Competition. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

Lecture notes, cheat sheets
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Competition. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

Lecture notes, cheat sheets

Table of contents

1. Concept, main types of competition

The market system creates freedom of economic choice, everyone has the right to produce and sell their goods. The result is economic competition, a competition called competition.

Competition - the struggle between producers, between suppliers of goods (sellers) for leadership, for leadership in the market.

Competition serves as one of the most important ways to improve the efficiency of both the entire economic system and all its links. Competition is a civilized form of the struggle for survival; it is the strongest means of continuous stimulation of workers and labor collectives. Thanks to the economic freedom that accompanies competition, the market economy is superior to the command economy, in which there is no place for competition.

Positive aspects of competition:

1) competition makes you constantly look for and use new opportunities in production;

2) competition requires the improvement of equipment and technologies;

3) competition stimulates the improvement of the quality of goods;

4) competition forces to reduce costs (and prices);

5) competition requires suppliers of goods (sellers) to reduce prices for the offered goods;

6) competition focuses on the range of high-demand goods;

7) competition improves product quality (the customer is always right);

8) competition introduces new forms of management.

Negative aspects of competition: in competition, there is ruthlessness and cruelty towards the loser, a large number of "victims" in the form of bankruptcies and unemployment.

The following factors influence the competitiveness of a product:

1) during its production:

a) labor productivity;

b) the level of taxation;

c) introduction of scientific and technical developments;

d) the amount of profit of the enterprise;

e) the amount of wages.

2) when it is consumed:

a) the selling price of the goods;

b) quality;

c) novelty;

d) after-sales service;

e) the level of pre-sale preparation.

There are six types of competition:

1) functional competition - based on the fact that the same consumer need can be satisfied in different ways;

2) species competition - this is competition between similar products, but different in design;

3) subject competition - this is competition between similar products, but different in product quality and brand attractiveness;

4) price competition - price reduction increases sales, leads to market expansion;

5) hidden price competition there are two types:

a) selling personal goods at a competitor's price;

b) a decrease in the price of consumption of goods;

6) illegal methods:

a) anti-advertising of competitors' products;

b) production of imitation goods (fake).

2. Forms and methods of competition

There are three forms of competition:

1) functional;

2) specific (personal);

3) subject.

Functional competition - arises because any need can be satisfied in various ways. All products that provide such satisfaction are functional competitors. Functional competition must be taken into account even if the firm is a manufacturer of a truly unique product.

Species (personal) competition - i.e. there are goods intended for the same purpose, but differing in some important parameter (passenger 5-seater cars of the same class, but with engines of different power).

Subject competition - the result of the fact that firms produce, in fact, identical goods that differ only in workmanship or even the same quality. Such competition is sometimes referred to as intercompany competition.

It is customary to divide competition according to its methods into price and non-price, or competition based on price and competition based on quality (use value):

Competition methods:

1) based on the criterion of improving the quality of goods (non-price);

2) on the basis of the criterion of improving the quality of service of the goods;

3) on the basis of price reduction (price);

4) on the basis of reducing the operating costs of the consumer;

5) on the basis of improving the quality of management;

6) based on the use of all competitive advantages of the object and subject (integral).

Price competition. Pricing methods are used to penetrate markets with new products, as well as to strengthen positions in the event of a sudden exacerbation of the sales problem.

With direct price competition firms publicize the price cuts of their products on the market.

With hidden price competition firms introduce a new product with improved consumer properties, but raise the price disproportionately.

Non-price competition. Highlights higher reliability than competitors, lower “consumption price,” more modern design, etc. The strongest weapon of non-price competition is advertising. Non-price methods also include the provision of a large range of services (including staff training), the offset of old delivered goods as a down payment for a new one, the supply of equipment no longer on a “turnkey” basis, but on the terms of “finished products in hand”.

Illegal methods of non-price competition include:

1) industrial espionage;

2) enticing specialists who own trade secrets;

3) the release of goods that outwardly do not differ from original products, but are significantly worse in quality.

3. Competition by degree of intensity

Intensity of competition - the nature and degree of opposition of competitors

same industry or market. The competitive situation is influenced by measures of state regulation of the industry - import restrictions, export bans, etc., which can both increase and decrease the attractiveness of the industry. For the degree of competition intensity, the Michael Porter model is usually used. It describes the functioning of the competitive environment within five main competitive forces:

1. The threat of new companies entering the market - add new production capacities to the industry and thereby reduce the market shares of existing competitors;

2. Bargaining power of suppliers affects the prices and quality of supplied products and services, which affects the profitability of the industry. Conditions under which the bargaining power of suppliers is high:

a) dominance of several suppliers;

b) a greater concentration in the industry of suppliers than in the industry of producers;

c) unavailability of substitute goods;

d) the insignificance of the manufacturer for suppliers;

e) the importance of the supplier's products to the manufacturer;

f) high differentiation of suppliers;

g) high costs of the manufacturer to change the supplier;

h) the supplier's ability to directly integrate with the manufacturer.

3. Bargaining power of buyers expressed in their ability to lower prices in an industry by reducing the quantity of goods they buy, or to demand a better quality product for the same price. Factors leading to greater bargaining power of buyers:

a) greater concentration than in the industry of the manufacturer;

b) large volumes of purchases;

c) undifferentiated or standard goods, services of the manufacturer;

d) the threat of backward integration of the buyer with the manufacturer;

e) openness of information on the composition of the producer's costs;

f) high price elasticity of demand in the industry;

4. Threat of substitute products. The availability of substitutes sets an upper limit on the price of a product in an industry. When the prices of existing goods rise above this limit, buyers may switch to substitute goods.

5. Competition between existing companies in the industry is the core of Porter's model. The intensity of competition between firms will be high if there are: a large number of firms in the industry, a small degree of their differentiation, a low industry growth rate, high fixed costs, for strategic or emotional reasons.

The intensity of competition also depends on the type of interaction between competitors and the speed of processes occurring in the industry.

4. The concept of competitiveness

Competitiveness - this is a comparative, and therefore a relative assessment of the properties of the goods. If there were no competitors on the market, with whose products the consumer compares your product, then it would be impossible to talk about its competitiveness.

Product competitiveness - this is a relative and generalized characteristic of the product, expressing its advantageous differences from the competitor product.

The competitiveness of a product is determined by the following factors:

a) the quality of manufactured products is determined by the latest technologies and qualified personnel;

b) the professionalism of the directorate;

c) low cost;

d) advertising (the advertised product is in great demand, and hence the supply).

The complex of competitiveness of goods consists of three groups of elements:

1) technical;

2) economic;

3) social - organizational.

Technical specifications the most rigid. According to them, one can judge the purpose of the goods, its belonging to a certain type of product. These are also characteristics that reflect technical and design solutions (standards, norms, rules, legislative acts, etc.) and ergonomic indicators.

Economic parameters are represented by the value of the cost of producing a product: its price, the cost of transportation, installation, repair, etc. Together, all these costs form the price of consumption. The consumption price is higher than the selling price. The buyer makes expenses not only for the purchase of goods, but also for its consumption.

The most competitive product is not the product for which they ask for the minimum price on the market, but the one that has the minimum consumption price for the entire period of its service with the buyer.

Socio-organizational parameters - taking into account the social structure of consumers, national characteristics in the organization of production, marketing, advertising of goods.

The competitiveness of a product largely determines the competitiveness of the enterprise itself, but there are differences between these concepts.

Firm competitiveness - this is a relative characteristic that expresses the differences in the development of a given company from the development of competitive firms in terms of the degree to which their goods meet the needs of people and in terms of the efficiency of production activities.

The term "competitiveness" is:

a) multivariance (under competitiveness understand only some of the technical characteristics of products, firms or industries);

b) relativity (a product that competes in some markets will be completely uncompetitive in others);

at) difference in approaches to assessment and analysis competitiveness at its different levels: the level of goods, enterprises, industries, etc.

5. The main subjects of the market and the mechanism of competitive establishment of an equilibrium price

Equilibrium price - the price in a competitive market at which the quantity of goods and services that consumers are willing to buy absolutely corresponds to the quantity of goods and services that producers are willing to offer.

At the equilibrium price:

▪ price at which supply and demand are equal to each other;

▪ price at which there is neither a shortage nor an excess of goods and services;

▪ a price that does not show an upward or downward trend.

Competition is the driving force behind the market. Competition and fluctuations in supply and demand led to the establishment of price equilibrium in the market. It is important that prices in the market are in constant motion due to changes in the supply or demand of goods. These changes are interrelated. Each change in the price of one good leads to changes in the price of other goods. There is a whole system of prices that can be in equilibrium if we consider it at a certain moment and simultaneously in its totality. In this case, we talk about the general equilibrium of the market. At the equilibrium point, economic movement stops. In order for it to start again, external conditions, price levels, technology, expectations and preferences of producers or consumers must change.

It is competition that drives firms to switch to the most efficient production technologies. In a competitive market, the inability of some firms to use the most economical production technology ultimately means their elimination by other competing firms that use the most efficient production methods.

Participants in market transactions can also exchange at non-equilibrium prices, since they do not know the equilibrium ones. In this case, there is a shortage or surplus in the market, and the participants in the exchange, finding that their desires, represented by the corresponding supply and demand functions, turn out to be unattainable.

The market is the scene three main economic actors:

1) the state - the subject of its purchase, are: goods for public and state use. The subject of sale, in turn, is the services of state organizations and institutions, land, natural resources, housing, licenses;

2) enterprises - the subject of their purchase: labor, land, natural resources, raw materials, semi-finished products, goods, money, securities. Subject of sale: goods, services, their property values, intellectual property;

3) households - the subject of purchase: consumer goods, services, property values, and the subject of sale - labor, property values, goods and services.

6. The law of limited resources and the objective basis for the competitiveness of producers

The Law of Limited Resources: economic resources are insufficient in terms of their productivity to fully satisfy all needs at a given level of development. Their use in one area excludes the possibility of their simultaneous use in another.

All resources are non-free, limited and rare. The concept of limited resources is quite common. Only in conditions of scarcity and limited resources, on the basis of which benefits are created, do economic problems arise. Economic problems do not arise if the volumes of goods and resources that satisfy human needs are unlimited. But their rational use can increase the competitiveness of a manufacturer interested in the efficient use of resources and profit maximization, as well as satisfy part of human needs.

The objective basis for the competitiveness of manufacturers in the market is determined by their ability to compete with other manufacturers operating in the same market segment and producing similar products, as well as achieving and maintaining a strong competitive position for a long period of time. This is the main condition for its successful functioning, expressed, ultimately, in terms of profitability. To do this, on the one hand, you need to know the main characteristics of the competitive position that it wants to take in the future, and on the other hand, to have a clear idea of what resources and capabilities that give it a competitive advantage it needs to have for this, and which of them it is really available or will be available.

To achieve high competitiveness, manufacturers:

▪ strategic management;

▪ strategic marketing.

Strategic management is the main tool for ensuring the competitiveness of manufacturers. It includes the construction and implementation of a competitiveness model.

Strategic Marketing - one of the methods to ensure the competitiveness of manufacturers. It occupies a subordinate position in relation to strategic management and can be effectively used in the presence of certain external conditions. The main goal of marketing is to satisfy the needs of target consumers as fully as possible. Therefore, the management of the competitiveness of manufacturers, which operates in a competitive environment and sets long-term development goals, should have a strategic focus.

7. Typology of monopolies

Like competition, monopolies can be classified for various reasons.

On place in commercial transactions monopolies are divided into two types:

Monopoly - an association of enterprises that sells certain goods to many buyers (i.e., there is a single seller and many buyers).

Monopsony - a business association that buys any products from all sellers (i.e., there is a single buyer and many sellers).

Depending on the on the degree of market coverage the following types of monopolistic organizations are distinguished:

Pure monopolies (Monopsony) - These are organizations operating on the scale of one industry. Pure monopsony, in the absence of any competitors, completely controls the purchase of the products of many producers at the price set by it.

Absolute monopoly (monopsony) - is formed on the scale of the national economy as a whole. It is in the hands of the state or some of its economic bodies.

Depending on the nature and causes of occurrence, the following types of monopolistic associations are distinguished:

Natural monopoly - occurs when certain market entities have at their disposal rare and non-reproducible elements of production. Sometimes this also includes industries and industries in which it is unacceptable to develop competition due to the technological features of production.

technological - deliberately maintained monopolies.

Artificial monopolies - associations created in order to obtain monopolistic benefits and based on the concentration of production and sales market of any product in one hand.

Artificial monopolies had multiple forms - random, stable and universal.

Random form arises unexpectedly when there is an exceptional opportunity to produce and sell a commodity under the best conditions of production and with a temporary favorable balance of supply and demand.

sustainable the monopoly arises from the largest enterprises that captured the markets at the end of the twentieth century. The appearance of excess capital in one industry and incapable of generating high profits led to the formation of stable monopolies in various industries (combined trusts, concerns, conglomerates).

Universal the form of monopolies appeared in the second half of the XNUMXth century, when, in most markets, associations of entrepreneurs, jointly or with the help of the state, become either the main buyers or the main sellers.

In the economic literature, sometimes emphasize legal monopolies that are formed legally

8. Competition as a ratio of spontaneity and organization

Market as a system is a certain equilibrium combination of two principles - spontaneous, competitive and organizing, monopoly.

The basis of the spontaneity of the market, the competitive beginning is the participation in the competition of many independent, independent commodity producers with different production conditions, individual characteristics of the goods. They compete to secure their own interests. Such competitiveness of economic entities is characterized by the possibility of independent actions to effectively limit the ability of each of them to unilaterally influence the general conditions for the circulation of goods in the relevant market.

Organization, the monopoly start presupposes the presence of a narrow group of producers of a particular product, elements of collusion, a certain uniformity of requirements, quality standards; orderly, coordinated, foreseen actions. The offer of enterprises occupying a monopoly position is opposed in the market by the aggregate demand of all buyers of the goods within the product and geographical boundaries of the relevant market. The monopolies produce appropriate forecasts, determine the strategy in the field of production, using for this extensive statistical information, a system of sectoral and macroeconomic models.

The combination between competitive and monopoly principles should be optimal. For each specific conditions, such an optimum is the maximum of competition with a minimum of monopoly. Deviations from this optimum are fraught with great losses for society.

The market mechanism, where there is an optimal combination of competition and monopoly, ensures that the structure of production corresponds to the structure of social needs, stimulates the introduction of new equipment and technology, encourages the best producers, and punishes the worst.

The ratio of spontaneity and planned production in the process of developing a market economy. XIX century: free competition, fluctuation of prices around the equilibrium price under the influence of D and S, overflow of resources, unlimitedly flexible adaptation of firms to market conditions, a clear organization of production within firms; XX century: dependence of small and medium-sized businesses on market conditions, price fluctuations around the equilibrium price under the influence of D and S, the transfer of resources between non-monopolistic industries, the influence of large corporations on market prices and profits, the conscious strengthening of corporations by their affiliates on the basis of contractual agreements and portfolios government orders, economic development program.

9. Market and competition in a pre-industrial society

The emergence of the market in a pre-industrial society is associated with the emergence of a social division of labor. Already at the dawn of civilization there was a major division of labor between agricultural and pastoral tribes. The market is a specific way of organizing economic activity, where economic relations between people act as relations between goods or things. The equivalent value of such relationships is money.

Historically, the market was formed gradually and was initially associated with the retail trade in products and some household goods. For such trade, special places were allocated in the squares and busy streets of settlements. A market of this kind is often called a bazaar, and in this form it has survived to this day. However, in the future, the concept of "market" acquired a broader meaning, and by this concept, we mean a market economy.

In a market economy, all market entities act separately and act in relation to each other as competitors. However, according to Karl Polanyi, "competition in a pre-industrial society is out of the question."

Under economic competition understand the competition of economic entities in the market for the preference of consumers in order to obtain the greatest profit. Competition is a necessary and essential element of the market mechanism, but its nature and forms differ in different markets and in different market situations. In a market economy, competition is an important mechanism of economic relations between producers and consumers.

If more goods are delivered to the market than buyers are able to purchase, then sellers will fight for the buyer, while lowering prices. If fewer goods are delivered to the market than the buyers are willing to purchase, then the latter will compete for the seller, thereby raising prices.

Competition provides a significant economic effect, stimulating price reduction, improving the quality and range of products, introducing scientific and technological achievements, etc.

There are four conditions for the emergence of competition in the economic market:

▪ the presence on the market of a large number of manufacturers of any specific product or resource;

▪ freedom of choice of economic activity of producers;

▪ there is a correspondence between what determines demand and what determines supply;

▪ presence of a market for means of production.

Speaking about the advantages of competition and the market as a whole, one should not forget about their negative aspects, as well as those problems that they cannot solve by their nature.

10. "Wild competition" of the era of primitive accumulation of capital and the emerging market

Economic theory defines competition as social selection as a result of the competitive struggle of the most adapted to market relations of economic entities. "Adjustability" is expressed in the ability of an enterprise to adapt to events occurring in a competitive environment and is reflected in obtaining and maximizing long-term profits.

The adaptability mechanism is implemented in different ways. The most common is the implementation of the mechanism of "wild" ("non-economic") competition. This mechanism was the predominant form of competition in the period of pure capitalism or primitive capitalism.

A characteristic feature of this stage is the dominance of indirect methods of violence of a person (employer-capitalist) over another person (employee). In contrast to direct forms of violence (feudalism, slavery, robbery, robbery, banditry), indirect forms of violence (long hours of work that are detrimental to human health, prohibitively high injuries in the production process, wages at or below the physiological minimum, etc.) implied the voluntary consent of both parties to the implementation of such relations. The voluntary consent of the worker was determined by the social background of the society of that time. The employer here acted as a classical capitalist, described in the works of K. Marx and F. Engels. Negative forms of behavior also prevailed in relation to other participants in market transactions:

1) competitors (physical elimination, blackmail, espionage, fraud, monopoly collusion);

2) consumers (poor-quality, often life-threatening in use, goods, deception in calculations, discrimination);

3) suppliers (fraud in calculations); shareholders (creation of fictitious joint-stock companies, non-payment of dividends, manipulations with controlling stakes);

4) to the local community and the state (non-payment of taxes, ignoring laws, planting corruption, environmental pollution, spiritual decay of the population through the distribution of base and immoral products, alcohol).

In terms of importance for the life of the world community, "wild" competition is giving way to other types of competition, such as price, subject or functional competition. However, spatially it still occupies a dominant position. Many countries of the world (this is especially true for the group of developing countries - countries of the "third world") have never left and are unlikely to leave the area of this type of competition in the near future.

11. Competition in a self-regulating market

Competition, with all its positive and negative sides, is an important element of the market self-regulation mechanism.

According to Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1988), competition through the price mechanism informs market participants about the opportunities that they can use to effectively use the limited resources that society has.

A market economy has two main advantages:

1) it uses the knowledge of all market participants;

2) the market serves the private goals of individuals in all their diversity, although "it does not guarantee the obligatory satisfaction of first more important ... needs, and then less important ones. This is the main reason why people object to the market."

The role of competition is that thanks to it, a spontaneous order arises and is maintained in the market, which does not depend on anyone's will, desire and intention. By F. Hayek such an order is reduced to the mutual adaptation of individual plans and is carried out according to the principle that we, following the natural sciences, which also turned to the study of spontaneous orders (or self-organizing systems), began to call negative feedback.

This principle explains the process of establishing a stable market price. When the demand for goods exceeds supply, i.e., there is a shortage, then the price of them increases. On the contrary, if the supply exceeds the demand, then the price of them falls. Consequently, the market is a self-organizing or self-regulating system.

It is more correct to characterize the market in the way F. Hayek, namely as a complex highly organized structure where the process of unconscious self-organization occurs.

It cannot be considered a completely self-organizing system that can be launched and then it will work without interruptions. On the contrary, after Great Depression 1929-1933 economists recognized the need for state regulation of the market during recessions and crises.

Speaking about the advantages of competition and the market as a whole, one should not forget about their negative aspects, as well as those problems that they cannot solve by their nature. Competition sometimes leads to disproportions between supply and demand, a slowdown in technical progress, and, consequently, the irrational use of society's limited resources.

Competition cannot be free and perfect, and this has a negative impact on the mechanism of formation of market prices. The concept of a free market and perfect, unrestricted competition gives an idea of the real market.

12. The market of "hard monopolization"

Market of "hard monopolization" is determined by the absolute power of one large enterprise in the economic market, which produces a significant amount of products of a certain type, due to which it occupies a dominant position in the market. Such a dominant position gives him the opportunity to independently or together with other entrepreneurs to limit competition in the market for a particular product. It also gets the opportunity to influence the pricing process, achieving favorable prices, and receives higher profits and, therefore, there is no room for competition at all.

Market monopolization in its purest form is a rare occurrence. More often there are markets in which several firms compete with each other.

The driving force behind the actions of entrepreneurs is the law of concentration of production and capital. The effect of this law is observed at all stages of the development of market relations. Its engine is competition. In order to survive in such a struggle, to get big profits, entrepreneurs are forced to introduce new equipment and increase the scale of production. At the same time, several larger ones are separated from the mass of medium and small enterprises. When this happens, the largest entrepreneurs have an alternative: either to continue losing competition among themselves, or to come to an agreement on the scale of production, prices, markets, etc. As a rule, they choose the second option, which leads to the appearance of a certain agreement between them, which is one of the main signs of the monopolization of the market economy.

Monopoly is the opposite of competition, which is the most extreme form of imperfect competition. There are different types of monopolies:

1) natural;

2) administrative;

3) economic.

Also, modern theory highlights more three types of monopolies:

▪ monopoly of an individual enterprise;

▪ monopoly as an agreement;

▪ monopoly based on product differentiation.

A seller can have monopoly power if he raises the price of his product by limiting the output of the product. Even small shops in large cities have some control over the prices they charge.

To have the monopoly power that every entrepreneur or firm desires, the firm does not need to be a monopolist. It allows them to avoid a whole range of problems and risks associated with competition, to take a privileged position in the market, concentrating in their hands a certain power that has the ability to influence other market participants.

13. Modern market and competition. Market Models

The market and competition are largely synonymous: one does not exist without the other. When considering the main types of competition in relation to the market structure, we can distinguish four market models.

1. The market of pure (perfect) competition most accurately describes the interaction of supply and demand. It is typical for him:

1) in the struggle for the attention and money of buyers, many manufacturers of the same type, standardized goods face each other;

2) there are no barriers to entry into the industry and non-price competition;

3) competition develops without any restrictions, and market equilibrium is achieved as a result of mass transactions of sellers and buyers who cannot impose their will on each other and are forced to seek a compromise in the form of a market price.

2. Monopolistic competition market.

Monopolistic competition occurs when sellers offer similar products to buyers to satisfy the same need. This is a type of market situation in which the monopoly power of each firm extends only to the production of a particular variety of goods, but not to control over the market of all goods of the same type. Firms in such competition enter the industry relatively easily, with significant emphasis on advertising, trademarks, brands, etc.

3. Market of oligopolistic competition (oligopoly).

If some firms manage to come up with the most attractive varieties of goods or attract the largest number of buyers through low prices, they can eventually force out the rest of the less fortunate sellers from the market and become the masters of the market, competing only among themselves. In the market of oligopolistic competition, the ability of buyers to negotiate the best purchase conditions for themselves is even less than in the market of monopolistic competition, since almost all goods of a certain type are produced and offered for sale by only a few firms, and there is no one else to buy it from.

4. Pure monopoly market.

In such a market for the buyer, the worst conditions are formed. Under a pure monopoly, the buyer's ability to bargain becomes extremely limited, since there is no alternative manufacturer (seller). A huge share of products is produced by one enterprise - an absolute monopolist. The only method of the buyer's struggle with the omnipotence of the monopolist-manufacturer is not to buy the goods. But not always this method can be used. If the buyer cannot do without a commodity, he will be forced to buy it even at the cost of giving up other goods.

14. Monopolization of the economy of the late XIX - early XX centuries and its impact on competition

The history of the monopolization of the economy reaches deep antiquity. Monopolistic tendencies in various forms and to varying degrees manifest themselves at all stages of the development of market processes and accompany them. But their newest story starts in the last third XIX century (1873 - time of economic crisis). The relationship between the phenomena of crisis and monopolies indicates one of the reasons for monopolization - the attempt of many firms to find salvation from crisis shocks in monopolistic practice.

The first big wave of monopolization took place at the end XIX century and in the early years XX century. As a result, the largest companies were formed, subordinating entire industries to themselves.

В late XIX century, the market, almost for the first time in its history of development, faced complex problems. There was a real threat to the functioning of competition - this necessary element of the market. Significant obstacles have arisen in the way of competition in the form of monopoly formations in the economy.

The history of monopolies is inextricably linked with the development of those processes that at each stage accelerated the growth of monopolization of the economy, giving it new forms.

There are two ways to form monopolies:

▪ through profit capitalization;

▪ through mergers and acquisitions.

An important characteristic of the monopolies of the second half XX century is their entry into the international arena not only in the field of trade, but also directly in production, organized in the form of branches and subsidiaries abroad, i.e., the transformation of national monopolies into transnational corporations (TNCs). The economic and financial power of TNCs is growing rapidly, in the mid-80s their share reached one third of the gross product of developed countries, in world exports - 40% and in technology exchange - 80%. Some TNCs in terms of annual turnover exceed the gross domestic product of small states, and even surpass them in terms of their role in the world economy.

The development of all types of monopolistic concentration steadily leads to the fact that an ever greater part of the national income and national wealth of countries is concentrated in the hands of a handful of the largest monopolies. This is evidenced by statistics on the share of capital assets of the largest 200 US manufacturing corporations in the total amount of manufacturing assets of 48,3% in 1948 and 60,1% in 1969. In Britain, the proportion of capital assets held by the top 100 manufacturing, trading and service firms rose from 44% in 1953 to 62% of total assets in 1963.

15. Monopoly and the state in a market economy. Criteria for monopoly power

Monopoly - large economic associations (cartels, syndicates, trusts, concerns, etc.) that are privately owned and exercise control over industries, markets and the economy based on a high degree of concentration of production and capital, in order to establish monopoly prices and extract monopoly profits . Therefore, there is a need for state intervention in the system of organization of monopolies in a market economy.

The formation and growth of monopolies are historically inextricably linked with the development of free competition capital into monopoly capitalism. In the field of economic relations, the capitalist growth of the monopolies has led to the strengthening of their dictate and domination, which the monopolies exert influence on. Monopolies, thanks to the high level of concentration of economic resources, create opportunities for accelerating technical progress.

Monopolies, having seized strong positions, sooner or later lose the dynamics of their development and efficiency, because the advantages of large-scale production are not absolute, they bring an increase in profitability only up to a certain point.

Pure monopoly, as well as perfect competition in a market economy, practically exclude their existence. due to two reasons:

1) there are practically no goods that have no analogues;

2) it is rare that there is only one seller in the national (or world) market. Although in more closed markets, for example, in a small town, we can observe the phenomenon of pure monopoly.

Maintaining a pure monopoly requires conditions that prevent new sellers from competing with the monopolist. A barrier to entry is a barrier that prevents new additional sellers from entering the market of a monopoly firm. Barriers to market entry are necessary to maintain a monopoly in the long run. So, if free entry to the market were possible, then the economic profits received by the monopolist would attract new sellers to the market, which means that the supply would increase. Monopoly control over prices would disappear altogether, as markets would eventually become competitive.

A firm has monopoly power if it can influence the price of its product by changing the quantity it is willing to sell. The degree of monopoly power depends on the presence of close analogues for its product and its share in this market. And the criteria for monopoly power and the activities of monopolies in the country as a whole are regulated and fully controlled by municipal authorities and government organizations.

16. Goals and forms of antimonopoly regulation

Antimonopoly regulation includes:

1. administrative control over monopolized markets;

2. organizational mechanism;

3. antimonopoly law.

Administrative control monopolized markets combines ways to influence monopolized production. It is possible to identify, in particular, financial sanctions applied in case of violation of antitrust laws.

Organizational mechanism aims at antimonopoly prevention through consistent market liberalization. Without affecting the monopoly as a form of production, the methods and methods of such state policy are aimed at making monopolistic behavior unprofitable for big business. These are the reduction of customs duties, the abolition of quantitative quotas, support for small businesses, simplification of the licensing procedure, optimization of production, etc.

Antitrust Law - this is the most effective and developed form of state regulation of monopoly power. Its goal is to regulate the structure of the industry by prohibiting the proposed mergers of large firms if it leads to a significant weakening of competition or the establishment of a monopoly. Antimonopoly practice does not deny the possibility of merging companies on a "horizontal" and "vertical" basis.

Special antimonopoly policy and antimonopoly legislation made it possible to control the processes of monopolization, maintain and strengthen competition.

The ideal, from an economist's point of view, would be an antitrust policy aimed only at ensuring the welfare of consumers by protecting and enhancing competition. Existing antitrust laws, like all others, are prepared by politicians, enforced by lawyers, and interpreted by judges.

With the help of state regulation of the economy and various antimonopoly measures of an official and unofficial nature, it is possible to achieve what factors that automatically act in conditions of free competition that counteract the influence of monopolies or balance them cannot provide.

Antimonopoly policy is not aimed at eliminating or banning large monopoly formations, since society has long understood that a monopoly, as one of the main factors in profit growth, cannot be "tamed". Therefore, the main task is to put it under state control, to eliminate the possibility of abuse of a monopoly position.

The two main forms of fighting monopolies are:

1) prevention of the creation of monopolies;

2) preventing the use of monopoly power.

17. Competition, monopoly and competition in a command economy

Character traits command economy systems:

1) the tendency to absolutize administrative methods of management, and, consequently, to overestimate the role of the state in economic development. This is what gives grounds to qualify this model as an "administrative-command control system." At the same time, of course, we are talking only about the predominance of command methods, because a purely administrative (as well as purely economic) management system does not exist in real life.

2) planning from what has been achieved, and the planned installation turned into a directive that must be carried out at any cost. In some cases, such targeted tasks gave positive results, but in the final analysis, they increasingly led to excessive costs, to inefficient management, and to the desire to obtain an underestimated plan. Thus, favorable ground was created for postscripts, because the manufacturer did not report to the consumer, but to a higher administrative body, and he reported on paper. And if the report was accepted, then the well-being of the enterprise was ensured regardless of the final results of work, which can only be realistically assessed in the areas of exchange and consumption.

3) centralized distribution of resources, caused by the need for firm targeted tasks as the foundation of planning. This is the basis of the system of funded material and technical supply with a cumbersome mechanism of preliminary applications, which gives rise to the complete dependence of consumers on producers, shortages, the desire to protect themselves by accumulating and deadening production stocks;

4) there are no signs of competition;

5) the monopoly on the means of production belongs to the state.

Under the conditions of the administrative-command system commodity-money relations become formal, cost accounting is violated, redistribution processes and gratuitous withdrawal of funds prevail.

The administrative management system generates:

1) separation of the national economic plan from the objective needs of economic development;

2) the aggravation of the contradictions between the interests of individual levels of management and the lack of interest of lower-level production units in a tense plan;

3) undermining democratic principles in management, suppressing the initiative and creativity of production teams due to the limited rights in making economic decisions that are imposed on them from above;

4) swelling of the administrative apparatus of management, its multi-link nature, which inevitably leads to an increase in bureaucracy in the management system.

18. Problems of creating a competitive environment and counteracting monopoly in a transitional economy

Features of the structure of markets in transition economy:

1) The structure of the markets is characterized by an overestimated level of concentration in many industries.

2) Significantly lower level of product differentiation.

3) Lack of full-fledged information, financial and legal infrastructures of the market, which enhances monopoly effects in the economy.

A special factor that distorts the formation of a normal market environment in a transitional economy is the behavior of power structures that actively intervene in the economy (support for individual enterprises by providing tax incentives and subsidies; too complicated bureaucratic registration procedures, etc.).

The growth of the non-monetary economy and the shadow sector (characteristic of the conditions of the transition period) testify to the inefficiency of the forms of state regulation used, both at the micro and macro levels.

Types of competitive behavior of firms:

1) traditional, inherent in a developed market economy;

2) specific forms of rent seeking inherited from the command economy (waiting for support from the authorities, fighting for benefits, failure to fulfill obligations to the state);

3) associated with the underdevelopment of market institutions and the crisis economic environment of the transition period (failure to fulfill obligations to creditors, non-payment of wages, barter and other types of non-monetary payments, production of unregistered products, use of unregistered labor and other resources).

Specific types of barriersinherent in the markets of the transitional economy:

1) actions of public authorities at all levels in the process of state regulation of the economy;

2) barriers of a criminal nature, posing a threat not only to fair competition, but also to economic development in general;

3) the strategic behavior of enterprises using the described specific forms.

When assessing the degree of surmountability of market entry barriers, it is recommended to use the criteria of timeliness, probability and sufficiency of new entities entering the market.

Timely - carried out within two years from the start of pre-planning to the realization of a significant market impact.

Likely - profitable at prices that are expected to operate on the market in the relevant period of time, and their level is guaranteed by the volume of supplies of goods by market participants.

Sufficient - carried out on a scale that ensures the preservation and development of competitive relations between participants.

19. Free competition and the "invisible hand of the market" in the theory of A. Smith

"Invisible hand" A. Smith called those economic forces that we call supply and demand. The laws of the market will force the entrepreneur to produce not any products, but only those that are needed by buyers, and sell them at the lowest possible price. Only in this case, he will be able to defeat his competitors and get the maximum profit. The entrepreneur does not think at all about the welfare of society, nevertheless, his selfishness benefits everyone, provides goods and services of better quality and at lower prices. That is why Smith demands that man be free to pursue his own profit in economic activity, and this will best promote the public good by means of increasing the wealth of everyone.

"Invisible Hand" can only operate successfully in a highly competitive environment. It helps bring prices down. At the same time, competition regulates the quantity of goods produced and the flow of capital and labor from one industry to another. The mechanism of competition forces the entrepreneur to constantly look for ways to reduce production costs and increase profits by increasing sales.

"Invisible hand" by A. Smith (magic 6-gon) includes:

1. Fluctuating mass and profit rates - those areas of business that are currently produced in a given profit and are achieved by a higher rate of profit and economic resources are poured into it.

2. Market prices for goods, but freely formed under the influence of fluctuations in supply and demand for them.

3. Competition forces all subjects of a market economy to produce only what the market needs.

4. Demand - the most powerful engine. The market economy is such that if there is a demand for its products, it will mobilize all its resources to satisfy this demand.

5. Offer of goods, services. The supply of goods must be sufficient to fully cover demand.

6. Interest rate for loans, which the Central Bank provides to commercial banks, and commercial banks to firms and households. The interest rate for loans is a powerful regulator in the development of a market economy.

As for free competition, then in modern conditions of large-scale and high-tech production, which requires huge costs, it is not profitable and harmful to society. For the emergence of competition, a significant redundancy of both fixed assets and production is necessary, which leads to an increase in costs and the loss of resources spent on unclaimed excess products, and gives rise to crises of overproduction.

20. Social division of labor and competition. State and competition

The division of labor, the methods of its social combination, the organization of production, its specialization and cooperation clearly characterize the degree of development of the productive forces and have a great influence on the efficiency of production.

Distinguish three types of division of labor:

1) common, developing on the scale of social production as a whole (between the production of means of production and consumer goods, between town and country, between material and non-material production);

2) private, existing between various branches and industries, with the progress of production, the particular division of labor becomes more and more diverse and fractional;

3) singleexisting within the framework of a separate enterprise or association.

The process of division of labor and its specialization is endless. Because of this, it is a constantly acting factor in increasing the efficiency of production.

The higher the degree of division of labor, the more the need for unification and coordination of the actions of individual links in production. The division of labor is naturally complemented by its cooperation as a necessary way of forming a single, effectively functioning system of social production.

Regulation of competition through appropriate policies, such as maintaining a state monopoly, controlling investment in an industry, or fixing prices, has two significant negative effects: competition is reduced and innovation is slowed down, since companies primarily interact with the structures that establish regulation and protect against what they already have; and this, in turn, makes the industry less dynamic and less attractive to buyers or suppliers.

A strong antitrust policy, especially in horizontal, collusive mergers, is the basis for innovation. Real internal competition requires the government to prevent mergers, acquisitions, and mergers involving industry-leading companies.

Government has an impact on the formation of the goals of investors, managers, personnel, their policy in various areas. The government should focus its efforts on stimulating significant investments in the professional development of workers, innovation, and tangible assets. A powerful and unique means of increasing the rate of investment in an industry is a tax incentive for long-term capital gains, the use of which is limited to new investments in corporate shares.

21. Keynes' Theory of Competition

Keynes - the ideologist of state-monopoly capitalism. Keynes's methodology is characterized by idealism.

General theory of employment: Keynes argued that with an increase in employment, national income increases and therefore consumption increases. Consumption grows more slowly than incomes, because as incomes rise, people's desire to save also increases. The total volume of employment is determined by three factors: propensity to consume; marginal efficiency of capital investments; percentage rate.

Under capital Keynes understood things that bring income, profit. Capital brings profit because of its rarity, i.e., limitedness.

Theory of interest: interest is the payment for borrowing money.

Keynesians see modern markets as uncompetitive and incapable of automatically adjusting supply and demand, especially the relationship between prices and wages. Monopolies and oligopolies, by occupying a dominant position in the markets of many goods, can artificially maintain high prices despite falling demand. Trade unions stand for a guaranteed level of wages when concluding labor agreements and collective agreements with entrepreneurs. All this leads to the fact that market regulation is inflexible, and a decrease in demand for products, although it will lead to a fall in prices, is unlikely to simultaneously cause a decrease in wage rates.

The market cannot serve as a self-regulator of the economy and cannot ensure full employment, stability of production and prices. Consequently, Keynesians believe that the state should play an active role in the implementation of these tasks. State intervention in the regulation of the economy should consist in pursuing such a fiscal and monetary policy that would mitigate the periodically occurring recessions and sharp rises in production, which have received the name of economic cycles in the literature.

The theoretical premises of Keynes's theory were formed during a period of deep recession and destructive crisis of capitalist society. Under these conditions, it is the active actions of the state to regulate the economy through fiscal policy that can bring production out of a deep crisis. Ignoring the correct monetary policy by the followers of Keynes, expressed in the statement that "money does not matter", caused a critical attitude towards his concept. Unfulfilled forecasts for the period after World War II undermined the credibility of the significance of this theory and turned those interested in the direction of monetarism.

22. The mechanism and results of intra-industry and inter-industry competition in the theory of K. Marx

In the third volume of "Capital", K. Marx analyzes the problems intra-industry and inter-industry competition.

Intra-industry competition - This is a rivalry between manufacturers of similar products that satisfy the same need.

Interindustry competition is a competition of producers of products that meet different needs. Rivalry in this case is conducted for the greatest profit. If one of the industries increases the size of profits, there is an overflow of capital into this industry from less profitable industries.

Relying on a monopoly in a particular sphere of production and circulation, the largest firms get the opportunity to influence the movement of market prices. Methods of monopoly pricing and market strategy change along with the development of economic and organizational forms of a monopolistic firm.

The greatest benefit comes from raising the monopoly price, within the limits of the law of value. K. Marx showed that the level of the monopoly price is determined by the need and solvent demand of buyers. If the commodity on which the monopoly price were set were among the essential commodities of the worker, the monopoly price would be paid by deduction from real wages and from the profits of other capitalists. The limits within which the monopoly price could disturb the normal regulation of commodity prices would be firmly defined and could be accurately measured.

The most powerful capitalist monopolies are not in a position to maintain super-profitable prices for a long time. Capital controlled by other financial groups penetrates into any industry. The rapidly developing production of substitute goods leads to exacerbation intra-industry and inter-industry competition, which restrains a further increase in the monopoly price or leads to its decrease.

Having pushed aside competitors and strengthened their positions, monopolistic firms can again resort to raising prices.

The capture by monopolistic associations of patents for discoveries, inventions and technical improvements is used in intra-industry and in inter-industry competition. It allows the monopoly to apply technical innovations in its enterprises, which other monopolies are deprived of. By seizing patents, a monopoly blocks access to its industry for monopolies coming from other industries.

Theory of K. Marx was uncritically accepted by Soviet economic science and formed the foundation of the political economy of capitalism, on the basis of which the political economy of socialism was built.

23. Modern views on inter-industry competition

During the intersectoral competition there is a migration of capital from one industry to another in pursuit of the highest rate of profit. New capital helps to expand production and increase the supply of goods. On this basis, prices begin to fall. As a result, the rate of profit falls. The opposite result is the flight of capital from low-profit industries: here the volume of production decreases, the demand for goods begins to exceed their supply, as a result of which the price rises, and with it the rate of profit rises. As a result, intersectoral competition objectively creates a dynamic equilibrium that ensures equal profit on equal capital, regardless of where it is invested. It also stimulates scientific and technological progress (STP).

Interindustry competition - rivalry between enterprises of various industries for a large profitable investment of capital in a particular industry. Competitiveness arises because in different types of production, unequal profits are initially formed on equal capital. Due to differences in the structure of capital (unequal share of labor costs) and the speed of its turnover, three groups of industries are distinguished - with low, medium and high profit margins.

Under free competition, the entrepreneurs of those types of production in which the profitability is the lowest withdraw their investments and place them where the rate of profit is higher. The massive transfer of capital (and with it labor) from less profitable industries to more profitable ones introduces significant changes in the relationship between the supply of goods and the demand for them, which leads to a deviation of market prices from value.

Thus, the outflow of capital from low-income industries leads to a reduction in the size of production in them, as a result of which the supply of goods on the market decreases. With stable demand, this leads to the fact that the prices of products rise above their value and the rate of profit rises. As a result, industries that could have died are getting a "second wind".

In a highly profitable industry, as a result of a large influx of new capital, the output of products increases and their supply begins to exceed demand. Prices then fall below value, and the rate of profit falls.

If there were no inter-industry competition and the flow of capital from one industry to another, then vital types of production (with a low level of profitability) could perish, while others (highly profitable) would expand excessively.

24. Perfect competition and market efficiency in theories of equilibrium analysis. The mechanism of perfect competition

Perfect competition - historically the first and simplest type of market. It was he who was the environment where rivalry arose between initially equal market entities, which consistently leads to stratification, the separation of the largest and most aggressive participants in the market process, i.e., creates conditions for the emergence of a monopoly.

This form of market organization implies the presence of such a large number of sellers and buyers in the market that none of them, by their behavior, can significantly affect market conditions. The form of competitiveness is characterized by the possibility of independent actions to limit the ability of each of the subjects to unilaterally influence the general conditions for the circulation of goods in the relevant market. The anonymity of sellers and the anonymity of buyers make the perfectly competitive market completely impersonal.

Compared to the volume of supply and demand of individual sellers, the scale of the market is so significant that none of the market participants can influence the conditions of competition and the price of products, since their number is very large.

Properties of market entities:

1) are numerous;

2) independent;

3) occupy insignificant shares;

4) have unlimited freedom to enter and exit the market by anyone and nothing;

5) may start production, continue or stop it, make purchases in any amount or refuse them at their own will;

6) do not have market power;

7) buy and sell products at the prevailing market price, independent of them.

Conditions for perfect competition:

1) Product homogeneity. The products of firms in the view of buyers are homogeneous and indistinguishable, that is, the products of different enterprises are absolutely interchangeable.

2) Small size. Neither buyers nor sellers influence the market situation due to the smallness and multiplicity of all market participants.

3) Absence of barriers. Otherwise, sellers or buyers begin to behave like a single corporation, even if there are many of them and they are all small firms.

4) Perfect information. Information about prices, technologies and likely profits is freely available to absolutely everyone.

The value of the concept of perfect competition lies in the practical and methodological sense.

First, the model of a perfectly competitive market allows one to judge the principles of functioning of many small firms selling standardized homogeneous products.

Secondly, it is of great methodological importance, since it allows us to understand the logic of firms' actions.

25. Theories of imperfect competition: views of A. Pigou, E. Chamberlin, D. Robinson

The name and model of this type of market arose after the publication in 1927 of the book of the same name by E. Chamberlin. Over time, the author himself came to the conclusion that all types of markets that are between perfect competition and monopoly contain elements of both, and therefore can be combined into a broad class of monopolistic (imperfect) competition markets. The classification presented by the author is the most exhaustive:

1) pure competition;

2) monopolistic competition;

3) pure monopoly.

The main feature of the market of monopolistic competition - product differentiation. The subjects of the market are numerous, each of them occupies an insignificant share in the market, they have some power due to product differentiation and segmentation of the corresponding product market.

resemblance to the perfect - many sellers and buyers, significant freedom to enter the market.

difference from perfect - heterogeneity, differentiation of products.

Difference from an oligopolistic market - enterprises in the market of monopolistic competition are not interconnected if their market shares are comparable in size, the behavior is closer to the behavior of perfectly competitive enterprises.

The model of imperfect competition "dominant company-outsider" - there are one or two enterprises in the market that occupy a dominant position, and a significant number of outsider enterprises with small market share. This system of relations is characterized by a model approaching a monopoly market, and outsider competition is characterized by a model of perfect competition or the first type of monopolistic competition.

Demand for a company's products in the market "dominant company - outsider" is not perfectly elastic, because buyers committed to the brand will purchase the product, even if its price is slightly higher than that of peers.

The essential determinant of market power is not pricing policy, but the degree of customer loyalty to a particular brand of product.

An indicator of market power is the price elasticity of demand for a company's product.

In the markets of monopolistic competition, the main factor in the competitiveness of a product is the uniqueness of the combination of consumer properties in the eyes of buyers. Price competition fades into the background, giving way to non-price competition.

Non-price competition tools: advertising campaigns, service competition, warranty and post-warranty service, assortment competition, location, etc.

26. Features of competitive relations in conditions of monopolistic competition, pure monopoly, oligopoly

Imperfect competition, unlike free, perfect competition, is limited by the influence of monopolies and the state. There are three models of imperfect competition - monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly.

The first model of imperfect competition is monopoly. She has the following features:

1) sole seller, i.e. one firm or industry is the sole producer of a given product or the sole provider of a service;

2) no close substitutes. A monopoly product is unique in the sense that there are no good or close substitutes. From the point of view of the buyer, this means that he must buy the product from the monopolist or do without it, i.e. there are no acceptable alternatives;

3) dictated price: a pure monopoly dictates prices or exercises significant price control;

4) blocked intro: the entry of competitors into the industry under conditions of pure monopoly is limited by insurmountable barriers (patents, monopoly on sources of raw materials, vehicles, etc.).

Monopoly reduces the level of risk in the process of competition.

The second model of imperfect competition is monopolistic competition. Its distinguishing features:

1) there is a sufficiently large number of firms, which limits the control of each over the price, there is no mutual dependence, and collusion is virtually impossible;

2) the products are characterized by real and imaginary differences and different conditions for their sale;

3) economic rivalry entails both price and non-price competition;

4) entry into the industry is relatively easy. The easy entry and exit of firms tends to earn normal profits in the long run;

5) product type - differentiated.

Monopolistic competition is established where even small enterprises can be efficient, and especially where there are many opportunities for changing the product.

The third model of imperfect competition is oligopoly. Its signs, characteristic features:

1) the presence of several firms (sellers);

2) product type - standardized or differentiated;

3) price control: limited by mutual dependence, significant in collusion;

4) the presence of significant barriers to entry into the industry;

5) non-price competition is very typical (especially in product differentiation).

Oligopoly has become more widespread in industries where large-scale production is more efficient and there are no wide opportunities for differentiating an industry product

27. Modern theories of oligopoly

With such an organization of the market, a small number of relatively large enterprises selling homogeneous or slightly different products are represented on it. A few sellers in this market are opposed by a significant number of buyers.

The main features of an oligopoly market are:

1. Limited number of sellers.

2. High non-strategic barriers to market entry.

3. Substitutability of goods from different enterprises.

Features of oligopoly markets have a contradictory effect on competition between enterprises and the extent of their monopoly power, since the substitutability of goods stimulates competition, and high barriers allow you to maintain market power and monopoly profit. Monopoly power in the market of an oligopoly is limited only by the mutual policy of sellers.

Prices in the oligopoly market can be set in a fairly wide range, two extreme situations are a price war and a cartel.

price war. With the same average costs (AC) of sellers, there is only one price, when none of them has an incentive to change it - this price is equal to the average costs: Pi=Pj=AC. At this price, sellers are deprived of monopoly power, the Lerner coefficient of monopoly power (at constant returns to scale, when average costs equal marginal costs) takes on a value of zero. The equilibrium market price is equal to that which would have developed in a long-term equilibrium in a perfectly competitive market.

Bertrand's paradox: there is enough competition between two enterprises in the market to obtain an effective result for society - the lowest possible price and, accordingly, the largest possible sales volume.

Cartel. Sellers enter into a cartel agreement on a single price and sales quotas. The determination and observance of sales quotas by each seller in the market allows oligopolistic enterprises to obtain the maximum profit for a given market capacity, equal to the profit that a monopoly enterprise would receive. The Lerner monopoly power coefficient for each enterprise in an oligopolistic market is L=-1/Ed, i.e., monopoly power is limited only by market elasticity.

The equilibrium parameters of the oligopoly market can coincide with the equilibrium parameters of the perfect competition market (when interacting according to Bertrand), or with the parameters of the monopoly market (when forming a cartel). In general, the price charged by enterprises in the oligopoly market will not fall below average economic costs and will not be set above the price of the pure monopoly market.

28. Natural monopoly as a state of the market

A number of industries, such as the electric power industry, the gas industry, transport, and some others, are characterized by a high degree of monopolization of production and sales, as well as difficulties in providing consumers with the freedom to choose suppliers of various goods and services. These sectors of the economy have inherent features that allow individual economic entities to monopolize the markets. The freedom of consumers of their products is limited organizationally and technologically (by the existing configuration and bandwidth of the network, the relationship between production and consumption processes) and economically (economies of scale in production with an increase in its capacity). Goods produced by subjects of natural monopoly have no replacement, and therefore the demand for them depends to a lesser extent on changes in the price of this product than the demand for other types of goods.

The following main features of natural monopolies are distinguished:

▪ the activities of natural monopolies are more efficient in the absence of competition, which is associated with significant economies of scale and high semi-fixed costs;

▪ high barriers to entry into the market, since the fixed costs associated with the construction of such structures as roads, communication lines are so high that the organization of a similar parallel system performing the same functions is difficult to pay off;

▪ low elasticity of demand, since the demand for products or services produced by natural monopoly entities is less dependent on price changes than the demand for other types of products (services), since they cannot be replaced by other goods;

▪ the network nature of the market organization, i.e. the presence of an integral system of spatially extended networks through which a certain service is provided, including the presence of an organized network that requires dispatching from a single center in real time.

Industries related to natural monopolies are distinguished by the fact that competitive mechanisms do not operate in them or are practically not developed. The balance of interests of producers and consumers cannot be established by the "invisible hand of the market" in the process of competition between various producers for the right to satisfy consumer demand. Therefore, state intervention is required. The most important conditions for maintaining such a balance are the availability of goods for consumers at affordable prices, and for subjects of natural monopolies - their effective functioning and development.

29. Competition in the labor market

Underlying principles market economy - competitiveness, rivalry, competition. In the conditions of the spontaneous development of a market economy, healthy competition is not a frequent phenomenon. Therefore, in the labor market, two most common types of competition can be distinguished: monopsony and perfect competition.

monopsony in the labor market. Monopsony in the labor market means the presence of a single buyer of labor resources on it. A single employer is opposed here by numerous independent wage workers.

The main signs of monopsony include:

1) the concentration of the main part (or even all) employed in the field of a certain type of labor in one firm;

2) the complete lack of mobility of workers who do not have a real opportunity to change their employer when selling their labor;

3) the establishment by the monopsonist of control over the price of labor in the interests of profit maximization.

Monopsony in the labor market It is also expressed in the fact that for a monopsonist firm, the marginal cost associated with the payment of labor resources rises faster than the wage rate.

Perfect competition in the labor market. Perfect competition in the labor market implies the presence of four main features:

1) the presentation of demand for a certain type of labor (i.e., for workers of a specific qualification and profession) by a sufficiently large number of firms competing with each other;

2) the offer of their labor by all employees of the same qualification and profession (i.e., members of a certain non-competing group) independently of each other;

3) the absence of any one association on the part of both buyers of labor services (monopsony) and their sellers (monopoly);

4) the objective impossibility of agents of demand (firms) and agents of supply (employees) to establish control over the market price of labor, i.e., to dictate the level of wages forcibly.

Perfect competition in the Russian labor market. In the Russian labor market, which is still undergoing a process of complex formation, there are some segments within which the features of perfect competition prevail. With a certain degree of conventionality, today they include the markets of sellers, builders, drivers, cleaners, repair workers of various profiles, specializing in the repair of housing, offices, household appliances, furniture and shoes, and auxiliary workers. The demand here is represented by many small and tiny firms, and the supply is represented by an unorganized mass of workers who master these relatively simple professions.

30. The concept of corporate strategy. Restructuring

Corporate strategy - that which turns a corporation from a set of different types of business into a single whole, that is, a set of actions in which individual combinations of enterprise behavior are subject to a premeditated plan that helps it achieve its goal.

A corporate strategy and overall action plan for a diversified company is both a cherished desire and a stepchild in the practice of modern management.

The essence of corporate strategy boils down to two questions: what areas of activity will be carried out in the company and how the head office of the corporation will manage all these areas.

Background of corporate strategy

Any successful corporate strategy is based on a number of premises.

1. Competition is carried out at the level of subsidiaries.

2. Diversification inevitably leads to increased costs and stiffness of subsidiaries.

3. Shareholders may willingly diversify themselves.

These prerequisites mean that a corporate strategy cannot be successful unless it pays due attention to subsidiaries.

Exist four concepts corporate strategy.

1. Portfolio management.

2. Restructuring.

3. Transfer of experience and knowledge.

4. Separation of activities.

For reasonable and effective strategy choice you must:

1. Identification of relationships between existing subsidiaries.

2. Selection of the main types of commercial activities that would leave the foundation of the corporate strategy.

3. Formation of horizontal organizational mechanisms that promote the organization of relationships between the main areas of business and serve as the basis for further diversification.

4. Relentlessly pursuing favorable diversification opportunities that allow the separation of activities.

5. Steady diversification through the transfer of experience and knowledge, if favorable opportunities for separation of activities are limited or exhausted.

6. Relentlessly pursuing a restructuring strategy, if this is consistent with the professional experience of the administration or there are unfavorable opportunities for creating corporate interaction.

7. Dividend payments that provide shareholders with the opportunity to manage a portfolio of archives.

Diversification is a process of intersectoral expansion of capital, in which monopolies rely on technical and economic ties and relations between different sectors.

31. The role of innovation

Only the companies themselves can achieve competitive advantages and maintain them. In particular, they must recognize the primacy of innovation and the truth that innovation can only come about through pressure and exploration. This forces management to create a dynamic environment conducive to search, to notice all the ways that promise easy and fast creation of competitive advantages that actually lead to failure.

Create pressure for innovation. A company should seek out challenges and activities under pressure rather than avoid them. Part of the strategy is to take advantage of the company's home country and build on that base for innovation to occur. To achieve this, companies can sell to the most demanding customers and distributors.

Advantages of clusters in innovation. The benefits of clusters in innovation and productivity growth over isolated locations may be more important than the benefits in ongoing productivity, although there are also risks. Participation in a cluster also provides advantages in access to new technologies, working methods or supply opportunities. Cluster firms quickly become aware of advances in technology, the availability of new components and equipment, and new concepts in service and marketing, and keep abreast of these things because these tasks are facilitated by ongoing relationships with other cluster members, visits, and personal contacts.

Science - the main component of innovation activity, a condition for ensuring its effectiveness. The main directions for the development of innovation activity, the priorities of innovation policy and the stages of its implementation are determined by the needs of industrial and other industries in technological re-equipment and the availability of investment resources. The creation of favorable conditions for the development of innovative activity will make it possible to modernize the technological base of the Russian economy and radically increase the competitiveness of domestic products.

State participation is expressed in direct financing of science and innovation and the use of indirect measures to regulate scientific and technological activities. At present, in Russia, the volume of budget financing of civil science is commensurate with the volume of financial resources of a large Western research university.

The budget funds allocated for the development of the innovation sphere are so insignificant that they are sufficient to "launch" only individual projects.

32. Protection of monopoly in the theories of J. Schumpeter and R. Hilferding

During the formation of the Marxist concept of monopolies, the theory of effective competition developed. Its author is the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950). In contrast to the traditional opposition of monopolies and competition, perceived by Marxists, J. Schumpeter sees the possibility of their positive interaction.

efficient J. Schumpeter considers only competition based on reducing production costs and improving product quality through technical, organizational and managerial innovations.

best conditions for the implementation of such innovations have the largest companies and their monopoly associations. It is the monopolies, which have enormous resources, that have the opportunity to carry out research work, introduce new equipment and technologies, which is associated with gigantic capital investments, with long payback periods for investments. Monopoly profit - the product of innovation, remuneration for technical and organizational innovation.

An effective monopoly is a monopoly that generates excess profits through innovative activities. Surplus profit disappears due to the implementation of other innovations by competitors, rival monopolies. Each monopoly pursues its own private interests, but the result is the benefit of the whole society.

According to J. Schumpeter, an effective monopoly is a source of positive economic dynamism. In this respect, his theory is directly opposed to the Marxist concept, which sees monopolies as the cause of economic stagnation and regression.

The German Social Democrat Rudolf Hilferding (1877-4941) in his work "Finance Capital" paid special attention to monopolies in banking. He believed that banking monopolies subjugated industry.

financial capital - capital at the disposal of banks, but applied to industrial production. The assertion of the dominance of financial capital paves the way for the replacement of free competition by a planned organization of the economy.

At the end of the twenties, R. Hilferding proclaimed the beginning of the era of organized capitalism - the conscious management of the entire national economy, carried out by banking monopolies.

The formation of international cartels means the elimination of competition on the scale of a group of countries or even on a world scale, the establishment of the principles of internationally organized capitalism, which results in the exclusion of military rivalry between states. In the theory of R. Hilferding, monopoly capitalism means overcoming free competition and limiting market forces.

33. Economic theories of neoliberals and utopian socialists

Neoliberalism was formed in the 30s. 20th century as one of the main directions of bourgeois political economy during the period of the general crisis of capitalism. Neoliberalism opposes Marxism-Leninism.

social market economy, according to neoliberals, is the ideal type of economy. Modern capitalism is seen as "a perverted historical form of the market economy." So they preach principles of ordoliberal "social market economy", the main of which they consider:

1) a commodity-money economy without monopolies;

2) free prices;

3) price competition and free pricing;

4) private property and private competition.

Neoliberals under capitalism could not deny the role of the state, although this contradicts their interpretation of the "free market economy". To reconcile these contradictions, the liberals claim that the ordoliberal "social market economy" is not an anarchy of production, but a harmonious development, a synthesis between a free and socially binding social order.

First ideas utopian socialism arose in the late Middle Ages. However, it flourished in the era of the formation of capitalism. Expressing the dreams of the nascent proletariat about the future society, the utopian socialists came out with a revealing critique of capitalism. The utopians first pointed to the historically transitory character of capitalism, noting that capitalist relations are not eternal and natural. The development of human society was considered as a historical process in which the previous stage is replaced by another, more highly developed one. The ideas of the utopian projects: the absence of exploitation, the elimination of the opposition between mental and physical labor, the disappearance of private property. The proletariat acted as an ally of the bourgeoisie in the struggle against the remnants of absolute monarchy and feudal exploitation. At that time, manufactory dominated, and factory production was just in its infancy. Utopian socialists did not see real ways of transition to a society of social justice, they did not understand the historical mission of the proletariat, although they noted the opposition of class interests. They wanted to achieve socialism without class struggle, through reason and humanity.

34. Theory of effective competition

Performance criteria functioning of any commodity market can be considered

1. The presence of competition.

2. Variety of consumer choice.

3. Price stability in the long run.

4. Barriers to entry.

competitive market characterizes:

1) in the long run, the price is equal to the average cost;

2) industry output is produced at the lowest cost;

3) price is equal to marginal cost;

4) the number of enterprises is constant;

5) the absence of serious entry barriers.

Conditions of existence competitive market:

1) the implementation of the entry and exit of the enterprise from the market without significant costs, i.e. compensation for all operating costs when leaving the market; there should be no irreversible costs in the industry;

2) the time of penetration and strengthening of the enterprise in the market should be less than the response time of old enterprises;

3) large enterprises operating in the industry must have technology that provides increasing returns to scale; with an increase in output, the costs per unit of output for enterprises operating in the industry will decrease;

4) there must be potential competitors for enterprises already operating in the industry, the threat of entry of potential competitors for enterprises in the industry must be quite real.

The main criterion for effectiveness within the framework of general economic theory serves the public welfare. Public welfare is the sum of buyers' and sellers' gains.

Efficiency gain, due to competition is achieved due to:

1) a pricing policy that depends on the availability of competitive substitutes for goods (ceteris paribus, monopolism in the markets for industrial products is much more dangerous and is accompanied by higher welfare losses than in the markets for consumer goods, i.e., the power in the markets for capital goods is much stronger, than in consumer markets), on the share of spending on goods in the total costs of the buyer and on the elasticity of demand;

2) return on scale of production, the indicator of which reflects the proportion of the increase in the use of the producer's resources and the growth in output and the ratio of output growth and costs.

The main criterion are barriers to entry as the most important factor determining the level of competition in the industry.

35. Competition as a procedure for discovering new economic information

Information infrastructuresthat create the necessary environment for effective competition:

1) a developed material and technical network that provides quick access to market information to all market entities;

2) an information system, i.e. a set of data on the operational parameters of the market.

Important element information system - a generally accepted system of standardization and evaluation of product quality. Its insufficient development makes correspondence trading virtually impossible. The lack of a developed system of market information distorts information flows, significantly increases the time and cost of market analysis and the search for partners.

The essence of information technology - information technology is changing the way companies do business. It affects the entire production process of products, changes the form of the product itself, that is, the physical essence of the goods, services and information provided by the company in order to create customer value. An important concept that helps define the role of information technology in competition is the value chain.

The company's value chain is a system of interdependent activities, between which there are advantages and opportunities provided by the information revolution.

The management of the company should adhere to five recommendations.

1. Evaluation of the intensity of information.

2. Determination of the role of information technology in the structure of the industry.

3. Definition and classification of methods by which information technology can lead to the creation of a competitive advantage.

4. Investigation of the way in which new types of business arise due to the use of information technology.

5. Develop a plan to realize the benefits of information technology.

Access to information Within the cluster, firms and local organizations accumulate broad knowledge of marketing, technology, and other specialized types of information. Access to this information can be better managed and less costly for firms within a cluster, allowing them to be more productive and at the forefront of productivity.

The flow of information between divisions of the same company also has a similar effect. An important special case of the information advantages created by the cluster is the availability of information about the current needs of buyers. Demanding customers are often included in the cluster as part of it, and other members of the cluster often receive and disseminate information about their needs.

36. Comparative characteristics of competition and planning mechanisms

The planned form of the functioning and development of the economy is determined by socialist ownership of the means of production, in contrast to the spontaneity characteristic of capitalism and pre-capitalist formations.

Planned - this is consistency, coordination of economic processes, subordinate to the formation of certain proportions in social production in accordance with the target orientation of its development.

Competition - this is a struggle between producers, between suppliers of goods (sellers) for leadership, for supremacy in the market.

Plannedness arises in embryonic form within the framework of the capitalist enterprise. Under conditions of free competition capitalism, it is in deep contradiction with the anarchy of production on the scale of society. Strengthening the processes of socialization of production - the deepening of the social division of labor, the development of specialization and the formation of an extensive system of organizational and economic relations - makes the individual links of the economy more and more interconnected. From this follows the objective need for the interconnected implementation of economic processes, for the systematic regulation of the national economic structure as a whole. This necessity is intensified at the monopoly stage of capitalism, and especially under conditions of state-monopoly regulation of the economy. However, an insurmountable obstacle remains in the way of comprehensive planning - private ownership of the means of production.

Positive aspects of competition:

1) competition makes you constantly look for and use new opportunities in production;

2) competition requires the improvement of equipment and technologies;

3) competition stimulates the improvement of the quality of goods;

4) competition forces to reduce costs (and prices);

5) competition requires suppliers of goods (sellers) to reduce prices for the offered goods;

6) competition focuses on the range of high-demand goods;

7) competition improves product quality (the customer is always right);

8) competition introduces new forms of management.

Planned regulation presupposes a clear organization of production on the scale of the national economy and in all its links, the establishment of scientifically based standards for the costs and distribution of the social product, the conscious management of structural changes and scientific and technological progress.

Planning plays an essential role in the implementation of the law of saving time and ensuring high rates of economic progress.

37. Strategic measures for the development of competition in a market in transition economy (on the example of Russia)

To move from a highly concentrated state economy to a competitive one, it is not enough just to introduce free prices, transfer enterprises to private ownership and decentralize management. It is necessary to implement a whole range of measures of state influence on the state of the economy and the behavior of economic entities operating in the market in order to develop and maintain competition. The totality of these measures constitutes the state competition policy.

Strategic objectives state antimonopoly policy are defined in specific tasks for the antimonopoly authorities of the Russian Federation:

1) Improving the system of competition law, forms and methods of antimonopoly control and regulation.

2) Opposition to the creation of new monopoly structures, strengthening control over sectoral economic concentration.

3) Extension of antimonopoly regulation and control requirements to financial markets.

4) Strengthening antimonopoly regulation in the field of natural monopolies.

5) Development and implementation of the state policy of demonopolization.

6) Overcoming the departmental-bureaucratic nature of monopoly.

7) Application of protective measures for foreign trade and support for domestic producers.

8) Protection of intellectual property objects and prevention of unfair competition in this area.

9) Strengthening the integration of the activities of national and international antimonopoly authorities.

Many of these areas of antimonopoly policy have already been implemented to one degree or another, but this does not mean that a full-fledged competitive environment and a highly effective law enforcement system have been created in Russia. For the further development of competition, it is necessary to strengthen the antimonopoly policy, the system of antimonopoly authorities, the implementation of general economic policy measures that help create conditions for the development of competition, facilitate the entry of new entities into the markets and eliminate structural dominance.

In significant improvement the judiciary needs, for the effective protection of private property rights and assistance in resolving economic disputes. State regulation of transport tariffs is required to overcome the territorial disunity of economic entities and the regionalization of markets. It is necessary to create appropriate information systems. Constant efforts are needed to eliminate factors that significantly distort the situation on the market.

38. Industry Barriers

Market Entry Barriers - any factors and circumstances of a legal, organizational, technological, economic, financial nature that prevent new economic entities from entering this commodity market and competing on an equal footing with economic entities already operating on it.

Market entry barriers are divided into structural (sectoral) and behavioral.

Structural (sectoral) due to the characteristics of the industry and the market.

Types of structural barriers and ways to identify them.

1. Economic and organizational constraints. When they are identified, the significance of the following economic factors for entering the market is analyzed:

1) state policy in the field of investments, loans, taxes, prices, tariff and non-tariff regulation of foreign economic activity and the consequences of this policy for specific commodity markets;

2) industry average rate of return;

3) payback period for capital investments;

4) non-payments;

5) the presence (lack) of effective support for entrepreneurship.

2. Scale barriers. A high minimum effective scale of activity in this market leads to an increase in the costs of potential competitors entering the market, reaching this level, in comparison with existing economic entities, i.e., reduces their competitiveness.

3. Underdeveloped market infrastructure. The expediency of additional transportation costs for entering the market is correlated with the cost of a particular product, and the distance of transportation is related to the quality and technical characteristics of the product that allow this transportation to be carried out.

4. Barriers based on absolute cost superiority. They arise when there is a difference in costs per unit of production in favor of existing sellers relative to newly entering ones.

5. Environmental restrictions. The facts of the prohibition by environmental security services, etc., of expanding the scope of activities in this product market, the construction of new production and storage facilities, etc., are revealed.

6. Demand limits. The source of information is the data of a survey of the main buyers of the goods used.

7. Capital cost barriers or the amount of initial investment required to enter the commodity market. Expert evaluation of the capital costs associated with the development of the release of the studied product by potential competitors. Sources of relevant information can be survey data from existing sellers and potential competitors, industry experts, etc.

39. Methods for protecting the domestic market from foreign competition

Ensuring normal conditions for competition in international trade is an extremely important issue for most countries. In the last decade, many governments have wanted to protect their national industries with protectionist trade policies. Currently, rules for the protection of domestic markets are contained in the WTO agreements and are largely based on agreements reached in the previous period under the GATT.

Main WTO agreements:

1. Agreement on the application of Art. VIGATT-94 (anti-dumping procedures);

2. Agreement on subsidies and compensatory measures;

3. Safeguard agreement.

For all types of protective measures, it is very important that they can be introduced by importing countries only if it is proved that the import of goods causes or threatens to harm the domestic industry and there is a causal relationship between the damage and the import.

In this case, antidumping measures applied by the importing country when the export price of a good is below its normal value.

Compensatory measures with regard to imported goods, they are applied when importing goods subsidized by the state that produces or exports this product.

Special Measures (in the form of increased duties) are applied in case of massive imports of any goods.

In accordance with the rules of the WTO, member countries of this organization can use protective measures to protect specific sectors of the national economy from growing imports that cause or may cause serious damage to their industry.

Industries and individual companies may approach their governments with proposals for protective measures to be applied only to the extent necessary to prevent or remedy serious harm to them and to facilitate their restructuring. Serious damage is determined on the basis of objective and quantifiable factors, such as import growth, changes in sales, production, productivity, profitability, capacity utilization, employment, etc. A causal relationship must be established between the increase in imports and serious damage.

The duration of safeguard measures should not exceed four years, although they may be extended up to eight years, provided that the competent national authorities conclude that such a measure is necessary, given evidence of an ongoing restructuring of the industry. Measures that are in use for more than one year are subject to gradual liberalization.

40. Modern methods of competition

There are three forms of competition:

1) subject;

2) functional;

3) personal.

Competition methods:

1) based on the criterion of improving the quality of goods (non-price);

2) on the basis of the criterion of improving the quality of service of the goods;

3) on the basis of price reduction (price);

4) on the basis of lower operating costs for the consumer

5) on the basis of improving the quality of management;

6) based on the use of all competitive advantages of the object and subject (integral).

Price competition - lowering the price increases sales, leads to the expansion of the market.

Direct price competition - firms widely announce reductions in prices for goods produced on the market.

Hidden price competition - firms introduce a new product with improved consumer properties, and raise the price disproportionately little.

Non-price competition. Highlights higher reliability than rivals, lower "cost of consumption", more modern design, etc. Strongest weapon

Under the conditions of pre-monopoly capitalism, the main means of conducting competition was price competition (bringing down prices by offering a price lower than that of a competitor). Under the dominance of monopolies, open price competition between concerns is a rare phenomenon.

Possessing enormous economic and financial power, the monopolies cannot oust each other without devastating consequences for themselves. Therefore, they prefer to respond to short-term fluctuations in demand not by changing prices, but by maneuvering the utilization of production capacities. Prices remain relatively stable even during crises and rise during economic upswings.

This does not mean the abolition of price competition in general. Most often, it is hidden, so-called price discounts are used. In the consumer goods market, price competition is used in the form of seasonal discount sales.

Increasing the quality of the product, providing guarantees and services to customers, widespread advertising, etc. are becoming more important in monopolistic competition. This is objectively related to the scientific and technical process, in which the requirements for quality, reliability and novelty of products for consumers are very significant.

Various innovations become the strongest weapon of competition. Modern corporations have become centers of applied R&D, with research laboratories and a large scientific staff controlling major patents. The pace of the scientific and technical process within the concerns has become a decisive condition for their competitiveness.

41. Price and non-price competition. Fair and unfair competition

Price competition - this is a type of competition through changes in the prices of goods. Selling firms move along the demand curve by lowering or raising the price. The main condition for conducting successful competition with the help of prices is the constant improvement of production and cost reduction. Only the entrepreneur who has the chance to reduce production costs wins.

Mechanism of price competition operates as follows. The manufacturer sets prices for its products below market prices. Competitors who are unable to follow this initiative cannot stay in the market and leave it or go bankrupt. However, there is always a competitor who will lead the company out of a difficult situation, survive the "price war" and wait for a new increase in product prices. So only a company that has a really strong position in the market compared to its competitors can count on winning. If competing firms are in approximately equal conditions, then the "price war" is not only wasteful, but also meaningless.

Factors, affecting the intensity of price competition:

1) Interest rate. The higher the rate and the lower the likelihood of repeat sales in the market, the greater the incentive for a price war.

2) Economic risk level. Focusing on strategic goals, i.e., future profits, can prevent a price war between sellers.

3) Product differentiation. The goods of different enterprises serve as perfect substitutes for each other, which means that the Lerner coefficient is set to zero, which softens price competition and its consequences.

4) Limiting the power of sellers in the market. The lower the capacity of competing sellers compared to the capacity of the market, the higher prices they charge, the higher the monopoly power they have, the higher the profit they receive.

With non-price competition, the role of price does not diminish at all, but the unique properties of the product, its technical reliability, and high quality come to the fore. It is this, and not price reduction, that allows you to attract new customers and increase the competitiveness of the product.

Non-price competition is characterized by the creation of strategic barriers that prevent the entry of new enterprises into the industry. These include:

1) saving innovations;

2) long-term contracts with resource providers;

3) obtaining licenses and patents for this type of activity;

4) preservation of unloaded capacities;

5) all ways to increase the minimum effective volume of output in the industry.

42. Research and competitiveness of a modern firm

The competitiveness of an enterprise is determined by several criteria optimality: local, global, external and internal.

Local the criterion determines the effectiveness of the use of individual competitive positions and their development as a separate element.

External the criterion evaluates the effectiveness of the competitiveness of a given level from the standpoint of self-preservation and further development of the enterprise.

Internal the criterion evaluates the subsystems of the competitiveness of the enterprise, the nature of their impact on the vector of development of competitiveness.

The study of competitors and competitive conditions in the industry is required for the enterprise to determine its advantages and disadvantages and develop its own strategy for success and maintaining a competitive advantage.

Assessment of the competitive position of the enterprise in the industry market allows:

1) develop measures to improve competitiveness;

2) choose a partner to organize a joint production of products;

3) attract investment in efficient production;

4) draw up programs for the enterprise to enter new product markets, etc.

Methods for assessing own competition:

1) the matrix method developed by the "Boston Consulting Group";

2) method of evaluation of goods (services) of the enterprise;

3) a method based on the theory of effective competition.

Enterprise competitiveness indicators:

1) Indicators characterizing the efficiency of the production activity of the enterprise: production costs per unit of output, capital productivity in value terms, product profitability, labor productivity in value terms per person.

2) Indicators of the financial position of the enterprise: coefficients of autonomy, solvency, absolute liquidity, turnover of working capital.

3) Organizational performance indicators: profitability of sales, overstocking ratios of finished products, production capacity utilization, effectiveness of advertising and sales promotion.

4) Indicators of competitiveness of goods: quality of goods, price of goods.

In the software market, there are various systems that implement the methods of marketing market research:

1) SWOT analysis used to examine advantages and disadvantages compared to competitors;

2) 4P strategy (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), which determines for each group of consumers of the corresponding product the prices, place of sale, method of promoting the product;

3) the Anzoff matrix, which implements the positioning of the product on the market;

4) the Rosenberg model is a linear compensation method for any indicator.

43. Antimonopoly policy and restriction of competition

Antitrust policy - one of the directions of state regulation of the economy, is a system of measures that provide for limiting the monopolization of production and markets in order to enhance competition.

Antitrust policy carried out in the following directions:

1) Limiting the monopolization of the market;

2) Prohibition of mergers of competing companies;

3) Prohibition of establishing monopoly prices;

4) Preservation and maintenance of competition in its civilized forms.

In Western countries, the state seeks to prevent the excessive influence of monopolies and oligopolies in the economy, develops antimonopoly (antitrust) legislation. The most developed is considered to be the US antitrust law.

First Laws, prohibiting monopoly agreements, were adopted in Canada (1889) and the United States (1890). Any agreements or associations aimed at restricting the freedom of fishing, monopolizing any branch of the economy, are recognized as illegal. The creation of monopolies entailed a fine of up to 5 thousand dollars and imprisonment for up to one year

Sherman's law subsequently supplemented, it was amended (in 1914, 1939 and 1950). It began to spread to new activities and new forms of associations and agreements.

Clayton's law (1914) banned agreements to limit the range of contractors, purchase or takeover of firms that entail the destruction of competition, the creation of holding companies and other agreements. Horizontal mergers were prohibited. In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was formed to combat "unfair" competitive practices and anti-competitive mergers.

Robinson Patman Law (1936) established a ban on restrictive business practices in the field of trade, i.e., activities aimed at undermining, eliminating or preventing competition.

Celler-Kefauver law (1950) prohibition of mergers by acquisition of assets, the notion of illegal merger was clarified. Horizontal and vertical mergers were prohibited

In Western Europe (Belgium - 1935; the Netherlands - 1933; Denmark - 1937) attempts were made to legally control cartel agreements. Cartels were seen as a means of combating "excessive competition", laws were aimed at preventing the abuse of this form of monopoly.

In the Treaty of Rome in Art. 85 and 86 also established the prohibition of monopoly agreements.

All these laws were aimed at ensuring a free market, fair competition, established control over various kinds of agreements.

44. Tools and methods of state regulation of the economy

Tools the forms of state influence on the economic process are called, these include legal legislation, state control over stock exchanges, and audit activities.

Legal legislation. Formation of laws, laws of functioning of various joint-stock companies, laws of relations between various joint-stock companies. Determines the right of inheritance, appropriation of other enterprises. Includes antitrust laws.

Exchange control. Control over all types of exchanges, determining the conditions for the formation of exchanges, the implementation of exchange processes, the relationship of exchanges with each other, the formation of the price of securities.

Audit activities. In order to identify how the company complies with the laws adopted by the state. It is carried out by auditors who have very high requirements.

Methods the methods of state influence on the economic process are called.

Direct have a direct impact on some market, industry, etc.

Indirect have a global impact on the entire economy (everyone takes them for granted), are associated with the direct financing of regions, industries, through the budgetary tax and monetary system. Through the fiscal system, the state has an impact on the economy, differentiating tax rates, canceling and introducing new taxes, applying, establishing, canceling benefits. An increase in taxes means a decrease in the possibilities of production and vice versa.

tax multiplier. Types of taxes: income tax; property tax; for income growth; vice versa; excises. Tax revenues are one of the sources of expenditure from the state budget. They influence the production process. The policy of regulation with the help of taxes and expenditures of the state budget is called fiscal policy. 2 types are considered: discrete - the application by the state of a decision on the development of special. programs, control over their implementation; internal stabilizers.

Methods of direct regulation of production - direct support by subsidies; the behavior of macrostructural shifts through the development and financing of scientific and technical progress; financing of economic programs; financing of social spheres; introduction of standards, for non-compliance - sanctions; government orders on a competitive basis.

Forms of state regulation of the economy. Forms should be understood as the main directions of state influence on the economy.

45. Diversification and conglomeration

Diversification there is a process of intersectoral expansion of capital, in which the monopolies rely on technical and economic ties and relations between different sectors.

Diversification belongs main role in the formation of an intersectoral structure of timely monopolies, which gives the concern a diversified character.

Diversification is considered as a kind of processes that make up the intersectoral expansion of monopoly capital. It was this approach that made it possible to form two points of view on diversification. According to the first of them, diversification includes intersectoral capital flows, which lead to the formation of conglomerates, concerns, uniting unrelated (with the exception of financial control) enterprises of different sectors of the economy. According to the second - in the approach to analysis as a process, which is based on the unification of industries on the basis of new connections born by the level of development of production, with new opportunities in the field of organization and management of production, and the further development of scientific and technological revolution.

Diversification is carried out by the largest corporations, this is the main method of economic growth of modern monopolies. Simultaneously with the expansion of the scale of diversification and in connection with it, the monopoly is revising its internal structure, adapting it to the conditions of functioning of the growing production complex.

Conglomeration - the latest form of movement of intersectoral capital. It is fundamentally different from other forms of intersectoral expansion of monopolies. Conglomeration is characterized by very high rates of its implementation.

A conglomerate, unlike vertically integrated and diversified corporations, is an association of enterprises, but is not a production association of enterprises. As a result of conglomeration, there is no interaction between previously independent production links. Mergers and acquisitions have become a way of existence, life of conglomerates, and not just self-enrichment. Outside the buying and selling of firms, conglomerates practically ceased to exist. At their expense, there was an expansion of the system of capitalist marketing, supplemented by the corporate market. This market subsystem had its own price system, its own brokers and dealers, and its own financiers. Conglomerates are only formally industrial associations. In the early stages of the development of the process, none of the production and economic tasks was solved centrally. The conglomerates shifted this function to other agents. Acquiring an efficient company, the conglomerate then sold it if it lost this quality over time.

46. Motives for transnationalization (globalization)

By creating transnational production complexes, TNCs get the opportunity to better use the advantages of the modern international division of labor and expand the international concentration of production, put natural and human resources, the scientific and technical potential of other countries at their service, penetrate their markets from the inside, bypassing customs barriers.

Transnationalization process monopoly capital exacerbates the inter-monopoly struggle, competition for dominance in the global competitive economy.

Globalization to take advantage of selected advantages in other countries. In the search for "global" strategies, many companies are now abandoning the opportunities they have in the existing diamond for their own countries. In order to benefit from research abroad, companies must have highly skilled people in their overseas home base and develop a high level of research effort. To benefit from research conducted abroad, companies must provide access to their own ideas, recognizing that competitive advantage comes from long-term improvements, not from protecting today's secrets.

Globalization along with ease of transportation and communication led to growth subcontracting with companies that have relocated a lot of production capacity to regions with low wages, low taxation and low utility costs. Subcontracting certain activities to outside firms to reduce input costs can reduce local pressures. The globalization of competition allows firms to achieve competitive advantage regardless of location by coordinating their activities across a wide range of countries.

At the same time, globalization has not canceled the importance of choosing a location in the competitive struggle. In the hundreds of industries that were surveyed (including the service industry and emerging industries such as software engineering, new materials development, and biotechnology), world leaders tend to be headquartered in only a few countries, and sometimes even in one country. The geographic concentration of leading firms in their respective countries demonstrates even more clearly the importance of location in order to compete successfully.

47. The impact of comparative and competitive advantages on competitive positions

There are two types of advantage: comparative advantage and competitive advantage.

Comparative Advantage ensure the competitiveness of the enterprise through sources such as labor, natural raw materials (land) and capital. In modern conditions, only the availability of labor, capital and raw materials do not ensure the competitiveness of the enterprise, because they have become widely available, which means that the opportunity to gain benefits through these differences is excluded. The existence of differences between high technology and low technology, between production and services, disappears in such a state of the economy, when all industries can use advanced technologies and highly qualified personnel to achieve a high level of development.

Where the equality of conditions of economic functioning prevails, the differences are leveled, where the objective opportunity to obtain such advantages in the competitive struggle (due to differences) disappears, competition must cease to exist. In order to maintain the competitiveness of the market on the part of commodity producers, there is one way out - to create advantages (differences) themselves. Competitive advantages artificially created by the enterprise are competitive advantage.

The creation of competitive advantages by enterprises is the basis of non-price competition as a fundamentally new type of competition. An enterprise can outperform its competitors if it is able to create a difference for itself and subsequently maintain it. In non-price competition, productivity competition is based on innovation.

A wide and diverse set of competitive advantages for the enterprise provides a more stable position in certain market segments and among competitors.

Enterprise competitiveness, from the point of view of the totality of competitive advantages, is a product of the interaction of an enterprise with a microeconomic business environment. The competitiveness of an enterprise is created by two groups of factors: the level of economic development of the enterprise, as well as the quality of the microeconomic environment.

The assessment of the quality of the microeconomic environment characterizes the specific advantages inherent in the enterprise along with its own competitive advantages, but not created by it. Meanwhile, as the calculations of the World Economic Forum show, the factors of the business environment have the greatest influence on the dynamics of economic growth as a whole.

48. The concept of competitive strategy

Enterprise strategy - a set of actions in which individual combinations of enterprise behavior are subject to a premeditated plan that helps it achieve its goal.

Strategic behavior of the enterprise - choosing a variant of its activity, which takes into account the possible response actions of competitors.

Strategic behavior means that the company is able to influence the market, including the equilibrium price set in the market. The degree of such influence depends on the strategic strength of the enterprise: market share, the image of the enterprise, the availability of information about the market. In this sense, strategic behavior is characteristic only of an oligopoly market and, to a certain extent, of monopolistic competition: under conditions of free competition, the volume of production of an enterprise almost does not depend on and does not affect the output of other enterprises, since their number on the market is too large.

Strategic interaction of enterprises - such a situation on the market, when, due to their small number, enterprises begin to realize the interdependence of their own real and expected actions, as a result of which their functioning becomes more thoughtful, more purposeful.

This impact of enterprises on the market leads to specific structures of imperfect competition and specific types of market entry barriers, as well as to specific types of relationships between enterprises in the form of strategic groups.

Competitive actions of enterprises in a market economy are aimed at strengthening old and gaining new positions in the market and in some cases lead to a redistribution of the market power of individual enterprises, to a change in market structures.

The functioning (performance) of the industry depends on the behavior of the enterprise.

Industry performance - optimal distribution of industry resources, product profitability, technical process and price dynamics in the market. By influencing the structure of the market, the state can improve the parameters of the functioning of the industry. This approach underlies antimonopoly regulation.

Reverse influence - The government can regulate the number of enterprises in the industry, and enterprises can influence the government's policies to obtain higher profits.

Features of relations between enterprises and their combinations lead to varying degrees of concentration of sellers and buyers in the market, different degrees of differentiation of goods, different heights of barriers to entry and exit from the market, to varying degrees of influence of sellers and buyers on the price.

49. Competitive advantages in the theory of M. Porter. Three Typical Competitive Strategies

M. Porter, based on an analysis of more than 100 industries and sub-sectors from 10 countries, comes to the conclusion that the international competitive advantages of national firms operating in these industries and sub-sectors depend on the macro environment in which they operate in their own country.

macro environment is determined not only by factors of production, but also by the nature of demand in the domestic market, the development of related and related industries, the level of management and competition in the country, as well as the economic policy of the government and even random events (war, unexpected inventions, etc.). The combination of these six main parameters (especially the first four, which Porter calls determinants) determines the competitive advantage of firms. In the general system of determinants of competitive advantages, M. Porter also includes the role of random events that can either strengthen or weaken the country's existing competitive advantages. The government's role in shaping national competitive advantage is to exert significant influence on all major determinants of the "national diamond".

For a manufacturing enterprise, there are mainly three strategiesthat lead to profit:

1. An enterprise (one or with several competitors) can conquer the market by selling a large number of products, producing them at minimal cost and selling at low prices;

2. The product and enterprise are distinguished from other competitors by special features for which buyers are willing to pay. It can be a better appearance, better functioning, better service, etc. Such features are called USP (Unique Sales Proposition) and promise a good sales prospects for the product.

3. For small and medium-sized enterprises, selective market treatment is recommended as an alternative strategy, achieving price leadership in certain small market segments or offering solutions to problems in such segments. With a small volume of sales and high prices, attempts to compete with suppliers of mass goods are futile.

Competitive Strategies:

1. Handling large market segments. Assumes:

a) problem solving - differentiation in the narrow sense (solving problems in large segments by creating a USP);

b) cost and price leadership

2. Processing of market niches (small segments) - selective processing of the market:

a) suggesting means of solving problems in the niche;

b) price leadership in the niche.

50. Industry competition

The state of competition in the industry is determined five main forces:

1) the threat of invasion by new participants;

2) the threat of the emergence of substitute products or substitute services;

3) market power of consumers;

4) the market power of the seller;

5) by all means to achieve an advantageous position among competitors.

Together, these forces determine the industry's marginal profit potential.

The threat of new competitors. The threat of entry by new competitors depends on the existence of barriers to entry and the reaction of existing competitors, if entry barriers are high and challengers face strong opposition in the industry of competitors, which does not pose a serious danger in terms of entry.

Exist six basic prerequisitesthat create barriers to entry into the industry.

1. Economies due to growth and scale of production.

2. Product differentiation.

3. The need for capital.

4. Higher costs.

5. Access to distribution channels.

6. Government policy.

The basis of competitiveness policy is a call for an increase in the degree of research cooperation and the creation of industry consortiums, a strong limitation of direct cooperation between rivals in the industry.

Location competitive advantage is a means of identifying industries in which a firm can achieve a unique competitive advantage over competitors based elsewhere, as well as those industry segments in which a home-based environment provides the greatest benefits. The development of new business should be concentrated in these areas.

The competitive advantages of an industry are in many ways similar to the competitive advantages of an organization within the industry.

So, to external Industry competitive advantages include:

▪ high level of competitiveness of the country;

▪ active government support for small and medium-sized businesses;

▪ high-quality legal regulation of the functioning of the country’s economy, etc.

К internal The competitive advantages of the industry are:

▪ high demand for goods in the industry;

▪ optimal level of concentration, specialization and cooperation in the industry;

▪ optimal level of unification and standardization of industry products, etc.

Strong local competition contributes to the formation of unique sets of specialized professions and technologies, the development of local supplier industries (which have a ready local market at their disposal), adaptation and support of the needs of the corresponding industry.

51. Changing competition between modern firms

Change options The competition between firms is:

1) an increase in the number of competing firms;

2) large firms take on another firm and take drastic measures to bring it into the lead;

3) the demand for the product is growing slowly;

4) economic conditions in the industry push the firm to lower prices or to use other means of increasing sales;

5) the costs of buyers in the transition from the consumption of one brand to another are small;

6) one or more firms are not satisfied with their market share;

7) profit growth from successful strategic decisions;

8) the costs of exiting the market are high, barriers are high;

9) strategies, resources, organizational features, missions of firms differ to a large extent and are open to the majority.

Rivalry among existing competitors leads to the desire to achieve an advantageous position by all means, using the tactics of price competition, promotion of the product on the market and intensive advertising.

Increasing competition depends from the following factors:

▪ the presence of a large number of competitors or their approximate equality in terms of size and strength;

▪ slow growth of the industry, intensifying the struggle for market share, which attracts expansive participants into the market;

▪ the product or service lacks differentiation or switching costs that keep the buyer engaged and protect one participant from the influence of another on its consumers;

▪ fixed costs are high or products are perishable, pushing prices down;

▪ the volume of production capacity is increasing with a large increase;

▪ exit barriers are quite high and, like specialized assets or management commitment to a particular business, increase competition among companies;

▪ Rivals differ in strategy, background and “personality”. They have different ideologies about how to compete and are constantly outperforming each other in the process of competition.

A company may have different home countries for different activities or segments. Competitive advantages are formed in the home country. Conditions in the home country should be conducive to innovation; otherwise, moving your base to a country that stimulates innovation and provides the most favorable environment for international competition.

Companies can take certain actions to better see the signs of change and act on them, making a powerful leap forward on the path of competition.

52. The concept of a national rhombus. Influence of economic policy and other factors

M. Porter revealed the most important reasons successes and failures in the competitive struggle of firms in developed countries. He proposed the concept of CS - the idea of the so-called "national rhombus", revealing the four properties-determinants of the country that form the environment in which the firms of this country operate.

The terms of the "national rhombus":

1. The strategy of firms, their structure and the nature of competition between them.

2. Parameters of factors of production.

3. Parameters of demand for products.

4. Related and supporting industries

They correspond to the following tasks:

1. Constant introduction of innovations, new technologies, methods, organization of production. The knowledge resource, highly developed infrastructure (communications, information) is gaining priority;

2. Development of an effective strategy for firms; creation of a progressive corporate structure; competitive rivalry between manufacturers and suppliers within the country;

3. Support and development of industries and industries that supply exporters with components, semi-finished products, raw materials, fuel, providing them with operational information;

4. Active influence on the parameters of demand, its volume, dynamics, structure, differentiation. The developed demand of the domestic market is an important prerequisite for a successful entry into the foreign market.

The role of the government is significant in maintaining the competitive advantages of the country. It creates conditions, coordinates and stimulates the activities of firms. The government influences all parameters (determinants) of the "national rhombus".

The "national rhombus" characterizes the system of determinants of the CA, the components of which, being in interaction, create the effect of integrity, i.e., enhance or weaken the potential level of the CA of enterprises in this country.

In the process of studying competitiveness as a generalized economic problem the following factors should be taken into account:

a) it is necessary to quantify economic objects that are carriers of the property of competitiveness, without which maintaining and increasing the level of competitiveness is subjective;

b) there is no universally accepted concept of competitiveness;

c) among the main parameters that determine the level of competitiveness are multi-layeredness, relativity and concreteness;

d) competitiveness is determined using the results of comparisons of both enterprises and their products;

e) comparison of economic objects in the process of comparative analysis of competitiveness must meet the requirements of completeness and correctness.

53. Country Competitiveness

Some view a country's competitiveness as a macroeconomic phenomenon driven by factors such as the exchange rate, interest rates, and budget deficits. The concept of national competitiveness is productivity. The main goal of every state is to achieve a high and constantly growing standard of living for its citizens.

Performance is the volume of output produced by a unit of labor or capital expended.

Home country is a country in which the main competitive advantages of the enterprise are created and maintained. This is the country where the company's strategy is developed, in which the basic product and technological processes are created and maintained; the most productive work is also localized there and the most skilled labor force is concentrated.

The role of the government in the country's competitiveness. The government cannot create competitive industries; only the companies themselves can do this. Government plays a role that, by its very nature, is only partially significant and leads to success if the government's actions work together with the favorable underlying conditions outlined in the diamond.

Role of government - indirect, not direct.

The government has a great responsibility for fundamental factors: the system of primary and secondary education, the basic infrastructure of the country, the conduct of research in areas of interest, such as health. Efforts directed along the path of creating favorable factors rarely lead to the formation of competitive advantages. Factors that lead to competitive advantage are progressive, specialized and closely tied to certain industries or groups of industries.

By intervening in factors and the foreign exchange market, governments hope to reduce factor costs or establish a favorable exchange rate. If market forces drive up factor costs or the exchange rate, the government must resist the temptation to push them back.

Government legislation can help achieve competitive advantage by stimulating and improving domestic demand. Rigid standards for product performance, safety, and environmental impact put pressure on companies to improve quality, improve technology, and add product features to meet consumer and societal needs.

54. Factor conditions of supply and demand

Demand is a form of expression of a need presented on the market and provided with appropriate funds. Demand is a solvent need.

Proposal - is the totality of goods that are on the market or capable of being delivered there. It is predetermined by production, but not identical to it. The difference always exists because the movement of prices, with the volume of production unchanged, changes the size of the supply. Equality of supply and demand does not always mean equality of production and demand.

In a certain ratio of supply and demand for individual goods and their groups and for the mass of goods as a whole, the market situation finds manifestation. It develops and changes under the influence of numerous factors: the scale of production, the size of stocks, the dynamics of prices and cash income, the organization of trade and advertising.

The normal ratio of supply and demand is their balance, i.e., the correspondence between the volume and structure of demand for goods and services and the volume and structure of their supply.

Market equilibrium - this is one of the manifestations of balance, proportionality in the development of the economy. The violation of the correspondence between supply and demand reflects the emergence of disproportions in the economy and has an extremely negative effect on the development of production and the solution of social problems.

Result lagging supply behind demand is the rise in prices, their separation from the socially necessary labor costs. Price increases can take various forms: direct growth or hidden ones, including due to assortment shifts, when the buyer refuses to purchase outdated products at stable prices, but prefers modern designs, even if for a higher fee. This breeds speculation.

The consequences of violations of the balance between supply and demand are not limited to rising prices. The market distortion resulting from the systematic separation of supply from demand distorts the normal economic turnover and leads to the dictatorship of the producer. As a result, the process of product renewal slows down, scientific and technological progress and the improvement of the quality of goods and services are seriously hampered, and financial imbalances increase. All this weakens the effectiveness of economic levers and incentives, disorganizes production and the market.

Supply and demand are influenced by numerous factors and react differently to them. The degree of change in supply and demand under the influence of one or another factor characterizes their elasticity.

55. Clusters

Cluster or an industrial group - a group of geographically adjacent interconnected companies and related organizations operating in a particular area and characterized by a common activity and complementary to each other.

Clusters may arise as a result of unusual, complex, or increased local demand. Random events turn out to be important for the emergence of a cluster. The initial stage of formation of companies in the region often reflects the actions of entrepreneurs, which cannot be fully explained only by the presence of favorable local conditions.

In a viable cluster, an initial critical mass of firms reinforces the process of self-empowerment, in which the cluster becomes more visible and its prestige increases.

During this:

1) specialized suppliers appear,

2) information is accumulated,

3) special training is organized in local institutions,

4) research is underway,

5) infrastructure is being developed and appropriate legislative norms are being developed.

Clusters are usually more pronounced in a developed economy, where the depth and width of clusters is greater. In a developing economy cluster formation weakened by a low level of education, low qualifications, poor development of public institutions. Cluster improvement is facilitated by private investment.

Clusters offer governments new ways to collect and organize information, as a wide range of knowledge about marketing, technology and other specialized types of information accumulates within a cluster. An important special case of the information advantages created by the cluster is the availability of information about the current needs of the buyer.

Individual companies can influence the development of the cluster independently, this role is often filled by cluster founders or leading firms. The activities of many trade associations often come down to lobbying the government, collecting some statistical data, while the organizations themselves take on the distribution of social functions. The existing opportunities for associations to enhance the competitiveness of the cluster turn out to be much greater. Cluster initiatives can focus on the discussion of certain government policy issues, help identify problems within the private sector.

To test cluster development efforts, it is necessary that certain cluster embryos tested by the market. Efforts to develop the cluster should go through the achievement of competitive advantages and specialization, and not through attempts to repeat what exists in other regions.

56. Export competitiveness

Almost any group of Russian goods can expect an expansion of exports. There is fierce competition in all segments of the world markets. Now a special export support department is being formed in the government, which will be engaged in the implementation of assistance programs for Russian exporters.

Unexpectedly for Russia, they have become exporters of agricultural goods, and access to world markets is becoming critical. The most expensive export commodity - knowledge. They need to be exported - knowledge embodied in modern technologies, software, know-how, developments. Offshore programming brings India and Israel more money than our oil revenues. The developments of the scientific and technical complex should be included in the export nomenclature.

The main items of Russian exports remain raw materials and semi-finished products: oil, oil products, gas, steel, aluminum, timber, weapons and military equipment. Studies of the competitiveness of Russian industry, including those conducted by IMEMO RAS, show that the bulk of Russian industrial products are competitive only in the markets of Russia and the CIS.

Competitive industries in the global market:

1. biotechnologies growing in developed countries at rates of about 50 - 100% per year;

2. information technologies, the growth of which is 30 - 40% annually;

3. machine tool building;

4. microelectronics;

5. aviation industry.

The key problem for Russian exports is over-linking to volatile commodity markets. The problem is that the sectors of the economy that shape its modern face can only develop if they are integrated into world markets.

Russian customs is doing well in fiscal terms, but reducing the competitiveness of Russian exports.

The geography of trade relations of enterprises of the Ministry of Industry covers almost 100 countries of the world. In the first half of the year, deliveries to the CIS countries and far abroad increased. For six months, the growth rate of exports to Ukraine amounted to 159,4%, to Egypt increased 9,5 times, Hungary - 3 times, Iran - 8,5 times, Romania - 1,6 times.

In order to successfully consolidate and expand its presence in foreign markets, the Ministry of Industry has developed an export development strategy for 2005-2010, the purpose of which is to ensure an aggressive export policy, increase the competitiveness of exports, and increase the efficiency of foreign economic activity.

The recipe for increasing the competitiveness of exports from the World Bank is simple: it is necessary to increase the speed of the passage of goods across the border, the introduction of an electronic declaration of goods.

Author: Ilyina V.N.

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