<p> 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. </p>

<p> The value of customer loyalty to business sustainability should not be taken lightly. Research shows that loyal customers are more profitable than non-loyal customers. Indeed, this study found that loyal supermarket customers shop more often and spend more when shopping. Retaining customers makes good business sense and costs less than attracting new ones. Negligible switching costs and the quest for value strain the loyalty relationship between supermarkets and their primary shoppers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify how the independent variables of value (price, quality, service, convenience, and assortment) contribute to customer loyalty among supermarket customers. The research design for this study was quantitative non-experimental. Data for the study was collected from an electronic email invite through Survey Monkey. With a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of +/-5%, the targeted sample size was 384, with a final filtered total of 354 usable surveys. Multiple linear regression and Spearman rho correlation techniques were used to determine significance of data collected to customer loyalty. Results from this study indicate that quality has the greatest effect on customer loyalty. However, significant interaction and modifying effects were also detected, indicating that predictors of loyalty should not be examined in isolation. Collectively, data from this study indicated that as quality, service, assortment, loyalty programs, and high quality perishables increased, loyalty also tended to increase.</p>

<p> Business-to-business (B2B) marketing involves several components including the marketing management decision-making process and the buying behaviors of the B2B clientele and the end users. Disregarding customer knowledge management (CKM) and inaccurate analysis of data cost companies billions of dollars per year. The objective of this exploratory single-case study was to develop an in-depth analysis of the problem that some marketing managers have limited knowledge of how to use CKM strategies to improve B2B customer engagement. The dynamic capabilities and technological opportunism theories comprised the study&rsquo;s conceptual framework. Data collection consisted of participant observations, member checking, and semistructured interviews with 4 Dallas-based, managers at various levels of responsibility within a single B2B company. The data analysis entailed using an adaptation of Giorgi&rsquo;s systematic text condensation and inductive coding techniques of reoccurring themes. The themes that emerged indicated a need to improve marketing strategies. These themes included developing a division wide marketing plan, devising a CKM tool, and initiating organization wide CKM protocols and training. Beneficiaries of this research are marketing managers, marketing practitioners, organizational strategy and policy makers, and students of business administration. Implications for social change include specifying the strategies that business leaders need to improve sustainability.</p>

Local government in South Africa forms part of an overall state system also consisting of national and provincial government. Together their main objective is to promote the general welfare of the populace through service delivery and development initiatives. For the purpose of delivering services and promoting development local government is of significant importance as it is the state agency that citizens firstly come into contact with. The local sphere of government has undergone fundamental transformation, both from a political and structural point of view. In addition to local government becoming democratic structures in line with the overall democratisation of South Africa, the approach to and actual municipal structures also changed dramatically. Municipalities, the organisational units of local government, have the task of pursuing the ânewâ goals of local government within this changed environment. One of the significant changes that have been introduced into municipal management is the utilisation of an integrated strategic approach to organisational planning. This has been facilitated by legislative reform that provides for municipalities to compile integrated development plans (IDPs) and utilise it, together with budgets and performance management systems, to promote service delivery and development in their areas of jurisdiction. Therefore reference to the term integrated strategic planning. The introduction of this new system has, however, not been flawless with dissatisfaction about the service levels of municipalities being expressed through negative reporting on municipal performance from a variety of public role-players as well as through local communities illustrating their dissatisfaction through protest action. A critical question therefore revolved around why there was such a high degree of dissatisfaction with municipal services, in spite of legislative provisions for improved municipal planning. This thesis therefore explored the implementation of integrated strategic plans in Free State municipalities in order to ascertain what the typical factors were that contributed to the inability of municipalities to implement such plans. Recommendation were furthermore provided, based on empirical and literature research on the issue with the view of improving the status quo, not only in the Free State, but in South Africa as a whole.

<p> In the 21^st century, prospective undergraduate students decreasingly identified with a particular denomination, and this impacted the marketing of faith-based institutions. These prospects and their parents also were increasingly price-conscious, so the faith-based universities were competing against lower-priced public universities and community colleges. The problem addressed in this qualitative, multiple case study was that marketing executives at faith-based universities who failed to implement marketing performance measurement systems could not adequately measure marketing effectiveness or determine whether marketing activities affected the organization&rsquo;s performance. The purpose of this study was to explore how marketing executives at three faith-based universities in the Midwestern United States were measuring the performance of their marketing activities and how they compared these marketing metrics to indicators of organizational performance. Face-to-face interviews were held with nine participants, who had executive marketing responsibilities at three different faith-based universities. University websites and IPEDS reports were analyzed in order to achieve triangulation. The findings supported the literature that quantitatively measuring marketing performance was difficult. Measures, such as enrollment numbers or dollars raised, could only sometimes be linked to particular marketing campaigns. As was shown in the literature, the faith-based university marketers who had limited knowledge of their marketing performance measurement were unable to justify all of their marketing expenditures and could not necessarily make a case for these marketing activities&rsquo; relationship to the performance of their institution. The emergent themes from the face-to-face interviews all supported the literature, which underscored the importance of using marketing performance measurement to justify budget requests. The findings from the case study and literature showed that faith-based institutions were found to be more at risk to suffer from decreased or stagnant enrollment, because they could not compete with community colleges or public universities on price. By expanding on the results of this study, the self-designed interview questions could be used with other higher education marketing executives. Practical applications of this study and recommendations for future research were presented as they would benefit marketing executives in faith-based higher education as well as those in private and public higher education, in general, and in the business environment.</p>

<p> Leadership is a widely explored topic. Leadership within the nonprofit sector of the United States has become of interest. The problem is that nonprofit leadership garnered attention with increased reports of unethical acts by nonprofit leaders. This quantitative correlation study investigated the relationship between the leadership styles (authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire) and ethics positions (idealism and relativism) of senior nonprofits leaders within the United States whose organizations were listed in the GuideStar database. The GuideStar database is a database of 1.8 million nonprofit organizations in the United States. Survey participants (n=111) responded to a 40-question web survey that consisted of questions from the Leadership Styles Questionnaire and the Ethics Position Questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data to investigate the hypothesized relationship between the research variables. The results of the study indicated a statistically significant relationship between the laissez-faire leadership style and both ethics positions. An implication of the findings suggested that a leader may hold a strong ethics position (rather it be relativism or idealism), but act as a neutral leader. Based on the findings a recommendation to nonprofit board of directors is to administer the Leadership Styles Questionnaire and the Ethics Position Questionnaire to assess if the leaders&rsquo; leadership style and ethics position are congruent with the need of the organization. The boards of directors may choose to engage laissez-faire leaders as they have strong ethics positions. This study is one of few that endorse the use of the laissez-faire leadership style.</p>

<p> Organizational brands can be powerful, and it is risky to rebrand and potentially alienate stakeholders with a change (Abramovich, 2014). Yet, despite its high failure rate and cost, rebranding has become commonplace (Zhao, Calantone, &amp; Voorhees, 2018). Research on the topic of organizational rebranding is considered to be in an early stage and so far, researchers have largely ignored the employee perspective of rebranding initiatives (Chad, 2016). In this qualitative case study, the employees&rsquo; views of a rebranding initiative were explored, including their perspectives on how to engage them to strengthen buy-in and alignment with the new brand. Interviews&mdash;supported by multiple sources&mdash;were the primary form of data collection. Individual and group interviews were conducted with selected employees of a nonprofit private university in California that recently engaged in the process of rebranding. The data were triangulated and reported in comparative tables and in narrative form. The findings from this study reinforce prior rebranding research by Miller, Merrilees, and Yakimova (2014) about enablers and barriers and also contribute to the literature by adding employees&rsquo; perspectives and by proposing two new barriers to successful organizational rebrands. A better understanding of employee viewpoints will help organizations to build better rebrands with their stakeholders, including customers, organization leaders, organizers of these initiatives and, of course, with employees.</p><p>

<p> The focus of this qualitative descriptive single case study was exploring and developing an understanding of how to leverage the service-dominant (S-D) logic framework theory and service ecosystem concept to assist small family farm owners from the crops category in Connecticut to attain a sustainable future. Participants answered 10 questions about their experiences and perceptions of the service ecosystem concept and the innovative strategies they have implemented into their business plans. Data were collected through in-depth, face-to-face interviews, unstructured observation, social media analysis, and document collection to achieve data triangulation. MAXQDA software was used to assist with coding and analysis. Two research questions guided this study. The first was as follows: How can the development of a service ecosystem influence the ability of small family-owned farms in Connecticut to advance and achieve a sustainable future? The second was the following: What strategic methods are designed in the farms&rsquo; business model for innovation and sustainability? The findings indicated that a service ecosystem was present at the metatheoretical and micro aggregation levels. The value of this research study is the contributions to the literature in the first investigation that describes the relationship between the S-D logic framework and service ecosystem concept where the farmers of small family farms have efficiently developed, implemented, and managed a service ecosystem to advance sustainability. Recommendations for future research include: (a) a study of cooperative marketing (farmers markets) in a structural equation modeling analysis with the imperfect competition theory and the phenomenon of small farmers and (b) a study on an expanded service ecosystem with multiple actors, where the phenomenon of small and mid-sized farms are extended to the midrange theoretical and meso aggregation levels from the S-D logic landscape.</p><p>

<p> Online customer reviews (OCRs) have become an important part of the customer&rsquo;s shopping experience. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single-case study was to investigate and better understand, how customers&rsquo; perceptions and experiences shared on OCRs or other social media outlets affected business revenue generation and profitability. The OCR phenomenon was explored from the consumer&rsquo;s perspective. The healthcare industry, private-practice sector was used as a case subject. However, business operations, not the field of medicine, was the focus of this study. Due to the general business focus of this study, the findings were applicable to other industries or sectors. The specific problem was that little research had been conducted to explore the influence of OCRs on customers&rsquo; perceptions and experiences, and the effects of those factors on the ability of small business owners to generate revenue and increase profitability. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) underpinned this study and provided the conceptual framework needed to understand better consumers&rsquo; attitudes, perceptions, behavior, and intentions. The research addressed a gap in knowledge and endeavored to provide small business owners with direct insight into the OCR phenomenon. Two research questions guided the study. First, how do OCRs influence consumer perceptions, experiences, and decision-making; and second, how do consumers&rsquo; perceptions and experiences influence how small business owners generate revenue and increase profitability. Data collection consisted of 11 in-depth interviews, 11 questionnaire respondents, 150 OCR ratings and comments, documentation, and archival records. An analysis of the data revealed 5 trends consumers considered: <i>experiences, perceptions, relationships, trust factors</i>, and <i>selection determinants </i>. The findings of this study confirmed that OCRs did have either a conscious or subliminal influence on consumers&rsquo; perceptions and experiences; thus, affecting how companies increase profitability.</p><p>

Since the beginning of time, men and women have been separated by the "division of labor." Men were hunters and defenders and the women nurturers, bearing the responsibility of the raising of the children and homemaking. By the time of the Greeks, women were afforded great respect and treated with great dignity. They were looked upon as the pillars of morality and tradition. In 1765, women had been legally declared non-persons in William Blackstone’s Commentaries on English Law. Further reinforcement of this belief was put forth by Max Weber and Sigmund Freud who both felt women had no place in organizations and business. Women wanted recognition of their "personhood" and from the first women’s rights convention in 1848, demanding and finally obtaining the vote in 1920, through to the Civil Rights Movement in the 60's and the women’s movement which grew out of it, women have been making strong statements for equality and job opportunities. Just how successful women have been in their demands for acceptance in the business world is examined in this dissertation.