Business Commons^™

The Relationship Between Startups’ Early Adoption Of Digital Platforms And Startups’ Pre-Money Valuation, Bader Hassan Faqeeh

Dissertations

The objective of this study was to explore whether there was a significant positive relationship between startups’ early adoption of the digital platforms, namely, 1) mobile application, 2) a premium domain name website, and 3) the existence of active startup social media accounts, and startups’ pre-money valuation. To achieve this objective, this research used a relatively novel method in entrepreneurial research to collect data, whereby LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator was used along with an automation tool in order to send hundreds of automated connection and message requests to investors on LinkedIn who were sent a copy of the survey questions along …

Successfully Scaling Digital Technology Ventures: An Empirical Study Of The Strategic Choices That Maximize Firm Value, Scott Morris

Dissertations

Our study aims to understand the choices managers working for subscription-based digital ventures must make at arguably the most critical juncture of their firm’s lifecycle. With few slack resources to repair mistakes, managers at these scaling firms must make decisions that are larger in scope and scale than in the start-up phase. Tradeoffs are often required as decision-makers face choices such as investing more resources in sales and marketing to drive growth or in product development to improve quality and add new products or features. In many instances, the question is whether to forego some growth opportunities to maximize profitability …

An Exploratory Study Of Entrepreneurial Intention Among Hispanic Entrepreneurs In Toronto, Jorge Perez Moreno

Dissertations

The Problem

Entrepreneurship scholars have claimed that immigrants are more likely to become self-employed due to limited job opportunities, access to social networks, cultural background, necessity, and education and skills. However, the entrepreneurial experience of Hispanic immigrants in Toronto has yet to be examined. This quantitative study examined the attitudes, norms, and perceptions influencing entrepreneurial intention and the factors that encourage self-employment continuation among immigrants in Canada.

Method

This study used a survey questionnaire of ninety-four Hispanic entrepreneurs in Toronto to comprehend their entrepreneurial intention. It examined their proficiencies, studied their business characteristics, and predicted their behavior toward self employment …

Entrepreneurship And Heterogeneity Among Firms' Strategies: Three Essays, Xi Zhang

Dissertations

The first essay of this dissertation focuses on the entrepreneurship survival in the early stage, during which time an entrepreneur plays the game at the "edge of chaos" and improvises in real-time to learn the strategic playing field. It examines the social networks of entrepreneurs and the impact on new venture survival. Specifically, it explores how the entrepreneurs' social connections with other entrepreneurs and their types of employment differentially affect survival during the different stages of the entrepreneurial journey in the United States and India. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset, this study documents not only how the social …

Executive Peer Advisory Groups: Who They Are? What Are Their Benefits? Why Do Members Join And Stay?, Andrew Feghali

Dissertations

Executive peer advisory groups (EPAGs) are exclusive organizations in which chief executive officers (CEOs) and presidents of businesses can problem solve business challenges, discuss business strategies, share best practices, and solve critical growth and performance issues. Executive peer advisory groups are based on the premise that the collective experience and resources of peer groups empower like-minded executives to solve challenges more effectively and more rapidly than they could do on their own. A key component of EPAGs is the forum, in which six to 16 members meet, typically monthly, in small-group sessions to function as each other’s personal advisory boards. …

A Phenomenological Study To Describe How Hispanic Entrepreneur Women Use Mark Crowley’S Four Principles To Accomplish Extraordinary Results, Elizabeth Vargas

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how exemplary Hispanic entrepreneur women lead from the heart using Crowley’s four principles (building a highly engaged team, connecting on a personal level, maximizing employee potential, and valuing and honoring achievements) to accomplish extraordinary results in their organizations.

Methodology: A qualitative phenomenological research approach was used in this study to illuminate the lived experiences of exemplary Hispanic entrepreneur women. A sample of eight Hispanic entrepreneur women from the target population in Southern California was chosen. The sample of eight Hispanic entrepreneur women was chosen using predetermined criteria. Each participant was …

How Exemplary Black Women Leaders Use Influence To Achieve Extraordinary Results, Catrena Elliott

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe how exemplary Black women business leaders (BWBL) influence employees through personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability.

Methodology: This phenomenological study research design identified and explored how 10 exemplary BWBL who have achieved extraordinary results influence employees through personal motivation, social motivation, structural motivation, personal ability, social ability, and structural ability. Participants were selected from exemplary BWBL in Southern California and Northern California who fulfilled the study’s requirements. Interviews, observations, and artifacts were used to gather data. To identify study findings, data …

Barriers And Enablers To Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems As Perceived By Change Agents In The Workplace, Shanda Barrett

Dissertations

This study explores factors that influence entrepreneurial ecosystems. Clifton (2010, 2015) recommends entrepreneurship, better business models, and new business startups as a solution for economic renewal in the United States and specifically identifies disengaged workers and low-energy workplaces as the starting point. The recommendation does not address how to make workplaces conducive to entrepreneurial activity, nor does the recommendation address how to engage entrepreneurial employees.

Existing literature outlines the known tensions between theory, anecdotal evidence, and the professional practice of building entrepreneurial ecosystems. To date, the term entrepreneurial ecosystem exists as a metaphor in the extant literature. While scholars have …

Value Creation By Private Equity Firms: A Resource-Based View, Kei Pang

Dissertations

Despite the growing importance of the private equity (PE) industry in the United States, it is unclear how PE firms create value. This study contributes to the PE literature and strategic management research by examining PE firm resources and competencies that drive the success of equity-backed management buyout deals. Specifically, my work proposes a framework to describe the key value creation drivers and sub-drivers that position PE firms for success in all four stages of the PE value chain: Fund Raising, Deal Sourcing, Governing/Managing, and Exiting. I utilize Porter’s (1985) value chain analysis (VCA) and the resource-based view (RBV) to …

Do User-Generated Ratings Affect Hotel Valuations? – An Analysis Of The Chicago Hotel Market, Shailesh Patel

Dissertations

Today’s travelers are increasingly relying on aggregated online opinions to make purchase decisions. One of the sectors most impacted by these online reviews is the hospitality industry, where consumer review websites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Bookings.com play a critical role in influencing consumer's choice of hotel and the price they will pay for the room. Recently, there have been studies investigating the various aspects of user-generated online reviews and ratings. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of user-generated ratings on hotel valuations. Our paper does this using regression analysis to study the impact of TripAdvisor …

Institutional Logics And The Double Bottom Line: A Study Of Chikum Microfinance Bank Limited, Daniel Anyanwu

Dissertations

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) serve a social mission, while also having to focus on financial sustainability. Microfinance emerged as an alternative to traditional aid to the poor and aims to help alleviate poverty through providing them with financial services. MFIs can be self-sustainable and even profitable through income generating activities. This twin goal of commercial viability and social mission has generated much scholarly interest in the competition between two seemingly incompatible logics of action. Assumptions about the incompatibility of profit and mission motives have dominated the literature and led to a neglect of how some MFIs may be successful in integrating …

Factors Of Women-Founded High-Growth Technology Startup, Renee Gillard

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to identify and describe critical startup factors of high-growth technology startups as identified by women founders in Seattle, Washington.

Methodology: This mixed-method study identified and described 15 women founders of high-growth technology startups in Seattle. Participants were chosen based on specific criteria and recommendations of a sponsor and expert panel. Interviews were conducted with the participants and they completed an online survey.

Findings: Ten major findings emerged from the data. Founders fostered a strong network of professional and personal relationships to help develop and solidify their identity; they also …

Meaning Makers: A Mixed-Method Case Study Of Exemplary Small Business Owner Leaders And The Strategies They Use To Create Personal And Organizational Meaning, Margaret S. Ohlhaver

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this replication of a thematic, mixed-method case study was to identify and describe the behaviors that small business owner leaders use to create personal and organizational meaning for themselves and their followers through character, vision, relationships, wisdom, and inspiration.

Methodology. Qualitative interviews with exemplary small business owners were conducted to capture their insights on how they used behaviors associated with character, vision, relationships, wisdom, and inspiration to create personal and organizational meaning. In a quantitative survey, followers of each small business owner leader participants were asked to assess how important each of the variable behaviors were …

The Leadership Role Of Management Accountants As It Contributes To Innovation And Entrepreneurship In Start-Up Businesses In Southern California, Paula Edwards

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand and describe the leadership role of managerial accountants as it contributes to innovation in start-up businesses in Southern California.

Methodology: The methodology used to understand and describe the leadership role of managerial accountants as it contributes to the innovation and entrepreneurship in start-up businesses in Southern California was a qualitative study. The study participants included 12 entrepreneurs who had started a business in the last five years, had utilized a management accountant on a part-time, full-time or consultant basis and are located in the San Diego, Orange, or Los …

Identifying Cross-Country Key Drivers Of Social Entrepreneurial Activity, Cris Bravo

Dissertations

Governmental and philanthropic efforts alone are not sufficient to eradicate poverty. The world needs new frameworks that enable sustainable development by integrating the economic, social and environmental dimensions, and social entrepreneurship is of great interest because it has the capacity for facilitating societal change by fostering innovative ways to address social inequality, unemployment, and climate change. Precisely because social entrepreneurship lays at the intersection of the business and nonprofit worlds, it is a complex phenomenon, and there are many unknowns regarding how the convergence of these dimensions can be understood and managed at cross-national levels.

To investigate this phenomenon, this …

Self-Perceptions Of Black Entrepreneurship In A Black Majority Rural Context - The Mississippi Delta, Timla G Washington

Dissertations

This studyexplored questions regarding the perceived influences (agency and structural) to successful Black entrepreneurship according to Black entrepreneurs living in the counties in the Mississippi Delta where Black people are the majority of the population. The examination questioned Black entrepreneurs in 13 counties in the Mississippi Delta on the perceived impact of agency and structural factors (i.e., human capital, social capital, industry type, financial capital, intergenerational link, discrimination, state government, Black elected officials, access to resources, opportunity, location) in relation to their success. One finding was that agency factors are the leading perceived influence on the success of Black entrepreneurs …

The Relationship Between The Human And Social Capital Characteristics Of Nascent Entrepreneurs And Expected Job Growth In The United States, William Dwight Burge

Dissertations

The global financial crisis (GFC) that began in 2007 negatively impacted new business creation (Davidsson & Gordon, 2015). Entrepreneurship has been identified as a viable way to generate jobs in the United States since the 1970s (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2014). However, the literature suggests that there has been a decline in entrepreneurship in the United States (Clifton, 2015; Singh & Ogbolu, 2015). Capital is important to those individuals involved in entrepreneurship (Cetindamar, Gupta, Karadeniz, & Egrican, 2012), specifically, human capital and the social network connections or social capital resources of the entrepreneur (Becker, 1993; Schutjens & Völker, 2010).

This …

Spinning Straw Into Gold: A Study Of Resource Creation, Flow, And Conversion In A Nonprofit Collaboration, Elizabeth A. Castillo

Dissertations

Throughout history people have joined together to improve their individual lives. In the modern era, organizations often work cooperatively to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. Collaborating organizations in the nonprofit sector are increasingly expected to produce system-level change as well. This collective impact approach is under-theorized and therefore not consistently actionable. A central puzzle is how formal nonprofit collaborations acquire resource inputs and transform them into outputs, outcomes, and impact while producing financial returns to sustain the backbone organization. Resource dependence theory is sometimes proposed as an explanatory framework, yet it does not explain the generation of a double bottom …

A Mixed-Methods (Quantitative-Qualitative) Study To Identify The Perceived Level Of, Zeky Zardo

Dissertations

Different approaches to developing leaders have been established through various forms of self-assessment, action learning, and education and training activities (Smither et al., 2005). The existing body of research on the impact and success of college and university leadership development programs focuses heavily on undergraduate leadership programs and not graduate-level programs such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) or the doctorate. The purpose of this mixed-methods (quantitative–qualitative) study was to identify the perceived level of transformational leadership skill development by students enrolled in a doctoral program in organizational leadership. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to …

An Examination Of The Volunteer Coordinator's Influence On Church Volunteers' Intent-To-Continue At The Largest Protestant Churches, Jason Berton Golden

Dissertations

Volunteers contribute to the production of goods and services by easing the burden of the paid workforce while not increasing costs. Today’s volunteers tend to be highly trained, skilled professionals looking for a place to invest their time and skills. Churches are the largest single recipient of many volunteers’ efforts. Despite this fact, volunteerism is on the decline in churches.

Once recruited, attrition rates can climb as high as 40% in the first 12 months following training of volunteers. Therefore, the greatest challenge churches face is turnover. Not only does turnover lead to reduced production; it also incurs added expenditures …

The Effects Of A Combination Of Feedback, Goals, And Consequences On The Performance Of Four Small Businesses, Timothy V. Nolan

Dissertations

Performance measurement approaches such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) offer a format for attending to a few performance metrics rather than several different performance indicators. While the BSC approach offers a nice format for tracking performance, it does not provide a conceptual framework for improving performance. That framework can be found in Behavioral Systems Analysis. The Total Performance System emphasizes the importance of internal and external feedback in improving performance. Several studies have investigated feedback interventions in organizational settings. The intervention found to be most effective is a combination of feedback, goals, and consequences. The purpose of the current study …