The share of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is largely present in forestry, especially in the segment related to non-wood forest products (NWFPs) in Europe. They are also a dominant category in entrepreneurship in Serbia. Therefore, the subjects of this research were the companies operating in the sector of NWFPs, within specific statistical regions of Serbia. The database of SMEs was obtained from 119 SMEs and the share of surveyed SMEs was 81.5%. The main research method was two-step cluster analysis. Questionnaire was used for the purpose of the research. The aim of the research was to identify clusters in order to establish similarities within the defined clusters and the differences among them. Spatial distribution of specific categories of NWFPs in nature (mushrooms, medicinal and aromatic plants, honey and wild berries), contributed to the portfolio of the companies. This largely influenced clusters that are created by categories of products that are typical for certain statistical regions in Serbia.
Dosadašnja istraživanja potvrđuju da lokalna, regionalna, nacionalna i međunarodna trgovina nedrvnim šumskim proizvodima može doprinijeti kućanstvima i zajednicama koje žive u ruralnim područjima, a time i ukupnoj ekonomiji zemlje. U toj konstelaciji izdvajaju se mala i srednja poduzeća koja, uz to što su nositelji gospodarskog razvoja svake zemlje, veliko značenje imaju u šumarstvu i djelatnostima koje se tiču uporabe nedrvnih šumskih proizvoda (NDŠP) u komercijalne svrhe. Poduzeća koja su bila predmet analize primarno su orijentirana na nekoliko kategorija proizvoda (ljekovito i aromatično bilje, gljve, med i šumsko voće). Istraživanjem je utvrđeno da ovisno o pojedinoj regiji, dominiraju poduzeća koja su usmjerena na određenu vrstu proizvoda. Tako, u klasteru 1 (Vojvodina) najbrojnija su poduzeća koja su usmjerena na ljekovito i aromatično bilje. U klasteru 2 (Južna i Istočna Srbija) su najbrojnija poduzeća usmjerena na šumsko voće, dok u klasteru 3 (Šumadija i Zapadna Srbija) poduzeća su u najvećoj mjeri usmjerena u ujednačenom omjeru na preradu i plasman gljiva i šumskog voća. Tržišni atraktivni proizvodi mogu predstavljati važno sredstvo za gospodarski rast i održivo gospodarenje šumama u lokalnim zajednicama. Međutim, malo je znanja o načinima njihovog sakupljanja, prerade i plasmana, unatoč velikim prirodnim potencijalima. U tom kontekstu bi i stanovnici ruralnih područja, kao i predstavnici malih i srednjih poduzeća trebali prepoznati tržišnu relevantnost ove kategorije proizvoda, posebno imajući u vidu da u najvećoj mjeri spadaju u domenu organske proizvodnje.
Research related to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their clustering was
intensified in the past decade. Accordingly, many authors used cluster analysis based on
different variables that were of importance for their research (
According to the research of Innovation Entrepreneurship in Forestry in Central Europe
(
In this study, the quantitative research approach was applied ( As the population was relatively small, sampling was not used in the research.
Since the aim of this study was to develop a typology of SMEs involved in purchasing,
processing and sale of NWFPs in Serbia, the answers to questions in
Variables used as a basis of the typology / Total amount of raw materials purchased annually (t) a) mushrooms; b) medical and aromatic plants; c) honey; d) berries /
a) gljive; b) ljekovito i aromatično bilje; c) med; d) šumsko voće
Degree of utilizationof installedcapacity
(%) /
Continuous variable /
Continuous variable /
Continuous variable /
Continuous variable /
Continuous variable /
1 – Yes /
1 – Yes /
1 – Yes /
1 – Yes /
The clustering algorithm was based on a log-likelihood distance measure because both
continuous and categorical variables were used in the analysis. The distance between two
clusters depended on the decrease in the log-likelihood when they were combined into a
single cluster (
Moreover, indexes of dynamics were used (
According to the results of the survey, there were four main types of companies, and in particular, those focusing on the purchase, processing and sale of mushrooms, wild berries, medicinal and aromatic plants and honey which were considered as prevailing. The companies were mainly established during the period 1990-2005.
The number of companies surveyed in the statistical region of Šumadija and Western Serbia
was 55 and in Southern and Eastern Serbia 31. In Vojvodina the number of companies surveyed
was 24, while in Belgrade region there were only 9 companies. Considering the fact that
Serbia has an unbalanced regional development (
The number of enterprises by product category and region /
Depending on the region, the dominant type of companies were those focusing on one type of
NWFPs. Thus, in Vojvodina the largest number of companies was focused on medicinal and
aromatic plants. In Southern and Eastern Serbia the largest number of companies was oriented
on berries, while in Šumadija and Western Serbia companies were largely focused on the
purchasing, processing and sale of mushrooms (
Three groups of enterprises were identified in Serbia based on a preselected criteria
algorithm (Schwarz Bayesian Criterion). They were identified and named according to their
main distinguishing characteristics. The first group tended to score high on
commercialisation of medicinal herbs and therefore was labelled ‘
The cluster analysis (
Percentages and mean values for variables describing clusters /
Mushrooms /
4.29
20.67
8.77
Medical and Aromatic Plants /
45.00
0.00
0.98
Honey /
4.29
6.67
8.66
Berries /
22.50
26.53
8.04
Mushrooms /
3.57
160
12.44
Medical and Aromatic Plants /
149.43
0
3.16
Honey /
0.57
7.13
0.37
Berries /
59.07
291.47
37.24
Mushrooms /
1
63.87
10.16
Medical and Aromatic Plants /
44.29
0
0.67
Honey /
0.50
1.53
0.18
Berries /
4.50
223.40
10.11
Mushrooms /
0,64
0
2.72
Medical and Aromatic Plants /
53.86
0
0.17
Honey /
0.21
18.80
0.61
Berries /
6.79
78
5.02
Mushrooms /
0.29
74.27
1.48
Medical and Aromatic Plants /
47.21
0
0.06
Honey /
0
0.93
0
Berries /
28.21
93.33
1.27
Extension ofproduct range /
No (92.9%) /
No (80%) /
No (56.1%) / Ne (56.1%)
Price competitivenesson the domestic market
/
Yes (71.4%) /
No (86.7%) /
Yes (52.4%) /
Price competitivenesson the foreign markets
/
Yes (78.6%) /
No (53.3%) / Ne (53.3%)
No (89%) /
The main products in the “Medicinal and aromatic plants” cluster were medicinal and
aromatic plants (chamomile, mint, yarrow, St. John's wort etc.), while the “Berries” cluster
focused primarily on berries (raspberries, blackberries, wild strawberries etc.), and the
“Mixed products” cluster focused on mushrooms such as boletus (
At annually level the “Medicinal and аromatic plants” cluster purchased on average 149.4 tonnes of raw medical and aromatic plants, the “Berries” cluster purchased 291.5 tonnes of berries. Although into cluster “Berries” the companies had high quantity of purchasing of mushrooms on the annually level (160 tonnes), the more dominant category is berries. As result they were taken as primarly type of products in this cluster.
In the “Mix” cluster 37.2 tonnes of berries and 12.4 tonnes of mushrooms were purchased at the annually level.
In the cluster "Medicinal and аromatic plants" average annual purchase was realized in medicinal and aromatic plants (44.3 t) in the cluster "Berries" the purchase of berries (223.4 t), while in the cluster "Mixed products" a balanced purchase of mushrooms and berries (10.1 t and 10.2 t) was recorded. As opposed to “Berries” and “Mixed products” clusters, where the purchase ofberries was prevailing, the “Medicinal and аromatic plants” cluster companies are primarily involved in the purchase of medicinal and aromatic plants.
The placement on the domestic market in the cluster “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” was most accented in medicinal and aromatic plants (53.9 t), whilst in the other two clusters primarily berries (78 and 5 t) were recorded. Concerning the cluster “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” the most marketed products on the foreign market were medical and aromatic plants (47.2 t), with berries (93.3 t) in the “Berries” cluster, and mushroms (1.48 t) and berries (1.27 t) in the “Mixed products” cluster. The intention to expand the range of products was lacking in all the three clusters. 93% of the enterprises included in the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster showed no intention of extending the product range. The percentage was slightly lower in the “Berries” cluster and stood at 80%, whilst in the “Mixed products” cluster 56.1% of the companies showed no intention to expand their product portfolio. Concerning competitiveness in the “Medicinal and aromatic plants” cluster 71.4% of the companies pointed out the price competitiveness on the domestic market, whilst in the “Mixed products” cluster only 52.4% pointed out the price competitiveness on the domestic market. On the other hand, the “Berries” cluster emphasised that they were not price competitive on the domestic market (87%). The differences between the attitudes to competitiveness on foreign markets were the most evident between the clusters “Medicinal and аromatic plants” and “Mixed products”. In the “Medicinal and аromatic plants” cluster 78.6% of the companies highlighted the competitiveness of prices on the foreign market, while almost 90% of companies in the “Mixed products” cluster expressed the view that their prices were not competitive on the foreign market.
Business characteristics of the clusters / Vojvodina / (28.6%) Southern andEasternSerbia (46.7%) /
(46.7%) WB* countries (50%) / Europe (except WB countries) (50%) / Europe (except WB countries) (87.5%) / World (12.5%) / Europe (except WB countries) (100.0%) / Commercials (10%) / Fairs (13.3%) / Internet (23.3%) / Internet Commercials (15%) / Journals (15%) / Fairs (35%) / Internet (30%) / Commercials (19.6%) / Fairs (31.6%) / Internet (23.9%) / Clients (7.1%) / Market (28.6%) / Billing (64.3%) / Clients (7.1%) Market (42.9%) / Billing (42.9%) / Other (7.1%) / Clients (14%) / Market (26.3%) Billing (57.9%) Other (1.8%) / Deferred payment (65%) / Advance payment (20%) / On delivery (36.8%) / Deferred payment (36.8%) / On delivery (44.2%) / Deferred payment (45.3%) /
Šumadija and Westhern Serbia (52.4%) /
In the “Medicinal and aromatic plants” cluster the companies from the statistical region of Vojvodina prevailed, in the “Berries” cluster companies from the area of Southern and Eastern Serbia were included, while the“Mixed products” cluster comprised of companies from the area of Šumadija and Western Serbia. In the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster export was balanced between WB countries and other parts of Europe. In the “Berries” cluster export was primarily oriented towards European countries (excluding WB countries) 87.5% and other parts of the world 12.5%. In the “Mixed products” cluster export focused exclusively on the European countries (excluding WB countries). From the aspect of the implementation of promotional activities in the “Medicinal and aromatic plants” cluster the most common promotion was via the Internet, followed by promotion through fairs (13.3%), as well as in the “Berries”and “Mixed products” clusters where the main promotional tool were fairs both in Serbia and abroad.All the three clusters stressed that the main problem in business was the collection of receivables. The “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster preferred deferred payments (65.0%), while “Berries” and “Mix” cluster in addition to deferred payment also preferred collection on delivery.
The average annual growth rate of purchase, placement on domestic market and export of
medicinal plants /
Within the "Medicinal and Aromatic plants" cluster the highest average annual growth rate
was recorded in the purchase of Mint (36.3%) and Chamomile (26.6%). Concerning the placement
on the domestic market, the highest growth was recorded in relation to Mint (19.8%).
Concerning exports, both the mixture of herbs and spices were declining (
Total quantity of purchase, placement on domestic market and export of NWFPs in the
statistical region of Vojvodina for the period 2007-2014 / * some products are shown in 000 psc
In the statistical region of Vojvodina medicinal and aromatic herbs and spices were
prevailing, both in terms of the purchase of raw materials, and placement on the domestic
market and exports (
The average annual growth rate of purchase, placement on domestic market and export of
berries in the “Berries” cluster/
In the "Berries" cluster, the highest average annual growth was recorded concerning the
purchase of wild apples (47.1%), whilst the placement of raspberries on the domestic market
was in decline. On the other hand, raspberry exports recorded a significant drop of 40.6%,
as well as wild blackberries 12.6% (
Total quantity of purchase, placement on domestic market and export of NWFPs in the
statistical region of Southern and Eastern Serbia for the period 2007-2014 /
In the statistical region of Southern and Eastern Serbia berries were dominant in all the
activities: the purchase in raw form, the placement on the domestic market and export (
Average annual growth rate of purchase, placement on domestic market and export of
mushrooms and berries in the “Mixed products” cluster/
In the "Mixed products" cluster positive growth rate was recorded in the purchase of oyster
mushroom (33.8%), whilst negative growth rates were recorded for all the categories of
products (mushrooms) (
Total quantity of purchase, placement on domestic market and export of NWFPs in the
statistical region of Šumadija and Western Serbia for the period 2007-2014 /
Compared with other categories of NWFPs in the statistical region of Šumadija and Western
Serbia in the segments of purchase and export mushrooms and berries were dominant categories
of NWFPs, while berries were dominant in the placement on the domestic market (
Non-wood forest products present forest ecosystem value added and they could be a generator of development and innovative forest management. Consequently, forest owners should recognise economic effects of adaptive forest management in the future and ensure development of non-wood forest products and services in the market.
The analysed companies were established during the period between 1990 and 2005 and they were predominantly involved in the processing of mushrooms, berries and medicinal plants. The companies showed variations concerning the degree of product processing. Some of the companies surveyed sold products at a high level of finalisation, whilst the remaining companies had performed only primary processing (cleaning, sorting, measuring, etc.) prior to the product placement.
Seasonal workers were frequently hired in the summer and autumn to collect NWFPs, when the
yields of product are the higest. The importance of SMEs is recognized at the global level,
as they contribute to economic and social development (
In Southeast Serbia, the largest purchase stations were: Boljevac, Aleksinac, Svrljig, Niš
and Leskovac. Concerning Šumadija and Western Serbia the most important purchase stations
were located in: Šabac, Valjevo, Loznica and Kruševac. In the region of Belgrade, the
purchase of raw materials was carried out depending on the product from the entire territory
of the Republic of Serbia, yet primarily from the Central, Eastern and Southeastern part of
the country. Businesses in Central Serbia used on average 52.5% of installed generating
capacity (
Products that were most represented on the domestic and foreign markets were: boletus, raspberries, as well as different kinds of sweet and jam. The most important markets for medicinal and aromatic plants were Germany and Austria, and Germany is the most important market concerning honey and honey products.
Variables used in cluster analysis were selected based on previous theoretical and
experiential knowledge of researchers (
It is important to highlight that each cluster belonged to a different statistical region.
Moreover, different categories of NWFPs prevailed in each cluster. In addition to market
advantages such as flexibility, adaptability to change and innovation, SMEs were faced with
obstacles (
Out of the total 119 companies surveyed three clusters were formed. The largest number of companies surveyed was located in the statistical region Šumadija and Western Serbia (55 companies), and the smallest number of them was from the Statistical Region of Belgrade (9). The “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster accounted for 73.9% of the companies surveyed and the largest were those focusing on the purchase, processing and marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants. This cluster was named “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” and these companies were mainly situated on the territory of Vojvodina. The“Berries” cluster consisted of 13.5% of the companies surveyed, and those were mainly focused on wild berries. This cluster was named “Berries” and primarily comprised of companies from the Southern and Eastern Serbia. The share of the “Mixed products” cluster stood at 12.6% amongst the companies surveyed and they were mainly focused on mushrooms and berries and were hence named "Mixed products" andmost of them were located on the territoryof Šumadija and WesternSerbia.
According to average annual growth rate, concerning the purchase and sale of medicinal plants on the domestic market, the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants“ cluster recorded strong growth, whilst exports showed stagnation. The "Berries"cluster saw a rise in the purchase of all the analysed types of berries and simultaneously a drop in their placement on the domestic market and export. The "Mixed products" cluster recorded negative growth rates in this category of products, both in the purchase and the sales in the domestic market and export. The exception was the oyster mushroom which achieved growth repurchase of 33%.
Capacities in specific clusters were used intensively for the dominant categories of NWFPs. In the cluster “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” capacity utilisation for medicinal and aromatic plants was 45%, whilst in the “Berries” cluster the utilisation of berries was 26.5%. In the “Mixed products”cluster the utilization for mushrooms was 8.8%.
In the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster 93% of enterprises did not intend to expand the product range, in the “Berries” cluster the share of such companies stood at 80%, whilst in the “Mixed products” cluster 56% of the companies had no intention of expanding their product portfolio.
Price competitiveness on the domestic market in the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster was recorded in 71% of the companies surveyed, while in the “Mixed products” cluster such companies accounted for 52%. As opposed to to cluster 2 most companies emphasised that their prices were not competitive on the domestic market (87%).
Concerning the aspect of price competitiveness on foreign markets the differences between the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster and the “Berries” cluster were the most significant.
Hence, in the “Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster 77% of the companies surveyed highlighted the competitiveness of prices on the foreign market, while nearly 90% of the companies in the “Mixed products” cluster stated that their prices were not competitive on the foreign market. In the “Berries” cluster the companies noted the existence of price competitiveness on the foreign market.
Concerning the "Medicinal and Aromatic plants” cluster export to WB countries and to other parts of Europe was balanced (Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, etc.) (50: 50%). In case of the “Berries” cluster the export was primarily focused on European countries (excluding WB countries) 87.5: 12.5% and the remainder on diverse parts of the world. In the “Mixed products” cluster 100% of total exports were focused on the European countries (excluding WB countries).
Concerning the promotional activities in the cluster 1 the most common promotion was through the Internet, whilst in the “Berries” cluster and in the “Mushrooms” cluster the principal form of promotion was through trade fairs (domestic and foreign).
Following the analysis conducted, a conclusion can be reached that there was evident regional orientation towards a particular category of NWFPs. Hence, one can conclude that the closeness and availability of raw materials significantly affected the orientation of the company towards these specific product categories.