Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Charles Dickens embarked on a profitable journey to the United States in 1867, when he was the most famous writer in the world. He gave seventy-six public readings, in eighteen cities. Dickens and his manager, George Dolby, devised the tour to cash in on his popularity, and Dickens earned the equivalent of more than three million dollars. They created a persona of Dickens beyond the literary luminary he already was, with the help of the impresario, P.T. Barnum. Dickens became the first British celebrity to profit from paid readings in the United States. This research thesis asks how Dickens earned a fortune from his performance tour.

Immigrant small business (ISB) in Sweden has brought much attention to some researchers in the past decade. However, most of ISB researchers in Sweden are dealing with immigrants as a whole group rather than study them separately by regions or countries. It is hard to know the specific characteristics of ISB with different ethnic background. In this paper, I study one ethnic group, Chinese immigrant’s, small business by case study approach, to answer the research questions: reasons of self-employment, factors of influencing start-ups and business growth. According to empirical findings, prosperity achieving, career changing, and migration are the three main reasons of self-employment; network and local language skill are the two key factors influencing Chinese ISB start-ups; good market opportunities, higher industry rivalry, shortage of successor, and lack of development ambition are the four factors influencing business growth. With the empirical findings, I examine the previous influential ISB theories, which include minorities theory, ethnic enclave economy, and mixed embeddedness. I find ethnic enclave and mixed embeddedness theories can explain some of empirical findings, but not all of them, which means Chinese ISB in Sweden has specific characteristics which need further investigation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 287-309).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 287-309) Also available in print.

This study will focus on two main concepts: entrepreneurship and feminism and more clearly about the relation which brings them together.Feminist values have gained more attention over the years and became a field of studies (Grunig, 2000; Van Bogaert, 2009; Ahmed et al., 2013; Gardner, 2009). It becomes a natural topic in our society as it fills a role in businesses; and even more in entrepreneurship (Ahl and Marlow, 2012; Morris et al., 2006 ; Mutch, 2018 ; Orser, 2012).Even if feminism gain ground in the business world, its definition is still not unanimous.The first section will then give an insight about all the main way feminism can be understood in the current environment, then entrepreneurship. Linking both term lead to another point of view of business management. Therefore, the effect of feminism in the managerial and business culture is researched through the paper.Three main feminist values have been chosen in this study, by their predominance in the existing feminist and entrepreneurial literature. To that aim, this paper will state the three main feminist values and then, how to identify them in the workplace.

In this research, we have investigated the entrepreneur and how he or she can use self-leadership in order to exercise leadership. An entrepreneur is a global phenomenon and entrepreneurship is part of it, in both as being developed or underdeveloped. On how entrepreneurs engage with passion in the creation of a business venture is something that is somehow similar for each individual despite the different nationalities. However, how he or she develops the needed tools and develops leadership skills to conduct his or her business venture. To study this, we have conducted a qualitative content analysis with interviewees who are entrepreneurs either from Brazil or India to investigate on how being an entrepreneur can benefit through self-leadership. We therefore derived from the existing construction of self-leadership and its dimensions in order to use the abductive approach in the qualitative content analysis. We have therefore collected data through semi-structured interviews. Then we analyzed the content of the answers and linked the emerging data to the existing literature review on the entrepreneur and self-leadership. Furthermore, we analyzed how an entrepreneur can benefit him or herself from self-leadership as an individual and how he or she can use it in order to develop leadership skills. Our findings link the literature of the entrepreneur as an individual and his or her use of self-leadership in order to achieve and succeed.

abstract: This narrative study sought to understand the socialization experiences of Hispanic entrepreneurs. While several studies have explored socialization and work-life wellness, few have focused specifically on Hispanics or entrepreneurs. A total of 25 participants were formally interviewed for this study including 16 entrepreneurs and 9 of their family members. Data were also collected through participant observation in which 210 participants were observed at several venues. Participants were recruited from three Southwestern states including: Arizona, Colorado, and Texas. The study employed qualitative interpretive methods to collect and analyze data. Research questions focused on the socialization experiences Hispanic entrepreneurs' reported, how they narrated the ways in which these experiences influenced their work-lives as entrepreneurs, and what they and their family members reported about the relationship between family and work. Results indicate Hispanic entrepreneurs were exposed to work at very young ages, acquired a variety of skills (e.g. sales and leadership) that transferred to their careers as entrepreneurs, and developed coping skills which helped them deal with business and personal hardships. Moreover, participants noted the ways in which faith, positive self-talk, and emotional labor played a role in their work lives. Finally, this research extends current constructions of care and what constitutes work and quality family time. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication 2012

Magister Commercii - MCom / Small business faces challenges of surviving amidst competition from established businesses, due to lack of resources and quality management. Hence many of these businesses do not last for long. Small businesses do not only need capital resources to succeed, but need intangible assets as well. These intangible resources are also called Human Capital, and include elements such as education, experience and motivation. This study has limited its focus to only one element of human capital, the experience of the owner or managers of the Supa Quick franchise. This research is undertaken to examine the perceptions of owners and managers on the impact of their experience and the franchise standard operating procedures (SOP) on the success of their franchise business. Furthermore, the study looks at factors that impede business performance, as well as other measures used by owners and managers to measure their business success, besides the normal financial measures used every day. In order to collect data, the qualitative method was employed using a questionnaire which consisted of open- and closed-ended questions in the form of 4 - point Likert scales type questions. The questionnaire was administered to 12 Supa Quick franchise owners and managers in the Cape Town Metropolitan areas and Stellenbosch. The findings indicated that more than 90 % of the studied Supa Quick owners and managers perceive experience as an important factor in influencing their business performance. Furthermore, 100% of them say that franchise SOP play a part in the success of their franchises. However, they have many different ways in which they measure success in their businesses and the factors that impede their business performance. The results of this research add to the current existing literature on improving business performance and success. Also, it will assist in guidance of entrepreneurs who want to start or buy franchise businesses.

The objective of this thesis is the comparison of competences and motivations of managers and entrepreneurs of various professions in relation to perfomance of managerial activity, and the focus on personality of executives of these two categories in psychological terms.