Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb. 8, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-05, Section: A, page: 1715. Adviser: George F. Dreher.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: K. Peter Kuchinke. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-185) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> This dissertation suggests three things: that the decisions about entrepreneurship in subsistence economies has a complex cultural ontogeny; that particular narrative strategies are used by subsistence entrepreneurs to successfully gain loans; and that constrained individuals still face discrimination even within new institutional forms of support, even though it is the explicit intention of these new forms to end bias. An inductive study set in rural India informs the first point, and also suggests ways in which the concept of &ldquo;context&rdquo; can be operationalized, by breaking it down into constituent components under physical, economic and cognitive dimensions. Global crowdfinancing helps me dissect and defend the next two points. I investigate positivity and negativity in the language of the pitch text, the cultural similarity between borrowing and lending nations, as well as the narrative complexity of their pitch, and how these influence the time to funding. Analyses indicate that positively worded loans are funded more slowly than negatively worded ones. Narrative has a monotonous and positive relation to funding speed. Finally, my results show that cultural similarity between borrowers and lenders affects the way capital flows, suggesting that even in tech-enabled financing solutions, cultural bias persists. In sum, I present evidence and argue that transformational and subsistence entrepreneurship evolve from and entail fundamentally different mechanisms, and that these differences merit focused investigations into subsistence entrepreneurship.</p>

Small business owners represent 99.7% of all U.S. employer firms, employ half of the private sector employees, and provide 43% of the total U.S. private payroll. However, 50% of new small business startups fail within the first 5 years of operation. The purpose for this multiple case study was to explore what skills, knowledge, and strategies small business coffee shop owners use to succeed in business beyond 5 years. Systems theory, chaos theory, and complexity theory provided the conceptual framework for exploring the research question of this multiple case study. To identify and explore the factors for maintaining small business' operations, the population for this study was 3 small business owners of 3 coffee shops in Duval County, Florida who sustained their businesses for a minimum of 5 years. The data sources were semistructured interviews, the business' websites, social media information, and site visit observations. Based on methodological triangulation of the data sources, analytical coding, and analyzing the data using mind mapping and software, 3 themes emerged: owner networking and the business as a customer to customer networking venue, business plans' initial challenges and addressing subsequent changes, and a need for marketing differentiation. Potential implications for effecting positive social change include increasing the rate of small business success, and increasing the financial security for owners, employeees, employees' families, and their communities.

Health-related absenteeism could significantly affect organizational productivity because of the additional resources needed to compensate for the missing worker's absence. Work productivity is critical for business sustainability as companies continue to create a lean workforce and decrease operating cost. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that organizational leaders at a university in the southeastern United States used to successfully decrease occurrences of health-related employee absenteeism. The conceptual framework for this study was the theory of planned behavior. A purposive sample of 10 management, 5 faculty, and 5 staff members participated in structured interviews. Secondary data sources included field observations of the university's health and wellness facilities and a review of the university's healthcare plan and wellness program offerings used to reduce absenteeism. Thematic analysis, coding, and member checking led to the identification of 2 major themes. First, a need existed at this university for specific policy and procedures regarding health-related absenteeism. Second, emphasis was needed on the role of workplace health programs in decreasing health related absenteeism. The findings indicated that by integrating supportive management practices, effective absenteeism policies, and health management programs into their organizational culture, leaders at this university could develop specific strategies to decrease health-related absenteeism. Social change implications include changing perceptions of health related absenteeism to help leaders and employees at this and other similar environments become more aware of their current health status, reduce health risks, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and perform better at work.

<p> The introduction includes the present quantitative study that addressed the potential benefits verbal argumentativeness could relate to the retail industry and determined the perception of verbal argumentativeness by retail store managers. The data collection method was a survey of retail store managers within San Diego County. A chi-square univariate analysis was conducted of these participants. The results of the study indicated verbal argumentativeness was somewhat of a healthy strategy to incorporate into business acumen as a new approach to contribute to the body of research for possible behaviors and plans retail store managers could adopt in relationships with employees. The discussion section shows an untapped source from the retail industry and how this industry can use this study to further research within the retail industry.</p>

The purpose of this research was to explore common assumptions about alliance change, to identify key determinants and outcomes of alliance change, and to increase our understanding of the ways in which changes evolve by identifying common patterns or processes. In Study 1, a multiple case study was conducted, accompanied by a questionnaire, to explore strategic alliance changes in entrepreneurial, high-tech firms. Qualitative analysis of the cases showed that an alliance change typically ends in one of three ways: (1) the alliance dissolves immediately, (2) the alliance is sustained and strengthened, or (3) the alliance is sustained but weakened and eventually dissolves. I also found, in support of the literature, that numerous factors lead to alliance changes, although the most common predictors of major changes were: (1) poor alliance management, (2) dissatisfaction with partners' relationship, (3) abuse of trust, and (4) putting acquisition of partner's skills/capabilities ahead of achieving alliance goals. Analysis also led to the development of a theoretical model that predicts whether an alliance will be sustained following an alliance change. The key factors in the model that determine whether an alliance is sustained following a change are: (1) mutual partner dependence, (2) joint decision making, (3) inter-firm trust, (4) inter-firm interaction, (5) the manner in which the change was planned, and (6) the impact of the change. Using quantitative methods in Study 2, I found that two of these factors best predict whether an alliance will be sustained following a change, joint planning of the change and the impact of the change. The study also provided evidence that two other factors, inter-firm trust and the extent to which an alliance change is planned, are related to sustainment even though they are not significant predictors. This research suggests, in support of previous literature, that major unplanned changes are harmful to alliances. It also suggests that an alliance may be weakened by a change, which increases the likelihood that it will dissolve. A variety of conditions were found to increase the likelihood of alliance changes, indicating that, if firms are willing to take the substantial risk of engaging in alliances, they must constantly work to manage the health of the alliances if they want to sustain them and prevent potentially costly negative outcomes. This research also suggests that an alliance may be strengthened by a change, increasing the likelihood that it will be sustained. However, an alliance is more likely to be sustained following a change if the partners have developed a trusting, mutually dependent relationship and they have developed communication and decision routines that enable them to foresee, prevent, and solve problems together.

Managers often make price decisions for several products simultaneously. By doing so, decision makers can control for substitution effects or take advantage of potential synergies between products. My dissertation consists of three essays that investigate novel aspects of this multi-product pricing approach.

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