Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Analyzing Local Alcohol Vendor Inventory Management Strategy, Angelo J. Amore

Senior Theses

This paper attempts to analyze how local alcohol vendors maintain their inventory throughout the year in Columbia, attempting to manage factors such as the season, sporting events, and other public gatherings and events. The research question resulted in contacting over 30 local alcohol vendors in Columbia, to ask them questions regarding their strategy in alcohol inventory management. The responses to these questions were then used to organize the vendors into groups by whether or not they utilize a reorder point to purchase/brew alcohol, or if they utilize periodic ordering. The vendors were also asked to rank the seasons from most …

Trabajo De Grado En Proyección Social Fundación Construyendo Caminos De Esperanza “Funcades”, Viviana Andrea Prieto Vélez, David Leandro Albarracín Alvarado

Contaduría Pública

El trabajo de proyección social busca establecer en los estudiantes criterios estratégicos de análisis e investigación, en un espacio de aplicación real al interior de una fundación, donde se puedan identificar los puntos de mejora y dar una solución factible y aplicable con términos administrativos, contables y financieros.

Self-Leadership To Servant Leadership: A Metatheoretical Antecedent To Positive Social, Allen Lloyd Carn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A majority of current leadership programs are failing to deliver a comprehensive approach to leadership development by not providing middle and frontline managers the skills to enhance their potential to develop others. In failing to generate a comprehensive system, animosity towards all types of leadership has been festering for over 40 years as first identified by Greenleaf in 1977. The purpose of the study was to establish a link between the theoretical paradigms of servant leadership and self-leadership using the lens of emotional intelligence to generate an integral leadership development framework. The conceptual framework used Goleman et al.'s version of …

Sustainability Strategies Of Barber Salons, Kouassi Gilles Mevo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many barber salons and other small businesses in the United States fail to succeed beyond the first 5 years. The factors responsible for the low survival rate of salons may include the limited training and education levels mandated by state certification requirements. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify business strategies successful barber salon owners use to overcome the business management and staffing challenges associated with a small pool of skilled barbers and the high turnover in a low wage profession. The theory of transformational leadership served as the conceptual framework. The data collection included interviews of …

Strategies For Small Business Sustainability, Victor K. Adoukonou

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses represent more than 99% of all employers in the United States, but more than 50% of small businesses have failed before 5 years. Climate change, digitization, and social media contribute to a paradigm shift in consumers' habits, as more consumers have become environmentally and social justice conscious. Business leaders who are unable to follow the consumers' trends and changes of habit may not succeed in sustaining their businesses. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies owners of small businesses in the District of Columbia use to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years …

Exploring Sustainable Capital Acquisition Strategies Of Small Businesses, Naieche Brooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners encounter various difficulties in funding businesses. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that some small business owners used to acquire capital to sustain their businesses longer than the first 5 years of operation. The resource-based theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with a sample of 3 owners of small businesses in a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States and review of company profit statements. Five themes emerged from data triangulation and analyses: start-up capital access, private lender networking, motivation, self-realization, and external perceptions. …

Perfil Del Comprador Y Percepción Respecto A Las Frutas Y Hortalizas Que Se Ofrecen En Los Mercados Campesinos De Plaza De Los Artesanos Y Parque De Alcalá En La Ciudad De Bogotá, César David Aranda Quimbaya

Administración de Agronegocios

Los mercados campesinos constituyen una alternativa para la venta de los productos de pequeños productores, y la compra de alimentos más sanos. En Bogotá, los mercados campesinos son una estrategia, dentro de la política de seguridad alimentaria, necesaria por su aporte a los productores y consumidores. El presente trabajo, tiene como objetivo establecer, en dos de los mercados campesinos realizados en Bogotá por la Secretaría Distrital de Desarrollo Económico, representativos por su valor de ventas, Plaza de los Artesanos y Parque de Alcalá, el perfil del comprador así como sus percepciones respecto a las frutas y hortalizas, grupo que corresponde …

Strategies For Compliance With Government Regulations In A Pharmaceutical Company, Charles Jagun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Pharmaceutical companies accrued fines of over $30 billion within 25 years because of noncompliance with regulations. Noncompliance with regulations results in fines and an adverse impact on company profitability. Some pharmaceutical company managers lack effective strategies to ensure overall company compliance with regulation. Based on complexity leadership theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies pharmaceutical company managers used to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in Nigeria. The target population was functional managers purposely selected because they had successfully implemented strategies for compliance with the regulatory requirements in Nigeria. Data were collected through face-to-face and telephone …

Skills That Small Business Owners Use To Succeed Beyond 5 Years, Shelly Gerig

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses in the United States have a high failure rate, with 50% failing within 5 years. Small businesses also account for 99.7% of U.S. firms and provide 48.0% of employees in the private sector, or 57 million out of 118 million employees. From 1992 to 2013, small firms were responsible for 63% of new jobs generated. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the skills small business owners (SBOs) used to achieve sustainability beyond 5 years in a purposefully selected area of Central Florida. The conceptual framework of human capital theory served to focus this …

Copreneurs' Coping Strategies For Work-Family Conflict, Eunice Peregrino-Dartey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Family businesses including copreneurships have a high failure rate. Copreneurs experience work-family conflict (WFC), which can have a negative effect on business sustainability. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that copreneurs used in managing WFC to achieve business sustainability for longer than 10 years. Three copreneurs from 3 copreneurial businesses located in the Greater Accra region of Ghana, who have employed effective strategies to cope with WFC to achieve business sustainability longer than 10 years, participated in the study. The WFC model for business/marriage partners (copreneurs) and the reciprocal coping model served as the …

Barriers To Women Leadership Of Small And Medium Enterprises In Nigeria, Roseline Iruoma Ojinta

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Management literature lacks a deeper understanding of barriers to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) leadership among women entrepreneurs in Nigeria focusing on women leaders' daily business experiences, their agency, and their entrepreneurial context. Women in Nigeria seeking promotion to leadership roles in SMEs continue to look for answers on how to surmount the multiple barriers hampering their leadership aspirations. To address this need, this study was designed to explore how women entrepreneurs in Nigeria describe barriers to SME leadership through narratives about their daily business experiences, their agency, and their entrepreneurial context. The women's entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, the Nigerian …

Managerial Strategies To Sustain Small Auto Repair Businesses, Osaka Kugblenu Tetteh-Odonkor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small auto repair business owners need strong operational skills; however, some lack expertise in managerial strategy. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify managerial strategies small auto repair business owners use to sustain businesses in Columbus, Ohio with respect to strategy, time management, and alteration of value chain services. Based on the Vroom expectancy theory of motivation, small auto repair business owners may use effectiveness and efficiency of business performance with particular emphasis on managerial strategic development and execution to enhance financial results and rewards. Data collection involved face-to-face, semistructured interviews with 5 small auto repair business …

Success Factors Of Entrepreneurship In Emerging Rural Economies, Sultan Tahir Mehmood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

One factor of the leadership stratagem is to account for the core values, operations, and growth of the organization. The purpose of this case study was to ascertain the financial strategies small business leaders incorporate to help ensure growth of small businesses. The conceptual framework of Schumpeter's innovation and entrepreneurship theory and the Grameen model were included to drive the scope and analysis of this study. A purposive sample of 8 leaders from successful small businesses in Islamabad contributed to a focus group session; 4 out of these participants originated from the finance and management department and 4 represented sales …

Leadership Development Strategies To Build Leaders Through Mentorship Programs, Devin Bradley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Developing employees to assume leadership positions has never been more critical for organizational leaders given the competitive climate and the shortage of executive leaders. Organizations must develop future leaders at unprecedented rates to assume roles and responsibilities of the current executive leaders who will leave the organization due to retirement and other forms of attrition. Using mentorship theory, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies that business leaders use to successfully improve their mentoring programs for employee leadership development. The target population consisted of 3 business leaders located in central Florida with successful experience in improving their …

Strategies For Success And Sustainability In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises Beyond The First 5 Years, Atem Emmanuel Ndeisieh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the Cameroon Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Regional Development, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employ over 70% of the active population and contribute significantly to economic growth and development, yet the failure rate of SMEs in the region within the first 5 years remains at 72%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that SME owners used to sustain their businesses for longer than the first 5 years. With the resource-based view as the conceptual framework, purposive sampling was used to select 5 owners of small food-processing enterprises in Cameroon who demonstrated successful …

Reshaping Management Effectiveness And Its Effect On Organizational Resilience In Multinational Enterprises, Franzelle Pertilla

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Given the state of accelerating change in technology, globalization, and society, long-term planning has become challenging, thus improving organizational resilience to environmental change has become more important. The management problem addressed the need for strategies to improve organization resilience in the face of environmental change. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of managers to use a firm's human, financial, and technological resources to improve organizational resilience. The lived experiences of organizational leaders in addressing organizational resilience was the central research question. The conceptual framework was built on the World Economic Forum's National Resilience Beta …

Leadership Skills To Sustain High-Tech Entrepreneurial Ventures, Zoaib Z. Rangwala

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High-tech (HT) innovation-oriented entrepreneurs start 35% more ventures and create 10% more jobs in the first 5 years of operation than the rest of the private sector and drive significant economic growth across all industries; however, more than 50% of the entrepreneurial HT ventures fail during the first 5 years of operations. Guided by the conceptual framework of transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore skills used by successful entrepreneurial leaders to sustain their HT ventures in Silicon Valley, California. Data collection was from 8 participants in semistructured 1-on-1 interviews and 3 participants in a …

Market-Entry Strategies Of Startup Owners, Evgeny Tsaplin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Russia's startups fail at high rates. The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the market-entry strategies used by accelerated startup managers to succeed in business longer than the first 3 years. The target population for this study was 3 startup owners who completed an acceleration program from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund and continued to operate businesses that generated revenue. The participants in the study were located in 3 different cities in Russia: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Tomsk. The conceptual framework for the study was Raheem and Akhuemonkhan's theory of enterprise development and von Bertalanffy's general system …

Exploring The Puzzle Of Functional Homophily In New Venture Founding Teams, Steven Michael Gray

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the long-term benefits of establishing a founding team with diverse functional knowledge, many entrepreneurs assemble a team of cofounders who are homogenous with respect to functional background. I examine this phenomenon in two empirical settings. First, in a university incubator program that brings together faculty, students, and outside community members, I use survey and audio data to examine the team formation process. I found that entrepreneurs initiate contact with a range of potential cofounders: some of whom possess functional knowledge that is different from the entrepreneur and others who share the same functional background as the entrepreneur. However, conditional …

Return On Investment Of The Cftp Framework With And Without Risk Assessment, Anne Lim Lee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In recent years, numerous high tech companies have developed and used technology roadmaps when making their investment decisions. Jay Paap has proposed the Customer Focused Technology Planning (CFTP) framework to draw future technology roadmaps. However, the CFTP framework does not include risk assessment as a critical factor in decision making. The problem addressed in this quantitative study was that high tech companies are either losing money or getting a much smaller than expected return on investment when making technology investment decisions. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between returns on investment before and after adding risk …

Effective Strategies Of Military Veteran Small Business Owners, John F. Groves

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses owned by military veterans represent a source of new jobs, yet more than half of these businesses fail to survive beyond 5 years. These failures could lead to efforts to identify strategies that owners can use to avoid failure. The conceptual framework applied in this case study was the triple-loop learning theory. The purposive sampling included 7 military veterans who were small business owners who had sustained their small businesses more than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and organization documents. Yin's 5-step process for data analysis compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding resulted in 4 …

Strategies To Expand The U.S. Automated External Defibrillator Market, Arturo Cervantes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite defibrillation as the only effective treatment for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), less than 15% of homes and public facilities have access to an automated external defibrillator (AED). In the United States, ineffective response to SCA cases occurring each year classifies it as a business problem for medical device manufacturing leaders, emergency responders, and bystanders. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore the marketing strategies AED manufacturing leaders use to expand their consumer customer base. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of participants from 2 U.S. AED manufacturers on the east coast, 2 AED …

Beyond The Enclave: Success Strategies Of Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Jose Delfin Gonzalez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, immigrant entrepreneurs start almost one third of all new businesses. However, many immigrant entrepreneurs lack the knowledge or expertise to evolve their businesses beyond the ethnic enclave where the businesses are located. This multiple case study captured the strategies used by 5 Latino immigrant business owners who successfully expanded their business beyond their ethnic enclave. The conceptual framework for this study was dynamic capabilities theory. Data were collected from interviews, company documents, and observations of the operation of businesses and owners. Member checking and transcript reviews were used to enhance the reliability and credibility of the …

Effective Strategies Small Retail Leaders Use To Engage Employees, Dr. Janet Lynn Deskins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research suggests that 70% of North American employees are disengaged in the workplace. Some small retail managers lack strategies for engaging employees. Using the employee engagement framework, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore successful strategies that small retail managers use to engage employees. The target population was small retail leaders, purposefully selected because of their success with engaging employees at an Orlando, Florida, company. Data collection was through face-to-face interviews with 5 leaders; and a review of archived organizational documents, including company memorandums, central email software, and online customer reviews through social media websites such as …

Matching Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies To Organizational Goals, Jason P. Vitelli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many Fortune 500 organizations have policies about corporate social responsibility (CSR), but the leaders struggle to implement CSR policies that match corporate stated goals and objectives. The purpose of this case study was to explore whether leaders' CSR strategies matched the goals and objectives of the company. Twenty individuals located in New York, NY, United States, with various management-level positions, and who had experiences with CSR in a Fortune 500 organization with a CSR policy, participated in the current study. The conceptual framework was corporate social responsibility stakeholder theory. Data collection consisted of a semistructured interview with the leaders about …

Ipo Ready? Illuminating The Dark Box Of Private Equity, Tyler Gregory Cornellier

Honors Theses and Capstones

The use of public equity data can help combat the challenges private equity funds currently face regarding data availability. The goal is to create a model to provide guidance to both investors and entrepreneurs in the decision-making process. The data gathered would provide insight on how close a private company is to a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO). The idea is that a model, showing the average financial metrics of companies within certain industries during an IPO, can provide new perceptiveness as to how the private company is performing.

Identifying And Prioritizing Critical Success Factors For Fixed Base Operators In The United States: A Mixed Method Approach, Yu Wang

Open Access Dissertations

Fixed Base Operators (FBOs) are major service providers for the general aviation (GA) sector, which closely connect the public with the aviation industry. However, over the past decade, the U.S. GA industry has experienced a decline in the numbers of registered aircraft, pilots, and airports. Due to the fact that FBOs significantly contribute to the aviation industry, further research studies regarding the FBO-sector at a national level are needed. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify and prioritize the critical success factors (CSFs) that promote the success of FBO operations in the United States.

The methodology consisted of a …

The First 4 Years: A Small Business Sustainability Study, Iris Ann Cooper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses create most of the new jobs in the world, yet more than half fail before the 5th year. Small businesses contribute to the economy by originating new products and services, yet they often lack the strategies to overcome the challenges of the beginning years. When businesses fail, the community wanes from unemployment, poverty, crime, and other social dilemmas. The purpose of this single case study was to explore small business strategies for sustainability beyond Year 4, specifically in a single independent operating Ohio restaurant owner with less than 500 employees. The conceptual framework was Schumpeter's theory of the …

Employee Turnover Intention In The U.S. Fast Food Industry, Imelda A. Bebe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover in the U.S. fast food industry has been high, averaging rate 150% per annum. The purpose of the correlational design study was to examine the relationships between job satisfaction factors, job dissatisfaction factors, and employee turnover intentions among fast food employees to determine whether a statistically significant relationship exists between these variables. The population for the study consisted of 144 fast food restaurant employees working in the East Coast in the United States. The theoretical framework was Herzberg's 2-factor motivation-hygiene needs theory, which describes job satisfaction factors and job dissatisfaction factors. Internet survey data of 144 participants were …

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 …