The paper argues that transparency of large corporate farms operating in transition economies is the factor that affects their competitive position as it helps to preserve access to international equity markets and to reduce uncertainty that arises from imperfect local input markets. We demonstrate that the corporate transparency of large farms is an issue of both public interest and private investor interest and decompose the construct of transparency respectively. Because firms tend to exhibit heterogeneous transparency strategies when facing common sets of pressures, we draw upon four case studies of different Ukrainian agroholdings using the suggested decomposition of the transparency construct. We find that large farms may benefit substantially in the long run if they establish effective corporate governance mechanisms and provide more evidence that they contribute positively to corporate social responsibility and rural development.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian countries have been faced with numerous development challenges in agriculture, especially those related to water use. Well-intentioned foreign donors and development agencies have stepped in to support local farmers, research centers, and public authorities in devising innovative solutions. Yet, development aid projects have borne fruit only partially. Paradoxically, innovative and apparently useful technologies proposed by foreign donors have rarely and only partially succeeded in taking root in the local institutional contexts. To explain this paradox, this paper draws on the institutional approach which shows the possibility of technological innovations being encapsulated by dysfunctional institutions. Reviewing recent studies of water-related projects in Central Asia, the paper shows this encapsulation to be at the core of the development project failures pervasive both in the Soviet period and today. If the concept of encapsulation is valid, then the current development efforts can be made more effective by detecting and counteracting the structures of vested interest on the part of all the actors involved, such as foreign donors, public authorities, research centers and local farmers.

The economic breakdown of the early transition process weighed heavily on food supply relationships in the Eastern European and Central Asian (EECA) countries. Small and medium-sized farm suppliers and processors suffered from lack of necessary production inputs whereas processors and retailers faced problems of insufficient quantity and quality of supplies. At the same time, changes in consumer demand as well as the accompanying entry of foreign investors in the retail and processing sectors necessitated significant and lengthy reforms and adjustments in the structure of food commodity chains to overcome these problems. Based on an extensive literature overview and a synthesis of five case studies conducted upon the assignment of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the current chapter demonstrates how small and medium-sized food processors manage to install effective procurement systems in weak institutional environments of EECA. The chapter also identifies the factors that drive small farmer-processor business linkages and their integration into national and international value chains in order to develop options for support and assistance.

This article explores how ESG reporting practices evolve in high‐risk, low‐institutional contexts by examining Ukrainian agricultural enterprises operating under conditions of war, economic instability, and EU integration pressures. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews, we show that, unlike highly institutionalized ESG models in the Global West, Ukrainian agricultural companies adopt pragmatic, survival‐oriented approaches to sustainability. ESG engagement centers on business continuity and community support—balancing moral imperatives with operational needs. A low level of institutionalization fosters authenticity and reduces greenwashing risk, yet widespread skepticism persists regarding the feasibility of reporting without clear financial incentives. These findings challenge the assumptions of global ESG frameworks and highlight the need to reorient standards toward financial materiality in crisis economies. We propose an adaptive ESG reporting model that reduces compliance burdens for SMEs and outline policy measures—including advisory services, simplified procedures, financial incentives, and targeted education—to facilitate context‐sensitive ESG integration.

This article develops the theoretical foundations of supply chain network management in order to investigate the constructs surrounding whole chain success rather than just success at firm level. It is argued that the ‘network success’ link has been under-studied, with most empirical studies focusing on the achievement of goals by an individual firm in a network context. A model of the whole network's success in the context of supply chain networks in food industry supply chain relationships is used. The results identify that network-level goals must be considered alongside firm-level goals in supply chain networks. Furthermore, network-level goals are subject to the impacts of chain management and have to be of particular interest for focal firms that are responsible for the development and implementation of collective strategies.