Detailansicht

Risk is an inevitable and important feature in every area of business. The reality of business is that profit is a reward for bearing risk, and no risk implies no financial gain. Firms, including farm firms, are subject to many uncertainties and risks. The consequences of farmer's decisions and of exogenous events in farming are often not known with certainty until after those decisions or events have occurred, resulting in outcomes that may be better or worse than expected. Thus the farm firm's task is to manage risk effectively, and to remain within the capacity of the individual, business or group to withstand adverse outcomes. The firm's profit maximizing goal is also modified in response to various sources of risk and the decision maker's attitude toward risk. This book describes the context of the swine industry in Thailand and reviews the theoretical framework of risk attitudes and risk management strategies. The research employs cross-sectional primary data on swine producers in northern Thailand in order to examine attitudes toward risk using two different approaches, one based on economic models and one based on non-economic models. The relationship patterns between risk sources and risk management strategies are identified using factor analysis. The association of socio-economic and demographic characteristics, farm organisation status, and farm practices with the risk sources and the risk management strategies are examined using OLS regression analysis. The book confirms the importance of risk to commercial swine producers and demonstrates that the most important factor causing the pig cycle phenomenon is the price and production risk factor, a factor which can be managed at the farm level by applying appropriate farm organisation and farm management practices. The five main risk management strategies applied by the swine producers include farm specialization, farm responsiveness, animal husbandry improvement, farm finances and farm reserves.