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In‐Home Businesses: Profiles of Successful and Struggling Craft Producers
Author(s) -
Littrell Mary Ann,
Stout JaneAnn,
Reilly Rae
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x9102000104
Subject(s) - craft , marketing , business , scholarship , entrepreneurship , promotion (chess) , product (mathematics) , economic growth , political science , economics , geography , geometry , mathematics , archaeology , finance , politics , law
The objective of this research was to develop profiles of successful and struggling craft producers. The profiles were examined in relation to existing scholarship on entrepreneurship and served as the basis for generating hypotheses for future research. Seventy craft producers who worked in fiber, clay, and wood, and who had operated in‐home businesses for a minimum of three years, participated in telephone interviews intended to explore a range of topics related to their suc cess. Groups of successful (n = 34) and struggling (n = 36) craft producers were formed based on economic criteria and the participants' self‐ratings of success. Profiles of successful and struggling participants revealed differences in their business practices related to planning and management, employment, product development, pricing, marketing, and promotion. Findings suggest that success ful craft entrepreneurs have many behavioral characteristics in common with en trepreneurs who manufacture other products and who operate in settings outside the home.