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...

Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficienttool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristicof a market economy is that the complex system of interaction amongindividuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...

Based on farm panel data we empirically investigate the determinants of Polish farm households 'flexibility from 1994 to 2001. We focus on scale flexibility (adjustment in production volume) and scope flexibility (adjustment in product mix). The findings of our fixed-effects regression provide...

Increasing grain price volatility over the last year has revived the discussion on optimal marketing strategies. Various models of optimal grain marketing have been proposed and simulated in the literature. In this study an overview on these models is presented and critical aspects are...

This paper investigates the relationship between the chosen quality strategy and the vertical co-ordination mechanism of a focal company by using new institutional economics, as well as strategic management approaches. The theoretical findings are tested using evidence from 19 of the largest...

In this article we suggest that rising quality requirements are key factors for the redesign of food chains. We argue that the food supply proceeds through pyramidalhierarchical strategic networks coordinated by powerful focal firms. These firms choose a quality strategy and employ chain quality...

This paper provides further evidence on vertical coordination as a means of overcoming supply disruptions and improving product quality. In contrast to previous studies, our findings suggest that the leading model of vertical coordination between fruit and vegetables growers and supermarkets in...

A time series model is estimated to identify the interrelation among prices on the international and the EU domestic market for butter. Although the findings were not derived from a causal model, the inspection of the data provides economically reasonable and important insights in structural...

The roles of business relationships and B2B communication in selected European agri-food chains are analyzed. Using survey data from 1,026 farmers, food processors and retailers in two commodity sectors (meat and cereals) and five different EU countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland,...