Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Clan Capitalism, Graph Distance, And Other Issues, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This book consists of 6 papers focusing on social and economic issues. The topics covered include graph distance and optimal communication, migration in Jaipur, urbanization, clan capitalism, world population growth rate, and scientific inquiry. These papers were written in the period between 20092010. Hopefully the readers will find some new insights in this collection of papers.

The Implications Of Worker Behavior For Staffing Decisions: Empirical Evidence And Best Practices, Tom Tan, Serguei Netessine

IT & Operations Management Research

Employees in service organizations such as restaurants are humans, and their productivity is often heterogeneous due to innate abilities, motivation, and environmental factors. However, none of these considerations are taken into account by typical workforce planning models and software packages. In this paper we describe the results of a study on how workers respond to workload, an integral work environment factor, and we provide operational insights to improve efficiency and strengthen restaurant financials. We study a comprehensive data set from a family-style restaurant chain to clarify how workload, which is defined as the number of tables or diners that a …

Social Entrepreneurship And Wealth-Building Plans: Creative Strategies For Working Class Americans, Wayne R. Curtis

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigated how the elements of social entrepreneurship with wealth-building strategies can advance the creation of wealth and serve as a mechanism for social change. This research takes a modest first step toward demystifying social entrepreneurship, better understanding the phenomenon, and exploring the relevance of wealth-building in social entrepreneurial activity. Specifically, this exploratory study used a multiple case study design to understand how existing social entrepreneurial ventures include wealth-building strategies, such as employee stock ownership plans for working class Americans. The concept of social entrepreneurship is relatively new. There is general agreement that the concept combines a passion for …

Portfolio Company Selection Criteria: Accelerators Vs Venture Capitalists, Cody Chang

CMC Senior Theses

The explosive growth of ‘accelerators’ in the United States has given entrepreneurs and their startups the opportunity to pursue seed-stage financing. While the specific economic role of accelerators remains unclear, a study comparing the selection of portfolio companies between accelerators and venture capitalists was performed. A difference of means was performed on the responses per question between the collected 19 accelerators’ response and the 100 venture capitalists’ response, recorded from a prior study. It is found that venture capitalists place significantly more weight, than accelerators, on the potential of the startup’s product or service to be proprietary, to enter a …

Feasibility Analysis Of A Microbrewery, Dylan Warren Snyder

Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

Engaging The Corporate Citizen: Social Challenges, Business Solutions, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

When he came up with the idea of selling toilets in Cambodia, where more than 60 per cent of the population does not have access to basic sanitation, National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre chief executive Laurence Lien was laughed at. His detractors told him: "Nobody is going to purchase toilets from you because this is a community that is dependent on (financial) aid. "But tens of thousands of the toilets were sold within the first few months. Speaking at the Africa Singapore Business Forum, Connex, held at Singapore Management University in August 2012, Lien credits the success of the …

“The Customer Is Always Right” Customer Service And Managerial Structures In Relation To Company Size On Main Road Rondebosch, Cape Town, Carlos Gausman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Customer service culture in Rondebosch, Cape Town will be studied in this paper. The relationship between customer service and management structures through operational models is explored. Customer Intimacy is the operational model used by the three cases studied – Pick n Pay, Lyra’s Café, and Zone Fitness. Business size and entrepreneurial influence play a role in the vested interest mangers and employees have concerning their work ethic (productivity, motivation, and efficiency) and company profit/personal income. Information was gathered through participant observation and interviews of branch managers, employees, and customers. Customer loyalty plays a larger role in maximizing profit than becoming …

A Business Plan For A Successful Family-Run Restaurant In Heber City, Utah, Brittany M. Bringhurst

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Business plans are considered to be an important, “even crucial,” part of opening any business (Lange, Mollov, Pearlmutter, Singh, & Bygrave, 2007). Because of a gap in the literature directed toward successful business plan strategies specific to the family-run restaurant sector, this paper is going to consider the available information regarding family-run businesses in general and apply them to the restaurant industry.

Empresas Recuperadas, Elana Gold

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Starting during the neoliberal economic policies of the 90’s and continuing through the crisis of 2001, over 200 abandoned or bankrupt factories have been recuperated by their workers to maintain their jobs and argentine industry. These factories, called empresas recuperadas, have an important role in providing economic alternatives to the typical exploitation of capitalism as nearly all are maintained as cooperatives where members share in the decision-making process and profits. Although they have their roots in the militant union history of Argentina, in many ways they have differentiated themselves from the typical worker struggle.

These factories have an interesting relationship …

Attitudes Toward And Behavioral Intentions To Adopt Mobile Marketing: Comparisons Of Gen Y In The United States, France And China, Rebecca Wells, Catherine E. Kleshinski, Terence Lau

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

The rapid global diffusion of mobile marketing makes it increasingly important to understand cross-­‐cultural consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward mobile marketing as a promotional channel. By building on the previously published research of Altuna and Konuk (2009), this work investigates the attitudes and behavioral intentions toward mobile marketing of Generation Y consumers in the United States, France, and China. Based on this analysis, Chinese Gen Y have the most positive attitude toward mobile marketing, and their overall attitude is significantly more positive than the attitudes of French and American Gen Y groups. While American Gen Y's behavioral intentions are …

Estimated Sales And Investment Costs To Produce And Retail Gelato In The Petaluma Area, Katherine Camozzi

Agribusiness

Recent events in the California dairy have left many dairy producers with high feed costs, low profits, and low (sometimes negative) margins. Some producers have transitioned to producing value-added or artisanal dairy products to help increase the revenues earned from farm milk, particularly in Sonoma County. Because limited research exists on the business opportunities in response to a rapidly growing market for value-added products, this project explores the feasibility of starting a gelato production and retail business in the Petaluma area. To assess business feasibility, a consumer survey was created to estimate the percent of residents and non-residents who would …

Energy Sources And The Production Of Electricity In The United States, David Manukjan

Honors College Theses

The current sources of energy that the United States uses to produce electricity are costly, extremely damaging to the environment, and cause us to rely on other countries for our energy needs. The Obama Administration has begun working on replacing coal and oil with cleaner sources of energy. Over the last decade, alternative energy sources have been slowly gaining popularity as the American public learns more about climate change. However, the U.S. government will not use renewable energy as a complete substitute for fossil fuels in the immediate future because of their higher market price. The world is struggling to …

F.A.C.E.S. (Faculty Academic Community Education Showcase): Professional Growth Experiences In A Career University, Paul J. Colbert, Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

Institutes of higher education exist for the purpose of developing, fostering, nurturing, and stimulating the intellectual growth and development of students. The core values of a college education provide students conceptual and practical educational opportunities that focus on improving their skills and knowledge. These skills and knowledge translate into purposeful, real-life learning experiences. However, in the academic community, learning is not restricted to students. Faculty, too, must be supported and provided opportunities for personal and professional growth and development. Although professional development is not a novel concept in the education profession, schools often take up the gauntlet, but fall short …

2012 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

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

Get Organised: The Importance Of Focus In Shopping, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Shopping may seem like a carefree experience with some regarding it as a stress reliever when they lose themselves in the mall. The reality is, however, that most of the work has been cut out for consumers from the time they enter, to the time the cash tills ring.

500 Year Documentation, Francis T. Marchese, Phd, Maninder Pal Kaur Shergill

Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Museum visitors today can regularly view 500 year old art by Renaissance masters. Will visitors to museums 500 years in the future be able to see the work of digital artists from the early 21st century? This paper considers the real problem of conserving interactive digital artwork for museum installation in the far distant future by exploring the requirements for creating documentation that will support an artwork's adaptation to future technology. In effect, this documentation must survive as long as the artwork itself -- effectively, in perpetuity. A proposal is made for the use of software engineering methodologies as solutions …

Open-Source It Support For Effective Social Entrepreneurship, Lixin Tao

Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship

To better support its mission, a non-profit organization needs to effectively reach out to the public, collect information and opinions form the public, support effective brainstorming and discussions, implement effective business processes for non-profit operations, and support effective governance of the organization. The latest information technologies have provided better alternative for non-profits to run smoother and more effectively.

In this paper we conduct a critical study of two popular open-source contents management systems, Drupal and WordPress, introduce Drupal to social entrepreneurs, and explain how it can support most of the tasks outlined above. Specific guidance is provided for setting up …

Corporate Philanthropy In Westchester, Rebecca Tekula Phd, Anna-Kay Sinclair

Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

Building A Systems View Of Strategic Discourse Across Organizational Meetings, Brendan O'Rourke, Martin Duffy

Books/Book Chapters

The purpose of this paper is to explore and expand the theoretical resources available to conceptualise organisational strategy meetings as a ‘system’, rather than as singular strategic events or episodes.

The paper begins by reviewing the Meetings literature to explore the existing theoretical guidance on conceptualising meetings as a collective and integrated set of activities, rather than as singular events in isolation of each other. The Systems literature is reviewed to identify concepts which may be adopted to enable a systematised view of meetings. The central focus of the paper is to explore the theoretical ways through which organisations’ meetings …

Crossing The Valley Of Death: A Multi-Sited, Multi-Level Ethnographic Study Of Growth Startups And Entrepreneurial Communities In Post-Industrial Detroit, Marlo Rencher

Wayne State University Dissertations

The intention of this research is to reveal the humanity of the startup experience for American growth companies. What is it about the growth entrepreneurship experience that has been hidden from view? Can we begin to articulate a holistic view of entrepreneurship--including those human universals and culture-bound particulars that must be successfully navigated?

This study is an ethnographic account of three Detroit-based entrepreneurial communities and the people within them. This research examines the sociocultural features of entrepreneurship on three levels. The first level of context for growth businesses to be studied is that of their entrepreneurial community. These communities have …

Through The Opposite End Of The Lens: Market Reactions To Corporate Venture Capital, Jay J. Janney

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Do Young Firms Manage Product Portfolio Complexity? The Role Of Absorptive Capacity And Ambidexterity, Stephanie A. Fernhaber, Pankaj C. Patel

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Building a complex portfolio of products can be beneficial for young firms due to increased sales growth and competitiveness. Yet, the benefits from product portfolio complexity (PPC) are often outweighed by rising costs, leading to an inverted U-shaped relationship between PPC and performance. Recent research has called for an increased understanding of how firms are able to better manage higher levels of PPC. We suggest that absorptive capacity and ambidexterity are vital to enhancing the benefits and mitigating the costs of increasing PPC. Using a sample of 215 young high technology firms, we find support for positive moderating effects of …

It's Time For A Good Hard Look In The Mirror: The Corporate Law Example, John A. Barrett, Jr.

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

This Article asserts that the move from the industrial age to the

information age represents a fundamental change to our society on

such a widespread basis that the legal order must reexamine the

premises about how our society functions, assessing whether

foundational elements of U.S. Common Law remain valid. This

Article first confronts briefly the continuing acceptance of certain

foundational premises in contract and intellectual property law,

illustrating that such premises are no longer supported by the

realities of modern society. With fundamental change challenging

multiple areas of law in the information age, this problem is worthy

of widespread inquiry …

The New Section 1202 Tax-Free Business Sale: Congress Rewards Small Businesses That Survived The Great Recession, Beckett G. Cantley

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

On September 27, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Creating Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (“SBJA”) that contains a temporary amendment to Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) § 1202. The amendment permits original shareholders of eligible corporation stock to sell the stock without being taxed on the sale. The temporary amendment initially only applied to certain stock acquired after the enactment of the SBJA and before January 1, 2011, but the amendment was extended on December 17, 2010 for another year ending January 1, 2012. With the impending sunset of the 15% capital gains rate at the end of 2012, …

Burgerville: Instilling A Sustainable Culture, Sully Taylor, James Berg, Colin Gallison, Will Sandman, Benjamin Werner

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

From a single store to a regional chain, Burgerville has differentiated from other national chains by maintaining a strong relationship with its customers, supply partners, employees and the community. A case study from PSU's School of Business delves deeper into Burgerville's commitment to instilling a sustainability culture by assessing the impact of the company's mission to "Serve with Love." The analysis in this study covers Burgerville’s strategic changes in:

• Product development – BV's commitment in using locally and seasonally sourced ingredients throughout its menu
• Supply chain management – BV's approach to maintaining strong relationships with suppliers, and preferentially purchasing from …

Through The Eyes Of The Family: A Collective Case Study Of Family Business Consulting, Cynthia L. Waisner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Interest in family businesses has increased over the last 50 years. Little empirical research, however, has been devoted specifically to the study of family business consulting. Various practitioners have offered their insights regarding approaches and tools, and a few empirical studies have offered the practitioners’ viewpoints regarding the practice area. The purpose of this study was to add to this small body of research by providing a view of family business consulting through the lens of the family business member. The chosen method of inquiry was collective case study, to allow for both contextual understanding and cross-case comparison. A total …

The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And Emotional Gratification For Consumers Who Purchase Overtly Branded (Overtly Designer) Goods, Sarah Siracusa

Fordham Business Student Research Journal

When examining the reasoning behind a consumer’s choice of luxury purchase, we rely largely on consumer psychology. One important psychological factor is the concept of needs. Consumers of different socioeconomic backgrounds have different needs, thus influencing what they choose to purchase. While past research has focused on intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations, and the relationship between aspiration and luxury brand preference in predicting luxury consumption, there has not yet been a study conducted focusing on the relationship between socioeconomic status and emotional gratification of purchasing overtly branded (overtly designer) goods in America. After surveying participants in three socioeconomic income groups, it …

Rct Hospitality Consultants, Llc: The Making Of The Business Plan, Rachel C. Tyler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction

Owning a small business is the dream for many Americans. Now more than ever this is true as many people have been laid off and are looking to utilize their skills while being their own boss. The focus of this paper is to determine if the author should start a consulting company full-time.

A hospitality consulting business with a focus on sales and marketing has been a goal of this author’s and as we emerge out of a recession. As possibility of a double-dip recession exists it is important to have a business framework that leads a small business …

It's Not Easy Being E, Alex Stewart

Management Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

For A Competitive Edge In Services, Invest In The Right People And Processes, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Steve Jobs can teach us a thing or two about customer loyalty. Though Apple products have sometimes fallen short of expectations, Apple customers think nothing of standing in line for hours just to get their hands on the company's latest. According to Valarie Zeithaml, a David S Van Pelt Family distinguished professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina, recent financials show that Apple is achieving US$4,406 per annum sales per square foot – far higher than brands such as the US$3,000 per annum sales per square foot of premier global jeweller Tiffany and US$1,700 per annum sales per …