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A balanced panel data set covering 519 U.S. agricultural banks is constructed for the period 1996S2005. Cost efficiency measures of agricultural banks obtained from stochastic frontier analysis and data envelopment analysis are regressed on various bank specific characteristics to explain the cost efficiency differences of agricultural banks. The results indicate that (a) cost efficiencies are positively related to profitability while negatively related with the raw cost inefficiency measure, (b) older agricultural banks tend to be more efficient, (c) regulation may deteriorate efficiency levels, (d) bigger agricultural banks tend to be less efficient, (e) bank‐specific characteristics can explain DEA efficiency scores better than they can SFA efficiency measures, and (f) the inconsistency issue related to two‐step approaches is not serious.

This paper aims to understand the motivations for product innovation and brand leadership using a series of case studies focusing on firms with leading market positions of different types.

A qualitative study is presented of three leading food sector firms of different types (large/public, medium/private, and international/cooperative). An analysis of brand leadership is undertaken in the context of a conceptual framework linking process innovation, product innovation, and the firm's resource base and market orientation.

The cases suggest that process innovation supports product innovation as firms implement strategies to differentiate their products. Response to changing demand is a disciplined reaction where firms exploit their specialized resources using superior product knowledge and branding power. Leadership positions are maintained not only by responding to changing demand but by steering the market using innovative products and consumer education.

This study suggests that firms use their unique resource base and form strategies to capitalize on their capabilities. A single, dominant orientation is not necessary to maintain leadership. Rather process innovation can facilitate product innovation leading to successful product differentiation and enhancing a leadership position. The question of whether the growing power of retailers means the demise for branded food manufacturers is one that deserves attention. Innovation and its motivation is a national public policy concern that is influenced by a myriad of regulations and laws administered by various agencies.

This study is the first one to pull together the experiences of food‐firm brand leaders with their branding and innovation strategies as they look to the global arena for growth.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

In the 1980s, leading US food manufacturing firms could easily differentiate products using branding strategies supported by significant advertising expenditures. However, branded food manufacturers are now facing a different environment from previous decades.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

This paper is of value to brand managers and leaders who wish to gain a better understanding of the motives for innovation and leadership

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

In this chapter, we consider the possibility that a firm may use costly resources to improve its technical efficiency. Results from static analyses imply that technical efficiency is determined by the configuration of factor prices. A dynamic model of the firm is developed under the assumption that managerial skill contributes to technical efficiency. Dynamic analysis shows that the firm can never be technically efficient if it maximizes profits, the steady state is always inefficient, and it is locally stable. In terms of empirical analysis, we show how likelihood-based methods can be used to uncover, in a semi-non-parametric manner, important features of the inefficiency-management relationship using a flexible functional form accounting for the endogeneity of inputs in a production function. Managerial compensation can also be identified and estimated using the new techniques. The new empirical methodology is applied in a data set previously analyzed by Bloom and van Reenen (2007) on managerial practices of manufacturing firms in the UK, US, France and Germany.