Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Entrepreneurship|Management'

Small businesses are the backbones of the American economy and contribute nearly 46% of the U.S. gross domestic product. However, the failure rate for small businesses is high. Only half of all small businesses will be able to survive for 5 years, and only 20% of small business can survive 10 years. Failure is a common phenomenon among entrepreneurs of small businesses. This qualitative phenomenological study involved examining entrepreneurs’ perceptions of their failure experiences. The study involved exploring the impacts of failure on entrepreneurs, the valuable lessons that entrepreneurs have taken from their failure experiences, and how they have applied what they have learned into business practices. Ten participants were purposefully selected for an individual face-to-face interview. The researcher created and asked 12 open-ended interview questions during the interviews under the framework of 3 research questions. Through analysis of the data gathered from the interviewees, the findings revealed that failure has a tremendous impact on entrepreneurs’ finances, relationships, and emotions. The findings also included valuable lessons that entrepreneurs have learned from their failure experiences, including acquiring knowledge on business management, awareness of self-limitations, enhancing faith, and leading changes by setting examples and showing care to employees. The research also revealed entrepreneurs apply what they have learned from failure directly back into daily business practices. In the process, they had to accept their personal weaknesses by adapting to changes. Learning from failure is a continuous process. The lessons shared are critical to entrepreneurial growth, especially in leadership. What these entrepreneurs have learned and practiced is worth exploring in hopes of shedding light on entrepreneurial education.

The purpose of this study was to determine the key factors involved in operating a successful independent management consulting business. For those working in the independent management consulting industry or looking to begin, this study aimed to provide information to help define what success means and identify the most important contributors to achieving that success. The study gathered data via online survey and semi-structured interviews from people who have owned an independent management consulting business. Trends in the data were identified and compared with current research to determine the key factors in operating a successful independent management consulting business.

Over the past 35 years, Great Depression era regulatory restrictions on the geographic area of operation and the scope of financial services banks can offer have change significantly. These changes fueled a surge of merger activity and resulted in a 70% decrease in the number of bank charters by 2015. Currently, community banks hold only 14% of bank assets in the US; nonetheless, they play an important role in the US economy because they continue to provide the majority of funding to small businesses. This study finds that over 83% of bank failures occurred in metropolitan areas despite the distribution of community banks being almost equal at 49.5% rural and 50.5% metropolitan. An analysis of FDIC data from 2000 through 2014 indicates that rural and community banks do differ significantly on variables related to bank profitability and loan portfolio risk. Metropolitan banks have lower ratios on pre-tax return on assets, and return on equity. On average, metropolitan banks are approximately 30% less profitable than their rural counterparts. Since the 2007 financial crisis, on average, metropolitan banks have higher ratios on variables related to loan portfolio risk and since 2010 they have lower capital to asset ratios. The higher bank failure rates, riskier loan portfolios, and lower capital to asset ratios associated with metropolitan community banks provides support for the competition-fragility view that increased competition in banking leads to more bank failures. The nationwide survey in this study indicates that metropolitan community bankers perceive the competitive environment to be more intense and that their marketing capabilities are inferior to the large nationwide and regional banks that they compete against. Community bankers perceive that the merger and acquisition activity will continue and that it is driven by the need to achieve economies of scale in technology and regulatory compliance. Based on previous research that larger banks extend less credit to small businesses, this will further restrict the availability of bank credit to new businesses and existing microenterprises. Given that microenterprises employ the majority of people and contribute to new job creation, there are serious economic implications.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the problem that the companies do not use the potential of their employees on innovations and intrapreneurial processes.

The source of innovation is usually the entrepreneur. These are individuals that come up with new ideas of what the market is likely to want or desire. These people have usually gathered this knowledge through interaction with consumers. Sometimes it is the imaginative impulsive desire on their part to offer something new or different, at other times it is an improvement on previous knowledge. However in a corporate or large organisation environment it is often the employees who come up with innovative ideas because of their close contacts with consumers of the product or service of the company. They are very close to the ground realities and can be a great source of finding out the consumer desires or preferences. Although they are employees, they have the entrepreneurial spirit to understand the need of urge to meet the expectations. This gives them the same satisfaction an entrepreneur would feel on the success and acceptance of his innovative idea.

Therefore being innovative is not the sole domain of the leaders, corporate or individual. The potential of the workers and employees remains unexploited in this direction.

This study will try to find out the importance of the mental force of the employee on the survival of the company in this competitive world, from the perspective of innovation and intrapreneurship.

In the early 2000s, technology innovation became a strategic choice for Saudi Arabia, supported by an increasing base of start-up technology businesses and young Saudis, who are considered a potential driving force for innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Since then, technological innovation encouraged more Saudi young people to become entrepreneurs or innovators. Thus, in mid 2000s, Saudi Arabia launched many initiatives related to innovation, science, and technology, such as the establishment of innovation centers and research parks, in an effort to support developing individuals who could potentially become future entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to identify the top leadership skills for running Saudi Arabian technology innovation centers and examine the key factors that affect the Saudi innovation environment. In addition, the SPELIT framework was used to identify the driving forces/factors affecting the Saudi Arabian innovation environment. This quantitative study used an online survey instrument to capture 78 responses from Saudi Arabian citizens. This study was limited by the shortage of available information and data about the Saudi Arabian technology innovation base. After collecting the data, the findings were analyzed and substantively discussed, leading the researcher to draw conclusions, highlight implications, and suggest a series of recommendations for policy, practitioners, and future research. The total male participation was more than female participation by almost 18%. The age mean was 34 and the majority of the respondents were highly educated. More than half of the respondents were either involved in the past or currently involved in innovation, with experience that ranged from less than 6 months to more than 5 years. About 60% of the respondents reported that they were either aware or completely aware of the concept of innovation centers. The study concluded that goal setting, self-confidence, and ability to motivate are the most needed leadership skills to lead an innovation center in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, it was found that young people; cooperation among the government, universities, and the private sector; and skilled human capital were the most three significant factors affecting the technology innovation environment in Saudi Arabia as perceived by respondents.

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 emotional intelligence, Spears’s model of servant leadership, and Manz’s concepts of self-leadership. The research question examined the interrelationship between the three theoretical paradigms and used the analysis to create a theoretical framework. A paradigm and systematic word search phrase yielded an initial sample of 1356 research articles. Using text scrutinization to achieve saturation, I used 342 articles to evaluate the gap between the three theoretical paradigms. The analysis of the secondary data used Edwards’s approach to metatheory-building. The results yielded the beginnings of a new theory of self-perpetuating leadership style called sustainable leadership. Also noted based on the literature a serious absence of ethics, morality, or spirituality in leadership development. This study is important because it uses a holistic framework based on development techniques found in three theoretical leadership paradigms to help aspiring leaders to develop others. The positive social change that may result is an improvement in leadership skills, over time, through a comprehensive approach to leadership development for aspiring leaders.

Affirmative action public procurement programs (AAPPP) stem from legislation related to the Civil Rights movement. Debates about program usefulness and relevance have occurred as well as court decisions challenging not only the legality of these programs, but their very existence. The problem is that, although minority small businesses are fast-growing, access to public procurement opportunities is minimal. An assessment of the perceived social and economic impact of affirmative action public procurement programs between participants and non-participants could provide needed information to inform stakeholders more about how these programs are experienced. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental causal-comparative (ex post facto) study was to determine whether minority business owners who have participated in AAPPP perceive the economic benefits, economic costs, social benefits, and social costs in minority businesses differently than non-participants. A random sample of 128 minority business owners seeking government contracts in the information technology field participated in this study. The participants were requested to complete a survey to assess their perceptions of affirmative action public procurement program participation on its economic benefits, economic costs, social benefits, and social costs. The findings showed AAPPP participants and non-AAPPP participants perceived economic costs and economic benefits similarly. The findings also showed AAPPP participants perceived both the social costs and benefits significantly greater than non-participants. Although the findings lend support for the continued use of these programs, the results paradoxically lend some support for their discontinuance. Without any overwhelming evidence to the contrary, it can be argued that continuing with these programs is necessary, since an inherent form of discrimination based on race or gender within the economic system still appears to exist, although not coherently depicted or understood.

The recent economic recession in the U.S. and in the E.U. is enhancing entrepreneurship processes around the world. Old forms of production are becoming obsolete along with old ways of organizing the economy and society. This scenario and the emergence of new leadership processes have prompted an increase in entrepreneurship focused on the needs of new niches. However, not all entrepreneurship and leadership processes have been successful in achieving their goals. Research on entrepreneurship and leadership has identified the need to further understand the dynamic features of these processes and their complexity.

One of the sectors in the U.S. that has shown major growth during the last decade is the wine sector. The increase of national and international market competition in the wine sector has prompted new entrepreneurship and leadership processes in this sector. As a result, it seems timely and appropriate to expand our understanding of effective entrepreneurship and leadership processes in the U.S. wine industry.

The dissertation’s main contributions are to: (a) expand the understanding of the dynamics of entrepreneurship, (b) expand the understanding of how human cognition relates to its contexts in order to make entrepreneurship effective, (c) identify two types of leadership that are key for achieving companies’ sustained competitive advantage, (d) expand the understanding of how human cognition relates to its contexts in order to make leadership effective, (e) identify the structures (traits and processes) that effective entrepreneurship and leadership share, (f) identify the synergies between entrepreneurship and leadership, and (g) bring useful insights to the nine wineries interviewed so that they can address their current challenges more effectively. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Leaders of companies operating in the supply chain have faced enormous competition, thereby needing to develop alternatives for a competitive advantage within and outside the organization. In the field, researchers have suggested that one’s dynamic capabilities may determine one’s determining competitiveness. The dissertation is an applied research study of the existing dynamic capabilities in the supply chain of organizations to verify the models used and the changes that it brings to the supply chain. The theoretical framework covered the foundations of this study. To collect research data, the researcher shall use surveys to collect data. Quantitative analysis approach will be used to draw inferences to help in this new research. The position of this dissertation is that dynamic capabilities, employed in the procurement section of the supply chain, have a direct influence on the overall performance of an organization. The study revealed that the dynamic capabilities of supply base alignment, performance improvement, operational performance, supply side competence, and systems orientation was critical to organizational performance. Although individual capabilities held minimal sway, when the individuals combined to form the dynamic capability, the influence had the most power over organizational performance. The supply side and operational performance were both organizational competences, while performance improvement, supply base alignment, and systems orientation were managerial competences. This literature added to work in supply chain and procurement; it has shown successfully that dynamic capabilities used in the procurement section did have direct effect on organizational performance.

This study is important for individuals to investigate the actions that entrepreneurs take to facilitate successful business results that meet its goals and objectives. This research identifies the importance of leadership skills on the effectiveness of business and society overall. The purpose of this study is to describe the actions effective leaders take to articulate a successful vision, establish an industry through financial support, understand different cultures, deal with global industries, and make employees more efficient. The research questions addressed in this study are focused on issues that entrepreneurs face while building an organization and the implications of the actions and decisions of leaders in entrepreneurial companies. Data were gathered through interviews with successful entrepreneurial leaders. The outcome of the study showed that there were several ways to build and improve a business and help entrepreneurs to obtain financial support through many resources.

This dissertation extends and contributes to the extant literature on social enterprise by examining the enterprise-beneficiary relationship in social enterprises with particular focus on performance measurement and social value creation. Ironically, while social missions and commitment to beneficiaries is what distinguishes social entrepreneurship from traditional entrepreneurship, little research has been conducted to examine this relationship. Utilizing a portfolio of 101 social enterprises based in New England, this study consisted of two phases: the development of a typology of social enterprise based on the enterprise-beneficiary relationships present in the portfolio, and a comparative case study closely examining six cases of social enterprise across the typology.

By examining beneficiary positioning, level of interaction, and relationship characteristics four archetypes of social enterprise were identified: general benefit enterprises, philanthropic enterprises, social business enterprises, and relational social enterprises. Examining these models, the concept of entwinement emerged. I define entwinement as the mutual reliance and commitment between two parties, in these cases the enterprises and the individual beneficiaries they seek to serve. These models fall along a continuum of entwinement, ranging from no entwinement in the general benefit enterprises to high entwinement in the relational social enterprises. By examining two cases each of philanthropic enterprises, social business enterprises and relational enterprises I found that entwinement has positive implications for stakeholder salience and depth of impact for individual beneficiaries. I also found that while funding requirements are a key driver of the development of formalized social performance measurement programs, the level of entwinement moderates that relationship.

This dissertation contributes directly to stakeholder theory and to the social entrepreneurship literature. It offers an explanation for how managers recognize the salience of their stakeholder groups by raising entwinement as a key mechanism through which managers recognize the legitimacy and power of the beneficiary group. By utilizing the capabilities approach from the development literature, this study also presents a framework through which depth of impact can be examined across issue are and business model design. Finally, this paper identified funder requirements as a key driver of social performance measurement systems, suggesting that even as social enterprises diversify their revenue streams and business models they still bear significant semblance to non-profit organizations.

Addressing the needs and wants of the customers increases the intention of the customers to remain loyal to the company that satisfies their wants and needs. Knowledge Management (KM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have both been shown to impact customer behavior. The purpose of this thesis was to explore and understand the impact of KM supported by a CRM on customer behaviors, specifically customer loyalty and customer perceived value. The results indicate that in order for KM and CRM to be effective in affecting positive changes in organizations, certain conditions need to be met. These include having employees perceive the importance of the implementation of KM and CRM approaches / processes through incorporating both KM and CRM in the business culture. All employees of all levels of the company need to have the same objective, scope and roles and responsibilities are clear defined and communicated. Both KM and CRM end-to-end processes need to be supported by one stable, easy to use, and easily accessible system with a high sophisticated search engine. The significance of this study is three-fold: for the academic community, for the companies that aim to attain competitive advantage over others, and for the customers of these companies.

The importance of entrepreneurship has been widely acknowledged by many scholars, however, there is an argument that entrepreneurship tends to pose a unique dilemma with management accounting – a part of management control in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to find a solution for the apparent conflict between management accounting and entrepreneurship through a single case study of Litium – a new economy firm operating in information technology industry. The study of Litium reveals that a simple and solid management accounting is an effective way in order to keep management accounting in harmony with entrepreneurial spirit. This finding goes in line with the suggestion of loosely coupled management control in new economy firms by Lukka and Granlund (2003).

The paper reviews various relevant literatures so as to build a collected framework about management accounting in new economy firms. The framework then provides a guideline for empirical findings and analysis part. We acknowledged that the studies of Lukka and Granlund (2003), Granlund and Taipaleenmaki (2005), Lovstal (2001) and Morris, Allen, Schindehutte, and Avila (2006) are very useful for studying management accounting in new economy firms where entrepreneurship is highly emphasized. In addition, life-cycle perspective is also valuable to understand thoroughly the practice of management accounting in new economy firms. In accordance with the topic and the purpose of our case study, we recognized that qualitative research method is most suitable. Moreover, the interview – one type of qualitative methods – was chosen as a main tool for colleting data in our study since it can provide the authors with important insights into a situation and use-ful shortcuts to the prior history of the situation