Short and long run efficiency of Turkish food i̇ndustry: A stochastic frontier analysis

The main objective of this study is to estimate technical inefficiency of Turkish food and beverage industry and examine whether technical inefficiency is persistent. Using Structural Business Survey conducted by TURKSTAT, stochastic production frontier estimated for the 2003-2011 period. According to study results;the technical inefficiency of Turkish food and beverage industry is persistent and there is no convergence in efficiency in the long run. Some firms have persistent inefficiency scores above the industry mean. İt means that some constraints prevent these firms to make adjustments towards the optimal production scale. Thus, structural measures required to reduce persistent technical inefficiency and to enable firms to keep up whit the long-term changes that have occurred in the industry. Otherwise, this firms will not be able to survive for a long time.