Sectoral Analysis of Regional Markets in Georgia by Using the Components of Smart Specialization

The study aims to map and analyze the private sector in Tbilisi, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region (Senaki, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, and Poti municipalities) and Kvemo Kartli region (Marneuli municipality).

The assessment methodology entailed a combination of desk research and qualitative study. During the desk research, the size of the market in each of the target regions was studied and, by using the economic potential component of the Smart Specialization methodology, a private sector assessment was conducted. Smart Specialization is an approach that has been elaborated by the European Union (EU), and is widely used when analyzing national and regional competitiveness.

Under this approach, we have identified vital economic sectors (concentrated and competitive economic sectors) for the targeted regions, by using regional analysis methods such as location quotient (LQ) and shift-share analysis. With the help of shift-share analyses, competitive sectors for the targeted regions were identified, while concentrated sectors were identified by using LQ. After identifying concentrated and competitive sectors for targeted regions, the sectors which were both concentrated and competitive were chosen. If there was no such sector in a given location, then sectors were selected based on the shift-share analysis results. In addition, by applying enterprise birth and survival analysis, we identified economically active sub-sectors within each selected sector.