Theoretical-Methodological Aspects of the Competitiveness of Agricultural Holdings

Nina Koteva, Aleksii Aleksiev, Rosica Beluhova-Uzunova, Aneta Roicheva, Juliana Hadzichoneva, Angel Georgiev, Kristiyan Hadjiev

Abstract: Competitiveness is among the many economic concepts that are widely used and for which there is no generally accepted view of its essential characteristic and approach for its measurement. The aim of the article is to define the category of “agricultural competitiveness” on the basis of a critical review of scientific literature. From this critical review of the scientific literature, we can see that a single opinion has not yet been adopted, which gives us reason to propose a working definition for the competitiveness of agricultural holdings: The in-house capability of farms to maintain sustainable competitive advantages, delivering output in particular markets based on high business results, continually adapting to changes in the environment (market, natural and institutional) and knowledge-based improvement and innovations. The benefits of the proposed definition are as follows: - has practical applicability; - reflects the main features of the competitiveness of agricultural holdings; - can serve as a basis for developing methodological tools for assessing the level of competitiveness of agricultural holdings.

Keywords: agricultural holdings; agriculture; competitiveness

Date published: 2019-02-28