Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Successfull Implementation Of The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program In Small Businesses, Valentina Parra

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In recent years, companies have been focused on improving organizational performance and the loyalty of customers to improve sustainability in increasingly complex markets. The Baldrige Performance Excellence framework, generally referred to as the Baldrige criteria, was created to guide professionals in achieving these goals including defining a set of excellence criteria and offering an award program to recognize high-performing organizations. The principles of excellence focus on understanding and working for the stakeholders, improving performance and quality management, and strategically driving continuous improvement. The framework can be used for organizational self-assessments; however, many organizations find it challenging to interpret and apply …

The Role Of Context In Country Level Entrepreneurial Activity, Naeimah Alkhurafi

2019

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of context in entrepreneurship. I intend to shed light on the role of context in facilitating country level entrepreneurial activity through a multi-method approach in this three-paper format dissertation. In paper one, I systematically review two country level measures of entrepreneurship, namely Total Entrepreneurial Activity from The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and New Business Density from The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey (WBGES), to understand how used in extant literature and investigate the research question: What are the primary antecedents and outcomes associated with country level entrepreneurship?

In paper two …

Small Business Lending And Social Capital: Are Rural Relationships Different?, Robert Deyoung, Dennis Glennon, Peter J. Nigro, Kenneth Spong

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We test whether rural versus urban location, and the amount of social capital present in those locations, influence the performance of Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loans originated between 1984 and 2012. On average, we find that rural loans are about 11% less likely to default than urban loans, and that a standard deviation increase in social capital reduces default by about 5%. Surprisingly, these two effects are largely independent of each other, even though social capital is substantially higher in rural places than in urban places. Our findings advance the small business lending literature and offer insights for a …

Business Model Innovation: A Review And Research Agenda, Boumediene Ramdani, Ahmed Binsaif, Elias Boukrami

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to review and synthesise the recent advancements in the business model literature and explore how firms approach business model innovation. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review of business model innovation literature was carried out by analysing 219 papers published between 2010 and 2016. Findings – Evidence reviewed suggests that rather than taking either an evolutionary process of continuous revision, adaptation and fine-tuning of the existing business model or a revolutionary process of replacing the existing business model, firms can explore alternative business models through experimentation, open and disruptive innovations. It was also found …

Rapid Experimentation: The Silicon Valley Method Of Success, Ralph E. Mckinney, Ben Eng, Olen York

Entrepreneurship Faculty Research

The methodology of rapid experimentation focuses on discovering a problem’s solutions through leap-offaith assumptions that will delight the end users. Rapid experimentation has been used by Silicon Valley in developing products and services that have excited consumers and changed business expectations. Developers need to have high functioning team members that are open to new experiences and that can deliver experiences to customers from products and services that not only exceed customer expectations, but delight them. In this paper, we present a case using this Silicon Valley methodology of rapid experimentation in solving the problem of substance abuse. We reflect on …

The Economic Value Of A Place-Based Resource For Regional Development, Aisling Conwaylenihan, Helen Mcguirk

Irish Business Journal

Regional economic development has long been acknowledged as an important objective of government policy. Natural resources are also recognised as drivers of economic development. However, the importance of place-based resources such as peripheral coastlines and Harbour areas are less understood. This research provides insights into an industry based on its region’s natural resource and the value it generates for sustainable economic development. Using the world’s second largest natural Harbour region, the current research measures the economic activities associated with the Marine Leisure Industry in Cork Harbour, and estimates the economic impact on the local economy. The research establishes a multiplier …

Strategic Alliances Between Banks And Fintechs For Digital Innovation: Motives To Collaborate And Types Of Interaction, Milan Frederik Klus, Todor Stefan Lohwasser, Friedrich Holotiuk, Jürgen Moormann

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

In times of digitalization, established firms operating in the financial services sector increasingly form alliances with start-up companies to satisfy the customers´ demand for rapid innovation and cope with the growing dynamics of markets. Technology-enabled innovation challenges traditional business models of incumbent institutions (e.g., banks) and requires them to adapt swiftly to the needs of the digital age. However, young firms providing technological solutions for the financial services industry (fintechs) also face difficulties, such as meeting regulatory requirements and winning the trust of potential customers. To compensate for these shortcomings and to exploit synergies, banks and fintechs are increasingly pooling …

The Survival Of The German Fintech Market: An Accounting-Based Valuation, Leonard Stuckenborg, Jens Leker

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

The purpose of this paper is to examine the essential characteristics of the financial statements of FinTech start-ups and to investigate which figures of balance sheets are suitable indicators of failure for this still rising group of start-ups. We conduct a quantitative analysis of 595 annual reports of FinTech start-ups issued between 2007 and 2016. Our study reveals that the balance sheets have a high share of current assets and often show losses not covered by equity. Based on the financial variables, the period of three to five years after foundation could be identified as critical phase for the future …

Start-Up Financing In The Digital Age – A Systematic Review And Comparison Of New Forms Of Financing, Maximilian Klein, Florian Neitzert, Thomas Hartmann-Wendels, Sascha Kraus

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Start-ups are seen as the leading force in dynamically growing economies. Limited financing opportunities often prevent entrepreneurs from realizing their innovative business ideas or taking growth opportunities. However, in the context of the technological revolution, a fundamental change in the entrepreneurial finance landscape is observed. Innovative, digital financial instruments such as Business Angel Networks, Crowdfunding, or Initial Coin Offerings provide young companies with attractive financing opportunities. Although a large number of studies focus on start-up financing in the digital age, the literature is still fragmented. By providing a systemic literature review of 85 high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1990 …

Nutech Ventures Annual Report 2018-2019

NUtech Ventures: Publications

NUTech Ventures annual report 2018-2019.

Tech Entrepreneurship: An Experiential Journey, Punit Arora

Open Educational Resources

This course uses Lean Launchpad for creating entrepreneurial ventures that start small but can be scaled up fairly quickly. You should you take this class only IF you are interested in creating such ventures. This course provides real world, hands-on learning on what it’s like to actually start a high-tech company. This class is not about how to write a business plan. It’s not an exercise on how smart you arein a classroom, or how well you use the research library to size markets. This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” …

Self-Leadership To Servant Leadership: A Metatheoretical Antecedent To Positive Social, Allen Lloyd Carn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A majority of current leadership programs are failing to deliver a comprehensive approach to leadership development by not providing middle and frontline managers the skills to enhance their potential to develop others. In failing to generate a comprehensive system, animosity towards all types of leadership has been festering for over 40 years as first identified by Greenleaf in 1977. The purpose of the study was to establish a link between the theoretical paradigms of servant leadership and self-leadership using the lens of emotional intelligence to generate an integral leadership development framework. The conceptual framework used Goleman et al.'s version of …

Strategies To Sustain A Real Estate Small Business In Postnatural-Disaster Area, Vianka Miranda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many small real estate business leaders lack effective strategies to resume and sustain operations in a postnatural-disaster environment. This multiple case study investigated strategies that 3 small real estate business leaders in southeastern Louisiana used to resume and sustain operations in the aftermath of a natural disaster. The chaos theory and stakeholder theory were the conceptual frameworks for this study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, and reviews of business continuity plan documents and member checking. The themes that emerged from data analysis were leaders' strategies relating to business planning and innovation, stakeholder engagement, operations management, and disaster responsiveness. Implications …

Valuation Strategies For Small Businesses' Intangible Assets, Lee Dupree

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners who attempt to sell their businesses may not receive full value if they do not adequately value their intangible assets. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective strategies business leaders used to value intangible assets when considering the sale of their businesses. The participants for this study were 5 business owners in a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States who had successful valuation experiences during the sale of their businesses. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with participants, methodological triangulation, observations, and review of company documents. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, …

Strategies Nonprofit Leaders Use To Achieve Financial Stability Through Sustainable Funding, Jerel Lynnette Colemon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leaders of nonprofit organizations fail to achieve financial stability to meet their mission and vision without sustainable funding. The achievement of fiscal sustainability is the most pressing challenge facing the nonprofit sector. Through the lens of the balanced scorecard model, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that nonprofit organization executive leaders used to secure sustainable funding for financial stability. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 5 executive directors of nonprofit organizations in Ohio and a review of their organizational documents relevant to sustainable funding. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process for analysis. The …

The Same But Different: Understanding Entrepreneurial Behaviour In Disadvantaged Communities, Thomas M. Cooney, Michelle Licciardi

Books/Book Chapters

While entrepreneurship is widely viewed as being equally accessible in all contexts, it could be questioned if potential or nascent entrepreneurs from minority and disadvantaged communities experience entrepreneurship in a similar manner to the mainstream population. This chapter examines immigrant, people with disability, youth, gay and unemployed communities to explore how their entrepreneurial behaviour might differ from the practices of mainstream entrepreneurs. What emerges is that marginalised communities can frequently find it difficult to divorce business from social living. This can have both positive and negative connotations for an entrepreneur, plus they face additional and distinctive challenges that mainstream entrepreneurs …

External And Internal Networks And Access To Hrd Resources In Small Professional Service Firms, Ciara Nolan Dr, Thomas Garavan

Articles

A key challenge facing small professional service firms (PSFs) in the context of implementing human resource development (HRD) is access to resources. The use of external and internal networks represents an important means of identifying and acquiring needed resources. We utilize resource dependency and network theories to explore the types of networks used by owner-managers to acquire HRD resources and the types of resources that are acquired. We investigate these issues utilizing three case study organizations located in the Republic of Ireland and interview data from owner-managers and employees. We found that small PSFs derived resources from both coercive and …

Expanding University Entrepreneurial Ecosystems To Under-Represented Communities, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney, Per Blenker

Articles

Purpose – Entrepreneurship education has moved from an elitist view focussing on a start-up and picking-the-winners philosophy towards a broader enterprising behaviour approach; recognising entrepreneurship as an activity of relevance for everybody. The purpose of this paper is to extend this development and identify how university entrepreneurial ecosystems can be expanded to support communities that are under-represented in entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on an integrative literature review (Torraco, 2005), this paper draws together and synthesises literature from the field of entrepreneurship, higher education studies and under-represented communities in an integrated fashion, leading to the development of a new conceptual model. …

Silicon Valley Immersion Program, Austin Phillips

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper explores how learning immersion experiences can improve the cache of the student experience at The University of Akron. Then the planning and coordination of northeast Ohio's first university-led silicon valley learning immersion trip, Zips in the Valley, are detailed.

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights 2018-2019, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

Introduction

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights 2018-2019 report represents the 41st edition to the annual series. These reports provide an important insight on agricultural land market dynamics for stakeholders across Nebraska. In today’s market, where market transactions exceeding a million dollars are the norm, objective market information and analysis is more critical than ever. The focus of the report continues to provide unbiased information on agricultural land values and rental rates so industry participants can make educated and informed decisions.

This year, the February 2019 survey of nearly 125 expert-panel members from across the state provided current information …

The Role Of Leadership In Business Model Innovation: A Case Of An Entrepreneurial Firm From India, Abrar A. Saiyed

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between leadership and business model innovation (BMI) in an entrepreneurial firm. From the literature, it was found that the role of a leader in BMI was unexplored. A research framework was created which was the replication of the model created showing the relationship between leadership and innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative single in-depth case study was used to understand the effects of leadership in BMI. The case of an entrepreneurial firm in the graphic and animation education sector from India was chosen to test the research framework. The …

The Moderating Effect Of Founding Assets On The Founders’ Human Capital: New Venture Growth Relationship, Yang Xu

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate into the conditions under which founders’ human capital (HC) benefits new venture growth (NVG). One such condition is investigated in this study – initial assets at founding. Specifically, founding assets are hypothesized to moderate the relationship between founders’ HC and NVG. Design/methodology/approach – The longitudinal panel database from the Kauffman Firm Survey for the period 2004–2011 was used to test the hypotheses. The final sample consisted of 4,923 firms, with 34,461 observations made over seven years. Findings – The regression analysis found the effect of founders’ HC on NVG and …

The Impact Of Social Dominance Orientation On Female Entrepreneurial Intention, Jeffrey Muldoon, Carol Lucy, Sheryl Lidzy

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – Understanding the factors that influence entrepreneurs throughout the entrepreneurial process has been a vital topic of entrepreneurial research. Despite societal changes, male entrepreneurs still outnumber females. The purpose of this paper is to develop a greater grasp on the factors that contribute to this phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing social dominance theory and social cognition theory, the authors suggest that a female entrepreneur’s social dominance orientation (SDO) and mentorship experiences will influence her social and conventional entrepreneurial intention. Findings – The authors’ theorizing suggests SDO can lower entrepreneurial self-efficacy which in turn can lower conventional entrepreneurial intentions but increase …

Corporate Entrepreneurship Of Emerging Market Firms: Current Research And Future Directions, Irem Demirkan, Qin Yang, Crystal X. Jiang

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) of emerging market firms (EMFs) and provide direction for future research on the topic. Design/methodology/approach – The authors specifically review the recent literature between the years 2000 and 2019 on CE with the keywords “corporate entrepreneurship,” “emerging economies” and “emerging countries” published in the Australian Business Deans Council list journals. The authors review the existing literature about CE in emerging markets, summarize current achievements and present an agenda for future research. Findings – Based on the review, the authors categorized the macro and …

Unleashing The Potential Of University Entrepreneurship Education: A Mandate For A Broader Perspective, Donna M. De Carolis, Barrie E. Litzky

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the ways in which traditional views of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship have inadvertently limited entrepreneurship education. The authors propose a broader view of what it means to be an entrepreneur and describe a disruptive approach to entrepreneurship education, one that centers around building students’ entrepreneurial mindset. By tapping into students’ “inner entrepreneur” and nurturing their abilities to think and act creatively, embrace failure, effect change and be resilient, the authors are preparing them for the challenges of the twenty-first century labor market. Design/methodology/approach – This is a perspective paper about how …

Phoenix Fine Art Business Plan, Ruomu Freda Li

MA Projects

In China, contemporary art market has been growing in both value and size for the past few decades. Today, China remains to be a global industry that is worth more than $50 billion annually. (1) Chinese art market according to a report by ArtNet accounted for 20% of the global total sales in 2017. As a result, the work of the Chinese artists fetching multimillion dollars indicates the significance of the market.(2) This growth in the art market is however attracting the attention of investors and raising the confidence of art collectors. In China, traditional Chinese art has become the …

Altart, Hannah Nashman

MA Projects

AltArt is short for Alternative Art. The mandate of AltArt is to incorporate art into our lives in an alternative way. The goal is to create a modern network of professionals immersed and/or interested in the arts.

AltArt is an arty club located in the heart of Toronto, Canada. Our mission is to provide our local creative community with the best opportunity for innovation, networking and success. AltArt offers an array of unique services in a gallery space with rotating art programs, alternative spaces for creating art and a platform allowing our members to collaborate with one another.

AltArt is …

"Relationship" - An Art Bookstore In Macau, Keer Kang

MA Projects

Mentioned to Macau, most people have the first impression of Macau is the splendid casinos and hotels. Many people think that Macau is just a gambling city. In fact, Macau has a unique culture that is memorable. There are more than 100 ancient architectural relics、20 Western-style churches、40 temples and 20 Museums in the land. As we know, many cities around the world are famous for their unique cultural identity, while Macau is characterized by a blend of multicultural. This business plan is to create and expand the field of commercial art with the background and advantages of Macau's multiculturalism. Therefore, …

An Investigation Into The Management Of Branding In Irish Artisan Food Businesses, Daniel David Hickey

Theses

A consumer’s lifestyle is busier now then in the past and is moving towards products that reduce preparation and cooking times (Bia, 2015). The demand for value added convenience products has created opportunity for the Artisan food sector. This has lead to the expansion of food Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s) in Ireland. There were 235 specialty food producers in Ireland in 2018, a 2.7% increase on the previous year. SME’s are growing in popularity among consumers but there is very little research been completed into Irish SME’s. A 2016 study by Kennedy and Wright identified that the area is scant …

Developing A Model Of Post Incubation Support For New And Growing Ventures, Miriam Adair

Theses

Business incubators offer physical and virtual services for their new and growing start up clients. In Ireland, once companies exit an incubator, they do not have access to services similar to an incubator. In other countries there are post incubation services available.

There is a limited literature on post incubation in Ireland, however there is literature focusing on different programmes available to companies once they have left an incubator.

This thesis explores the post incubation support needs of new' and growing ventures.

Specifically, the research focused on three primary objectives:

1. To gain a deeper understanding of the specific needs …