MODELING OF OPTIMAL LEVELS OF AGRIBUSINESS COMPETITIVENESS IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article seeks to explore major challenges in the agricultural sector development in Ukraine. Using multifactor statistical analysis of the key drivers of agribusiness operation and performance, based on a matrix of 25 selected agribusiness development indicators for enterprises specialized in crop raising and 16 selected development indicators for livestock enterprises, similar developmental trends across Ukrainian regions have been revealed. According to the results of the analysis, certain taxonomic groups (clusters) were identified that allowed to display similar regional conditions within each group along with specifying regions with crop and livestock farming within one cluster, represented by Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Rivne regions. For further research, agribusinesses were selected out of the above regions and their competitive positions were analyzed. A fuzzy-set method was used to identify the impact of sustainable development, in particular the level of economic, social and environmental sustainability of regions on the competitive position of agribusinesses. The input parameters are represented by economic, environmental and social sustainability indices, each of them is assigned specific characteristics and classified. In addition, using variance analysis, key reference indicators were calculated and the boundaries were set. The output data are determined by the level of agribusiness competitiveness in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Rivne regions (selected by the results of cluster analysis). According to the calculations results, linguistic evaluation was performed, based on variance analysis of terms. Modeling of the surface of the forecast values was carried out which revealed that the above the average level of agribusiness competitiveness is accompanied by a high level of economic sustainability, average level of environmental sustainability and the below average social stability level.