Transformations  in
Business & Economics

APPLICATION OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS IN PROCESS OF COMPETITIVENESS MODELLING OF SLOVAK REPUBLIC REGIONS
Beata Gavurova, Michal Soltes , Viliam Kovac

ABSTRACT. The aim of the regional policy of the European Union is to eliminate regional disparities, which are typical for the Slovak Republic. Measuring of competitiveness is a complex process determined by the heterogeneity of its components as well as their relationship. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the selected structural aspects of regional competitiveness and their role in the detection of regional disparities at the level of self-governing regions and design of development programs and plans. The application of cluster analysis confirms its significance in the process of creation of regional policies that are common to several regions, which allows to increase competitiveness of given regions alongside with a simultaneous increase of the whole country's competitiveness. Research results confirm the significant potential of examining the application aspects of cluster analysis for further development of methodologies intended to measure competitiveness and their benefits for several types of policies .

KEYWORDS:  competitiveness, region, regional policy, regional disparities, cluster analysis, the Slovak Republic.

JEL classification:  O18, P25, P48.