Small sawmills as enterprises: a behavioural investigation of development potential

Abstract

The investigation examines the development potential of small sawmills in rural Finland. Development is defined with a qualitative bias, given small sawmills' limited possibilities for large-scale investments. Potential is defined in terms of the behavioural limitations to development. The empirical material concerns a random sample of 399 sawmills from all regions in Finland collected in connection with the 1990 small sawmill inventory. Sets of enterprise/entrepreneurial attributes are constructed using principal component analyses. Development potential is measured by employing discriminant analyses to test these attributes against four a priori sawmill classifications: sawmill production structure, entrepreneurial development intentions, sawmill operating environment, and sawmilling as a livelihood. Each of these analyses contributes to an understanding of the entrepreneur-enterprise dialectic. Based on the use of Pred's behavioural matrix, small sawmill entrepreneurs' quantity & quality of information and their ability to use information are examined with respect to sawmill typologies. -from Authors