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...

Nowadays food products are produced in vertically collaborating networks. The questions of how such chain networks have to be designed and which governance structure fits best have been addressed in several well known articles. However, questions dealing with chain strategy and management are...

As in the agri-food business supply chain networks are evolving in our paper we want to elaborate on managerial questions regarding them. In this context our first aim is to advance the concept of chain management by introducing a more differentiated view. Since many articles highlight the...

Wine production in Germany has a tradition of more than 200 years in each of the 13 German quality wine-growing regions. Even today mall grape growers dominate the industry. As a result, most of the viticulturists are members of cooperatives. Our observation that grape growers still turn to wine...

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

Structural change in the agricultural sector as well as in the whole agricultural value chain is an ongoing dynamic process and creates a number of diverse phenomena. The EU Strategy for Biofuels (2006) and the Biomass action plan (2005) set a clear signal that the EU wishes to establish and to...

Nowadays food products are produced in vertically collaborating networks. The questions of how such chain networks have to be designed and which governance structure fits best have been addressed in several well known articles. However, questions dealing with chain strategy and management are...

This article contributes to the general understanding of governance in networks and the achievement of private and common goals. Integrating transaction costs and social network theory, a simple integrated framework is provided for understanding why firms collaborate and under which conditions...

This article provides several contributions to the general understanding of governance in networks and the achievement of private and common goals. A simple, integrated framework for understanding why firms collaborate and under which conditions they establish durable networks that succeed in...