**3. Conclusions and recommendations**

#### **3.1. Conclusions**

The population studied was made up of 18 cattle ranches in the municipality of Tizimín (60%), 5 cattle ranches in the municipality of Panabá (16.7%), 3 in the municipality of Sucilá (10%) and the rest in the municipalities of Buctzotz, Cenotillo, Dzilam González and Sotuta, each of these, with only one ranch.

Ranching operations are, on the average, 31 years old. They have an average of 27 full-time workers working in them, with an average of 1120 head of cattle and a territorial extension of 1306 ha. It was found that the owners are on average 57 years of age.

The competitiveness index model (IndComp) is obtained as the weighted average of the marketing, innovation and finance indexes.

The finance indicator has the lowest maximum value as compared to the other two indicators related to marketing and innovation and the competitiveness index itself.

The competitiveness of most of the observation units at a medium level could be qualified.

There is a statistically significant negative correlation with the years of foundation and the age of the owner; that is, it seems that the seniority of the ranch or greater age of the owner is associated with lower competitiveness. On the other hand, a larger-sized observation unit (according to the heads of livestock or hectares it has) is more competitive. The generation of the competitiveness index as well as the importance of the factors analyzed in the study (finance, marketing and innovation), allows all those involved in the sector to develop strategies to boost their competitiveness.

#### **3.2. Recommendations**

It will be necessary to have qualified workers in order to use the most sophisticated technology in the breeding and fattening of cattle. Bearing in mind that there are many small cattle producers that produce independently of the largest cattle farmers, the smaller producers should consider working together in order to create outsourcing alliances to obtain cost advantages in the acquisition of raw material.

Cattle meat producers could benefit more from production if they could further exploit economies of scale in the production and distribution of new food products. They could also increase the production of high-end products. Finally, they should focus the growth of their external sales to the countries of high consumption and high growth and with which there are trade agreements, such as China and Vietnam.

Farmers and related industries should invest in research in order to develop local technology, in relation to biotechnology as well as equipment. Although some progress has been made in this regard, there is an opportunity to develop the machinery that can be tested and improved locally. When the results are positive, the machinery can be easily exported later to other beef producers in the world. The development of more suppliers and support for industries would be very beneficial, as it increases competition and innovation among suppliers. This gives companies more opportunities to improve costs.

It is necessary to improve local competition and cooperation abroad. Because there are high fixed costs to enter new world markets, strategic alliances could be made between producers entering foreign markets.

Some of the limitations that could be mentioned are the context in which it can be applicable, as well as the lack of vision and the ingrained organizational culture that hinders innovation.

As a contribution for future studies, this work offers a strategic model and a methodology to boost competitiveness and the generation of added value. However, there could be, in addition to the factors analyzed in this study, other factors that could have an important effect on competitiveness of the sector. This study can also be replicated in other states to identify the competitiveness index of the livestock sector as well as in other sectors to assess their competitiveness. In Mexico, there are few studies related to the generation of the competitiveness index of the different sectors. In the specific case of the beef sector, the information obtained is generated by government entities such as SAGARPA, the Ministry of Economy as well as local secretariats, which are based on data on production, exports, and so on. This information is important, but the lack of an index of competitiveness of the different productive sectors of each federative entity impedes comparison among the sectors in order to develop strategies to boost their competitiveness.
