Chernets V. Ecological and economic support of competitiveness of forestry enterprises

TThe author's interpretation of the concept of competitiveness of forest enterprises as a relative category is substantiated, which is an integral indicator of the efficiency of the economic entity taking into account objective economic and legal constraints and characterizes the ability of the enterprise to ensure appropriate environmental and social functions of forest resources in the short and long term. The forest resource and production and economic potentials of forestry enterprises of the Zhytomyr Regional Department of Forestry and Hunting have been studied, as a result of which there is a fairly high level of forest resources and a significant share of operational forests in the region with relatively flat terrain. The peculiarity of conducting forestry, silvicultural and forest protection works at forestry enterprises of the region is a significant part of forest plantations contaminated with radionuclides. There is a negative decrease in the level of profitability of forestry enterprises; shares of non-current assets on average by enterprises; efficiency of use of fixed assets at the enterprises that testifies to deterioration of the specified important elements of formation of competitiveness of the forestry enterprises. There are positive trends in the use of financial, economic and labor potential of forestry enterprises in terms of the optimal ratio of equity and borrowed capital; optimal personnel management policy and satisfactory indicators of the financial condition of forestry enterprises. Improved methodological recommendations for assessing the competitiveness of forestry enterprises, which provide for the use of only quantitative approaches, have been proposed and tested. This method is characterized by practicality in the appropriate calculation of the integrated indicator of competitiveness of forest enterprises (availability of initial data for calculations) and the lack of subjectivity, which is observed in the application of qualitative characteristics based on expert assessments. Substantiated author's ranking allows to classify forestry enterprises of Zhytomyr Regional Department of Forestry and Hunting according to the level of competitiveness. This ranking can serve as a basis for justification and implementation of appropriate competitive strategies to increase the level of competitiveness in the medium and long term of forestry enterprises both in the Polissya zone and in the country as a whole. The peculiarities of the functioning of forestry enterprises, which influence the strengthening (reduction) of their competitiveness, are determined; the main contradictions caused by the existing normative-legal and organizational restrictions in the activity of forestry enterprises are analyzed. A conceptual attributive model of ecological and economic support of competitiveness of forestry enterprises has been developed on the basis of three components - legal, investment and innovation basis. Legal support provides for the reduction of tax pressure on forestry enterprises (optimization of the amount of rent for special use of forest resources and tax on forestry land, regulation of the level of deductions from the profits of enterprises in the form of dividends); legislative regulation of the possibility of using collateral assets to obtain credit resources (primarily, round timber and finished wood products of economic entities); introduction of a mechanism for the state to reimburse part of interest rates to banking institutions for loans granted for the purchase of high-tech equipment; introduction of institutions on the possibility of joint investment. The investment basis for ensuring the competitiveness of forestry enterprises involves the introduction of a mechanism of state guarantees in cooperation with foreign investors; introduction of various non-statutory associations into the practice of forest use, integration of agricultural and forestry business entities, etc. Innovative support involves diversification of forestry enterprises; concluding agreements on cooperation with local self-government bodies, as well as with other subjects of the forest processing market; introduction, if possible, at the enterprises of primary and deep processing of wood. The mechanisms of realization of the conceptual model of ecological and economic maintenance of competitiveness of forestry enterprises are offered, first of all, through increase of capitalization of their assets due to updating of fixed assets and modernization of forest infrastructure by reinvestment of profit and use of other involved financial resources. In addition, the mechanisms (measures) for the introduction of marketing management as a separate management system and full-fledged investment and innovation support of forest enterprises as a basis for the formation of additional financial resources and the introduction of appropriate process and product innovations.