Positional Advantage within Small Farms: Evidence from Illinois

Eric Micheels and Hamish R. Gow

No 52810, 111th Seminar, June 26-27, 2009, Canterbury, UK from European Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: As the economic viability of small farms continues to be an issue facing policy makers and economists alike, a market orientation may be a valuable resource producers can develop as they compete in a marketplace dominated by larger firms. Marketing and strategy scholars have long established the importance of a market orientation in determining firm performance. More recently, scholars have studied the effect of these concepts in agriculture. Extending the literature of market orientation in agriculture, this study examines the concept of a positional advantage and its effect on performance using a sample of small farms in Illinois. Using a sample of 347 Illinois beef producers, we empirically measure and test the construct of positional advantage and test the relationship between positional advantage and subjective performance. Our results indicate that market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovation and learning are first-order indicators of positional advantage and that the positional advantage of a firm is positively related to firm performance.

Keywords: Farm Management; Production Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21
Date: 2009-08-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cse, nep-ent and nep-sbm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:eaa111:52810

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.52810

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