Running a business in the complex and global world requires cooperation of entities with different complementary resources and competences. A socio-economic organization which wishes to be competitive in the modern market must possess proper human, financial, material and information resources and be able to use them in the most effective way. A significant element in creating a network of connections is the absorption of knowledge and its skillful use linked with shaping innovation. Stimulation of the flow of knowledge between cooperating entities increases the level of innovation of undertaken projects. Enterprises and institutions that join together in cluster initiatives bring their material potentials, skills and experience in order to survive in a competitive market (most often small and medium-sized enterprises, scientific and research institutions) and to multiply the possibilities of achieving benefits. The accepted thesis of the article which claims that new, cooperating, innovative inter-organizational networks supported by local institutions contribute to an increase of their competitiveness in the market does not require special justification. However, the research problem is to indicate the methods by which it is possible to assess if participation in a business cluster brings benefits in specific areas of activity.The starting point for considerations in the presented study is the assumption that participation in clusters provides economic, social and scientific entities with economic or marketing benefits as well as knowledge development and socio-economic revival of a region. The main scientific inquiry, not only for the purposes of this thesis but also knowledge necessary for managers, is the effectiveness level of the adopted project. The aim of the article is to present research methods that can be used to assess the benefits that individual organizational entities achieve due to participation in a business cluster or a cluster initiative. Keywords: Clusters, Innovation, Efficiency, Competitiveness

Enterprises must introduce various changes in their activities, for the purposes they pursue, structures and processes. Business adapts to the external environment that imposes restrictions, forces specific actions aimed at more rational use of resources. Business entities implement innovative ideas in the field of creating new products, manufacturing processes, organizational changes, improving the quality and efficiency of production or services. All these activities are extremely costly, but at the same time necessary for development or survival in a competitive market. Organizations in which the main management strategy is the concept of logistics management, in their activities focus on the improvement of logistics processes in such a way that the unit logistic costs are as low as possible. Measurement of the effectiveness of activities undertaken by economic entities is a standard procedure that allows for a rational allocation of available resources. High efficiency of activities justifies their further intensification, while low efficiency is a warning signal indicating their reduction or even discontinuation. The purpose of the article is to present the logistics system efficiency indicators that can be used to assess the benefits achieved by organizational entities as a result of optimizing logistics processes. The starting point for the considerations of the presented study is the assumption that the concept of logistics management is the main strategy of the company, and the optimization of logistics processes in the entire supply chain brings economic benefits – greater profitability of projects, and image benefits – better quality of products and services provided. The basic scientific inquiry, not only for the purposes of this thesis, but also the knowledge necessary for managers, is the measurement of this effectiveness.

Companies which wish to operate on the market must constantly discover and shape new potentials and abilities to create benefits that might ensure them long-term increase in efficiency and development. One of the ways to gain economic advantage is to reduce costs in all possible areas of their generation and maximize consumer satisfaction through more efficient and rational flow of primary products and goods (Manzouri &, Ab Rahman, 2013). Logistics, understood as a modern management concept, allows to achieve such economic and market effects. Comprehensive management of all activities related to material flows, goods or services from supply sources to users of finished products brings benefits in reducing total costs, which results in better economic results. Companies use various sets of indicators for measuring economic and operational efficiency and the most commonly used ones are profitability rates. The main goal of the article is to present an assessment of the efficiency of logistics processes based on the unit costs which arise in the areas recognized as logistic. The research problem is to indicate the method of measurement in order to examine the relationship between logistics management and the reduction of total costs and thus to study the impact of supply chain management on the efficiency and effectiveness of an economic entity. The applied research method is based on calculating the value of logistic cost-effectiveness coefficients and presenting them in dynamic terms. Lower values of the logistic cost-effectiveness coefficients will mean better logistic effects and more rational use of resources. The use of the presented measurement methods will allow company managers to create the most optimal supply chains in their business ventures. The article presents the cost-effectiveness rates calculated for logistics processes in the period 2018-2019 in the Large-area Multi-Branch Materials Warehouse in Kutno (centrally located, modern logistics warehouse) and the Materials Warehouse Jawidz

Financial analysis is a process that evaluates previous results and allows to improve them or to change approach to the issues under consideration, and in particular it provides the opportunity to verify the effectiveness of operations expressed in financial condition. The goal of financial analysis comes down to assessing the rationality of the company's financial management in the past, diagnosing the current state and determining how to act in the future.

Business clusters are a new theory and idea of companies’ functioning, regardless of the kind of business they do or their market shares. Cluster initiatives are a business phenomenon because they are able to combine, and most importantly, to bring benefits to both small and large companies. Organizations with large resources as well as those that do not have a sufficiently large potential are able to cooperate in order to create mutual benefits, increase their competitiveness and obtain better financial results. The impulse for creating business clusters in a region is caused by the need to broadly support innovation and cooperation of business entities with scientific research and local government institutions in order to achieve common socio-economic benefits for the region. JEL: F23, F61, O31.

In Poland, Europe and worldwide, business strategies are implemented to ensure economic growth as a result of the impact of innovation and regional competitiveness. One of the effective and already proven methods of this strategy is building a competitive advantage based on the development of regional clusters. In their operations, clusters use the benefits of agglomeration, scale, range as well as local facilities resulting from production processes and distribution of knowledge. The concept of logistics clusters perfectly fits the aims of business clusters. The efficiency of logistics processes is perceived through the prism of cluster’s efficiency and effectiveness; the cluster philosophy can be used in logistics activities in order to seek optimization of its processes. Combining a cluster project with a logistics activity is one of the ways to improve competitiveness. Logistics clusters have the ability of a wider use of solutions developed by individual companies forming a cluster as well as solutions developed by companies from other sectors with which such enterprises cooperate. It is possible due to the development of innovative solutions in customer service, based on the experienceand cooperation of enterprises which can be considered as logistic and entities from other sectors of economy. The emergence of logistics clusters is stimulated by processes of internationalization and liberalization of material and capital flows, permanent search for new sources of competitive advantage, e. g. by optimizing logistics processes leading to cost reduction and by minimizing development disproportions of EU regions. The influence of market environment and existing trends causes that the analysis of a value chain and its network of connections as well as the course of processes should lead to a stage of selecting the most beneficial structures of this chain and the sequence of processes in this chain (Obłój, 1998, p. 215). As a consequence, logistics clusters including, for example, companies from freight-transportation-logistics (FTL) industry, will be looking for more effective ways of functioning. While examining the impact of logistics processes implemented in cluster initiatives on company’s financial results, it is necessary to determine the share of logistics costs in total costs and their impact on other areas of this company.

Конкурентоспроможність підприємств – це здатність суб'єкта господарювання функціонувати в певній галузі у вільній ринковій економіці, виробляючи потрібні товари або послуги високої якості, за правильну ціну і в потрібний час. Саме функціонування компанії означає, що суб'єкт господарювання повинен бути конкурентоспроможним, тому що він не буде вести бізнес, якщо не створює додаткової вартості і тому не отримує економічних вигод у вигляді прибутку. Швидкість розвитку підприємства визначатиметься зовнішніми факторами, тобто тими, які стосуються середовища підприємства та внутрішніх факторів, що створюються на підприємстві. Детермінанти конкурентоспроможності компанії можуть бути як її елементом зростання, так і перешкодою, що призводить до зниження конкурентоспроможності.

Kornus Olesia PhD in Geography, Associate Professor Kornus Anatolii PhD in Geography, Associate Professor Siutkin Serhii PhD in Geography, Associate Professor Korol Olena PhD in Pedagogy, Senior Lecturer Danylchenko Olena PhD in Geography, Senior Lecturer Department of General and Regional Geography Sumy State Pedagogical University named after А.S. Makarenko (Sumy, Ukraine) SCIENTIFIC AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS AND SUBSTANTIATION OF THE CLUSTER CONCEPT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES