International Competitiveness of Agricultural Export Firms: A Study of Export Companies of Blackberries in Los Reyes, Michoacan, Mexico and Huelva, Spain.

• Author: Ortega, Odette V. Delfin

INTRODUCTION

The blackberry is a fruit native of Europe, Asia and America. The interest in the cultivation of the blackberry has grown substantially in recent years, specifically the species tradable for fresh consumption, because of these factors: 1) The high profits of the crop, 2) Fast return on investment, 3) The intensive use of labor, 4) Versatility of fruits for consumption and 5) Great possibilities for exporting the product (Merchand, 2013).

Blackberry production in Mexico has increased from 11 thousand tons to over 130 thousand tons in the last decade (SIAP, 2014), and the international trade of blackberries, cultivated in Los Reyes, Michoacan, began mainly due to the opening of exporting companies and with the growth of productive activity in the municipality and in the region. In Spain, the production of blackberries has increased over a 100% from 2016 to 2017. They passed from 2 thousand tons to over 4 thousand tons in those years (Junta de Andalucia, 2018).

The article's main purpose is to show the results of the application of a tool to measure competitiveness in agricultural enterprises, which will determine if the variables selected impact the competitiveness of those firms. This document contains a description of the international situation of the blackberry, as well as the situation in Mexico and in Spain. Subsequently the theories that support the investigation and the revision of models of measurement of competitiveness at the micro level are presented, ending with an explanation of the results obtained and its conclusions.

INTERNATIONAL SITUATION OF BLACKBERRY PRODUCTION

For purposes of this research, it is important to establish the world export of the product, as can be seen in Table 1, considering the value in dollars and the volume per ton of exports. The main exporting countries of blackberries in the world are first the

United States of America, accounting for 26.8% of the total world exports, followed by Spain with 21.8% and Mexico with the third largest export participation of 18.7%.

In Mexico, although the primary sector has decreased its participation in the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the importance is still marked, especially in states where primary production is one of the principal activities. Such is the case of Michoacan, which represents about 15% of the GDP (SEDER, 2012).

In the Michoacan state, blackberry production is distributed among 20 municipalities. Three of these municipalities account for approximately 75% of the production of this agricultural commodity. These municipalities include (1) Los Reyes; (2) Periban; and (3) Ario de Rosales (SIAP, 2014).

In Mexico, in previous studies in the same region, it was detected that the problem with the commercialization of this product is due to factors such as the lack of machinery, unstable prices controlled by foreign marketers, low degree of integration of participants involved in the commercialization and lack of capital for active production and innovations. In Spain, they have had a boom of red fruits since 1970, when a lot of strawberry producers began to operate and the commercialization of this product became a very great agriculture opportunity. After that they began to diversify with other red products, so the blueberry...