ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVENESS OF LATVIAN ENTERPRISES

Abstract

Competitiveness of enterprises is one of business and national economic growth factors. Business theories which imply gathered business experience in a range of countries and across different time periods do not make it clear why some enterprise always would be more competitive over some other. Competitiveness of enterprises is exposed to particular factors as much as to combined factors which depend on further range of other factors such as external environment, time, and also luck. Competitiveness is hard to define, yet it is also difficult to measure: as it is known, the know-how having brought success to some company might not be that useful to other companies due to various additional influential aspects. Nevertheless, business researches conducted in different countries have identified a set of factors affecting competitiveness of enterprises. The objective of the study is to identify the most significant factors to ensure competitiveness of Latvian enterprises, based on survey data of 530 various business managers. The work task is to analyse theoretical justification of competitiveness; to assess competitiveness in Latvian enterprises; to analyse the obtained results. The study addresses and analyses availability and usage efficiency of resources including human resources, tangible resources, and financial resources, business strategies, internal and external communication networks, external environment effect on competitiveness, and comparison of financial performance among companies. The study applies monographic method, survey and graphical methods.