BIFURCATION NATURE OF RETAIL TRADE DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINE

Background. The article substantiates ways of the applying synergy theory for the analysis of complex open systems evolution. The evolution of the retail trade in Ukraine since the 90s has been studied with the application of theoretical and methodological principles of synergy. Review of scientific sources indicates that there is a disagreement in different opinions about periodization in the retail trade development since the 1990s. Various scientific works are characterized by certain subjectivity in justification of the evolution stages in the retail trade and by predominantly negative attitudes to the periodic crises that allegedly violate the stability of the industry. The purpose of the paper was determined by the fact that the approach does not meet modern scientific achievements of the synergy theory and consequently requires an adjustment. Results. Scientific and philosophical concepts of synergy have been chosen as a methodological basis for the research, in particular, the doctrine of instability and chaos, bifurcation points and choice of system's development path. Three critical (bifurcation) points that induce qualitative changes in the development of trade were identified, the sources of bifurcation changes are described; the state of the system after the bifurcation was characterized. It is shown that the bifurcation poinst have given the impetus to the qualitative transformation of a trade sphere, which, since 1992, has entered a phase of market formation which is entrepreneur oriented in its nature, since 1998, has moved to the stage of civilization trade development, and under the influence of events in 2008 ? the stage of structural optimization and approximation to European standards has started to develop. The author has analyzed own position regarding how uncertain is the selection process for the retailer future development. Conclusion. The paper has shown that instability in the external environment was the basis for qualitative transformations in the retail trade. It also became apparent that synergy opens new searching ways for universal principles of self-organization and evolution of commercial business as a complex nonlinear system.