EFFICIENCY OF THE ITALIAN AGRI-FOOD INDUSTRY: AN ANALYSIS OF "DISTRICTS EFFECT"

In the course of the past decades major transformations in the Italian food industry induced considerable structural changes: on one hand, the creation of large industrial groups, with substantial input of foreign capital and, on the other, the concentration and geographic specialisation of numerous small and medium enterprises, with the formation of specific and typical agri-food local system (districts). To take account of the presence of food districts the analysis of the Italian food industry could not be conducted at national and regional level but it has to be studied at province and local level. It is also useful to analyse the food industry with reference to the different sub-sectors. We will conduct an in-depth analysis of the local systems (districts) of two sectors meat and fruit & vegetables processing. We will use balance-sheet data of the processing firms that were active in the meat (446 firms) and fruit & vegetables (227 firms) sub-sector in the years from 1996 to 1999. The analysis will consider the most significant balance sheet ratios, such as returns, productivity and labour cost in these local systmems. Then, we will consider the economic assessment of the firms belonging to local systems of the two sectors and compare with the non district firms. For the efficiency analysis will estimate a stochastic frontier production function in order to determine the "district effect". This analysis will also be directly correlated with investment in technological innovation. The economic and efficiency analysis confirms for many aspects the presence of a "district effect" in the Italian food industry.Food industry's efficiency, Food districts, Local development, Stochastic frontier production function, Meat and fruit sectors, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

A Comparative Analysis of the Meat Sector in Hungary and Emilia-Romagna: Performance and Efficiency

In the last years, a lot of important changes occurred inside the European Union after the entering of 12 new member States. The rate of economic growth of the new member States has been higher the other EU members. In Hungary, particularly, the growth level has reached an intermediate position, placing itself at 4% GDP per capita. Comparative analysis are needed to better understand the process of catching-up and to evaluate how the integration between EU regions and countries is going on. The aim of this paper is to compare the economic and efficiency performance of firms in Hungary and Emilia-Romagna, considering a specific sector, meat processing and storage, of the food industry). We will investigate if in the last years the integration process has ultimately led to narrow the gap in the economic performances and efficiency of the firms. The choice of meat processing industry is due to the fact that in Hungary theres a remarkable animal production, whereas in the Emilia-Romagna region the meat industry reflects an organizational structure based on the concentration and specialization in agri-food districts. This paper compares the financial-economic performances and the technical efficiency of firms involved in the industry of meat processing in Hungary and in an Italian region, Emilia-Romagna. We will also discuss and compare the different results obtained throughout governance and structure of meat industry. We will underline the main role of the industrial districts in Emilia-Romagna, and how the Hungarian entrepreneurial system could handle the competition in the global market.Firms financial-economic performances, stochastic production function, agri-food districts, meat processing industry, Hungarian and Emilia-Romagna food industry, Livestock Production/Industries,

I distretti agroindustriali: un'analisi economica, strutturale e dell'efficienza delle imprese alimentari.

L'analisi dell'industria agroalimentare a livello territoriale disaggregato (provinciale e comunale) mette in evidenza una realtà molto più composita rispetto agli studi condotti in precedenza. Questo lavoro mostra come i processi di localizzazione e specializzazione dei singoli comparti caratterizzano e differenziano la struttura produttiva di numerosi sistemi locali. L'analisi dei principali indicatori economici, finanziari e di produttività dei bilanci delle imprese alimentari italiane mostra risultati economic migliori per le imprese localizzate nei sistemi locali specializzati. Un'ulteriore copnferma si ottiene mediante la stima di una funzione di rpoduzione stocastica dove l'"effetto distretto" per il comparto delle carni risulta particolarmente evidente.

EFFICIENCY OF THE ITALIAN AGRI-FOOD INDUSTRY: AN ANALYSIS OF "DISTRICTS EFFECT"

In the course of the past decades major transformations in the Italian food industry induced considerable structural changes: on one hand, the creation of large industrial groups, with substantial input of foreign capital and, on the other, the concentration and geographic specialisation of numerous small and medium enterprises, with the formation of specific and typical agri-food local system (districts). To take account of the presence of food districts the analysis of the Italian food industry could not be conducted at national and regional level but it has to be studied at province and local level. It is also useful to analyse the food industry with reference to the different sub-sectors. We will conduct an in-depth analysis of the local systems (districts) of two sectors meat and fruit & vegetables processing. We will use balance-sheet data of the processing firms that were active in the meat (446 firms) and fruit & vegetables (227 firms) sub-sector in the years from 1996 to 1999. The analysis will consider the most significant balance sheet ratios, such as returns, productivity and labour cost in these local systmems. Then, we will consider the economic assessment of the firms belonging to local systems of the two sectors and compare with the non district firms. For the efficiency analysis will estimate a stochastic frontier production function in order to determine the "district effect". This analysis will also be directly correlated with investment in technological innovation. The economic and efficiency analysis confirms for many aspects the presence of a "district effect" in the Italian food industry

A Comparative Analysis of the Meat Sector in Hungary and Emilia-Romagna: Performance and Efficiency

In the last years, a lot of important changes occurred inside the European Union after the entering of 12 new member States. The rate of economic growth of the new member States has been higher the other EU members. In Hungary, particularly, the growth level has reached an intermediate position, placing itself at 4% GDP per capita. Comparative analysis are needed to better understand the process of catching-up and to evaluate how the integration between EU regions and countries is going on. The aim of this paper is to compare the economic and efficiency performance of firms in Hungary and Emilia-Romagna, considering a specific sector, meat processing and storage, of the food industry). We will investigate if in the last years the integration process has ultimately led to narrow the gap in the economic performances and efficiency of the firms. The choice of meat processing industry is due to the fact that in Hungary there's a remarkable animal production, whereas in the Emilia-Romagna region the meat industry reflects an organizational structure based on the concentration and specialization in agri-food 'districts;. This paper compares the financial-economic performances and the technical efficiency of firms involved in the industry of meat processing in Hungary and in an Italian region, Emilia-Romagna. We will also discuss and compare the different results obtained throughout governance and structure of meat industry. We will underline the main role of the "industrial districts" in Emilia-Romagna, and how the Hungarian entrepreneurial system could handle the competition in the global market

I distretti agroindustriali: un'analisi economica e strutturale dell'efficienza delle imprese alimentari

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7 , Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

Agricultural economics and transition: What was expected, what we observed, the lessons learned Proceedings (Volume I / II)

Over fifteen years have elapsed since the transition from the centrally planned economic system started in the early 1990’s. During this time agricultural and rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe have undergone profound structural changes with wide variations in the degree of transformation and in the rate of success in creating a competitive market and private ownership based food and agricultural system. By becoming member of the European Union the "transition" in its traditional interpretation has been concluded in ten of the Central East European countries. The transition to market based agriculture, however, is far from completion in Southern and Eastern Europe and especially in the CIS countries. International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) and European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) in collaboration with the Corvinus University of Budapest and with a number of other institutions in Hungary organized an inter-conference seminar on the subject of agricultural transition in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The major objective of the seminar was to discuss and draw conclusions on the role of agricultural policy in the transition process in the light of actual progress and current situation in Central and East European countries and in formal Soviet States. In addition the contribution of agricultural economics – both from the West and from the East – as a discipline and a profession to the transition process in agriculture were discussed. A specific objective was to identify priorities and means to strengthen the agricultural economics profession in the transition countries and determine research and educational priorities for the future. The seminar was attended by 118 participants representing 26 countries from Europe, North America and Asia. The Seminar was the largest professional meeting organized by the two associations in 2007. Over 110 abstracts were submitted and evaluated by the International Program Committee. In the two day program of the meeting, 8 presentations were made during the 3 plenary sessions, 66 papers were presented in the 15 contributed paper sessions in 8 subject categories. In addition there were 15 posters discussed in the poster session and the findings of a World Bank study on distortions of agricultural incentives in the region was the subject of a pre-conference workshop. Plenary speakers included Ulrich Koester, Johan Swinnen, Jerzy Wilkin, Zvi Lerman, Eugenia Serova and József Popp-Gábor Udovecz. At the end of the seminar David Colman, President of IAAE gave a global assessment of the status of agricultural economics discipline and profession, while Csaba Csáki, former President of IAAE made summary comments on major issues discussed during the seminar. This volume includes the plenary and contributed papers presented at the seminar and submitted for publications by the authors as well as the abstracts of the poster papers discussed. The seminar was supported and sponsored by a number of organizations and persons. All of their contributions have to be greatly acknowledged. First the two international organizations IAAE and EAAE have to be mentioned, which provided overall organizational framework and logistical support. The IAAE provided in addition a generous grant to support the participation of young agricultural economists from Central and Eastern Europe on the seminar. On the Hungarian side the Corvinus University of Budapest, the Szent István University of Gödöllő, the Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, the Hungarian Agricultural Economics Association, the Hungarian Association of Agricultural Sciences and the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development were the major material and organizational supporters. The International Program committee was chaired by David Colman and Csaba Csáki and included Ulrich Koester, Joe Swinnen, Eugenia Serova and Jerzy Wilkin. The local Organizing committee was chaired by Csaba Forgács and István Szűcs and included Zoltán Lakner, András Nábrádi, József Popp, József Tóth, Gábor Udovecz, László Vajda, László Villányi, Krisztina Fodor, Attila Jámbor and Tamás Mizik. Finally IAMO, Halle facilitated the publication of this proceedings