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Full-Text Articles in Business

Creation Of A Home Bakery: A Business Plan, Erika Prusak Apr 2022

Creation Of A Home Bakery: A Business Plan, Erika Prusak

Honors Projects

Nothing exemplifies business knowledge more than creation of a business plan, and subsequently, creation of a business. Both pull together business knowledge of marketing, management, accounting, business law, supply chain, and finance. Business knowledge is then tied together with the mentality needed of an entrepreneur to tackle challenges and thrive for the moments when everything works out perfectly. Completing a business plan will organize my ideas and help me see my business clearly. It will help me identifies areas that I need to research more as well as areas I cannot figure out until I start it. My business plan …


Leadership Experiences Of Organization Open Innovation In Caribbean Small And Medium Enterprises, Helen Merlyne Bhola-Paul Jan 2022

Leadership Experiences Of Organization Open Innovation In Caribbean Small And Medium Enterprises, Helen Merlyne Bhola-Paul

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Caribbean Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent 95% of Caribbean businesses and contribute 40% to the region’s GDP; however, they rank lowest at 4% for organization innovation. The general problem addressed in this study was that leaders of SMEs of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean did not have a system in place to lead and promote strategic knowledge sharing to increase open innovation. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the lived experiences of leaders of innovative SMEs in the Windward Islands to manage and lead their organizations to drive organization open innovation in a …


A Dual Perspective Towards Building Resilience In Manufacturing Organizations, Steven A. Fazio Dec 2021

A Dual Perspective Towards Building Resilience In Manufacturing Organizations, Steven A. Fazio

Theses and Dissertations

Modern manufacturing organizations exist in the most complex and competitive environment the world has ever known. This environment consists of demanding customers, enabling, but resource intensive Industry 4.0 technology, dynamic regulations, geopolitical perturbations, and innovative, ever-expanding global competition. Successful manufacturing organizations must excel in this environment while facing emergent disruptions generated as biproducts of complex man-made and natural systems. The research presented in this thesis provides a novel two-sided approach to the creation of resilience in the modern manufacturing organization. First, the systems engineering method is demonstrated as the qualitative framework for building literature-derived organizational resilience factors into organizational structures …


Marketing Strategies Of Successful Coffee Shop Owners, Abi Adeleke Jan 2019

Marketing Strategies Of Successful Coffee Shop Owners, Abi Adeleke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Failure is an issue with small businesses globally; some owners of small businesses lack the knowledge of business administration and marketing strategies necessary to help ensure success. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what marketing strategies some coffee shop owners use to sustain business operations during the first 5 years of operation. The targeted population consisted of 5 coffee shop owners in Arkansas who successfully implemented marketing strategies to sustain business operations during the first 5 years of operation. Goldsmith's 8Ps of marketing mix was the conceptual framework used in the study. Data were collected from …


Midwestern Artists' Responses To The Demands Of Entrepreneurial Management, Carolyn Melissa Nelson-Kavajecz Jan 2019

Midwestern Artists' Responses To The Demands Of Entrepreneurial Management, Carolyn Melissa Nelson-Kavajecz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Artists have the potential to achieve higher levels of success in business management, leadership roles, and entrepreneurial endeavors if equipped with the proper knowledge. Although artists may have a creative perspective and could possess many of the attributes sought after by organizations and communities in need of innovative leaders, their approaches to entrepreneurial management differ from traditional business managers or community leaders. The problem was poor understanding of how artists in Midwestern regions of the United States respond to the demands of entrepreneurial management. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to understand how 20 individuals who self-identified as …


Restaurant Entrepreneurship: Theory And Practice, Margaret Leach Apr 2017

Restaurant Entrepreneurship: Theory And Practice, Margaret Leach

Selected Honors Theses

Mirroring its industry, restaurant entrepreneurship is an expansive, evolving topic. This thesis seeks to answer the question, “How do community-focused restaurants, operated by lifestyle entrepreneurs, launch and scale?” A case study approach is taken and literature regarding restaurant ownership, entrepreneurship, and social enterprise is reviewed. Interviews of ten different non-franchise restaurant owners were obtained and analyzed. The interviewees detailed the processing of launching the venture, scaling and growing the business, and supporting and partnering with the surrounding community.


Sustainability Strategies For Small Business Restaurant Owners, Alisa Williams Jan 2017

Sustainability Strategies For Small Business Restaurant Owners, Alisa Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Half of new businesses in the United States cease to exist after the first 5 years of operations, and the failure rate continues to increase after the first 10 years. The study was grounded on von Bertalanffy's systems theory to explore business strategies that small business restaurant owners use to sustain their business beyond 5 years. Data were collected by engaging 3 small restaurant business owners in the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolis who sustained their business beyond 5 years. Information obtained from face-to-face interviews and data mining organizational document were analyzed with the support of qualitative software to generate themes. …


Strategies For Retaining Employees In The Hospitality Industry, Melvia Edna Scott Jan 2016

Strategies For Retaining Employees In The Hospitality Industry, Melvia Edna Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee retention is a critical issue for business leaders. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported over 4.5 million employee separations in 2014 because of resignations, layoffs, or terminations. Hospitality managers face some of the lowest employee retention rates of any industry, which leads to poor customer satisfaction and decreased profitability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the perceptions of 3 hospitality managers from 3 different mid-sized hospitality organizations in Brevard County, Florida. The conceptual framework for this study was built upon motivation theory; existence, relatedness, and growth theory; and expectancy theory. The data were …


Small Business Survivability Beyond Five Years, Koyandome Freddy Koyagialo Jan 2016

Small Business Survivability Beyond Five Years, Koyandome Freddy Koyagialo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States has a high failure rate of small businesses, with 30% of small business failing within the first 2 years. The objective of this case study was to explore strategies successful small business owners use to achieve profitability beyond 5 years. The purposive sample for this study included 4 owners of successful small businesses in Atlanta, Georgia, who have been in business for at least 5 years. The conceptual framework was built upon disruptive innovation and susceptibility theory. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and company documents. The analysis revealed 3 themes, market research, passion and determination, and …


Leadership Skills For Success Of Home Health Care Agencies, Andrina Yankah Jan 2016

Leadership Skills For Success Of Home Health Care Agencies, Andrina Yankah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business managers often lack the leadership skills necessary to sustain their businesses beyond 5 years. The United States Small Business Administration reported that more than 65% of small business owners, including home health care agency managers, fail within the first 5 years of operation. Guided by Burns and Bass's transformational leadership theory, this multiple case study explored leadership skills that managers in home health care agencies need to sustain their new businesses beyond 5 years. The purposeful sample comprised of 3 managers from 3 different home health care agencies within a 75-mile radius of Baltimore, Maryland, that had demonstrated …


The Impacts Of Founding Teams' Characteristics, Types Of Opportunities, And Types Of Strategies On Firm Performance In New Business Ventures, Kyung-Moon Kim Jul 2013

The Impacts Of Founding Teams' Characteristics, Types Of Opportunities, And Types Of Strategies On Firm Performance In New Business Ventures, Kyung-Moon Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine the impact of the characteristics of founding team on firm performance in new business ventures. In addition, this study investigates the moderating effects of the types of opportunities and the types of strategies on the relationships between founding teams' knowledge and firm performance. Although considerable research has examined the effects of founding teams' education and experience on firm performance, findings are inconclusive and disintegrated. Few studies have attempted to investigate the combined effects of these important factors on new ventures' performance and survival. As a result, this study investigates the impact of founding team knowledge …


Transcending Technological Innovation: The Impact Of Acquisitions On Entrepreneurial Technical Organizations, Bruce Crochetiere Jan 2011

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 …


The Influence Of Spirituality On Servant Leadership Among Small Business Entrepreneurs, Sharilyn D. Franklin Jan 2010

The Influence Of Spirituality On Servant Leadership Among Small Business Entrepreneurs, Sharilyn D. Franklin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Servant leadership, which promotes virtuousness and altruism, is gaining attention as a potential solution to the perceived leadership crisis, as evidenced by the ethical breakdown of some of America's largest corporations. Entrepreneurs, who represent 99% of all employers, play a significant role in the American economy as innovative risk takers and early adopters. As such, it is important to understand how they relate to servant leadership. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore research questions related to (a) the extent to which servant leadership is practiced by small business entrepreneurs, and (b) the relationship between their levels of …


Small Business Success: What Works And What Fails, Scott Decker Apr 2008

Small Business Success: What Works And What Fails, Scott Decker

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Small Business Success: What You Need to Know. The owners of eight successful new businesses (successful defined as at least four years old and owner perceived) were interviewed, as well as the former owners of four unsuccessful businesses. The study showed that while planning can help your business, implementation is the fundamental component of small business success. This study was undergone to help create a link between what students learn in businesses classes, which is primary focused on working for a large company, and what people do in the entrepreneurship field.


The Marketing Orientation Of Small And Medium Enterprises: An Australian Study, Venkateswara S. Venkatesan Jan 2000

The Marketing Orientation Of Small And Medium Enterprises: An Australian Study, Venkateswara S. Venkatesan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The market orientation construct has emerged as a key marketing theme in the 1990's. While the concept of being focussed on the market (customers and competitors) has been known since the early 1950's (e.g. Drucker,1954), putting the concept into practice through a set of specific actions has eluded many organisations and academics. As a result, market orientation (also termed market focus, customer focus and competitor focus) had remained a business philosophy (Bennett & Cooper, 1979: Felton, 1959; Konopa & Calabro,1971) more than a strategic approach. While there have been sporadic attempts at defining or operationalisinga marketing or customer orientation in …