Browsing by Subject "Small Business"
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Item Formal Training in Nascent Small U.S. Firms and Its Impact on Organization Level Performance(2014-05) Hanson, ChristopherSmall business firms play an increasingly important role in the economic and social well-being of the global community. In the US over 98% of all businesses employ fewer than 100 people (Heneman & Berkley, 1999). In the United Kingdom (UK), 99.8% of all businesses have fewer than 50 employees (BIS, 2011). While small firms have a significant impact on our economic and social well-being, there is a high failure rate. Finding ways to increase the survival and success rate of small businesses will have a significant positive impact on our economy and communities. We know that formal training in large businesses contributes to increased productivity, and ultimately increased organizational performance, but there is little research on the use of, or impact of formal training in small businesses. The lack of longitudinal data on the use of formal training in small businesses is one of the main stated reasons for the lack of research and understanding in this area. This research uses data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, the largest longitudinal survey of nascent small businesses ever conducted, and multivariate linear mixed modeling to look at the impact over time of formal training on organization level performance in those businesses. The results show a significant impact in profits, asset levels, and profit margin for those small businesses that did formal training. The results also show significant differences in the number of employees, asset levels and additional human resource activities between those firms doing formal training and those not doing formal training. The two major conclusions are: Formal training has a significant positive impact on organizational performance, and not all small businesses are the same.Item Internationalization of small business: multiple case studies of successful small business managers in Sri Lanka.(2009-09) Hewapathirana, Gertrude IranganieInternationalization of small business through relationships was the focus of this research. The purpose was to identify how international business relationships were initiated, built, and maintained and what values and competencies were practiced by successful and award-winning small business owner-managers in Sri Lanka. The multiple case study method was used with a phenomenological approach to analyze in-depth qualitative data collected from face-to-face interviews. The three research questions were: 1) How were international business relationships initiated, built, and maintained by Sri Lankan SB owner-managers?, 2) What business relationship competencies did Sri Lankan SB owner-managers demonstrate as they engaged in international business relationships? and 3) What did Sri Lankan SB owner-managers value as they engaged in international business relationships? The data were triangulated using documents and interviews with business experts in selecting information-rich cases. Sri Lankan SB managers experienced that close friendships have many benefits in expanding their markets, products, technological innovations, and knowledge of business partners and markets. They initiated friendships through family and friends. Later such friendships were expanded to new clients with the help of their business dyads. Their lived experience is painted through the major theme that "relationships in business are like a family." Within this theme, there were three major essences: "profit is not the only motive," "do the best, give the best, and tell the truth," and "continuity of friendship means continuity of business." These findings show positive impacts of friendships on international business. Acquiring and using appropriate knowledge, personalities that made them like families, skills, behaviors, and mutually beneficial relational strategies in international business were the relational competencies. The research participants value establishing and continuing mutually beneficial relationships as an essential part of their businesses to avoid conflicts on issues in internationalization of their SBs. This research witnessed that SB managers have the capability to be sustained in international markets. Building family-like relationships took a long time because there were no educational programs designed to develop relational competencies. I argue that relationships in business bring many benefits. Identifying positive and negative factors of relationships is an important topic for further research.