How Small Firms Contrast with Large Firms Regarding Perceptions, Practices, and Needs in the U.S. Secondary Woodworking Industry

نویسندگان

  • Urs Buehlmann
  • Matthew Bumgardner
  • Michael Sperber
چکیده

As many larger secondary woodworking firms have moved production offshore and been adversely impacted by the recent housing downturn, smaller firms have become important to driving U.S. hardwood demand. This study compared and contrasted small and large firms on a number of factors to help determine the unique characteristics of small firms and to provide insights into useful areas for support. Small firms were found to be similar to large firms with respect to the perceived importance attributed to manufacturing capabilities as a business success factor. However, small firms differed substantially from large firms in other ways, such as less attention to information seeking and planned investments. Small firms also tended to make greater use of distribution yards in the hardwood lumber purchasing value chain and requested fewer services from their hardwood lumber suppliers than did larger firms. Small firms were found to be keen on developing their marketing capabilities, including e-commerce, to further their information exchange with customers to successfully produce made-to-order products. Small firms considered the individual characteristics of company owners/managers to be a relatively important success factor to business, more so than larger firms. The results are summarized and discussed through the lens of small firm reliance on niche markets for survival (including fully madeto-order production) and their need to find new revenue during economic downturns.

برای دانلود رایگان متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

A Supply - Scarcity and Strategic Decision-Making Angle: High Performance Work Practices in Small Firms

High performance work practices (HPWPs) are human resource management practices aimed at stimulating employee and organisational performance. The application of HPWPs is not widespread in small organisations. We examine whether the implementation of coherent bundles of HPWPs (aimed at employee ability, employee motivation or at the opportunity to perform) depends on the scarcity of resources, a...

متن کامل

Inter-Partner Interactions and Knowledge Transfer Mechanisms in the Chinese Automotive Industry: A Qualitative Research Based on Dual Managerial Perceptions

The purpose of this study is to extend the existing knowledge of inter-firm knowledge transfer research and provide a deeper understanding of knowledge transfer practice in an alliance context, as well as the reasons for such a practice. This study reports on relevant results derived from semi-structured interviews with 16 top managers in a Chinese international joint venture (IJV) formed by tw...

متن کامل

کاربرد رویکرد تحلیل پوششی داده‌ها در ارزیابی بهره‌وری با استفاده از شاخص مالم‌کوئیست (مطالعه موردی)

This paper estimates total productivity change over time and de-composes it into technically efficient change and technological change for an Iranian Tile and Ceramic Industry with combining Data Envel-opment Analysis and Malmquist Productivity index. In combining these two techniques the outputs from DEA are used as inputs for Malmquist productivity index. In the current study, Tile and Cerami...

متن کامل

Inventory Management Practices and Operational Performance of Flour Milling Firms in Lagos, Nigeria

This study examines inventory management practices of flour milling manufacturing firms and their effects on operational performance. Five flour milling manufacturing firms in Lagos were used for this study. Structured questionnaire was the major instrument for the collection of relevant primary data while descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation was deployed to analyzing the ...

متن کامل

Supplier Selection in Small and Medium Sized Firms: the Case of the U.s. Textile and Apparel Industry Design/methodology/approach Empirical Survey-based Research Methodology Was Implemented and Data Were Collected from Small and Medium Firms in Textile and Apparel Business

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine supplier selection among smalland medium-sized firms in the US textile and apparel industry. For smalland medium-sized firms, one powerful method of improving the firm’s competitiveness in the dynamic business environment is through strategic approach of supplier selection, which emphasizes supplier’s contributions to the total product...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2013