Many Fortune 500 organizations have policies about corporate social responsibility (CSR), but the leaders struggle to implement CSR policies that match corporate stated goals and objectives. The purpose of this case study was to explore whether leaders' CSR strategies matched the goals and objectives of the company. Twenty individuals located in New York, NY, United States, with various management-level positions, and who had experiences with CSR in a Fortune 500 organization with a CSR policy, participated in the current study. The conceptual framework was corporate social responsibility stakeholder theory. Data collection consisted of a semistructured interview with the leaders about CSR, and the company's official documents on CSR. Data were analyzed using constant comparative text analysis to identify themes. Three main themes emerged: a) despite being in leadership positions, some of the participants have a basic knowledge and grasp of CSR but not the full-fledged initiative to go beyond existing CSR practices; (b) CSR programs are scripted and heavily predictable; and (c) leaders implement CSR policies based on individual interpretations of CSR. Business leaders may use the results of the study, along with the documented practices, policies, and experiences of a Fortune 500 company, to enhance programs to ensure CSR adoption and success. The implications for positive social change are significant to Fortune 500 organizations and businesses, because current and future leaders as well as other organizational leaders may use the data to improve their personal CSR interpretations with an organization's CSR-related business processes and policies.

The International Trade Administration reported that 70% of worldwide revenue for American businesses comes from consumers in emergent markets such as India, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country that many American small business owners are not operating in and capitalizing on the financial opportunities that are available. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies American small business owners use in successful international entrepreneurship for increased revenue and operational longevity. The study population consisted of 5 American small business entrepreneurs who had succeeded operating in the UAE for at least 5 years. The resource-based view theory was the conceptual framework that grounded this study. Data collection included semistructured interviews and a review of company documents and government records. Data analysis involved coding, word clustering, and the use of qualitative data analytical software to identify patterns. Member checking of interview responses helped to strengthen the integrity of the findings. The use of methodical triangulation enabled a rich analysis and an enhanced trustworthiness of the results. The 4 key themes that emerged from the data analysis were strategic planning, understanding local culture, building relationships, and using digital platforms. Small business owners could use the key themes for the development of international entrepreneurial strategies. The findings from this study and the knowledge generated may influence positive social change by increasing local employment, improving economic conditions, and promoting the development of international business operations for American entrepreneurs.

Small businesses owned by military veterans represent a source of new jobs, yet more than half of these businesses fail to survive beyond 5 years. These failures could lead to efforts to identify strategies that owners can use to avoid failure. The conceptual framework applied in this case study was the triple-loop learning theory. The purposive sampling included 7 military veterans who were small business owners who had sustained their small businesses more than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and organization documents. Yin's 5-step process for data analysis compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding resulted in 4 emergent themes: networking to build the business, mentoring and informal education for ongoing education, identifying gaps of competitors, and maintaining low overhead and operating costs. Military veteran business owners engaged in networking, which led to growth, sustainability, and building relationships. The key concepts discussed by all 7 participants formed the basis of entrepreneurial learning. The results of this study could benefit industry by increasing an income that affords sustainability to the military veteran business owner. Such owners could apply strategies to reduce small business failures and thus contribute to the stable employment of owners and employees. This study could contribute to social change by improving the standard of living in veteran communities as well as improving local and state economies.

A shortage of skilled labor could cost the tourism, hospitality, and leisure industry (THL) a loss of $610 billion and 14 million jobs by 2024. The literature contains the contributions of specialist THL institutions but not that of the industry leaders to ameliorating this human capital (HC) challenge. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore the HC productivity strategies used by THL business leaders in Nigeria that improved employee productivity despite the lack of specialist THL institutions. The human capital theory (HCT) was the conceptual framework of the study. Coding of data derived from semistructured interviews with 3 THL industry leaders followed the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method. Triangulation of the interview data, site observations and company documents resulted in 5 strategy themes. The study indicated that recruiting persons with essential social capital, inducting them into high ethical standards, providing in-house training, motivating with reward and recognition, and adoption of affordable technologies are key industry strategies for THL HC development. The study findings can be adopted into THL organizations human resource management strategies and as input for training managers in the THL industry. The results of this study may contribute to social change by keeping more people gainfully engaged, increasing the dignity and prosperity of THL employees and their families, and reducing the undesirable effects of unemployment such as the high crime rate in southern Nigeria.

The problem was to determine what are the current computer uses, and training practices for small businesses in the Portland area. Comparisons were made by industry type.

This dissertation explores how dark and light personality traits influence venture performance via mediating effects of social structure. Because entrepreneurship is an inherently social process, theoretical perspectives of social network theory and social comparison theory are used to examine how entrepreneurs’ dark and light personality traits interact with personality traits of socially proximal others to influence venture performance via network structure. These perspectives are drawn together using socioanalytic theory. This dissertation argues that agreeableness and narcissism interact with the personality traits of network others at the group-level to influence structural hole positioning within entrepreneurial networks; in turn, structural holes are hypothesized to exert a positive effect on venture revenue. This study offers contributions to the fields of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial personality, social networks, and social comparison processes. Hypotheses are tested using a dataset of 234 entrepreneurs nested within 24 groups; analyses are conducted via linear mixed effects models and Monte-Carlo approximation of mediation confidence intervals (Model 1) and OLS regression and non-parametric bootstrapping approximation of mediation confidence intervals (Model 2).

Marketing as a revenue generator for businesses seeks to entice consumers into making a final purchase. How this is achieved varies greatly depending on the size of firm, the goods or services being advertised, distribution channels, and other factors. This manuscript includes the creation of a marketing strategy for a small, online business, Appalachian Cast Iron, through the investigation of current literature, and analyses of the external and internal environments. The results provide strategies for areas in which the firm has opportunities to improve.

In recent years, companies have been focused on improving organizational performance and the loyalty of customers to improve sustainability in increasingly complex markets. The Baldrige Performance Excellence framework, generally referred to as the Baldrige criteria, was created to guide professionals in achieving these goals including defining a set of excellence criteria and offering an award program to recognize high-performing organizations. The principles of excellence focus on understanding and working for the stakeholders, improving performance and quality management, and strategically driving continuous improvement. The framework can be used for organizational self-assessments; however, many organizations find it challenging to interpret and apply the criteria without prior knowledge of the framework and guiding principles. This is particularly true for small businesses, which are less formal, have less exposure to key terminology and concepts, and have limited resources. Although there is some research that focuses on successful application of the Baldrige criteria, this research is still exploratory and there is a need for empirical studies in this area. This research investigates the factors that affected the successful implementation of the Baldrige criteria by conducting an action research study to guide a small business in conducting the Baldrige Self-Assessment. This research consisted of a series of three surveys and online working sessions to both complete the Baldrige Self-Assessment, interpret the results, and evaluate the experiences of participants regarding the relative success of the self-assessment process as well as the factors that affected this process. The results of this study provide insights into strategies for ensuring successful application of this self-assessment process in small businesses. The findings show that unfamiliarity with key terminology and complexity of the questions were significant barriers to success. Further, the participants indicated that working as a team to complete the assessment facilitated the process due to real-time discussion of points of confusion. These results support the assertion that a version of the Baldrige Criteria specifically designed for small businesses is needed. Improving the accessibility of this framework will improve the chances of successful implementation bringing the potential benefits to more organizations.

This paper seeks to understand the role of proximity to Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley network effect on venture success. Despite the wealth of literature on the role and importance of geographic proximity in the venture capital process, no studies have specifically examined the impact of geographic proximity to Silicon Valley on venture success. I build my study on existing literature but deviate from past research in the following ways: first, I narrow the research question to the relationship between geographic proximity to Silicon Valley and successful exit; second, I consider success from the perspective of the venture rather than the venture-backing firm; third, I employ a logistical model as well as a linear probability model; fourth I control for endogeneity by isolating first rounds; lastly, I exclude syndicated deals, focusing on 1:1 venture-backing firm-to-venture deals. I use VenureXpert data for Silicon Valley-backed firms located both in and outside Silicon Valley to test hypotheses regarding geographic proximity. The results are significant and suggest that venture location in Silicon Valley is associated with greater venture success. Based on the results, it is clear that the impact of the Silicon Valley network effect is statistically meaningful and should encourage ventures to continue to strategically locate themselves in Silicon Valley.

This thesis evaluates the risk-return characteristics and diversification benefits of fine wine investment. It compares the historical performance of wine to that of equity, fixed income, real estate, and commodities. I calculate the correlation, volatility, and expected returns of these assets to examine whether adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return. I do this through the Markowitz portfolio optimization technique. The findings suggest that wine has a low correlation with traditional assets, providing diversification benefits. My results also show that adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return only when there is an allocation constraint of 0 to 25% per asset. This does not hold, however, when there are no asset allocation constraints.