Business Commons^™

Absorptive Capacity And Ict Adoption Strategies For Smes: A Case Study In Kenya, Joshua R A Ndiege, Marlien E. Herselman, Stephen V. Flowerday

The African Journal of Information Systems

Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries continue to be challenged by their information technology (IT) adoption process, which is often characterized by a number of deficiencies. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of absorptive capacity (AC) in SMEs’ performance, as well as establish the correlation between SMEs’ AC and their IT adoption process. The findings of this study, obtained by measuring different dimensions of AC using Jimenez-Barrionuevo, Garcia-Morales, and Molina’s scale of 18 items, suggest that AC plays a critical role in the performance of SMEs in Kenya and that SMEs with strong …

Shaping The Future Through Entrepreneurial Thinking

Business Exchange

Dean Ray Whittington discusses the feature articles on entrepreneurship programs at the Driehaus College of Business, including DePaul's Coleman Entrepreneurship Center and the Evening Cohort MBA program.

New Startup Lab Will Enhance Entrepreneurial Opportunities For Students And Alumni

Business Exchange

DePaul, in collaboration with the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, is launching a new entrepreneurial startup lab and coworking space. Set to open in 2015, the lab will provide a place for students to work on their new business ventures, alumni to connect, and members of the Chicago business community to network.

College News

Business Exchange

Finance Legends Share Tips With Students, College Welcomes New Hospitality School Director, New 3D Printer Helps Students Turn Ideas Into Reality, Do What You Love, CEO Bob Mariano Tells Graduates

Big Ideas In Action: Entrepreneurship Program Helps Alumni Create Winning Ventures

Business Exchange

DePaul's top-rated undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs began in 1982 and have turned out successful entrepreneurs. This article profiles four alumni who have created new businesses, continued family businesses, and invested in new startups with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

Forecasting Demand: Sensitivity Analysis Of Financial Assumptions Using Ms Excel, Gary B. Roberts, Kirk C. Heriot

Atlantic Marketing Journal

According to research on entrepreneurship education, the creation of a business plan is the most popular teaching method (Solomon, 2007). Textbooks in the field will often have a chapter devoted to the contents of the business plan and separate chapters about important elements of a business plan such as marketing, finance, and operations. Instructors must prepare their students for arduous task of writing all of the parts of the business plan within a team.

One of the most challenging aspects of a business plan is the financial projections. Clearly, if an entrepreneurial team intends to present their plan to a …

The Procurement Of An Indoor Tennis Facility In Morris, Mn: An Ex Ante Cost Benefit Analysis, Emma Strachan

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper is an ex ante cost benefit analysis that assesses the feasibility and profitability of bringing indoor tennis courts to Morris. The main goal of the paper is to find the best alternative to meet the objective of acquiring indoor tennis courts using publically available information from similar completed projects. I cover who should have standing on the issue, what particular impacts from each alternative allow themselves to be monetized, how those impacts should be discounted across time, and what parameters could vary in each alternative. Finally, I make a final recommendation as to what I have found to …

Go Big: With Inventiveness, Hard Work, And Moxie, Colby Entrepreneurs Are Creating Viable And Even Booming Businesses, David Mckay Wilson

Colby Magazine

HomeAway cofounder Brian Sharples ’82 and other alumni entrepreneurs turn ideas into business success.

Emerging Opportunities For Commercial Recreation, Joshua Carroll Ph.D.

Journal of Tourism Insights

The commercial recreation industry faces new opportunities due to the changing economic climate and its impact upon public recreation providers (Outdoor Industry Association, 2012). Those recreation opportunities historically offered by public entities are transforming and as a result recreationists are experiencing more park closures, limited hours of operation, a reduction in quality, and ultimately dissatisfaction (Crompton, 1999; Koeberer, 2011). There is a shift occurring and this opens up a wide market for new commercial recreation operators to fulfill this gap. For trail-based recreation this usually requires a sizable piece of land that often precludes most potential market interests. However, with …

Impact Of Effectuation Based Interventions On The Intentions To Start A Business, Muhammad Shahid Qureshi, Fawad Mahdi

Business Review

Intention plays a very important role to measure one’s willingness to pursue entrepreneurship as a career. Previous researchers have differed about various antecedents that impact the entrepreneurial intention to start a business. Entrepreneurship education (EE) assumes to play an important role in shaping traits and attitudes of an entrepreneur, contrary to the “entrepreneurs are born” school of thought. We use the Individual entrepreneurship orientation (IEO) construct as developed by Boltan and Lane (2011) to measure its impact on the intention levels of students. The use of Effectuation (Sarasvathy, 2001)as a pedagogical tool is used as a mediating variable between IEO …

A Transformative Partnership Between Socially And Historically Disadvantaged Farmers, 1890 Land Grant Institutions, And Walmart, Walter A. Hill, Raymon Shange, Miles Robinson, Tasha M. Hargrove

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Ensuring a sustainable future for socially and historically disadvantaged farmers (SHDFs) remains a central mission of many 1890 land grant universities. As major corporations adopt socially responsible and sustainable policies they are exploring new partnerships, including those with the aforementioned farmers and institutions. This article explores the opportunity presented by the partnership between Tuskegee University and Walmart during 2011, 2012, and 2013 that focused on assisting SHDFs to work together to expand their produce marketing opportunities to include large commercial retailers. This article provides perspective for the articles that follow in this issue of the Professional Agricultural Workers Journal (PAWJ). …

A Case Study Analysis Of A Regional Food System: The Sustainable Agriculture Consortium For Historically Disadvantaged Farmers Program, Tasha M. Hargrove, Walter A. Hill, John Brown, Miles Robinson, Iris Cole-Crosby, Elizabeth Myles, Billy Lawton, Karla Martin

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

The Sustainable Agriculture Consortium for Historically Disadvantaged Farmers Program (SACH) was designed to carry out an experiment by five 1890 Land-Grant Universities in partnership with five farmer based cooperatives in five states to assess marketing fruits and vegetables to Walmart from a regional perspective. Using the Consortium as a case study, this study assessed the Consortium within the framework of implementation evaluation; data were collected using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The study answered questions such as, what did the Consortium do, and what were some of the accomplishments of the Consortium? The farmers were able to: negotiate price points; …

Small Farmers Agricultural Cooperative Launched, Miles Robinson, John Brown, Alice Paris, Walter A. Hill, Tasha M. Hargrove, Barrett Vaughan, Raymon Shange, Al Hooks, Demetrius Hooks, Thomas Turner, Bobby England, Audrey Zeigler

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

The Walmart Initiative was designed to provide technical support to train at least 200 farmers on best practices in marketing produce to larger companies and corporations like Walmart. This support was provided through specialized training, workshops, informational group meetings, and overall awareness of market opportunities. The specialized training included Food Safety Standards and Food Safety Certification requirements, effective production techniques, harvesting, grading, packaging, refrigeration/cold chain requirements, transportation, fiscal responsibility, financial management, record-keeping, and insurance and product liability. As part of a five state initiative, Tuskegee University identified and assisted in the formation of the Small Farmers Agricultural Cooperative comprised of …

The Story As A Cultural Transmitter: Applications For Business Education, Carol Blaszczynski, Ph.D.

International Journal for Business Education

Stories assist in transmitting cultural wisdom, including wisdom about the business community. The role of stories in various contexts such as education (including international management), management, and marketing, as well as the job search is explained. The article concludes by presenting instructional activities for business education that develop cultural competence through stories.

2014 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Review Of Financial Intelligence For Entrepreneurs: What You Really Need To Know About The Numbers By Karen Berman And Joe Knight, With John Case., H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

Berman, Karen and Knight, Joe, with John Case. Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs: What You Really Need to Know about the Numbers, (Boston MA: Harvard Business Press, 2008). 285 pp. ISBN 978-1-4221-1915-0.

From “The art of finance (and why it matters)” (Part One) through “Creating a financially intelligent company” (Part Eight), Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs is an engaging explanation and appreciation of financial statements and financial ratios. Short, easily digested chapters; just-in-time boxes to introduce terminology; easy, direct, in-text calculations from bare-bones, hypothetical financial statements to illustrate concepts; a 44-page appendix of crafted exercises on the income statement, balance sheet, …

Financial Literacy And The Success Of Small Businesses: An Observation From A Small Business Development Center, Pearl Dahmen, Eileen Rodríguez

Numeracy

Small business is the backbone of the U.S. economy; when the financial literacy skills of entrepreneurs fall short of those needed to operate a successful business, it is more than the individual business at risk. In 2012, 14 small businesses requesting growth-acceleration consulting services from the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida were assessed financially as part of the service provided by the Center. Financial ratios were used to analyze the business’s financial condition. While performing the financial analysis of these firms, we also surveyed the business owners to determine their level of financial understanding …

From Founders To Firm: Examining The Retention Of Founder-Ceo Social Capital In Venture-Backed Firms, Bret R. Fund

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This paper examines how organizations protect themselves from the negative social and economic consequences associated with the loss of a key member and their social capital. Drawing on the social capital and upper echelons literatures, the author(s) hypothesize that social capital can be institutionalized. The corresponding hypotheses are tested on a sample of 125 venture-backed software firms and the results demonstrate that the institutionalization of a founder-CEO’s social capital leads to better performance for a firm. The results provide a basis for understanding how social mechanisms influence economic organization as well as succession and compensation in a new venture context.

New England Journal Of Entrepreneurship, Spring 2014

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, Spring 2014, Joshua Shuart

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

California – Land Of “Lawless Taxation” And The “Midnight Special”: Outlier Or Leader In A Growing Trend?, Mystica M. Alexander

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Taxpayers in California recently found themselves the target of a retroactive grab for revenue by the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) in what has called an act of “lawless taxation” by the state of California. The source of the conflict was the Qualified Small Business Stock credit that had been in place in California since 1993. The tax credit, which was designed to encourage innovation and investment in California-based enterprises, allowed business owners who had at least eighty percent of their assets and employees in California to take a credit of fifty percent of the capital gain realized on a …

Ethics And Market Economic System: A General Review And A Survey, Reza G. Hamzaee

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Recent global recession has motivated this predominantly historical and exploratory research of thoughts and perceptions. A continuous planning of governmental correction of any market failure, such as various types of externalities and information asymmetry, has been strongly recommended by the pioneers of free enterprise systems. Capitalism—in which private ownership of means of production, physical capital, human capital, financial capital, brand-name capital, social capital, land, and mineral deposits are all protected by law without implementation of a series of certain evolving ethical standards and principles—may not continue to be the same efficient system as implied to be by the cost-benefit balancing …

A Quality Approach To Tacit Knowledge Capture: Effective Practice To Achieving Operational Excellence, William G. Dzekashu, Walter R. Mccollum Phd

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Knowledge loss resulting from an aging workforce continues to be a management nightmare that has obliged many organizational leaders to develop strategies aimed at documenting mission-critical knowledge. Yet knowledge captured and stored in repositories continues to lack quality. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of integrating quality management into the tacit knowledge capture process. Further studies on the effects of personality in the knowledge capture processes could lead to insights on reasons for diminished knowledge quality. From a social perspective, the implementation of a model that encompasses personality and quality management could improve decision-making processes.

The Hang-Up With Hamburg: How Center For Food Safety V. Hamburg Will Alter The Food Industry, Joella Roland

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Policing The Social Media Water Cooler: Recent Nlrb Decisions Should Make Employers Think Twice Before Terminating An Employee For Comments Posted On Social Media Sites, Eric Raphan, Sean Kirby

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Maryland's Social Networking Law: No "Friend" To Employers And Employees, Alexander Borman

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Framebuilder Entrepreneurship, Joshua Shuart

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The handmade bicycle industry has grown exponentially over the past decade. Although existing for decades in much smaller numbers, the popularity and credibility of framebuilder entrepreneurship —custom, handmade bike frames—has increased significantly in the past 10 years. The companies that specialize in custom-producing bicycle frames vary in size, scope, reputation, profitability, and even building materials.

The Impacts Of Trust And Feelings On Knowledge Sharing Among Chinese Employees, Michael J. Zhang

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This article examines the differential effects of two types of trust (affect based and cognition based) and two types of feelings (ganqing and jiaoqing) on different knowledge-sharing processes (seeking, transfer, and adoption) among Chinese employees. The influences of these different types of trust and feelings on Chinese employees’ propensities to seek, transfer, and adopt explicit and tacit knowledge are also analyzed and discussed. The analysis shows affect-based trust increases knowledge transfer, while cognition-based trust is more important to knowledge seeking and adoption. Affect-based trust alone can facilitate the different processes of sharing explicit knowledge. Effective sharing of tacit knowledge, on …

The Influence Of Social Identity On Rural Consumers’ Intent To Shop Locally, Rachel A. Addis, Marko Grunhagen

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Rural consumers’ in- and out-shopping intention has been a research topic for many years. This study investigates the relationship between social identity and rural consumers’ intent to shop within their local community, along with a number of moderating demographic variables. Using a sample of respondents from the Midwest, this study found a significant and positive relationship between rural consumers who socially identify with people in their local community and their intent to inshop. The influence of several demographic moderators is also explored, and implications for practice and future re-search are discussed.

Small Business Owner Satisfaction With Financial Performance: A Longitudinal Study, Shanan G. Gibson, William C. Mcdowell, Michael L. Harris

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This exploratory study examines the financial performance satisfaction of small business owners at two time periods: (1) nearing the end of the Great Recession and (2) three years into economic recovery. In addition to considering small business owners in general, special attention has been paid to women and minority owners. Using independent samples t-tests, results indicate that business owners are more satisfied with their financial performance in 2012 than they were in 2009. However, results were not consistent for all subgroups of the population; differences exist between men and women owners and between Caucasian and minority owners. Whereas men mirrored …