Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Savings Account For Microenterprise, Meghan Jarow

Honors College Theses

Will bundling savings accounts with loans increase the effectiveness of microfinance as a tool for alleviating poverty? Microfinance is the practice of offering small loans to poor people in developing countries. The development of this practice into a poverty dimishining, self-sustaining business won Muhammad Yunus a Nobel Prize in 2006. Today, there are thousands of microfinance institutions (MFIs) serving millions of people in developing countries. However, there is recent evidence that these loans do not help reduce poverty, and may do as much ahrm as good.

In truth providing credit to the poor may not be enough to eliminate poverty. …

Business Startup And Cause Marketing In The Running Apparel Industry, Zachary Barker

Senior Honors Theses

Entrepreneurship has been the backbone of the American economy since the penning of the Declaration of Independence. Small businesses help the United States prosper and help create jobs for the American people. As today’s business world is increasingly changing in a technological and global way, entrepreneurs must consider many environmental conditions in their small business planning. Business start-up is a long process backed by research and market testing that will maximize the opportunity for success. One way many business start-ups have become successful is through cause-related marketing programs that many people support. Additionally, a particular industry that has proven to …

Turnaround Response To Performance Decline In Family- Controlled Publicly-Traded Firms: A Three-Essay Investigation, Giacomo Laffranchini

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation investigates the first strategic response to performance decline (i.e., the retrenchment stage in the turnaround process) in family-owned businesses (FOBs). Specifically, I study how the interplay between financial and non-financial objectives in FOBs affects the strategic preferences of family-owners when circumstances put the wealth (financial and non-financial) of the family at stake. In this three-essay Dissertation, I employ the behavioral agency model (BAM) or the socioemotional wealth (SEW) preservation perspective to explain and predict the effect of SEW on an FOB's retrenchment strategies. While the SEW construct was used by previous studies, its direct measurement and the methodologies …

Generating More Profit From Your Farm Business, Tamara Stretch

All other publications

This report outlines the main drivers of profit – price, production, costs and management. Knowing a farm’s profit drivers assists managers to analyse the risk and resilience of their business and to make more informed expenditure decisions. With significant volatility in both prices and production, farm managers need to have strategies that smooth price volatility and allow adjustments to costs of production.

When analysing business profitability it is important to look beyond gross margins and capture all cost items particularly large fixed costs like finance and machinery allowance costs. By critically examining the full cost structure of their business managers …

Establishing Credibility Online Through Impression Management Strategies, Shauna Vanbogart

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This project sought to understand how individuals establish credibility online through impression management strategies. Applying Goffman’s (1959) impression management theory, the literature review highlighted four leading self-presentation tactics that bolster credibility effectively on the Internet: structure and aesthetics of personal websites, publication of content that is consistent, insightful and authentic, the use of self-disclosure, and verification of expertise through testimonials and references. These four self-presentation strategies were applied to analyze eight entrepreneurs who have successfully built a credible presence online. These case studies were further developed through the design of online course that teaches entrepreneurs how to use impression management …

Individual Factors Affecting Entrepreneurship In Hispanics, Julio C. Canedo, Dianna L. Stone, Stephanie L. Black, Kimberly M. Lukaszewski

Journal Articles

A model of entrepreneurship (Baron & Henry, 2011) is used to understand and explain the factors related to the behaviors of Hispanic entrepreneurs. Testable hypotheses to guide future research are presented.

Implementing Green Roofs On Movie Theaters And Shopping Centers: Business Cases In Profitable Sustainability, Ryan J. Miller

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis presents the business case for installing green roofs on movie theaters and shopping centers. These businesses can then derive increased profits from the environmental benefits of reduced energy use and increased stormwater retention. After presenting the basic design and benefits of a green roof, the thesis develops stand-alone business plans for a movie theater and shopping center. The author finds that green roofs are a profitable sustainability solution for the commercial enterprise.

The Nature And Influence Of Relationship On Success In A Virtual Work Environment, Carol Locher Ransone

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The evolution of technology in the 21st century has led to a greater understanding of the benefits and the challenges of expanding work relationships across geographical boundaries. This expansion has contributed to the development of a global society with over three million employee teleworkers (Global Workplace Analytics and the Telework Research Network, 2013). In spite of the advances in connecting across the globe technologically, the importance of successfully working together in a virtual work environment is grounded in relationships that foster individual growth and group cohesion. The human elements of connectivity are primary to the success of organizations as well …

Understanding Leadership In Small Business From The Perspectives Of Practitioners, Daniel E, Holloway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many small businesses fail after 5 years, having a negative impact on local and national economies. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore small-enterprise leader-operators’ experiences regarding practices that aid sustainability beyond 5 years. Twenty small enterprise leaders in the United States Midwest who were identified as having 5 years of longevity in leading organizations with fewer than 500 employees were invited to participate. These participants shared their lived experiences through semistructured interviews conducted in-person and by telephone. The dynamic theory of leadership development was used to underpin the study. In the central research question for this study, …

Crafting A Career Out Of Beer, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Craft beers may be trendy, but making a profit on them can be challenging.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship: Microfinance, Knowledge Support, And The Costs Of Operating In Institutional Voids, Subrata Chakrabarty, A. Erin Bass

Marketing and Management Faculty Publications

This study focuses on the supplemented strategies of microfinance institutions (MFIs), in which the MFI offers nonfinancial services, such as entrepreneurship related knowledge, in addition to financial services to impoverished borrowers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). We examine two contextual factors–foreign direct investment (FDI) and loan defaults–to better understand the relationship between providing knowledge support to encourage entrepreneurship and costs of operating at the BoP for MFIs. In contexts where FDI is low and loan defaults are high, providing knowledge support to encourage entrepreneurship aggravates the MFI's costs of operating at the BoP. However, in contexts where FDI …

The Impacts Of Founding Teams' Characteristics, Types Of Opportunities, And Types Of Strategies On Firm Performance In New Business Ventures, Kyung-Moon Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine the impact of the characteristics of founding team on firm performance in new business ventures. In addition, this study investigates the moderating effects of the types of opportunities and the types of strategies on the relationships between founding teams' knowledge and firm performance. Although considerable research has examined the effects of founding teams' education and experience on firm performance, findings are inconclusive and disintegrated. Few studies have attempted to investigate the combined effects of these important factors on new ventures' performance and survival. As a result, this study investigates the impact of founding team knowledge …

What Do Accelerators Do? Insights From Incubators And Angels, Susan L. Cohen

Management Faculty Publications

What do accelerators do? Broadly speaking, they help ventures define and build their initial products, identify promising customer segments, and secure resources, including capital and employees. More specifically, accelerator programs are programs of limited-duration—lasting about three months—that help cohorts of startups with the new venture process. They usually provide a small amount of seed capital, plus working space. They also offer a plethora of networking opportunities, with both peer ventures and mentors, who might be successful entrepreneurs, program graduates, venture capitalists, angel investors, or even corporate executives. Finally, most programs end with a grand event, a “demo day” where ventures …

Three Essays On Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Kaveh Moghaddam

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Despite the saliency of immigrant entrepreneurship, our understanding of the unique challenges of start-up processes confronting immigrant entrepreneurs is quite limited. While entrepreneurship as a field of study is growing rapidly, it is criticized for the lack of commonly accepted and well developed research paradigms. To address this theoretical gap in the entrepreneurship literature in general and in the immigrant entrepreneurship research in particular this dissertation addresses the following overarching question in a three essay format: What are the start-up processes and outcomes associated with immigrant entrepreneurship? The first essay suggests a theoretical framework which exhibits how the social embeddedness …

The Strategic Planning Process In Complex Settings: The Case Of Construction Professional Service Firms, Roisin Murphy, Iain Henderson

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Principles And Practices Of Bar And Beverage Management, James Peter Murphy

Books/Book Chapters

Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management is a comprehensive text and resource book designed to explain the latest developments and new complexities of managing modern bars - be they stand alone or part of larger institutions such as hotels and resorts.

Consumer expectations have changed, and a bar today must deliver an integrated social experience in a safe modern environment, which also offers the latest products and services in a professional and engaging fashion. Against a background of increasing competition and an increasingly sophisticated customer base, this text has been designed to support the bar and beverage skills …

The Principles And Practices Of Bar And Beverage Management - The Drinks Handbook, James Peter Murphy

Books/Book Chapters

The bar and drinks business is hugely competitive. The key to success or failure between the many beverages and services offered in any bar is the employees who make, market, sell and serve them. Customer expectation and demand is constantly increasing and so it’s crucial for all staff to have comprehensive product knowledge and superior specialized service skills.

The Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management - The Drinks Handbook is an authoritative resource and comprehensive training guide, essential for all students, bartenders, sommeliers, mixologists, waiters and food and beverage practitioners the world over. Written and configured in an …

Rhody's Run For Dana Farber 5k, Mark Albanese, Bryan Poston

Senior Honors Projects

The event itself was designed to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. In the early stages of the project, it was clear that a charity event would have the largest impact both on our experiential learning as well as the community as a whole. Dana-Farber was selected as the events beneficiary due to their impressive contributions to cancer research worldwide. While the success of the project isn't solely determined by charitable contributions we collected, it provided a form of measurement of progress throughout the semester. With the goal of simultaneously promoting student health, the event was organized …

Inclusive Business: Using For-Profit Business Models To Address Global Poverty, Samuel James Conner

Senior Honors Theses

Due to the rise of globalization, modernization, and the Internet revolution, awareness of global poverty has expanded, making its eradication a chief goal of the global development community for the twenty-first century. Though corporations are often expected to participate in social and community development initiatives without regard for profits, this paper presents inclusive business as a way for businesses to profitably engage impoverished segments of society. Inclusive businesses seek to expand their consumer bases or strengthen their supply chains by moving into new markets among the poor that have limited access to global markets and remain largely untapped. The research …

Rhody's Run For Dana-Farber 5k, Bryan P. Poston, Mark Albanese

Senior Honors Projects

The event itself was designed to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. In the early stages of the project, it was clear that a charity event would have the largest impact both on our experiential learning as well as the community as a whole. Dana-Farber was selected as the events beneficiary due to their impressive contributions to cancer research worldwide. While the success of the project isn't solely determined by charitable contributions we collected, it provided a form of measurement of progress throughout the semester. With the goal of simultaneously promoting student health, the event was organized …

2013 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

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

Beyond Big Business For Student Work Placement: An Overview Of Project Results., Lyndsey El Amoud, University College Cork, Higher Education Authority, Roadmap For Employment Academic Partnerships

Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Trojan Fish Strategy, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

How does an ornamental fish exporter grow its bottom line? Simple: By adopting and adapting the business model of the world’s most famous safety razor company. The Gillette Business Model, also known as Freebie Marketing, is much copied because of its simplicity: sell razors at a loss, or even give them away free, but make back your money with the disposable blade replacements. That same strategy has served many industries well

Beyond Big Business, Opportunities And Challenges For Irish Heis In Engaging With Family Businesses And Community & Voluntary Groups Through The Student Work Placement Process, Buckley Joan, Lyndsey El Amoud

Reports

The purpose of this paper is to examine the opportunities and challenges for Irish HEIs in engaging with these organisations through the student work placement process. While a substantial amount of valuable work has already been carried out by the REAP project in ascertaining the current state of work placement provision in Ireland and developing a general set of guidelines for good practice in placement for HEIs, employers and students, there is an opportunity to take this body of work a step further. Indeed, the main aim of this report is to present a best practice model for engagement on …

Little Village Playhouse: The Challenges Of Social Entrepreneurship, Melissa S. Cardon Phd, Theresa K. Lant Phd

Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Copyright 2013, Pace University. This case was developed for class discussion, and is not intended as an endorsement, source of primary data, or illustration of effective or ineffective management. Descriptions involving student participants are stylized depictions, and do not refer to any individual participant. The authors thank the Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship for financial support, and the principals of Little Village Playhouse for their cooperation and support.

International Exposure Through Network Relationships: Implications For New Venture Internationalization, Stephanie A. Fernhaber, Dan Li

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Drawing on the network literature and attention-based view, we examine the extent to which international exposure from key informal (geographically proximate firms) and formal (alliance partners) network relationships impacts new venture internationalization. Our findings are three-fold. First, international exposure from both types of network relationships positively influence new venture internationalization, and serve as substitutes for each other. Second, the effects differ based on the age of the venture. While older ventures benefit more from international exposure from alliance partners, younger ventures are more influenced by international exposure from geographically proximate firms. Third, our analysis confirms a three-way interactive effect of …

High Tech Entrepreneurial Careers: A Model Of Stages, Phases, And Ages, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio, Richard Sudek

Business Faculty Articles and Research

The meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and spectacular comeback associated with Steve Jobs’ career path is an evocative example of the risks and rewards associated with following a high-tech entrepreneurial career. While research on entrepreneurs has primarily focused on their characteristics, there is limited research on the career paths of entrepreneurs in either the careers or the entrepreneurship literature. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model of entrepreneurial careers that better reflects the realities of pursuing a career in the high-tech computer industry. The proposed model considers the role that stages, phases, and ages play in the …

Finding Practical Knowledge In Entrepreneurship, Edward Mcmullan, Thomas Kenworthy

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

Research in the pre-paradigmatic, applied scientific field of entrepreneurship is characterized mainly as exploratory. This article advocates for a considerable shift toward a more effective applied research agenda. An applied research program is proposed based on modifications to a Lakatosian research program. The agenda extends beyond typical calls for more replication work to include a focus on practical outcomes, practical significance, and surprising findings among other things. The intent is to produce substantially more practical knowledge—knowledge that is useful to entrepreneurs, policy makers, educators, and scholars.

Untangling The Relationship Between New Venture Internationalization And Performance, Stephanie A. Fernhaber

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

To help untangle the inconsistency in prior performance studies for new venture internationalization, the dynamic capabilities perspective is revisited to consider whether the relationship is more complex than previously assumed. While internationalization requires the reconfiguration of routines and resources, survivability is argued to peak at moderate levels of internationalization where the associated resources and risk is balanced between local and foreign markets. In contrast, sales growth is suggested to peak at either low or high levels of internationalization where a singular market focus and set of capabilities is being exploited. The results confirm that the level of new venture internationalization …

Beating Competitors To International Markets: The Value Of Geographically Balanced Networks For Innovation, Pankaj C. Patel, Stephanie A. Fernhaber, Patricia P. Mcdougall-Covin, Robert P. Van Der Have

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Being able to launch new products internationally is critical for technology-based ventures to recoup the high costs of R&D and to exploit their innovations fully. Despite the widely recognized importance of networks within the innovation development process, there appear to be contrasting viewpoints as to whether local or foreign network partners contribute more in the race to internationalize. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of comparative advantage, we propose and empirically confirm that ventures pursuing a balance of local and foreign network connections for the development of an innovation are able to bring the product more rapidly into the international marketplace. …