Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Dhr Construction, Llc : Parts A And B, Herbert Sherman, Daniel James Rowley

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Stephen Hodgetts read the e-mail over and over again and still could hardly believe what he had read. He had just come back from his vacation, well rested and refreshed, and this e-mail had dampened his high enthusiasm. It took time to absorb such bad news and for Hodgetts to get over his incredulity. Yet in the end Hodgetts accepted the truth—a deep, dark terrible truth that would not go away. Robert Davis, his business partner’s son, had confirmed in an e-mail his worst fears about their newest business partner, David Russ. Many thoughts were running through his mind simultaneously …

The Values Of Being Small And Nimble, Joshua Shuart, Peter Christian ("Chris") Murphy

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Peter Christian (Chris) Murphy had worked his way up the “food chain” at AT&T for 19 years, culminating in his position as Sales Center Vice President for South Florida. When he and a coworker realized there was an opportunity in the marketplace for a small, nimble company to take advantage of emerging communications technology that a stodgy, lumbering corporation would have trouble integrating into its service package, Chris decided to jump into an entrepreneurial opportunity.

Knowledge Flows And Economic Development Through Microenterprise Collaboration In Third-Sector Communities, Raymond M. Jones, Roger J. Kashlak, Audra M. Jones

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

"The U.N. once dealt only with governments. By now we know that peace and prosperity cannot be achieved without partnership involving governments, international organizations, the business community and civil society. In today’s world we depend on each other.” Kofi Annan, UN Secretary (1999).

As emphasized by Secretary Annan’s quote, the global community is increasingly concerned with economic development and promotion of democracies is focusing on developing programs to stimulate partnerships among three distinct sectors: government sector, civil society and private sector, including locally based and international entrepreneurs. The modern organization is becoming increasingly informed in its strategies and practices by …

No Mulligans: When Good Entrepreneurs Make Bad Decisions, Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Some of the best entrepreneurs fail early and often. Less talented or less committed entrepreneurs do not even get a second chance. Failure and setbacks, however, can be instructive. What lessons can be learned from these experiences? How can the entrepreneur (and investors) navigate around the potholes on the New Venture Highway? Read on.

From The Editors, Spring 2004, Laurence Weinstein, Joshua Shuart, Christopher Sheehan, Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

New England Journal Of Entrepreneurship, Spring 2004

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

The Lizard King Of Sobe Beverages, Laurence Weinstein, John Bello

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

John Bello, aka the “Lizard King,” has been lionized in the business press as having been the brilliant entrepreneur who started a beverage company from scratch in early 1995 with his partner, Tom Schwalm, and then sold the product line to PepsiCo seven years later for a reported $375 million. What many people do not know is how close Bello came to failing with his SoBe line of innovative drinks.

Cashing In On Seafood, Laurence Weinstein, Stephen Heard

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Stephen Heard graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1970 with a degree in business administration. He started his career by signing up as a management trainee at Woolworth’s Department Store in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It didn’t take him long to realize he missed his calling: being by the Rhode Island shoreline and employed in the fishing industry. Nearly 35 years later, Stephen is a self-made multimillionaire, having followed both his passion for entrepreneurship and for living his life on the Atlantic coast.

Employee Equity, Incentive Compensation, And Growth In Entrepreneurial Firms, Ben Arbaugh, Larry W. Cox, S. Michael Camp

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

We examined the relationship between employee equity compensation, incentive compensation, and firm growth using a sample of 480 privately held firms from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s database of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) winners. Using frameworks from agency and motivation theories, we argued that larger percentages of both equity- and incentive-based compensation allocated to top managers and employees would be associated with firm growth. After controlling for firm and industry effects, the results of the study showed that while the firms in the sample preferred providing incentive compensation, providing equity compensation for employees was a positively …

Elements Of Infrastructure: Factors Driving International Entrepreneurship, Stephen K. Callaway

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This article focuses on "born globals" (Knight and Cavusgil 1996) and interfirm resources to explain international entrepreneurship. The theory posed here challenges the traditional image of international business as a long, gradual process not occurring until later in the life cycle, and applying only to large multinational corporations (MNCs).

Increasingly, new ventures must expand their operations internationally early in their history in order to be competitive (Oviatt and McDougall 1994), and require infrastructure (Van de Ven 1993), or interfirm resources, for success. Specifically, firms may rely on three factors to expand internationally: cost factors, unique global resources, and networks.

Seeking God (In The Details), Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs tend to be self-styled “idea” people. They often believe they have the next “Big Concept”—one which could change the world, reaffirm their self-worth, and, of course, make them and their venture team a fortune. In contrast, as they build a company to implement their business dream, entrepreneurs also tend to eschew or trivialize administrative details. Why should they waste their creative juices on minutia? As a result of this insensitivity to detail, these captains of capitalism often trip in their entrepreneurial journey. For example, they might:

• Forget to remit payroll taxes on schedule.

• Fail to document the …

New England Journal Of Entrepreneurship, Fall 2004

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

From The Editors, Laurence Weinstein, Joshua Shuart, Christopher Sheehan, Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

Juliska: Filling A Niche With Imports, Laurence Weinstein, David Gooding

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

David and Capucine Gooding are completing their third year in business, directing the growing activities of their import business located in Stamford, Connecticut. Their niche is marketing handblown glass which is historically accurate and inspired by such disparate designs as 14th-century French, 16th-century Dutch, and 19th-century Venetian glassware. We interviewed David on a “quiet” day when the phones didn’t seem to be ringing constantly.

Omitted Variable Bias In The Link Between Planning And Performance, Kirk C. Heriot, Noel D. Campbell, R. Zachary Finney

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This article argues that existing research poorly specifies the link between planning and performance because of omitted variable bias. Researchers agree planning is a critical part of creating any new venture. Many researchers assess planning by whether a small firm has a written business plan. Unfortunately, efforts empirically to validate this relationship have been inconclusive. This article proposes that researchers should assess business plans both on the quality of the plan (and the planning process that produced it), and on the quality of the underlying business opportunity. Failure to account for both aspects of a business plan amounts to omitted …

Doing Well And Happy About It? Explaining Variance In Entrepreneurs’ Stated Satisfaction With Performance, Gregory B. Murphy, Stephen K. Callaway

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The importance of performance measurement is largely undisputed. There is debate, however, regarding the equivalency of objective and subjective performance measures. This debate has not considered a frequently used subjective measure, satisfaction with performance, to be an important measure independent of its equivalency with objective measures. Using a sample of 368 manufacturing firms, this study found that objective measures explained only a modest amount of variance in satisfaction with performance and that other variables added significantly to the explained variance.These factors included perceived environmental hostility, vulnerability, perceived competitive advantage, and commitment.

A Classic Book—Revisited, Peter A. Maresco

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Book review by Peter Maresco.

Ricardo Semler, Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace, New York: Warner Books, 1993. ISBN 9780446516969

Collaboration Among Smes As A Mechanism For Innovation: An Empirical Study, Mario J. B. Franco

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The interest for collaboration among small and mediumsized enterprises and innovation has been highlighted, in recent times, due to the acceleration of technological changes and to increasing international competitiveness. Many small firms, with rigid structures and weak entrepreneurial dynamics, experienced difficulties in becoming innovators. Some of these firms can adopt collaborative agreements because these relationships enable them to get the necessary innovative activities, know-how, and exploit opportunities, which they cannot achieve alone. This study examines the motives for the formation of collaborative agreements in industrial Portuguese SMEs and presents some empirical evidence concerning collaboration as an important vehicle for the …

The Value And Impact Of Seminary Training, R. Stephen Shuart, Joshua Shuart

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Interview by Joshua Shuart of R. Stephen Shuart, of Stephen Shuart Export Co.

The Reverend R. Stephen Shuart is an Episcopal priest by profession. He is rector of two parishes and serves on the Diocesan Financial Committee and as a rural dean. However, he has spent most of his wage-earning life as owner/operator of Stephen Shuart Export Co., an internationally known photographic business, located in Kane, Pennsylvania. Shuart’s unique entrepreneurial endeavor has been the subject of a televised news feature, and the object of camera collectors’ attention since his company’s inception in the early 1970s.

Supplier Selection And Development: The Relationship Between Small Manufacturing Enterprises And Mass Merchandisers, Stephen C. Jones, Tami L. Knotts, Gerald G. Udell

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This study examines the results of a program intended to act as a selection tool for mass merchandisers and a development tool for small manufacturers. The evaluation program assessed the management practices and products of potential suppliers. Based on past experience, buyers for mass merchandisers consider small manufacturing enterprises a poor risk as potential suppliers of retail goods. As part of the evaluation process, firms were asked 34 closed-end questions regarding their management practices, and each product was evaluated on 41 specific qualities necessary for the mass merchandising market. Of the 1,690 firms that participated in this project, about 5 …

Marketing Orientation In Smes: Effects Of The Internal Environment, Richard C. Becherer, Diane Halstead, Paula J. Haynes

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Marketing orientation refers to a culture in which organizations strive to create superior value for their customers (and superior performance for the business) by focusing on customer needs and long-term profitability. Some studies have found that firms with a high degree of marketing orientation experience improved performance; others have found mixed or nonsignificant results. The marketing orientation of small businesses has not been thoroughly investigated, however. This study of more than 200 small business CEOs examines the marketing orientation levels of small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) as well as the impact of various internal variables (sales/profit performance, company characteristics, and …

From The Editors, Laurence Weinstein, Shawn Blau, Christopher Sheehan, Joshua Shuart

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

International Franchising In Emerging Markets, Nadia Ballard

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Book review by Nadia Ballard.

Ilan Alon and Diane H. B. Welsh, editors, International Franchising in Emerging Markets: Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. Chicago: CCH Inc., 2001.

Ilan Alon and Diane H. B. Welsh, editors, International Franchising in Emerging Markets: China, India and Other Asian Countries. Chicago: CCH Inc., 2001.

Applying Entrepreneurship To Health Care Organizations, Kristina L. Guo

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This study examines entrepreneurship and assesses its relevance to health care organizations through a detailed description of the optimal environment, organizational factors, and managerial roles in the entrepreneurship process. The article finds entrepreneurship processes to be especially useful to health care organizations as they struggle to survive in the competitive managed care environment.

Responding To God's Guidance, Craig Hoekenga, Joshua Shuart, Laurence Weinstein

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Interview by Joshua Shuart and Laurence Weinstein of Craig Hoekenga, CEO of Microboard Processing, Inc.

Craig Hoekenga is CEO of Microboard Processing, Inc. (MPI), a very successful subcontract electronics manufacturing company located in Seymour, Connecticut. There are many reasons why Hoekenga would stand out in any gathering of CEOs, but one of the most arresting reasons would be that Hoekenga credits his success to God and considers MPI a “Christian business.” The New England Journal of Entrepreneurhip editors started with a plant tour and then caught up with Hoekenga in his office.

New England Journal Of Entrepreneurship, Spring 2003

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

Collective Entrepreneurship In Family Firms: The Influence Of Leader Attitudes And Behaviors, Jun Yan, Ritch L. Sorenson

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Collective entrepreneurship is the synergism that emerges from a collective and that propels it beyond the current state by seizing opportunities without regard to resources under its control (Stevenson and Jarrillo 1990). This study provides a conceptual model of collective entrepreneurship and its relationship with leadership and team dynamics in the context of a small family business. It proposes two types of prerequisites for collective entrepreneurship: attitudinal and behavioral. The attitudinal prerequisite is family business members’ commitment to the family business. The behavioral prerequisite includes collaboration and task conflict among family business members. Further, the article argues that leadership behaviors …

New England Journal Of Entrepreneurship, Fall 2003

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

From The Editors, Laurence Weinstein, Joshua Shuart, Christopher Sheehan

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

No abstract provided.

From Corporate To Entrepreneurial Life: Risks And Challenges Along The Way, Gene O'Neill, Liz Ellington, Laurence Weinstein

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Interview by Laurence Weinstein of Gene O'Neill and Liz Ellington, owners of TeWhau Lodge in New Zealand.