Impact of Digitalisation on Corporate Finance in the Agricultural Sector

The purpose of our paper is to examine the interrelation between digitalisation indicators of dairy industry government regulation and economic efficiency, using large corporations of Novosibirsk Region as an example. We propose to identify an integrated system approach to evaluating the influence of state programs related to digitalisation of the dairy industry on industry performance. A system-wide transition to digital technology in the infrastructure of dairy industry regulation is nearly totally absent from academic research. The existing literature considers the influence of state programs and policies on the industry and proposes various performance indicators. However, it is uncertain how industry digitalisation may affect these performance indicators. To address this gap in the literature, we propose a hypothesis of dependency between digitalisation indicators and performance indicators of dairy corporations. The basis of the methodology is the calculation of a digitalisation index used to assess the efficiency of government support of the industry corporations. In order to substantiate the hypothesis, we apply a correlation and regression analysis and established interrelations between the offered criteria (digitalisation index and share) and operating performance of dairy industry economic entities. Our results indicate general consistent patterns and interrelations between digitalisation of state regulatory programs and the performance of dairy industry corporations. Our statistical analysis reveals digital technology as a tool of government has a significant impact on business performance. The offered digitalisation criteria and patterns of performance efficiency are indicative of the possibility to manage the digitalisation process based upon preset parameters of business performance. Our research will be of interest to specialists developing state programs and policies applying digital technology, directors of dairy companies, and scientists who conduct research in related fields, who may use our approach for evaluating and forecasting performance in the dairy industry, accounting for the impact of government regulation.