FACTORS ENSURING THE COMPANY'S COMPETITIVENESS IN THE FIELD OF ENGINEERING SERVICES PROVISION

The article systematizes the factors that ensure companies’ competitiveness in the engineeringservices sector. It demonstrates that the scale and diversification of the service portfolio, implementation of QMS ISO 9001:2015, contract unification under the FIDIC/NEC-4 models, and the formation of cluster networks all help reduce transaction costs. The scale, structural diversity, and quality level of service remain a core competitive advantage, but today, however, they are amplified by institutional (regulatory) and organizational (cluster-based) factors that enable a fuller conversion of national intellectual potential into added value within global investment projects in the engineering-services sector. Countries with an STRI score ≤ 0.22 show a higher share of high-technology engineering-service contracts. The integration of digital life-cycle services is shown to boost firms’ added gross value and generate a service-based cash flow. A typology of engineering-service providers is proposed, reflecting current market trends. The complexity and narrow specialization of modern engineering firms are complemented by digital, quality-focused, and legal competencies, enabling them to scale rapidly in export markets and build durable competitive advantages. The critical role of smart recruiting, human capital, and legal protection of know-how as sources of sustainable competitive advantage for modern engineering firms is emphasized. Leading engineering companies worldwide pursue multi-stage talent strategies – they establish in-house centers of excellence, forge partnerships with universities, and, when necessary, create joint ventures (consortia) solely to attract “star” personalities for project-manager roles. In today’s environment of global competition, the decisive factor for engineering firms is not the size of their project portfolio so much as their ability to offer clients their own “technological unique product” (distinctive analogue or digital solutions, patents, and expert know-how that are difficult to replicate). The study concludes that a successful competitive strategy is achieved less through simply expanding the service range than through a flexible combination of cross-functional solutions and deep expertise in narrowly defined domains.