Heterogeneity and efficiency of food processing companies in the Czech Republic

Abstract

In the paper, the observed heterogeneity and technical efficiency of Czech food processing companies are investigated. Recent studies proved that food processing firms’ heterogeneity can influence the result of the efficiency estimation. For the empirical study, the panel data set from the years 2005-2012 containing 2854 observations of 607 food processing companies was used. Variables representing heterogeneity factors were incorporated in the mean of inefficiency term distribution of the Battese and Coelli model (1995). The models were estimated in the form of translogarithmic production function using the Stochastic Frontier Approach. The results indicate the presence of significant heterogeneity among the firms in the analysed branches and among different branches of the food processing industry.