Measuring competitiveness in the EU market: a comparison between food industry and agriculture

Facing the growing competition in the European food market, the purpose of this paper is to assess European country competitiveness at the sector level in the intra-EU market over the last fifteen years, comparing the evolution of the food industry, where firms have had to reshape strategies to maintain market position, and agricultural sector, where changes in Common agricultural policy have forced farms to face market trends. The analysis of competitiveness was carried out by assessing trade indices (EMS, RCA, RXA, RMA, NEI). Cluster analysis was also run to classify groups of countries with similar features in terms of competitive performance over the 1991-2006 period. The country that profited most from market integration in both sectors, reaching a high level of competitiveness was Spain, followed by Germany and Italy which gained competitiveness especially in the food industry. The United Kingdom had the worst performance, with a big decrease in indices, followed by France and Netherlands, still among the first but with lower indices.Competitiveness, agri-food sector, EU, RCA, International Relations/Trade,

International trade and competitiveness analysis in the European Union: the case of prepared meat sector

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the competitive performance of the EU countries for the prepared swine meat sector during the period 1990- 2003. This sector has been chosen for the role that traditional products play in most EU countries. To assess competitiveness, the analysis evaluates several trade indices to compare the trends over the last fifteen years: Revealed Comparative Advantage, the Vollrath indices, Net Export Index, and Grübel - Lloyd index. The data source was the Eurostat data base, considering intra - EU export and import data referred to 17 sub- sectors with 8 digit codes. Moreover, cluster analysis has been applied to highlight groups of countries with similar features. Good competitive performance in the prepared swine meat sector is observed in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Austria, all of which were found to be specialised in the sector and export oriented. Germany and France show positive competitive performance, but a high level of intra - industry trade and low specialisation is also revealed. Denmark is characterized by negative dynamics of competitiveness even though there are high exports in the sector; a similar trend is observed in Belgium and the Netherlands. The rest of the countries show weak competitiveness for the analysed sector. Moreover, the type of exported product varies greatly: Italy and Spain export dried or smoked swine meat, whereas Germany and Denmark export mainly sausages and preserved swine meat.Competitiveness, International Trade, EU, Prepared Meat, RCA., International Relations/Trade,

Marketing management capabilities of SMEs: an empirical analysis in the EU

SMEs, that represent the greater part of European food firms producing traditional food products (TFPs), meet difficulties in adapting their strategies to market changes, and in competing with big enterprises. Marketing management capabilities play a key role in good SMEs performance in the market. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the marketing capabilities of SMEs that produce TFPs. The theoretical framework considers the Market Orientation approach and marketing management capabilities in terms of marketing research, marketing strategy, planning and implementation, control and evaluation. A self evaluation tool was developed by means of an interactive questionnaire, available on the web, aimed at assessing traditional food firms competitive position in the marketing area. The sample consists of 112 Italian firms. Descriptive analysis shows that the most problematic dimensions of the marketing management are planning and implementation and control and evaluation. Moreover, the firms’ size is not a relevant feature to determine the marketing capabilities, whereas quality voluntary certifications have a direct linkage with marketing capabilities, as the more a firm is certified the more t improves its marketing performance. Linear Regression model confirms these results.Marketing capabilities, SMEs, traditional food, linear regression, Agribusiness, Marketing,

The Agri-food Competitive Performance in the EU Countries: A Fifteen Years Retrospective

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the competitive performance of different European countries at sector level in the intra-EU market from 1995 to 2011, comparing food industry and agricultural sector. In particular, we aim to assess the effect of the EU enlargement (first period) and the economic crisis (second period) on the competitiveness of EU countries. The data come from the Eurostat database of international trade. The competitive performance of EU countries is measured through several trade indices, such as Export and Import Market Share, Revealed Comparative Advantage, Net Export Index, and Vollrath indices, analysing their values over the last fifteen years. Our analysis showed that, in the EU countries, agriculture and food industry do not reveal strong differences in competitive performance during the last fifteen years. Among big countries, France and Spain showed a continuous worsening competitive performance. A similar trend is found for Belgium. On the contrary, the Netherlands revealed the best performance, both in agriculture and in food industry, together with Italy. Nevertheless, the Netherlands has lightly lost specialisation because of a rise of total exports that have affected the value of RCA. Italy is characterised by a smaller increase, especially in the food sector. The only country showing a significant difference in competitive trends between agriculture and food industry is Germany. It became leader in the food industry of EU, with a growing performance over the period analysed, while it is not competitive nor specialised in agriculture. Among small countries, it is worth to highlight the performance of Austria

Marketing management capabilities and price setting: An empirical analysis in the EU traditional food sector

In the EU, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which constitute the majority of firms in the food industry, are fighting for survival as they face growing market competition from large firms (Knight, 2000). On the other hand, market opportunities for SMEs are connected to the evolution of consumer preferences toward food quality, especially for traditional food products (O’Reilly and Haines, 2004). To profit from such opportunities SMEs need to adapt their strategies, focussing on consumer requirements and improving their marketing activities. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the marketing capabilities of SMEs producing traditional food products. Following the theoretical approach of Market Orientation (Kara et al., 2005; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993), our analysis is based on an assessment of the marketing management process (Kotler, 2004). The methodology refers to a survey made by a questionnaire published on the web, and a sample of 371 firms coming from Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Cluster analysis was applied to find different levels of the firms’ market orientation. Moreover we used an ordinal regression model to explain the relationships between the ability of firms to influence the price and the variables affecting marketing management capability. The results revealed a certain lack of appropriate skills in the analysed firms’ marketing management, confirming literature evidence concerning SMEs. Nevertheless, cluster analysis outlined a group of firms that represent 40% of the sample, and these have good marketing capabilities and are market oriented. In addition, the firms show poor ability to influence price.traditional food products, marketing capabilities, ordinal regression model., Marketing,

The Relationship Between Strategic Choices and Performance in Italian Food SMEs: A Resource-based Approach

In the context of progressive rise of the competition among firms, due to the increasing globalisation, it is interesting to understand the potential sources of competitive advantage in order to set up a successful strategy. The theory of Resource-based View used in this framework examines the connection among internal resources and strategic choices, and how the latter affect firm performance. The firm strategy is determined by available resources and capabilities which are deployed to obtain a good performance. Therefore, strategic choices act in between resources and performance. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the relationship between strategic choices and performance achieved by food SMEs, based on a set of distinctive resources. This approach is assessed in food SMEs located in Italy, by applying a Structural Equation Model. The results of the empirical analysis showed that, in the food sector, strategic choices based on innovation, product positioning, and chain relationship development have positive effects on performance, but only if distinctive resources and capabilities are considered. Innovation plays a capital role because of its direct as well as indirect effects.resource-based view, strategic choices, SMEs, food sector, structural equation modelL11, L25, L66, Q13, Agribusiness,

What Drives Marketing and Organizational Innovation in the Food Industry? A Comparison between Italy and Germany

In the food industry low amounts of capital are invested in innovation and R&D and companies are mainly engaged in developing product and process innovations in order to keep up with continuously changing consumer preferences. Notwithstanding, marketing and organizational innovation are becoming pivotal for food companies in order to specifically meet these preferences, and develop new business practices which allow them to implement successful external relationships aimed at a greater and successful innovation activity.In this regard, the present paper aims to shed lights on the determinants of both types of non-technological innovations in two of the largest EU food and drink producers by turnover and value added: Italy and Germany. To this purpose, an econometric analysis is run using microdata of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) carried out in 2012.Results highlight that, apart from some significant differences concerning the role of knowledge sources, training activities represent a relevant driver for both marketing and organizational innovations in both countries

Price Setting in Food SMEs: Which Role for Marketing Capability? An Empirical Analysis in Italy

 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fighting for survival due to globalization, growing competition with big retailers, and strategies adopted by large industrial companies. Difficulties in pricing are also revealed in the literature. Therefore, appropriate activity is needed to be more a price maker than a taker, and to reach a better market power. On the other hand, market opportunities for SMEs are related to demand evolution toward food quality and traditional food products. To profit by such opportunities, SMEs need to focus on consumer requirements, by differentiating their products. In this way, firms could apply a premium price that justifies the peculiar value of the product, and that the consumer should be willing to pay. Nonetheless, the ability to influence the price is different among firms, and often depends on firm bargaining power. Indeed, horizontal and vertical competition highly affects the ability of price setting, especially for SMEs, due to their small dimension. In order to enhance their capability to decide the price, SMEs should focus mostly on marketing, as price setting is a significant component of the marketing mix. This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between marketing capability and price setting ability in traditional food SMEs, to outline the role to have well developed marketing activities. A survey was carried out, through an interactive questionnaire aimed at assessing SME marketing capabilities. The sample was composed by 130 Italian firms producing traditional food products. An ordinal regression model explained the relationship between the ability of firms to influence the price and the marketing capability. The analysis showed a good capability to affect the price setting for the Italian traditional SMEs. Moreover, we found that good marketing capabilities enhance the ability to be price maker, especially in relation to product differentiation and market research

Incumbents’ Capabilities for Sustainability‑Oriented Innovation in the Norwegian Food Sector—an Integrated Framework

The urgency of sustainability transition requires large incumbents in the food industry to implement sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI). However, the high concentration of the food sector and the complexity of the sustainability concept make its understanding and overall transition challenging and slow. Incumbents would need to drive the transition by redesigning business models and practices and acquiring new competencies to integrate sustainability into their innovation strategy. This paper has a twofold aim: (I) analyzing the evolution of sustainability understanding over time and (II) evaluating the extent of dynamic capabilities of food incumbents to foster SOI. We developed an integrated theoretical framework combining the theory of dynamic capabilities with aspects of SOI and applied it to the case of the Norwegian food industry. We interviewed eight food incumbents and one food industry association, and we reviewed their annual and sustainability reports from 2016 till 2020. Key fndings show a high strategic activity in SOI, as well as a notable and industry-wide ambiguity about what sustainability means in the food sector. Most companies reveal both an adaptive and expanding behavior implementing conscious sustainability-integrated product and process innovations. Most innovations are incremental without a radical modifcation of business models. Some exceptions have been detected resembling transformative changes. Clear initiatives of moving away from a linear supply chain to a more systematic approach are currently happening through food system collaborations.Incumbents’ Capabilities for Sustainability‑Oriented Innovation in the Norwegian Food Sector—an Integrated FrameworkpublishedVersio

The Relationship between Innovation and Marketing in SMEs in the EU Food Sector

In the EU market small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the greater part of the food industry, specially with regard to traditional food products (TFPs). However, the growth of competition, connected mainly to globalisation, is making it very difficult for SMEs to survive. On the other hand, market opportunities for SMEs are connected to the evolution of consumer preferences toward food quality. To profit from such opportunities and to survive on the market, SMEs need to adapt their strategies, focusing on innovation aspects in order to meet consumer requirements and to compete on the market. The literature shows that firms’ market orientation and marketing capabilities are very important for innovation in food industries to guarantee that innovation reflects market needs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the level of firm innovativeness and the different stages of marketing management process, in order to understand if good results in marketing management can affect firm innovation. An interactive questionnaire available on the web has been used for the data collection, with the aim of evaluating SME marketing management capabilities and innovation development. The survey was conducted on 468 EU country SMEs producing TFPs. Linear Regression was run to assess the link between marketing activities and the level of firm innovation. Our empirical analysis reveals that SME marketing management capabilities show significant and positive relationships with a firm’s innovation. This aspect reinforces our assumptions on the strategic role of marketing activities on a firm’s capacity to understand consumer needs, and thus its need to be innovative and market oriented