Competitiveness Analysis Of Alfalfa Companies In Gansu Province

Alfalfa(Medicago sativa) is the world’s most widely cultivated legumes with the attributes of high forage yield and good nutritional value. It plays an increasingly important role in the development of livestock production and improvement of the environment. Gansu Province is the largest alfalfa production region in China. To effectively improve the competitiveness of alfalfa enterprises in Gansu Province,would have great significance for the continuous development of grass industry and animal husbandry in China.The purpose of this research is to build an enterprise competitive analysis model with five categories including alfalfa corporate profits, production, innovation,products and human resources. 40 alfalfa companies are surveyed through questionnaire and face-to-face discussion. According to the analytical model and the field survey data, alfalfa enterprise competitiveness evaluation index system consisting of 17 indicators is established, and thus to be evaluated by regression analysis and factor analysis. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis approach, the current competitive status of alfalfa enterprises in Gansu Province, the internal relations and their determinants are deeply discussed in this study. Finally,recommendations for future development of alfalfa enterprises in Gansu Province are suggested. The primary results and conclusions are as follows:1. Most of the surveyed alfalfa companies can be seen as small private enterprises established within a decade. The operation mode is alfalfa monoculture oriented, and only a small number of alfalfa enterprises cooperate with livestock business. Three alfalfa advantages regions covering Hexi, Longzhong and Longdong has been formed. Overall, there are 19 rainfed production enterprises and 21 irrigated production enterprises in the field samples.2. From the perspective of profit competitiveness, the overall level of profitability is lower, and nearly 13 percent of companies reports no profit.Combining with our face-to-face discussion, the special funds subsidies from local government named "Revitalization of dairy alfalfa development action plan" is one of the main driving force for the development of the alfalfa enterprises. Regarding to productivity competitiveness, the average yield of alfalfa hay under rainfed andirrigated conditions were 10.72 t / hm2 and 14.95 t / hm2, hay crude protein content of13.3 percent and 18.0 percent on average, with an average income 11051.95 yuan /hm2 and 29848.31 yuan / hm2, respectively. The results show that companies with irrigation have obviously better production than those companies without irrigation.On the other side, overall single type of grass products, most of enterprises mainly operating primary bale, only 15 percent of the enterprises produce upscale bale, less than 18 percent of enterprises have their own brands. With regard to innovation competitiveness, business innovation consciousness is weak. Results demonstrate that85 percent of the sample enterprises’ knowledge intensity are below 10 percent. In terms of product competitiveness, 90 percent of enterprises accounts for less than 0.5percent in the domestic market share. In human competitiveness, 62 percent of the employees finished high school education, and nearly 67 percent of enterprises’ technology talants accounted for less than 10 percent.3. The study also investigates the relation between total income and the indirect determinants on total income on the basis of the alfalfa quantitative evaluation system.The results indicate that the crude protein content of alfalfa hay has the most significant impact on the total income, followed by the number of scientific and technological professional employees and the investment in the R & D. The number of employees has the least impact on the total income. In addition, the relationship between age and total income is not significant.4. The analytical results show that the overall competitiveness of alfalfa enterprise is directly influenced by profits, production, innovation, products and human resources. According to this criteria, ten alfalfa enterprises with good competitiveness are selected, named Yashengtianyuanmuge forage industry Co., Ltd,Yumen Feng hua grass industry Co., Ltd, State-run bayi farm, Changyong Cooperative, Mingsheng Forage Co., LTD, Yumen oilfield farming and animal husbandry co., LTD, Yang liu qing feed Co., LTD, Jingchang Sailiang forage grass Co., LTD, Gaotai Longfeng seed industry co., LTD, Jiuquan Daye seed co., LTD.5. Alfalfa enterprise should introduce three competitive strategies including cost leadership, differentiation and market specification according to its own conditions at the different development stages. Specifically, the development model of alfalfa enterprises should be based on different regions. On the whole, alfalfa enterprise should improve the technological level of production to improve product quality,establish a regional brand marketing mode to expand market share, strengthenscientific and technological innovation to upgrade the overall competitiveness force.