The status and development of competitive environment in the market of the psychological and pedagogical care for children with disabilities in the Republic of Tatarstan for 2016 have been monitored

In 2015 in the framework of implementation of the standard of developing competition in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, approved by the Order No.1738-р (Standard) of September 5, 2015, issued by the Government of the Russian Federation, the status and development of the competitive environment in the markets for the goods, works and services of the Republic of Tatarstan are monitored annually. We present for your attention the results of monitoring the status and development of the competitive environment in the market for children with disabilities (Health Impact Assessment) for 2016.

In total 86 respondents making business on the market of for psychological and pedagogical support services for children with HIA were interviewed.

Most companies noted the overall state of competition as favorable.

A large number of the interviewed respondents - 25.8% note absence of competitors, 16.1% of the companies replied that the number of competitors was in the range from 1 to 3, and the same number of companies responded that there were 4 competitors and more.

At that most companies (54.8%) said that were no major players in the market. And only 38.7% answered that there were a few players on the market.

The responses to the question about the impact of competition to business evidence the stimulating role of competition. 61.3% consider that competition is useful for business development. More than 25% of the respondents tend to be neutral and only 12.9% are convinced that competition is not beneficial.

The key factors for competitiveness in a given market are the uniqueness of the company's products, trustworthy relations with customers and high quality of products. Thus, it is possible to speak about the non-price nature of competition in the market.

By the opinion of the interviewed respondents the changes in legal and regulatory base (64, 5%) have a significant impact on the decline in number of competitors.

More than half of the respondents (51.6%) plan to enter new markets in the next three years. More than one third of the companies (35.5%) affirm that there are no special obstacles to this process, and a small share of companies (16.1%) indicates that the obstacles can be removed at significant cost.

67.8 % of the respondents indicated that lack of funding was the main obstacle to reaching new geographical markets. In addition, 21.1% noted high start-up costs and market saturation.

The largest number of respondents indicated training as the method for increasing competitiveness of their products in the past.  The second place - new marketing strategies (38.7%) and only 6.5% were operating at the expense of cost reductions.

According to the survey, the greatest number of respondents cited the instability of legislation (25.8%) as major barriers and the complexity/length of the procedure of obtaining licences, means of state support, permits, and approvals (22.6 %). The highest number of respondents (48.4%) stated that there were no administrative barriers.

The main problems, according to the opinion of respondents, are administrative barriers as well as the facts of anti-competitive actions, so the following activities are proposed to increase competition in the market for the psychological and pedagogical support of children with HIA:

1) Monitoring of anti-competitive actions from the part of major players in the market.

2) As a result of monitoring the anti-competitive actions - the identification of organizations with problems related to administrative barriers, their legal and economic protection.

3) Promotion of the implemented federal and regional programs to increase the number of their participants, offering more effective products.

The standard of competition development is aimed at creating conditions for the development of competition in the markets for goods and services in the region, the transparency of the work of the regional authorities, the provision of incentives to protect small and medium-sized businesses and the elimination of administrative barriers.

According to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan No. 799-r dd.  May 6, 2014 the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan is the authorized body of the executive power of the Republic of Tatarstan for promoting competition in the Republic of Tatarstan.

It should be noted that the activities aimed at improving the competitive environment in the Republic of Tatarstan are included in the road map for supporting competition within the framework of the implementation of the Standard.

The information on the implementation of the Standard in the Republic of Tatarstan is posted on the Ministry's website in the section “competition” (http://mert.tatarstan.ru/rus/standart-razvitiya-konkurentsii-v-respublike.htm).