Business Commons^™

Knoxville Area Rescue Mission And Ut Fraternity System, Armond M. Agassi

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Three Essays On The Influence Of Formal Institutions On Entrepreneurship., Michael David Crum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of three essays in which I examine the influence of formal institutions on entrepreneurs and new firms. In the first essay, "The Influence of Institutions on the Likelihood of Self-Employment: A Multilevel Analysis," I examine how institutions at the country-level are related to the likelihood that individuals in those country are self-employed. Country-level measures of formal institutions are paired with individual-level data on self-employment from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Reynolds et al., 2005). Using the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World index and the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom separately as measures of institutions, …

Mueller Game Bird Farm Business Plan, Karl Mueller

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the results from the development of a business plan for Mueller Game Bird Farm which specializes in raising bobwhite quail for hunters, falconers, and other hobbyists. The plan uses current research with personal experience to develop a realistic approach to fit the needs of this business.

A business plan is a document that will continually change as the business grows and develops. This plan is for the business at the current stage of producing 500 bobwhite quail per year and discusses plans for growth over the next three years as well as strategies to obtain that …

Rct Hospitality Consultants, Llc: The Making Of The Business Plan, Rachel C. Tyler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction

Owning a small business is the dream for many Americans. Now more than ever this is true as many people have been laid off and are looking to utilize their skills while being their own boss. The focus of this paper is to determine if the author should start a consulting company full-time.

A hospitality consulting business with a focus on sales and marketing has been a goal of this author’s and as we emerge out of a recession. As possibility of a double-dip recession exists it is important to have a business framework that leads a small business …

Preparation Of A New Business: Shanghai Studio, Wai Hung Wu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this professional paper is to develop a business plan for a hair salon studio concept that emphasizes customer focus and social responsibility.

Does Money Matter? Investigating The Financing Of Emerging Firms, Casey Frid

All Dissertations

In this dissertation I investigate start-up financing by nascent entrepreneurs in the United States between 2005 and 2010. By nascent entrepreneur, I mean individuals who are in the process of creating a new business, but the business itself is not yet affecting prices and quantities in the market. Nearly all research on financing has focused on established firms. Little work, however, has been done on how entrepreneurs acquire and use financial resources during the earliest stages of the firm creation process. The availability of financial resources has been linked to firm growth and survivability, and understanding how entrepreneurs use and …

"Motorbike Guide For Westerners": Entrepreneurial Development And The Creation Of A Cultural Tourism Product In Transitional Vietnam, Karl Russell Kirby

Masters Theses

Vietnam is undergoing economic transition from a command economy to an economy with greater market characteristics. Transition is fundamentally reshaping the country through economic liberalization and increased exposure to foreign markets. The Vietnamese are developing institutions necessary for market growth and international tourists are arriving in ever-larger numbers. This research project is a case study of businesses that provide guided motorbike tours and evaluates the businesses based on two criteria: as a study of institutional growth during economic transition and as an examination of tourism production through guide interpretation. The author interviewed and observed sixteen guides in Vietnam—from Dalat in …

Detrimental Effects Of Interventions With The Corporate Governance Mechanisms Of Young Entrepreneurial Firms, Guclu M. Atinc

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assess the post-IPO performance structures of young entrepreneurial firms. Based on the propositions of the signaling model, I propose that the firm IPO performance is a determining factor in post-IPO changes in ownership structures. Furthermore, I contend that the new owners that replace the original ones in young IPO firms will be prone to request changes in corporate governance mechanisms such as top management team membership and the boards of directors based on the need to have their own agents looking after their interests as recommended by the agency theory. Following these alterations …

Sunshine Café: A Breakfast Restaurant Business Plan, Lillian I. Burrow

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to create a business plan for the SunShine Café. While the commonly known statistic of 90% of restaurants fail within the first year is false, approximately 60% of restaurants do fail within their first three years of operation (Parsa, Self, Njite, & King, 2005). The problem for entrepreneurs starting a restaurant is how does one reduce this risk of failure.

One way to minimize this risk is to create a business plan. Thus the main objective of this paper is to create a business plan that will not only help the restaurant develop …

The Management Of An Indigenous Hotel Chain Company In China: A Case Study Of Sichuan Minshan Hotel Corporation, Yinglin Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Justification:

The hotel industry has a comparatively lower threshold for market entry. This has enabled many international foreign competitors to successfully take up a fairly large share of this market. The competition in this emerging industry in China is becoming increasingly fierce as time progresses. Due to the pressure of growing number of foreign competitors, some indigenous hotels in China have started to follow in their footsteps and expand their sister properties across the country. However managing hotel chain properties is still new to most of these indigenous hotel chain organizations and the hotel chain effects of maximizing profits have …

Research Study Proposal For Nightlife Company (San Francisco, Ca), Trevor Hewitt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction:

This research proposal proposes a study to evaluate the differences in consumer spending amongst a company’s three types of customers (pre-sale ticketed, paid admission, free admission) once granted entry to one of the company’s nightclub venues in order to evaluate the optimal supply mix of customer type to maximize revenues. Since the company’s venue has a finite customer capacity limit due to safety and fire regulations and laws and it generally reaches these legal capacity levels on the vast majority of the nights it is open for business (leaving surplus customers unable to enter the venue), the proposed research …

Business Plan For 1st Street Diner And Nightclub, Brian D. Deets

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A business plan was created for a diner and nightclub located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, and the concept was found to be unique to the Des Moines area. The downtown community is home to sixty-six American-cuisine eateries, is under continued development, and looking to house more restaurant and entertainment establishments. Des Moines has a five-county metropolitan area with a population of 562,000 and Des Moines alone is home to 200,000 people. The downtown community is growing, and with the projected employment outlook to rise 11%, downtown’s 77,000 employees will also increase. These findings suggest that there is a market …

Market Research For Kenz Kouture Accessories, Mackenzie Kassis

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

Kenz Kouture is a recently developed business venture specializing in handmade jewelry. This study was conducted to understand the market and the consumer’s wants and needs of the products and prices of this new venture. The purpose of this study was to assess the market, product development, and potential success for the custom jewelry company, Kenz Kouture. Topics for the literature review included consumer buying behavior and entrepreneurship. An online questionnaire was distributed using Facebook and utilized snowball sampling to gather data from 238 subjects. The results indicate Kenz Kouture’s current fan base and product base have the potential to …

Public Relations: The Importance Of Community Relationships Between Small-Businesses And The Community, Jayne Elizabeth Crabtree

Journalism

With the downturn of the economy public relations has been one of the first departments to be discontinued in many businesses as an effort to save more money. This paper addresses the importance of community relationships, particularly in the small town of Cambria, California. The importance of the building relationships will be addressed from the prospective of successful Cambrian businesses currently involved in the community, as well as the perspective of one business not yet getting involved, The Tea Cozy.

Recommendations For Economic Development In Guadalupe, Ca, Larissa Requa Heeren

Master's Theses

It is recommended that the City of Guadalupe prepare and implement a small-scale business expansion and retention program using existing service providers in the area. This type of program model seems to hold the most potential for Guadalupe. A mixed-methods approach including in-depth cases studies of existing economic development programs and an analysis of opportunities and constraints in Guadalupe informs a set recommendations for future economic development in the City. Data was collected in three phases: short interviews with a variety of economic development program staff, short interviews with Guadalupe business owners and City officials and in-depth interviews with staff …

Facebook And College Students: Is Marketing Effective, Kelsey Craig

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Essays On Gross Receipts Taxes, Zhou Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation focuses on the incentives and economic effects of gross receipts taxes (GRTs) versus corporate income taxes (CITs). Conventional wisdom holds that GRTs are very poor tax instruments; however, several states have shown renewed interest in GRTs since 2002. An interesting question to ask is why states are reconsidering GRTs in spite of all criticisms. Are GRTs really as bad as what conventional wisdom says? There is little rigorous theoretical or empirical work on GRTs. My dissertation aims to help fill this gap by providing both theoretical and empirical analysis on the comparative advantages and disadvantages of GRTs versus …

Addressing Homelessness Through The Private Sector, Mindy Nakamura

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Application Of Creative Leadership Skills In The Education And Mentoring Of Social Entrepreneurs: A Graduate Level Course, Maria J. Rivera

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The purpose of this project is to fully comprehend the state of social entrepreneurship education through research, and consequently, to design a course on how to apply creative leadership skills to educate and mentor social entrepreneurs and to enhance their problem solving skills. The outcome of the project is a course proposal to build inter-disciplinary knowledge and skills.

Capital One “Getting Down To Business”: A Program Analysis Of Old South Baton Rouge Neighborhood Businesses In The Context Of Economic Revitalization And Small Business Development, Laura Carleton

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Packaging Solution For Ifixit’S Retail Venture, Myles Bradwell, Torrance Terzian

Industrial Technology and Packaging

One of the chief concerns of any business is to maintain steady, profitable growth in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The only way to achieve this goal is to constantly evaluate the company’s strength and position within that marketplace, and look for ways to improve. The iFixit company has established itself as a leader in providing quality replacement components, tools, and repair instruction for customers who wish to repair their own modern electronic devices. iFixit approached the students at Cal Poly to develop a solution for differentiating their primarily online business into a retail sales environment.

This senior project is a …

A Study Of The Feasibility Of Establishing A Spray And Fertilizer Equipment Outlet Store In The Paso Robles Area., Daniel C. Rodriguez

Agribusiness

The purpose of this feasibility study was to establish whether or not the proposed spray and fertilizer equipment outlet store could be opened and be profitable in the target area. The goal was to be profitable within two years of operations. Personal interviews proved to be important to estimate the preliminary budgets of the outlet store. Pertinent financial information was evaluated by proforma financials. This information proved useful as to estimate yearly profits/losses for the business and to accept or reject the author’s hypothesis.

After the study was concluded and all of the figures were evaluated by the author, it …

Find Oz And Lula Fundraising Event, Natalie Do, Rebecca Leong

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Modern American Entrepreneur: Characteristics, Formative Legislation, And Modern Education, Jeremy S. Office

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

This research began by exploring traits and characteristics of the American entrepreneur. It continued by offering a history of these individuals, focusing primarily on the history of laws and regulations which have both positively and adversely affected the practice of entrepreneurialism in the United States. Current laws that affect entrepreneurship, along with the current state of entrepreneurial education in business schools, are explored in depth. This study concludes that the current system of business regulations and entrepreneurial education are flawed and that their failings have produced generations of business students who are unable to reach their full potential. A brief …

Transcending Technological Innovation: The Impact Of Acquisitions On Entrepreneurial Technical Organizations, Bruce Crochetiere

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Technology firms with substantial cash reserves acquire smaller entrepreneurial firms for diversification. In 2006, 3 large firms acquired 28 organizations, with the combined deals exceeding {dollar}4.7 billion. The problem addressed in this study is that new start-up companies with innovative ideas may not mature when they are acquired by larger companies and do not fully articulate potential industry-transcending innovation. This is important because the unsuccessful integration of an acquisition can dismantle innovation and compromises economic inventiveness. Drawing from the disruptive innovation and the resource-based theories, the purpose of the quasi-experimental study was to examine the impact of acquisition by larger …

An Examination Of Small Businesses' Propensity To Adopt Cloud-Computing Innovation, Steven E. Powelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem researched was small business leaders' early and limited adoption of cloud computing. Business leaders that do not use cloud computing may forfeit the benefits of its lower capital costs and ubiquitous accessibility. Anchored in a diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey study was to examine if there is a relationship between small business leaders' view of cloud-computing attributes of compatibility, complexity, observability, relative advantage, results demonstrable, trialability, and voluntariness and intent to use cloud computing. The central research question involved understanding the extent to which each cloud-computing attribute relate to small business leaders' …

The Next Catalyst For Change: How Corporate Shared Value Is Reshaping Capitalism, Emily Davenport

CMC Senior Theses

Both corporations and their global conglomerates are looking into the face of an evolving idea of capitalism. As businesses become more intertwined with society, this special relationship is becoming increasingly deterministic of the condition of the world. This paper explores the possibility that if businesses integrate shared value -- a way to combine economic and social value -- into their long-term business plans, that not only will society be better off, but the businesses themselves may be able to explore previously unrecognized potential for profits.

A Comparative Study Of How Social Media And Web 2.0 Tools, Such As Facebook, Twitter And Viral Marketing, Can Be Used By Small Businesses, To Integrate A Business Strategy Of Augmenting The Company Profile And Awareness With Their Publics, Robyn Foley

Theses

The object of this dissertation was to explore the public relations techniques implemented by small businesses located in Cork.

Angel Financing: Matching Start-Up Firms With Angel Investors, Emily M. Rodriguez

CMC Senior Theses

The hardest time to receive financing for a venture is at its earliest stage. These ventures are among the riskiest investments for an investor, which creates a gap in financing that is often bridged through a source of funding called Angel Financing. Angel investors are one of the best providers of early stage funding. This thesis will explain what angel investing is, how they work, and what angels look for. This information will help entrepreneurs be better equipped to find an angel investor for their venture.

Three Essays On Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Carole Louise Cangioni

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The association between entrepreneurial activity and economic growth appears to be robust: the source of half of job creation emanates from new ventures which, in addition, are a source of technical and market innovation as well as higher labor productivity (Gartner, Shaver, Carter, & Reynolds, 2004). Also, there is a growing percentage of ethnic entrepreneurship in immigrant receiving metropolitan areas, and marginal economic conditions, often experienced by immigrants, increase self-employment. According to the U.S. Census Bureau: "By 2010, Hispanics will be the largest minority group in the U.S with more than 20% of the nation's population" and "minorities, now roughly …