Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

The Good Bloke In Contemporary Australian Workplaces: Origins, Qualities And Impacts Of A National Cultural Archetype In Small For-Profit Businesses, Christopher George Taylor

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the nature and significance of a common but widely misunderstood phrase encountered in Australia: The Good Bloke. Underlying this enquiry was awareness, based on the researcher’s personal and professional experience, that the idea of a Good Bloke powerfully influences individual perceptions of leaders in Australian small-to-mid sized for-profit firms. The study commenced with an exploration of the origins and history of the phrase, tracing it to the 1788 arrival of a disproportionately male Anglo-Celtic population was composed significantly of transported convicts. The language and mores of this unique settler population evolved for two centuries based on relationships, …

How Do Principles Textbooks Treat The Return To Entrepreneurship? The Missing Factor, John Estill, Tom Means

Faculty Publications

Principles textbooks have improved in incorporating entrepreneurship intheory. However, they still generally lack simple demonstrations of theentrepreneurial input, particularly when teaching the theory of a normal rateof return. Many texts are unclear over the definition of a normal return andits constituent parts. Our paper (1) reviews the theory of the entrepreneurialinput; (2) sorts how popular textbooks calculate a normal rate of returnconsistent with their definition of the entrepreneurial input; and (3)provides a simple numerical example that incorporates the entrepreneurialinput, which can be more fully developed in intermediate texts.

Silicon Valley Immersion Program, Austin Phillips

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper explores how learning immersion experiences can improve the cache of the student experience at The University of Akron. Then the planning and coordination of northeast Ohio's first university-led silicon valley learning immersion trip, Zips in the Valley, are detailed.

Developing A Model Of Post Incubation Support For New And Growing Ventures, Miriam Adair

Theses

Business incubators offer physical and virtual services for their new and growing start up clients. In Ireland, once companies exit an incubator, they do not have access to services similar to an incubator. In other countries there are post incubation services available.

There is a limited literature on post incubation in Ireland, however there is literature focusing on different programmes available to companies once they have left an incubator.

This thesis explores the post incubation support needs of new' and growing ventures.

Specifically, the research focused on three primary objectives:

1. To gain a deeper understanding of the specific needs …

Applying The Practice–Based Method In Teaching Entrepreneurship: The Case Of The Msc In Business & Entrepreneurship At Tu Dublin, Anthony Paul Buckley

Articles

‘Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a [wo]man for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined’ - Peter Drucker Following reviews of the relevant IEET (Innovation, Entrepreneurship Education & Training) literature and after assessing current thinking and practice in the domain, it was concluded that, in the absence of empirical evidence in favour of a particular pedagogical approach, that a portfolio of coordinated practice-based methods is an appropriate approach for developing value-based learning outcomes at this time (2019). These pedagogical approaches focus on students’ attempts to discover, create …

Agents Of Change: Using Transformative Learning Theory To Enhance Courses In Business Ethics And Social Entrepreneurship, Christina C. Benson, Gary R. Palin, Thomas M. Cooney, Kathleen Farrell

Articles

How can we catalyze “entrepreneurial thinking” and cultivate a deeper understanding of social responsibility and sustainability in business education? Academic scholars have begun to explore the key characteristics and origins of an “entrepreneurial mindset” through new streams of research in the areas of “entrepreneurial cognition” and “design thinking”. Similarly, modern scholarship on “sustainable business” and “creating shared value” has offered a new sense of direction for research on social responsibility. If only a simple lecture or power point presentation could convey all the real-world complexities involved in actually creating shared value, or in effectively balancing “people, planet and profits.” If …

The Same But Different: Understanding Entrepreneurial Behaviour In Disadvantaged Communities, Thomas M. Cooney, Michelle Licciardi

Books/Book Chapters

While entrepreneurship is widely viewed as being equally accessible in all contexts, it could be questioned if potential or nascent entrepreneurs from minority and disadvantaged communities experience entrepreneurship in a similar manner to the mainstream population. This chapter examines immigrant, people with disability, youth, gay and unemployed communities to explore how their entrepreneurial behaviour might differ from the practices of mainstream entrepreneurs. What emerges is that marginalised communities can frequently find it difficult to divorce business from social living. This can have both positive and negative connotations for an entrepreneur, plus they face additional and distinctive challenges that mainstream entrepreneurs …

Access To Capital Challenges And Opportunities, Rosalinda V. Maury, Brice M. Stone, Kicia Sears, Andrew M. Sander

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This paper describes how veterans report financing their businesses, their potential difficulties accessing capital, and the potential reasons they may encounter credit and loan denials. We conclude with a discussion on the possible implications and put forward a preliminary argument for further study that would explore some of the more nuanced aspects of access to capital barriers. Helpful for veterans seeking information about financing their business.

Expanding University Entrepreneurial Ecosystems To Under-Represented Communities, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney, Per Blenker

Articles

Purpose – Entrepreneurship education has moved from an elitist view focussing on a start-up and picking-the-winners philosophy towards a broader enterprising behaviour approach; recognising entrepreneurship as an activity of relevance for everybody. The purpose of this paper is to extend this development and identify how university entrepreneurial ecosystems can be expanded to support communities that are under-represented in entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on an integrative literature review (Torraco, 2005), this paper draws together and synthesises literature from the field of entrepreneurship, higher education studies and under-represented communities in an integrated fashion, leading to the development of a new conceptual model. …

External And Internal Networks And Access To Hrd Resources In Small Professional Service Firms, Ciara Nolan Dr, Thomas Garavan

Articles

A key challenge facing small professional service firms (PSFs) in the context of implementing human resource development (HRD) is access to resources. The use of external and internal networks represents an important means of identifying and acquiring needed resources. We utilize resource dependency and network theories to explore the types of networks used by owner-managers to acquire HRD resources and the types of resources that are acquired. We investigate these issues utilizing three case study organizations located in the Republic of Ireland and interview data from owner-managers and employees. We found that small PSFs derived resources from both coercive and …

Strategies For Mitigating The Effects Of Crisis In Microfinance Institutions In Ghana, Akorfa Ahiafor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ghana has experienced an unprecedented failure of microfinance institutions. Within a period of 8 years from 2011 to 2019, the Bank of Ghana has revoked the license of over 489 microfinance institutions. The purpose of the exploratory multiple case study was to explore strategies that microfinance managers apply to mitigate the effects of crisis to remain sustainable. The targeted population was composed of owner-managers from 6 microfinance companies in Ghana and 6 consultants who overcame the microfinance crisis and remained in practice. The situational crisis communication theory and the team leadership model were the conceptual frameworks for this study. Methodological …

Small Business Restaurant Owners' Financing Strategies For Sustainability, Cecilia Tobias Vasquez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Owners of small business restaurants experience a high failure rate. Many small business restaurants fail within 5 years of inception because of inadequate business plans, ineffective strategies for changing markets, and a lack of financial capital to achieve profitability, growth, and long-term survivability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the financial strategies that some owners of small business restaurants used to sustain operations for longer than 5 years. The resource-based view was the conceptual framework for this study. Participants in this study consisted of 5 owners of small business restaurants in northern California who implemented successful …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Social Entrepreneurship: Exploring The Bricolage Model In Nigeria, Michael Ogunleye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nigerian entrepreneurs face government barriers and lack the skills and awareness needed for successfully creating and scaling public value in resource-constrained environments. The concept of bricolage, which involves doing business by making do with resources at hand, has been addressed in the literature, but not as it occurs among Nigerian entrepreneurs. This study was conducted with the aim of narrowing this gap in knowledge by exploring how Nigerian entrepreneurs have successfully carried out their businesses. The research question addressed how Nigerian entrepreneurs overcame critical situations to successfully address the challenges of scaling and creating public value, and whether the theory …

Strategies For Small Business Survival For Longer Than 5 Years, Tashani J. Gaskins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses play a key role in the health of the U.S. economy; however, approximately 50% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years of operation. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies used by owners of small businesses to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. The conceptual framework used was the resource-based theory. The population of this study consisted of 3 owners of small businesses in North Carolina who sustained their businesses for at least 5 years. The data sources included semistructured interviews of the participants as well as business websites, …

Strategies To Sustain A Real Estate Small Business In Postnatural-Disaster Area, Vianka Miranda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many small real estate business leaders lack effective strategies to resume and sustain operations in a postnatural-disaster environment. This multiple case study investigated strategies that 3 small real estate business leaders in southeastern Louisiana used to resume and sustain operations in the aftermath of a natural disaster. The chaos theory and stakeholder theory were the conceptual frameworks for this study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, and reviews of business continuity plan documents and member checking. The themes that emerged from data analysis were leaders' strategies relating to business planning and innovation, stakeholder engagement, operations management, and disaster responsiveness. Implications …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Public Sector Interventions In Entrepreneurship Development In Nigeria, Michael Kalu Mba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Entrepreneurship is significant to the production process for economic growth and development. The Nigerian government supports entrepreneurial development by providing business training for entrepreneurs across the country; however, the impact of such programs in current entrepreneurship in Nigeria has not been researched. This study was designed to examine the impact of the training on entrepreneurial outcomes such as profitability, revenue, and access to finance using the social construction framework and the theory of external control of organizations. Based on a quantitative quasi-experimental design involving a posttest comparison group, the impact of government support on randomly selected beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries with …

An Approach To Determining Customer Satisfaction In Traditional Serbian Restaurants, Florentin Smarandache, Dragisa Stanujkic, Darjan Karabasevic, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, F. Cavallaro

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The aim of this paper is to make a proposal for an easy–to–use approach to the evaluation of customer satisfaction in restaurants. In order to provide a reliable way to collect respondents’ real attitudes, an approach based on the use of smaller number of evaluation criteria and interactive questionnaire created in a spreadsheet file is proposed in this paper, whereby an easy-to-understand and simple-touse procedure is proposed for determining weights of criteria. In addition to the said, the proposed approach applies the simplified SERVQUAL-based approach, for which reason a simplified version of the Weighted Sum Method based on the decision …