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Corresponding author:
1 Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ukraine.
E-mail: fisunenko.pavlo@pgasa.dp.ua
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1339-5860

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/2661-5150/2020-3-14

METHODICAL APPROACH TO DETERMINATION  
OF LEVEL OF INNOVATION COMPETITIVENESS  

OF CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES

Pavlo Fisunenko1

Abstract. The purpose of the paper is to develop and prove the combined methodical approach to estimation 
of the level of innovation competitiveness of construction enterprises. Methodology. Theoretical and methodical 
basis of the research is the system approach to study of fundamental concepts of economic science to providing 
enterprises’ competitiveness. Development of the combined methodical approach is based on the results of 
comparative analysis of the existing approaches to estimation of companies’ competitiveness, including researches 
of the methods assessing total competiveness as well as its separate components. Dialectical and abstract logical 
methods as well as induction and deduction were used to generalize theoretical and methodological aspects 
of competitiveness evaluation and develop the combined approach. The results of the comparative analysis 
of publications devoted to estimation of enterprises’ competitiveness showed that the approach used by the 
researchers is based on using one or several methods of evaluation: based on the competitive advantages theory, 
effective competition, quality of goods, matrix, integral, scoring, analytical hierarchy, VIKOR and others. All these 
methods that can be used to estimate innovation competitiveness of construction companies are divided into three 
groups: quantitative, qualitative, and specialized. A combined approach to estimation of construction enterprises’ 
competitiveness based on combination of methodical concepts of stakeholder analysis theory (interested parties) 
using comparative advantage, matrix and integrated methods. Practical implications is development of scientific, 
methodological and practical approach to estimation of construction enterprises’ competitiveness allowing to 
receive the basis to creating the strategy of innovation competitiveness in order to provide economical safety. 
Value/originality is development of theoretical, methodological and applied aspects of estimation construction 
enterprises’ competitiveness including combined methodical approach as a complex of separate blocks, each is 
aimed at solving separate research task and has one purpose. 

Key words: enterprise, competitiveness, level, estimation, method.

JEL Classification: D20, O31, L74

1. Introduction
Determination of the level of the enterprise’s 

innovative competitiveness is the basic moment 
for the strategy of innovation competitiveness 
development in order to prove its economical safety. 
Researches and scientific analysis of the materials 
studying innovative competitiveness allowed to 
determine that innovative competitiveness was an 
aggregated characteristic of fulfilling innovative 
activity and competitive advantages as its result 
that are company’s assets and parameters forming 
its positive differences comparing to competitors 
due to innovative activity. Estimation of the enter-
prise’s innovation competitiveness is assessing  

its ability to develop and use innovations in order  
to gain competitive advantages at the certain  
market and determine its level which is a  
complicated task of interpretation and estimation 
of aspects that characterize enterprise’s innovative 
activity that forms its innovative competitiveness.

Determination of the level of the enterprise’s 
innovation competitiveness should facilitate: 
motivation for managerial decisions, determination 
the ways of increasing innovative management 
and production, modernization of technology, 
implementation of modern innovative instruments, 
financing innovations and organizational 
provision of their using, development the ways 



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of costs optimization, increasing customer 
focus of innovations that helps to succeed in the 
competition for the customer and sales market. 
Multilevel character of competitive interaction 
of construction companies causes wide range 
of approaches to estimation of their innovation 
competitiveness.

2. Comparative analysis of the existing 
approaches to estimation

Considering the fact that nowadays there are no 
accepted methodological approaches to estimation 
of enterprises’ innovation competitiveness, 
meanwhile characteristics and specific activity 
of every construction company causes necessity 
of careful choice of the estimation method of its 
general competitiveness or its separate elements, 
we have carried out comparative analysis of existing 
works in the sphere of estimation of enterprises’ 
competitiveness. The results of comparative 
analysis of publications devoted to estimation 
of enterprises’ competitiveness showed that the 
approach used by researchers are based on one 
or several methods of estimation. The variety 
of methods of enterprises’ competitiveness 
evaluation used by the researchers caused necessity 
of their generalization and systematization in order 
to choose the most appropriate ones to assess 
construction companies’ competitiveness.

Based on the analysis of the existing works 
(Sakhno, 2012), the largest groups of methods of 
companies’ competitiveness evaluation based on 
the theories of comparative advantages, effective 
competitiveness, quality of the product, matrix and 
integral were determined. It is offered to estimate 
enterprises’ competitiveness on the basis of 
scoring method of rating model using methods of 
multicriteria analysis (Balan & Anisimova, 2011).

The work presents estimation of competitiveness 
using instruments of multicriteria optimization, in 
particular methods of analytic hierarchy (T. Saati) 
and VIKOR (Balan & Prymak, 2014).

V. Oberemchuk, D. Yatskoviy, H. Ivaschenko, 
O. Mlotok developed their methodological 
approaches based on the theory of effective 
competition. According to this theory, the most 
competitive enterprise is the one with the best 
organization of financial, production and sales 
activity. Based on assessing of indices of enterprises’ 
effective activity, financial state, effective sales 
organization enterprise competitiveness ratio is 
determined.

According to the theory of effective 
competitiveness widening the list of standard 
indices such directions of estimation were 
proposed: competitiveness of product, financial 
state of an enterprise, effectiveness of promotion 
and sales, effectiveness of production, enterprises’ 
competitive potential, production ecological 
compatibility, social effectiveness, image of the 
enterprise (Oberemchuk, 1999). 

The methodological approach to competitiveness 
estimation based on enlargement of indices 
developed by V. Oberemchuk includes six groups: 
production effectiveness, business activity, 
financial state, effectiveness of promotion and sales, 
effectiveness of investment and innovative activity, 
position on securities market was proposed 
(Yatskovyi, 2013).

It was proposed to estimate the company’s 
competitiveness in such areas: effectiveness of 
production activity, effectiveness of financial 
activity, effectiveness of human resources 
management, effectiveness of innovation activity, 
effectiveness of marketing activity (Ivashchenko, 
2004).

Methodological approach offered by O. Mlotok, 
is also based on methods of effective competition 
theory and deals with four areas: effectiveness of 
production activity, financial state, effectiveness 
of promotion and sales, competitiveness of the 
product. It deals with the most important spheres 
of the company’s activity and excludes doubling 
separate indices (Mlotok, 1998).

Estimation of the company ’s competitiveness 
is based on assessing their financial condition, 
efficiency of their economic activity and products 
competitiveness (Lupak, 2010; Yevchuk, 2010). 
Company ’s financial stability is used besides 
mentioned above estimation (Shhiborshh, 
2000).

Estimation of enterprise’s competitiveness is 
based on methods of marketing and financial 
analysis and includes calculating ratio of  
marketing testing of competitiveness 
characterizing effectiveness of marketing  
activity as well as current ration and equity  
to non-current assets ratio (Bilousov, 2010).

3. Groups of methods estimating  
enterprise’s competitiveness 

Therefore, all the methods for estimation 
companies’ competitiveness used for assessing 
innovative competitiveness of construction 



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companies can be divided into three groups: 
quantitative, qualitative and specialized. 

Qualitative methods are basically used in 
conditions of limited statistic data. They include 
method of expert survey determining nature of 
market phenomenon, factors influencing the 
company’s competitiveness and other qualitative 
characteristics of its activity. Among them there 
are SWOT analysis, SNW analysis, PEST analysis 
and stakeholders’ analysis. Quantitative methods 
have high level of mathematic formalization, 
estimation accuracy and objectivity. They are 
based on quantitative indices. The information 
basis for these methods is financial, accounting, 
statistic data of the company. Specialized methods 
allow to estimate the competitiveness of separate 
aspects of the company’s activity – production, 
innovation, marketing, financial, etc.

Methodological aspects of the complex 
estimation of enterprise’s competitiveness is 
presented in the work of A. Levytska, having 
formed complex approach when using complex 
of methods of enterprise’s competitiveness to get 
deeper evaluation (Levytska, 2013).

4. Combined approach to estimation  
of innovation competitiveness

Despite considerable methodical development 
choice of the approach considering all aspects 
of enterprise’s innovation activity and satisfying 
interests of all interested parties of construction 
enterprise is still actual nowadays.

Logics of the proposed methodological 
approaches is doubtless considering theoretical 
issue, however it is necessary to provide its 
flexibility and alternative options of different 
methods using in specific economic conditions 
of enterprises’ functioning due to lack of official 
information concerning innovative activity of 
construction enterprises. This will allow to get 
full information about the level of innovation 
competitiveness of construction enterprises 
comparing with others.

In our opinion, an approach based on 
combination of methodical aspects of the theory 
of stakeholders’ analysis (interested parties) 
using methods of comparative advantages,  
matrix and integration methods can satisfy all  
these demands. Therefore, while assessing 

Elements of estimation 
approach

The purpose of estimation:
To determine level of innovation competitiveness of a construction enterprise

Researching task

To estimate level of innovations implementation and 
usage into construction companies’ activity

Estimation and 
reputation block

Analytical and 
modelling block

Analytical and
identification block

Comparative and 
diagnosis block

Block of estimation 
and statement

To estimate level of satisfaction of interested parties 
with activity of construction enterprises

To determine dependence between the level of 
satisfaction of interested parties and innovative activity 
of a construction enterprise

To determine level of satisfaction of interested parties 
caused by innovative activity of a construction 
enterprise

To compare construction companies and determine their 
innovation competitiveness (considering separate 
elements and in general)

Figure 1. Elements of the combined methodological approach to estimation  
of innovative competitiveness of construction enterprise considering interested parties 



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construction enterprises’ innovation competi-
tiveness it is necessary to use a combined 
methodical approach, based on using different 
elements combinations of existing methodical 
approaches adding each other and it demands 
survey of different interested parties, analysing 
their opinions and determining regularity.

Such a methodological approach is offered to 
present as a complex of separate blocks, each aiming 
at solving a separate research task and leading to the 
same purpose (Figure 1).

The first one is block of estimation and 
statement providing estimation of the level 
of implementation and using innovations 
(technological, organizational and managerial) in 
the construction company’s activity by means of 
scoring estimation. When conducting a survey of 
the construction company’s employees of different 
categories (managers, specialists, workers) it is 
offered to estimate the level of implementation of 
different types of innovations.

The second one is estimation and reputation 
block providing scoring of satisfaction level of 
the interested parties considering the company’s 
activity and determining the average level of 
satisfaction of each interested party and aspect of 
activity.

Next is analytical and modelling block 
determining dependence between estimation 
of the satisfaction level of the interested parties 
and assessing its innovation activity. In order 
to provide this, it is necessary to use methods 
of correlation and regression analysis and 
mathematical modelling.

Next is analytical and identification block 
determines the satisfaction level of the interested 
parties caused by innovation activity of 

construction enterprise.
Last is comparative and diagnosis block provi-

ding determination of the level of construction 
enterprise’s innovative competitiveness (comparing 
with other enterprises) based on general indicator.

5. Conclusions
The researches carried out allowed to make such 

conclusions:
1. Estimation of the company’s innovative compe-

titiveness was the necessary stage of developing the 
strategy for its economic safety provision.

2. Comparative analysis of the existing 
approaches to estimation of the company’s 
competitiveness showed that they were based  
on using one or several methods of estimation.

3. It was determined that all methods of the 
estimation of the company’s competitiveness 
could be divided into three groups: quantitative, 
qualitative, and specialized.

4. The approach based on combining theory of 
stakeholders analysis using method of competitive 
advantages, matrix and integral method, was 
used to estimate innovation competitiveness of 
construction companies. 

5. Elements of the combined methodological 
approach to estimation of the construction 
company’s innovation competitiveness 
considering interested parties are analysed.

The prospects of the further research in this 
direction is mathematical formalization of the 
proposed method and its approbation on the 
construction companies. The results of estimation 
of innovative competitiveness will be considered 
while developing the ways of providing construction 
company’s economic safety.

References:
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