According to the U.S. Small Business Association, the failure rates for small businesses in 2014 were as high as 50% to 80% within the first 5 years of establishment. The purpose for this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that small business owners have used to sustain their businesses beyond 5 years. Guided by entrepreneurship theory as the conceptual framework, and a purposive sampling method, this qualitative case study used semistructured interviews with 3 successful, small, ethnic grocery business owners in Anchorage, AK to better understand small business strategies for survival. Member checking and triangulation with field notes, interview data, business websites, customer comments, and government documents helped ensure theoretical saturation and trustworthiness of interpretations. Using pre-coded themes for the data analysis, the 8 themes from this study were entrepreneur characteristics, education and management skills, financial planning, marketing strategies and competitive advantages, social networks and human relationships, technology and innovation, government supports and social responsibility, and motivational influence. Two key results indicated the strategies needed for small business owners were entrepreneur management skills and government support for small businesses. These findings may influence positive social change by improving small business owner competence and sustainability, rising higher business incomes, providing a better quality of life to employees and their communities welfare benefiting the entire U.S. economy.

Small businesses in the United States have a high failure rate, with 50% failing within 5 years. Small businesses also account for 99.7% of U.S. firms and provide 48.0% of employees in the private sector, or 57 million out of 118 million employees. From 1992 to 2013, small firms were responsible for 63% of new jobs generated. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the skills small business owners (SBOs) used to achieve sustainability beyond 5 years in a purposefully selected area of Central Florida. The conceptual framework of human capital theory served to focus this case study on the exploration of skills SBOs used to succeed. Purposeful sampling was used to identify 3 small businesses in the mortgage industry had achieved sustainability beyond 5 years. Data were collected via semistructured interviews conducted in person and via Skype. Interview data were analyzed through inductive coding of phrases and words, and secondary data were collected from participants' company documents, such as lead sheets and goal boards. The findings revealed continuing education and training helped SBOs to increase their skills, communication and community networking allowed SBOs to build relationships, and goal setting and creating plans increased SBOs' business success. The results may contribute to social change because new SBOs can use the data to improve their skills for increased job creation and business, which creates economic stimulation.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute to the stability and growth of economies by creating employment in rural and urban areas. More than 60% of SMEs do not survive for longer than 5 years; a lack of leadership skills is among the key problems. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the leadership skills owners-managers used to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. Research participants were 4 owners-managers of SMEs from the manufacturing industry in Trinidad and Tobago that sustained their businesses for at least 5 years. The contingency leadership model and the skill-based leadership model formed the conceptual lens for this study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and direct observations. Data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman's analytical strategies and Morse's cognitive process of coding, pattern matching, interpreting, and summarizing the data. Five themes emerged from the data analysis: leadership skills, leadership values, development of leadership skills, leadership challenges, and improvement in leadership skills. The findings from this study could influence positive social change by providing insights on leadership skills SME leaders could use to sustain their operations for the longer term, resulting in reduced failure of SMEs. A decrease in the failure rate of SMEs might contribute to improved economic conditions, leading to the reduction of poverty in families and communities.

Employee retention is a critical issue for business leaders. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported over 4.5 million employee separations in 2014 because of resignations, layoffs, or terminations. Hospitality managers face some of the lowest employee retention rates of any industry, which leads to poor customer satisfaction and decreased profitability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the perceptions of 3 hospitality managers from 3 different mid-sized hospitality organizations in Brevard County, Florida. The conceptual framework for this study was built upon motivation theory; existence, relatedness, and growth theory; and expectancy theory. The data were collected through document and artifact review, a reflective journal, and semistructured interviews. Member checking was completed to strengthen credibility and trustworthiness of the interpretation of the participants' responses. Four themes emerged from the data: the motivational outcome, leadership characteristics, most effective retention strategies, and the least effective strategies influencing employee retention. The findings from this study may educate inform hospitality managers on how to stabilize employment, improve retention, and increase customer satisfaction and profitability.

Women entrepreneurs are emerging in the national economy as important players, yet gender bias and stereotypes still exist in organizations that prevent firms from taking advantage of women'€™s potential as leaders in entrepreneurial ventures. At the same time, traditional leadership models are lacking in diversity and unanswered questions remain regarding the role of gender in entrepreneurial leadership and enterprise sustainability. The purpose of this qualitative study, which used an exploratory, multiple-case research design, was to gain insight into the leadership practices of women entrepreneurial leaders and the implications of these practices for enterprise longevity 5 years after their business'€™s start-up phase. This study is framed by, first, the concept of the entrepreneurial leader and, second the intersectionality of gender and entrepreneurial leadership. Semistructured interviews with 9 participants, observational field notes, and archival data provided data regarding the leadership experiences of women entrepreneurs and enterprise longevity of women-led firms. Identifiable themes emerged through thematic analysis of the textual data and cross-case synthesis analysis. A total of 7 conceptual categories that enclose a total of 12 themes were identified. The conceptual categories are (a) gender, (b) entrepreneurial leadership, (c) market, (d) money, (e) management skills, (f) macro environment, and (g) meso environment. Findings from this study may serve as a catalyst for social change by challenging the status quo in existing formal work structures and promoting diversity in the workplace, opening new avenues for business growth and building bridges of communication between the business world and society.

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.

Entrepreneurship research is becoming more critical to policymakers and scholars around the world. However, few scholars have explored the effect of national culture or institutions on the entrepreneurial activity using cross-national data. Furthermore, most previous scholars have been limited to formal institutions as a theoretical structure to explore the entrepreneurial activity across countries. It is crucial to include formal, informal institutions and culture to better understand about how much or why entrepreneurial activity differs across countries. To fill this gap, this study investigates how national culture and institutions impact the level of entrepreneurial activity across 30 countries using cross-national dataset from the World Bank Dataset, the GEM report, and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions during the 5-year period from 2009 to 2013. Moreover, this study used two distinct measures of the level of entrepreneurial activity as dependent variables (i.e., the rate of new start-up companies and Total Entrepreneurial Activity). The results showed that individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and long-term orientation are essential for explaining the level of entrepreneurial activity across countries. However, the results indicated that only one of the regulative dimensions (i.e., the number of start-up procedures) was significantly related to the level of entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, the finding of this study concludes that national culture may play more important roles than institutions regarding the level of entrepreneurial activity across countries.

This research project began with the objective of obtaining a deeper understanding of the conduct of business on the Internet. Research regarding the overall performance of business on the Web has been limited due to several constraining factors. Firstly, the shear size, volume, and perceived complexity of business on the Web made it an imposing target for research. Secondly, the interdisciplinary nature of the field had an initial dampening effect on research activity. Kuhn (1962) describes this phenomenon as the insufficiency of methodological directives. He writes (p. 3) ‘Instructed to examine electrical or chemical phenomena, the man who is ignorant of these fields but who knows what it is to be scientific may legitimately reach any one of a number of incompatible conclusions. Among those legitimate possibilities, the particular conclusions he does arrive at are probably determined by his prior experience in the other fields’. Thirdly, academic interest in Web businesses was somewhat diminished by the bursting of the dot com bubble during 2000-2001 as evidenced by the fact that many academic programs in electronic commerce have been discontinued or significantly reduced (Featherstone, Ellis & Borstorff 2004). Lastly, methodological issues arose which limited the application of previously available sampling methods. The impact of this meant that drawing representative samples of websites in order to examine business behaviour became a more complex endeavour. As a result, many fundamental questions regarding business on the Web have remained unanswered. For example, there has been no clear answer to the question of what new business models, if any, are evolving within the Web environment. What is the role of entrepreneurship employing the Web? What are the key elements or mechanisms driving business expansion in the Web? Some have suggested that Web use necessitates greater business cooperation than may be necessary in the non-virtual world. Is there evidence that this is so? This thesis addresses these questions. It accomplishes this by reducing the function of business on the Internet to its simplest element, the domain name, and by employing innovative methodologies to explore the business environment of the Web. Using Complexity and Network Theories as a contextual framework , and based upon a review of existing literature, this thesis develops a series of propositions regarding both the conduct and attributes of Web business, and proceeds to present evidence of confirmation or refutation of these propositions.

The dissertation focuses on the incentives and economic effects of gross receipts taxes (GRTs) versus corporate income taxes (CITs). Conventional wisdom holds that GRTs are very poor tax instruments; however, several states have shown renewed interest in GRTs since 2002. An interesting question to ask is why states are reconsidering GRTs in spite of all criticisms. Are GRTs really as bad as what conventional wisdom says? There is little rigorous theoretical or empirical work on GRTs. My dissertation aims to help fill this gap by providing both theoretical and empirical analysis on the comparative advantages and disadvantages of GRTs versus CITs. Essay one provides the first systematic theoretical analysis to compare and contrast the incentives and economic effects of gross receipts taxes versus corporate income taxes. Specifically, it focuses on the incentives for vertical integration in the sense of make-or-buy decisions, the effects on profit shifting between out-of-state and in-state firms, the incentives to change organizational form for tax purposes, and the incentives for cost-saving innovation under each tax system. Several results contradict conventional wisdom and deepen our understanding of GRTs. Based on Essay one, Essay two empirically tests the theoretical prediction that GRTs eliminate the distortion on organizational form choice, increasing the chance for a firm to incorporate. The analysis uses state-industry panel data from Nonemployer Statistics during the period 2002- 2008. The results show that states with a GRT have a higher share of corporate firms. Further, by replacing the CIT with a GRT, states may promote the real activity of C corporations.

The explosive growth of ‘accelerators’ in the United States has given entrepreneurs and their startups the opportunity to pursue seed-stage financing. While the specific economic role of accelerators remains unclear, a study comparing the selection of portfolio companies between accelerators and venture capitalists was performed. A difference of means was performed on the responses per question between the collected 19 accelerators’ response and the 100 venture capitalists’ response, recorded from a prior study. It is found that venture capitalists place significantly more weight, than accelerators, on the potential of the startup’s product or service to be proprietary, to enter a high-growth market with little threat of competition within the first 3 years, and to deliver a high financial return within 5 to 10 years. The results also indicate that both accelerators and venture capitalists emphasize different attributes of the entrepreneur and venture team when considering selection.