Competitive advantages of enterprises in foreign trade

Abstract

Background. The modern economy determines higher demands on the level of competitiveness of business entities, while the importance of increasing the number of competitive advantages becomes more and more important. Now the problems of the competitive advantages of the industries (especially with regard to international trade), in particular the confectionery industry, remain the least studied. Therefore, an important analytical task is to identify the key success factors, taking into account the available and predictable conditions for the development of industry and industry competition.
An analysis of last researches and publications has shown that despite the availability of scientific works, an important scientific and practical problem regarding the methodological tools for the formation of a competitive strategy that would allow to develop the potential competitive advantages of the enterprise, remains unresolved.
The aim is to analyze and summarize the main factors of formation of competitive advantages of enterprises of confectionery industry in the global sweets market.
Materials and methods. In the process of the study the methods of comparison, graphic, tabular, economic and statistical were used.
Results. The peculiarities of emergence of competitive advantages of the enterprise of confectionery industry are analyzed; the algorithm of their development is formed. The analysis of export-import operations has shown a reorientation of the market in recent years. The mechanism of identifying and retaining competitive advantages in the world confectionery market is considered. The advantages that determine the development prospects are highlighted.
For the confectionery industry, the competitive advantages are mostly related to the ability to export products. Recommendations are given on the measures needed to shape the competitive advantages of confectionery enterprises.
Conclusion. Competitive advantage refers to the ability of an enterprise to provide consumers with goods or services at lower prices, better quality, a wider range, and so on, as compared to competitors in the same industry. For the enterprises of the confectionery industry, which are oriented to foreign markets, the strategic advantage can be diversification of products, increasing the number of «novelties» – both in taste and in design, taking into account the specific needs of individual segments of consumers.
According to the results of the calculations, it is advisable that the confectionery enterprises of Ukraine should focus on the production of sugar confectionery, which will increase the competitive advantage in the international market.