators):

  • internal economic potential;
  • foreign economic relations;
  • state regulation;
  • credit and financial system;
  • infrastructure;
  • control system;
  • scientific and technical potential;

Indicators for assessing the stage of development of a country's competitiveness:

  • characterizing the level of economic development and the rate of its growth;
  • characterizing labor resources (the share of the active population, the level of labor productivity, wages, personal income);
  • r&D expenditures,% of (growth rate of expenditures, education expenditures, number of patents);
  • characterizing exports (the country's share in world exports, export growth rates; the share of labor-intensive and raw-material industries, capital-intensive industries, high-tech industries; the share of services in GDP);
  • investment (share of domestic investment,% of GDP: investment abroad,% of GDP: foreign investment,% of total investment; share of taxes in GDP).

2. The World Bank assesses the country's competitiveness according to 9 criteria (the sum can be up to 100 points):

  • political risk (money back);
  • economic prospects;
  • external debt;
  • debt due to default or debt restructuring;
  • access to banking resources;
  • access to capital markets;
  • provision of forfeiting services.

The country's competitiveness is calculated using the formula:

100 points \u003d 25 + 25 + 10 +10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 5 (Table 1).

Table 1. Assessment of the country's competitiveness

Indicators

Component elements

Assessment criterion

Note

1. Political risk, / p

Possibility of non-payment for the supply of products (provision of services)

Non-payment of loans, financial obligations, dividends

Impossibility of repatriation of invested capital

max \u003d 25 points

2. Economic prospects, / e

Development forecast for this year Forecast for the next year

max \u003d 25 points

3. External debt, / s

/ z \u003d A + (B x 10) - (C x 10)

The ratio of the country's total debt to GDP, A

Debt-to-export ratio, V

Current account balance of payments to GDP, С

max \u003d 10 points

The lower the numerical value according to the formula, the higher the rating

4. Debt due to default or in connection with debt restructuring, / d

Fulfillment (non-fulfillment) of financial obligations or postponement of payment for all debt

max \u003d 10 points

Countries that have not had payments receive the maximum score;

0 points - who has a default on financial obligations or has been postponed

max \u003d 10 points

Maximum points for the most solvent firms

6. Access to banking resources, / b

The ratio of private, long-term, non-guaranteed loans to GDP

max \u003d 10 points

Source of estimates "Global Development Finance"

7. Access to short-term financial resources, / f

The ability to obtain resources on the capital market without problems

The ability to obtain resources on the capital market without problems in 95% of cases

Access is not a problem

Access is possible depending on the situation on the capital market

Access is not excluded under certain conditions

Access is not possible at all

5 points

0 points

8. Access to forfeiting services, / ff

Access is risk-free

max \u003d 5 points

Sources: Morgan Crenfell, Trade Finance, Standard Bank, Mc Kinsy branch (Moscow)

Fatkhutdinov R.A. the country's competitiveness is assessed by the formula:

  • b i - the importance of factor i of competitiveness (i \u003d 1.0);
  • to i - competitiveness of the factor (K j \u003d P i / P ni);
  • P i - absolute value;
  • Ni - standard value of the factor).

Indicators for assessing the country's competitiveness (1.0):

  • expenditures from the state budget on R&D (in% of GDP);
  • expenditures from the state budget for human development (education, health care, social sphere), in% of GDP;
  • stability in the country, points;
  • GDP per capita, thousand dollars;
  • average life expectancy;
  • resource efficiency; exports as% of GDP;
  • place of the country in the world in terms of reserves of natural resources per capita.
  • place of the country in terms of its share among the 250 largest competitive firms in the world.

In the most general sense, under competitiveness is understood as the ability to get ahead of others, using their advantages in achieving the set goals.

Competitiveness is one of the most important integral characteristics used to assess the efficiency of economic activity of economic entities. The very word competitiveness, in relation to whatever subject it is considered, means the ability of this subject (potential and / or real) to withstand competition.

SI Ozhegov in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" interprets the term competitiveness as the ability to withstand and resist competitors.

R.A. Fatkhutdinov gives the following definition of competitiveness Is the ability of an object to withstand competition in comparison with similar objects in this market. The author emphasizes that the product or service is competitive or non-competitive in a particular market.

The variety of existing approaches to the concept of competitiveness is currently defined in the economic literature:

  • or by the peculiarities of the statement of the problem and the purpose of the study, which leads the author to the need to focus his attention on one or another aspect of competitiveness;
  • or by the features of the choice of the subject of research, which can be objects of competition (goods, services) and subjects of competition (enterprises, industries, regions, national economy, the state), and objects of competition (demand, market, factors of production: natural resources, labor, capital, securities, information, political power), and the scale of activity (commodity markets, industry markets, regional markets, interregional markets, world markets).

Main types of competitiveness:

  • (enterprises, firms, companies);
  • (goods, services).
Table 1. Hierarchy of concepts of competitiveness

Hierarchy level

Competitiveness concept

The country's ability to produce goods and services that meet the requirements of world markets and create conditions for increasing public resources at a rate that allows for sustainable GDP growth rates and the quality of life of the population at the level of world values

The ability of the region to produce goods and services that meet the requirements of domestic and world markets, to create conditions for increasing regional resources (innovative, intellectual, investment) to ensure the growth of the competitiveness of economic entities at a rate that ensures sustainable growth rates of GRP and the quality of life of the region's population at the level of world values

The industry's ability to produce goods and services that meet the requirements of global and domestic markets, and create conditions for the growth of the competitiveness potential of enterprises in the industry

Ability:

  • to achieve their own goals in the face of opposition from competitors;
  • satisfy the needs of consumers by producing and offering to the market goods that are superior to competitors; use production and management resources to develop and expand sales markets, increase the market value of the enterprise

The ability to be attractive to the buyer in comparison with other products of a similar type and purpose due to the better correspondence of its quality and cost characteristics to the requirements of this market and consumer assessments

Competitiveness of goods (services)

- a complex, multi-aspect, economic object characterized by a set of properties, the main of which are consumer properties, i.e. the ability of a product to meet the needs of the one who owns it. A commodity is a product of labor produced for sale. The term "product" is a more universal, more general term - "product". Products are physically tangible products. The product also includes an intangible component (services, ideas, etc.).

A product is anything that can be offered on the market for purchase, use or consumption in order to satisfy specific needs (physical items, services, ideas). According to Kotler, a product is perceived on three levels:

  • product by design, which must determine what consumer problem the created product solves (main benefit or service);
  • product in real performance - a specific product with a level of quality, a set of properties, specific design, brand name, packaging;
  • goods with reinforcement - provision of additional services (supplies and loans, installation, guarantees, after-sales service, etc.).

Service - a type of activity or benefits that one party can offer to the other.

Service characteristics:

  • intangibility (the service cannot be seen and tasted, heard before purchasing it);
  • inseparability from the manufacturer (its implementation is possible only in the presence of the manufacturer);
  • inconsistency of quality (the quality of the service depends on the skill of the producers);
  • non-persistence (the service cannot be stored until the next sale or use).

In the hierarchy of concepts of competitiveness, the basic concept is "", which can be considered for various types of goods (industrial and technical purpose, consumer purpose, services, information, etc.).

Enterprises, industries, regions, states that enter into competition for:

  • consumers;
  • markets (commodity, sectoral, territorial);
  • factors of production (natural raw materials, production
  • technological, labor, financial resources);
  • investments.

Consumer value of goods Is its ability to meet the specific need of the relevant consumer group (consumer segment). The consumer value of a product is determined by the degree to which it meets the needs of the relevant consumer group. Measure of the consumer value of a product - the maximum price that the consumer is willing to pay for it without regret. The lower the selling price of a product relative to its consumer value, the more profitable the consumer is to purchase the product, or, in other words, the higher the competitiveness of the product. For the consumer, the unpaid part of the consumer value is equal to the additional profit received from the use of the product. For a manufacturer, it corresponds to the “stock of competitiveness of his products”.

Many buyers, when deciding whether to purchase a particular product, use the criteria: price and quality (and this may mean reliability for some buyers, for others - aesthetic characteristics). The consumer weighs "whether there is enough quality" he is offered for the specified price. When describing a successful purchase, people often say that “it was possible to buy a product with such and such advantages for just so many rubles.” In other words, the buyer believes that it was not a pity to give more for the purchased product. But since it got cheaper, the purchase price is lower than the consumer value. The competitiveness of a product is the higher, the greater the share of unpaid utility received by the consumer.

Comparing products designed to satisfy the same need, the buyer takes into account their consumer properties, finds out the degree of compliance with their own needs. At the same time, he seeks to achieve an optimal ratio between the level of consumer properties of the product and the costs of its acquisition and use, that is, to obtain the maximum consumer effect per unit of cost. With respect to a specific need, the specified ratio can be achieved by a number of different goods due to their similar properties. Accordingly, they will all have the ability to satisfy a given need and in relation to it can be regarded as interchangeable. For example, a person's need for movement can be met by using a car, motorcycle, bicycle, train, etc.

With regard to the economic sphere, competitiveness is understood as the possession of properties that create advantages for the subject of economic competition. All the diversity of competitive relations is carried out at three levels: micro - specific types of products, production, enterprises; meso - industries, sectoral corporate associations of enterprises and firms of the horizontal type of integration; macro - national economic complexes of intersectoral type of integration (Fig. 1). Competitiveness at the micro, meso and macro levels affects each other. This close relationship is manifested in the nature of the foreign and domestic policy pursued and in the development strategies of companies. Moreover, the more developed the country's economic system, the more clearly this interaction is manifested: in fact, it is proclaimed as the goal of the government's policy and the development of companies. In Russia, this interaction is only at the initial stage of formation. Some large companies are not fully aware of the need to interact with the state and society.

There is a pattern: the more economically developed the state is, the more the initiative for such interaction comes from the micro level, i.e. from the companies themselves. It is large companies in developed countries that largely determine foreign policy. In Russia, the state should take upon itself the restoration of this chain of competitiveness.

General characteristics of the competitiveness of the Russian economy.

Competitiveness at the macro level refers to the country's ability to maintain high rates of economic growth in the medium and long term. To assess the country's competitiveness, 3 approaches are used: cost-price, rating and based on realized competitive advantages.

The cost-price approach is based on the labor productivity indicator. Russia has a competitive advantage over industrialized countries in terms of unit wages (UOT), defined by the ratio of wages to labor productivity. However, the extremely low PPP indicator is not a consequence of technological progress and growth in labor productivity: it reflects only low wages and poverty of the population, a high rate of labor exploitation and an underestimated ruble rate relative to purchasing power parity (PPP).

The analysis of realized competitive advantages is carried out on the basis of data on the volume and structure of exports and imports, as well as on the change in the share of domestic goods in the domestic trade. A sharp reduction in the scale of the national economy, an accelerated painful transformation of its economic mechanisms are also manifested in the collapse of the foreign economic sector, where the processes of liberalization took place most rapidly. Exports are growing only for mineral fuels, raw materials and metals. For the "machinery and equipment" product group, Russia's share in world exports does not exceed 0.5%, and for the goods of science-intensive industries it is less than 0.3%. At the same time, the share of Russian goods in consumption on the domestic market decreased. If for many years of the pre-reform period the resources of consumer goods for the domestic market were formed by at least 80% of their own production, at present, despite the advantages of devaluation, their share has decreased to 70%.

Fig. 1. Competition levels

Russia ranks last in the WEF's composite competitiveness index and practically all the factors that make it up. However, for some sub-factors of the factors "infrastructure" and "technology" Russia ranks above average. On the whole, only our labor force is relatively competitive - in 25th place. All other factors require development and represent a vast reserve for increasing competitiveness.

In Russia, due to objective circumstances, there are a number of factors that lead to a decrease in competitiveness both in the domestic and foreign markets, the main of which is a higher, compared to the world average, indicator of production costs associated with unfavorable climatic conditions and a large territory. Russia is the coldest and longest country in the world, and this circumstance is the reason for the increase in construction costs, high transport and energy costs. Labor productivity in Russia is only about 20% of that in the United States. In this regard, in order to maintain the price competitiveness of domestic products, it is necessary either to understate the level of wages by an amount that compensates for the additional costs of transporting goods and increased energy intensity, or artificially maintain lowered tariffs. Therefore, an active state policy is needed, aimed at leveling these negative factors and supporting national producers. The domestic market should be viewed by Russian companies as a launching pad, a mechanism for rejecting new ideas, and the state should strive to maximize the convergence of the conditions and mechanisms of the internal market with the objective, specified requirements of the external one. Of course, gradual convergence can and should be ensured not only by manufacturing companies (on the supply side) and direct influence of the state, but also by bringing demand factors closer to world standards (attitude to product quality, compliance with its requirements for economy and environmental standards, etc. .). According to Corr. RAS B. Kuzyk, "... internal competition in the current state of our economy in general and the domestic military-industrial complex in particular is absurd." Today, our companies that survived and were able to enter the world market must integrate. Even advanced, but single-handed enterprises have little chance of gaining a stable position in the global market. Today they prefer to cooperate with global companies, whose product range is 50-60% of the domestic market and at least 5-7% of the world market. So, to support shipbuilding companies B. Kuzyk proposes to form two or three large holdings.

Competitiveness is an attribute of a developed market mechanism, based on competition in a developed domestic market, which should be formed in Russia by 2010 as a result of institutional reforms in the public and private sectors, namely in the spheres of education, medicine, banking and finance, and also in commodity markets. But competition is not the end in itself of reforms, but only their consequence. In this regard, it is important to consider the main tasks of the ongoing institutional reforms from the standpoint of competitive relations.

Course work

on national economy

Competitiveness of the Russian economy

Introduction

Theoretical aspects

1 The concept of competitiveness

2 Factors of competitiveness

3 Competitive strategy of the country

Practical aspects

2 Devaluation as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the national economy

3 Protection of competition: sanctions, adequate violations

Conclusion

Bibliography

application

INTRODUCTION

Russia is part of the world economy, and it is a fait accompli. The most important goal of the Russian Government is to create a competitive economy that ensures the country's leadership in the international market. Analysis of the competitiveness of the Russian economy, determination of its place in the modern world economy and further prospects for the development of the competitiveness of the Russian economy is the main goal of this essay.

The basis of a competitive economy is a competitive industry. All actions of the Government: developed programs and legislative acts, procedures of state regulation and measures of state support should be subordinated to the main and priority goal for today - ensuring the competitiveness of Russian enterprises, and, consequently, the competitiveness of the economy and the country as a whole.

Competition is one of the most important features of the market economy. It is competition that ensures the creative freedom of the individual, creates conditions for his self-realization in the economic sphere through the development and creation of new competitive goods and services. In modern conditions of the intensifying process of globalization and internationalization, the problems of international competition come to the fore.

An indicator of the recognition of the leading role of competition for the successful functioning of the market economy is the fact that most countries of the world, including countries with economies in transition, have now adopted competition laws and established national authorities to deal with these issues.

Country and sectoral competitiveness ultimately depends on the ability of a particular manufacturer to produce a competitive product.

The competitiveness of the economy is the basis for development. The competitiveness of the economy is primarily the activation of exports. Export development is the most important task of the Government.

Russia's competitiveness is the flag that the government should carry in its hands as the main symbol of economic transformation. This is the idea that can unite people, regardless of their political preferences and position in society.

All these arguments testify to the indisputable relevance of resolving the issue of the country's competitiveness as one of the fundamental factors in the successful development of the state in all spheres of life.

Theoretical aspects

1 The concept of competitiveness

"Competitiveness is a property of an object that has a certain share of the relevant relevant market, which characterizes the degree of compliance of the technical, functional, economic, organizational and other characteristics of the object with the requirements of consumers, determines the market share belonging to this object, and prevents the redistribution of this market in favor of other objects" ...

The consequences of the above definition are the following rather obvious statements:

only such products can be recognized as fully competitive if they have different in nature indicators that are not inferior (at least) to the corresponding indicators of the goods sold in a specific market;

the basis for assessing the competitiveness of any type of product should be a comprehensive market research using modern marketing methods, which will allow not only determining some abstract "basic sample", but also correctly assessing the place of the analyzed object in the given market in comparison with similar assessments of real and potential market entities;

when purchasing a product, the consumer chooses the sample among similar ones that most satisfies his need.

To determine the country's competitiveness, about 340 indicators are used (Competitiveness indicators are a system of criteria for quantitatively assessing the state of competitiveness of a product or group of goods of the same class.) And more than 100 assessments of expert economists.

Traditionally, the USA, Japan, Germany, Switzerland are highly competitive. At the same time, experts note not only a powerful general economic basis for the competitiveness of these countries, which is quite fully characterized by competitiveness factors, but also an equally important structural aspect of their competitiveness. Namely: the degree of adaptation of the economy to the evolution of world demand; the exact choice of national specialization, corresponding to the internal capabilities; the ability to avoid sharp and meaningless competition by switching to the release of new products or the development of new markets. Understanding the global structure of world demand, the ability to respond dynamically to it, while actively shaping it in the right direction, is the secret of the market success of the world's leading exporters.

2 Factors of competitiveness

Competitiveness integrates (synthesizes) all aspects, parties, factors of functioning and development of the control object. In accordance with the definition of the system, as consisting of the external environment (look inside, primarily) and internal structure (look from the inside, secondary), the factors of competitiveness should be divided into general external and specific internal ones.

Competitive factors:

) primary in determining the competitiveness of a product is the competitiveness of the external environment: the quality of management, the competitiveness of the country, region, organization. These factors can be depicted in the form of a "nesting doll": in the center is the organization, then the region, country, quality of management;

) among the specific internal factors of the competitiveness of a product, the most important is its quality, which determines the level of price and cost of using the product;

) the quality of service to consumers of the goods determines the level of costs for the life cycle of the goods;

) the structure of factors according to the degree of their influence on competitiveness for each group of goods will be individual.

Professor V. Ya. Belobragin proposes to include in the composition of the factors of the competitiveness of goods, along with the four factors considered, two more - the delivery time and the manufacturer's image. In our proposed structure of factors of competitiveness of goods, "delivery time" is included in the "quality of management", and "image of the manufacturer" - in the "quality of service for consumers of the goods".

The main, universal external factor of competitiveness is the quality of strategic management decisions, which expresses the degree of validity of resource allocation, the accuracy of forecasts of future parameters of controlled objects. The quality of management can be improved by analyzing the operation of economic laws and the laws of the organization, adherence to principles, the application of scientific approaches and methods.

At present, the most competitive corporations in the world pay great attention to improving the accuracy of technical and socio-economic forecasts for the long term by increasing the number of taken into account external and internal factors, using modern optimization methods. No less attention is paid to improving the quality of raw materials, materials and components, the quality of equipment and various processes in order to reduce the tolerance of connections and manufacturing defects. Thus, corporations General Motors, Ford, Motorola, Mercedes, Toyta, and others annually spend billions of dollars to improve the quality of workmanship, to reduce defects to six sigma (no more than 3.5 possible defects per million operations). The Russian industry, in our estimate, operates on systems that allow the number of defects thousands of times more than six sigma.

Low quality management at all levels of the hierarchy, that is, ignoring the mechanisms of action of economic laws and laws of organization, scientific approaches and principles, modern methods and models of management (in the broad sense of this concept), leads to unjustified political and socio-economic decisions, inefficient use of resources ...

The list of general external and specific internal factors of increasing competitiveness for each type of management object will be individual.

Specific internal factors of the competitiveness of the region and the country, according to the degree of their impact on the final result, the quality of life is recommended to be further subdivided into strategic and actual. Formation, financing and implementation of strategic factors of competitiveness (investment climate, innovation activity, R&D and personal development expenditures, etc.) provide an improvement in actual indicators or factors (safety, infrastructure quality, human development index, unemployment rate, life expectancy, etc.) .).

The level of competitiveness of the region and the country is directly influenced by the quality of political, socio-economic, innovation processes. Therefore, these processes and competitiveness should be investigated using a systemic, integrated, marketing and other scientific approaches.

3 Competitive strategy of the country

It is necessary to understand how a country creates and maintains a competitive advantage. At the present stage, the possibilities of countries are not limited.

To understand the nature of competition, the main unit is an industry (it does not matter whether it is a processing or service sector), or an industry, i.e. a group of competitors that produce goods or services and directly compete with each other. A strategically significant industry includes products with similar sources of competitive advantage. In addition, there may be related industries, whose products - the same indicators, production technology or distribution channels, but they have their own requirements for competitive advantage. In practice, the boundaries are always very vague.

By developing a specific strategy, the country seeks to find and implement a way to profitably and lastingly compete in its industry. There is no universal competitive strategy; only a strategy that is consistent with the conditions of a particular industry, skills and capital possessed by the country can be successful.

A specific strategy should be based on a comprehensive understanding of the structure of the industry and the process of its change. In any branch of the economy - it does not matter whether it acts only on the internal market or on the external one too - the essence of competition is expressed by five forces:

The threat of the emergence of new competitors;

The threat of the appearance of goods or services - substitutes;

The ability of suppliers of component parts, etc. to bargain;

The ability of buyers to bargain;

The rivalry of existing competitors among themselves.

competitive strategy russia devaluation

Practical aspects

Russia has lost 9 positions and dropped to 62nd place in the rating of competitiveness of the world's economies for 2006-2007, prepared by the International Economic Forum (IEF). This is not a very important indicator, but it clearly indicates the abnormal state of affairs in the Russian economy.

The IEF experts associate the decline in the Russian rating mainly with the imperfection of the country's judicial system. "The process of obtaining legal aid in Russia, unlike most developing economies, takes a long time and requires significant costs, while at the same time it is not sufficiently transparent," the report says. In the "correct" translation of the Goblin, it would sound like this: "Seizures of enterprises in Russia have become such a common thing that it has become more expensive to do any business except criminal in this country."

At present, Russian universities do not train specialists in competitiveness (it was only in 2002 that some leading universities began to study the course "Management of the competitiveness of an organization" within the framework of the second higher economic education). There are no regulations in the country (laws, decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, etc.), press bodies on competitiveness, etc. Meanwhile, according to the report of the World Economic Forum, according to the rating of competitiveness among 80 countries, Russia occupies only 62 place!

The Federal Law "On Technical Regulation" adopted on December 27, 2002, conceptually changes the approaches to the management of scientific and technological progress, standardization, certification and other complex problems of increasing the efficiency of the Russian economy. The mentioned law "permeates" the idea of \u200b\u200bincreasing the competitiveness of products. At the same time, improving the quality of management, quality of products, quality of customer service, the price and costs of using products will be factors that determine competitiveness. In accordance with the principles of a systematic approach, the requirements of which are met by the Federal Law, one should first build the whole (system), and then structure it and engage in proportional development of each component of the whole. In Russia, they tried to do the opposite, that is, to improve one component (product quality) of the whole (competitiveness) without structuring the whole. Ignoring a systematic approach in the past 10 years has led to a huge waste of funds at all levels of the economy.

In February 2003, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted the "Program for the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation in the medium term (2003-2005)". Clause 1.1 of the program notes: “The tendencies towards globalization that have intensified at the end of the last century have significantly aggravated the problem of Russia's competitiveness. In the absence of significant cross-country barriers to the movement of capital, labor, technology, information, the problem of maintaining national competitiveness in the struggle to attract world economic resources, as well as to retain its own, is of paramount importance for Russia. In the event of a loss in the competitive struggle, Russia loses not only a significant part of its economic resources, but also its political weight, positions in foreign markets, and, most importantly, loses its potential for sustainable development. The task of achieving high rates of economic growth should not be considered in isolation from the indicators of the competitiveness of the economy. "

In each section of the program, the idea of \u200b\u200bincreasing competitiveness is defined as the most important tool for reviving the national economy.

Unfortunately, the program was developed in the spirit of the Soviet "Basic directions of the country's socio-economic development for a five-year period." In general, it is of a declarative nature, the directions of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation are not specific. There is no mechanism for increasing the country's competitiveness.

Thus, the authors of the program propose to further reduce the share of state property, the degree of state participation in managing the economy. This is a strategic mistake of our reformers, first committed by them more than 10 years ago, when leaders, without a scientifically grounded reform strategy, began to carry out "cowboy" (first they shoot, then aim) privatization, liberalization, and stabilization. Who will be responsible for the fact that the coefficient of extraction from the bowels of natural resources in Russia is approximately 2 times lower than in developed countries? Renewal of fixed assets is several times lower than the standard, and their wear exceeds the critical level. In Russia, the gap between the incomes of the rich and the poor is growing, organized crime and corruption are not decreasing, the life expectancy of Russians is decreasing, and its quality is deteriorating. The participation of the state in the management of the economy is ineffective, as evidenced by the complexity of creating and operating a new business, bureaucracy, and disorder in many spheres of public life. The state is obliged to develop and implement strategic measures to improve the quality of governance, the country's competitiveness and the quality of life of the population.

2 Devaluation as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the national economy

Currently, there are two opposite opinions about devaluation as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the national economy.

On the one hand, if there is underemployment and a deficit in the balance of payments in a country (at a fixed exchange rate), then theoretically it is believed that the point of double equilibrium (full employment and a zero balance of payments) can be achieved by the country by a directive depreciation of the national currency.

However, on the other hand, in the long run, increased prices for imports will raise the level of prices within the country, since foreign consumer goods are included in the consumer basket, which determines the money wage rate, and foreign raw materials are directly included in production costs. The rise in prices within the country will negate the increase in the competitiveness of domestic goods due to devaluation.

With a floating exchange rate, the national currency is permanently devalued and revalued, and therefore the consequences of stabilization policy measures in conditions of a changing price level become difficult to predict.

Thus, the government of the country is faced with the question of what is the role of devaluation in the development of the national economy.

Devaluation should ensure the flow of foreign currency into the country. For Russia, in contrast to developed and some developing countries, the powerful flow of foreign currency from exports is of particular importance, since the issue of external debt is too acute. Due to the fact that the supply of foreign currency in the Russian market is provided mainly by exporters, after each stage of payments on the external debt (before which the state buys foreign currency), the ruble will fall, and the economic situation in the country will worsen. The state, supporting strong exports by means of currency devaluation, can form the required amount of foreign exchange reserves. In this sense, devaluation can, to some extent, provide the stability that our economy needs so much.

Do not forget that the devaluation, having negative consequences (a sharp decline in the standard of living of the population, the weakening of importers and enterprises dependent on imports) brings all the advantages of increased exports and a fall in the motto, namely: strengthening of export industries, increased employment, increased inflow of foreign investment (which is especially important for increasing the competitiveness of the Russian economy), etc.

Thus, devaluation can serve as a tool for increasing the competitiveness not of the entire economy as a whole, but of its export industries. If a country is oriented towards the active development of export industries, then devaluation can be used as such a tool. However, further development of the national economy requires a rethinking of devaluation as the main instrument for increasing Russia's competitiveness.

Also at the 4th economic forum in Krasnoyarsk on February 19, 2007, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation German Gref. expressed the opinion that Russia faces the task of introducing effective management and effective local administrations in the near future. According to him, only when this task is fulfilled in Russia will a certain competitiveness in general and an increase in the efficiency of the regions' work be created.

G. Gref said that the coming years will dictate a completely different macroeconomic situation than before. The main task of the country is to optimize operating costs and develop infrastructure.

According to G. Gref, it is necessary to use public-private partnership to achieve the set goals, which will improve the economic situation in the country. G. Gref recalled that the Russian government approved 8 investment development projects with the participation of public-private partnerships. At the same time, he noted that the state is investing $ 178 billion in infrastructure development.

The Minister stressed that by launching projects of the Investment Fund, Russia has set a precedent for attracting market financing in order to create infrastructure. Russia is on the verge of a significant revision of the concept of state actions in this area, he believes.

2.3 Protection of competition: sanctions, adequate violations

Sanctions for monopolistic actions should include the confiscation of monopoly income. On December 5, 2003, this measure was introduced into the Code of Administrative Offenses, but on July 7, 2006, it was excluded from it, moreover, on the initiative of the Competition Protection Committee. As a justification for his initiative, it was indicated that the withdrawal of monopoly income to the budget allegedly is not a measure of administrative responsibility and is of a civil nature. However, the seizure of property from market entities by the state always bears a unilaterally coercive and imperious (public) character and cannot in any way relate to civil (private) relations arising between equal entities.

In addition, for abuse by market entities of their dominant (monopoly) position, a fine should be imposed in an amount that is a multiple of the MCI, and for committing a cartel conspiracy, a turnover fine should be introduced (as a percentage of the company's turnover).

Until July 2006, there were fixed fines. Then they began to be determined as a percentage of the monopoly income received. At the same time, the fact was not taken into account that as a result of most abuses of a dominant position, with the exception of cases of establishing a monopoly high price and violation of the pricing procedure, the market entity does not receive additional monopoly income. Therefore, companies that abuse their dominant position cannot be held accountable.

Cartel collusion is considered the most dangerous offense for competition, therefore, all over the world, higher sanctions are provided for this, calculated as a percentage of the company's turnover (there are often reports in the media about the collection of hundreds of millions of dollars in fines in Europe and the United States). Their average size is 10 percent of the company's total turnover, in Russia - from one to 15%.

CONCLUSION

Competition is a necessary and defining condition for the normal functioning of a market economy. But as any phenomenon has its pros and cons. The positive features include: flexible adaptation to demand, high quality products, high labor productivity, minimum costs, implementation of the principle of payment according to the quantity and quality of labor, the possibility of regulation by the state. The negative consequences are the difference in the conditions of activity, which leads to dishonest practices, excessive exploitation of natural resources, environmental violations, etc.

We found that in order for the market to be completely competitive, the following conditions must be met for it: the presence of many sellers, each of which is small relative to the market as a whole; product uniformity; well-informed buyers; free entry of firms into and out of the market, and independent decisions, both on the part of producers and consumers. Some industries, especially in agriculture, meet these requirements, but the competition model is useful even when these requirements are met only approximately. A perfect competitor cannot influence the prevailing market price of goods and services.

In imperfectly competitive markets, as opposed to perfectly competitive markets, sellers can raise the price of their products by limiting their output. Monopoly is an extreme case of imperfect competition, where there is one single seller and no opportunity for others to enter.

A society, recognizing that a monopoly violates the pricing process, being hostile to monopoly profits or for other reasons, can declare the monopoly a "socially useful enterprise" and establish control over its prices. Other important types of imperfectly competitive markets are monopolistic competition (many sellers, ease of entry, and product differentiation) and oligopoly (few sellers, product differentiation is possible, and entry barriers exist). In imperfect competition, the firm has a certain amount of control.

Speaking about the negative methods of competitive struggle, it should be noted that as long as there is competition, industrial espionage will also exist, i.e. these two phenomena are interconnected, one cannot, of course, deny the effectiveness of industrial espionage, for example, it has a significant impact on the development of the military-industrial complex. And yet, despite the effectiveness of industrial espionage, it cannot replace development either on a sectoral, national or global scale; it cannot replace research and development, discoveries, since if you use someone else's, stolen, all the time, then some of your own development potential is lost, which ultimately leads to regression.

We also found out that the competitiveness of the Russian economy is at a very low level, found the reasons for the current situation and possible solutions to this problem.

I believe that it is precisely with the help of state regulation of the economy and various antimonopoly measures of an official and unofficial nature that one can achieve what cannot be achieved by factors automatically acting in conditions of free competition that counteract the influence of monopolies or balance it; the problems arising with today's inflation growth can be solved, including through the growth of market competitiveness.

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12.www.finansmag.ru<#"justify">APPENDIX 1

Glossary of terms

Devaluation is a legislatively lowering the exchange rate of the national currency.

Competition - economic competition for the right to receive a larger share of a certain type of limited resources.

Competitiveness is a property of an object that has a certain share of the relevant relevant market, which characterizes the degree of compliance of the technical-functional, economic, organizational and other characteristics of the object with the requirements of consumers, determines the market share belonging to this object, and prevents the redistribution of this market in favor of other objects.

Monopoly is a situation that arises in the market when there is only one buyer of goods (monopolist), which, due to its exceptional position, can dictate to all sellers the conditions for acquiring these goods, and above all their price.

National economy - the system of social reproduction of the country, an interconnected system of industries and types of production, covering the existing forms of social labor in the national economy; self-regulating system, consisting of a large number of different interrelated activities.

Privatization is the transfer of former state-owned enterprises under certain conditions to new private owners represented by non-governmental organizations.

APPENDIX 2

KriteriiSShAYaponiyaGermaniyaKitayBraziliyaRossiyaKonkurentosposobnost (ranking among 80 countries) 11314334664VVP per capita 200111013624740Uroven unemployment 200119235092943Uroven development of financial rynka23310631174Uroven federal regulation biznesa131553774861Bankovskaya marzha13147168072Tehnologicheskoe perfection strany147393764Innovatsionnaya Activity kompaniy219381776Raskhody companies NIOKR153342541Uroven integration of education, science, proizvodstva2248162645Utechka umov1716402148Uroven provide personal kompyuterami11619654549Kachestvo infrastructure strane5203524557Ohrana intellectual sobstvennosti13210454069Effektivnost legislative deyatelnosti24216104851Orgprestupnost214719435871Raskhody business korruptsiyu162318504952Barery for starting a new business44536344965Level of integration of market actors324161143Competitive advantages of companies321465272Degree of customer orientation1313373449Level of marketing development194691975Investment training and retraining of personnel 365492971