This research study investigates the potential of cryptocurrencies in alleviating the consequences of the financial crisis and identifying new avenues for economic development in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. It is motivated by the significant economic downturn experienced by Greece following the 2008 financial crisis, which led to a risk of bankruptcy and a drastic reduction in GDP per capita, with the consecutive implementation of capital controls further disrupting the financial transactions in the country. The region under study is documented for its low economic development level and GDP per capita compared to the national and EU averages. Through a mixed-methods approach, including a questionnaire-based survey and data analysis, this study explores the perceptions and behaviors of consumers and business owners in that region regarding cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the survey employs closed-ended questions delivered through an internet-based platform while using probability and non-probability sampling techniques to target consumers and business owners. Consequently, the collected data are examined through the scopes of descriptive and deductive analyses with the use of SPSS software, with the findings of this research aiming to shed light on the role of cryptocurrencies as a means to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis and stimulate economic activity in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The findings revealed that while participants did not believe that introducing a parallel digital currency would improve the Greek economy, consumers affected by the crisis showed eagerness to invest and transact in cryptocurrencies. Business owners, on the other hand, were hesitant to view cryptocurrencies as long-term assets and did not believe in their capacity to transform the region’s economy. The study's outcomes contribute to the growing body of knowledge on cryptocurrencies' adoption and potential benefits in regions facing economic challenges.

The dissertation explores the imbricated nature of race, gender, and class in the field of insurance within the political economy of the New South. It considers how enterprising black women navigated tensions between New South rhetoric and Jim Crow reality as well as sexism and racism within the industry and among their industry peers. It complicates the narrative of black southern labor history that focuses more on women as agricultural laborers, domestics, and factory workers than as enterprising risk takers who sought to counterbalance personal ambition and self-interest with communal empowerment. Insurance organizations within black-run secret fraternal societies and formal black-owned insurance companies emerged as not only powerful symbols of black business achievement by the early decades of the twentieth century but also the most lucrative business sector of the separate black economy. Negro Captains of Industry, a coterie of successful, influential, self-made men, stood at the forefront; they represented the keystone of black economic, social, and political progress. The term invoked a decidedly masculinist image of “legitimate” leadership of black business. Considering fraternal and formal insurance, gender-inscribed rhetoric, shaped by racism and New South ideology, imagined black men as the ideal protectors and providers; women became the objects of protection rather than agents of economic development, job creation, and financial security. The dissertation explores how women operated creatively within and outside of normative expectations of their role in the insurance business. The dissertation considers the role of state regulation and zealous regulators who often targeted insurance organizations and companies, the primary symbols of black business success; in other ways, regulation dramatically improved profitability and stability. The dissertation identifies three key periods: the Pre-Regulatory Era, 1890s to 1906; the Era of Regulation, 1907-World War I; and the Professionalization of Black Insurance, Post-WWI to the Great Depression. It also considers the barriers to black women’s involvement in professional organizations. By the late 1930s, enterprising women in insurance lost ground as fraternal insurance waned in influence and as the strongest proponents of the black separate economy promoted a vision that embraced women as consumers rather than business owners. / text

South Africa abandoned its apartheid system in 1994, which enabled the country to be integrated into the global economy. Due to the lack of global competitiveness, between 70 and 80% of start-ups fail within five years (Goosain, 2004:23). People lost their jobs and the unemployment rate escalated from 17% to 28% (Kingdon and Knight, 2003). Government increased its support to small businesses in order to stimulate economic growth and development as an alternative means of job creation. However, studies conducted to determine the performance of small businesses reveal that most of these businesses fail irrespective of the support they receive from government due to a lack of financial management skills. The study being reported here investigated which financial management skills owners/managers of small business have and which ones are lacking in order to recommend appropriate training interventions required to develop and improve the financial management skills of such owners/managers and ultimately the management of their businesses. A literature review was conducted regarding the small business environment, training interventions and financial management skills. Financial management skill sets relevant to small business were identified and listed for empirical research purposes. Empirical research was conducted on the target population within the indicated geographical area. The study confirmed that most small business owners/managers have limited financial skills. Recommendations will be put forward on the type of skills future training needs to focus on. / Finance and Risk Management and Banking / M. Com. (Business Management)

Cette thèse a pour objet l’espace des clubs de cadres et de dirigeants racialisés, au sens des regroupements s’appropriant la forme « club » et problématisant l’appartenance à un groupe à la fois doté en ressources socioéconomiques et racialisé, autrement dit dont l’altérité est radicalisée. Au croisement de la sociologie des mobilisations, des élites, de la racialisation et de la migration, la thèse interroge les conditions d’émergence et les principes de structuration de cet espace en se fondant sur une enquête de terrain combinant plusieurs méthodes (entretiens, observation, sociographie, analyse documentaire). La sociogenèse montre que cet espace naît d’un mouvement d’autonomisation de la gauche politique et d’insertion de la cause dans l’espace économique et patronal. La thèse montre ensuite que cet espace est constitué par trois pôles, dont les discours sont plus ou moins critiques ou conformistes envers une idéologie dominante de réussite caractérisée, en France, par la valorisation de la méritocratie et de l’élitisme scolaires, un interdit communautaire, et une injonction d’acculturation et d’invisibilisation des marqueurs de différence. L’analyse des trajectoires des fondateurs, des propriétés des membres, des ressources et des relations des clubs avec la sphère économique et politique et l’espace patronal de représentation montre que les rapports des clubs à l’idéologie sont étroitement liés à leurs propriétés de classe. L’observation révèle enfin les effets internes de la proximité plus ou moins forte des clubs avec l’espace patronal de représentation ainsi que la sphère politique et médiatique, avec des relations sociales oscillant entre concurrence et convivialité. / The object of this thesis is the space of racialized executives and business owners’ clubs, i.e regroupings which appropriate the form of a “club” and problematize the belonging to a group both endowed with socio-economic resources and racialized in the sense that its alterity is radicalised. At the junction of the sociology of collective action, elites, racialization and migration, the thesis questions the conditions of emergence and the principles of structuration of that space by basing itself on a fieldwork combining several methods (interviews, observation, sociography, analysis of documents). We first show that this space stems from a double movement of autonomisation from the political left and of insertion of the cause in the economic sphere and the employers’ space of representation. The thesis goes on to show that that space is constituted by three poles which, on the discursive level, are more or less critical of or conforming to a dominant ideology of success characterised by the valorisation of educational meritocracy and elitism, a community interdict, and an injunction of acculturation and invisibilisation of the markers of difference. The analysis of the founders’trajectories, the members’ properties, the clubs’resources and relations with the economic and political sphere, as well as with the employers’ space of representation shows that the clubs’ stances toward the dominant ideology of success are linked to their class properties. Observation finally reveals internal social relation oscillating oscillating between competition and conviviality, depending on the club’s proximity with the employer’s space of representation and political or economic sphere.

Owners of small business restaurants experience a high failure rate. Many small business restaurants fail within 5 years of inception because of inadequate business plans, ineffective strategies for changing markets, and a lack of financial capital to achieve profitability, growth, and long-term survivability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the financial strategies that some owners of small business restaurants used to sustain operations for longer than 5 years. The resource-based view was the conceptual framework for this study. Participants in this study consisted of 5 owners of small business restaurants in northern California who implemented successful strategies to survive in business longer than 5 years. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with participants, member checking, and a review of company documents. Using Yin's 5-phase data analysis process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding the data, 3 emergent themes were identified: financing strategy, cash-flow-management strategy, and customer-retention strategy. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential for owners of small business restaurants to reduce the failure rate of small restaurants, decrease local unemployment rates, and increase economic stability for local families and organizations through the implementation of effective financial strategies.

This thesis is a critical evaluation of the methods of community engagement used by the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission during the creation and implementation of the West Tampa Economic Development Plan. Data for this research was conducted in West Tampa, a neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. In the spring of 2005, the Planning Commission began working with the residents, business and property owners in West Tampa to develop the neighborhood's economic development plan. Using the community engagement methods of surveys, mailed and posted community announcements, community meetings, focus groups and interviews, the Planning Commission created an economic development plan which reflected the needs and concerns of the residents, business and property owners and worked to limit their displacement from the redevelopment of the neighborhood. Although these methods were designed to create avenues of participation for all segments of West Tampa's population, the neighborhood's new immigrant, Spanish speaking residents and business owners were not involved in the Planning Commission's community engagement efforts. By focusing specifically in West Tampa's Latino business district, known as "Boliche Boulevard," a long-time nickname given to the area by Tampa's Cuban immigrants, data from this research identifies the reasons for this population's absence in the creation and implementation of West Tampa's economic development plan. The use of the traditional anthropological methods of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and archival research revealed the history of Boliche Blvd.'s relationship with West Tampa, the neighborhood's civic institutions and Tampa city government and how these relationships impacted the business owners' willingness and ability to participate in West Tampa's economic development plan. The Planning Commission's limited understanding of the social relationships which exist between Boliche Blvd., West Tampa and the larger City of Tampa impaired their ability to successfully reach this population with their existing community engagement methods. This research stresses the need for city-county planning agencies to critically evaluate their community engagement efforts when conducting economic development projects in diverse, multi-lingual urban neighborhoods. Community engagement must be tailored to target different language and culture groups in order to achieve successful participation from the entire neighborhood population.

South Africa abandoned its apartheid system in 1994, which enabled the country to be integrated into the global economy. Due to the lack of global competitiveness, between 70 and 80% of start-ups fail within five years (Goosain, 2004:23). People lost their jobs and the unemployment rate escalated from 17% to 28% (Kingdon and Knight, 2003). Government increased its support to small businesses in order to stimulate economic growth and development as an alternative means of job creation. However, studies conducted to determine the performance of small businesses reveal that most of these businesses fail irrespective of the support they receive from government due to a lack of financial management skills. The study being reported here investigated which financial management skills owners/managers of small business have and which ones are lacking in order to recommend appropriate training interventions required to develop and improve the financial management skills of such owners/managers and ultimately the management of their businesses. A literature review was conducted regarding the small business environment, training interventions and financial management skills. Financial management skill sets relevant to small business were identified and listed for empirical research purposes. Empirical research was conducted on the target population within the indicated geographical area. The study confirmed that most small business owners/managers have limited financial skills. Recommendations will be put forward on the type of skills future training needs to focus on. / Finance and Risk Management and Banking / M. Com. (Business Management)

Women-owned businesses continue to drive economic growth in the United States. However, some African American businesswomen lack strategies to obtain capital to start their business. Strategies to obtain funds for a startup is vital to African American women seeking to start and sustain their businesses. Guided by entrepreneurial theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies African American women use to secure financial capital to start new businesses. The participants included 6 African American women business owners in Atlanta, Georgia, with successful experience in utilizing strategies to secure financial capital to start new businesses. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and company documents. Yin's 5-step analysis was used to analyze the data. The main themes were challenges of being an African American business woman, motivating factors leading to business ownership, and overcoming bank financing challenges. The implications for positive social change may include addressing the disparity of social, human, and financial capital to start new businesses among African American women.

Syftet och målet med denna studie var dels att undersöka fenomenet överturism genom att titta närmare på större europeiska städer såsom Barcelona och Venedig. Men även gå på djupet med hur detta fenomen har uppstått och ifall det kan appliceras på vår egen hemstad Stockholm, och specifikt Gamla Stan. Genom att genomföra kvalitativa intervjuer med både näringsidkare och lokalbefolkning hoppas vi få en bättre förståelse för hur avtrycket av turister manifesterar sig i överturism och ifall det finns en generell attityd gentemot detta. Vi bör ha i åtanke att, generellt sett så kommer turister till Gamla stan (som är en huvudattraktion för de miljoner besökare Sverige årligen tar emot) med all säkerhet att spendera tid på ön, på grund av dess centrala läge och möjligheten att gå igenom stan på så pass kort tid. Utöver det ekonomiska avtryck som detta medför har det också en påverkan på lokalbefolkningen, som möts av ett ökande antal besökare för varje år, särskilt under de tre sommarmånaderna. Medan fler ur lokalbefolkningen ser turisterna som orörliga objekt och i vissa fall störningsmoment så erkänner näringsidkare turisternas betydelse för deras verksamhet, och att affärsrörelser på något sätt är beroende av turister då de säkrar deras överlevnad. / The purpose and aim of this study is to through carefully examining the phenomenon of overtourism by looking closely at other major European destinations such as Barcelona, Venice, Dubrovnik and Santorini, go in depth with how this phenomenonhas appeared and perhaps if it can be applied to our home city of Stockholm, and specifically the Old Town, “Gamla Stan”. By conducting qualitative interviews with both business owners and residents we hope to get a better understanding of how the impact of tourists applies itself and if there is a certain attitude towards this. Not only is it clear that this phenomenonhas brought changes to many destinations over the last few years. In Barcelona the attitude towards tourist has reached almost violent levels, with some cases of locals attacking tourists and targeting traveling group with slogans etc, We have to consider that in general, people that visit Gamla Stan, which is a major attraction for the millions of tourists that travel to Stockholm every year, almost certainly will spend at least some time on this island because of its central location and convenient walk-through possibilities. Besides the economic imprint this also affects the local residents, who are faced with a growing number of visitors, especiallyin the three summer months.

Small businesses struggle to survive for longer than 5 years because owners lack knowledge of strategies to sustain financial capital. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small business owners used to maintain financial capital to ensure survivability for longer than 5 years. The sample included 3 successful service- related small business owners located in the southeastern United States. Systems theory and the theory of entrepreneurship provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection involved face-to-face, semistructured interviews and a review of company websites and organizational documents. Member checking enhanced the credibility of the findings. Themes included personal preparation, customer services, and sustaining strategies. Findings may contribute to entrepreneurs' and small business owners' knowledge of financial strategies to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years, which may benefit the overall wealth of the community by increasing employment opportunities, economic growth, and financial stability. Implications for positive social change include providing operation survival practices for new small business owners, business preparation skills, developing and maintaining internal and external customer service relations, and sustaining accessible financial capital.