Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Retention Strategies Of Labor Union Membership, Nina W. Hatcher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Labor union membership decline spans more than 4 decades since 1954. In 2012, union membership decreased from 14.1% to 11.3%, which is the lowest since the post-Second World War Era. Union membership decline leads to the inability of some union leaders to retain union members, resulting in a loss of profitability. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies union leaders use in improving membership retention. Twenty union, former union, and nonunion participants from governmental and industrial firms of Jefferson County, Alabama participated in the study offering their lived experiences in industries with active union environments. …

Relating Cultural Values With Opportunity Evaluation: Evidence From India, Banu Goktan, Alka Gupta, Subhendu Mukherjee, Vishal K. Gupta

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The link between social interaction and entrepreneurial activity has attracted considerable attention in the entrepreneurship literature. In this study, we focus on individual cultural values, shaped by interactions in the social space, as they relate to opportunity evaluation, a cornerstone of the entrepreneurial process. We test our predictions in India, a non-Western society that has sustained one of the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity in the world. Our findings suggest that value orientation of high power distance is negatively associated with opportunity evaluation whereas uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and femininity are positively associated with opportunity evaluation.

Doing Well And Good: An Exploration Of The Role Of Mindfulness In The Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition And Evaluation Process, Louise Kelly, Marina Dorian

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to integrate two previously disparate areas of research: mindfulness and the entrepreneurial process. This present study conceptualizes the impact of mindfulness on the choices entrepreneurs face. Specifically, the research theorizes the positive effects of mindfulness on the opportunity recognition process, including evaluation of entrepreneurs. Furthermore, we propose that metacognition mediates this relationship, and emotional self-regulation moderates it. This conceptual research also suggests that mindfulness is positively related to the ethical decision-making and opportunity recognition and evaluation. Finally, compassion is proposed as a factor that mediates the relationship between mindfulness and ethical choices in …

Catalyzing Social Innovation: Leveraging Compassion And Open Strategy In Social Entrepreneurship, Thomas Pittz, Laura T. Madden, David Mayo

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

We implement an inductive, case study approach to explore the motivations and methods of five successful social entrepreneurs. Our findings show that founders noticed, felt, and responded to someone else’s pain, demonstrating compassion as the genesis of the business venture. Successful social innovation, however, was the result of the creation of an organization structured to include diverse stakeholder input and participation in the decision-making process. Thus, compassion motivates entrepreneurs to pursue broad gains as opposed to singular interests and enhances a willingness to incorporate others’ ideas through an open-strategy process. Our study suggests that interaction with stakeholders can impact the …

Sequential: Sustainability And Growth In The Biofuels Business, Dave Garten, Jacen Greene, Carolyn Niehaus, Devdeep Aikath

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

SeQuential, a vertically-integrated biodiesel company based in Portland, Oregon, pursued a more sustainable supply and production strategy than many competitors by securing inputs from used cooking oil (UCO) rather than new crops. A fragmented U.S. biodiesel industry produced more than 1.25 billion gallons of the fuel in 2016 from a mix of virgin materials and UCO, but the environmental impact of crop-based biodiesel was increasingly controversial. Meanwhile, UCO collection had grown rapidly in recent years, and with strong forecasted growth, offered a potential additional revenue stream for vertically-integrated biodiesel firms.

The price of the UCO used to produce SeQuential’s biodiesel …

Entrepreneurial Motivations And Characteristics Of Niger Delta Youths: An Exploratory Study, Anthony O. Aligba, Gene E. Fusch

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This article explored the lived experiences and perceptions of youths in the Niger Delta regarding the factors that influence the decision to become an entrepreneur. Drawing from the theories of motivation and planned behavior, the conceptual framework of this phenomenological study underscored the synergetic relationship between entrepreneurial motivations and characteristics. Using semistructured interviews to collect primary data, 20 youth small and medium enterprise owners shared their perceptions and lived experiences regarding their perceived entrepreneurial motivations and characteristics. The analysis and coding of data helped to identify emergent themes based on the modified van Kaam seven-step approach. The research findings revealed …

African American Small Business Strategies For Financial Stability And Profitability, Jermell T. Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the high failure rate of African American small businesses in the United States, only 2% of the U.S. Small Business Administration loans in 2016 were awarded to African American business owners. Most small business owners cite lack of access to financial resources as an influential factor that leads to business failure. Grounded in resource-based view theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to identify strategies African American small business owners in Los Angeles County, California use to obtain financial resources to achieve sustainability for at least 5 years. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 4 purposively …

Growth Capital Strategies For Defense Industry Women-Owned Small Businesses, Karen Renee Butler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Access to growth capital, a critical factor for growing a successful, sustainable business, is a challenge for women-owned small businesses. Following the resource based theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what capital growth strategies 6 small women-owned business leaders in the defense industry in Dayton, Ohio used to ensure business sustainability beyond the initial start-up period of 1 year. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and company documents. Methodological triangulation, member checking, reflexivity, and an audit trail were used to strengthen credibility and trustworthiness. Based on thematic analysis of the data, emergent themes included growth …

Relationships Between Critical Business Performance Variables And Solo Criminal Law Practitioners Success, Renee Norris-Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Growing numbers of America's 1,281,432 active licensed attorneys open their own law firms due to strained employment opportunities. With 50% of small businesses failing within 5 years, and solo law offices accounting for 75% of attorneys in private practice, there is a need for preparing solo criminal law practitioners for business success. Some solo criminal law practitioners do not understand the critical business performance variables that impact small business success. The total population for this quantitative correlational study included solo criminal law practitioners from the Philadelphia Bar Association Legal Directory and Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers members. Barney's resource-based …

The Missing Entrepreneurs 2017: Policies For Inclusive Entrepreneurship In Ireland, Thomas M. Cooney

Reports

This profile presents data on self-employment and entrepreneurship by key target groups of inclusive entrepreneurship policies in Ireland such as women, youth and seniors. It also briefly describes recent inclusive entrepreneurship policy actions such as the new measure “Training for Women Returning to the Workforce and Women’s Entrepreneurship."

What It Takes To Be A Successful Entrepreneur In The Philippines, Mitzie Irene P. Conchada

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

For a developing country such as the Philippines, entrepreneurial activities play an important role in providing alternative sources of income. As of 2012, there were 940,886 registered micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines (99.6% of the total establishments), majority of which are in the retail and wholesale industry. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2014 survey also reflects that most of the types of businesses are in the retail industry, particularly retail sales of food and beverage items and other basic essentials. This is reflected in the vast number of sari-sari stores or retail stores and food stalls …

Convincing The Crowd: Entrepreneurial Storytelling In Crowdfunding Campaigns, Stephan Manning, Thomas A. Bejarano

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This study examines the structure of entrepreneurial stories in pursuit of mobilizing resources from crowds. Based on a comparative analysis of Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns, we examine in particular how, across different project types, project histories and potential futures are framed and interlinked in narratives to appeal to funders. We find that projects are narrated in different styles – as ‘ongoing journeys’ or ‘results-in-progress’ – to convey project value. The former style narrates projects as longer-term endeavors powered by creative initial ideas and a bold vision, inviting audiences to ‘join the journey’; the latter narrates projects more narrowly as a progression …

How Hybrids Manage Growth And Social-Business Tensions In Global Supply Chains: The Case Of Impact Sourcing, Chacko G. Kannothra, Stephan Manning, Nardia Haigh

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This study contributes to the growing interest in how hybrid organizations manage paradoxical social—business tensions. Our empirical case is ‘impact sourcing’ – hybrids in global supply chains that hire staff from disadvantaged communities to provide services to business clients. We identify two major growth orientations - ‘community-focused’ and ‘client-focused’ growth - their inherent tensions and ways that hybrids manage them. The former favors slow growth and manages tensions through highly-integrated client and community relations; the latter promotes faster growth and manages client and community relations separately. Both growth orientations address social-business tensions in particular ways, but also create latent constraints …

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.

Indian Microfinance Sector: A Case Study, Sean P. Gillon

Honors Theses and Capstones

In developing areas of the world with very little economic structure, many activities are not monetized. In other words, money is not used to carry out these tasks because the people in these areas do not have the expendable funds required. In order to combat this problem, micro financing has become increasingly more apparent in these areas of distress. Microfinance is an economic development strategy that allows for those in need to borrow actual money in order to start a business, go to school, or even gain access to everyday living requirements. Microfinance has made tremendous strides over the years, …

Predicting Yelp Food Establishment Ratings Based On Business Attributes, Peter Mark Shellenberger Jr.

Honors Theses and Capstones

Social networking and business review sites play an integral role in the buying behavior of the modern consumer. An individual with access to the internet may observe millions of reviews on almost every type of product and service on the market. Websites such as Angie’s List, Facebook, Yellow Pages, and Yelp all facilitate this process, acting as crowd-sourced hubs for review data. This has major implications for the modern business, as past research shows that reviews and ratings play a direct role on the demand a business receives. With the vast dissemination of review data to the potential buyer market, …

Marginalized To Mainstream: A Study Into Emerging Industry Under Stigma, Brandon K. Lee

Honors College Theses

This explorative study attempts to identify norms and practices of new businesses within the emerging industry of recreational cannabis retailers; specifically in the context of their entrepreneurial characteristics, start-up behaviors, and firm behaviors and strategies (Duchesneau & Gartner, 1990). Due to the nature of emerging industries, there are many opportunities for firms to create a successful position in a new market. However, firms in emerging industries face an innate “liability of newness”, increasing the challenge and risk of new venture creation (Stinchcombe, 1965). This risk and stigma is increased when the industry lacks legitimacy in the eyes of consumers and …

Social Change Through Entrepreneurship: Utilizing Portable Sawmill Based Small Businesses To Promote Community Development, Crystal Lupo

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Reduced demand for wood and wood products resulting from the economic crisis in the first decade of the 2000s severely impacted the forest industry throughout the world, causing large forest-based organizations to close (CBC News, 2008; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009; Pepke, 2009). The result was a dramatic increase in unemployment and worker displacement among forest product workers between 2011 and 2013 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Forested rural communities often depended on the large-scale forest industry for their livelihood, and as a result, decreased reliance on large-scale industry became increasingly important (Lupo, 2015). This article …

Strategies Needed For Small Business Sustainability: A Case Study Of Thai Restaurants, Vanida Sirilarbanan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to U.S. Small Business Association, the failure rates for small businesses in 2014 were as high as 50% to 80% within the first 5 years of establishment. Failure rates were especially high among restaurant businesses. The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies that small business owners needed to sustain their businesses beyond the first 5 years. Guided by entrepreneurship theory as the conceptual framework, a case study was conducted with semistructured interviews of 3 successful Thai restaurant owners in Salt Lake City, Utah. Member checking and methodological triangulation with field notes, interview data, company websites, customer …

Knowledge Development Approaches And Breakthrough Innovations In Technology-Based New Firms, Dzidziso Samuel Kamuriwo, Charles Baden-Fuller, Jing Zhang

Management Faculty Publications

Compared to large established firms, technology-based new firms (TBNF) seem well placed to produce breakthrough innovations although questions remain as to their adeptness at subsequent exploitation. Building on the innovation and strategy literatures, the study identifies two different knowledge-development approaches or modes (business models) in TBNFs—internal versus external—and examines their relation to breakthrough innovation and subsequent progression of the product to market. The internal mode assembles knowledge inside the firm to generate its innovations, whereas the external mode relies heavily on alliances to develop and assemble knowledge among firms embedded in a creative network. The study uses a unique panel …