Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Raise The Bar: A Study Of Motivation And Locus Of Control In Relation To Exercise Adherence, Zachary Bertolino

Honors Projects in Business

This paper will examine factors attributed to exercise adherence, and what relationships exist between motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), locus of control (internal and external) and adherence. The purpose of this study is to determine what combination of motivation and locus of control is the best predictor of exercise adherence. The hypothesis states that an individual who is intrinsically motivated and has an internal locus of control will be most likely to maintain exercise behavior over an extended period. Existing literature has shown that both intrinsic sources of motivation and an internal locus of control are related to adherence in other …

The Effect Founder’S Business And Technical Background On Access To External Equity Funding In Fintech Industry, Alexandria Iacoviello

Honors Projects in Business

This paper explores which founder backgrounds – business, technology, or both – are the most significant when achieving funding for a Financial Technology (Fintech) start-up. The research examines a sample of 289 Fintech start-ups from the cities of Bangalore, Beijing, Berlin, and Boston. The primary source of information was from a data set on the platform GrowthEnabler (GE). Our measure of success was the amount of external equity funding the companies received. The controlled variables for the founders were gender, immigrant status, education level, and prior start-up experience. The firm controls were business type and firm age. The independent variable …

Socio-Economic Sourcing: Benefits Of Small Business Set-Asides In Public Procurement, Timothy G. Hawkins, Michael J. Gravier, Wesley S. Randall

Marketing Department Faculty Journal Articles

Purpose

Small businesses are critical to economic health and encouraged in government spending by set-asides – annual small business sourcing goals that often are not attained. Little research has explored the negative and risky stigmas associated with small business sourcing.

Design/methodology/approach

This research explores reduced transaction costs of small business sourcing to government buyers. A survey of 350 government source selections reveals lower transaction costs derived from lower perceived risk of receiving a bid protest and via more efficient source selection processes.

Findings

Contrary to common bias, the performance level of small businesses is no less than that of large …

Cooking And The Books: A Guide To Restaurant Accounting, Lena Lambrou

Honors Projects in Accounting

The restaurant industry is known for particularly low profit margins; this project aims to understand where restaurants spend money and how expenses can be allocated for in this fast-paced environment. Through research of various cost accounting methods and the adaptability of those methods to restaurant culture, activity based costing (ABC) provided the most useful data for the restaurant. This project focuses on small business restaurants, specifically those that serve pizza. The backbone of experimentation for applying these accounting processes is a local pizza restaurant, in which the managers are unaware of how food cost and operating expenses could be combined …

The Magic Behind Success: What Can Business Leaders Learn From Magicians Regarding Creativity And Communication?, John Logan

Honors Projects in Communication

The following research demonstrates the connection between the art of magic and the world of business. More specifically, it explores the overlap between the innovation and communication techniques magicians use when creating new ideas, developing a routine, performing, and a parallel comparison on what it takes to run a successful business. The capstone will first look at what the "magician" is including the types of tricks they perform. It will then analyze the entrepreneurial magicians and their creative process behind developing new routines. Finally, it will examine the verbal and non-verbal communication techniques magicians use to connect with their audience …

The Power Of Point Of Sale Improving Growth, Profit, And Customer Service In A Retail Business, Matthew Cote

Honors Projects in Marketing

For many small businesses, creating a captivating retail experience is the key to success, and finding the right technologies to enable that experience is crucial for sustaining a competitive advantage. This project is a case study designed to evaluate and select a Point of Sale (POS) system and Inventory Management (IM) system for a small business based upon its specific industry needs. The project creates a three step framework leading up to the real world implementation of these systems and uses the Rhode Island based company - Wildwood Inc. - as the subject of the study. Wildwood Inc. is a …

Social Competence Of Women Entrepreneurs: Moderating The Effect Of Social-, Human-, And Reputational Capital On Entrepreneurial Success, Monica Zimmerman, Crystal Jiang

Management Department Faculty Journal Articles

Women entrepreneurs and the business(es) they own face many challenges. However relatively little research has addressed the performance correlates of these women and their businesses (Lerner & Almor, 2002; Jiang & Zimmerman Treichel, 2008). In this paper we use the resource based view (RBV) to address performance correlates of women entrepreneurs and their business(es). Three specific resources that appear to be especially important to entrepreneurs and their businesses are: social-, reputational-, and human capital. Research suggests that the RBV does not, however, fully explain how and why certain firms possess competitive advantage in rapid and unpredictable conditions (Eisenhardt & Martin, …