Competitiveness of J/S Company "Kometa" in the World Market

The topic of dissertation “Competitiveness of J/S Company ‘Kometa’ in the world market” is essential, because competitiveness proves to be necessary prerequisite for success of any company. Entrepreneurs and top managers all over the world pay great attention to the factors of competitiveness. The aim of this work is to determine the main competitiveness factors of J/S Company “Kometa” and advice on the future plan of actions for the management.
The Author has completed following tasks: reviewing the definition and methods of competitiveness, finding Latvia and competitor countries in Growth Competitiveness Index tables, generalized information about J/S Company “Kometa”, determined Competitors and generalized the information about competitor companies, analyzed Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of all three competitors, determined key success factors of the companies and analyzed each company according to those factors, carried out questioner on – “How informed are clients and potential clients of J/S Company “Kometa””.
The Author covered 7 topics in the dissertation, starting with Competitiveness definition and methods, which was about the theory of competitiveness, then followed the information About Growth Competitiveness Index and the ranking of the competitor countries in the tables of indexes. The next topic was on Join Stock company “Kometa” competitiveness foundations which gave the general information about the company. The 4th topic of the dissertation Competitors observed the information about competitor companies (SWEDISH MATCHS and BUDUJOVICA). In the 5th and 6th topics called SWOT analysis and Key success factors the Author did the swot analysis of competing companies and determined the key success factors of the companies in order to find out the ranking of each company and weakest factors of J/S Company “Kometa”. And the final topic of this work was discussing the Questionnaire carried out by the Author on marketing issues of the company.
For the first time the systematic analysis of competitiveness for J/S Company “Kometa” has been fulfilled by the Author of this work.
The topic of this dissertation is “Competitiveness of J/S Company ‘Kometa’ in the world market”. The topic was chosen because the author is interested in raising the competitiveness of J/S Co. ‘Kometa’ as this may be the potential work place for the author.

This topic is essential at the moment because competitiveness proves to be necessary prerequisite for success of any company. Entrepreneurs and top managers all over the world pay great attention to the factors of competitiveness. Lately, full scale study of competitiveness of over 100 countries, has been placed on regular basis.

Current situation in the matches market for ‘Kometa’ is quite serious and even problematic:
because at the moment the ‘Kometa’ is the only realistic competitor to a large Swedish concern ‘Swedish match’;
the situation with timber, in this particular case, with aspen tree is critical in Latvia due to increased prices and selling the trees abroad;
recent bankruptcy of ‘Liepajas serkocini’ (bought out by ‘Swedish match’);
entering the European Union will bring some significant changes in trading in Europe and other world countries;
the biggest amount of sales are in the Europe and other world countries (Latvia consumes only 0.2% of the total production).

The aim of this work is to determine the main competitiveness factors of ‘Kometa’ and advise on the future plan of actions.

The sequence of actions in writing dissertation:

1.Introduction – describes in short the purpose of the work and logical sequence of actions to complete the work;
2.Methodology and theory – this part generalizes all the methods and theories on which the work and the research will be based;
3.Practical research – this part of the work will summarize all the necessary information for the project in order to carry out the research;
4.Conclusions and recommendations – this part will provide advice on the possible actions, after the researches will be done and all the information will be processed.

The methodology and theory used in this work will be the theory on competitiveness and the classification of models and factors affecting the competitiveness. This all will be supported with analysis of the real situation of the market.

When the theory and methodology will be introduced, the next step will be the general investigation of the company:
mission
vision
tree of the aims
organisational structure

Next part of the work will present the analyses of competitors, which will represent all the information which will be available for me and according to which it will be possible to determine the strong and weak sides of the competitor, after which the SWOT analyses and financial analysis for the previous 3 years will be carried out for ‘Kometa’.
Due to these analyses it will be possible to determine ‘Kometa’`s competitiveness factors and it will be possible to design the plan of actions for the future years, with the aim to stabilize company’s position in the world market and look for the opportunity to grow and to develop the competitiveness in the world market.
In an era when technological and transportation advances are making the world seem smaller and smaller, businesses, industries, and even governments have to learn how to compete in the global economy. The internet, decreasing telecommunications and transportation prices, and international trade agreements are causing goods, services, raw materials, jobs, and even direct labour to flow rapidly from country to country, among firms and consumers that are always looking for better quality at a better price. Many manufacturers in developing countries continue to depend on comparative advantages, such as cheap labour, and find themselves stuck in a ‘low - cost trap’, competing with other developing countries in a way that actually keeps them poor.
At the national level, competitiveness can be defined as “sustainable growth in productivity that results in an improved standard of living for average citizens”. A nation’s competitiveness is driven by its micro-environment, macro-environment, and quality of business strategy and operations. At the industry level, competitiveness is also driven by the cooperation and coordination of all firms within an industry, including each point of the supply-chain. This grouping, which includes all stakeholders in an industry, is referred to as a ‘cluster’.…