Title: Efficiency, competitiveness and exports of agricultural firms in the post-crisis era: evidence from Greece

Authors: Christos Lemonakis; Konstantinos Vassakis; Constantin Zopounidis; Fotini Voulgaris

Addresses: School of Management and Economics, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, 71004, Greece ' Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, 71004, Greece ' School of Production Engineering and Management, Financial Engineering Laboratory, Technical University of Crete, University Campus, 73100 Chania, Greece ' School of Management and Economics, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, 71004, Greece

Abstract: The agri-food sector is an important sector for Greece and can contribute to the startup of the Greek economy. Therefore, the study covering the period 2004-2011, before and after the 2008 financial crisis in Greece, attempts to investigate the drivers of competitiveness in agricultural firms of Greece in the pre and post financial crisis era and detect differences among the two periods. Using a three-stage methodology, it is attempted to examine the hypotheses of this empirical study. OLS method is used in order to examine the relationship between efficiency, competitiveness and subsidies in agri-firms. The originality of this study is the investigation of the determinants of firm competitiveness measuring it with a competitiveness index and presenting differences between pre-crisis and post-crisis period. In addition, the correlation between efficiency, exports and subsidies on firm competitiveness is examined. The findings of this study have implications for practitioners, managers and policy makers.

Keywords: agricultural firms; efficiency; exports; firm competitiveness; subsidies; pre-crisis; post-crisis; logit model; panel data; Greece; agrifood sector; financial crisis; agriculture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSS.2016.076006

International Journal of Society Systems Science, 2016 Vol.8 No.1, pp.14 - 35

Received: 11 Nov 2014
Accepted: 26 Jun 2015

Published online: 21 Apr 2016 *

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