Small business restaurants represent a significant segment of the U.S. economy; however, many small business restaurants fail before 5 years of operation. The purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies entrepreneurs used to sustain operations beyond 5 years. The population for this study was 3 Latin American immigrant small business restaurant owners in the central part of the U.S. state of Georgia, who had sustained operations for more than 5 years. The conceptual framework consisted of entrepreneurship and knowledge management theories. The data derived from semistructured interviews and organizational documents presented by the participants. Data analysis involved using a modified van Kaam method and qualitative analysis software to identify and analyze emergent themes. The 3 themes were cultivation of ego-networks, human capital development, and engaged entrepreneurial activities. The findings from this study suggest that small business owners enhance their external social network, advance the human capital of employees and the entrepreneur, and apply entrepreneurial orientation practices. Using study findings, small business restaurant owners may be better able to have sustainable businesses and, thus, contribute to their local communities' economic and social well-being. Implications for positive social change include the potential to prevent the economic and socially damaging effects of business failures and unemployment as well as the potential to cultivate a skilled U.S. Latin American workforce, through the advancement of human capital.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

This dissertation relates and analysis the development of the Swedish mobile telephone industry from 1950-98. Based on a research of entrepreneurial theories three forms of entrepreneurship are formulated, the individual as entrepreneur, the company as entrepreneur, and the network as entrepreneur. The mobile telephone industry is seen as a technological system incorporating a broad spectrum of participants, and the account analysis how the entrepreneurs carry out different types of innovations. It starts out as a technical project, with market related innovations becoming a greater force in the final phase. The source of entrepreneurship varies over time and the individual plays a significant role early on while the network becomes of a greater importance as the system develops. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

Small business entrepreneurs in the United States often struggled or went out of business during the recession of 2007-2009. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the strategies entrepreneurs needed to grow their businesses during a recessionary period. The conceptual framework for the study was effectuation theory. The population consisted of small business entrepreneurs whose businesses survived the recession of 2007-2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews with 20 participants. Data organization and thematic analysis involved coding interview data and using software to categorize themes and subthemes. Major themes that emerged from the study included specification of characteristics of entrepreneurs, approaches to customer acquisition and retention, and decision making strategies. The findings might contribute to social change by adding to entrepreneurship literature and potentially leading to the development of resilient and adaptive entrepreneurs. Small business entrepreneurs who can sustain profitability during economic downturns benefit the community by providing jobs.

Ever since the inception of market economy, competition is the propellant of such economic systems. This is most notably so at present with global economies on the verge of a so called ‘new’ market logic. Competition nevertheless remains an elusive phenomenon, something holding true in particular when it is said to coexist with cooperation. Common knowledge has it that competition can be grasped by focusing the sheer number of suppliers and/or the level of product differentiation in a market. This dissertation instead claims that by looking at competition as subject to the impact of customers, phenomena are seen which are not otherwise readily apparent in the scrutiny of markets. By approaching markets as networks of interconnected relationships which result from human interaction this theoretical thesis, inspired by economic sociology and Austrian economics, furthers the idea of competition as indirect and hence geared by the customer. An explanatory model is formulated where competition emerges as a function of ‘inducing customer alertness’ (the customer’s exercise of entrepreneurship in the supply market) on the one hand, and ‘impeding social capital’ (the social ties that prevail between the customer and suppliers) on the other. One crucial insight gained, with particular impact for competition policy, is that consumers are to be seen not only as beneficiaries, but also as agents, of competition. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001

Trender är ett fenomen som innebär en tydlig och stabil förändring av något på marknaden. Inom sportens värld finns det en trend som varit speciellt uppmärksammad och aktuell de senaste åren. Sporten det handlar om är padel, vilket för många var ett okänt område för bara 5 år sedan, men som nu växt fram till att vara en uppskattad sport eller motionsform i Sverige. Förmågan att snappa upp och utnyttja en affärsmöjlighet eller en trend är en väsentlig egenskap för att kunna starta och driva en lönsam verksamhet och det är vanligt att det är just de som kallas entreprenörer som besitter denna förmåga. Syftet med denna studie är att skapa medvetenhet kring hur entreprenörer identifierat och värderat trenden padel och dess affärsmässiga potential. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod, varvid fem semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med fem olika entreprenörer inom padelbranschen. Forskarna har använt sig av en abduktiv ansats, där teori och empiri har samlats in växelvis. Litteraturgenomgången presenterar teorier kring vad en trend och affärsmöjlighet är samt hur en trend kan urskiljas. Även teorier kring en entreprenörs personlighet samt hur man identifierar och värderar en trend behandlas. Resultatet av studien grundar sig i att tillvägagångssättet för entreprenörer som startat verksamhet inom padel skildrar sig från hur det vanligtvis går till vid ett företags framväxt. Där entreprenörens affärsnätverk, identifiering och värdering av affärsmöjligheten tillsammans med dennes personlighet har legat till grund för bedömningen av padelns affärsmässiga potential.