International Regional Competitiveness of Ukraine: current state and future perspectives
D.I. Zvirgzde,
аспирант, Киевский национальный экономический университет им. Вадима Гетьмана (03068, Украина, г. Киев, Проспект Победы, 54/1; e-mail: dzvirgzde@gmail.com)
Аннотация. Доминирующей тенденцией развития мировой экономики в XXI веке стала ее глобализация, многогранное измерение которой проявляется посредством роста масштабов и динамизации экономических отношений на международном, национальном и региональном уровнях. Регионы начали конкурентную борьбу как носители экономического роста, поскольку диспропорциональный уровень их развития привел к распространению неравномерного уровня конкурентоспособности в глобальном измерении. Опыт высоко развитых стран мира - ключевых инноваторов показывает, что рост конкурентоспособной экономики на макро-уровне является лишь возможным путем аккумуляции регионального экономического потенциала на мезо-уровне. В статье предложено собственное определение международной конкурентоспособности региональной экономики как отправной точки ее оценки в Украине, в частности ее экономического потенциала и региональной привлекательности касательно ПИИ.
Abstract. Globalisation as a dominant tendency of the XXI century has initiated the rise of the scale and dynamics of economic interactions on the international, national and regional levels. Regions have started to compete as the sources of economic growth since the disproportional levels of their development led to the escalation of the disparities on the global economic platform. Experience of the most successful and highly developed states clearly shows that the growth of the competitive economy on the macro-level is only possible through the accumulation of the regional economic potentials on the meso-level. The paper presents the author's own definition of an internationally competitive regional economy as the starting point of the assessment of the regional competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy, its economic potential and regional attractiveness towards FDI.
Ключевые слова: региональная конкурентоспособность, экономический потенциал, региональная инновационная система.
Keywords: regional competitiveness, economic potential, regional innovation system.
Modern economic development is well characterized by the tendency of regionalization, which is expressed in the rise of the autonomy of the regions, seeking to retain their identity and to enhance the role of a region within national and global economy. Regional determinants in the system of factors of international competitiveness of the states play a greater role, resulting in the formation of national regions with high competitive status, world cities, high-tech clusters, which in fact determine the disposition of states in the hierarchy of the global competitive relations. The region is becoming a relatively independent economic entity, engaged in competitive relations within both interregional interactions and the global market.
Under these conditions, the formation and implementation of effective competitive strategies by the actors of international economic relations, specifically regions, in order to ensure their high competitive status has become a priority for the international arena. International organizations that evaluate global competitiveness also include regions with high competitive status in their ratings. [3] Transformation of the process of competitive advantages of the countries around the world, namely its shift from national to sub-national level, puts in front of contemporary scientists and politicians the task of theoretical assessment of the patterns of influence of individual national regions on the rise of international competitiveness of the states and of an effective mechanism of harmonization of regional and national interests in the sphere of external economic relations. International competitiveness of regions is associated primarily with highly innovative productive factors, competitive advantages in hightech fields, strong presence of national companies
in the world markets and the quality of life. A necessary prerequisite for successful realization of the concept of raising international competitiveness of Ukraine is the formation of the strong regional economy based on innovation, providing the breakthrough on the international markets, primarily with high-tech products. The increase of the competitiveness of the regions of Ukraine will depend on how the regions will invest in human capital, implement an active innovation policy and shape an effective regional innovation system, integrated into the global innovation area.
As it is well known, international competitiveness of regions is reflected through the process of international economic relations. Hence, the evolution of economic thought concerning the competitiveness of regions should be considered, especially in the context of theories of international trade. A. Smith, D. Ricardo, J. Mill, who formulated the principles of absolute and comparative advantage in international trade sought to explain the success of the country in international competition. Swedish economists E. Heckscher and B. Ohlin transformed the principle of comparative advantage by D. Ricardo, proving that if the value of factors of production is the same in all regions, the region is losing its competitive position. Thus, scientists attributed the level of investment, original environmental conditions, technological development and human capital to the factors of regional competitiveness. [4,7]
Nobel laureates P. Romer and R. Lucas with J. Grossman and E. Helpman contributed to the concept of regional competitiveness, noting in their theory of "new growth" that scientific and technological potential and investment in human capital are key drivers of regional competitiveness.
Scientists have argued that any region can be competitive in case the number of registered patents and the level of education are increasing steadily. [10, pp. 3-22] Highlighting the cause and effect relationship between regional competitiveness and economies of scale, P. Krugman in the theory of "new trade" argues that investment in human resources, raise of the level of specialization of the infrastructure, activation of the networks of suppliers and technologies, the effects of agglomeration and urbanization lead to the rise of the economies of scale, and hence competitiveness. P. Krugman also states that the competitiveness of the region is almost entirely dependent on whether the letter would be able to become more productive. [6, pp. 28-44]
New trends in the development of world trade, technologies, and economic growth required a review of the theoretical concepts of regional competitiveness. The concept of regional innovation systems occurs in the early 90's of the twentieth century as a separate field theory of innovation systems in the works of C. Freeman, B. Lundvall, R. Nelson. It integrates two basic ideas: the systemic nature of innovation and regional dimension of
innovation competitiveness of states. In the early XX century A. Marshall has emphasized on the active role of individual actors in the economic development of the national regions and countries. He argued that the model of local development is bipolar and based on effective interaction between two major players in the market: local companies and government institutions. H. Etzkowitz and L. Leydesdorff as a result of introduction of a third component, research institutes, to the bipolar model, have developed a model of a "triple helix" of territorial development, which illustrates the interaction and relationships that arise between companies, research institutes and government organizations within the process of formation of innovation systems. [1, pp. 109-123]
In the early 90's of the XX century there was a flow of new regional science emphasizing on the need to work locally to compete globally. The most significant in 90's and up to now is the concept of M. Porter, who developed the theory of internal economic growth in his work «The Competitive Advantage of Nations» and the system of factors determining international competitiveness. [9, pp. 77-90] According to the arguments of M. Porter and his famous "diamond" the factors that shape the competitiveness of the country and its regions are factor conditions in the region, the parameters of domestic demand in the region, service related industry (clusters of industries) in the region, strategy and structure of firms, intrasectoral competition in the region, random events and public policy.
The definition of a "competitive region" is extremely important. It is an important reference point for public policy aimed at strengthening the competitive position of the national economy in the world market in the framework of tough international competition. Different scientists, economists and authoritative international organizations interpret regional competitiveness in a different way. Experts of the European Commission state that regional competitiveness is the ability of the region to produce such goods and services that are in demand in international markets and also to provide
Экономика и предпринимательство, № 4, 2013 г.
stable and high benefits to the local population, or in general terms, it is the capacity of the region within the conditions of external competition to provide a relatively high level of income and employment. In our view, international competitiveness of the regional economy means the ability of enterprises of the region to occupy and maintain strong positions in certain segments of the global market in terms of strong economic potential, which provides a dynamic growth of the region and the national economy on the basis of innovation; the developed system of market institutions; considerable intellectual capital and investment resources; the ability to flexibly respond to changing world conditi
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