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Browsing by Subject "small business"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Equity in Banking and Lending - Project Findings and Next Steps
    (2021-08) Mbali, John; Williamson, Aaron S.; Arika, Jessica; Martinez Gavina, Blanca
    The community is poised to address issues related to disparities in access and quality of banking & lending options and solutions for African Americans in North Minneapolis in particular. This project seeks to understand the dynamics of barriers, assets, and potential solutions related to banking and lending specifically for African American-owned small businesses in North Minneapolis. In assessing this issue, the Capstone team and community partners hope this will be the starting point in a collaborative effort including the banking & business community to address some of the issues raised in this research project.
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    Exploring Entrepreneurial Networking in Small Hospitality Businesses in Malaysia
    (2018-08) Jonathan, Victoria
    Entrepreneurial networking is increasingly viewed as a contributing factor to small firm business sustainability. Despite a growing literature on the topic, small firm research shows the need to explore further into the contents and dynamics of network interaction. Since networking relationships are contextual in nature, more empirical studies are needed in specific contexts (i.e. culture, industry) to extend our understanding of successful networking relationships in small firms. The purpose of this study is to identify drivers and outcomes of networking participation among entrepreneurs of small hospitality providers. This study employed a qualitative, multiple case study design. Ten entrepreneurs and managers were interviewed for the study. Results showed the importance of social networking among small firm entrepreneurs and further extended previous research to identify specific motivators, barriers, strategies, competencies and personal characteristics as well as outcomes of networking participation. This study also proposes a framework for entrepreneurial networking participation based on the current findings and existing literature. The study concludes with a discussion of practical and future implications.
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    Status of the Minnesota Logging Sector in 2021
    (University of Minnesota, 2023-09) Blinn, Charles R.; Nolle, David A.
    Logging businesses in Minnesota have been surveyed intermittently since the late 1970s to assess their status and health. A mail survey was conducted in spring 2022 to assess the status of Minnesota’s logging sector during 2021. The survey was a follow up to previous surveys, the most recent of which were conducted in 2016 and 2011. A total of 162 usable responses were received (50.5% usable response rate). Many of the reported findings from the two prior surveys were repeated in this survey. For example, businesses and equipment continue to age. The average amount of capital invested in a business is under $500,000. County forests, private woodlands, and the State of Minnesota were the most important sources of stumpage. Winter harvesting produces about half (53%) of the total annual volume harvested. Feller-bunchers and grapple skidders were the most common in-woods equipment. While there are many small volume logging businesses in Minnesota, collectively they produce a small percentage of the total annual harvest. Most harvest sites were within 60 miles of the business’ location. Minnesota’s logging businesses faced new challenges in 2021 with the Covid-19 pandemic, mill closures and a shortage of truck drivers. Higher volume logging businesses tended to be more negatively impacted by each of those three challenges. While many businesses were impacted, approximately 81% reported that their business at least broke-even in 2021. The most commonly cited concerns were the lack/loss of markets, difficulty in securing labor, rising costs for everything (e.g., stumpage, equipment, parts, fuel, labor), delivered prices which were relatively flat, regulations which hurt the industry, and displeasure that mills increased their competition for stumpage at auctions as that took away potential timber sales from small businesses.