Determinants of competitiveness of agriholdings and independent farms in Ukrainian arable production

Agriholdings are large horizontally and/or vertically integrated corporate farming businesses which are characterized by having multiple operations under a central management. This organizational form has been developing in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine since the late 1990s and has since then gained a considerable market share, especially in arable production. Ukraine is one of the three countries in which the development of agriholdings was very pronounced. While the competition for arable land in Ukraine has been weak so far, it is expected to increase in the future. In order to be able to assess whether agriholdings or independent farms will then be more competitive on the land market also under changing conditions, (a) competitive advantages and disadvantages of the two organizational forms in Ukrainian arable production are identified in this thesis, (b) their impact on competitiveness is quantified, and (c) likely future adaptations of both organizational forms in order to maintain or increase their competitiveness are explored.