Competitiveness Of Europe In Manufacture Of Chemicals In The Conditions Of Globalization

In modern times we can observe the growing process of globalization of economic activity that takes place at all levels of companies, markets, industries and the economy as a whole. This article assumes the perspective of one of the branches of economy which is the chemical industry. The key aspect of functioning in an increasingly internationalized economy is competitiveness. When considering the issue of competitiveness in a global context it is worth going beyond individual organizations and analyze it from the perspective of countries and regions (understood as groups of countries). The purpose of this article is to assess the competitiveness of the European region in the global market of chemical products. The selection of the region and the branch was not randome. In this study the method of literature studies, secondary data collected and published by the European Chamber of Chemical Industry, the Bureau of Labor statistics and the data of the World Bank, as well as the method in the area of strategic management, ie a gap analysis were applied. European countries, and in particular the EU-27, have a gap deficiency in relation to the pace of development of the global market for chemical products. As a result, the EU-27 is rapidly losing share in the world market. The strategic position of the EU-27 dramatically weakened, which means reducing the competitiveness of the EU-27 compared to other regions of the world. Key reasons for this phenomenon should be sought on the one hand in the high labor costs, but also in restrictive policies regarding the environment and safety leading to a phenomenon that can be described as „hyper-regulation”. The European Union imposing restrictive regulations seems to rely on increasing the competitiveness of European enterprises as a result of the development of environmentally friendly technologies. The problem, however, of this policy is deterioration of the competitive position of „hyper-regulation” of EU companies in the short term without the guarantee of building a competitive advantage in the future.