Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:38:18.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Technical efficiency in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector: a comparison study of Italian and Spanish firms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2009

Isidoro Guzmán ,
Narciso Arcas ,
Rino Ghelfi  and
Sergio Rivaroli
Isidoro Guzmán
Affiliation:
Techn. Univ. Cartagena, Dep. Account. Financ., Paseo Alfonso XIII, 50, 30203, Cartagena, Spain
Narciso Arcas
Affiliation:
Techn. Univ. Cartagena, Dep. Bus. Econ., Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48, 30203, Cartagena, Spain
Rino Ghelfi
Affiliation:
Univ. Bologna, Dip. Econ. Ing. Agrar., Viale G.Fanin 50, Bologna, Italy
Sergio Rivaroli
Affiliation:
Univ. Bologna, Dip. Econ. Ing. Agrar., Viale G.Fanin 50, Bologna, Italy
Get access

Abstract

Introduction. Agricultural cooperatives play an important socio-economic role in European (EU) countries, especially in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector. For this reason, in an economic perspective, the measurement of their efficiency has become an area of investigation which attracts great interest. Given that Spain and Italy are the biggest producers of fresh fruits and vegetables, the aim of this paper was to recognize the evolution of their technical efficiency. Materials and methods. Performance analysis in the economic field is rather controversial. Following Parkan (2002), it is possible to classify three main approaches to measure performance: index numbers; frontier methods and the non-parametric approaches. In this paper, efficiency was evaluated by applying the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique considering two separate frontiers. Through the AIDA database for Italian agricultural cooperatives and the SABI database for Spanish cooperatives, two different sets of 81 and 106 firms, respectively belonging to the fruit and vegetable sector, were selected over a five-year period (2001–2005). Results. The analysis of the DEA results underlines the higher ability of Italian cooperatives to calibrate and optimize the inputs, and to maximize the results (technical efficiency), as well as the ability of Spanish cooperatives to exploit scale economies. Conclusions. Over the period taken into consideration, the average value of global technical efficiency decreased for Spanish as well as Italian cooperatives. In the case of Spanish cooperatives, this situation is due to the loss of ability to calibrate and optimize the inputs, even if the considered firms reveal ability to develop scale economies. In the case of Italian cooperatives, the results reveal the substantial firm technical efficiency, even if scale inefficiency undermines the global efficiency.

Keywords

SpainItalyfruitsvegetablescooperativeseconomic analysisefficiencyEspagneItaliefruitslégumecoopérativeanalyse économiqueefficience
Type
Research Article
Information
Fruits , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , July 2009 , pp. 243 - 252
Copyright
© CIRAD, EDP Sciences, 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Juliá, J.F., Marí, S., Farm cooperatives and the social economy: the case of Spain, J. Rural Coop. 30 (2) (2002) 119–133.
Juliá, J.F., Server, R.J., Social economy companies in the Spanish agricultural sector: Delimitation and situation in the context of the European Union, Ann. Public Coop. Econom. 74 (3) (2003) 465–488. CrossRef
Galdeano, E., Céspedes, J., Rodríguez, M., Productivity and environmental performance in marketing cooperatives: An analysis of the Spanish horticultural sector, J. Agric. Econ. 57 (3) (2006) 479–500. CrossRef
Guzmán, I., Arcas, N., García, D., La eficiencia técnica como medida de rendimiento de las cooperativas agrarias, Rev. Econ. Pública Soc. Coop. (CIRIEC-España) 55 (2006) 289–311.
Vidal, F., Segura, B., Del Campo, F.J., Eficiencia de las cooperativas de comercialización hortofrutícola de la Comunidad Valenciana, Rev. Estud. Agrosoc. Pesq. 188 (2000) 205–224.
Mosheim R., Organizational type and efficiency in the Costa Rica coffee processing sector, J. Comp. Econ. 30, (2002) 296–316.
Guzmán, I., Arcas, N., The usefulness of accounting information in the measurement of technical efficiency in agricultural cooperatives, Ann. Public Coop. Econom. 79 (1) (2008) 107–131. CrossRef
Smith P., Data Envelopment Analysis applied to financial statements, Int. J. Manag. Sci. (1990) 131–138.
Bititici, U., Carrie, A.S., Mcdevitt, L., Integrated performance measurement systems: a development guide, Int. J. Oper. Prod. Manag. 17 (5) (1997) 522–534. CrossRef
Neely A., Waggoner D., Performance measurement: Theory and practice, Univ. Cambridge Press, Camb., UK, 1998.
Farrell, M.J., The measurement of productive efficiency, J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. A (Gen.) 120 (1957) 253–289. CrossRef
Parkan, C., Measuring the operational performance of a public transit company, Int. J. Oper. Prod. Manag. 22 (6) (2002) 693–720. CrossRef
Kumar, N. Scheer, L.K., Achrol, R.S., Assessing reseller performance from the perspective of the supplier, J. Mark. Res. 29 (1992) 238–253. CrossRef
Smith, P.C., Goddard, M., Performance management and operational research: a marriage made in heaven? J. Oper. Res. Soc. 53 (3) (2002) 247–255.
James, H.S., Sykuta, M.E., Property right and organizational characteristics of producer-owned firms and organizational trust, Ann. Public Coop. Econ. 76 (4) (2005) 545–580. CrossRef
Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., Rhodes, E., Measuring the efficiency of decision making units, Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2 (1978) 429–444. CrossRef
Feroz, E.H., Kim, S., Raab, R.L., Financial statement analysis: A data envelopment analysis approach, J. Oper. Res. Soc. 54 (2003) 48–58. CrossRef
Banker, R.D., Charnes, A., Cooper, WW., Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis, Manag. Sci. 30 (1984) 1078–1092. CrossRef
El-Mahgary, S., Ladhelma, R., Data envelopment analysis: visualizing the results, Eur. J. Oper. Res. 85 (1995) 700–710. CrossRef
Cooper W.W., Seiford L.M., Tone K., Data Envelopment Analysis, Springer-Verlag New York, 2nd Ed., USA, 2007.
Martínez, J.M., Martínez-Carrasco, F., Las empresas de comercialización hortícola de Almería: análisis no paramétrico de eficiencia técnica, Rev. Estud. Agrosoc. Pesq. 197 (2002) 105–128.
Damas, E., Romero, C., Análisis no paramétrico de la eficiencia relativa de las almazaras cooperativas en la provincia de Jaén durante el período 1975–1993, Rev. Econ. Agrar. 180 (1997) 279–304.
Jaenicke E.C., Lengnick L.L., A soil-quality index and its relationship to efficiency and productivity growth measures: two decompositions, Am. Agric. Econ. Assoc. 81 (Nov.) (1999) 881–893.
Chavas, J.P., Aliber, M., An analysis of economic efficiency in agriculture: a nonparametric approach, J. Agric. Resour. Econ. 18 (1) (1993) 1–16.
Ferrier, G.D., Porter, P.K., The productive efficiency of US milk processing cooperatives, J. Agric. Econ. 42 (2) (1991) 161–174. CrossRef
Emrouznejad A., Thanassoulis E., Performance Improvement Management PIM-DEASoft-V1, Warwhich Business School, Univ. Warwhich, Conventry, UK, 2005.