The purpose of this project is to outline a business that is in the start up phase. This business is going to come to life when the City of Redlands approves the plan. The plan is in its final stages with the City of Redlands. The business will be known as Redlands Nursery and Tree Company.

It is recommended that the City of Guadalupe prepare and implement a small-scale business expansion and retention program using existing service providers in the area. This type of program model seems to hold the most potential for Guadalupe. A mixed-methods approach including in-depth cases studies of existing economic development programs and an analysis of opportunities and constraints in Guadalupe informs a set recommendations for future economic development in the City. Data was collected in three phases: short interviews with a variety of economic development program staff, short interviews with Guadalupe business owners and City officials and in-depth interviews with staff from five selected case-study programs.

The professionalization of blogs has elevated blogging to an organizational field whereby bloggers develop a legitimate career path. For many minority women bloggers, the transition from being traditionally employed to managing a one-person digital enterprise is often met with racial and gender imbalances created by nontraditional modes of work. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of how African American women bloggers described their lived experiences with managing a one-person digital enterprise and the implications of their racial and gender identity within this nontraditional mode of work. To address this gap, a transcendental phenomenological method was used to collect data from African American women bloggers. This study was framed by 3 key concepts focused on African American women bloggers: Brydges and Sj00F6holm’s concept of personal style blogger, Martinez Dy et al’s concept of women digital entrepreneurs, and Gabriel’s concept of Black female identity online. Data were gathered using 9 virtual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the modified Van Kaam method. Eight themes emerged when answering the research question. The findings of the research showed that being an African American woman blogger means conducting entrepreneurial activity, working towards financial solvency, being proud of racial identity, and creating and delivering content as a blogger. Results gleaned from this transcendental phenomenological study may help promote social change by bringing awareness to policymakers on the issues of equity, access, and opportunity for marginalized populations who seek to become digital entrepreneurs.

This research presents an exploratory study concerning organizations’ best practices of Web analytics for a successful performance and the factors influencing the companies’ successful adoption of Web analytics. A qualitative research methodology was used engaging a comprehension of Web analytics adoption using the Diffusion of Innovation theory (Rogers, 1995) and the theory building approach (Eisenhardt, 1989). Interviews with five companies from different industries were conducted. Findings suggest that for a successful performance, companies should consider: • Data for better decision making. • Web analytics barriers • Selecting the right KPIs and metrics based on the company’s goals. • Web analytics trends A mixed-method approach comprising other extensive methods of data collection should be conducted. Investigation of the use of specific metrics and KPIs within companies from different industries, as well as the strategies for working past the barriers that impede companies from adopting Web analytics should be considered.

High-tech (HT) innovation-oriented entrepreneurs start 35% more ventures and create 10% more jobs in the first 5 years of operation than the rest of the private sector and drive significant economic growth across all industries; however, more than 50% of the entrepreneurial HT ventures fail during the first 5 years of operations. Guided by the conceptual framework of transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore skills used by successful entrepreneurial leaders to sustain their HT ventures in Silicon Valley, California. Data collection was from 8 participants in semistructured 1-on-1 interviews and 3 participants in a focus group discussion. All participants were entrepreneurial leaders with experience in sustaining their entrepreneurial ventures beyond 5 years. A thematic data analysis approach involved text search, content coding to nodes, and code comparison techniques of collected data to extract themes and identify relationships in the findings. The emergent 4 leadership skill themes for HT entrepreneurial venture sustainability were the recruitment of the right team, situational adaptability, market orientation, and providing innovation stimulation. The right team can resourcefully assist the leader to execute market-leading competitive products and overcome challenges in the dynamic and intensely competitive and innovative HT industry. A culture of openness, ownership, and trust is conducive to the sustainability of an HT venture. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by promoting the formation of new HT ventures, increasing job creation, reducing work stressors, improving quality of life with innovative and cost-effective products, and services in healthcare, infrastructure, personal safety, education, and communications.

As the primary drivers of Nigeria's economy, small and medium scale enterprise (SME) leaders rely on standby generators for sustainable business operation. Because of this reliance, over 56% of the SMEs operate far below capacity from the effects of power shortages. Guided by the strategic contingency theory, this study explored the profitability strategies of business leaders faced with electricity disruptions within Abuja Federal Capital Territory while adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green practices. Data collection was through face-to-face semistructured interviews using open-ended questions. Participants consisted of 12 business leaders selected from 4 SME categories within Abuja that have imbibed CSR and green practices successfully or were in the process of doing so. The data analysis process involved labeling and coding all data that arose from participant interviews using the modified van Kaam method to identify dominant themes. Data coding and analysis led to the identification of 12 predominant meta-themes, including innovativeness for sustainable green business, strategy challenges and how they were addressed, and the power disruption impact on the effectiveness of CSR and organizational profitability. Findings from this study might contribute to new knowledge and success insights for SME business leaders faced with power shortages, CSR shortages, and losses in Abuja. Social change might result as SME business leaders embrace CSR practices with new environmentally friendly tenets, make sustainable profits, employ more people, and dedicate part of the profits to social services to benefit citizens of Abuja and Nigeria.

Nigerian policy is inconsistent with regard to the promotion of entrepreneurship among young adults in Anambra State that would serve as a guide to becoming self-employed. Most young adults in Anambra State lack information on entrepreneurial characteristics to become self-employed. The issues confronting Anambra State as a result of youth unemployment include increase in crime rate, drug abuse, kidnapping, and suicide rate. Guided by the human capital theory, the purpose of this case study was to explore the entrepreneurship strategies that young adults in Anambra State needed to become self-employed after graduating from universities. Twenty youth entrepreneurs participated in the individual interviews, 5 participated in a focus group, and 5 policymakers participated in another individual interview. Data were coded and analyzed using Yin's 5 step procedure involving compiling, assembling, analysing, dissembling and repeating the entire process three times until the themes emerged. The emerging themes were mentorship, vocational training, and ad-hoc programs. These findings revealed that youth who participated in these programs (mentorship, vocational training and ad-hoc) obtained entrepreneurial strategies and consequently ran more profitable enterprises than those who did not. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to policymakers to expand the mentoring program among young adults and introduce vocational education that could enhance employment rate, thereby improving the standard of living, and create educational programs for university students with the expectation that upon graduation they may be able to develop businesses that may lead to the creation of employment and empower young entrepreneurs towards national growth and development.

Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) managers struggle to stay competitive. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies SME managers located in Canada use to engage third-party logistics (3PL) providers to improve their supply chains. Porter's value chain theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 3 managers from 3 different SMEs in the province of Ontario and a review of the documents related to the use of 3PL providers. Member checking was conducted to enhance credibility of interpretation of the data collected. Data analysis was used to identify key themes, and data triangulation was performed on data from interviews and relevant company documents. Main themes that indicated the benefits of 3PL providers were identified through data analysis. The main themes included access to resources, competitive advantage, and enhanced customer service. Study findings may contribute to social change by helping SME managers improve their survival rate in Canada, maintain or create employment, and generate more personal income and taxes.

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.

Small businesses create most of the new jobs in the world, yet more than half fail before the 5th year. Small businesses contribute to the economy by originating new products and services, yet they often lack the strategies to overcome the challenges of the beginning years. When businesses fail, the community wanes from unemployment, poverty, crime, and other social dilemmas. The purpose of this single case study was to explore small business strategies for sustainability beyond Year 4, specifically in a single independent operating Ohio restaurant owner with less than 500 employees. The conceptual framework was Schumpeter's theory of the entrepreneur's role as leader of economic growth. A semistructured interview generated the data and a review of various business documents including tax returns, the business plan, an operations manual, company marketing material, and social media from the first 4 years in operation facilitated triangulation. Member checking afforded the correct meaning of various concepts and statements. This study contained 4 themes that foster business sustainability and may help nascent entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of the first 4 years: knowledge and experience, work ethic and commitment, social capital, and opportunity recognition through creative discovery. When entrepreneurs incorporate these themes into their business model, resiliency strategies materialize to expand and create jobs, launch new products or services, pay taxes, and stabilize tenuous neighborhoods. This study may also convince community stakeholders to design and reinforce training, networking, and financial opportunities to bolster entrepreneurial venture success.