Human Potential is a Way to Create a Competitive Advantage for Industrial Companies

Human potential is a strategy for future success, and is the tools by which companies can achieve sustainability. The article provides an analysis of the factors of production in Russian companies, and explain human potential, competitive advantage, Classification of factors affecting production efficiency, identifies the most important productive factors that companies can invest in. The importance of the research topic is due to the fact that, despite the rather long period of research on the elements involved in the production process, a general systematic approach to the assessment of productive factors has not yet been developed. The authors classified the productive elements into three groups (technical, human potential and organizational). The authors made a calculation by using the (value-added) method for group of Russian companies for the period 2014-2018. The study reached a set of conclusions about the applicability of the method evaluating the factors of production, in order to determine the best investment factors for companies. The study finding that the factor (human potential) is the best investment for companies. Therefore, the study recommended companies direct their spending towards human capital, invest in human potential, it is more valuable to companies than other assets. Companies must manage and develop it. Thus, human potential is the main driver of companies, and its investment leads company's ownership of a competitive and continuous advantage in the markets.