The Influence of Industry Structure on Performance

This research focused on structure and performance
of the Israeli citrus industry, resulting in an
exceptional theoretical and empirical study of
industry competitiveness at various stages of the
marketing channel. Until 1991, a state trading
enterprise was the sole seller of Israeli citrus
fruit. The liberalization of the citrus sector
caused a drastic change in industry structure with
far-reaching consequences for conduct and
performance. Yael developed a novel oligopsonistic
model of the industry, demonstrating the existence
of a non-cooperative equilibrium, where citrus
exporters offer growers consignment contracts in
order to conceal price information and mitigate
price competition. In addition, she developed a
structural econometric model to investigate the
competitiveness of Israeli citrus exports to
European markets. Empirical results support the
hypothesis of competitive export markets. Yet, the
analysis of the market for export services indicates
that a high concentration in the export sector,
together with imperfect information of growers with
regard to prices, enabled noncompetitive behavior of
exporters.

Autorentext

Yael studied Agricultural Economics at Kiel University, Germany. After immigrating to Israel, Yael continued her PhD studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, supervised by Prof. Yoav Kislev and Prof. Israel Finkelshtain. Her research focuses on the organization and efficiency of agricultural markets and marketing.

Klappentext

This research focused on structure and performance of the Israeli citrus industry, resulting in an exceptional theoretical and empirical study of industry competitiveness at various stages of the marketing channel. Until 1991, a state trading enterprise was the sole seller of Israeli citrus fruit. The liberalization of the citrus sector caused a drastic change in industry structure with far-reaching consequences for conduct and performance. Yael developed a novel oligopsonistic model of the industry, demonstrating the existence of a non-cooperative equilibrium, where citrus exporters offer growers consignment contracts in order to conceal price information and mitigate price competition. In addition, she developed a structural econometric model to investigate the competitiveness of Israeli citrus exports to European markets. Empirical results support the hypothesis of competitive export markets. Yet, the analysis of the market for export services indicates that a high concentration in the export sector, together with imperfect information of growers with regard to prices, enabled noncompetitive behavior of exporters.