Emilio Galdeano-Gómez

Exporting and Environmental Performance: A Firm-Level Productivity Analysis

The objective of this paper is to study empirically the relationship between export orientation and firms’ environmental performance from different perspectives of trade theory. On the one hand, productivity heterogeneity is analysed within the new trade-theoretical framework. The approach followed is to determine firm-level productivity components, including an environmental productivity indicator (as a performance measure) and taking as reference the Spanish food industry. On the other hand, from the traditional comparative advantage perspective, this study also develops an export performance model to evaluate the effect of technology, environmental variables and factor endowment on exporting. The results show greater environmental productivity and corporate efficiency for export-oriented firms. Our findings also determine the positive effect on firms’ export intensity of environmental performance as a factor of specialisation and technology proficiency.

Sustainability dimensions related to agricultural-based development: the experience of 50 years of intensive farming in Almería (Spain)

In the context of the current agri-food market, several factors have made it increasingly difficult to balance the components of sustainability in agricultural-based development. These factors include increasing internationalization, tighter control of distribution and frequent changes in agricultural policies. Indeed, in the framework of European rural policy there has been considerable debate in recent years concerning the role of the agricultural sector and how it should face the following challenges: productivity-competitiveness, environmental protection and socio-economic development. There is, therefore, a growing need for practical analyses that adopt a holistic approach. This paper analyses how this sector in the province of Almería (Spain), based on horticultural family farms, has risen to the above issues over recent decades. This case study provides some insights into the different trade-offs and synergies between sustainability dimensions. In particular, the integration of ecological, social and economic components may prove useful in helping other regions to adapt their agricultural systems, especially where these are characterized by small-scale farming.

The social dimension as a driver of sustainable development: the case of family farms in southeast Spain

The social pillar has often been treated as an ‘add on’ in sustainable development studies, and analyses of its ‘proactivity’ in economic, environmental, and social transformations to sustainability outcomes are scant. The present paper looks at the social dimension as a key driver of sustainable development. Social factors in the farming system in southeast Spain are analyzed to show how family farms and their networks can integrate socio-economic and eco-social goals, promoting the generation of synergies and trade-offs between the dimensions of sustainability. This study contributes to existing debate on the role of family farms in the framework of European rural development.

Collaborative firms managing perishable products in a complex supply network: an empirical analysis of performance

Purpose – This purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence of how cooperation is related to suppliers’ performance, a relationship that is thought to be affected by the type of customer and the extent to which the market is diversified. It analyzes horticultural exporting firms in southeastern Spain, which are the main suppliers of European markets. Together with their primary customers (large-scale retail companies such as Carrefour, Tesco and Aldi), these firms constitute a complex supply network composed of a variety of agents and sales channels. This network will be studied from the perspective of the supplier–supplier relationship that is critical to their survival. Design/methodology/approach – Starting with a detailed description of Europe’s vegetable supply chain, a hierarchical regression is used with an index of cooperation intensity, moderated by retail sales and market concentration. The authors test the hypotheses using panel data on a set of 118 horticultural marketing firms in so...

Territory, Cluster and Competitiveness of the Intensive Horticulture in Almería (Spain)

Almeria is Spains leading area for the production and exportation of vegetables. In this province we can find the largest area of greenhouses in the world, around which a major agroindustrial cluster has arisen. The present study follows a holistic approach to analyse its development and the modification of its sources of advantage. For this purpose, Porters theoretical and analytical framework is considered. The particular natural resources of the territory were fundamental in the growth of this sector in the 1970s, allowing it to achieve absolute comparative advantages. Nowadays, the agroindustrial cluster that has built up around the greenhouse industry has enhanced the competitiveness of the sector by generating systemic and dynamic competitive advantages.

Productivity effects of environmental performance: evidence from TFP analysis on marketing cooperatives

The object of the present article is to offer a decomposition of productivity indices incorporating environmental changes. The model followed is an input oriented approach related to undesirable output (environmental performance attribute) in horticultural marketing cooperatives. This study is motivated by both the lack of analysis of environmental performances effects on agribusiness productivity and the relevance of cooperative firms in the European agricultural model for attaining sustainability. For this purpose, bootstrapped envelopment analysis is applied and the best practice frontier obtained corresponds to decision making units showing the best environmental behaviour. The Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) is decomposed into technological change, efficiency and environmental change. In the second stage, the correlations of these changes with other management variables of cooperatives are analysed. The indicators obtained, on one hand, advice about the nonseparable distance function estimations when the environmental factor is introduced. On the other hand, the results display a relevant increase in efficiency and environmental components for the period under study showing a high influence from labour qualification, environmental effort and spillover effect in the sector.

DRIVERS FOR EFFICIENT WATER USE IN AGRICULTURE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF FAMILY FARMS IN ALMERÍA, SPAIN

This paper aims to determine the influence of family farming features on efficient use of water. The analysis focusses on a random sample of family farms in the province of Almeria, southeast Spain. A hierarchical regression model was conducted to determine how the water efficiency is related to environmental awareness and certain characteristics of farmers, decision-makers and the family farm itself. The results show that these family farms strive to be more efficient in their use of water when they are going to be inherited, when there are younger decision-makers who have received a better education, and also when women are involved. Moreover, this efficiency is positively related to more ecological production and to the farmers habitual behaviour with respect to water economy. The study provides evidence regarding the influences of socio-economic and environmental features of family farming on water use efficiency that may prove useful for other analyses and policy makers on water management in agriculture.

Demand Indicators for Adventure Tourism Packages in Costa Rica: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper analyzes the management of international tourist demand for adventure activities in Costa Rica and Valle Central. In particular, tourist demand for activities such as hiking, bird watching, nature observation and visits to volcanoes, among others, is not being met by tour operators and travel agencies. These activities are being offered without knowledge of the best combined option or packages. Taking as reference the Survey for Non-resident Tourists, this study analyzes the global trend of preferences of the visitors during the period 2001-2007, including how these tourists would organize their holiday given the opportunity to do so. To this end, we develop a combinatory analysis with probability measures to assess levels of the demand preferences and the efficient management of the suppliers. The results show the combinations of different adventure tourism activities which are considered more appealing, as well as providing orientation for agents in this sector to improve management.

Food exporters and co-opetition relationships: an analysis on the vegetable supply chain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the influence of co-opetition on food exporting in different distribution channels, taking as reference the vegetable farming-marketing sector in southeast Spain. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyses the data collected from vegetable exporters’ associations and the firms’ individual financial reports. A multivariate empirical model is developed to measure the impact of cooperation and competition relationships (both horizontal and vertical ones) on exporting. This model includes the influence of main buyers distinguishing basically between retailers and wholesalers. Findings – The results obtained show that diverse forms of collaboration with competitors, in both horizontal (such as logistics and research projects) and vertical dimensions (such as promotion and quality certifications) have positive effects on vegetable export propensity. These influences become more apparent when large retailers are the main buyers. Resear...

Household Food Consumption and Quality Differentiation in Demand System: An Approach for Endogenous Prices

The quality effects embodied in unit values might have strong repercussions on the estimation of the demand elasticities of aggregate food products, particularly when prices respond to supply conditions (endogeneity). In this article, the approximation to consumer quality preferences is carried out from the estimation of the measurement errors of unit values and the inverse demand analysis. The empirical application is based on six produce groups of fruit and vegetables in Spain. The results show that quality factors reinforce the differences of quantity effects (flexibilities) on the normalized prices. Using a test of flexibility relationships, our findings are consistent with those provided by alternative measures of quality as separable components of household expenditure.