Competitiveness in Food and Beverage Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

Competitiveness has been a topic of research in the manufacturing and related sectors since the early 1990s. While there is much agreement on the economic and social importance of competitiveness, it is less clear what exactly competitiveness is and what its most important determinants are. This paper looks at one of the important sectors of the European and national economy, at least from its potential for development perspective: food and beverage industry. The competitiveness of the food and beverage manufacturing sector in 17 coun- tries is analyzed empirically, using 2002–2007 Eurostat data. After a review of earlier agribusiness competitiveness studies, an Industrial Competitiveness Index is used as a composite measure for multidimensional economic performance, covering profitability, productivity and output growth. This index approach en- ables relative competitiveness comparisons across industries, countries and over time. The results suggest the most competitive EU food and beverage industry and the country with the highest performance averaged across all food and beverage manufacturing activities. This study contributes to the literature on the discussion of the indices of competitiveness and the progress of competitiveness of EU food and beverage manufacturing industries.