Comparative and absolute competitiveness of governing structures in Bulgarian farming

The farm is an abstract category in Economic theory for describing agents managing farming activity, while the real governing structures are farms of different juridical types. Farm’s competitiveness is inadequately assessed through technical and accountancy efficiency, factors’ productivity, profitability, market shares, etc. because critical governance aspects are ignored. Article suggests a holistic framework for assessing farm’ competitiveness taking into account economic, financial and governance efficiency, and evaluates absolute and comparative competitiveness of governing structures of Bulgarian farming. The assessment system includes four pillars, four criteria, 17 particular and 5 integral indicators. The first in-kind evaluation, based on survey data, found that the competitiveness of Bulgarian farms is good. The competitiveness of cooperatives is highest, followed by corporations and associations, sole traders, and physical persons. Critical for competitive positions of farms are: low productivity, income, financial security, and adaptability to natural environment, where public support and farms’ management strategies should be directed. Large shares of the country’s farms have low competitiveness, and if measures are not taken to improve management, restructuring, state support, etc., many farms will cease to exist in the near future. In some cases, other characteristics of governing structures like size, specialization, market orientation, and ecological location, are critical for determining competitiveness level.