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Corresponding author:
1 Kherson State Agrarian University, Ukraine
E-mail: kirilov_ye@ukr.net
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5061-2644
2 Kherson State Agrarian University, Ukraine
E-mail: kristina_zheludenko@ukr.net
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5899-3039

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/2661-5150/2022-1-10

THE ROLE OF RESOURCE POTENTIAL  
IN THE FORMATION OF COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES  

OF UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES
Yuriy Kyrylov1, Kristina Zheludenko2

Abstract. The tasks of formation of competitive strategies of agrarian enterprises and increase of their compe-
titiveness are the main factors of development in market conditions. The activity of agricultural enterprises is 
connected with competition and the need to form competitive advantages, the nature of which depends on the 
resource potential of economic entities. One of the most important problems of development of domestic enterprises 
of agrarian sector is the low level of efficiency of using their resource potential. That is why the aim of the article is 
to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of resource potential of agricultural enterprises for determining the scope 
of their further competitive struggle and the formation of competitive strategies. Methodology. Theoretical and 
methodological basis of the study consisted of the works of domestic and foreign scientists on the use of resource 
potential of agrarian enterprises. The complexity and focus of the study ensured the use of a systematic approach 
as a methodological basis. The following methods were used in the study: statistical method (in determining the 
production of gross agricultural output), correlation and regression analysis (to identify the relationship between 
gross output of agricultural enterprises and the use of various types of their resources); abstract-logical method (in 
formulating conclusions). As a result of the study the components of the resource potential of agrarian enterprises 
were determined, its characteristics were given and the dynamics during 2016–2020 were analyzed. The factors 
on which the efficiency of the use of resource potential by enterprises of the agrarian sector and the main reasons 
for the loss of resources in agricultural production were determined. The most influential components of the 
resource potential of agricultural enterprises and their combinations were identified through the development of 
correlation and regression model. The main approaches to choosing a competitive strategy of agrarian companies 
based on the evaluation of their resources were determined. The algorithm of formation of competitive strategies 
of enterprises in the agricultural sector, taking into account the resource potential, and identified its main stages. 
Practical relevance. The implementation of the results of the study will ensure the formation of effective competitive 
strategies of enterprises in the agricultural sector to improve their competitiveness. Scientific novelty. The analysis 
and evaluation of the resource potential of agrarian enterprises is proposed to carry out with the help of correlation 
and regression analysis, which allows to determine the degree of dependence of production on the use of different 
types of resources and their combinations and the possibility of forming competitive strategies of agrarian 
enterprises, taking into account the impact of these resources.

Key words: resource potential, competitive advantages, competitive strategy, correlation and regression analysis, 
agricultural enterprises.

JEL Classification: O13, Q10

1. Introduction
The tasks of forming effective competitive 

strategies of agricultural enterprises and improving 
the organizational and economic mechanism to 
enhance their competitiveness are the main factors of 
development in a market environment. The success 

of the functioning of agricultural enterprises is deter- 
mined primarily by the degree of resources, their 
structure and efficiency of use, i.e., resource potential. 
Resource potential can be represented through the 
ratio of its components, which contributes to the 
implementation of the strategic objectives of enter- 

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms 
of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0



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prises and combines economic, social and environ-
mental factors of development.

Today the activity of enterprises in the agricultural 
sector is characterized by quantitative, qualitative and 
structural imperfection of resource potentials, which 
resulted in significant losses of resources during the 
agrarian and land reforms, and their difficult financial 
condition. The search for ways to rationally use the 
available resources is of particular importance, since 
the solution of this problem will ensure the maximum 
utilization of production capacities, the stability  
of the competitive position of commodity producers, 
and will also help to reduce production costs and 
improve the quality of products. Therefore, the purpose 
of this study is to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness 
of the use of resource potential of enterprises of the 
agricultural sector to determine the direction of 
further competition and the formation of competitive  
strategies.

2. Characteristics of the resource potential  
of agricultural enterprises

Activity of enterprises in market conditions is 
associated with competition and the need to form 
competitive advantages, the nature of which depends on 
the resource potential of business entities. Enterprises, 
attracting more unique resources to the process of 
creating products, have a higher chance to get ahead 
of rivals in attracting consumers and the formation 
of competitive advantages. This leads to the desire 
of economic entities to develop their own resource 
potential in those types that can provide a sustainable 
competitive advantage in the long term (Izhevskyi, 
Stadnyk, 2017).

The study of the resource potential of the enterprise 
is an urgent and difficult task, by solving which it is 

possible to assess the possibility of production of  
certain types of agricultural products, to measure 
and identify the reserves of production efficiency, 
to provide an objective assessment of the activities 
of business entities. Therefore, in order to ensure 
competitive advantages of the enterprise it is necessary 
to assess the actual state of its resource potential 
and then determine the ways of its effective use and 
increase. For the production of agricultural products 
at the enterprise material-technical, financial, energy, 
labor, administrative, organizational and managerial, 
intangible, information, intellectual, entrepreneurial, 
marketing and time resources are involved. The 
main characteristics of the resource potential of 
companies in the agricultural sector are presented  
in Table 1.

Land resources are important in the formation of 
competitive strategies of agricultural enterprises, 
because land is the main means of production, due 
to which agricultural products and raw materials 
for production and non-productive consumption 
are produced. The size of agricultural land used by 
entities of the agricultural sector has a direct impact 
on the performance of their activities and on the 
ability to sell their own products on the market. For 
the period under study there was an increase in the 
area of agricultural land in agrarian companies by 
2.2%. Along with the provision of land resources 
of agrarian companies, their labor resources are of 
fundamental importance. During 2016–2020, there 
was a 13.5% decrease in the number of workers 
employed in agrarian enterprises, which was due to 
a 0.4% decrease in the number of enterprises and  
job cuts.

The competitiveness of enterprises is influenced 
by the growth of labor productivity, which leads to 
a relative decrease in the cost of production, as well 

Table 1
Resource potential of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine

Indicators
Year Deviations of 

2020 to 2016, %2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Number of of agricultural enterprises, total 47697 45558 49208 48504 47523 99,6

Land resources
Agricultural land area, thousand hectares 19821,2 19960,2 20005,2 20113,6 20252,4 102,2

Labor resources
Number of employees, thousand people 513,2 489,2 479,8 472,1 443,7 86,5
Average monthly nominal wage, UAH. 3916 5761 7166 8738 9734 248,6
Labor productivity, thousand UAH. 766,1 755,4 867,7 928,6 857,2 111,9
including crop production 807,3 777,4 900,1 954,4 853,7 105,7
in animal husbandry 616,1 664,8 730,4 815,2 872,8 141,7

Material and technical resources
Production cost of production, million UAH. 288499,3 404970,2 442993,4 463271,6 441529,6 153,0
including direct material costs 207870,2 242313,7 247997,2 266918,0 245959,8 118,3
direct labor costs 15638,4 20326,7 25234,4 29729,6 29932,5 191,4
depreciation of property, plant and equipment 14153,5 19176,6 25752,9 32292,9 35969,9 254,1
general production costs 50240,0 63067,7 74745,0 67774,1 62083,4 123,6

Source: calculated by the authors on the basis of (State Statistics Service of Ukraine)



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as provides an opportunity to increase the average 
wage. In 2016–2020 labor productivity in agricultural 
enterprises increased by 11.9%. At the same time, the 
average monthly nominal wage per full-time employee 
in 2020 increased by 2.5 times compared to 2016,  
but remained one of the lowest among all types of 
economic activity in the country and amounted to 
9734 UAH.

Consequently, the efficiency of the use of resource 
potential by enterprises of the agricultural sector 
depends on a number of factors, including the 
rational ratio of components in the structure of 
resource potential, production management, the 
implementation of resource-saving technologies, the 
impact of climatic conditions, the level of resource 
availability of enterprises. At the same time, the main 
causes of resource losses in agricultural production  
are: irrational use of material resources in technology; 
non-compliance with science-based systems of 
machinery and mechanisms of agricultural production; 
unbalanced use of biological potential of plants; 
reduced efficiency of agricultural land potential, 
because machinery and equipment do not meet 
modern requirements, have insufficient reliability and 
low productivity (Vinichenko, Soroka, 2015).

3. Evaluating the efficiency  
of resource potential use

Scientists present different approaches to the 
assessment of the resource potential of enterprises, and 
each of them is implemented with the use of specific 
techniques, depending on the object of evaluation. 
One of the approaches to the assessment of resource 
potential is when the dependence of gross output 
of agricultural enterprises on the use of their own  
resources is determined. Therefore, it is necessary to 

analyze certain resources (their volume, structure, 
quality), to investigate their potential and the  
possibility of their use in the process of reproduction. 
The next step is the study of combinations of available 
resources and the choice of the most successful o 
ption that corresponds to the strategic orientation of 
the enterprise, to assess the effectiveness of the chosen 
combination. After that it is necessary to identify 
the factors that have a negative impact on increasing 
the efficiency of production, to determine ways to 
compensate for the lack of certain types of resources, 
to calculate the performance of production under 
new resource proportions. The last step is the study of  
ways to transform the structure of production, using 
attracted funds.

It is advisable to assess the resource potential of  
agrarian enterprises by using a correlation and 
regression model. To conduct the process of modeling 
the functional dependence between the value of gross  
output and available resources of enterprises, take 
as the basis of the study approach, according to 
which production is formed under the influence 
of a combination of the following resources: 
х1 – agricultural land area, thousand hectares;  
x2 – the number of employees in enterprises, thousand 
people; x3 – the volume of the average monthly  
nominal wage of employees, UAH; x4 – labor  
productivity (per 1 employed in agricultural 
production), thousand UAH; x5 – production cost  
of production, million UAH (Table 2).

As a result of regression analysis, the indicators that 
most affect the production of agricultural products  
(x1, x3 and x4) were identified, confirming the  
following results:

1. The coefficient of multiple determination 
R2 = 0,97339, i.e., the variation of production by  
97,34% depends on changes in the studied resources.

Table 2
Input data for modeling the dependence of changes in production  
of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine on the use of their own resources

Year

Y x1 x2 x3 x4 x5
The cost of gross 

output,  
millions UAH

Area of agricultural 
land,  

thousand hectares

Number  
of employees, 

thousand people

Average monthly 
nominal wage, 

UAH

Labor productivity, 
thousand UAH

Production cost  
of production, 
million UAH

2010 256806,00 21058,70 590,20 1430,00 380,40 75009,55
2011 329373,40 21107,40 582,11 1801,00 472,11 99265,87
2012 309819,80 21232,50 558,57 2023,00 457,95 123739,29
2013 373437,80 21631,90 552,19 2269,00 582,97 127190,31
2014 387744,10 21009,60 503,39 2476,00 635,44 154313,46
2015 367738,80 19922,70 491,40 3140,00 624,00 228519,60
2016 403244,70 19821,20 513,20 3916,00 766,10 288499,30
2017 391015,80 19960,20 489,20 5761,00 755,40 404970,20
2018 437998,60 20005,20 479,80 7166,00 867,70 442993,40
2019 449806,30 20113,60 472,10 8738,00 928,60 463271,60
2020 395717,70 20252,40 443,70 9734,00 857,20 441529,60

Source: (State Statistics Service of Ukraine)



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2. F-test: Factual = 85,36667, Ftest = 4,35; Factual > Ftest, 

therefore, the null hypothesis of no relation between  
the indicators is excluded, because the model is  
adequate to reality;

3. Checking of regression coefficients for reliability 
with Student's t-test has established that the use of 
land (х1), and labor (х3, х4) resources influences 
the production of agricultural enterprises, t-statistics 
for parameters of this equation are: tb1 = 2,25731; 
tb3 = -4,473788; tb4 = 10,20285 (calculated values 
of Student's t-test are greater than tabulated value  
ttest = 2,2281).

4. Regression analysis showed a high relationship 
between the function (Y) and the variables (х): 
R = 0,986607. he values of Fisher's and Student's 
distribution tables with probability Р = 0,95 were used 
in calculations of possible bounds.

By correlation analysis, having analyzed the obtained 
indicators according to the Chaddock scale, determine 
that the correlation coefficient characterizes a  
noticeable (0.5 – 0.7) and strong (0.7 – 0.9) connection 
between all the factors (Table 3).

Table 3
Correlation matrix for modeling the dependence  
of changes in production of agricultural enterprises  
in Ukraine on the use of their own resources

Y x1 x3 x4

Y 1

x1 -0,61189 1

x3 0,738272 -0,64081 1

x4 0,9401 -0,73481 0,905151 1

Source: authors' calculations

COMPETITIVE 
STRATEGY

Duration of use of 
resources

Resource 
uniqueness

Mobility and 
transferability of 

resources

Resource 
playback 
capability

Resource 
efficiency

Figure 1. The influence of resources on the formation of the competitive strategy of agricultural enterprises

Source: authors' development

Construct a model of the dependence of produc- 
tion of agrarian enterprises on the use of available 
resources. As a result, the equation is obtained:

Y = -279459,03+ 17,70х1 – 12,32х3 + 514,62х4 (1)
The value of the regression equation coefficients 

indicates the change in the function Y when changing 
one хі provided that all other independent variables 
remain constant. Thus, based on the analysis, the 
production of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine is 
most affected by labor productivity and the area of 
agricultural land.

4. Approaches to competitive strategy selection
In a changing environment to ensure the sustainable 

functioning of agricultural enterprises is possible only 
on the basis of the formation and implementation  
of an effective competitive strategy, which is a set of 
managerial decisions represented by the program of 
formation of the resource potential of enterprises, 
through which their growth and qualitative develop-
ment of key competitive advantages is provided  
(Figure 1). 

With the help of the strategy the enterprise can 
control the efforts and organizational resources 
in the key areas that can bring economic and 
financial success. Formation and implementation of  
competitive strategy is carried out in accordance with 
the direction of organizational development and 
available resource potential. There are two approaches 
in selecting a competitive strategy of the company  
based on the evaluation of its resources. The first  
approach is based on potential sources of competitive 
advantage of the enterprise. The position of the  
enterprise in the market based on resources and own 



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The mission of an agricultural enterprise

Analysis of the internal environment External environment analysis

Material 
resources

Information 
resources

Financial 
resources

Intellectual 
resources

Evaluating the efficiency of resource 
potential use 

Identification of competitive advantages
of the agrarian enterprise

Expense 
leadership 

Focus strategy Market niche 
strategy

Analysis of strategic alternatives, 
taking into account resource 

potential 

Definition of the goals of the agrarian enterprise

–

–
–
–

technology, structure and 
organization of production;

resource potential;
financial state of the enterprise;
management and its information 

support

–
–
–

–

economic and political situation;
financial and credit support;
market conditions, government 

support and pricing policy;
the achieved level of scientific and 

technological progress

Formation of strategic alternatives for an 
agricultural enterprise, taking into account resource 

potential

strategy

Calculation of the predicted 
value of the level of resource 
potential for certain strategic 

alternatives

Formation of a competitive strategy, 
taking into account resource potential 

Figure 2. Formation of the competitive strategy of the agrarian enterprise,  
taking into account resource potential

Source: authors' development

capabilities is based on four categories, characterizing 
resources and their use as potential sources of 
competitive advantage:

1. Material resources that are of purchase value: 
buildings, equipment, land, inventories. The market 
value of an enterprise's resources determines the 
possibility of its competitiveness and the possibility of 
its further development.

2. Intangible assets. Factors that do not lend them-
selves to financial evaluation, but when analyzing the 
work of the enterprise their impact on its image and the 
attitude of the population and business partners (goods, 
prices, quality of goods, image among customers, 
competitors, suppliers) (Latysheva, 2018).

3. Organizational capabilities. The processes and 
actions that ensure the transformation of tangible 



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and intangible assets into goods and services. This 
question refers to the management of resources and 
how they are used to achieve the goal of the enterprise, 
what is the return on the use of resources (Izhevskyi,  
Stadnyk, 2017).

4. The main competencies, which include individual 
qualities, skills, talents of managers, collective 
responsibility, training, retraining and professional 
development of employees. The emergence of 
competitive advantage is influenced by a large number 
of factors and resources. This involves the interaction 
of all types of resources and their coordination.  
Having the necessary resources, the company does 
not always use them rationally because of the low 
competence of managers (Latysheva, 2018).

The second approach is the interdependence of 
resources and their strategic concept. It is necessary  
to consider the relationship between economic  
resources (income, material assets) and the strategic 
concept of competitive advantage of the enterprise. 
Consideration is given to strategies and their 
correspondence to resources, internal reserves, 
possibilities of development of resources.

Although the two approaches do not contradict 
each other and are used in practice, but in developing 
a competitive strategy of the organization needs a more 
detailed delineation of individual types of resources to 
assess their strengths and weaknesses in the competition.

5. Forming a competitive strategy
The formation of competitive strategy of agricultural 

enterprises in market conditions is a complex and 
multifaceted algorithm. It is a necessary condition 
for the achievement of sustainable functioning of the 
enterprise in the market and involves the following 
stages (Figure 2):
– assessment and analysis of the external environment, 
which means determining the area of the economy, 
where the resources of the enterprise can be used;
– classification of resources of the enterprise, which 
helps to determine its strengths and weaknesses;
– an assessment of the potential of resources that can 
provide a significant competitive advantage;
– determination of strategic alternatives for 
enterprises of the agricultural sector, taking into  
account the resource potential;
– calculation of the predicted value of resource  
potential for certain strategic alternatives;

– the formation of a competitive strategy implies 
the development of such a strategy, which 
can most effectively use the resources of the 
enterprise in accordance with internal and external  
opportunities;
– implementation of a competitive strategy represented 
by a system of balanced indicators, policies, programs, 
projects and techniques.

6. Conclusions
The success of formation and implementation of 

competitive strategies of agricultural enterprises 
depends on their resource potential and ability to 
use it effectively in their economic activities. Limited 
resources and reduction of real value create obstacles 
for the competitive development of any enterprise 
in the future. As a result of the study to ensure the 
competitive advantages of enterprises, the assessment 
of the actual state of their resource potential through  
the development of a correlation and regression 
model was carried out. This allowed to identify 
the more influential components of the resource 
potential of companies in the agricultural sector and 
their compositions. Based on this analysis, labor and 
land resources have the greatest influence on the  
production of agricultural enterprises.

Taking into account conditions, in which agrarian 
enterprises function and available resources, there  
was suggested the algorithm of formation of 
competitive strategy, which determines the ways 
of further development of agrarian commodity 
producers, enables the most effective realization of 
their resource potential and planning of more intensive 
use in enterprises, increasing the efficiency of their 
production. Consequently, carrying out economic 
activities, the main priority of the leadership of 
the agricultural sector should be the effective use 
and enhancement of resource potential, consisting 
in the introduction of new economic structures,  
improvement of material and technical base, 
the introduction of energy and resource-saving  
technologies, increasing the level of concentration, 
specialization and cooperation of production, the 
level of organization and motivation of labor and the 
improvement of pricing and financial mechanisms, 
which as a result will ensure the formation of effective 
competitive strategies of enterprises of the agricultural 
sector and increase their competitiveness.

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