RISKS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON COMPANY INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE

The activities of all companies in the market environment, regardless of the field of activity, are associated with risks that cannot be completely eliminated, both for objective and subjective reasons. The absence of risks negatively affects the economy due to reduced efficiency. Moreover, uncertainty and competition will increase as globalization deepens. In order to survive in such situations, you should learn to predict events, assess the level of risk and treat it accordingly. The authors considered various scientific approaches to the interpretation of the essence of risk, in particular investment. The own interpretation of this conceptual category as a dangerous event that has characteristics of both threats and opportunities is provided. In the first case, this is the probability that a negative event will occur, which will lead to the loss of part of the resources, the inability to save profits, the bankruptcy of the company, etc. In the second case, this is the probability that a positive event will occur that guarantees significant profits (income), improving the image of the company, entering new market segments, etc. The functions of risk are given, among which a special role is played by compensatory and social-economic. It is specified that the economic nature of the risk of an investment project, that is, its purpose and mode of functioning, is manifested in the performance of adaptive, cognitive and stimulating functions. The origin of the category «risk» arises from adaptive cognitive functions, because the historical context of risk accumulated in the formed consciousness of active subjects through socio-historical practices. The success of probabilistic behavior of economic entities in uncertain situations is possible only if adaptive human behavior is formed in society. This means that subjects consciously or reflexively accept new dangerous situations based on the acquired human experience. Thanks to the functions of adaptive cognitive risk, a person's thinking in a dangerous situation occurs through the process of continuing and assimilating previous experience, so his actions are mostly intuitive, depending on the reality of the outside world. The classification of prerequisites for risk formation, which is divided into internal and external, is provided.