What is the nature and processes of creativity in small businesses? My fine-grained qualitative study of a small UK software business, GoTravel, suggests that such businesses often show tremendous creativity in the everyday processes they use to negotiate complex problems that their internal and external limitations induce. The empirical findings that I use to support this view are in three main parts. First, internal organisational problems, which seemed to restrict employee engagement in creative actions, provoked novel and appropriate — i.e. creative —actions by the small business in pursuing opportunities to access inputs they needed to build competitive software. Second, these actions entailed the tactical creation of fertile sites within collaborations held with product users in line with principles of agile software development, to enable activities relevant for accessing required inputs for building improved software. Third, within these sites, GoTravel advanced its creative actions by leading product users in ‘play’ activities with the purpose of accessing their inputs, which included their time, money, autonomy and actions, and ameliorating the disadvantaged position the small business occupied in the agile-inspired collaborations. To explicate my findings, I draw on the entrepreneurship literature, particularly work conducted to study processes that entrepreneurs use to orient themselves amid problems, while creating opportunities for establishing new ventures. Here, I focus specifically on spatial concepts Hjorth used to study how entrepreneurial processes unfold under constraining managerial orders, as well as insights from critical perspectives from the co-creation literature. I use these lenses to illuminate the tactical and creative actions that GoTravel manifested in the ways they reassigned ‘managerial orders’ in their software industry, which threatened their ability to access inputs from their product users into other uses — i.e. ‘spaces of play’. Here, they seemed to have ‘lured’ their product users into co-creation activities to accomplish goals for developing new products and, indeed, ‘conquer’ managerial orders in their external environments, even if temporarily. This study contributes to current research on organisational creativity by drawing attention to creativity inherent in the processes that small businesses use to negotiate problems they often confront in the journey to building novel and impactful solutions. In addition, I bring conceptual lenses from entrepreneurship, a field that is sympathetic to the characteristics of small businesses, particularly their constraints and limitations, to expand current knowledge we have of creativity by such businesses. My research also contributes to current valuable work on co-creation, especially in how organisations may use various forms of co-creation as a tactical and creative tool to address their own limitations.

The research is focusing on small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the German Medical Technology (MedTech) industry and investigates the antecedents and the effects of organizational capabilities on their strategy regarding international ventures. Although there is various research in the field of strategy, internationalisation and SMEs, the impact of existing research in the specific field of German Medtech SMEs is relatively poor while theoretical and empirical findings obtained in another particular institutional context are not yet applicable in other countries or industries. As a consequence, a systematic review of the literature has been conducted. An initial conceptual model was developed, in which significant findings regards country, industry and firm-specific aspects could be identified. The philosophical stand of the researcher and his ontological view as a post-positivist allows both, a qualitative and a quantitative approach. By applying a mixed method approach a focus group discussion provided in depth-knowledge in order to sharpen the initial model. Antecedents, as well as the most important factors related to strategy, were emphasized and further important aspects that focus on capabilities were revealed. With these results, constructs and relationships were modeled and quantitative data from a survey with more than 60 German MedTech SMEs were collected and assessed. This approach led to the finding that factors such as ́market potential ́, ́physical capital ́, ́medical regulations ́ and ́product competitive-ness ́ have the highest influence on the firm ́s strategic approach. ́Organizational learning ́ and ́coordination mechanism ́ have particularly an impact on strategy development, whereas relationship capabilities mediating effect on the strategy-competitive advantage relationship. Firm size and firm ́s experience in international ventures influence a firm ́s internationalisation. The results will serve as a strategic input for SME’s in the German MedTech industry. This research provided a contribution to knowledge that is relevant from an academic as well as from an economic point of view. The findings should help academics, MedTech SMEs, and governmental institutions to understand the decisive factors for internationalisation and the importance to develop specific organizational capabilities in this context. This understanding contributes towards a sound development of German MedTech SMEs in their future internationalisation.

This thesis assesses the role of the Government (in Mexico) and the Foreign Trade Council of Mexico (BANCOMEXT) in the internationalization of Mexican small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in low- and medium-technology industries (LMT), which is the main group of firms serviced by BANCOMEXT-Europe. It also sheds light on the internal and external barriers this organization has identified as affecting the internationalization of these SMEs from developing countries (Mexico) in developed and distant markets (the European Union). To achieve this, a case study was undertaken in the six offices of BANCOMEXT (now PROMEXICO) in Europe: Italy, the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France. BANCOMEXT is the most specialized governmental organization dealing with the internationalization of SMEs. The story told by the BANCOMEXT officers is analysed from the international business (the Uppsala model and the role of government intermediaries in the internationalization of SMEs), innovation and policy perspectives (the national system of innovation (NSI) approach) and the economic perspective. After the inductive analysis of the interviews undertaken with government officers from BANCOMEXT-Europe, 220 concepts that span the policy, macro, micro and meso levels were identified. The findings suggest that BANCOMEXT-Europe has mainly contributed to the internationalization of LMT-SMEs by the provision of information and by putting these firms in contact with potential clients abroad, but there are some unattended areas in which BANCOMEXT-Europe could expand its activities to contribute to the internationalization of LMT-SMEs. This thesis also uncovered that the SMEs' performance and the scope of BANCOMEXT's activities have been negatively affected by problems of different origins. Some of them are internal to Mexican SMEs, and there are also external barriers of both domestic and foreign origin inhibiting the SMEs' internationalization and explaining their very limited participation in foreign markets. These problems are enhanced by the environmental differences (differences in institutional set-ups) between Mexico and the EU and the geographical distance. In addition, this research provides empirical evidence from a developing country (Mexico) about the pervasive consequences of the lack of governmental support and policies for the internationalization of LMT-SMEs. This research calls for more active participation from the Government and policy makers to contribute to long-term economic growth from the supply side by improving SMEs' competitiveness through interactive learning, knowledge access and knowledge creation, innovation (incremental innovation) and the provision of favourable conditions for the internationalization of LMT-SMEs. Accordingly, a series of suggestions aimed at improving the competitiveness and internationalization of Mexican LMT-SMEs in the EU is also presented.

Bankruptcy is a costly event. Holders of publicly traded securities can rely on security prices to reflect their risk. Other stakeholders have no such mechanism. Hence, methods for accurately forecasting bankruptcy would be valuable to them. A large body of literature has arisen on bankruptcy forecasting with statistical classification since Beaver (1967) and Altman (1968). Reported total error rates typically are 10%-20%, suggesting that these models reveal information which otherwise is unavailable and has value after financial data is released. This conflicts with evidence on market efficiency which indicates that securities markets adjust rapidly and actually anticipate announcements of financial data. Efforts to resolve this conflict with event study methodology have run afoul of market model specification difficulties. A different approach is taken here. Most extant criticism of research design in this literature concerns inferential techniques but not sampling design. This paper attempts to resolve major sampling design issues. The most important conclusion concerns the usual choice of the individual firm as the sampling unit. While this choice is logically inconsistent with how a forecaster observes financial data over time, no evidence of bias could be found. In this paper, prediction performance is evaluated in terms of expected loss. Most authors calculate total error rates, which fail to reflect documented asymmetries in misclassification costs and prior probabilities. Expected loss overcomes this weakness and also offers a formal means to evaluate forecasts from the perspective of stakeholders other than investors. This study shows that cost of misclassifying bankruptcy must be at least an order of magnitude greater than cost of misclassifying nonbankruptcy before discriminant analysis methods have value. This conclusion follows from both sampling experiments on historical financial data and Monte Carlo experiments on simulated data. However, the Monte Carlo experiments reveal that as the cost ratio increases, robustness of linear discriminant rules improves; performance appears to depend more on the cost ratio than form of the distributions.

Cybercriminals threaten strategic and efficient use of the Internet within the business environment. Each year, cybercrimes in the United States cost business leaders approximately $6 billion, and globally, $445 billion. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the operational strategies chief information security officers of high-technology companies used to protect their businesses from cyberattacks. Organizational learning theory was the conceptual framework for the study. The population of the study was 3 high-technology business owners operating in Florida who have Internet expertise and successfully protected their businesses from cyberattacks. Member checking and methodological triangulation were used to valid the data gathered through semistructured interviews, a review of company websites, and social media pages. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, which supported the identification of 4 themes: effective leadership, cybersecurity awareness, reliance on third-party vendors, and cybersecurity training. The implications of this study for positive social change include a safe and secure environment for conducting electronic transactions, which may result in increased business and consumer confidence strengthened by the protection of personal and confidential information. The creation and sustainability of a safe Internet environment may lead to increased usage and trust in online business activities, leading to greater online business through consumer confidence and communication.

Typically, small businesses have encountered issues with sustaining their enterprise for longer than 5 years after inception, which can adversely affect the prosperity of the communities in which the businesses operate. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify and explore strategies some owners of small business trucking companies used to achieve profitability and longevity for longer than 5 years. The population of the study consisted of owners of 4 small business trucking companies located in Northern Virginia, who demonstrated profitability and longevity for longer than 5 years of operation. The conceptual framework for this study was systems theory. The data for the study came from semistructured interviews, and review of companies' documents. The data analysis process consisted of organizing the data, interpreting the data, and identifying the themes. After verifying the themes through methodological triangulation, 3 themes emerged: relationship building, passion and commitment, and access to capital. The findings, conclusions, and recommendations from this study could effect social change by providing profits to the small business trucking owners for sustaining and aiding employees, families, and their communities' economies.

The development and sustainability of small businesses impact the U.S. economy. Owners of small businesses created 65.9% of new jobs between 2000 and 2017. Over 99.9% of known U.S. firms were small businesses. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the leadership strategies small fitness business owners implemented to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. The conceptual framework for this study was the servant leadership theory. The population for the study included 5 owners of small fitness businesses in the southeastern region of the U.S. who used leadership strategies to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and analysis of data from their business performance plans and financial statements. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process. A transcription and coding software, methodological triangulation, and member checking were used during data analysis. Good business practices, leader characteristics, and leader relationships were the themes identified during data analysis. Company reputation, customer-service management, financial management, and marketing were minor themes of effective business practices, while adaptable, motivated, and work ethic were minor themes of leader characteristics and family-like and industry networks were minor themes of leader relationships. The implications of this study for positive social change relate to improving the economy, health, and overall well-being of community members through sustained small fitness business owners who provide jobs and access to preventive healthcare options.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the marketing strategies of custom clothing home-based business owners by identifying selected demographic characteristics, general business information, marketing strategies, and current and potential future marketing support from members who were custom clothier home-based business owners affiliated with the Professional Association of Custom Clothiers in the Oregon Chapter. The PACC is an organization developed to assist custom clothier home-based businesses and commercial businesses that are in fields associated with the sewing industry. There is limited research developed exploring areas focused on the marketing of custom clothier home-based businesses. The custom clothier home-based business owner acts as the research and development manager, production manager, and accountant as well as the marketer of the business Therefore, as concluded in previous studies the examination of the marketing strategies used by custom clothiers and any marketing support offered by professional organizations that assist home-based businesses, required further investigation. A self-administered mail survey questionnaire was mailed to all members of the PACC organization in order to collect data for this study. Only members who owned a custom clothier home-based business were asked to participate. The data from 45 of the returned questionnaires were identified as useable and analyzed using a Statistical Analysis System (SAS) version 7. Percents and frequencies were used to analyze the demographic characteristics, marketing strategies, and current and potential future marketing support from the PACC organization. Eighty percent of the respondents had been members of the PACC organization for three years or more. The greatest percentage of the respondents (13.33%) had owned their custom clothier business for 12 years. The majority of the respondents contribute fifty percent or less of the total household income. The respondents in the survey confirmed that word-of-mouth communication was the most effective method of promotion for the custom clothier home-based business owner. Networking was the most beneficial item of marketing support the respondents derive from membership in the PACC organization. A Likert Scale with the endpoints of "Very Beneficial and Not Very Beneficial" identified that the respondents also perceive product/service development at meetings as a very beneficial source of marketing support from the PACC organization. Future ideas for possible potential marketing support for the PACC organization included: 1) using the PACC referral service, 2) more publicity for the PACC organization, and 3) more exposure at the national level. Fisher's Exact Test was used to analyze data. Four separate two-by-two tables were developed to compare the respondents as two groups of 1) those respondents who had marketing experience and/or education to 2) those respondents who did not have marketing experience and/or education. Therefore, the column factor in the columns of the two-by-two tables was marketing experience and/or education and was indicated by the respondents on the questionnaire with a "yes" or "no" response. The row factors in each of the four separate two-by-two tables were: 1) geographic range of the clientele. 2) number of competitors in the local area. 3) requests for new fabrics, embellishments, or interfacings, and 4) satisfaction with the level of profits from the business. This investigation revealed that the proportion of the respondents who had marketing experience and/or education were inclined to have clientele outside the designated local area of a 50-mile radius within the location of the home-based business. The two-by-two table that compared the column factor of marketing experience and/or education and the row factor of satisfaction with the level of profits from the business revealed no significant differences between the two groups of respondents. Satisfaction of the business was not associated with either having marketing experience and/or education or not having marketing experience and/or education. Research investigating the marketing strategies of custom clothier home-based business owner is an important topic. The marketing of the custom clothier home-based business is often a complex process and is difficult to master and implement. / Graduation date: 2000

An integrated framework of Family Resource Management and Household Economic theory was utilized to develop a model of relationships between human capital, family characteristics and resources, number of income sources, hours spent in home production, total income and subjective well-being. This study utilized a sample of 129 women systematically selected from Machinga and Zomba Districts in Malawi. Results of Path analysis showed that place of residence, primary education and secondary education or above had positive direct relationships to number of income sources. Variables which had significant negative relationships with hours spent in home production were place of residence and age. Access to farm technologies had a positive relationship. The positive predictors of total income were: primary education, secondary education or above, number of income sources, place of residence, land holding size and access to farm technologies. Home production time and health status were negatively related to total income. Total income and hours spent in home production were significant and positively related to a well-being score, derived from four measures of well-being. Health status was negatively related to this score. Five variables: place of residence, age, primary education, secondary education or above and access to farm technologies had indirect effects on total income through number of income sources and home production. All independent variables entered had indirect effects on the well-being score through total income and hours spent in home production. Number of income sources only mediated the effects on the well-being score jointly with total income. On the whole, both intervening variables did a fair job of mediating the effects of independent variables on total income and subjective well-being (well-being score). Finally, household size, health status and subjective well-being significantly affected overall satisfaction with life. This study has implications for policy, education/training and research in order to enhance women's well-being. / Graduation date: 1996

Many previous studies find that family firms are prevalent among the U.S. firms. In particular, more than 35 percent of the S&P 500 firms consist of family firms in which families control about 18 percent of their firms’ shares. According to agency theory, the characteristics of a firm’s ownership, governance, and control play a critical role in the firm’s risk-taking activities and information flow to the market. Our study aims to investigate two controversies in the family business literature: whether family firms undertake fewer or more risks than non-family firms do, and whether family firms exhibit higher or lower information flow, reflected in their stock price informativeness and earnings informativeness, to the market. Using a sample of the S&P 500 companies as of 2003 for the period 2003-2007, we find that compared with non-family firms, the stock prices of family firms have more firm specific information impounded and the accounting earnings of family firms are more informative and thereby have more explanatory power for stock returns. These results are robust to different model specifications and variable proxies. In terms of risk-taking levels in corporate investment, our results indicate that family firms, on average, undertake fewer risks than non-family firms do. In particular, we find that although G-index is negatively associated with corporate risk-taking in non-family firms as previous studies (e.g. John et al., 2008) find for general firms, governance provisions do not have any influence on corporate risk-taking decisions in family firms. Numerous additional sensitivity tests using different corporate risk-taking proxies confirm the robustness of the findings.