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Measurement And Decomposition Of Flexibility Of Multi-Output Firms

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  • Renner, Swetlana
  • Glauben, Thomas
  • Hockmann, Heinrich

Abstract

Flexibility can be considered as a crucial factor of competitive advantage, especially under conditions of dynamically changing environments. Based on the classical microeconomic definition of flexibility, as introduced by Stigler, and some recent concepts developed in the production economics, this article proposes a primal flexibility measure for multi-product firms. When decomposed, this measure offers useful insights into possible sources of flexibility, especially by investigating the role of both scale and scope economies. This approach provides the theoretical basis to investigate the magnitude and sources of flexibility in the Polish agricultural sector during the transition period.

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  • Renner, Swetlana & Glauben, Thomas & Hockmann, Heinrich, 2012. "Measurement And Decomposition Of Flexibility Of Multi-Output Firms," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 124865, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae12:124865
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.124865
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    Cited by:

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    2. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Hatzenbuehler, Patrick L. & Edeh, Hyacinth O., 2020. "Effects of agricultural mechanization on economies of scope in crop production in Nigeria," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Hirsch, Stefan & Mishra, Ashok K. & Finger, Robert, 2017. "Firm Flexibility in the EU Dairy Processing Industry," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258467, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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    5. Koppenberg, Maximilian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Dalhaus, Tobias & Hirsch, Stefan, 2023. "The value of firm flexibility under extreme positive demand shocks: COVID-19 and toilet paper panic purchases," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    6. Christian Grovermann & Sylvain Quiédeville & Adrian Muller & Florian Leiber & Matthias Stolze & Simon Moakes, 2021. "Does organic certification make economic sense for dairy farmers in Europe?–A latent class counterfactual analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(6), pages 1001-1012, November.
    7. Swetlana Renner & Thomas Glauben & Heinrich Hockmann & Pierre Ouellette, 2015. "Primal and dual multi-output flexibility measures," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 127-136, October.
    8. Tsakiridis, Andreas & Breen, James & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Hanrahan, Kevin & Wallace, Michael & Crosson, Paul, 2016. "Flexibility of beef suckler cow systems under varying calf retention strategies," 90th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2016, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 236289, Agricultural Economics Society.

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