In the United States, microenterprises, critical segment of the small business population, accounts for 110 million small businesses that source new jobs. Despite the increase in the number of created businesses in the U.S., more than 70% of microenterprise business owners are unsuccessful after 2 years. The multiple case study included 6 participants living in Houston, Texas, and intended to explore business strategies microenterprise event management owners used to succeed in business beyond 2 years. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was the 5-stage small business growth model and the 5-stage of the evolution of entrepreneurship theory. The data collection process consisted of interviews resulting in transcripts, review of company documents, and interview observations notes. The data analysis process while triangulating the data consisted of creating thematic codes, and clustering keywords, and ideas from the data. Development of visual aids assisted with organizing information, synthesizing, and generating new ideas. Text, word, and matrix coding queries were conducted and summarized for a cross-case analysis as relating to the interview questions. Thematic analysis and cross-case analysis revealed 3 major themes: customer relationship management, education/work experience, and promotional activities. Implications for social change include encouraging entrepreneurial and small business development programs to develop innovative curriculums that microenterprise business owners may benefit from to increase more business opportunities. An increase in microenterprises may help provide more employment opportunities that meet the needs of local communities, and improve socioeconomic conditions.

According to Johansson & Hjalmarsson (2003) the business advice industry targeting microenterprises, small and medium sized businesses is a multibillion pound activity throughout the world, but little research has been conducted upon the theoretical basis for this field. The content of the advice coming from the advice industry targeting microenterprises is questioned by both micro-entrepreneurs and researchers, according to Johansson (1997), who describes that the use of support services among microenterprises doesn’t answer to their needs. To figure out why the conception of growth advice doesn’t correspond between academics, entrepreneurs and advisors, the research question for this study is – what similarities and differences in content of microenterprise growth advice are there between entrepreneurs, academics and advisors? The purpose of the study is to identify and analyse these areas. This is a qualitative study that will be carried out with an inductive approach and exploratory design. Interviews and focus groups have been conducted with advisors and entrepreneurs, and in addition to this, a literature study has been performed. Further, the contents of business advice have been analysed, and in the final section of this paper conclusions are presented regarding what the conceptions are of microenterprise growth advice among academics, entrepreneurs as well as advisors. By having identified the differences and similarities among these conceptions a general statement about the business advice industry is made; in relation to both empirical findings and the theoretical background of this study.

Social media is a cost-effective marketing tool, and in a 2014 survey, 75% of small business owners reported that they used social media to market. However, many of these businesses merely set up social media profiles and do not use social media to its full potential. Microenterprise owners face barriers such as lack of time, financial resources, and marketing knowledge, preventing them from adopting social media as a marketing tool. This multiple case study explored what strategies microenterprise owners in the artisan economy need to market using social media. Data were collected from 5 custom bicycle framebuilders in a Southwestern U.S. state through semistructured interviews with open-ended questions. Company documents and social media reviews were also used for data collection and triangulation. The diffusion of innovations theory was the conceptual framework of this study to aid understanding of framebuilders' social media adoption process and social media usage. Thematic analysis identified 7 themes that emerged from the data: technological competence, the establishment of social media presence, effective utilization of social media platforms, effective communication skills, the establishment of brand identity, time management, and acquisition of external support. The study findings are expected to help artisan microenterprise owners harness social media and, in turn, improve business practices, increase sales, and promote their crafts, which may lead to positive social outcomes. The results of the study will assist artisan microenterprise owners source materials locally from other small businesses, a process that prevents money from leaving the local economy and helps to build strong communities.

Since 2007, the number of street food vendors in Austin, Texas has more than doubled. Food trucks in the urban environment have three fundamental roles. They are entrepreneurial start-ups, interim and mobile land uses, and cultural expressions. In these roles, street food vending particularly impacts urban neighborhoods undergoing change. By occupying underutilized lots, activating streetscapes, promoting commercial activity and disseminating culture, mobile food vendors represent an innovative and low cost revitalization tool. In an effort to “catch-up” with the rapidly growing phenomenon, the City of Austin has had know choice but to implement policy and regulation reactively. By conducting in depth interviews and context analysis, this research attempts to answer the question: how might cities proactively leverage the beneficial impacts of mobile food vendors? The thesis culminates in a conceptual demonstration project for Birmingham, Alabama; a city on the cusp of a street food explosion. / text

A presente tese tem por objetivo central analisar a eficácia e a eficiência da recuperação especial de microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte e propor mecanismos para a construção de um novo modelo de recuperação que torne efetiva a preservação dos pequenos negócios que enfrentem situação de crise econômico-financeira, proporcionando a proteção do direito fundamental ao trabalho e o fortalecimento da economia nacional. Sendo assim, inicialmente, foram apresentados os critérios de definição de microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte, bem como, os fundamentos jurídico-constitucionais de sua proteção, e então, examinadas as principais características dos pequenos negócios e sua importância socioeconômica. No segundo momento, foi desenvolvido um breve histórico da legislação de insolvência empresarial destacando o dualismo tradicional entre a finalidade de proteção dos credores e dos devedores, até chegar à análise dos regimes legais que definem a preservação da empresa como o principal objetivo. Na sequência, foi realizada uma abordagem histórica da legislação de insolvência brasileira, com destaque para o contexto do atual regime e, por fim, o exame do princípio da preservação da empresa e da viabilidade da atividade empresarial. Em seguida, foi apresentado o tratamento jurídico atual da microempresa e empresa de pequeno porte, com a demonstração do quadro atual de crise dos pequenos negócios, e a análise procedimental e crítica da recuperação judicial especial de micro e pequenas empresas. Na última parte do trabalho, de natureza propositiva, foi feita inicialmente uma abordagem da natureza transdisciplinar do estudo e a apresentação dos pressupostos da análise econômica do direito. Após tais análises, foram apresentadas, como contribuição científica, algumas propostas para a construção de um novo modelo de recuperação mais adequado à preservação das micro e pequenas empresas. Por fim, a última parte do último capítulo concluiu com a discussão acerca da necessidade, enquanto não ocorre a reforma do atual sistema, de aplicar o regime que vige atualmente em prol da efetiva preservação da microempresa e empresa de pequeno porte. No plano metodológico, considerando o caráter transdisciplinar do objeto pesquisado, foram utilizados métodos distintos, mas, complementares, possibilitando uma percepção mais ampla do problema e das possíveis soluções. Dentre os métodos utilizados, dois se constituem em pilares direcionadores deste trabalho: o hermenêutico-fenomenológico e o analítico-econômico de natureza dedutivo-indutivo. No plano complementar, outros métodos foram utilizados: o dialético sócio-histórico-econômico, o sistemático e o principiológico. / The central objective of this thesis is to analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of the special reorganization of microenterprises and small businesses and to propose mechanisms for the construction of a new recovery model that becomes effective preservation of small businesses facing situation of economic and financial crisis, providing the protection of the fundamental right to work and the development of the national economy. Thus, initially, were presented the micro and small companies definition criteria, as well as, the legal and constitutional foundations of their protection, and then examined the main characteristics of small businesses and their socio-economic importance. The second time, it developed a brief history of bankruptcy law emphasizing the traditional dualism between the purpose of protection of creditors and debtors until reaching the analysis of the legal systems that define the preservation of the company as the main objective. Further to a historical approach of the Brazilian bankruptcy law was made, emphasizing the context of the current legal regime and, finally, the examination of the principle of preservation of the company and the viability of business activity. Then, the current legal treatment of microenterprise and small business was presented with the demonstration of the current frame of the small business crisis, and critique and procedimental analysis of special judicial recovery of micro and small businesses. In the last part of the work of propositional nature, it was first made an approach to transdisciplinary nature of the study and presentation of the assumptions of economic analysis of law. After these analyzes were presented as a scientific contribution, some proposals for the construction of a new and more appropriate recovery model for the preservation of micro and small businesses. Finally, the last part of the last chapter concludes with the discussion about the need, while not occur the reform the current system, to implement the scheme that currently prevails in support of effective preservation of microenterprise and small business. At the methodological level, considering the transdisciplinary nature of the studied object, different methods were used, but complementary, allowing a broader perception of the problem and possible solutions. Among the methods used, two constitute the pillars of this work: the hermeneutic phenomenological and analytical-economic deductive-inductive nature. In the complementary plan, other methods were used: the socio-economic-historical dialectic, systematic and based on principles.

Submitted by Rosivalda Pereira (mrs.pereira@ufma.br) on 2017-09-04T21:22:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GeilsonMoraes.pdf: 1536320 bytes, checksum: 85d8161ff096afb5eb504c84980f5cb8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-04T21:22:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GeilsonMoraes.pdf: 1536320 bytes, checksum: 85d8161ff096afb5eb504c84980f5cb8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-01 / An evaluation of possible impacts of General Law of Microenterprise and Small Business – GLMSB about the establishment formalization and their respective employment relationship into the State of Maranhão. In theoretical methodological terms, starting from a critical perspective, is adopted the concept of work informality as structural component of inherent in the dynamics of capitalist accumulation itself. The developed research is inserted into the field of evaluative research, particularly, into the modality impacts evaluation. In accordance with the critical perspective adopted, its understood that the impacts of a policy are the synthesis of multiple determinations and that, therefore, it can`t establish strict relations of cause and effect between the policy in focus and the identified changes in the reality witch it intervenes. As research technics was used bibliographical and documental research, complemented by secondary data analysis. At this aspect, the period between 2007 and 2015 was used as timecut to guide the identification of possible impacts of the GLMSB on the formalization of establishment and it employment relationship. Was taken as reference the socioeconomic dynamic between two group of establishments inside the sectors of commerce, industry and services: one group composed of micro and small enterprises not opting for the “Simples Nacional” and another of establishments that does. With that purpose, the data base utilized was Relação Annual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), taking as criteria to define the business size the quantum of employees. From the point of view of the expositive structure, this dissertation discusses, initially, the conceptual and historical aspects of informal employment into the particularities of Brazil and Maranhão. Then discourse the paper assumed by the microenterprise and small business firms into the actual system of flexile accumulation, the main subjects involved into the process of the GLMSB formulation and the constituent main non-taxable elements of this policy. Lastly, is analyzed the possible impacts of the GLMSB on Maranhão’s establishment formalization and it respective employment relationship. This paper pointed out as main final considerations that, in terms of employment relationship and formalization of micro and small enterprises, GLMSB contributed to the group pro-opting to increase the formalization to a greater magnitude than the non-opting.However, the conjunctural context was decisive to increase the identified formalization, independently of this policy, since the group of non-opting recorded an expressive growth even out of GLMSB influence. The GLMSB collaborated to increase the quantitative the job links and establishments considering the urban informality (industry, commerce, and services), but this effect, compared to the totality of the worked market informality (which includes farming), wasn’t significant. This is because, the main determinant of jobs informality has structural character, cause the jobs opportunities occupied by informal market are always created and recreated according to the imperatives of the capitalist accumulation dynamics. / Uma avaliação de possíveis impactos da Lei Geral da Microempresa e da Empresa de Pequeno Porte- LGMEEPP sobre a formalização de estabelecimentos e de seus respectivos vínculos empregatícios no Estado do Maranhão. Em termos teórico-metodológicos, partindo de uma perspectiva crítica, adota-se a concepção de informalidade do trabalho, enquanto componente estrutural inerente à própria dinâmica de acumulação capitalista. A pesquisa desenvolvida se inscreve no campo da pesquisa avaliativa, particularmente, na modalidade de avaliação de impactos. Em conformidade com a perspectiva crítica adotada, entende-se que os impactos de uma política são a síntese de múltiplas determinações e que, portanto, não se podem estabelecer relações estritas de causa e efeito entre a política em foco e as mudanças identificadas na realidade sobre a qual ela intervém. Utilizou-se como técnicas de pesquisa, a pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, complementadas com a análise de dados secundários. Neste aspecto, foi utilizado como recorte temporal o período compreendido entre 2007 e 2015 e, para nortear a identificação de possíveis impactos da LGMEEPP sobre a formalização de estabelecimentos e de seus vínculos empregatícios, foi tomada como referência a dinâmica socioeconômica recente, optando-se por utilizar a análise comparativa entre dois grupos de estabelecimentos dos setores Comércio, Serviços e Indústria: um grupo composto de microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte não optantes ao Simples Nacional e um grupo de estabelecimentos optantes. Para tanto, a base de dados utilizada foi a Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), tomando como critério de definição de porte das empresas o quantitativo de empregados. Do ponto de vista da estrutura expositiva, o texto discute inicialmente aspectos conceituais e históricos da informalidade do trabalho nas particularidades do Brasil e do Maranhão. Em seguida, aborda o papel assumido pela microempresa e empresa de pequeno porte no atual regime de acumulação flexível, os principais sujeitos envolvidos no processo de formulação da LGMEEPP e os principais elementos não tributários constitutivos dessa política. Por último, analisam-se possíveis impactos da LGMEEPP na formalização de estabelecimentos e dos seus respectivos vínculos empregatícios no Maranhão. Este trabalho apontou como principais considerações finais que, em termos de vínculos empregatícios e formalização de microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte, a LGMEEPP contribuiu para que o grupo dos optantes aumentasse a formalização em maior magnitude do que o dos nãooptantes. Contudo, o contexto conjuntural foi determinante para o aumento da formalização identificada, independentemente dessa política, visto que o grupo dos não-optantes registrou crescimento expressivo sem estar sendo induzido diretamente pela LGMEEPP. A LGMEEPP colaborou para aumentar o quantitativo de vínculos e de estabelecimentos considerando a informalidade urbana (Indústria, Comércio e Serviços), mas esse efeito, comparado à totalidade da informalidade do mercado de trabalhado (que inclui a Agropecuária), não foi significativo. Isto porque, o principal determinante da informalidade do trabalho tem caráter estrutural, sendo os espaços ocupados pelo informal criados e recriados conforme os imperativos da dinâmica de acumulação capitalista.

Denna uppsats behandlar de förväntningar mikroföretag inom turismbranschen har på sociala medier som ett marknadsföringsverktyg. Mikroföretag har inte alltid samma marknadsföringsresurser eller förutsättningar som större företag har att marknadsföra sig. För mikroföretag kan sociala medier vara ett bra komplement för att visa sig då tekniken är relativt enkel men också lättillgänglig. Sociala medier kan hjälpa mikroföretag inom turismnäringen att öka sina möjligheter att nå till kunder på ett mer kostnadsfritt sätt. I denna studie valdes tre mikroföretag inom turismsektorn för att studera syftet. Representanterna från dessa företag intervjuades om deras användning, publicering och betydelse av sociala medier. En innehållsanalys har även gjorts där en analys av företagens sociala medier gjordes och en litteraturgenomgång för att se vilka marknadsföringsmöjligheter sociala medier kan ge för mikroföretag. Resultatet av studien visar att dessa tre mikroföretagen förstår att sociala medier är ett viktigt verktyg för dem när det gäller marknadsföring. Att deras förväntningar på användandet av sociala medier är att det är lättillgängligt, enkelt att använda och kostnadseffektivt på grund av att de har få resurser till att lägga på marknadsföring. Dock framförallt också att det är enkelt att nå ut till potentiella kunder än med traditionell marknadsföring. / This paper deals with the expectations of microenterprises in the tourism industry on social media as a marketing tool. Micro companies do not always have the same marketing resources or conditions that larger companies have to market themselves. For microenterprises, social media can be a good complement to prove itself as the technology is relatively simple but also easily accessible. Social media can help microbusinesses in the tourism industry to increase their opportunities to reach out to customers in a more cost-effective way. In this study, three micro companies in the tourism sector were selected to study the purpose. The representatives of these companies were interviewed about their use, publication and importance of social media. A content analysis has also been done where an analysis of corporate social media was made and a literature review to see what marketing opportunities social media can provide for microenterprises. The result of the study shows that these three microenterprises understood that social media is an important tool for them when it comes to marketing. That their expectations of the use of social media is that it is easily accessible, easy to use and cost-effective because they have few resources to put on marketing. However, above all, it is also easy to reach out to potential customers than with traditional marketing.

Submitted by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-05-06T18:32:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1420834.pdf: 4111638 bytes, checksum: 5503acf3e9055af310cc471ffb0088b9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha(marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-05-06T18:32:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1420834.pdf: 4111638 bytes, checksum: 5503acf3e9055af310cc471ffb0088b9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha(marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-05-06T18:32:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1420834.pdf: 4111638 bytes, checksum: 5503acf3e9055af310cc471ffb0088b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-06T18:32:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1420834.pdf: 4111638 bytes, checksum: 5503acf3e9055af310cc471ffb0088b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-02 / O presente estudo aborda o modelo Simples Nacional como diferencial de tributação aplicado as microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte com a finalidade de garantir maiores perspectivas de consolidação desses negócios no mercado, a partir de um tratamento tributário diferenciado. Tal mudança deu-se a partir das determinações do novo Código Tributário em vigor por meio da Lei Complementar nO. 123, da Microempresa (ME) e da Empresa de Pequeno Porte (EPP). Trata-se de um conjunto de normas que determinam um tratamento simplificado e favorecido aos pequenos negócios, conhecida no âmbito tributário como Simples Nacional ou 'Super Simples'. O estudo objetiva analisar a relevância do tratamento tributário diferenciado como forma de estimular o desenvolvimento desse segmento na economia nacional. Adotei como percurso metodológico para o estudo a pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, complementado por um estudo de caso realizado em empresa de pequeno porte na cidade de Belém. Verifica-se que a implementação do modelo Simples Nacional ainda está em fase de experimentações, não sendo possível ainda perceber vantagens significativas no desenvolvimento das microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte, contudo, é possível que se avance no sentido de minimizar as situações de informalidade. Conclui-se que mesmo com o tratamento tributário diferenciado aplicado as microempresas e empresas de pequeno porte, o Simples Nacional expressa vantagens e desvantagens para este setor produtivo.

This thesis aims to unpack the impact the legalization of street vending and the subsequent regulation had on sidewalk vendors. Although legalization occurred state-wide through Senate Bill 946 in September of 2017, the rules and regulations for vending were passed at a city-level, and I am focusing on the City of Los Angeles specifically. Through interviews with government officials, non-profit partners and advocates, and vendors from different parts of the City, I analyze information around the policy itself, its history, and the impact it has and is expected to have on vendors and their businesses. While vendors have been central to advocacy and the policy process, the creation of a permitting system in the City of Los Angeles has been less transparent. By interviewing stakeholders, relying on existing economic, political, and sociological literature, and gathering opinions from vendors themselves, I develop various policy recommendations to further empower vendors and integrate them into Los Angeles’ formal economy. I recommend a permitting model that is backward-mapped and stems from the needs of and feedback from vendors in order for it to be more aligned with the goals and needs of vendors themselves.

This is an interdiscliplinary qualitative study which uses an exploratory research design and builds on Fariclough's Critical Discourse Analysis methodology to analyze the discourses surrounding an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for livelihood development project in Jamaica, introduced by the United Nations Development Programme - the Jamaica Sustainable Development Networking Programme (JSDNP). The primary objective of this project is to provide the poor in Jamaican communities with access to, and training in ICTs. In this research, I specifically focus on the discourses surrounding the JSDNP Cybercentre Project for a group of microenterprise entrepreneurs in the Jamaican tourism industry to access the epistemological assumptions of this project. From the data collected it was found that at one level, the JSDNP Cybercentre Project encouraged specific ways of acting and organizing congruent with the configurations, processes and structures of corporate firms of industrialized countries, by representing the achievement of livelihood expansion through the use of specific ICTs in a particular way which excluded other discourses. The particular ways of acting and organizing promoted by the Cybercentre encouraged the use of non-indigenous technologies, undervalued indigenous technologies and excluded the indigenization of non-indigenous technologies. These discourses were incompatible with the operational and structural configurations of trans-temporal poor entrepretrepreneurs interviewed and were more favourable to the non-poor and spatio-temporal ones. One of the wider implications of the discourse therefore was that they play a fundamental role in perpetuating entrenched inequalities through the preservation of social practices, along with their associated systems and structures. It was also found that these modalities limited the operational processes of all microenterprise entrepreneurs who were exposed to the Cybercentre Project. These entrepreneurs have limited control over the configuration of non-indigenous technologies; their technological and creative capabilities are restricted; their ability to indigenize non-indigenous technologies impaired; and they are highly dependent on non-indigenous technologies (which themselves have a number of limitations).