@article{Biesold:93020,
      recid = {93020},
      author = {Biesold, Helga},
      title = {Auswirkungen des Transformationsprozesses auf die  sozioökonomischen Funktionen ukrainischer  Landwirtschaftsunternehmen.},
      address = {2004},
      number = {920-2016-72801},
      series = {Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Central and  Eastern Europe},
      pages = {153},
      year = {2004},
      abstract = {In the planned Soviet economy, agricultural enterprises in  Ukraine played a significant role in
maintaining social  infrastructure in rural areas. The state insisted that  these enterprises
provide medical care, transport  infrastructure, kindergartens, schools and housing, as well  as
food supplies.
Over the course of transition, the  economic and political conditions of agricultural  enterprises
has drastically changed. The state greatly  reduced financing for rural social  infrastructure.
Additionally, agricultural production  significantly fell. As a result, the agricultural  enterprises
partially cut their support of social  infrastructure in the rural areas, and in some cases,  even
completely depleted it.
At the same time, the living  conditions of the rural population deteriorated. Food  prices rose
so dramatically that food demand started to be  increasingly covered from private household
plots. Further,  the quality of medical services could not satisfy the needs  of the rural
population, and the lack of financing made it  impossible to maintain the transport
infrastructure. A  legal, compulsory transfer of the social infrastructure  from the agricultural
enterprises to the respective  communities resulted in the infrastructure's dilapidation.  In
addition, the rural population faced new social risks  such as unemployment.
As a result of this tense situation  in the rural areas of Ukraine, the goal of this  dissertation is
to discuss the changes of social and  economic functions of the agricultural enterprises in  the
course of transition by surveying 72 successors of the  former kolkhozes and sowchoses in
Sumy Oblast. Based on  this case study, and a historical analysis of agricultural  structures and
the social security system, the following  phenomena were identified:
(1) In spite of the positive  expectations of western experts, even after ten years of  transition
the agricultural enterprises in Ukraine  demonstrate constancy in terms of their size
measured in  hectares, livestock herd and employment, and in terms of  using farm assets
collectively.
(2) Despite economic  difficulties, the agricultural enterprises continue  providing social
services. Moreover, the profitable  enterprises provide more social financing per worker.
(3)  The number of workers was reduced, but in comparison to the  new German federal
states, which have a similar agrarian  structure, and in comparison to other transition
economies  like Czech Republic and Hungary, for instance, the  agricultural enterprises in
Ukraine still employ a high  number of labour per hectare.
A theoretical analysis of  this phenomenon was conducted from both an economic  and
sociological perspective. In the economic literature,  the methods of institutional economic
theory are especially  suited to explain the above mentioned phenomena since  informal
institutions prevail over formal ones. The  institutional economic theories also suit the
sociological  analysis. Here, the focus lies on the decision-making  behaviour of actors dependent on the interplay of  individual actions. In this respect,  historically-developed
networks play a very important role,  especially under difficult general economic conditions.
To  ensure the improvement of agricultural enterprises'  competitiveness, and to provide fair
living conditions in  the rural areas, the social security system in Ukraine  should be reformed
in order to address these new risks. In  this way, agricultural enterprises could partially pass  on
their social responsibility. It is also necessary to  fundamentally re-orient the community
administrations to  fulfil their responsibilities not only formal. Finally, the  managers of the
agricultural enterprises in Ukraine should  realise that only after operating profitably would
they be  able to fulfil their social goals, whereas the rural  population has to realise that it is not
longer possible to  provide social services without payments.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/93020},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.93020},
}