ANALYSE DER WETTBEWERBSPROZESSE IN DER POLNISCHEN FLEISCHINDUSTRIE SEIT TRANSFORMATIONSBEGINN

It is the objective of the present study to examine the competitive processes within the Polish meat processing industry during the first six years of transformation empirically. In particular, two questions were posed: How did the intensity of competition develop in this sector since the beginning of the transformation process? What are the factors that did further or impede individual firm growth? The intensity of static competition in input procurement did increase slightly during the transformation process, but the intensity of dynamic competition in selling output, which is still high, did decrease. The results of an econometric analysis of market share development showed that below average initial firm size and above average input procurement prices exercised a significantly negative effect on firm size growth, whereas a growing resource base in the firm's vicinity showed a significantly positive effect. Factors that were not found to have any significant effect on the market share growth of the firm include: above average initial firm size, below average input procurement prices, declining resource base in the firm's vicinity, and below or above average population density in the firm's vicinity.