Date of Award

3-2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

Timothy S. Reed, PhD

Abstract

The Small Business Act requires that small business concerns be afforded the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in Federal contracts and subcontracts. The contract dollars awarded to small businesses by the Air Force have been on the decline for several years and the Air Force is not meeting its small business award goals. This thesis is a follow-on research effort to that conducted by Mr. Bruce Miller (GAQ-2M) who proposed a connection between the Lean Aerospace Initiative's (LAI) Purchasing and Supplier Management (PSM) principles and declining small business participation. The purpose of this research is to determine if the LAI's PSM Principles are acting as entry barriers to small manufacturing/parts supplier businesses attempting to enter the DoD aerospace market. Market entry barriers discourage new entrants into a market, thus providing an advantage to firms already within a market. This advantage or lack of competition can result in higher prices which are paid with taxpayer funds out of dwindling Air Force budgets. If market entry barriers do exist, efforts can be taken to "level the playing field", increase competition, expand the industrial base, and ultimately make more efficient use of dwindling funds.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GAQ-ENV-03-04

DTIC Accession Number

ADA413433

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