| dc.description.abstract | The survey for this study reported here was carried
out between March and July, 1992. The principal objective
of the study was to identify the factors that the management
of vertically integrated firms consider in making their
decision to integrate either backward or foward. In order to
meet this objective, the information sought for the study
was collected through the use of a questionnaire. The
sample consisted of 52 vertically integrated firms. 31
questionnaires were completed and provided the information
used in this report.
The study found out that many factors influence the
firm's decision to adopt vertical integration strategy. For
all the manufacturing firms, the most important factors
were: certainty of demand for the firm's products, availability
of ad-equate manufacturing facilities, investment
costs, and the need for .high market share.
Analysis of the data by industry revealed that for the
textile and steel manufacturers, certain factors were important
The factors were: the need for improved co-ordination
for a firm's activities, need for synergies, need for greater
control over the firm's economic resources, level of
competition in the industry, size of the business, and
stability of future costs . For the agro-based industries
and the mining-firms, the need to control the firm's economic
resources, the need to build new infra-structures, size
of business, and the level of competition in the industry
were important.
It is appreciated that much remains to be done towards
developing models that can be suitably used for empirically
testing these factors to see their influence on such firms
The study suggests that further research is needed to determine
whether vertically integrated firms perform better than
those firms that are not. | en |
