MODERN REALIA OF BUSINESS PROCESS DIVERSIFICATION WITHIN THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The article offers new insights into Ukrainian business integration processes in the context of entering European markets. The study presents a new model which relies upon the most critical factors of business process diversification for the competitive entry of domestic companies into new markets. A strong focus is placed towards the significance of the European market for the Ukrainian economy. A comparative survey of the Ukrainian and European economies has been conducted. The paper also explores major European market trends from the historical perspectives as well as reveals the latest imperatives including the globalization context, along with substantiating the need for a broader entry of Ukrainian businesses into European markets. The research provides evaluation of the objectives and risks associated with European market entry strategies of domestic enterprises. The study attempts to explore the key challenges and weaknesses of the Ukrainian economy inherited from the planned economy of the Soviet Union, as well as those intrinsic to market economies that have undergone a difficult path from total collapse to becoming economically independent. The paper reveals a set of decisive factors affecting companies’ success in their progress towards European economic integration as well as develops a pool of indicators that are critical to enabling entry to European markets with their established relationships, segments and economic patterns. A special emphasis is put on the viability of this model in the settings of globalization and aggressive economic and market expansion of Chinese business. Apart from that, the study focuses on the consumer industry market segment as a sector driving the national economy. The findings have detected the effects from the following five impact factors, i. e. uniqueness, quality, promotion, personal sales and personnel training contributing to further integration into the European market along with revealing their synergistic relationships. It is argued that successful capture of the European markets is hardly possible when one of the above factors is weak, and on the contrary, a comprehensive business support suggests the presence of all five strong factors – the weakness of just one of them will make it ineffective. This research provides implications for investigating possible effects from this model in imposing changes to the content of higher education study programmes in the consumer goods segment. According to the results of the study, among those five factors, personnel training is paramount in expanding Ukrainian businesses’ integration into European markets.