METHODICAL APPROACHES TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF CLUSTERS OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES IN UKRAINE’S ECONOMY Summary

Abstract

In the global economic environment, the integrated structures are dominant. They compose network and are a result of the adaptation of economic agents to dynamic fluctuations of the market. The worldwide experience shows that the most common form of networks is the territorial and industrial clusters. The awareness of the need to ensure the competitiveness of the national economy in the environment with high risk leads to finding the effective mechanisms to ensure the economic stability at all levels, including those supporting the development of regional clusters.
The aim of the present study is to create a comprehensive methodological approach to the identification of industrial clusters in the regions of Ukraine and to determine their specialization to ensure the efficiency of industrial and regional regulations by the example of Ukraine’s light industry. The achievement of the goals have been done through solving the following tasks: a) quantitative selection criteria for the localization of the critical mass of the light industry by regions; b) determination of ranks by using the method of taxonomic ranking of regions with the most favorable environment for the formation of a cluster of the light industry; c) selection criteria for the qualitative determination of a potential cluster specialization; d) establishment of potential industrial clusters in certain regions on the basis on the matrix specialization analysis.
The research which was conducted on the basis of the taxonomic method showed that the regions of Ukraine most favorable, in terms of economic conditions, for the creation of light-industry clusters are the city of Kyiv and the Lviv, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytsky region. On the second stage of the study, we have calculated the optimal cluster specialization in the light industry in Kiev on the basis of the reviews of such fields as sewing, knitting, leather, footwear, leather haberdashery, knitting, haberdashery, and silk sectors, by using two criteria: the quality of economic conditions for the development of an industry and economic prospects of those segments in the region. The study has found that the most optimal fields in Kiev for the development are the sectors of clothing, leather, footwear and leather goods of light industry.