Profitability factors in the meat industry of Castilla y León

A characterization of the meat companies of Castilla y León is performed in the 2009-2011 period from their accounting reports, with special emphasis on profitability and internal and external elements that relate to it. The application of cluster techniques leads to 5 groups according to their strategies of product differentiation (high margins) or cost leadership (high rotation). The three first groups include companies devoted to products of quality, with diverse results because while some firms obtain high margins in others are negative. The companies that manufacture products of half quality, with intermediate margins and rotations, present better results and perspectives. Meanwhile the cluster corresponding to meat processing, with the smallest margins and highest rotations, is the one who finds in worse situation, with negative returns in 2011. The estimated econometric model also shows how the size and location are crucial to explain the profitability of the meat firms of Castilla y León. Potentiation of both could slow the decline is detected in the 2009-2011 period