Growth dynamics of dairy processing firms in the European Union
利用十年面板数据和动态面板估计方法，研究了欧盟六国乳制品加工企业的增长因素，发现企业规模、年龄和财务变量影响总资产增长，而员工增长仅受年龄和滞后劳动生产率影响。
Abstract The structure of the dairy processing industry in the European Union has changed enormously in recent decades. In many countries, the industry is characterized by a few large companies with a big market share accompanied by many small processors that often produce for niche markets. This article investigates which factors relate to growth of dairy processing firms. Using a unique 10‐year panel data set and recently developed dynamic panel data estimators, the growth process of dairy processors is investigated for six rather diverse European countries. The data structure and the estimation method allow for dealing with endogeneity issues in an appropriate way. Firm size growth measured in total assets is found to be affected by firm size, firm age, and financial variables. Growth in number of employees is only affected by firm age and lagged labor productivity. Implications for these results are given in the final section of the article.