Small Business vulnerability to floods and the effects of disaster loans

In this paper, we examine the impacts of floods on businesses and the efficacy of small business administration (SBA) disaster loans on mitigating disaster aftereffects. We find lack of business adaptation to extreme events in the short term, indicating their extreme vulnerability to flood disasters. Our results further indicate that subsidized disaster loans are important for businesses, with statistically significant effects estimated for businesses employing fewer than 50 people. At the margin, for every additional dollar spent on disaster loans per establishment in a county, four small businesses survive. Gloomy projections about increasing frequency and severity of disasters imply there will be significant loss in local economic activities because of increased vulnerability of small businesses to these incidents. Moreover, these effects will have implications nationwide, given the vital role small businesses play in creating jobs.     

我国旅游业信息化服务模式探讨

信息化服务是现代旅游服务企业的主要特征,本文根据旅游业信息化服务存在的一些问题,特别是针对小规模旅游企业的现状,提出了适合这些企业开展的信息化服务模式框架,即W-C-I模式。     

市场承载力与旅游可持续发展研究

旅游环境承载力理论致力于探讨旅游活动的极限值,目的是将旅游活动的规模(或强度)控制在旅游环境可承载的范围之内,避免旅游环境出现"不可接受的变化"。目前,旅游业欠发达地区面临的问题在于旅游活动远未达到环境承载力之前,其旅游发展就遇到"玻璃天花板"。导致这一现象的原因是旅游地的市场承载力不足,只有通过拓展环境承载力和拓展市场承载力,才能促进欠发达地区旅游业的可持续发展。     

Navigating Strategic Inflection Points

In this first of the 1997 Stockton Lectures, the speaker reflects on the turning points which can make or break even the strongest of businesses. How can managers distinguish a "Strategic Inflection Point" from the normal hurly–burly of corporate life? What generic series of actions are necessary to convert the threats of change into opportunities? What are the implications for managers as individuals with their own careers and responsibility for the careers of those working under them? Throughout the article the generic issues are illustrated with examples ranging from small–town retailing to X–ray vision.     

Aligning Private Business Development and Economic Growth in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the different factors that have influenced the development of new types of entrepreneurship in Nigeria since 1986. It analyzes the problems Nigerians confront in trying to run small businesses as a result of the structural adjustment policy that was proposed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and adopted by the military government in 1986. The major questions addressed in this study are: what are the economic and political situations in Nigeria between 1980-1997 and how have these situations forced the people of the nation to be entrepreneurs? What obstacles do entrepreneurs face in starting small businesses in Nigeria? What are the different types of entrepreneurship that have resulted in Nigeria due to the structural adjustment policies of this period?

The paper demonstrates that economic difficulties were the major reasons for those who started their business between 1986 and 1995 in Nigeria. This supports the notion that entrepreneurship should not be viewed as a function of opportunity but rather as a function of cultural perception of opportunity and the need to maintain continuous family income. Policy implication and topics for future research are discussed.     

The Sustainability of Social Capital within Ethnic Networks

This paper examines informal networks that support the British Asianbusiness community. Ethnic communities have been crucial to facilitatingthe economic development of their migrant members, as they make thetransition from economic refugees to citizens. The basis of thisinformal support is the notion of social capital offered to kinsmen whoarrived with finite resources. However, as successive generations havebecome more integrated with the wider community reliance on theseresources is forecast to decrease. Research has shown that subsequentAsian generations are developing complex relations in their attitudesand reliance towards their ethnic community (Janjuha-Jivraj and Woods,2002) it is still an area that is very active in providing crucialinformal business support. There is however, a distinct difference inattitudes between first and second generations in terms of acceptingbusiness support from the ethnic community. This issue is furthercompounded by difficulties among external support agencies inpenetrating ethnic businesses. This leads to the following questions: ? What forms of social capital are evident and how important are they in sustaining relationships within the religious-ethnic community? ? How crucial is the ethnic community in providing an infrastructure to offer support. This paper is based on a network of businesses that are members of a sub-group across Greater London. It is anticipated that the findings will help to unravel the impact of migratory bonds on community members. This in turn will provide useful information for service providers when considering how to successfully target ethnic businesses.     

A fresh look at industry and market analysis

Today's strange, new business world needs an augmented model of industry and market analysis that reflects recent developments in industry dynamics, such as globalization, entrepreneurship, technological advances, and the Internet. Here we present such an updated model, built on and expanding the basic premises that underlie Porter's Five Competitive Forces Model. And we offer suggestions for how managers can position their businesses for success in the current competitive environment.     

北京旅游行业数据中心建设

目前,北京旅游行业存在着信息过于分散、信息系统异构情况严重的问题。建立旅游行业数据中心,能够将各旅游企业内部分散的、异构的数据以规范的格式进行存储,并且对行业内各种IT业务进行整合,可以为旅游行业的信息化建设做出方向性的指导,从根本上改变现在旅游行业各IT系统之间各自为政的现状。研究表明,数据中心建设是旅游行业信息化发展的必然选择;是旅游行业实现信息资源集成整合、充分共享、有效利用,充分发挥和挖掘信息资源价值的必须手段;是提高决策管理的科学性、高效性,创新管理、不断提高决策管理人员素质的必要工具;更是时代的要求、行业改革与发展的需要。     

More than you think: An inclusive estimate of business entries

The Wells Fargo/NFIB Series on Business Entries and Exits collected data throughout 1995 from 36,000 households regarding the business formation activity occurring among adults within those households. After adjusting for the 1.37 owners per firm and the 10% of households with more than one entry, there were an estimated 4.553-million business entries in the 12-month period involving 6.211 million active owners. Seventy-eight and one-half (78.5) percent of those businesses were de novo starts, 20.0% purchases, and the remainder other forms of entry (including missing responses). Most of the entries were quite small whether started or purchased.The number of business entries is significantly larger than prior estimates. However, the 4.553-million figure, when dissected into component parts, is consistent with other measures of business entry. The primary reason for the larger estimate is that this research was able to capture the significant number of very small entries that either do not appear in other databases or appear only after a substantial delay.These new data offer a significantly expanded view of the American business population and its dynamics. More specifically, they provide quantification of the smaller end of the entry scale, thereby introducing new population distributions and raising fundamental research and marketing questions about the unit of analysis (What is a business?) What constitutes a reasonable survey sample? To what population do we generalize survey data? What are the market segments of the small-business population, and how do they differ? What are the public policy requirements of these segments, and how do they coincide and conflict? And, what do real entry numbers tell us about the operation of the American economy on both a secular and cyclical basis?The foregoing are obvious. However, there are more subtle and perhaps more interesting questions. For example, the more people try to go into business for themselves, the more our collective (American) experience is influenced by the experience of business ownership. Small business draws enormous empathy from the American public; few Americans institutions are as popular. This is obviously a complex phenomenon. However, one explanation for its popularity is that so many Americans are exposed to business ownership either personally or through someone they know. Part of this research not yet published shows that small-business ownership pervades every class, income category, racial grouping, etc. The penetration of business formation into the American experience, therefore, is not only deep, it is also broad. And when its dimensions are so great, the remaining issue is not the existence of influence but its degree.If there are more starts than previously recognized, there must also be more exits. And, if there are more exits, the dynamics of the business entry-exit process become even more tumultuous than previously recognized. Particularly for those interested in either policy or management, the question becomes, “Why is exit so common?” One path of inquiry leads to motivation for entry, including career alternatives and income supplementation. To what extent do people intend to grow their businesses and to what extent do they intend their businesses to fill financial, occupational, or time gaps until something better comes along? Another path of inquiry leads to resources. Do resource constraints or constraints of other natures impede business development? Then there is the issue of preparation. How well-prepared are entrants? And, what reasonable steps can be taken to improve their assessments of potential opportunities or to effectively implement plans to capitalize on them? These are not necessarily new issues. But they become more conspicuous and pressing when the large number of exits is appreciated.The technique used to capture these data at a reasonable cost is called an “omnibus” or “caravan” survey. This survey technique is not well-known outside the commercial survey industry, but it presents considerable opportunity for researchers either with limited budgets or desirous of asking fewer than 10–15-minutes' worth of questions from a sample of the adult population. Its advantage is financial. Multiple sponsors can ask a limited number of proprietary questions at their own expense. But they then share the costs and results of reaching respondents and of asking the demographic questions, for example, age or sex of respondent. The current research posed two screen questions to all 36,000 households interviewed. The sponsors paid for those 72,000 questions. But only about 2,000 respondents passed one of the screens. These respondents were led through several more questions. Thus, the sponsors paid just for the screen questions and those questions administered to the 2,000. An extensive set of demographic data about the respondents was thrown in “free.”     

Failure Rates for Female‐Controlled Businesses: Are They Any Different?

Previous research has found that female-owned businesses generally underperform male-owned businesses on a variety of measures such as revenue, profit, growth, and discontinuance (failure) rates. It has been suggested that this finding might be the result of systematic differences between male- and female-owned businesses, particularly industry differences. This paper analyzes data from a representative sample of 8,375 small and medium-sized Australian enterprises that originally were surveyed in 1994–95, with follow-up surveys in each of the subsequent three years for a subsample of businesses. The aim was to determine whether female-owned businesses exhibit higher failure rates than male-owned businesses and, if so, whether this finding persists after controlling for industry differences. The results suggest that while female-owned businesses do have higher failure rates compared to male-owned businesses, the difference is not significant after controlling for the effects of industry.     

Fostering International Technology Transfer Through Climate Technology Networks Between European and Latin American Universities

Based on experiences gained in the frame of a networking scheme that involves universities from Latin America and Europe, this article addresses international technology transfer (ITT) of climate technology through networks bridging current knowledge and technology gaps between academia, businesses, authorities, and civil society. It is argued that higher education institutions (HEIs) can make a substantial contribution to a sustainable socioeconomic development in Latin America (LA) and at the same time reduce its social vulnerability to climate change impacts. Most research and development in LA is carried out in HEIs, not in industry. Consequently, research agendas are uncoupled from business needs, and university research remains largely uncommercialized. Further, spillover effects, which may benefit businesses in the home country, remain limited. This article raises some opportunities for Latin American HEIs to drive the improvement of local adaptive capacity through ITT and creation of the corresponding capacities, especially in terms of research and development, consultancy, and qualification of human capital in the field of climate technologies. It is argued that climate change poses many challenges to all sectors of society, and the improved international transfer of knowledge and climate technology may result in reducing social and economic vulnerability to future climate impacts in LA. Finally, some recommendations are given that may support current efforts to reduce the overall vulnerability to climate impacts through fostering the social and economic development in Latin America by means of ITT.     

Capital structure decision making: A model for family business

Most theoretical and empirical studies of capital structure focus on public corporations. Only a limited number of studies on capital structure have been conducted on small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs), and this deficiency is particularly evident in investigations into factors that influence funding decisions of family business owners.Theory indicates that there is a complex array of factors that influence SME owner-managers' financing decisions. Recent family business literature suggests that these processes are influenced by firm owners' attitudes toward the utility of debt as a form of funding as moderated by external environmental conditions (e.g., financial and market considerations).A number of other factors have been shown to influence financing decisions including culture; entrepreneurial characteristics; entrepreneurs' prior experiences in capital structure; business goals; business life-cycle issues; preferred ownership structures; views regarding control, debt–equity ratios, and short- vs. long-term debt; age and size of the firm; sources of funding for growth; attitudes toward debt financing; issues relating to independence and control; and perceived risk and attitudes toward personal risk.Although these factors have been identified, until now there does not appear to have been any attempts to develop empirically-based models that show relationships between these factors and family business owners' financing decisions. Utilizing theories derived from divergent disciplines, this study develops an empirically tested structural equation model of financing antecedents of family businesses. Participants of our study involved a random sample of 5000 business owners who were mailed a 250-item Australian Family and Private Business questionnaire developed specifically for this investigation.Notably, our findings reveal that firm size, family control, business planning, and business objectives are significantly associated with debt. Small family businesses and owners who do not have formal planning processes in place tend to rely on family loans as a source of finance. However, family businesses in the service industry (e.g., retailers and wholesalers) are less likely to use family loans as are those owners who are planning to achieve growth through new products or process development. Use of capital and retained profits is likely for family businesses planning to achieve growth through an increase in sales but less is likely for family businesses in the manufacturing sector and lifestyle firms. In addition, debt and family loans are negatively related to capital and retained profits. Equity is a consideration for owners of large businesses, young firms, and owners who plan to achieve growth through increasing profit margins. However, equity is less likely to be a consideration for older family business owners and owners who have a preference for retaining family control.Our findings suggest that the interplay between multiple social, family, and financial factors is complex. In addition, our findings indicate the importance of utilizing theories that also help to explain behavioral factors (e.g., owners' needs to be in control) that affect financial structure decision-making processes. Practitioners and researchers should consider the dynamic interplay among business characteristics (e.g., size or industry), behavioral aspects of business financing (e.g., business objectives), and financial factors (e.g., gearing levels) when working with and researching family enterprises.     

Teddy bears

This is a story of an iconic toy, the Teddy Bear. What makes Teddy Bears so special? The paper ponders this question by way of reflecting the author's lifelong relation to her own Teddy. The result of this reflection is that it is Teddies’ cuteness, bearness and softness as well as their unique role as intimate bedmates that makes them so special. Altogether, it seems that the secret behind Teddy Bears’ success is that they manifest and embody human vulnerability.     

Consumer acceptance of quick-cooking rice as food for use in a disaster

The consumer acceptability of a Philippine cultivar quick-cooking rice (QCR) as food for use in a disaster was studied. Test feeding in an evacuation centre involved random selection of 50 young adults and adult evacuees, rehydration of QCR and distribution of test rice samples for sensory evaluation test. The sensory evaluation results showed that more than 90% of the evacuee participants found the colour, texture, taste and overall qualities of the rehydrated QCR to be acceptable. Eighty per cent of the participants described the rehydrated rice to be adequately soft and neither undercooked nor overcooked. The test QCR samples were described by the community kitchen personnel of the evacuation centre as easy to prepare, requiring minimum cooking time and exhibiting homogeneity in doneness when cooked.     

我国金融服务外包发展趋势及对黑龙江省的启示

目前,我国金融服务外包业务仍处于成长阶段,承接金融外包能力有待提升。我国金融服务外包业正面临着外包规模扩大、外包产业集聚效应增强、承接外包的区域向二线城市转移、外包的内容将向知识流程深化的趋势。这一趋势所带来的启示是:黑龙江省应将发展金融服务外包做为转变经济发展方式的重要内容,纳入战略性新兴产业发展规划。同时,要鼓励省内大型金融企业开展外包并逐步扩大规模、建立金融服务外包园区、以提高竞争能力;利用区位优势和成本优势,承接国际业务,实现经济的再次腾飞。     

Customer Relationship Management: A Comparative Analysis of Family and Nonfamily Business Practices*

It has been reported that family businesses perceive excellent customer service as critical to the future of their businesses. However, little research into the customer relationship management (CRM) practices of family businesses has been performed. In this study, we examine CRM implementation among 82 family and 370 nonfamily firms. Family and nonfamily businesses report similar attitudes toward the importance of CRM, their knowledge of CRM, and their success when they do implement it. However, using a logit regression model, we find that the actual implementation strategies of family businesses are significantly different from those of nonfamily businesses. These results remain constant when controlling for size and industry sector.     

Exploring start-up event sequences

This research analyzed new venture start-up activities undertaken by 71 nascent entrepreneurs. Nascent entrepreneurs are individuals who were identified as taking steps to found a new business but who had not yet succeeded in making the transition to new business ownership. Longitudinal data for the study comes from a secondary data analysis of two representative samples, one of 683 adult residents in Wisconsin (Reynolds and White 1993) and the other of 1016 adult residents of the United States (Curtin 1982). These surveys were conducted between 1992 and 1993, and the nascent entrepreneurs were reinterviewed six to 18 months after their initial interview.Three broad questions were addressed: (1) What activities do nascent entrepreneurs initiate in attempting to establish a new business? (2) How many activities do nascent entrepreneurs initiate during the gestation of the start-up? and (3) When are particular activities initiated or completed?Between the first and second interview, 48% of the nascent entrepreneurs reported they had set up a business in operation. Over 20% had given up and were no longer actively trying to establish a business. Almost a third of the respondents reported they were still trying to establish a firm.As a way to summarize the results and as a springboard toward some insights into the implications of this research for practice and future research, we developed the following activity profiles of the three types of nascent entrepreneurs studied. These profiles are offered as a combination of both fact and some intuition about the findings.STARTED A BUSINESS. Nascent entrepreneurs who were able to start a business were more aggressive in making their businesses real. They undertook activities that made their businesses tangible to others: they looked for facilities and equipment, sought and got financial support, formed a legal entity, organized a team, bought facilities and equipment, and devoted full time to the business. Individuals who started businesses seemed to act with a greater level of intensity. They undertook more activities than those individuals who did not start a business. The pattern of activities seem to indicate that individuals who started firms put themselves into the day-to-day process of running an ongoing business as quickly as they could and that these activities resulted in starting firms that generated sales (94% of the entrepreneurs) and positive cash flow (50% of the entrepreneurs). What is not known is how successful or profitable these new firms will be over time. For example, 50% of the firms that were started had not reached positive cash flow and these firms may have been started by individuals who were foolhardy and rushed into operation of a business that would not be sustainable.GAVE UP. The pattern of activities for the group of entrepreneurs who gave up seem to indicate that these entrepreneurs discovered that their initial idea for their businesses would not lead to success. The finding that the activity of developing a model or prototype differentiated individuals who gave up from those who were still trying would suggest that those who gave up had “tested” their ideas out and found that they would not work according to their expectations. Nascent entrepreneurs who gave up seemed to be similar in their activity patterns compared with those who started their firms, that is, individuals who gave up pursued the activities of creating a business in an aggressive manner at the beginning of the process. But as the business unfolded over time, these entrepreneurs decreased their activities and then ceased start-up activities. This group of individuals might be seen as either having the wisdom to test their ideas out before jumping into something that might lead to failure or lacking the flexibility to find more creative ways to solve the problems that they were confronted with.STILL TRYING. It would seem that those who are still trying are not putting enough effort into the start-up process in order to find out whether they should start the business or give up. Those still trying had undertaken fewer activities than individuals in the other two groups. The still trying entrepreneurs were devoting their short-term efforts toward activities internal to the start-up process (e.g., saving money and preparing a plan) and less effort toward activities that would make the business real to others. The still trying entrepreneurs may be all talk and little action. Or these still trying entrepreneurs might be involved in developing businesses that take longer for these particular opportunities to unfold. (It should be noted that there was no industry effect across the three groups.)Our advice to individuals considering business start-up is that the results seem to provide evidence that nascent entrepreneurs should aggressively pursue opportunities in the short-term, because they will quickly learn that these opportunities will either reveal themselves as worthy of start-up or as poor choices that should be abandoned. Individuals who do not devote the time and effort to undertaking the activities necessary for starting a business may find themselves perennially still trying, rather than succeeding or failing.What entrepreneurs do in their day-to-day activities matters. The kinds of activities that nascent entrepreneurs undertake, the number of activities, and the sequence of these activities have a significant influence on the ability of nascent entrepreneurs to successfully create new ventures. This study suggests that the behaviors of nascent entrepreneurs who have successfully started a new venture can be identified and differentiated from the behaviors of nascent entrepreneurs who failed. We believe that future studies will more precisely identify the kinds of behaviors appropriate for certain new venture conditions. If such contingency information can be generated, entrepreneurship research is likely to have significant benefits for entrepreneurship practice, education, and public policy.     

An examination of the substitutability of founders human and financial capital in emerging business ventures

Undoubtedly, access to financial capital and other resources is an important antecedent of new venture performance. Indeed, inadequate financial resources often are cited as a primary reason why emerging businesses fail (Barren 1989; McQueen 1989; Otterbourg 1989; Rujoub, Cook, and Hay 1995). Yet, there is some feeling among scholars that competent founders will find a way of coming up with necessary resources and capital Chandler and Hanks 1994, Timmons 1990, Thorne 1989. In this study, we seek to better understand and provide insight into the factors that determine the amount of money needed to start a business, and the factors that drive the decisions of whether such funding should come from founder savings or from outside sources.We explore two questions: (1) What factors are associated with the amount of initial capital raised? and (2) What factors determine the mix of founder savings versus financial capital from outside sources that create the initial capital structure? We seek to answer these questions using a sample of 102 manufacturing and service firms between 3 and 7 years of age. These firms were categorized as manufacturing, retail, wholesale, and business services. In general, the evidence supports our hypotheses. The amount of financial capital at start-up varies by industry. Of key importance in this study, human and financial capital appear to be substitutable. The analysis shows that, on average, firms with high levels of founder human capital and low levels of initial financial capital perform similarly to firms that have low levels of founder human capital and high levels of financial capital. Subgroup analysis provides insights into the degree of substitutability. This finding suggests that founders with strong background experience may be able to start businesses that survive and thrive with less financial capital than their less experienced counterparts.The proportion of initial capital provided by the founder differs significantly across industry types. In more capital intensive industries, founders provide a smaller proportion of the start-up capital. Interestingly, the amount of initial capital provided by the founder does not vary significantly across industry types. This suggests that the amount of initial capital provided by the founder may result from contributing all they can give to the business, which appears to be similar across business types. Finally, founders’ perceptions of their ability to recognize and take advantage of opportunity are positively related to the proportion of initial capital provided by the founder. This research provides insights into the factors that appear to drive the initial capital intensity and structure. To provide better understanding of this phenomenon, future research could investigate such practices as bootstrapping, asset sharing, or other techniques that allow founders to control resources without requiring ownership.     

The Relationship between Written Business Plans and the Failure of Small Businesses in the U.S.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of planning on U.S. small business failures. A "failure" was defined as a bankruptcy with losses to creditors; firms with fewer than 500 employees were considered "small." Recently failed firms were selected randomly and matched with non-failed firms on the basis of age, size, industry, and location. The sampling frame was businesses listed in the Dun & Bradstreet credit reporting database. A paired-sample t -test was used to investigate differences between the failed firms and matched non-failed firms. The main conclusion was that very little formal planning goes on in U.S. small businesses; however, non-failed firms do more planning than similar failed firms did prior to failure.