Agroeconomia Croatica, Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019.
Original scientific paper
The comparison of business indicators of SAPARD and IPARD beneficiaries before and after the use of grants
Marin Kukoč
orcid.org/0000-0001-5650-3465
; University in Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb, Zagreb
Bruno Škrinjarić
orcid.org/0000-0002-5969-1948
; The institute of economics, Zagreb
Josip Juračak
orcid.org/0000-0002-7745-2019
; University in Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb, Zagreb
Abstract
The existing evaluations of SAPARD and IPARD in Croatia do not provide information on their impact on financial performance of beneficiaries, both at individual company and at aggregate level. Existing ex-post evaluations are concerned with assessing the implementation success of the programs using performance indicators such as the number of beneficiaries and the amount of support granted per measure and in total.
These indicators can be used to determine the success of public administration (ministries and paying agency??) but not to determine the influence on business success of beneficiaries or to determine the broader public or social benefit. This paper explores the relation of SAPARD and IPARD grants with the financial performance indicators of the beneficiary companies, using a comparative analysis of pre-grant indicators and indicators up to 5 years after the grant. Taken all the beneficiaries together, the financial indicators after receiving grants were not significantly different from the same indicators prior to receiving grants. Through comparison by groups of beneficiaries with regard to the business sector and size of the company, significant differences in individual indicators were found for certain groups by size. The results show that in the micro-enterprise class, sales revenues and profitability are significantly higher in the first 2-3 years after receiving support. Interestingly, significant differences are found in large enterprises in the 5th year after receipt of the aid, with sales revenues significantly higher than before receiving the aid, while profitability, employment and financial stability are lower. In general, the results indicate a weak link between grants and observed indicators. However, since a naive approach was applied, which does not allow causal inference, additional investigations are required to assess the contribution of the grants to the differences observed.
Keywords
public support; business performance indicators; agricultural policy; SAPARD; IPARD
Hrčak ID:
231054
URI
Publication date:
17.11.2019.
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