Exogenous, unobserved factors often confound the effects of alliance networks. More capable farmers might be less likely to exit and more likely to have a large number of alliances. In this case the negative correlation between alliance network size and exit likelihood is due to the unobserved...

This study uses a unique firm-level dataset to examine how falling trade costs from 1993-2001 affected entry, exit, productivity, and exporting in the Korean manufacturing sector. We verify many of the predictions of recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade. For example, falling...

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The EC funded FI-PPP programme is currently elaborating a large set of enabling technologies that shall help to overcome challenges towards a sustainable networked society of tomorrow. This up-front investment can highly facilitate access to such Internet potentials by food chain SMEs....

Improvements in the food sector imply enhancements of delivering food which is safe, affordable, readily available, and of the quality and diversity consumers expect. However, prevalent information systems (IS) of companies in the food industry are not ready to support further significant...

in the coming decades: the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates an increase of the world population from the current 6 billion people to 9-11 billion people by 2050 leading to a doubling of world-wide food demand (FAO 2009). In the meantime, we have already...

One of the core requests in assuring competitiveness and sustainability in the food value chain is transparency. Food is a basic human need and as such of paramount interest to consumers. They expect retail to provide guarantees assuring that food is safe to eat and of the quality they request....

This article focuses on the study of the comparative advantages and competitiveness in the global pear market. First, it will outline a clear distinction between these two concepts, followed by analysis. This paper provides a new index of competitiveness developed by our research based on the...

A contract is considered incomplete when the optimal solution for a contractual problem requires some information from the parts which is not observable by one or both parts. This problem is found in the biodiesel production chain among small scale farmers and biodiesel companies in Brazil,...

readily available, and of the quality and diversity consumers expect. However, prevalent information systems (IS) of companies in the food industry are not ready to support further significant improve-ments. They especially lack the capability to exchange relevant information in an efficient...