The enforcement of contracts is necessary for efficient exchange and investment in economic activities. Contracts can be enforced through a variety of mechanisms, both public and private. However, in many developing and transitional countries these public institutions are either absent or ineffective in ensuring contract enforcement. Under such conditions, private enforcement mechanisms may provide a suitable replacement for public enforcement institutions. This may be done externally through a third party or internally through self-enforcing agreements. This paper analyzes the use of "self-enforcing" arrangements or "internal" private enforcement mechanisms. Using a case study of an agri-business in a transition economy -Juhocukor a.s., a Slovakian sugar processor -we show that the use of "internal" private contract enforcement mechanisms can have a significant positive effect on output and efficiency for both partners to the exchange transaction in an environment characterized by the absence or ineffectiveness of public enforcement institutions.

An analytical framework and ranking system is developed to summarize the primary factors affecting marketing channel performance and to prioritize those channels with the greatest opportunity for success. An application of the model is conducted using case-study evidence from four small-scale diversified vegetable crop producers in Central New York. The relative costs and benefits of alternative wholesale and direct marketing channels are investigated, including how the factors of risk, owner and paid labor, profits, lifestyle preferences and sales volume interact to impact optimal market channel selection. Given the highly perishable nature of the crops grown, along with the risks and potential sales volume of particular channels, a combination of different marketing channels is needed to maximize overall firm performance.

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As business managers search for strategies to improve the competitive position of their firms, information technology is playing an increasingly crucial role. While much of the literature on competitiveness has examined how such technology supports the strategic goals of the firm by lowering costs, raising barriers to outside competitors, or facilitating the differentiation of products, relatively little attention has been devoted to the role technology plays in shaping the relationship between players in a productionmarketing spectrum.It is the goal of this paper to explore the topic of technology, coordination, and competitiveness in the context of the agribusiness sector. Specifically, we will argue that in an increasingly consumer-oriented business environment, information technology not only has enhanced but has hastened coordination strategies between various levels of the sector. Furthermore, these coordination strategies would not necessarily have evolved as a result of the existing price signals or market structure.The first section of the paper addresses definitional issues along with a literature review. The review includes both contributions from the agricultural economics field and research from the business literature on competitiveness. In the second section of the paper, we argue that as a result of information technology, the agribusiness sector has become increasingly focused on the consumer, forcing retailers to shift their marketing strategies. Illustrations of how consumer demands are passed down through the producer-consumer chain and a discussion of conditions which might enhance or inhibit information-based coordination strategies are disThe authors are, respectively, an assistant professor of agricultural economics at Cornell Universfly; a professor of agricultural management, University of Illinois; and an associate professor, Bruce F. Failing. St., Chair of Personal Enterprise, Cornell University. cussed in the third section. In the fourth section, we discuss implications for the agricultural economics profession. The conclusions which result from the framework we suggest are presented in the final section.