Genesis of Essence of Enterprise Competitive Advantages

The article determines, that the problems of competitive advantage formation will always be relevant for enterprises operating in a market economy. It has been established, that at this stage of development of the global economic system the ability to generate competitive advantages ensures the further development of enterprises in general. Therefore, the study of approaches to the formation of sustainable competitive advantages is of particular relevance for modern enterprises. It has been determined, that more in-depth consideration requires some aspects of competitive advantage formation in the enterprise, in particular, their identification, concretization of stages, mechanisms of formation and opportunities for development of competitive advantages in the changing competitive environment. The purpose of the article is theoretical research of the genesis of competitive advantages theory and identification of key features of the modern stage of its development. The article discusses and generalizes approaches to determining the competitive advantages of enterprises. The main characteristics and possibilities of ensuring the enterprise competitiveness have been highlighted. The content of the concept of "competitive advantage" has been disclosed. The factors of formation of enterprise competitive advantages in the conditions of changing external environment have been researched. The place and role of competitive advantages in the system of competitive relations have been determined. Causal relationships between the interconnected concepts "competitive advantage" and "competitiveness" have been established. The role of competitive advantages in ensuring the competitiveness of the enterprise has been shown, their essence has been revealed. The expediency of taking into account the competitive advantages of enterprises has been justified, taking into account the real conditions of their activity. There are five stages: “factor”, “cost”, “quality”, “adaptive” and “innovative” in the evolution of key sources of competitive advantage. Features of formation and use of competitive advantages of the trading enterprise have been given. It has been emphasized, that the peculiarity of entrepreneurial activity in trade is that there is essentially a "lower" entry barrier to the industry, which in practice means, that there is a real threat of new competitors. The degree of entry barrier into the industry is determined by a number of reasons: the dominant type of production organization, the level of industry cost, the level of product standardization, the level of diversification, the availability of distribution channels, the need for additional capital investments, the organization of an existing supply system. It has been established, that the enterprises need to develop their own unique abilities, which in combination with resources become the basis of the enterprise strategy and provide it with the formation of competitive advantages. It has been substantiated, that competitive advantage is possible through the implementation of a competitive strategy. The competitiveness of the enterprise characterizes its existence in the market, it allows to evaluate the current and future state, to select different variants of management decisions (alternatives), that ensure the transition from one state to another.