Dr. ir. Meulenberg (1931) is retired professor of marketing and consumer behavior at Wageningen University. His research interests are distribution and consumer behavior. VERHEES AND MEULENBERG 137 1 Note that we do not propose that small firms are less market oriented than large firms.Research suggests that small firms can be just as market oriented as large firms. Moreover, Pelham and Wilson (1996) and Slater and Narver (1996) report about small firms that are highly market oriented.

We develop a classification of traditional versus restructured cooperative organizational attributes based on an inductive approach. Using this classification and integrating concepts from the business literature (i.e., market and brand orientation), we hypothesize three types of relationships: (a) the influence of organizational attributes, i.e., ownership, control and cost/benefit allocation, on organizational performance; (b) the influence of strategic, i.e., market and brand orientation, attributes on organizational performance, and (c) the influence of organizational attributes on market orientation. We examine these relationships empirically in two studies. In study 1, using data from 114 agribusiness cooperatives, we demonstrate that strategic attributes have a greater influence on organizational performance than organizational attributes. In study 2, we replicate the design from study 1, i.e., tracking attribute scores over time, with a subsample of 25 cooperatives 4 years later. This second study generally confirms the findings of study 1. Taken together, the results suggest that greater emphasis should be placed on strategic attributes both in the literature and in practice. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The role of seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) in the Ethiopian seed sector and their contribution to seed supply improvement have received attention from researchers, policymakers, and development partners. However, limited work has been done in reviewing and documenting their involvement in the seed sector development. In this paper, we review and discuss the SPCs in the Ethiopian seed sector. Specifically, we reflect on the contribution of SPCs to improving seed availability and access in the country. The current liberal market system of Ethiopia creates new opportunities for growth as successful enterprises, but also brings new challenges, such as more intense competition for smallholder producers. The government policy encourages SPCs to engage in seed business. We draw on scientific literature, reports, white papers, project documents, and websites. The review reveals that the seed sector in Ethiopia consists of three seed systems: formal, informal, and intermediary seed systems. Each seed system has a specific contribution to the delivery of seed to farmers, but they vary in their approach and respective strategies. The SPCs are categorized in the intermediary seed system because they have features of both formal and informal seed systems. They play a key role in meeting seed demand and contribute greatly to seed supply improvement through high-volume production of seed, crop, and variety diversification, and seed delivery to farmers. They produce and market the seed through various market channels, including direct sales to farmers, sales through contractual agreement, and sales directly to institutional buyers. Their contribution to improving the seed supply and seed security has received considerable recognition by policymakers and development practitioners. Therefore, government and development partners should support and strengthen SPCs to maximize their success in the seed business and their contribution to improving the seed supply in Ethiopia.ARTICLE HISTORY

Farmers and horticultural growers are expected by society to increase production to meet the demand for food and other agricultural produce, and, simultaneously, reduce negative effects on the physical and social environment. Whether farmers and horticultural growers choose to develop their businesses this way, is not clear. A market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of farmers and horticultural growers is propagated to increase farm profitability and stimulate the economic vigour of rural areas. An MO is a firm owners’ belief that the best way to achieve the firm's objectives is to satisfy customers more effective and efficient than competitors do. An EO is a firm owners’ willingness to innovate to rejuvenate market offerings, take risks to try out new and uncertain products, services and markets, and be more proactive than competitors towards new marketplace opportunities. However, it is not clear how MO and EO influence farmers’ and horticultural growers’ choices about how to develop their business. In this study a model is developed with hypotheses about the influence of EO and MO on strategic marketing choices of farmers. The model is tested on a sample of 588 Dutch farmers and horticultural growers. Four strategic groups were identified. A strategic group is a group of firms that have made similar choices about how to develop their business. Results show that higher levels of EO and MO are found in strategic groups that emphasise cooperating with buyers, increasing prices, and starting new activities. Lower levels of EO and MO are found in strategic groups that emphasize reducing costs and decreasing debts. EO and MO, however, have different influences on individual elements of strategy.

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To evaluate market-oriented strategic decision-making by farmers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) farm development paths of dairy farmers in Slovenia, Poland and Lithuania were analysed. The influence of internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats, and farmer goals on strategic choices and performance were explored. Principal component, hierarchical cluster and regression analyses were performed to test the conceptual framework. Seven strategic groups emerged with specific development paths, that is, Wait and see, Movers, Chain integrators, Specializers and Diversifiers. The latter two split into cooperative and independent groups. Maximisation of profit and sustainable farming ranked highest as farming goals. Availability of land and labour were weaknesses for all strategic groups in all countries. External opportunities and threats varied between countries and to a lesser degree between strategic groups. The Wait and see and Cooperating diversifier groups gave less optimistic scores than other strategic groups. The attitudes of CEE farmers towards the market and future Common Agricultural Policy remain more negative than those of a group of Western European farmers. The results of this study confirm that internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats, together with farmers' goals and strategies influence farmer performance, but independently of each other. Strategies do not appear to be a mediating variable between the internal and external environment of the farm and the performance of the farm. Policy makers, companies and extension workers should take the heterogeneity in strategic development into account when dealing with these and similar groups of farms.

While it is widely accepted that social networks are key to small-firm success, detailed studies on the specific contribution of owner-managers' social competence to learning and performance are scarce. In this article, the importance of owner-managers' social competence was explored in a specific, innovative small-firm sector in the Netherlands: the agri-food sector. This was done by means of a qualitative ( n = 13) and quantitative ( n = 556) study. In the qualitative study, the two social competence domains most frequently cited and employed in entrepreneurial workplace learning practices were a social learning orientation and the ability to interact with strategic social partners. The quantitative study illustrated that social competence, overall, influences small-firm performance significantly. However, the relationships between social competence and small-firm performance seem to depend on the specific strategies that owner-managers pursue. In particular, this research supports the idea of social competence being an important driver of success for specific smallfirm strategies and for the ongoing development of existing and new capabilities. As such, it underlines the importance of the capability-driven approach to HRD in the small-firm context. This, in turn, has implications for small-firm support programs.

This paper empirically identifies differences between dairy farmers in their perception of opportunities for farm development. The construct 'perceived Room for Manoeuvre' (pRfM) is used which is defined as: 'the opportunities perceived as viable in order to obtain a (substantial part of) business income'. A unique case study of 79 dairy farmers operating in a highly comparable socio-material context at the level of the case study allows for an empirical analysis of differences in the pRfM using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods exploratory research, a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with stakeholders in farm development. Differences in the pRfM will likely affect the early phase of strategic decision making and consequently explain heterogeneity in farm development. Data analysis revealed the following three dimensions of pRfM: perception of the opportunity (1) to diversify; (2) to end production; and (3) to maximise production. These dimensions proved useful to explain heterogeneity in farm development and thus showed the importance of a subjective approach towards opportunity identification in farm development. This paper shows the need to view the farmer as entrepreneurial actor in the process of strategic decision making who interacts with the socio-material context of the farm.