Author conducts functional analysis of research and managerial aspects of competitiveness at the meso-level. From the methodological point of view, dialectical and synergistic approach to study of the region's competitiveness is assessed in the context of globalization and regionalization in the systemic, dynamic and nonlinear aspects. With regard to this study, along with synergistic and dialectical methodological tools it has been suggested to use a systemic cognitive model, which is based on a systemic paradigm. According to the paradigm, socio-economic area of competitiveness is seen as a single system, enclosing a set of independent subsystems, the composition and structure of which is determined in accordance with the specific features of the determinants of competitiveness in the region.