The Italian Gas Retail Market: A Cluster Analysis
Based On Performance Indexes
Author(s)
G. Capece, L. Cricelli, F. Di Pillo & N. Levialdi
Abstract
The liberalization of the European natural gas sector radically changed the
structure of the competitive environment which in turn forced companies to
make changes in order to stay in the market. In Italy the liberalization process
also had a strong impact on the strategies adopted by the companies involved.
This situation instigated various studies of the changing nature of performance
through the analysis of company profits and financial positions throughout the
first three years following the market liberalization.
This paper focuses on the changes in performance in the natural gas retail
market by analyzing the profit and financial position of the companies concerned
over the first three years following the market liberalization. The balance sheets
of 105 Italian companies in this sector are analysed, after which a cluster analysis
is performed employing the most significant performance indexes. The
companies are then analysed within each cluster with respect to age, size,
geographical location. The analysis is further developed by studying the
strategies in terms of business diversification adopted by the operators in
response to the radically altered competitive environment.
The results of our analysis show that the majority of companies attained a
high level of performance, although this positive outcome was mitigated by the
gradual decrease of the average values of performance indicators during the
period concerned. There appear to be several reasons for this decline: the
performance observed during the three-year period was strongly influenced by
regulatory factors; increased competition resulted in reduced profit margins; and
exceptionally mild climatic conditions over this period significantly decreased
the volume of gas sales.
Finally, it should be noted that the best performance was achieved by
companies based in northern Italy which were members of longstanding groups
and were single rather than multi-business companies. This result contrasts with
the failure of the business diversification strategy, which was widely adopted by
enterprises from the utility sectors following the liberalization process.
Keywords: Italian gas market liberalization, performance indexes, cluster
analysis.
Keywords
Italian gas market liberalization, performance indexes, cluster
analysis
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
Warning (2)
: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given [in
/var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/templates/Papers/view.php, line
364]
Code
$counter = '0';
foreach ($paper['book']['Paper'] as $otherPaper) {
if ((!empty($otherPaper['name'])) && ($counter < '7') && ($otherPaper['available'] == 1)) {
Cake\Error\ErrorTrap->handleError() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/templates/Papers/view.php, line 364
/var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php, line 1188
Cake\View\View->_evaluate() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php, line 1145
Cake\View\View->_render() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php, line 785
Cake\View\View->render() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 712
Cake\Controller\Controller->render() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 516
Cake\Controller\Controller->invokeAction() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/ControllerFactory.php, line 166
Cake\Controller\ControllerFactory->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/ControllerFactory.php, line 141
Cake\Controller\ControllerFactory->invoke() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 362
Cake\Http\BaseApplication->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 86
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Middleware/CsrfProtectionMiddleware.php, line 159
Cake\Http\Middleware\CsrfProtectionMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Middleware/BodyParserMiddleware.php, line 157
Cake\Http\Middleware\BodyParserMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 118
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 69
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 115
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/debug_kit/src/Middleware/DebugKitMiddleware.php, line 60
DebugKit\Middleware\DebugKitMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 60
Cake\Http\Runner->run() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php, line 104
Cake\Http\Server->run() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/webroot/index.php, line 37
[main]
