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The purpose of this paper is to show that globalisation (or de-regionalisation) in the wine business is entering a new phase in which grape production, wine production and wine exports are increasingly decoupled. In order to illustrate the case, the authors present Lithuania, compared to Romania, as a case study.

The authors tested the hypothesis that grape production and wine trade are increasingly decoupling. Based on the notion that transformation countries act as an avant-garde where new developments show first, the authors use Central and Eastern Europe as a case in point. The authors apply a mixed and a fixed effects model, where self-sufficiency in grapes explains wine exports to a reducing degree.

In the descriptive part the authors demonstrate how Lithuania, since EU accession, has become a major hub for wine trade, importing from the main export countries, and exporting mostly to Russia. In the multivariate section, it can then be shown that this decoupling between grape production and wine exports is a significant development in international terms.

The division of labour in wine trade has entered a new phase where wine production and wine marketing are decoupled. If extrapolated into the future, this may indicate that in the future world market, grape production and wine production may also decouple.

The paper has traced a new and un-described phenomenon on the global wine market. It shows that the division of labour is still advancing.

After unsuccessful attempts of South African governments to carry out a land reform that distributes farmland more justly, this study aims to undertake a stronger segmentation of potential beneficiaries for a better targeting of future reforms.

A theoretical model has been developed along the axes of cultural innovation and aspirations that identifies the segment of current smallholders who would most likely relocate to become commercial farmers in the future. A survey among smallholders in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa confirms the approach.

A number of indicators can be identified, particularly for cultural innovation, that predict willingness to relocate to a region where commercial farms can be managed.

The importance of cultural innovation has been neglected both in theoretical frameworks and in practical concepts of land reform.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2018-0226

In the context of rural development, the question how farmers are interconnected with local rural communities is crucial, as farmers historically have played a key role in rural areas, always shaped by the cultural-systemic context in which they acted. The purpose of this paper is to explore this connection in North-East (NE) Germany and Switzerland, two countries whose agricultural systems can be seen as diametrically opposed to each other with respect to their structure.

The authors conducted a survey on NE German and Swiss farmers to assess the connectivity between farms and rural communities in terms of the farm managers’ perceptions of their social networks, social support, sense of belonging, and active involvement in organizations.

The results show commonalities and differences between both study regions. Smaller farms are characterized by strongly locally based networks and a higher sense of community belonging, whereas larger farms rather have networks with strong ties outside the local dimension. Moreover, farmers’ local origin and farm diversification are positively associated with strengthening the connection between farms and local communities. Off-farm work is a means for this connection only in NE Germany.

This paper contributes to the discussion about adverse effects of farming scale and corporate farming on community well-being by simultaneously delivering insights into two structurally different agricultural systems. At the same time the approach allows for a comparison between the systems.

This paper addresses the question of the underlying causes for persistent parallel structures in public administration. Frames like bounded rationality, the budget-maximizing bureaucrat and the political theory of hegemony are examined with respect to the possible provision of explanations for the persistence of parallel administrations. A combination of content analysis and objective hermeneutics is then applied for a case study of parallel administration in Switzerland. A model linking the three approaches is finally developed to show how parallel administration relies on an equilibrium in the struggle for budget and hegemony between the key actors and on ignorance among fringe actors.

The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that societies, when becoming wealthier, are increasingly less concerned with the efficiency of their farms. It is to show that and why small family farms are a good which citizens aim to preserve.

Structural change between 2000 and 2010 in two rather wealthy European Union (EU)-member countries and two very wealthy European (non-EU) countries is compared and explained by socioeconomic variables.

The reason for the difference between Germany and Austria on one side and Norway and Switzerland on the other is strong political support in the latter countries where structural change is slowing down. A framework is outlined for why a preference for small family farms may emerge in a wealthy society.

Structural change in this paper is reconstructed as a function of political preferences, being again a function of state of economic development.

The discourse about agriculture within Switzerland’s and Germany’s public is to be compared in order to obtain an idea about the impact of the different agricultural systems. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

After a brief description of agricultural systems and policies in Germany and Switzerland, the discourse among the general public in the two countries in internet newsrooms and message boards is analyzed. The subjects of discussions are compared, and selected sequences are analyzed using objective hermeneutics.

Results indicate that, in Germany, agriculture is largely perceived as a black box where food safety is a crucial issue. Although food safety also is discussed in Switzerland, Swiss discussants focus more on changes that should be implemented in agricultural production and policy systems.

The quantitative and qualitative evaluation of newsrooms and message boards reveals important insights, particularly in a comparative setting.

A small-structured agriculture may contribute to generate trust in the reliability of food safety among consumers.

The discourse on German and Swiss internet platforms on agricultural issues reveals significant differences which shows that such an analysis allows important insights.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the argument that the link between efficiency and utility was strongest in the twentieth century. This would not only explain the growing focus on efficiency in the past, but also suggest that the importance of efficiency in society is set to decrease from now on.

The two arguments in support of the claim were: first, the growing importance of the service sector where an exaggerated focus on efficiency may decrease utility and second, the utility that is generated by different working environments and identities where heterogeneity is increasing.

Good reasons are found why the strong correlation between utility and efficiency that could be found in the process of industrialization is loosening.

The findings imply that the role of economic science is probably rather decreasing.

Social indicators for utility will probably gain importance.

This paper puts the importance of efficiency into a historical context.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance of the “organic” attribute for wine in relation to other attributes and to identify the most important determinants as far as the consumption of organic wine is concerned.

A survey based on interviews with 404 Swiss wine drinkers was conducted. The data were evaluated by means of conjoint and regression analyses.

The “organic” attribute was more important than the colour of the wine but less important than the price and the country of origin, foreign French wine being preferred to local Swiss wine. Urban and female consumers were relatively likely to consume organic wine, as were consumers who perceive organic wine as being healthy.

Marketing for organic wine in well‐developed markets should focus on the argument of image and health. Urban female consumers are the most important target group.

The paper presents the first results on the important attributes for marketing organic wine in developed organic food markets.

The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that for rural regions of Switzerland, jobs and enterprises do not have a positive effect on the quality of regional development in rural areas.

Population development is used as an indicator for the quality of regional development. Economic, infrastructural, demographic and topographic variables for Swiss rural districts are summarized by factor analysis. The birth and migration balances of these districts between 1990 and 2000 are explained by two regressions.

Remoteness influences both the birth and the migration balance negatively. Jobs and enterprises in the districts, split by sector, definitely do not spur population development.

Research on regional development should not overestimate the importance of a flourishing economy.

In regional development projects, infrastructural factors are of central importance.

The influence of economic factors in regional development is explicitly compared with non‐economic factors.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory that is sufficiently adapted to sector competitiveness. The case of greenhouse vegetable production in The Netherlands and Switzerland is used to explain differences in sector competitiveness.

Interviews focusing on the fields of spatial planning, labor, energy supply, and market organization were carried out with stakeholders and producers in both countries and evaluated by Grounded Theory.

The work shows that the flexibility not only of producers, but also of the whole institutional framework in The Netherlands exceeds the flexibility on the Swiss side by far, which may be an important factor for explaining differences in competitiveness.

The result that it is a basic difference in flexibility and adaptability that determines sector competitiveness is valid for the vegetable sector. It should be examined whether similar patterns can be found in other sectors.

The competitiveness discussion is transferred to a new economic level, namely the economic sector. Likewise, new answers are found in looking for explanations for differences in competitiveness.