Small businesses accounted for 99% of the firms in private industry, provided 38% of the goods and services sold in the United States, and hired 55% of the labor force each year between 2012 and 2015. From 1993 to 2013, small firms accounted for 63% of new work generated while more than 50% of U.S. small businesses failed inside of 5 years and at least 20% failed during the first year. The purpose of this multiunit case study was to explore the strategies small retail businesses used to achieve sustainability beyond 5 years in a purposefully selected county in Virginia. The conceptual framework combination of entrepreneurship theory and spillover knowledge theory served to focus this case study on the exploration of economic strategies owners used to succeed in business. Purposeful sampling was used to identify 4 small retail business owners who had achieved sustainability beyond 5 years. Methodological triangulation combined company financial records, synthesized transcribed interview data and reflective notes. The Van Manen method was used to perform data analysis using responses from face-to-face open-ended questions. Participants concurred with the transcribed summaries via member checking. Manual coding resulted in six themes related to small retail business sustainability including motivation, management practices, application of active leadership principles, sustaining positive energy, owner dedication and passion, and identifying and understanding employee values. Social change may be affected by the contributions to small firm strategies about profitability, sustainability, and success, and could influence enterprise and employee prosperity, improve family economic health, and strengthen local community markets.

In 2014, only 48% of S&P companies scored high-performance band B ratings and above in their Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports to attract the interest of institutional investors holding U.S. $92 trillion plus assets under management. This multiple case study explored the business leaders' strategic decisions to improve the performance band ratings in the companies' CDP reports. The conceptual framework for this study was stakeholder theory, which suggests that businesses should incorporate the interest of institutional investors to minimize the climate-related risks that could affect their investment decisions. The target population for this study was business leaders from S&P 500 companies in the eastern United States who have experience in making strategic decisions to improve performance band ratings in the CDP reports. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews with 4 business leaders and an exploration of company archival documents related to carbon management. Using Yin's data analysis method 5 themes emerged: governance, risk management, target and initiatives, measurement and verification, and transparency and disclosure. These themes highlighted companies' governing strategies for better carbon management, which are essential in achieving better performance band ratings in the CDP reports to attract the interest of intuitional investors. Better carbon management by S&P 500 companies will facilitate a positive social change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are detrimental to human health and well-being of its stakeholders.

The impact of public private partnership (PPP) on Dallas, Texas economic development activities is debated through many forms of academic studies. The purpose of this study was to bridge the research gap in PPP impact on sustainable economic development from the perspectives of PPP practitioners. The central research question focused on the PPP executives' perspective on the evaluation of PPP programs within a 5-year period (2005 - 2010) in Dallas, Texas. The theoretical framework of this study was based on the policy feedback theory. A qualitative case study design was the case study approach and purposeful sampling interviews were the data collection tool; 7 participants agreed to participate in the study and provided data and information through participating in the interview. The participants were representative of the total population with 2 participants from the public sector, 2 participants from the for-profit private sector, 2 participants from nonprofit community development organizations, and 1 member from city council. A comparison to secondary data was performed to ensure reliability and protect against bias. Research findings provided indicators to PPP's successful design, lessons learned, and PPP executives' and policy makers' evaluation standards as well as suggestions for improvement. The social impact of this study on governance and a clearer understanding of PPP provides insights on the best use of public resources attempting to increase government performance efficiency.

Hotel guests can use 2 to 3 times more water than community residents. Hotels are water-intensive businesses, and water scarcity presents a pressing problem for managers who rely on an uninterrupted supply of water to meet guests' needs and maintain profitability. Using the resource-based view (RBV) as a conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that hotel managers used to successfully maintain adequate water supplies in the Spanish Canary Islands, an historically arid site and a tourism destination. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and hotel water usage reports. Yin's 5-step approach of examining, categorizing, tabulating, testing, and recombining evidence to draw conclusions guided the data analysis. Four key themes emerged from the findings: value water as a strategic business resource, mitigate risks of natural resources scarcity, promote water efficiency and conservation, and sustain supplies through corporate water stewardship. This study may contribute to positive social change by illuminating processes that hotel managers, employees, guests, and partners, can take to improve environmental stewardship and align their practices with sustainable water governance.

Jamaica's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a high failure rate. In 2016, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) recorded Jamaica's SME start-up rate at 4.06% and the discontinuance rate at 9%. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive multiple case study was to explore the strategies some Jamaican SME owners used to achieve business sustainability in the manufacturing sector for longer than 5 years of operation. The conceptual framework used was the entrepreneurship theory, which provided insights into business sustainability. A purposive sample of 5 owners of SMEs who had achieved business sustainability in the manufacturing sector for longer than 5 years of operation were the participants in this study. Semistructured interviews of participants and review of company documents produced in-depth insights into the strategies they used to achieve business sustainability. Coding keywords, sentences, and ideas from the interviews and company documents and categorizing them was the approach taken for data analysis, using methodological triangulation. The themes from the study were entrepreneurial characteristics, competitive advantages, resource management, customer relationship management, quality management, and marketing. Implications for social change include the potential to provide strategies that support SMEs' business sustainability and lead to greater job creation and ultimately the Jamaican government's ability to fund social projects.

Technical innovation creates challenges for the small business entrepreneur who uses global activities in the marketplace. Information technology and the technological innovations of the World Wide Web are driving competitiveness in the marketplace with a loss of market share for the individual business owner. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of a purposive sample of 20 small business owners in the metropolitan Atlanta area regarding the effect of technology, technological insertion, and application for long-term sustainability. Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory served as the conceptual framework of this study. Data were gathered through face-to-face, semistructured interviews. After analyzing the interview transcripts using inductive analysis, 6 major themes emerged. The themes include the forces that drive the introduction of technology, types of technology used to reach potential and existing customers, most commonly used and implemented types of technology, the beliefs and values on the use of technology, the obstacles that inhibit the use of technology, and the competitive advantage of the use of technology for the small business entrepreneur. The implications for positive social change include the potential for growth and sustainability for the small business entrepreneur leading to stronger economies and job creation in local communities and nationally. Small business owners may use the findings to implement technology insertion strategies contributing to long-term sustainability initiatives. These findings may also inform scholars of business management and entrepreneurship regarding the effect of technology, technological insertion, and application for long-term sustainability.

Achieving sustained economic growth and development has been an area of concern for policy-makers in the Anglophone Caribbean since the transition from colonial rule to self-governance. To date, the researcher did not find any research that has explicitly examined the role of policy-making effectiveness as a strategy for achieving the goals of sustainable development. This qualitative multiple case study of Barbados and Grenada was conceptualized from the perspective of critical theory from the World Commission on Environment and Development to explore and understand why sustainability has not been sufficiently realized and how sustainable development may be pursued in territories that are small and prone to hazards. Purposive sampling was used to identify 30 candidates for the study. Eighteen key policy-makers participated in semi-structured interviews. Secondary data from publicly available government documents in Barbados and Grenada were acquired. All data were inductively coded and data analysis was carried out at three levels using thematic, content, and cross-case analyses. Key findings suggest a need exists to increase understanding of the concept of sustainable development and the unique characteristics of the territories to enable policy-makers to better define the safe operating space for human development. Recommendations for positive social change include advice to strengthen institutional capacity across the full spectrum of policy-making practice for sustainable development including mechanisms to promote a learning culture and accountability in policy-making practice in the Anglophone Caribbean, particularly among those territories that are small and prone to hazards.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry contend with a variety of corporate sustainability and social responsibility (CSSR) issues, ranging from the environmental impact of food waste to human health concerns about specific ingredients and production methods. In this qualitative multicase study, based on the conceptual frameworks of strategic development, stakeholder management, and institutional theory, I explored barriers and enablers for Washington, DC-based food SMEs as they proactively addressed CSSR issues. I interviewed five SME owner-managers. The transcripts were then coded and analyzed. Three themes emerged. Strategic development tended to be ad hoc and experimental, but with equal focus on establishing and growing a market for the product and achieving the central CSSR mission. The most important stakeholder was the customer because they are essential to the survival of the company, but also because owner-managers seek to change customers' awareness and behaviors as they relate to CSSR issues. Institutional constructs such as kitchen incubators enable entrepreneurs to start up but, along with limited local supply chains and costly and confusing regulations, they represent significant barriers to scale. The implication for social change within the local community is startup food incubators can use the findings to design models more conducive to scaling food SMEs that support local food production. This could benefit both local economic development and health outcomes.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka eventuella samband mellan svenska noterade bolags hållbarhetsarbete och hållbarhetsredovisning utifrån ESG hållbarhetsbetyg, primärt i relation till uppfattat bolagsvärde och sekundärt även i relation till bolagsstorlek vad gäller nettoomsättning och redovisat eget kapital. Fåtalet snarlikastudier har utförts på den svenska marknaden vilket motiverade syftet i denna uppsats.  Metod: Studien tillämpade en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi med utgångspunkt från nyckeltalsdata och ESG-betyginsamlade från S&P Global  2016-2020. Finansiella nyckeltalsdata inklusive estimerat bolagsvärde insamlades från Morningstar Direct. Regressionsanalyser och Pearsons korrelationsanalys genomfördes i Excel och testades mot fyra hypoteser.  Resultat & slutsats: Inga samband påvisades mellan bolagsvärde och ESG. Samband mellan nyckeltalen för eget kapital och nettoomsättning i förhållande till bolagsstorlek kunde konstateras, men inte i samband med ESG hållbarhetsbetyg. Slutsatsen blev att samband saknades på grund av de motsatta effekter som hållbarhetsarbete har på kort respektive lång sikt, där hållbarhet innebär minskat bolagsvärde på kort sikt men ökat bolagsvärde på lång sikt. En annan slutsats var att framtida analyser behöver bygga på separerade snarare än aggregerade EGS-betyg som analyseras branschvis.  Studiens bidrag: Studien tillför ytterligare kunskap till forskningen genom iakttagelsen att relationen mellan ESG och bolagsvärde kan variera beroende på bolagsstorlek, tidsperspektiv och bransch. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate possible connections between Swedish listed companies' sustainability work and sustainability reporting based on ESG's sustainability rating, primarily in relation to perceived company value and secondarily also in relation to company size in terms of net sales and reported equity. Few similar studies have been performed on the Swedish market, which justified the aim of this essay. Method: The study applied a quantitative research strategy based on key figure data and ESG ratings collected from S&P Global 2016-2020. Financial key figures data including estimated company value were collected from Morningstar Direct. Regression analyzes and Pearson's correlation analysis were performed in Excel and tested against four hypotheses. Results & conclusion: No relationship was demonstrated between company value and ESG. A relationship between the key ratios for equity and net sales in relation to company size could be established, but not in connection with the ESG sustainability rating. The conclusion was that there was a lack of connection due to the opposite effects that sustainability work has in the short and long term, respectively, where sustainability means reduced company value in the short term but increased company value in the long term. Another conclusion was that future analyzes need to be based on separate rather than aggregated EGS scores that are analyzed by industry. Contribution of the thesis: The study adds additional knowledge to the research by observing that the relationship between ESG and company value can vary depending on company size, time perspective and industry.

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