INTEGRATION AND SPECIALIZATION
Author: Nikolay Donchev, Phd, Assistant (“Marketing and Strategic Planning” Department University of National and World Economy - Sofia)
Keywords: integration, specialization, competitiveness, efficiency
In the last ten years, in all documents of the European Union a special accent is placed on two main challenges – globalization and population ageing. Common base for adequate answer to these challenges is the competitiveness of the European economy. According to contemporary theory of competitive advantage of nations a main determinant of competitiveness is the efficiency with which national resources are used while necessary condition for enhancing of that efficiency is specialization. A theory for regional economic integration associates development and intensification of integration process with enhancing of investment activity, enlarging production and increasing level of manufacturing specialization, technological innovations, enhancing efficiency of manufacturing, improvement of organization and management of manufacture, achieving higher rate of economic growth. The topic of international division of labor; specialization; absolute, relative and comparative advantages is widely spread in economic literature and researches. In this paper it is revealed in other aspect – to such a degree intensification of integration process in the European Union leads to change in manufacturing specialization and how these changes impact on the efficiency with which national resources are used, i.e. national competitiveness.
