Business Commons^™

"My Friends, They Are People To Rely On": The Social Foundation Of Business In Ghana, Patrick D. Shulist

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The management and entrepreneurship literatures increasingly engage in poverty alleviation research in the developing world. However, there is a marked tendency to overlook how the Western World, from where most theory comes, differs from the developing world. Such a fallacy has potential deleterious effects on the research itself, but more importantly on the practical applications of that research.

With this in mind, my dissertation uses an inductive qualitative methodology to explore the nature of self-employment in the developing world as it is; that is, not coloured by theoretical priors. In doing this, I lay the groundwork for understanding the …

Identity Construction And Language Use By Immigrant Women In A Microenterprise Development Program, Linda Eve Bonder

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have explored immigrant identity in various contexts, but few studies have examined identity in low-income immigrant women entrepreneurs. To address this research gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with eight low-income Latino immigrants who were starting their own businesses and receiving support through a local microenterprise development program (MDP). The study explored how participants' microenterprise efforts affected their identities and their investments in learning English.

The research found that entrepreneurship promoted positive identity construction by providing opportunities for participants to develop personal and cultural pride, strengthened parental roles, and interdependence with the community. These benefits helped participants decrease family stress …

A Complement, Not A Competitor: How Public Markets Can Support Business Districts In Worcester, Ron M. Barron

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible economic and community development impacts of entry-level public markets (e.g. fixed location markets, farmers markets, etc.) on the communities in which they operate. While there is extensive literature around their benefits to vendors, community health and public space, there is comparative little on the interplay between these markets and more traditional brick and mortar businesses. The background and definition of these markets, the basic common characteristics that define them, and some of the benefits they can offer for economic and community development are each explored. It then examines two different …

The Creative Entrepreneur Leading Innovation, Karina Loera Barcenas

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The Creative Entrepreneur Leading Innovation is a course designed for undergraduate students. Students will learn the entrepreneurial mindset through the creative process triggering innovation and leading transformation to face and adapt in the current constant and fastest changing era. This course also has a skill development component through which students will be able to experience personal transformation towards positive change.

Creativity In Organizations: Antecedents And Outcomes Of Individual Creativity, Goran Calic

Open Access Dissertations

In this dissertation I set out to expand our collective understanding of creativity in organizations. I accomplish this through three related studies, each organized into independent chapters of this dissertation.

The first study explores how demands of organizations, particularly strategic contradictions faced by decision makers, affect creative processes and products. In this chapter I develop the theory of paradoxical creativity, which posits that creative discovery is a function of how strategic contradictions are perceived by decision-makers. The key insight of the theory of paradoxical creativity is that strategic contradictions have independent effects on the two stages of creative discovery (generation …

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) …

Applying Trait Theory To Determine The Causality Of The Entrepreneur’S Success, Samuel Moyer

Selected Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to apply trait theory through psychoanalysis in an attempt to determine why three noted entrepreneurs: Andrew Carnegie, Walt Disney, and Oprah Winfrey, were highly successful in their respective ventures as well as discuss the extent to which indicative traits of entrepreneurial success were present in the subjects studied. Research shows that components of entrepreneurs’ traits and motivation have a direct relationship to the start-up and continued success of new venture firms (Baum, Locke, 2004) which means more accurate definitions of traits responsible for entrepreneurial success are beneficial to investors, entrepreneurs, and the entire economic …

Encouraging Entrepreneurship: Resources Supporting Small Business Startup And Growth, Karen A. Eagle

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Small business success drives the health of a local economy. The problem of this three phase mixed methods study was to encourage entrepreneurship by identifying the resources that support business startup and growth. In the first qualitative phase, the city business resource webpage was observed and 10 entrepreneurs were interviewed to identify which business resources were used for their recent startups. Using the data from the interviews, a survey instrument was developed for the Small Business Subcommittee (SBS) that was used in the second quantitative phase which included 351 business owners; 35% were women and 65% were men. The sample …

Trashé Designs: A Social Enterprise, Cara Walden

MA IDS Thesis Projects

During my years in graduate school, my understanding of economic inequality has further expanded. While my experience in the Peace Corps and Nepal allowed me to see it in real life, my time in school has allowed me to ground these experiences in academic literature. By means of an action research project, my goal is to create economic opportunity for the HIV/AIDS community in Chiang Mai, Thailand, through the creation of the social enterprise Trashé Designs. A social enterprise is a way to address a social challenge with a market-based solution. My social enterprise, Trashé Designs, uses recycled materials to …

Psychotherapists Becoming Leadership Consultants: The Making Of An Institutional Entrepreneur, Mercy Burton Russell

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT

Leadership consultants bring specialized knowledge into their clients'

organizations. Advisor leadership consultants (ALC) trained as psychotherapists

apply concepts from human behavior theories as advisors to business leaders. They

also bring service-oriented professional norms and values of objectivity, neutrality,

and lack of self-interest. Their business clients in the market sector operate

according to norms and values of pragmatism, financial self-interest, and advocacy.

In order to establish credibility in the organizational field of business clients,

leadership consultants must negotiate between these different value systems.

This study is a grounded theory inquiry using narrative analysis tools to

study how ALCs navigate across …