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Full-Text Articles in Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations

The Risk-Return Characteristics And Diversification Benefits Of Fine Wine Investment, Tania Salomon Jan 2017

The Risk-Return Characteristics And Diversification Benefits Of Fine Wine Investment, Tania Salomon

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis evaluates the risk-return characteristics and diversification benefits of fine wine investment. It compares the historical performance of wine to that of equity, fixed income, real estate, and commodities. I calculate the correlation, volatility, and expected returns of these assets to examine whether adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return. I do this through the Markowitz portfolio optimization technique. The findings suggest that wine has a low correlation with traditional assets, providing diversification benefits. My results also show that adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return only when there is an allocation constraint of 0 …

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How Start-Up Accelerators Facilitate Innovation, Farzaneh Eslamloo Jan 2017

How Start-Up Accelerators Facilitate Innovation, Farzaneh Eslamloo

ECU Posters

In today’s economy, innovation is the strategic driving force in getting unique opportunities and adding value to knowledge assets. Many countries, to compete and to adapt themselves to the complexity of the new world, try to be innovative and continuously upgrade their knowledge along with changes happened in the environment. Theses countries consider innovation as the key strategy in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and making continuous improvement in their structures, processes, and programs. The interesting thing about start-up accelerator centres that is the main interest of my research is that they try to respond to the demand shaped in the …

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How Can Higher Education Institutions (Heis) Support The Development Of Entrepreneurial Mindsets In Local Communities?, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney Jan 2017

How Can Higher Education Institutions (Heis) Support The Development Of Entrepreneurial Mindsets In Local Communities?, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney

Conference papers

Promoting an entrepreneurial culture through the development of entrepreneurial mindsets has become an important mission on the education and enterprise policy agenda of many governments and supranational organisations. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have responded to this call by developing entrepreneurship / enterprise education pedagogies that now place a greater focus on engendering entrepreneurial competencies within individuals rather than on the creation of new ventures. Such competences are relevant for all aspects of an individual’s life and may assist them in navigating the ever changing, chaotic, global world in which they live. However, some commentators have argued that this development is …

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Three Essays On Dynamic Capabilities In The Context Of Innovation, Networks And Entrepreneurship, Ken (Yongjian) Chen Jan 2017

Three Essays On Dynamic Capabilities In The Context Of Innovation, Networks And Entrepreneurship, Ken (Yongjian) Chen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A recent study by McKinsey & Company (Benson-Armer, Otto and Webster 2015) found that half the executives they survey rate capability building as one of their firms’ top three priorities. This research also concludes that building capabilities in the domains of strategic marketing and entrepreneurship represents an urgent task in capability management. The importance of capability development and management is also recognized by leading strategic marketing and entrepreneurship scholars (e.g. Moorman and Day 2016; Day and Schoemaker 2016; Teece 2012). These authors suggest that managers demand new ways to help firms compete in today’s fast-changing environment. Dynamic capabilities are considered …

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Sustainability Strategies For Small Business Restaurant Owners, Alisa Williams Jan 2017

Sustainability Strategies For Small Business Restaurant Owners, Alisa Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Half of new businesses in the United States cease to exist after the first 5 years of operations, and the failure rate continues to increase after the first 10 years. The study was grounded on von Bertalanffy's systems theory to explore business strategies that small business restaurant owners use to sustain their business beyond 5 years. Data were collected by engaging 3 small restaurant business owners in the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolis who sustained their business beyond 5 years. Information obtained from face-to-face interviews and data mining organizational document were analyzed with the support of qualitative software to generate themes. …

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Strategies For Improving Internal Control In Small And Medium Enterprises In Nigeria, Olufemi Adepoju Aladejebi Jan 2017

Strategies For Improving Internal Control In Small And Medium Enterprises In Nigeria, Olufemi Adepoju Aladejebi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers and practitioners have recognized the need for business leaders to establish effective internal control frameworks. Some small and medium enterprises (SME) leaders lack strategies for improving internal control systems. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies leaders of SMEs in Nigeria use for improving internal control practices. Building on the internal control theory and transactional leadership theory, semistructured face-to-face and phone interviews were conducted with 8 purposively-selected leaders of SMEs in Nigeria who successfully implemented internal control practices. The 5 themes that emerged from the thematic analysis of the interview data were: segregation of …

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Effective Strategies Small Retail Leaders Use To Engage Employees, Dr. Janet Lynn Deskins Jan 2017

Effective Strategies Small Retail Leaders Use To Engage Employees, Dr. Janet Lynn Deskins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research suggests that 70% of North American employees are disengaged in the workplace. Some small retail managers lack strategies for engaging employees. Using the employee engagement framework, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore successful strategies that small retail managers use to engage employees. The target population was small retail leaders, purposefully selected because of their success with engaging employees at an Orlando, Florida, company. Data collection was through face-to-face interviews with 5 leaders; and a review of archived organizational documents, including company memorandums, central email software, and online customer reviews through social media websites such as …

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Strategies For Entrepreneurs With Disabilities To Sustain A Successful Small Business, Terry L. Howard Jan 2017

Strategies For Entrepreneurs With Disabilities To Sustain A Successful Small Business, Terry L. Howard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2006, Congress appropriated $5 million to create a research-based policy and give technical assistance to agencies that achieved self-employment outcomes for entrepreneurs with disabilities (EWDs). A lack of information exists within the extant body of research on EWDs and the strategies they employ to develop successful businesses. The research design was a multiple case study format engaging 3 Michigan EWDs whose firms were profitable after at least 3 years of successful business operations. Tipu's conceptual framework of entrepreneurship was useful in understanding the basis for successful EWDs' strategies. Face-to-face interviews with EWDs and onsite observations of their business operations …

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Return On Investment Of The Cftp Framework With And Without Risk Assessment, Anne Lim Lee Jan 2017

Return On Investment Of The Cftp Framework With And Without Risk Assessment, Anne Lim Lee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In recent years, numerous high tech companies have developed and used technology roadmaps when making their investment decisions. Jay Paap has proposed the Customer Focused Technology Planning (CFTP) framework to draw future technology roadmaps. However, the CFTP framework does not include risk assessment as a critical factor in decision making. The problem addressed in this quantitative study was that high tech companies are either losing money or getting a much smaller than expected return on investment when making technology investment decisions. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between returns on investment before and after adding risk …

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Strategies For Reducing The Effects Of Employee Absenteeism On Organizational Profitability, Marjorie D. Waye Jan 2017

Strategies For Reducing The Effects Of Employee Absenteeism On Organizational Profitability, Marjorie D. Waye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee absenteeism is a significant threat to organizational profitability. Finding solutions to mitigate the adverse effects of employee absenteeism on organizational profitability is critical to the success of organizations. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies human resource leaders used to mitigate the adverse effects of employee absenteeism on organizational profitability. The conceptual framework was performance prism theory. Data were gathered from in-depth interviews and publicly available organizational documents, including wellbeing program resources and annual investment presentations and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting documents. Participants included 4 human resource managers and a third party service …

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A Case Study Of Rural Community Colleges' Transition To Entrepreneurship, James D. Genandt Jan 2017

A Case Study Of Rural Community Colleges' Transition To Entrepreneurship, James D. Genandt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The traditional role of workforce training by community colleges in support of regional economic development is insufficient to help rural areas survive in a global economy. Rural community colleges are uniquely positioned to provide enhanced economic development support through entrepreneurship and small business development programs. Using Woolcock and Narayan's conceptualization of social capital, the purpose of this case study of 4 community colleges in a midwest state was to identify specific entrepreneurship strategies rural community colleges use relative to economic development. The data were collected via email and telephone interviews with 11 employees connected to leadership and/or economic development from …

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Beyond The Enclave: Success Strategies Of Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Jose Delfin Gonzalez Jan 2017

Beyond The Enclave: Success Strategies Of Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Jose Delfin Gonzalez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, immigrant entrepreneurs start almost one third of all new businesses. However, many immigrant entrepreneurs lack the knowledge or expertise to evolve their businesses beyond the ethnic enclave where the businesses are located. This multiple case study captured the strategies used by 5 Latino immigrant business owners who successfully expanded their business beyond their ethnic enclave. The conceptual framework for this study was dynamic capabilities theory. Data were collected from interviews, company documents, and observations of the operation of businesses and owners. Member checking and transcript reviews were used to enhance the reliability and credibility of the …

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Sustainability And Social Responsibility In Small Food Enterprises: Barriers And Enablers, Aurora Dawn Reinke Jan 2017

Sustainability And Social Responsibility In Small Food Enterprises: Barriers And Enablers, Aurora Dawn Reinke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry contend with a variety of corporate sustainability and social responsibility (CSSR) issues, ranging from the environmental impact of food waste to human health concerns about specific ingredients and production methods. In this qualitative multicase study, based on the conceptual frameworks of strategic development, stakeholder management, and institutional theory, I explored barriers and enablers for Washington, DC-based food SMEs as they proactively addressed CSSR issues. I interviewed five SME owner-managers. The transcripts were then coded and analyzed. Three themes emerged. Strategic development tended to be ad hoc and experimental, but with equal …

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Relationship Between Oil Theft, Pipeline Vandalism, And Security Costs With Revenue Losses, Ijeoma Ogechi Nwachukwu Jan 2017

Relationship Between Oil Theft, Pipeline Vandalism, And Security Costs With Revenue Losses, Ijeoma Ogechi Nwachukwu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The oil and gas multinational companies (MNCs) in the Niger Delta continue to face numerous challenges operating in the region, especially concerning the loss of revenue. Based on the resource dependence theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between oil theft, pipeline vandalism, security costs, and revenue. Eighty-eight mid- to high-level managers of oil and gas completed the Factors That Affect Company Revenue instrument. The results of the multiple linear regression analyses indicated the model was able to significantly predict revenue, F(3,88) = 947,279.44, p < .001, R2 = 1.000. All 3 predictors contributed significantly to the model, with pipeline vandalism recording the highest beta value (Ã? = .553, p = .000), the oil theft predictor with the next highest beta weight (Ã? = .451, p = .000), and the security costs predictor with the next highest beta weight (Ã? = .387, p = .000). The leaders of the oil and gas MNCs could use the outcome of this study in creating strategies and policies that guide their operations in the region, which would improve the relationship with host communities and mitigate their efforts in reducing the loss of revenue. Improved relations would result in a reduction of oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and security costs, thereby reducing revenue losses. The implication of positive social change includes implementation of more corporate social responsibility strategies and improving the economy of the region and the livelihood of the host communities.

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Strategies To Expand The U.S. Automated External Defibrillator Market, Arturo Cervantes Jan 2017

Strategies To Expand The U.S. Automated External Defibrillator Market, Arturo Cervantes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite defibrillation as the only effective treatment for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), less than 15% of homes and public facilities have access to an automated external defibrillator (AED). In the United States, ineffective response to SCA cases occurring each year classifies it as a business problem for medical device manufacturing leaders, emergency responders, and bystanders. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore the marketing strategies AED manufacturing leaders use to expand their consumer customer base. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of participants from 2 U.S. AED manufacturers on the east coast, 2 AED …

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Strategies For Small Business Enterprise Success In Ireland: A Case Of Three Businesses, Usman Isa Yaru Jan 2017

Strategies For Small Business Enterprise Success In Ireland: A Case Of Three Businesses, Usman Isa Yaru

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2012, only 50% of Irish small firms survived in business for more than 5 years. The purpose of this qualitative, explorative case study was to explore strategies some Irish small firm owners use to succeed in business beyond 5 years. The case population consisted of 3 small business owners operating in Lucan, County Dublin, Ireland who had been managing a profitable small business venture beyond 5 years from beginning operations. The conceptual framework was the competitive theory of entrepreneurial orientation. Data collection included semistructured interviews with the 3 participants, which also involved member checking and triangulation with business documents …

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Effective Strategies Of Military Veteran Small Business Owners, John F. Groves Jan 2017

Effective Strategies Of Military Veteran Small Business Owners, John F. Groves

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses owned by military veterans represent a source of new jobs, yet more than half of these businesses fail to survive beyond 5 years. These failures could lead to efforts to identify strategies that owners can use to avoid failure. The conceptual framework applied in this case study was the triple-loop learning theory. The purposive sampling included 7 military veterans who were small business owners who had sustained their small businesses more than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and organization documents. Yin's 5-step process for data analysis compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding resulted in 4 …

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Capitalization Strategies For Small Business Sustainability, Richard Basch Jan 2017

Capitalization Strategies For Small Business Sustainability, Richard Basch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past 15 years, privately held small businesses generated nearly two-thirds of the net job growth in the United States, yet much of what scholars know regarding the capitalization challenges faced by small businesses is limited to data from large corporations. In 2013 alone, business bankruptcies numbered 33,212, and each year approximately 10% to 12% of U.S. small businesses close. Ineffective capitalization strategies coupled with a limited understanding of funding options frequently results in unsustainable business practices. In this multiple case study, the capital budgeting theory was utilized to explore the capitalization strategies small business owners in the greater …

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Education's Loss Of The Public: An Archival Exploration Of American Public Schools' Diminishing Social Returns And The Emerging Utility Of Social Entrepreneurship, Tia Ha-Quyen Ho Jan 2017

Education's Loss Of The Public: An Archival Exploration Of American Public Schools' Diminishing Social Returns And The Emerging Utility Of Social Entrepreneurship, Tia Ha-Quyen Ho

Scripps Senior Theses

The literature presented in the following pages explores the shortcomings of the American public education system in the context of creating long-term, sustainable social change. Using financial illiteracy and its relationship to low quality of life as an entry point, the first section exposes public schools’ shortcomings as agents of social change by delving into the hardships endured by the original public school promoters of the 19th century, the pitfalls of President George W. Bush’s 2001 enactment of No Child Left Behind, and the shortcomings of the financial literacy programming that found traction in urban schools following the subprime …

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Resources That Predict Microbusinesses Winning A U.S. Government Contract, James Marshall Ensign Jan 2017

Resources That Predict Microbusinesses Winning A U.S. Government Contract, James Marshall Ensign

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The U.S. Government (USG) sets aside $133 billion annually to procure goods and services from small businesses. To increase efficiency and effectiveness, the USG employs e-commerce procedures that continually change, forcing small and microbusiness owners (MBO) to learn new technical skills. This continuum of change is adversely affecting MBO who lack technical skills. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine whether a relationship existed between the independent variables of formal training consisting of third party providers, consultants, and higher education (INTM); previous federal employment (PFE); and government-sponsored training (GST) and the dependent variable of MBO winning a USG …

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The Hult Prize: A Guide On How To Be Successful, Kelsey T. Jones Jan 2017

The Hult Prize: A Guide On How To Be Successful, Kelsey T. Jones

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Hult Prize competition is the worlds largest international case competition. After participating in the Hult Prize for the past 2 years as the team captain, one which the group came out as one of the top 10 teams out of over 25,000 for a business model that aimed to double the income of individuals making less than $2 a day, I have created an overarching guide that will guide future teams to being successful within the competition. The key is to focus on a few on a few key parts: building a team, the general timeline, research, brainstorming, finances, …

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Financing Strategies For Real Estate Investments, Joshua Parr Jan 2017

Financing Strategies For Real Estate Investments, Joshua Parr

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Most people have a dream of being financially independent and in order to do so it is necessary to save and invest their money. The key is to invest wisely so that one can earn a solid return on their money. Real estate investments are a great way to build wealth because of the benefits they have over other investments. Many are under the misconception that they cannot invest in real estate because of a lack of capital. This belief is entirely untrue and there are dozens of different strategies for investing in real estate with little or no capital …

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The Strategic Potential Of Community-Based Hybrid Models: The Case Of Global Business Services In Africa, Stephan Manning, Chacko G. Kannothra, Nichole K. Wissman-Weber Jan 2017

The Strategic Potential Of Community-Based Hybrid Models: The Case Of Global Business Services In Africa, Stephan Manning, Chacko G. Kannothra, Nichole K. Wissman-Weber

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

As a latecomer economy, Africa faces persistent difficulties with catching up in global markets. This study examines the strategic potential of community-based hybrid models, which balance market profitability with social impact in local communities. Focusing on the global business services industry in Kenya and South Africa, and the practice of ‘impact sourcing’ – hiring and training of disadvantaged staff servicing business clients – we find that while regular providers struggle to compete with global peers, hybrid model adopters manage to access underutilized labor pools through community organizations, and target less competitive niche client markets. We further identify key industry, institutional …

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Crowdfunding As A Financing Resource For Small Businesses, Melissa Cohen Jan 2017

Crowdfunding As A Financing Resource For Small Businesses, Melissa Cohen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although small businesses borrowed $1 trillion in 2013 from traditional lenders, 35% of small business owners were unable to obtain adequate financing and subsequently sought alternative sources such as crowdfunding. Guided by the pecking order theory, the purpose of this exploratory case study was to explore how 6 small business owners in Tennessee successfully used crowdfunding to start, grow, or sustain their businesses. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and a review of crowdfunding project data on the internet platform including the project description, target goal, amount achieved, number of backers, and locations of the funders. Data were inductively analyzed, …

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The Effect Of Family Ownership On Financing Decisions Of Listed Vietnamese Companies, Trang Tran Jan 2017

The Effect Of Family Ownership On Financing Decisions Of Listed Vietnamese Companies, Trang Tran

ECU Posters

The poster is a visualisation of my research proposal. Family firms play an important role in the global economies, especially in Vietnam. There have been studies on family firms' financing decisions; however, the results were mixed. On the one hand, family shareholders have strong control motives. Hence they are argued to employ more debt because debt is a non-control diluted security. On the other hand, family shareholders are risk averse, and have incentives to pass down their businesses. Thus, they may prefer equity since debt incorporates bankruptcy risks. The literature gap calls for a demand of investigating how family ownership …

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Exploring Strategies Of American Small Business Owners In United Arab Emirates, Shelley D. Mosley Jan 2017

Exploring Strategies Of American Small Business Owners In United Arab Emirates, Shelley D. Mosley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The International Trade Administration reported that 70% of worldwide revenue for American businesses comes from consumers in emergent markets such as India, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country that many American small business owners are not operating in and capitalizing on the financial opportunities that are available. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies American small business owners use in successful international entrepreneurship for increased revenue and operational longevity. The study population consisted of 5 American small business entrepreneurs who had succeeded operating in the UAE for …

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Matching Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies To Organizational Goals, Jason P. Vitelli Jan 2017

Matching Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies To Organizational Goals, Jason P. Vitelli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many Fortune 500 organizations have policies about corporate social responsibility (CSR), but the leaders struggle to implement CSR policies that match corporate stated goals and objectives. The purpose of this case study was to explore whether leaders' CSR strategies matched the goals and objectives of the company. Twenty individuals located in New York, NY, United States, with various management-level positions, and who had experiences with CSR in a Fortune 500 organization with a CSR policy, participated in the current study. The conceptual framework was corporate social responsibility stakeholder theory. Data collection consisted of a semistructured interview with the leaders about …

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2017 Annual Report, Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University Jan 2017

2017 Annual Report, Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This report overviews the accomplishments of the IVMF during 2016-2017.

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Exploring Strategies Microenterprise Owners Use To Succeed In Business Beyond 2 Years, Dr. Tamika Ebony Haynes Jan 2017

Exploring Strategies Microenterprise Owners Use To Succeed In Business Beyond 2 Years, Dr. Tamika Ebony Haynes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, microenterprises, critical segment of the small business population, accounts for 110 million small businesses that source new jobs. Despite the increase in the number of created businesses in the U.S., more than 70% of microenterprise business owners are unsuccessful after 2 years. The multiple case study included 6 participants living in Houston, Texas, and intended to explore business strategies microenterprise event management owners used to succeed in business beyond 2 years. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was the 5-stage small business growth model and the 5-stage of the evolution of entrepreneurship theory. The data …

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The Fear Factor: Determinants Of Entrepreneurial Fear Of Failure, Pema Donyo Jan 2017

The Fear Factor: Determinants Of Entrepreneurial Fear Of Failure, Pema Donyo

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis aims to investigate determinants of fear of failure in entrepreneurial activity that could inhibit starting a business. The study uses cross-sectional, pooled OLS, and panel regressions. The dependent variable is fear of failure regarding entrepreneurship, measured with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey question of whether fear of failure would prevent the responder from starting a firm. The unit of analysis is at country level. I categorize determinants into demographic, property rights, and procedural variables. A population of higher working age ratio (measured as the population aged 15-64 divided by the population aged 65 and over) correlates with …

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