Business Commons^™

Building A Business: A Close-Knit Relationship Between Marketing & Entrepreneurship, Gabrielle O. Ysteboe

Honors Capstones

This project explores how best to build a knit blanket business with respect to several parameters including market research to determine price point, where to sell the product, with options including Etsy, brick and mortar, larger retail stores, personal website, craft fairs, and pop-up retail locations, and determining the target market and demographics, which will shape the marketing strategy to be used. It shows the ties between the 4 P's of marketing and entrepreneurship. Through surveys and primary research, data was found that allowed for one option for business placement to come out on top. It also allowed for the …

Expanding On Experiential Differentiation In Crowded Markets: Success Through Understanding And Addressing Intangible Consumer Needs, Mitchell Hibbs Hibbs

Honors Theses

This thesis project focuses on exploring and elucidating how businesses in crowded markets achieve their respective success. Markets include personal care, skin products, cosmetics, perfume, and others, to name just a few relevant to this work. I argue that by focusing on customers' intangible needs and engaging them through experiential means, businesses can create a substantial, sustainable, and compelling niche, differentiating themselves from the crowd. I propose an original model, EIND (experiential and needs-based differentiation), and a working structure to implement, analyze, and design using EIND principles.

How To Grow My Business On Social Media, Thomas Vehige

Honors Theses

This thesis discussed goals, strategies and tactics to expand an existing freelance sports videography business into a more robust business through the use of targeted social media campaigns. Author discusses demographic choices, social media platform selection and goals for thoughtful evaluation of opportunities and core competencies.

Social Entrepreneurship And Its Impact On Women In Poverty., Allison Primm

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Poverty is a complex issue that will require complex solutions. There is a disconnect between the two as people living in poverty usually connect it to ideas of self-esteem, pride, and confidence. In contrast, people who aren't living in it will connect poverty to the lack of material possessions and more physical needs. Proposed solutions and ventures that seek to assist those living in poverty must consider that each individual living in poverty has a different situation. This paper will explore the effect that social enterprises have on Women in poverty by providing employment, training, and support. The company Trades …

For The Kingdom, Jack Conway

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

For The Kingdom is a tabletop board game that I have developed for my thesis. In my thesis, I would like to cover three areas that have been crucial to the development of the game- the guidebook created to support and facilitate the board game, the changes made due to player feedback and testing, and the potential paths to getting the game to the market. Before Talking about those three areas, however, I will first describe the games genre and a bit about my approach to developing it.

Informing The Creation Of A Financial Literacy Tool For Cal Poly Students, Kelly Michelle Carroll

Communication Studies

This research project examines the wants, needs, and desires of Cal Poly students to inform the creation of a financial literacy tool (tentatively named “MoneySmart”) to be created by another student. The methodologies used to gauge these metrics were a literature review and questionnaire. The literature review aids in understanding research regarding the current state of student financial literacy in the United States, including student attitudes toward the topic. Subsequent findings were used to create the questionnaire, which inquired about students’ financial stress, confidence in their abilities to manage their personal finances, specific interests for the design and contents of …

Stand For The Small: How To Effectively Brand And Market Your Small Business On Social Media, Erika Glover

Honors Projects

This document is a resource intended for female entrepreneurs who own or are looking to launch their own small business. The focus of this resource is to help business owners understand and apply strong social media marketing tactics to their small businesses. The document draws on passions, mission, and brand identity to help the user visualize the long term vision of their company's image. This is achieved by providing research and information on social media marketing in the following categories: target audience, gaining customers, brand goals, mission, visuals, voice, platforms, hashtags, analytics, and a pep talk.

The final element of …

On Effectuation And Networks: Three Essays On Their Mutuality, Jon Kerr

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The notion of co-creating opportunities positions effectuation as both a network-driving and network-dependent phenomenon. On one hand, networks are products of relational interactions and, therefore, artefactual outcomes of effectual processes. On the other hand, it would seem that understanding networks and network processes is essential to understanding effectuation. Although past research acknowledges this mutuality, recent discourse highlights that our understanding of the relationship between effectuation and networks is far from complete. In this dissertation, I address this knowledge gap through three essays positioned at the interface of effectuation and network theory.

In the first essay, my systematic literature review synthesizes …

The High Rise Storage System, Justin H. Harmon

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Progressive And Regressive Factors That Business Owners Consider When Choosing Whether Or Not To Implement An Exit Strategy, David C. Pickard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this dissertation is to examine the progressive and regressive factors that affect a small business owner’s decision to implement an exit strategy. An exit strategy can be defined as an entrepreneur's strategic plan to sell his or her investment in a company he or she has controlling interest in. An exit strategy gives a business owner a way to reduce or eliminate his or her stake in the business and, if the business is successful, make a substantial profit. Exiting a business is a complicated process which includes among other things, the evaluation, preparation, marketing, and ultimate …

Marketing In Portland's Small Publishing Industry: Case Studies In The Biographical Approach, Kate Jay

University Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the influence of a publisher’s individual experience and background on the marketing functions of a small publishing press. In order to complete this task, the biographical approach was used. This approach requires interviews of small business owners in order to gain an understanding of their motivation, history, and background. Three Portland publishers of similar size but varying genre focuses were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed and treated as individual case studies. The results of the interviews and analysis was an understanding that the impact on a press from the owners’ knowledge, personalities, and backgrounds change …

International New Venture Performance: Role Of International Entrepreneurial Culture, Marketing And Positional Advantage, Dominic Buccieri

ETD Archive

Over the past two decades, the growth of international new ventures has stimulated a great deal of interest among international entrepreneurship scholars to understand how these entrepreneurial start-ups internationalize given their resource deficiencies. However, the literature exhibits considerable gaps related to how international new ventures, can overcome their asset-constrained positions to enhance performance. Employing the concept of international entrepreneurship culture, which provides a holistic operationalization of international entrepreneurship, this dissertation develops and tests a conceptual framework to better understand how international new ventures' entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurial marketing actions of opportunity-based discovery and –exploitation impact their performance in global markets. …

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 …

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.

The Hult Prize: A Guide On How To Be Successful, Kelsey T. Jones

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Hult Prize competition is the worlds largest international case competition. After participating in the Hult Prize for the past 2 years as the team captain, one which the group came out as one of the top 10 teams out of over 25,000 for a business model that aimed to double the income of individuals making less than $2 a day, I have created an overarching guide that will guide future teams to being successful within the competition. The key is to focus on a few on a few key parts: building a team, the general timeline, research, brainstorming, finances, …

Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Historical Exploration And Implications For Practice, Sofia Victoria Ramos

Selected Honors Theses

In an increasingly turbulent market, marketers are having difficulty predicting consumer demands, and academics are finding that traditional marketing theory is no longer highly effective in making educated marketing decisions. With the growth of Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) research over the past several decades, researchers have found these practices to be effective not only for SME’s but also for larger firms. Because of this, researchers are offering Entrepreneurial Marketing theory as a solution for all firms seeking a competitive advantage in a volatile market. Entrepreneurial Marketing, which is the innovative, opportunity seeking approach most entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) …

Marketing Strategies Of Mobile Game Application Entrepreneurs, Talaya Waller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mobile game application entrepreneurs can offer many benefits to the U.S. economy; however, 80% of the entrepreneurs in this study stated that marketing their mobile applications was a major business challenge. Successful strategies that entrepreneurs have used to overcome their mobile game application marketing challenges may be beneficial to other entrepreneurs. Based on Schumpeter's theory of economic development and new value creation of technological innovation, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the strategies that entrepreneurs have used to market their mobile game application development businesses successfully. Twenty mobile game application entrepreneurs from northern California, who successfully sustained …

Social Media Helps Small Businesses, Nicholas J. Oxborrow

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Beemer and Shook (2009) explain that developing customers one at a time is the only way. There are no short cuts to this. Traditionally, a small business would develop their relationships by going from door-to-door to raise awareness and grow their brand. How fast they achieved this depended on the budget and time available to their business. Traditionally, large businesses had the power of reaching their markets through huge advertising budget, which small companies could not match.

In today’s business environment, social media has become a new marketing tool that is available to all businesses, that instantly develops relationships with …

Integration Of Market And Entrepreneurial Orientations; And Their Impact On Export Performance: A Contingency Approach, Ayse Nilgun Kaya

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Globalization has promoted worldwide exporting levels to soar and to account for more than 10% of global activity. Technological advances in information and communication technologies, production methods, transportation, and international logistics have led to the increase in the exporting activity. However, these advances have also resulted in highly competitive and turbulent markets, and sophisticated and demanding customers, which in return has required exporting firms to be both entrepreneurial- and market-oriented.

A review of the market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and exporting literature revealed three gaps that the dissertation sought to fill. First, the relationship between market orientation and entrepreneurship was not …