Strategic adaptation in SMEs
Kujala, Jesse (2022-01-12)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202201122089
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202201122089
Tiivistelmä
The changes in the global business environment can be felt all over the World. The dairy industry has changed due to changes in consumer behaviour, policy changes and climate change. This has had an effect also in Finland. The business environment in the Finnish dairy industry altered at the beginning of 2021 when Valio introduced contract production. This shift meant that dairy farmers could produce a fixed amount of milk versus the previous situation when they did not have a contract for a specific production amount. This situation forces dairy farmers to adapt to the new situation and develop their strategies more actively.
This study determines what changes strategic adaptation involves and what organisational attributes influence strategic adaptation in SMEs from the dairy farm sector in a time of significant industry change. The research in strategic change and adaptation is a renewed topic that is increasingly important in the agricultural field as it continues to face changes. The primary focus is on dairy farms that have needed to adapt to the changes in their business environment.
The conceptual framework consists of strategic change and adaptation literature, which is viewed from the perspective of SMEs.
The research strategy is survey research. The data is collected via an online questionnaire from dairy entrepreneurs. The population is around 3300 dairy entrepreneurs, and 504 responses were received. Thus, the response rate was 15 per cent. The answers were studied quantitatively in SPSS, where the analysis was done with regression analysis.
This study formed two regression analyses, which used two dependent variables to study the subject: operation development and production development. These measured the strategic change and adaptation of the entrepreneurs. The findings concluded that entrepreneurs’ resources and support (external or internal) positively affected strategic adaptation. The more focused the entrepreneurs were on strategic planning, the more they focused on both strategic issues presented in this thesis. Those issues were operations development and production development, and they measured strategic adaptation of dairy farms. Entrepreneurs’ focus on product quality development positively affected strategic adaptation.
This study gives valuable insight into the dairy industry and contributes to the literature by presenting a quantitative analysis of the strategic adaptation of SMEs in the dairy industry.
This study determines what changes strategic adaptation involves and what organisational attributes influence strategic adaptation in SMEs from the dairy farm sector in a time of significant industry change. The research in strategic change and adaptation is a renewed topic that is increasingly important in the agricultural field as it continues to face changes. The primary focus is on dairy farms that have needed to adapt to the changes in their business environment.
The conceptual framework consists of strategic change and adaptation literature, which is viewed from the perspective of SMEs.
The research strategy is survey research. The data is collected via an online questionnaire from dairy entrepreneurs. The population is around 3300 dairy entrepreneurs, and 504 responses were received. Thus, the response rate was 15 per cent. The answers were studied quantitatively in SPSS, where the analysis was done with regression analysis.
This study formed two regression analyses, which used two dependent variables to study the subject: operation development and production development. These measured the strategic change and adaptation of the entrepreneurs. The findings concluded that entrepreneurs’ resources and support (external or internal) positively affected strategic adaptation. The more focused the entrepreneurs were on strategic planning, the more they focused on both strategic issues presented in this thesis. Those issues were operations development and production development, and they measured strategic adaptation of dairy farms. Entrepreneurs’ focus on product quality development positively affected strategic adaptation.
This study gives valuable insight into the dairy industry and contributes to the literature by presenting a quantitative analysis of the strategic adaptation of SMEs in the dairy industry.