Business Commons^™

Towards An Institutional Aesthetic Of Women’S Entrepreneurship: A Political Economy Perspective, Melissa Langworthy

Arab Economic and Business Journal

This article presents a feminist constructivist political economy perspective on the role of women’s enterprise development in modern times. Through establishing women’s enterprise as an aesthetic of good institutions rooted in the microcredit movement of the late twentieth century but with expanded resurgence into the global North in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, I illustrate how female (micro)enterprise programs afforded moral legitimacy to international organizations, NGOs, and later corporations, financial institutions, and states in ways that downplayed individual and systemic empowerment.

Understanding Romania's Poverty: A Historical Overview Of Economics And Politics And Their Implications On Poverty Today, Benjamin Bucur

Senior Honors Theses

Romania is a country with a high-income economy that is experiencing considerable growth following its economic reforms of earlier decades. With growth, tendencies for an unequal society are prevalent. Therefore, appropriate economic policies that are specifically targeted toward bottlenecks are essential. This thesis seeks to outline the major types of poverty in Romania while also offering actionable entrepreneurial and educational insights that practically combat poverty at its roots.

Building A Society Of Trust: Innovation And The Future Of Youth Employment In Jordan, Pierre Cativiela

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The word startup is perhaps an unlikely word that comes to mind when discussing shifting dynamics in the Middle East – this is rapidly changing. In the past two decades, Arab entrepreneurs have emerged from across the region as key players in the paradigm of national economic visions. Within these plans, innovation will become the epicenter for public-private partnerships. Such collaboration will contribute to tackling youth unemployment, the region’s most pressing contemporary problem, as well as diversifying local economies. The research delves into the complexities and history of entrepreneurship in Jordan as one of the region’s pioneering nations, examining the …

Digital Platforms And Entrepreneurial Support: A Field Experiment In Online Mentoring, Saurabh A. Lall, Li-Wei Chen, Dyana P. Mason

Management Faculty Publications

The benefits of entrepreneurial mentorship are well documented, but there is limited research on how entrepreneurs connect with mentors, especially in digital settings. We partnered with an online platform that connects entrepreneurs to potential mentors to conduct a field experiment in online mentoring. Drawing on literature on entrepreneurial mentorship and Social Cognitive Theory, we compared the effects of three interventions on the likelihood of reaching out and making a connection with a mentor in a digital setting. We find that showing entrepreneurs a video of a successful mentor–mentee relationship increases the chances that they will reach out to a potential …

Transitional Entrepreneurship: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential Across Numerous Challenging Contexts, Golshan Javadian, Anil Nair, David Ahlstrom, Kaveh Moghaddam, Li-Wei Chen, Younggeun Lee

Management Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] We are pleased to publish the special issue of the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship on transitional entrepreneurship. Transitional entrepreneurship refers to the practices of entrepreneurs from communities facing adversity who navigate substantial life transitions as they launch and manage new ventures in response to various changes and challenges in their environment. Entrepreneurship is not only a critical driver of economic growth and social development (Ahlstrom et al., 2019; McCloskey, 2010) but can also represent a life-changing transition for most, if not all, of the entrepreneurs themselves. Transitional entrepreneurship entails strategic pivots or transformations that enable entrepreneurs to …

Africa's Knowledge Economy And Links To India, Anand Kulkarni

International Review of Business and Economics

Competitive advantage for economies, both developed and developing, will be increasingly based on knowledge in all its forms, including science and technology, smart entrepreneurship, and new business and organizational development models. Due to COVID-19, the need for innovative solutions to health and economic disruptions has never been as keenly felt. This paper is structured in five parts. The first part examines the extent to which various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa participate in the global knowledge economy. Data is drawn from the UN Knowledge Index and canvases knowledge economy parameters such as research and development, value-added industrial production and knowledge-intensive services, …

Opportunity Zones: A Program In Search Of A Purpose, Ofer Eldar, Chelsea Garber

Faculty Scholarship

In 2017, Congress created the Opportunity Zone (“OZ”) program to stimulate economic growth in low-income communities. The program was characterized by its unprecedented scale relative to previous place-based development efforts and was described as “perhaps the most ambitious economic development tool to come out of Congress in a generation.” However, the program was quickly criticized on numerous grounds, and its design flaws are so severe that several legislators have called for its reform or repeal.

This Essay argues that the root of the OZ program’s problems is a strong mismatch between its stated purpose and its actual terms. We discuss …

Startup Businesses In The Mountain West, 2014-2018, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet highlights data on startup businesses in Mountain West states and metropolitan areas, as originally reported by Roofstock’s “U.S. Cities With the Most Startup Businesses” report. Startup businesses are defined as new businesses launched by entrepreneurs that create jobs and spur efficiency and innovation. This report examines the startup formation rate, annual startup formations, annual new jobs created by startups, and jobs created by startups as a percentage of all new jobs within states and metros across the United States.

To Be Or Not To Be A Female Entrepreneur In The Mexicali Valley, Roberto B. Romero, Jose J. D. L. Torrez

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

At present, the need arises for women to prepare themselves every day to face the challenges that the local and regional market holds for them since they constitute a fundamental component for the economy of all countries, through the development and economic growth of urban areas. and rural in the face of unemployment and poverty. Likewise, women should have a priority place on the scene of public policies in favor of them due to their ability to contribute to local dynamics by creating more job opportunities with new companies. This article aims to analyze the characteristics that govern decision-making in …

Barriers And Enablers To Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems As Perceived By Change Agents In The Workplace, Shanda Barrett

Dissertations

This study explores factors that influence entrepreneurial ecosystems. Clifton (2010, 2015) recommends entrepreneurship, better business models, and new business startups as a solution for economic renewal in the United States and specifically identifies disengaged workers and low-energy workplaces as the starting point. The recommendation does not address how to make workplaces conducive to entrepreneurial activity, nor does the recommendation address how to engage entrepreneurial employees.

Existing literature outlines the known tensions between theory, anecdotal evidence, and the professional practice of building entrepreneurial ecosystems. To date, the term entrepreneurial ecosystem exists as a metaphor in the extant literature. While scholars have …

The Impact Of Integrating An Sbdc Program Into A College/University Career Center, Harshdeep Singh Nanda

Master's Projects

With a new approach for integrating the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program in Alameda County, the Ohlone Community College District (Ohlone College) has introduced a new model for hosting an SBDC program on a college/university campus. While many other educational institutions across the nation have hosted an SBDC program (Cook Center for Entrepreneurship - Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, n.d.; University of Scranton Small Business Development Center (SBDC) | Helping NEPA & Northern Tier Small Businesses Start, Grow & Prosper., n.d.; Olson, 2006), most have treated the program as a separate entity or department, often leading to the …

A Critical Look At The Failure Of Mainstream Economics, Joseph M. Dipoli

Journal of Global Business Insights

Book Review

Foundations of real-world economics: What every economics student needs to know (2nd ed.), by John Komlos, New York, Routledge, 2019, 306 pp., $42.95 (Paperback), ISBN 9781138296541.

Many people in the United States of America are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the economy and some are suggesting measures that seem socialistic. The time has come to recognize that mainstream economics as taught in our schools is not serving students at all. The research sharing platform of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) states that John Komlos’s textbook Foundations of Real-World Economics: What Every Economics Student Needs to …

Venture Capital In Nevada, Peter Grema, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet provides an overview of venture capital in the State of Nevada. Venture capital is an essential part of economic diversification and business startup development. The Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah are used for comparative purposes to add context to Nevada’s venture capital ecosystem. The differing nature of venture capital funds in Northern and Southern Nevada is delineated.

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 …

Estimating The Benefits And Costs Of Forming Business Partnerships, Jungho Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

I estimate a matching model of business‐partnership formation to quantify the relative importance of productivity gains, financing gains, and the coordination failure of effort provision (moral hazard) among partners. Productivity gains account for 61% of the gain from the observed partnerships. For partners in the first quartile of the wealth distribution, however, financing accounts for 93% of the gain. The cost of moral hazard corresponds to 42% of the entire gain from partnerships. A loan policy specifically targeting partnerships is less effective in improving welfare than a conventional loan policy that provides loans to individual entrepreneurs.

The Decline Of American Entrepreneurship: An Analysis Of Causes Of Macro Market Trends And A Changing American Economic System, Owen Flomberg

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Technological Entrepreneurship And Dynamic Entrepreneurial Capabilities In Indian It Industry, C. A. Anne Benedexa Ph.D.

International Review of Business and Economics

Entrepreneurship acts as a pillar for the economic prosperity of a nation as it leads to generation of employment contribution in national income, rural development, industrialization, technological development, export promotion etc. Technological Entrepreneurship (TE) is an important way to commercialize technological innovations and offers unique development opportunities for societies to educate and grow. Technology development and entrepreneurial capabilities spirit fuels growth of the nation. Dynamicentrepreneurialcapabilityis to examine how a small entrepreneurial firm can achieve successful product innovation and technology change by substituting the traditional drivers for innovation, such as patenting capabilities, in-house research and development and expert human capital with …

Role Of Women Entrepreneurs In India – Problems And Opportunities, Deepthi Poreddy

International Review of Business and Economics

Women’s development has been considered the key to the overall development of the nation. The educated women do not want their lives to stay in the four walls of the house. They demand equal respect from their partners. Today in India with growing population we want to take necessary steps to nurture entrepreneurship particularly women empowerment through entrepreneurship. In this process women need to realize their strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to come out their potential in order to achieve their goals. Moreover they want new opportunities for self- fulfilment. The opportunities provided to the women of digital era are …

Thinking And Designing With Design Thinking, Ahmet Can Ozcan, Yasuko Takayama

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Design Thinking is a popular phrase especially for the last ten years penetrating into the discourse of management and design, business and academia in many ways. The contributions in the form of articles, commentaries and reviews in this MGDR Design Thinking Special Issue show us the examples, how and where we can use Design Thinking especially as an integral part of the design process. The area of design is expanding in diverse ways lately and sometimes it is causing the confusion such as Design Thinking is either a magical design tool, or another buzzword destined to go extinct after inevitable …

Economic Engagement, Development, And Entrepreneurship: The Role Of Applied Public Service Colleges, Jason Jolley, Gilbert Michaud

eJournal of Public Affairs

This paper investigates the unique role of applied public service colleges in engaging with communities through economic development and entrepreneurship-related activities. Schools of public administration, affairs, and service are often distinctively tasked with being public facing, and connecting and working with outside agencies, nonprofits, and other stakeholders. Using a case study of Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, we discuss the emerging engagement role of these types of schools through a typology of strategies brought forth by the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. We outline seven specific programs run by the Voinovich School, and discuss …

Tax Uncertainty And Business Activity, Jungho Lee, Jianhuan Xu

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate the extent to which uncertainties about tax policies affect business activities. We develop a statewide tax-uncertainty measure (TU measure) and show that it captures state corporate tax uncertainty. By comparing adjacent counties across state borders, we show that increasing tax uncertainty by one standard deviation (a 30% increase in the TU measure) leads to a 0.17% point per-year decrease in the growth rate of establishments over two years. The result holds after conducting a variety of robustness checks and is not likely to be driven by general state-policy uncertainties.

Empowering Female Entrepreneurs Through Mentorship In Medellin, Colombia: Results From The Field, Theresa Solenski

Master's Theses

Utilizing the power of local knowledge and peer networking, this study attempts to quantify the impacts of mentorship among female micro-entrepreneurs in Medellin, Colombia on empowerment. Developing countries such as Colombia have disproportionately high rates of unprofitable micro-businesses, many of which are managed by women. Internal constraints, such as disempowerment, play a central role in perpetuating poverty. We implement a 6-month mentoring intervention by pairing 18 successful entrepreneurs with 52 disadvantaged female, micro-entrepreneurs in Medellin, Colombia to measure the additional benefit of localized knowledge to micro-borrowers. Using a process of random assignment, I measure the change in female empowerment, measured …

Planning An Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystem In Norfolk Virginia, Matthew A. Cline

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Provides an overview of Norfolk’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem and challenges associated with its disadvantaged entrepreneurs. Presents policy recommendations in creating more equitable environment for these small business ventures.

Startup Governance, Elizabeth Pollman

All Faculty Scholarship

Although previously considered rare, over three hundred startups have reached valuations over a billion dollars. Thousands of smaller startups aim to follow in their paths. Despite the enormous social and economic impact of venture-backed startups, their internal governance receives scant scholarly attention. Longstanding theories of corporate ownership and governance do not capture the special features of startups. They can grow large with ownership shared by diverse participants, and they face issues that do not fit the dominant principal-agent paradigm of public corporations or the classic narrative of controlling shareholders in closely held corporations.

This Article offers an original, comprehensive framework …

Entrepreneurship, College, And Credit: The Golden Triangle, Roberto M. Samaniego, Juliana Yu Sun

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a model to evaluate the aggregate impact of college finance in an environment with entrepreneurship. The calibrated model captures the stylized fact that entrepreneurs with college are more common and more profitable in the United States. The calibration indicates this is mainly because higher labor earnings allow college‐educated agents to ameliorate credit constraints if and when they eventually become entrepreneurs. Changes in financing constraints on entrepreneurs can thus affect college attendance, and changes in financing constraints on college can affect entrepreneurship rates as well.

Entrepreneurship Education Empowers Youth To Change Their Lives, Marianna Brashear, Jason Riddle

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) aims at equipping Title 1 schools with free, hands-on, engaging materials that any teacher can facilitate either individually or in a classroom setting with no background in entrepreneurship necessary. These versatile lessons, courses, and workshops teach the entrepreneurial mindset optimizing opportunities for grades 8-12 students no matter which life/career path they choose.

Duratable Enterprises Inc., Spencer D. Evans, Hal B. Heaton

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

In late 2017, DuraTable received a number of unsolicited inquiries regarding its interest in selling out in a going private transaction, mostly from private equity firms. Since the chairman of the board and founder, Gary Reynolds, was approaching retirement age and the largest single shareholder who had provided the seed capital to start the company was over 80 years old, Mr. Reynolds was willing to consider a sale and provided information to four or five of them to prepare bids. DuraTable was a closely held company with relatively few individuals holding the vast majority of shares. As such, DuraTable’s shares …

Easing Growing Pains: Supporting The Growth Of Small Businesses In The Philippines, Paulynne Castillo

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

In explaining the 2015 survey findings that the Philippines has the second to the lowest existing business rate in the ASEAN region, the Philippine Entrepreneurship Report, 2015-16 stated that “business operations become more burdensome as they grow due to the more restrictive regulations on large enterprises” (Velasco et al., 2017, p. 40). Established businesses, particularly firms operating in the formal sector, shoulder higher taxes and are subject to social security contributions, minimum wage, and industry-specific regulations (Velasco et al., 2017; Auriol, 2014).

Strengthening early-stage entrepreneurial activities and supporting their quest for expansion, however, require access to financial, legal, and public …

The Impact Of Culture On Hispanic Entrepreneurs As Mediated By Motivation, Challenge, And Success, Valerie V. Ballesteros

Theses & Dissertations

In the modern economic environment, demographic shifts in U.S. population resulting from changing immigration, changing economic policies and environments, and growing socioeconomic disparity, scholarly research examining the business behavior of specific groups and the impact of behavior on the broader marketplace is valuable and necessary. Hispanic entrepreneurs, when compared to both minority and non-minority business-owners, started and flourished in successful business ownership at a greater growth rate than any other group (Davila, Mora, & Zeitlin, 2014). Since the beginning of the 21st century, Hispanic entrepreneurs have become a measurable economic force. The cultural experience of the Hispanic entrepreneur is important …

On The Relationship Between Household Wealth And Entrepreneurship, Jungho Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

Motivated by a substantial number of startup owners with negative household net worth, I present a model that incorporates credit borrowing into Evans and Jovanovic [1989]. The estimated model generates no relationship between household wealth and the propensity for business entry. Ignoring credit borrowing for potential business owners substantially overstates the efficiency loss from financial constraints in business entry. However, the efficiency loss in investments by the entrants is large even if credit borrowing is allowed. Individuals who start a business once credit borrowing is available are those whose business ideas are of a high-enough quality to compensate high financing …