Yerevan /Mediamax/. Product and service quality is the main source of competitive advantage## for privately held businesses in Armenia.

As Mediamax was told in Marketing Department of “Grant Thornton Amyot”, according to the international report of “Grant Thornton International”, this factor is singled out by 83% of the polled Armenian businesses (the index makes 70% globally and 81% in European Union countries).

Workforce skills are named as the second highest factor by Armenian privately held businesses (75% of the polled), in European Union states the index makes 62%.

Ethical business practices and brand strength were also rated highly by Armenian business-circles (68 % of the polled), with pricing policy being slightly behind at 62%.

Both Armenia and the European Union member states have positioned innovation among the lowest ranked factors and have the same result of 49 per cent, and economies of scale have been rated as the factor of least importance for competitive advantage at 30% by Armenian businesses (globally the index is also one of the lowest – 44%).