Company Overview:

Københavns Fødevarefællesskab (KBHFF), which is located in Copenhagen, is a member driven food co-
operative organization in Denmark. The company does not focus on profit like to the ordinary profit-
driven supermarket chains. All eight departments of the company are located around Copenhagen and
where they offer local, seasonal, organic and biodynamic produce fruits and vegetables which are tastier
with great quality and the members can get them with reasonable prices. All members act as co-owners
of the firm and everybody can participate in the decision making related to the operation and
development of the company. All decisions concerned with products and economy are taken by the
consent of all members, and every single member has the right to influence these decisions. Any profit
from sales is used to reduce the price of the vegetables as well developing various socially responsible
projects in the city.

Company Principles
 The company trade directly with small scale farmers through a close, trust-based relationship to
support the business of idealistic farmers and local economy more broadly which is an alternative to
large scale farming of the export markets.
 The primarily focuses in setting new standards for organic farming and sustainability by buying
directly from producers who make an extra effort regarding soil fertility, environment, climate and
biodiversity.
 The company performs on concrete solutions towards a locally founded food culture that is
done by dealing with local farmers, making recipes and cook books, community dinners, workshops
and lectures but, of course, keeping quality, freshness, seasonality, and community as central
elements.
 The company is non-hierarchical organization and everybody can contribute in many different
ways and on many different levels. In other words the organization is a civil society and volunteer-
driven engagement in practice.
 The company always avoids food waste both in the field and shops by buying products which do
not necessarily conform to the standard requirements of supermarkets and by primarily buying goods
pre-ordered by our members respectively. If we do have any leftovers we donate it to various causes
in the city.
 The company receive the goods in return boxes and pack the vegetables in canvas bags thereby
minimizing the packaging.
 Structure of the Company

Types of Memberships

In the company there are two types of memberships. One can choose either to be a regular member
(volunteer / frivillig) or a "support" member (støttemedlem). All members require paying a one-time
sign-up fee of 100 kr. to create their account. All members pay 200 kr. as yearly membership fee in May
of every year and this membership amount is discussed and fixed during the general assembly in April.
The price of retail produce and products remain same for all members. Sometimes extra bags
(løssalgsposer) are available in the retail section which can be bought for 125 kr. regardless of the type
of membership. One can change membership type whenever the members want around the year.
Regular Members (Volunteers / Frivillige)
 The member needs to contribute to the organization by working 3 hours every month. There are
many different working groups with various shifting types (packing produce, welcoming members in
the departments, website communication, logistics, driver, board, IT, etc.).
 Selling price of one bag of vegetable is 115kr, where a fruit bag costs 55 kr.
 Prices of every bag of seasonally available potato, asparagus and mushroom are 19 kr., 55 kr.
and 30 kr. respectively.
Support Members (Støttemedlemmer)
 The members are not expected to volunteer like regular member.
 Selling price of one bag of vegetable is 140 kr. where a fruit bag costs 55 kr.
 Prices of every bag of seasonally available potato, asparagus and mushroom are 19 kr., 55 kr.
and 30 kr. respectively. (Københavns Fødevarefællesskab (KBHFF),2018)

Methodology
This section represents the methodology for this study in order to achieve the research aims and
objectives. This section has several stages. Firstly the research approach and strategy are outlined.
Secondly the methods of data collection and sources and the data analysis method are also explained.
Finally, the limitations and constraints of the research methodology are outlined.

The case company was selected when one of our group members mentioned about the company that
had agreed to provide necessary information required doing our research project. The company showed
their interest to our project because that might help them to understand more about their budgeting
system, strategy or long term goal as well as their management structure. We also found the company
very interesting when we heard that the company has not yet set any long term business goal and has a
unique management system. We applied a case study approach for qualitative method and a survey
research approach for quantitative method. For the case study, the primary data source was an
interview with the person in charge of the company’s finances and also remain involves in the part of
the budgeting process. There was also access to the company’s budgets from previous years as well as
other relevant data. For the survey research, our primary source of data was from the survey
questionnaire that we supplied to the members of the company to receive individual responses. The
questionnaire was made with 5 point likert scale questions with some multiple choices of questions.

Research Approach:

Depending on the nature of a research question, a researcher can choose from three alternatives.
These alternatives are quantitative approach, qualitative approach and a mix of both/mixed
method/triangulation.

In Quantitative approach numerical data are collected and then they are used to explain phenomena’s
(questionnaires, theories) and later are analyzed statistically. This approach is sort of flexible because of
the fact that it can be used to study unlimited number of phenomena’s.

On the other hand, qualitative approach encompassing of a wider ranges of methods (interviews, case
studies etc.) which are used by researchers to elucidate phenomenon. It also analyzes the subjective
nature of reality. (UKEssays, 2003)
The combination of both approaches within the study of the same phenomenon is often called
triangulation or mixed method.

For the purpose of this report, we did the qualitative approach and quantitative approach separately.

Research Strategy

Case Study Research:

A case study approach was implemented in order to meet the research objectives under the qualitative
research approach. A case study is defined as an intensive examination of particular phenomena’s that is
acknowledged by the understanding and analysis of complex issues and they add strength to previous
research materials. When a holistic and in-depth investigation is needed to carry out then a case study is
an ideal methodology for that.

Case study method is mainly useful for theory development and testing them and this can be done by
using any of three approaches: exploratory, explanatory or descriptive. All of these types of case study
methods are useful in single or multiple case applications. (UKEssays, 2003)

As is evident from the foregoing, a case study strategy is the most suitable for the qualitative research as
the purpose of this research is to understand KBHFF’s budgeting and decision making processes.

Method of Data Collection:

In order to gain a better insight about the case, an semi-structured interview was conducted via zoom
on 13th of November at 10:00 o’ clock with Susie Pedersen, who is a member of Board of Directors of
KBHFF and also responsible for laying out the budgets and making the financial reports. We informed
her that the details she provided in the interview will be kept confidential. The interview was recorded
with her consent. The interview was about 46:03 minutes long. We had not planned for such a long
interview but due to the polite and cooperative nature of the Interviewee, it stretched more than
expected. The interviewee made sure that we were fully satisfied with all the questions we wanted to
ask. As a result, we got all the information needed to carry on this project.

Analysis:

The interview was transcribed and thematic analysis was conducted. The transcribed interview was
coded with inductive coding approach. The coding was done in two rounds, to get deeper insights of the
data and to make it more relevant to the research question. The codes were categorized under specific
headings such as meeting, budgets, making decisions, general assembly and text related to BOD.
Themes were developed by understanding the categories and the context behind it.

All the information about budgeting usages and decentralized management system were carefully
examined and used in assessing how they asses their budget and the literature had been followed.
Research strategy

Survey:

Survey is one of the most widely used methods to provide a representative sample of the area of study
and serves as an efficient and effective means of looking at a far greater number of variables. It involves
eliciting information from respondents which can be achieved through postal questionnaires, telephone
interviews and personal interviews, online interviews and etc. Survey research usually deals with studies
on how people perceive and behave and its primary purpose is to determine how these variables are
related with each other. The survey strategy gives the researcher more control over the research
process. The collecting quantitative data for the research can be analyzed quantitatively by using the
descriptive and inferential statistics. (UKEssays, 2003)

Method of Data Collection:

After the survey has been carefully designed, it was time for us to collect the survey data. The survey
consisted of 7 multiple choices of questions and 6 questions were measured on a 5-point Likert scale .
The multiple choice questions of the survey were a section with demographic questions in order to get
to know the background of each respondent. The survey questions were with 5-point Likert scale where
we intended to know what did the members think about current organization structure. The
questionnaire was developed by using survey- xact software and the survey question was made both in
Danish and English language. We used random sampling method to collect our data. The aim was to
conduct the survey with near about 1200 members of the company from 23 rd November to 1st
December 2020 through different Facebook group of KBHFF members and also through sending email to
some of the members. The survey was taken less than 5 minutes to complete and 26 members
responded. Because not all surveys were fully completed, 15 survey results were included in the
analysis. The sample data was used to investigate the overall satisfaction of members at KBHFF
considering the current organization management approach strategy. Our primary purpose was to
analyze the data from surveys to see what the main factors behind the outcome are.

Analysis:

After collecting the data, the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) were used to organize,
compute, and analyze those data. We did descriptive statistics analysis of our collected data in terms of
frequency, mean, and standard deviation. We have also used two ANOVA testing but due to the size of
the sample we could not able to confer anything. We were doing an analysis to try to identify if seniority
influences how much decision power the board of directors have or how frequent members think that
the general meeting should be and these helped us to identify if seniority influences the preferred
management styles.

Theoretical Framework:

Decision making: Based on the contingency theory on decision making

The literature on decision making is multidisciplinary, voluminous, and complex. It runs the range from
personal decision making through classroom decision making to organizational decision making. It is at
different times intuitive, mathematical, philosophical, and empirical. It is rooted in economic theory,
political theory, organizational theory, and social psychology. In a word, it is daunting. There is no lack of
studying and theorizing about decision making, but there is a need to synthesize the work if it is to be
useful.

Decision-making theories, like most explanations in the social sciences, are probabilistic not
deterministic. One can make technically correct decisions and fail to achieve the anticipated ends. Such is
the nature of predicting human behavior. We can improve the odds of success through thoughtful
decision making, but we are never assured of the outcomes. Simply put, sometimes good decisions don’t
work out. This doesn’t impugn systematic decision making; rather, it is a comment on the complexity of
administration. (Tarter et al 1998)

The core contingency theory paradigm:

Structural contingency theory contains three core elements that together form its core paradigm. First,
there is an association between contingency and the organizational structure. Second contingency
determines the organizational structure, because an organization that changes its contingency then, in
consequence, changes its structure. Third, there is a fit of some level of organizational structural variable
to each level of the contingency, which leads to higher performance, whereas misfit leads to lower
performance. This fit performance relationship is the heart of the contingency theory paradigm.

(Donaldson, 2001)

Contingency theory of organizations:

The contingency theory of organization structure may be integrated by stating that there are two main
contingencies, task and size, with the task contingency being composed of task-uncertainty and task
interdependence. There are two main contingency theories of organizational structure: organic theory
and bureaucracy theory. Task uncertainty is the main contingency of the organic theory, with task
interdependence playing the role of minor contingency. Size is the main contingency of bureaucracy
theory with task interdependence, once again playing the minor role. (Donaldson, 2001)
Reference:

1. Kbhff.dk. Official Website (online) available at: https://kbhff.dk/english.

(Accessed 19 December, 2020)

2+ 3: UkEssays.com. Official Website (online) available at:

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/limitations-of-case-study-approach-psychology-
essay.php . (Accessed 19 December, 2020).

4. UkEssays.com. Official Website (online) available at:

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-survey-methods-
management-essay.php. (Accessed 19 December, 2020).

5. Tarter, CJ., K. Hoy, W.(1998) Toward a contingency theory of decision making. Journal of Educational
Administration. (Online),pp-225-227. Available from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44826496_Toward_a_contingency_theory_of_decision_mak
ing. (Accessed 19 December, 2020)

6+7: Donaldson, L (2001). The Contingency Theory of Organizations. California: Sage Publications Inc.

Available at:

https://books.google.dk/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=hXroN8btsN8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=The+contingency+theory+of+Organizations,
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PnZC5A1O8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=The%20contingency%20theory%20of%20Organizations%2C
%20Lex%20Donaldson%2C%20Sage%20Publications%20Inc&f=false