ADAPTIVE POTENTIAL OF AN ENTERPRISE AS A DETERMINANT OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE POST-CRISIS PERIOD (SYSTEMIZATION OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES)

Abstract

The article systematizes the theoretical approaches to interpreting the adaptive potential of an enterprise as a determinant of its development in the post-crisis period. It is substantiated that the conceptual boundaries of the category remain blurred owing to the conflation of adaptive potential with adjacent constructs – adaptability, flexibility, resilience, stability and viability. It is proposed to distinguish these categories by the criterion of the target outcome: resilience is oriented predominantly toward returning to the pre-crisis state, whereas adaptive potential is aimed at the enterprise's transition to a qualitatively new state of development. A working definition of adaptive potential is formulated as a higher-order latent capacity for the purposeful reconfiguration of resources and routines that enables the transition from survival-adaptation to development-adaptation. The structural and component composition of the potential is revealed through five components (resource, organizational-managerial, innovation-technological, human and informational), and the logical chain «potential – capability – result» is substantiated. Six theoretical schools (resource-based, dynamic capabilities, evolutionary, institutional, systemic-synergetic and behavioral) are systematized according to three criteria: the object of focus, the interpretation of adaptation and the role of the environment. The core methodological contradiction between environmental determinism and strategic choice is revealed. The nonlinear, threshold nature of the «potential – development» relationship is proven, and the regimes of persistence, adaptability and transformability are distinguished. Using the example of the post-war recovery of Ukrainian enterprises, the practical significance of adaptive potential as a determinant of survival and development is demonstrated. The expediency of applying a hybrid integral-indicator approach to assessing adaptive potential with threshold values and early warning indicators of risks is substantiated.