Networking between firms has received much attention over the last two decades; in this context the study of inter-firm co-ordination has prompted a multidisciplinary approach. This paper briefly reviews the Interaction Approach (IA) to networking and applies it to a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) network. A case study methodology was used to investigate the establishment, evolution and operation of the Parma Ham network. The networking process was found to be influenced by member goal congruence, the level and type/content of interaction and, in particular, the relevance of network services to members' needs and expectations. The Parma Ham network was also found to co-ordinate a series of transaction-transformation chains that enhanced member competitiveness. However, from an enterprise perspective such competitiveness is to a large extent based on external collectively owned competencies. While the network relied on procedural type governance mechanisms (e.g. inspection, rules, procedures), there was also evidence of strong ties among producers, and these ties influenced behaviour and acted as relational and social governance mechanisms.

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This paper describes an empirical investigation of the application of benchmarking to cooperative enterprises in Wales to determine whether it was technically feasible, at what cost, and with what results. This entailed close sustained fieldwork with actual cooperatives, which was achieved by investigating the two largest farmer-controlled enterprises (FCEs) in Wales — Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers Ltd, and Wynnstay and Clwyd Farmers Plc, who also collaborated in subsequent management appraisal and remedial action. The paper concludes that benchmarking is strategically feasible, that it has a favourable impact on the perceptions and attitudes of staff and members of participating cooperatives, and that it yields workable priorities and management recommendations, which can be implemented. Wider adoption of the technique by cooperatives is therefore recommended as a viable survival strategy — an alternative to the recent preference for abandonment of cooperative status. This is of particular significance for the marketing/entrepreneurship interface of FCEs in Wales.

The paper ‘Information Mining’ (Aslib Proceedings, 29(1), January 1977, pp. 12–16) made reference to the company‐wide correspondence filing scheme being set up in Charter Consolidated Ltd. On page 14 is the statement—‘To go into details of the scheme would provide sufficient material for another paper’. This is the other paper.