This article utilizes the Survey of Small Business Finances to compare and contrast trade credit practices of rural small business firms. The results show that these firms borrow money and then re-lend it to others in the form of trade credit. There is a strong direct relationship between...

The agriculture industry continues to adopt business practices based on strategic alliances. Generally these alliances emphasize vertical coordination wherein producers enter into long-term agreements with suppliers, processors, and businesses in other sectors of the food and fiber industry....

Farmers in America's Heartland are paying increasing attention to emerging trends of consolidation of farm firms, contractual and ownership linkages across input suppliers/processor and farm firms, and strategic partnering across the stages of food production, processing, and the firms that do...

The principal goal of shared-services cooperatives is to capture savings through lower administrative costs, quantity purchasing discounts, sharing fixed costs, and assured levels of business with vendors and suppliers. Although the idea of cooperation is not new in North Dakota, the question...

The 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances provides robust information on the financing of small businesses including an overview of their firm's organization, financial characteristics, and credit use. Information from the survey is used in this study to compare the financial characteristics of...

Cooperatives are an important form of business organization in North Dakota; 405 cooperatives were operating in the state in 2004, with most (224) related to agriculture (farm supply, agricultural processing, and grain handling). In addition, 33 utility, 66 financial, and 82 cooperatives...

The commercial bison industry is relatively new to North Dakota. There were an estimated 23,000 head of bison in North Dakota in 1998, and these animals were found in 47 of 53 counties. The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic contribution of the bison industry to the North Dakota...

This study was initiated to study the factors leading to formation and eventual sale of International Cooperative, Inc., a potato processing cooperative located at Grand Forks, North Dakota. The business, which began operation in the fall of 1976, developed from the desire of potato growers in...