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FARM AND NONFARM FAMILY BUSINESS PLANNING COMPARISON USING A QUALITY FRAMEWORK
Abstract
An integrated quality management approach was used in comparing farm and nonfarm family businesses with less than one million dollars in gross revenues. Businesses with family employees performed more quality management practices than those without family employees. Profit was the primary farmer business goal while almost half of nonfarm owners reported a positive reputation with customers as the primary goal. Farmers do less product and employee management but determine numerical objectives more then do nonfarmers. Female owners performed more service and product management than did male owners. With higher business problems, owners performed more quality management practices. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Taking an integrated quality management approach with family businesses grossing less than one million, farm and nonfarm businesses were compared. Those with family employees performed more quality management than those without family employees. Farmers reported profit as their primary business goal while nonfarmers reported a positive reputation with customers as their primary goal. Farmers did less product and employment management but determined numerical objectives more than did nonfarmers. Female owners reported higher levels of service and product management. Owners in education, health, finance and service businesses performed less quality management than did those in agriculture, construction, manufacturing businesses. With higher business problems, more quality management was performed. Based on a Sustainable Family Business Theory proposition, family dynamics were included as independent variables along with owner and business characteristics. Study findings indicated the presence of family employees, the number of generations, and owner's ideological orientation contributed to quality management variance, thus indicating the need to include family dynamics in future research. Doing so and investigating its impact on business performance in family businesses would further inform Kalleberg and Leicht's (1991) findings- that quality management in small businesses provided a competitive edge. Findings reflected the past emphasis of farm business educators and consultants on record keeping and financial analysis. With the growing competitiveness in the agricultural market, consultants and educators will need to take a more systemic approach to quality management to meet increasing consumer demands and to maintain a competitive edge. Such an approach will need to become standard practice in all family businesses rather than what kicks in when problems arise.
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This exploratory study examines the quality practices used in smaller entrepreneurial firms. The current literature defines flexibility as one of the primary competitive priorities for smaller firms. This study develops an exploratory proposition that relates the characteristics of quality systems used by small firms, and their value, to the competitive priority of flexibility. A survey of 184 small firms in the U.S. was conducted using the classification scheme for quality systems consistent with the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA) performance criteria. Overall, the results support the proposition that small firms tend to employ quality practices that enable change and that position the firm to pursue flexibility as a competitive priority. The paper concludes with a discussion of the insights generated by the findings and directions for future research.
Agribusiness professionals have claimed that the agribusiness complex is unique within the business world. However, little empirical research exists to support this conclusion. This article analyzes Wyoming and Montana data, using the Fisher's exact and chi‐square tests. The results indicate that serious business problems and critical technical assistance needs vary significantly within the agribusiness complex and between the agribusiness and nonagribusiness sectors.
Numerous articles in academic publications as well as practitioner-oriented journals have recognized the importance of planning for small businesses. Yet there is surprisingly little empirical work that has examined the relationship between planning sophistication and organizational performance among small businesses. The present study reports the results of a survey of 253 small firms. Specifically, it seeks to determine whether these companies prepare written strategic plans and, if so, the extent to which their planning process attempts to identify external factors and includes quantified objectives and budgets. In addition, it determines whether the plan contains procedures for anticipating or detecting differences between the plan and actual performance and for preventing or correcting these differences. Finally, this study examines the relationship between the sophistication of the planning and evaluation process and organizational performance. Some explanations as well as implications and limited generalizations are developed.
This study applies the Family FIRO model, one of interpersonal dynamics and change, to family businesses (specifically, to family farming couples). It empirically tests the developmental sequence of three dimensions of the model: inclusion, control, and integration. Findings indicate that both a sense of inclusion in a family business and the manner in which control issues are managed have important influences on family business integration. Because inclusion predicts control dynamics, effective control may not be diminished without adequate levels of inclusion. The study offers practitioners a theory-based approach to working with the complex dynamics within family businesses. Family businesses will remain more resilient in times of change if the leaders understand and reassess patterns of inclusion when change is initiated.
This paper proposes a research model that outlines the determinants of functional families and
profitable businesses—requisites for family business sustainability. Two features distinguish the
model from previous models: inclusion of the family in the same detail as the business and emphasis
on the key features of family and business. Delineation of the interface between the family and the
business permits the use of research methods that allow for variable degrees of overlap of family and
business rather than assuming that family businesses constitute either a single system or two separate
systems. The research model is also compatible with a variety of theoretical perspectives.
This research explores the effect of gender on organizational performance. Data used in the analysis was collected from small businesses in South Central Indiana from 1985-1987. The businesses were from the food and drink, computer sales and software, and health industries. Of the businesses surveyed, 312 were headed by men while 99 where headed by women. On average, these individuals were 44-45 years of age. Organizational performance is examined through two different concepts, survival and success. The results indicate that women were not more likely to go out of business than men, and only prior self-employment had different effects for men and women. Further, there was not a difference in this area among the differing industries. The results also indicate that both genders were equally confident and believed they had the ability to influence business outcomes. As for the success of these businesses, there again was no difference between the males and females with respect to earnings growth. These results are contrary to the traditional thinking that men have an advantage over women with respect to entrepreneurship and organizational performance. Since the dataset used in this analysis was limited in scope, further research is necessary to determine if these results will hold true across other industries. (SRD)
While the quality literature abounds with prescriptions for how quality should be managed, no one has proposed an organization-theory explanation for how quality is managed in organizations. This paper proposes a system-structural model of quality management that relates organizational quality context, actual quality management, ideal quality management, and quality performance. The relationships between organizational quality context and actual and ideal quality management are investigated using data collected from 152 managers from 77 business units of 20 manufacturing and service companies. A previously reported instrument is used to measure managers' perceptions of ideal and actual quality management in terms of eight critical factors including product/service design, training, employee relations, and top management leadership. Several measures are used to characterize organizational quality context including company type, company size, degree of competition, and corporate support for quality. The results indicate that organizational quality context influences managers' perceptions of both ideal and actual quality management. This suggests that knowledge of organizational quality context is useful for explaining and predicting quality management practice. Important contextual variables are corporate support for quality, past quality performance, managerial knowledge, and the extent of external quality demands.
This study examines agribusiness managers' perception of the competitiveness of the marketplace and the degree of their firms' competitiveness on four typical competitive goals pursued by business enterprises: quality, cost, delivery, and flexibility. Use of technological and human resource management practices is examined in relation to the firms' success in achieving competitiveness. The results suggest that 80% of these managers perceive revolutionary rather than gradual and evolutionary changes in the marketplace. They also felt that their firms are more competitive on quality and delivery goals and less competitive in cost and flexibility goals. Finally, the results suggest that technological management programs are less influential in assisting firms' achievement of their competitiveness goals than human resource management programs. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Agribusiness professionals have claimed that the agribusiness complex is unique within the business world. However, little empirical research exists to support this conclusion. This article analyzes Wyoming and Montana data, using the Fisher's exact and chi-square tests. The results indicate that serious business problems and critical technical assistance needs vary significantly within the agribusiness complex and between the agribusiness and nonagribusiness sectors.
In the agricultural marketing literature the marketing activities of individual farmers are not adequately described, and it is often assumed that the strategic behavior of farmers is relatively homogeneous. Likewise, the farm management discipline does not emphasise the marketing behavior of farmers. This contrasts with the business management literature that places considerable emphasis on the marketing and strategic activities of individual firms. Strategic group studies empirically identify groups of firms within an industry that follow similar business strategies. Although the investigation of strategic groups within the agribusiness sector has been identified as an important area for future research, only a small number of studies have examined strategic groups at the farm business level. This article presents the results of an analysis of farm business marketing and strategic management processes. These show that strategic groups of New Zealand intensive crop farmers exist, and the marketing, business, and management characteristics associated with following each distinctive strategy are described. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The status of planning in small businesses
- N A Ibrahim
- J P Angelidis
- F Parsa
Ibrahim, N.A., Angelidis, J.P. & Parsa, F. (2004). "The status of planning in small businesses,"
American Business Review, 22(2), 52-60.