Factors affecting the adaptation of olive oil organizations to covid-19

Resumen

The covid-19 pandemic has had catastrophic effects on the global economy. The olive oil sector, whose producers were already undergoing their own crisis, has also clearly been affected by this situation. Despite Spain’s world leadership in olive oil production, the added value that this product can generate has not been maximized. Falling prices and supply saturation are the problems that have been most highlighted and to which covid-19 has added. Faced with such a situation, the digitalization of the olive mill has gone from being a recommendation to an essential factor in avoiding the paralysis of its activity. In this context, the objective of this study is to detect the organizational factors that have been associated with a better adaptation of the organizations to the current complex situation. To this end we have made use of the fuzzy sets Qualitative Comparative Analysis technique which makes it possible to contrast different variables in order to explain a result, overcoming the limitations of more traditional techniques. The results obtained reveal that the cooperative form, the degree of innovation, the training of the top managers and the flexibility and size of the organization are factors that contribute to a better adaptation of the olive mill to the situation caused by covid-19.