摘要:The paper focuses on the starch industry in Vietnam. Thatindustry is mainly composed of small firms that adapted to rapid changeover the past decade. There are also large firms and multinationals in theindustry. Based on 1998 field survey data, an analysis of microeffi-ciency and transaction costs suggests that small and medium firms cansurvive and prosper in the industry. A policy strategy that promotessmall and medium firms increases rural incomes, important in a countrythat is still mainly rural and where the income gap between urban andrural areas is growing.