Managing Firm Competitiveness in Global Markets

Mark Gehlhar, Anita Regmi, Spiro Stefanou and Barry Zoumas
Additional contact information
Mark Gehlhar: Economic Research Service, USDA
Barry Zoumas: Pennsylvania State University

No 714, Working Papers from University of Crete, Department of Economics

Abstract: The globalization profile of US food firms is mixed. US sales from foreign direct investment is now over six times the level of exports, while US processed food trade balance has moved from +$9 billion in 1995 to -$7 billion in 2004. Competitive forces drive firms to seek new areas of growth, with either portfolio expansion or penetration and expansion in new markets. Although the forces that weigh heavily on a firm are recognized, their influence in determining a firm’s action in choosing a particular strategy is not well understood. As the nature of food manufacturing is evolving and the operational scope of a food manufacturing firm has grown from local, to regional, national, and global, is there a new role for policy? What we do know is that a firm trades with other firms and that aggregate trade patterns do not fully reflect how firms view prospects, make decisions and factor in policies as they organize themselves for trade. Addressing the potential characterizations of competitiveness for the industry and the firm followed by the conflicting influences of R&D on competitiveness, we focus on what is meant by a global food firm with the use of the experiences of three industry case studies.

Keywords: Competitiveness; Food Manufacturing; Globalization; Case study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F2 L2 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2006-06-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-bec, nep-cse and nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in USDA & AIEA2 International Meeting, Competitiveness in Agriculture and in the Food Industry: US and EU Perspectives, Bologna, Italy (2006)

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