Recent areas of innovation activities in the Czech dairy industry

Abstract

Th e aim of the article is to compare and identify diff erences between the innovations within the Czech dairy industry. Dairy products are the export pillars of Czech agrarian foreign trade, and the dairy industry was one of the most important recipients of public support on innovations from the Rural Development Programme (RDP). Th e core of this research is an analysis of sixteen projects, supported under RDP sub-measure I.1.3.2 from 2007 to September 2013. Data from the representative sample of approved projects have been converted into a set of questions and answers to enable them to be evaluated, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Th e dataset is analysed by means of a counterfactual analysis, descriptive statistics, and correlation analysis. Th e results show that innovations, and public support of innovations, enabled dairies to stabilise their profi ts, and to increase their competiveness, during the period of economic crisis. Th ere were fi ve types of innovation trends in the Czech dairy industry in recent years: (i) Th e processing and effi cient use of by--products (whey, buttermilk); (ii) Th e production of new products with health benefi ts; (iii) Improved processing of dairy products with particular focus on long-life products having better sensory parameters; (iv) Improved effi ciency of transport and storage of milk and dairy products; (v) Improved wastewater treatment. Th e real innovative eff ect was, however, very limited because individual companies were not looking for their own new added value, but were more focused on the implementation of already-existing innovations.

Strategic Directions of Marketing Activities of Agricultural Organizations

“…and economic changes (liberalization of the regional market, along with the liberalization of the world market, the global economic crisis, the increase in the number population, increase in demand, growth in purchasing power, changes in consumer behavior, structural changes in the food industry and retail sales of food products). The effect of these changes is easily traced in the production and processing of food products, as well as in society as a whole, and has a significant impact on the entire chain of production of agricultural products, their processing and the arrival of food products to the final consumer [138].…”

“…The database contained information about the participants, the name of the project, its details, the process being evaluated, the total amount of investment, and the absolute and relative amount of invested subsidies. Data from these projects were compared with financial statements obtained from the Bisnode Albertina Gold Edition database, which contains data on the financial statements of companies in the Czech Republic, as well as an overview of head offices, industry, number of employees and total turnover [138].…”

Development of the controlling system in the management of dairy clusters

“…Innovative modernization exerts a significant positive impact on the improvement of management of dairy clusters and can form a basis for the effective procedure of operational controlling [18,19]. The shortest ways to spread innovations from region i to region j can be determined in the following form.…”

Entry Into the Common Market of the European Union in Terms of Czech Republic's Foreign Trade with Dairy Products

“…Milk and dairy products historically generate a significant proportion of the output of the agri-food sector of the Czech Republic. Over the last two decades, however, production and the entire milk commodity chain have undergone several changes (Čechura and Malá, 2014;Čechura et al, 2015;Dudová and Bečvářová, 2015;Blažková, 2016;Špička, 2013Špička et al, 2015). Whereby said, just the development of foreign trade in these products across sectors of the commodity chain, played, is playing and undoubtedly will play an important role in its shaping in the future (Pawlak, 2014).…”