CERTIFICATION OF PRODUCTS AS A MEANS OF INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE ENTERPRISE
The purpose of the scientific article is to study the process of certification of products as one of the means of ensuring the competitiveness of a modern enterprise, stimulating management to meet the requirements of consumers and expand sales markets. It was found that different participants in the certification process understand it differently: enterprise management believes that this is a procedure for documentary certification of the conformity of products or processes to the established regulatory requirements; the certification body considers this to be an examination and certification activity subject to compliance. On the basis of the research carried out, the constitutive attributes of product certification as a means of increasing the competitiveness of an enterprise have been systematized and the definition of the concept of “certification” has been formulated. The authors put forward a number of hypotheses: certification is a means of increasing the competitiveness of an enterprise as a result of demonstrating the ability of an enterprise to meet generally accepted requirements for representatives of a certain sphere or industry; competitiveness depends on the availability of certified specialists with a certain level of qualifications working at the enterprise and qualitatively improve internal processes; continuous cyclical certification affects the competitiveness of the enterprise in the future. Prospects for further research are to conduct an experiment to confirm the facts of the impact of product certification and business processes on increasing the competitiveness of the enterprise. The authors also noted that certification should not be confused with attestation. Certification assumes a completely independent and principled assessment, carried out by employees of certification bodies who have no connection with the enterprise. Among other things, the authors came to the conclusion that one of the advantages of product certification is their personal interest in confirming their own professionalism, and, consequently, obtaining opportunities for future career growth. Also, one of the considered hypotheses proves that there is an evolution of the enterprise, as a result of periodic changes and additions to the existing norms and standards of certification.