Competitiveness, as a concept arose in the process of competition of enterprises in the commodity markets, as well as the markets of production, intellectual and information resources. It should be borne in mind that in the analysis it should be considered as a parameter that takes into account the factor analysis of production costs. At the same time, the main purpose of the commodity producer’s participation in market competition is to satisfy the needs of the buyer and maximize profits, as well as funds for expanded reproduction, stimulation of labor and improving the welfare of workers. In addition, it is determined by the competitive advantages of the organization and the company in relation to competitors in the domestic and foreign markets.
This understanding connects competitiveness, competition, profitability and analysis of production costs with the corresponding advantages of the enterprise in a single system of performance indicators and means the objective need to intensify its activities in the innovation and investment sphere, and increase the rationality of the use of production, financial and information resources. In this regard, each business entity, for the purpose of expanded reproduction, seeks to maximize profits, increase accumulation funds, raise the qualification level of its employees, attract foreign investment and demonstrate its competitive advantages in capital markets. As the analysis of production costs shows , the main competitive factors are a system that includes:
1) indicators of rationality of expenditure of material resources;
2) performance indicators of the use of intangible resources;
3) the competitive environment and the level of competition in the country;
4) the competitive strategy of the enterprise;
5) the size and dynamics of demand;
6) the elasticity of demand;
7) the competitive advantages of production areas that provide the company with the necessary resources;
8) random events;
9) economic and organizational-administrative methods of correction of economic activity.
The competitiveness of a product is expressed through its competitive advantages in the domestic and foreign markets.
As a complex process, analysis of production costs shows that the factors of competitiveness of goods are:
• the cost of consumption, determined by the sum of the selling price and costs of the consumer;
• quality level in comparison with the goods of a competing enterprise;
• the ratio of the purchase price of the product and its quality;
• comparison of goods of competing enterprises in terms of the ratio of technical characteristics and the level of selling prices of these goods;
• Comparison of composite parametric indices of competitiveness of goods. All these factors are taken into account by the methodology of cost analysis for the production of a product.
However, the methodology for the formation of the competitiveness of the enterprise and goods is expressed not only in interactions with the competition and competitive advantages of the enterprise (in particular, costs), but also in relation to the competitiveness of the country. All factors of the enterprise and the country are generated by its economic system, as well as by the specifics of the process of socio-economic development, the relationships that are manifested in the following main triads:
1) "man - society - nature";
2) "competitiveness of the economy - competitiveness of politics - competitiveness of law";
3) "macroeconomic competitiveness - microeconomic competitiveness - competitiveness of the country's foreign economic activity";
4) "the competitiveness of the country - the competitiveness of enterprises in the industry - the competitiveness of goods."
As a principle, analysis of production costs provides that there is a certain interaction between the factors of competitiveness of the country's economy, enterprises and their goods (services, works), production costs. As a rule, internal factors of a country's economy are external factors for the competitiveness of enterprises. At the same time, the internal factors of the enterprise’s competitiveness are external in relation to the competitiveness factors of the work, services and goods of the same enterprise. There is also a feedback in which the competitiveness of goods determines the competitiveness of an enterprise, the competitiveness of enterprises determines the competitiveness of individual industries, and the competitiveness of all industries determines the competitiveness of a country's economy.