Sectoral features in the formation of food industry enterprises competitiveness: case of Ukraine

Introduction. The purpose of research is to determine the main factors that influence on competitiveness of Ukrainian enterprises of various food sectors and assess their impact on the formation of competitive advantages. Materials and methods. The analysis of scientific publications allowed to determine the most effective methods: a contextual comparative analysis to identify the force of influence on the competitiveness of Ukrainian food industry enterprises and expert method assessment. Results and discussion. The main factors that reduce the competitiveness of Ukrainian food industry enterprises are: oligopolization of markets, high level of shadow sector, outdated technical level and technologies, low level of innovation activities, raw materials shortage and underdeveloped raw material sector, dependence on imported raw materials, weak logistics infrastructure, reduction of purchasing power, political and economic instability. The most important factors that have a positive impact on the competitiveness of food industry enterprises and the formation of competitive advantages are: affiliation of food industry enterprises to transnational corporations, innovation activities and manufacturing modernization, compliance of products with international standards, deep recycling of raw materials, production of ecological products. Ways of developing the competitive advantages are: rapid adaptation to changes, improving the efficiency production processes, taking into account the industry specifics and peculiarities of doing business, implementation of environmental standards in manufacturing. The force of factors that influence on the competitiveness of enterprises is different due to sectoral features of functioning. Conclusion. The proposed approach allows to predict changes in the level of competitiveness, taking into account the industry specifics of the enterprise activity and changes of external environment, including changes in a particular commodity market.