Methodological Problems and Limitations of Competitiveness Evaluation

The concept of competitiveness describes the relative, or comparative, position (economic, social, technological, etc.) of a company, industry, region, country or a group of countries with regard to other business firms, industries, countries, and groups of countries. According to Ivanov (2008), first of all, competitiveness is a complex economic phenomenon which has at least 3 levels: macro- (national economy), mezo- (regional economy, industry), and micro- (company economy). Each of the aforementioned levels has its own specifics and unique indicators that are to be applied in the process of competitiveness evaluation. It must be emphasized that the evaluation of competitiveness is economically relevant for a number of reasons: first, it is a process which enables to identify all the strengths and weaknesses of a national economy, striving for balanced and sustainable economic growth; second, the evaluation of competitiveness provides the basis for the creation of efficient economic stimulation instruments, as it identifies the competitive advantages of goods and services, and enables to forecast their ability to compete with analogical goods and services in local and foreign markets. Various competitiveness evaluation methods, which differ in terms of scope and application aim, have an essential common feature – they enable to define the relative position of an object with regard to other analogical objects by the use of various evaluation criteria and competitiveness indicators. The main evaluation problems that arise at the theoretical, or methodological, level are: the absence of a definite, clear, and solid concept of competitiveness; and the limitations caused by various evaluation methods. Practical problems are associated with limited resources, and the quality of (as well as the access to) relevant information, used in the process of competitiveness evaluation.