The economic essence of the corporate IT cluster and its role in shaping the competitive advantages of an enterprise

The article examines the economic essence of the corporate IT cluster and substantiates its impact on forming competitive advantages for enterprises in the context of the digital transformation of the economy. It is revealed that a corporate IT cluster represents an integrated network of high-tech companies, research institutions, service organizations, and infrastructure partners whose activities are coordinated to enhance innovation capacity, optimize managerial processes, and generate shared added value. The key economic features of such clusters are identified, including the concentration of specialized resources, synergy of competencies, reduction of transaction costs, acceleration of knowledge exchange, and development of innovation ecosystems. It is justified that participation in a corporate IT cluster enables enterprises to develop sustainable competitive advantages by accessing advanced technological solutions, expanding market opportunities, increasing business model flexibility, and attracting highly qualified IT specialists. Cluster-based interaction contributes to the acceleration of enterprise digitalization, improvement of management processes, and implementation of intelligent tools for planning, analytics, and control. It is demonstrated that integrating into a cluster results in increased innovation activity, higher productivity, and the formation of unique competencies that are difficult for competitors to replicate. The study concludes that corporate IT clusters serve as a key instrument for ensuring enterprise competitiveness in the global digital environment, and their economic essence lies in the combination of partnership, innovativeness, and resource integration based on shared strategic goals.