Breakdown of Новый метод представляет собой сложный процесс.
новый
new
сложный
difficult, complex
себя
oneself (себе: Dat/Prep)
процесс
process
Questions & Answers about Новый метод представляет собой сложный процесс.
Why is сложный процесс in the accusative case here if it looks exactly like the nominative?
The phrase представлять собой requires its object to be in the accusative case. Because процесс is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form is identical to the nominative. That is why the ending does not change in this sentence.
Why does this expression use собой instead of the base reflexive pronoun себя?
Собой is the instrumental case of the reflexive pronoun себя (oneself). The phrase представлять собой literally means something like 'represents by means of itself', but you should treat it as a fixed, formal unit that simply means 'is' or 'constitutes'.
Could I use является instead of представляет собой to express the exact same meaning?
Yes, but you would have to change the grammar of the rest of the sentence. While представляет собой takes the accusative case, являться requires the instrumental case. To use it here, you would have to say Новый метод является сложным процессом.
What is the aspect of представляет, and how would I say this in the past tense?