Abstract
‘Capacity’ in this chapter is defined broadly as the major capital or fixed assets of a business — the buildings, land, plant and equipment. Decisions to commit relatively large proportions of plant and the limited resources of a small business in buying capacity need to be treated with great care. Small business ventures are extremely vulnerable; they are rarely able to hedge their judgements in the area of investment decisions. This is, however, an area where very often decisions are taken intuitively — often almost as an act of faith. There can be a feeling that investment in capacity is essential to support growth, to increase competitiveness, and consequently to increase market share. It can be assumed that this is the way to make your cash work for the business. Through more conservative eyes, the picture looks very different. Investment in capacity has an inevitable timescale, implies specific commitments, reduces options, and ties up cash. It makes a fundamental impact on what can and what cannot be done in terms of organising the production/operations processes.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Select Bibliography
A. J. Beaumont, ‘Location, Mobility and Finance of High Technology Companies in the UK Electronics Industry’, Department of Industry, South East Regional Office, November 1982, unpublished.
British Steel Corporation, Starting from cold, 1982; this gives details of the BSC workshop complexes established throughout Britain (at December 1981, the first 200 housed 160 businesses and 750 people).
Department of Industry, Provision of Small Industrial Premises, March 1980, HMSO.
—, ‘Helping small Firms Start-up and Grow: Common Services and Technological Support’, 1982, HMSO.
J. P. Edwards (Director, Centre for Enterprise Policy Studies, University of Bath), ‘Social and political pressures upon the small firm: the role of small business in a future society’, EFMD Thirteenth Small Firms Conference, Vienna, September 1983.
M. Gaffney, Running your own Business — planning for success, Department of Trade and Industry, 1984, HMSO.
F. F. Gilmore ‘Formulating strategy in smaller companies’, Harvard Business Review, May/June 1971, pp. 71–80.
H. H. Hand et. al, ‘Economic feasibility analysis for retail location’, Journal of Small Business Management 13(3), July 1979, pp. 28–35.
I. C. MacMillan, ‘Strategy and flexibility in the smaller business’, Long Range Planning, June 1975, pp. 62–3.
J. Noar, ‘How to make strategic planning work for small businesses’, Advanced Management Journal, Winter 1980, pp. 35–9.
Robson Rhodes Report, Department of Trade and Industry, 1983, HMSO.
R. N. Sexton and R. D. Dahle, ‘Factors affecting long-range planning in the small business firm’, Marquette Business Review, Winter 1976, pp. 158–65.
Small Business Administration, ‘Business plan for small manufacturers’, Management Aids 2.007, 1983, and ‘Business plan for small service firms’, Management Aids 2.022, 1983, are available free of charge from SBA, PO Box 15434, Forth Worth, Texas 76119, USA.
Derek Waterworth, Marketing for the Small Business, Macmillan, 1977.
J. G. Whacker and J. S. Cromatie, ‘Adapting forecasting methods to the small firm’, Journal of Small Business Management 17(3), July 1979, pp. 1–7.
S. C. Wheelright, ‘Strategic planning in the small business’, Business Horizons, August 1971, pp. 51–8.
Copyright information
© 1987 Terry Hill
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hill, T. (1987). Defining and Determining Capacity. In: Small Business. Macmillan Small Business Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18691-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18691-4_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-36403-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-18691-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)