CONCEPTUAL PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT OF COMPETITIVENESS OF THE AGRI-FOOD SECTOR: SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES AND PRINCIPLES

Abstract

The article scientifically substantiates the theoretical and methodological principles and forms a system of key applied guidelines for managing the competitiveness of the agri-food sector under the conditions of modern deep socio-economic transformations, market globalization, accelerated digitalization, and large-scale military challenges. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that despite the colossal resource potential of the domestic agro-industrial complex, its long-term market stability is significantly limited by the high volatility of the external environment, critical infrastructure fragmentation, obsolescence of production technologies, and the destruction of traditional logistics supply chains. It is proven that the successful integration of Ukraine into the global food space requires a radical departure from the passive use of natural raw material advantages in favor of building an adaptive, multi-level mechanism for strategic, organizational, and institutional management. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the systematic generalization and cross-functional convergence of ten fundamental methodological approaches to the study of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector: classical, neoclassical, resource-competence, innovation-technological, institutional, cluster-integration, system-management, chain-logistics, adaptive-risk, and ecologically-oriented. The author proposes a synthesized integral interpretation of the definition of «management of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector» as a purposeful process of coordinating strategic instruments that ensures the continuity of the accumulation of internal reserves and the synergistic stability of business objects against macroeconomic shocks. The principles of the functioning of a three-level management circuit (operational, tactical, and strategic) are detailed, thereby consistently ensuring product quality, the financial and economic stability of firms, and their high investment attractiveness. The practical significance of the results obtained is manifested in the formation of an extensive system of 14 interconnected management principles (scientific validity, systematicity, efficiency, strategic adaptability, innovation, digitalization, synergy, environmental orientation, food safety, etc.), which serve as a direct methodological framework for substantiating tactical management actions and developing long-term corporate strategies. It is determined that implementing the proposed integrated basis optimizes operating costs, harmonizes interactions among production, processing, and sales, and adapts domestic food value chains to the strict requirements of the European Union regarding environmental friendliness, traceability, and food safety.