Kenneth F. Harling

Exploring a general management approach to farm management.

The challenge of managing a farm business is becoming more like that facing other types of business. As this happens, general management principles that have proven useful to nonfarm managers are likely to prove useful to farm managers. This article explores the applicability of a simple general management model to farm management. The model is found to apply, and in the process helps dimension the complexity and integrated nature of decision-making on the farm. Further research is called for to extend the application of the general management approach to farm management.

Using the case method of teaching

The case method is increasingly popular with instructors teaching about management in the food system. While many have adopted this approach, others would like to but feel they need to know more about the method before doing so. This article aims to help them by explaining this technique. It starts by describing what case studies, or simply “cases,” are, and the benefits of their discussion in class. Then it describes the roles and responsibilities of students and instructors when working with cases. Finally, it gives instructors pointers on how to produce effective class discussions using cases.

Differing perspectives on agribusiness management

Agribusiness management has evolved as an area of academic interest and has reached a point where various individuals wonder whether it is a separate discipline. At present there are many perceptions of what it is and with what it deals. This confusion has been extended by individual authors who have sought to clarify what agribusiness management is by putting forth what it means to them. But if agribusiness management is to be a discipline, it must have disciples united under a common set of beliefs. This article identifies four issues found in the literature that must be addressed if the disciplinary roots for agribusiness management are to be established. Results of a survey showing the commonality of beliefs regarding them are reported. Although many beliefs are shared, there are also considerable differences. These results suggest the need for further discussion of the issues identified if agribusiness management is to be established as a discipline in its own right.

CASE WRITING: AN ART AND A SCIENCE

The study of management in the food system is undergoing a fundamental change with the growing use of the cash study method of instruction. This approach has been found to produce the higher order thinking skills desired in managers. Unfortunately, the number of management cases dealing with the food system is very limited. This article helps address this need by explaining how those interested in writing cases might do so. First the article describes the context of case writing. Then ten characteristics found in most good cases are explained. Finally a process for writing cases is presented which describes how the ten characteristics are developed when a case is being written. Though case writing is presented as a process, it is seen as an art, and a good case is seen as a literary accomplishment.

Business strategies as a market opens: A case study of Ontario wineries

Following the Free Trade Agreement and a ruling from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, wineries in Ontario, Canada, have had their market opened to considerably greater foreign competition. This article provides observations drawn from their experiences that managers elsewhere will find useful when thinking about adjusting their business strategy to deal with a more open market. The three principal observations elaborated in the article are (a) that government protection creates an artificial environment which, because it is artificial, does not last, (b) that the business strategy appropriate when a market is protected can prove inappropriate when protection is removed, and (c) that open markets are more demanding when making strategic choices.

Critical success factors for managing quality in food processing firms

Factors critical to successfully managing quality in the food processing industry are identified and include: the role of top management, the role of the quality department, employee relations, training, and process management. Little relationship was found between a factors importance and firm performance with respect to that factor. Thus, while a factor might be important to successfully managing quality, the firm may not be managing it well. This suggests that many companies have a long way to go to improve quality management. Firms with decentralized quality structures had higher overall levels of quality performance than those in which quality was the responsibility of a single department. ©1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

E.D. Smith And Sons, Ltd

Lew Smith, the chairman of a privately owned Canadian processor, must decide whether his company will build a plant in the United States. He has been asked to do so by one of his major customers, Loblaw. The company has been making many improvements to its operations but its performance has been hurt by the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States. The company has been doing very well, however, as it shifts its focus from making private label to con trolled label. Is now the right time to expand the business into a foreign market?