In this paper we review some recent studies of the impact of National Competition Policy on rural Australia. National Competition Policy has tended to assume that both domestic and international deregulation of industry leads to a shift from a noncompetitive to a competitive industry structure....

The incomes of people in Fiji who rely directly on agricultural production are under threat due to a number of institutional changes or shocks that are occurring now, or are expected in the near future. In this paper we examine recent evidence on the current nature and level of rural and urban...

Much has been written in recent years on ‘local state corporatism’, centre-region relations, government and enterprise reform and on sustainable rural and agricultural development in China. Based on some of the theoretical underpinnings of this literature, and on extensive fieldwork in the...

In the slowly growing global tea market Lanka has not performed as well relative to its competitors in recent times as it did in the past. Sri Lanka needs to improve the efficiency of its industry to remain competitive in world tea market. Improving efficiency and international competitiveness...

Despite the Queensland sugar industry’s status as a low-cost producer of sugar, there appears to be considerable scope to reduce costs by improving the efficiency of the cane harvesting and transport process, especially in the Mackay district. The key areas of inefficiency result from poor...

The incomes of people in Fiji who rely directly on agricultural production are under threat due to a number of institutional changes or shocks that are occurring now, or are expected in the near future. In this paper we examine recent evidence on the current nature and level of rural and urban...

Since the 1970s, there has been a broad shift from arm‘s length to long-term strategic alliance procurement practices across nations and industries. This has happened for sound commercial reasons. Peculiarities of agricultural production have slowed this shift in many food industry sectors,...

The structure of agriculture and of its food and fibre systems have changed considerably over the past century, reflecting internal and external factors such as institutional, societal (demographic and consumer), technological, economic, human capital, and financial causes. Within a static...

Following a historical agreement on the EU enlargement, 10 new member states (NMS) acceded to the European Union on May 1, 2004. Although the European Union has expanded its membership in the past, this enlargement is unique in terms of its scope and diversity of the countries, area, and...