Over fifteen years have elapsed since the transition from the centrally planned economic system started in the early 1990âs. During this time agricultural and rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe have undergone profound structural changes with wide variations in the degree of...

During the last decades, the variable agricultural commodity prices and the increasing producer and consumer prices illustrated the need for more transparency about the pricing of food products in the European food system. Therefore, the European Commission launched in 2009 a public tool, the...

The European project NetGrow stands for Enhancing the innovativeness of food SMEs through the management of strategic network behavior and network learning performance. It is a FP7 Cooperation project in the theme Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology with an EC contribution of 3M...

This paper is concerned with the role of network administrative organizations (NAOs) in the development of social capital in inter-organizational networks aiming at supporting their members to innovate in the food sector through interacting with one another. A multi-case study approach is used...

The process of developing appropriate supply chain performance measurement instruments is difficult due to the complexity of supply chains. This paper presents an overview and evaluation of the performance measurement instruments used in supply chain models. As a result it advances a framework...

In an increasingly globalising market, innovation is an important strategic tool for micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve competitive advantage (Avermaete et al., 2004a; Gellynck et al., 2007; Murphy, 2002). Innovation can be defined as an ongoing process of learning, searching...

Historically, perspectives on the economic development of rural regions have been dominated by the modernization model of agriculture (van der Ploeg and Van Dijk, 1995). During the last decades this model has increasingly been abandoned in an effort to reduce the negative outcomes associated...

In an increasingly globalising market, innovation is an important strategic tool for micro, small,and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve competitive advantage (Avermaete et al.,2004a; Gellynck et al., 2007; Murphy, 2002). Innovation can be defined as an ongoing processof learning, searching and...

Networks become increasingly important as external sources of innovation for firms. Through networks firms get in contact with different actors with whom they can exchange information and collaborate. A firm’s ability to be a successful network actor depends on its network competence. This...

Nowadays, innovation is no longer limited to the individual firm but involves increasingly the chain network in which the firm is embedded. The chain network is considered as the place where the internal and external resources of a firm are combined and transformed, leading to innovation...