The Necessity Of Strategic Thinking In Hungarian Agribusiness

Based on analysis of a time series of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) indicator and Relative Trade Advantage Index the performance of Hungarian agriculture and food industry has declined rapidly during the last fifteen years. This fact highlights the importance of searching new paradigms in development. In short term the increasing of production–quantity does not seem to be a rational way. The only alternative is the product–differentiation strategy. Under conditions of increasing competition in foreign markets the importance of domestic markets gains in importance. The domestic market is a dynamic one, too: the producers should be better focussed of new demands of specific consumer segments (e.g. elder generations, ethnic minorities etc…). On the long term the future of Hungarian agri-food chain is considerably determined by external factors: in case of increasing energy prices and global warming the importance of production capacities will be increasing rapidly.