We analyse the flexibility of EU dairy processors to adjust production to fluctuating economic conditions. For a set of 2,186 firms, we derive production flexibility measures representing the effect of output variations on costs. The results reveal that flexibility is highest in Poland and Italy and lowest in Spain. Several firm-specific factors, such as size and age of the firm, are found to affect firm flexibility. Moreover, we detect a tradeoff between flexibility and technical efficiency for large firms indicating that a sole focus on firm efficiency can be insufficient. Finally, the results show that during economic crisis flexibility can help to sustain profitability.

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重新审视企业的灵活性和效率：来自欧盟乳制品加工业的证据

我们分析了欧盟乳制品加工商根据经济波动调整生产的灵活性。对于一组 2,186 家公司，我们推导出代表产出变化对成本影响的生产灵活性度量。结果表明，波兰和意大利的灵活性最高，西班牙最低。一些公司特定的因素，例如公司的规模和年龄，被发现会影响公司的灵活性。此外，我们发现大公司的灵活性和技术效率之间存在权衡，表明仅关注公司效率可能是不够的。最后，结果表明，在经济危机期间，灵活性有助于维持盈利能力。