Search results

New small businesses are the cornerstone of many small rural communities. They provide needed products and services, new opportunities for employment, and general vitality. The economic impact these businesses have on their town and county are important indicators of an area’s success. The purpose of this paper is to examine newly started small businesses that are within three or four years of age or less, and examine factors that may have led to their success or failure. Here, sources of advice, means of financial support, and background experience of the firm’s founder have been found to be correlated with the business success.

The analysis using Probit regression yielded four models wherein female owners, family help with a business and Hispanic ownership had significant models predicting performance all of these were negative relationships. The factors correlated with business success as proposed are presented. Of course correlation does not imply causation, which means that the authors cannot be sure that a factor that is associated with business success will lead to business success. But, this is an important first step in determining whether there are significant differences between successful and unsuccessful businesses.

The findings showed that experience with previous business ownership had a distinct impact and the marketing efforts were also important for profitability. The other factors were not significant. A second phase to the analysis using Probit regression yielded four models wherein female owners, family help with a business and Hispanic ownership had significant models predicting performance all of these were negative relationships. This represents the difficulties that are encountered with these groups in garnering the support and financial means they need to succeed. It was also interesting that the use of a business plan did not help the businesses succeed.

Using a Probit Regression and χ² analysis of the data is the most appropriate and accurate analysis for a date set of this type. There is much more to be accomplished with rural entrepreneurship and the use of these techniques would be appropriate for this type of data.

Business plans are important for the business founder to predict potential costs and profits. In this study however, the authors did not find that having a business plan differentiated business’s performance. If it can be replicated, it will be important to find out what is unique about rural areas that lead to this finding. If business plans do not help, then what type of preplanning will help? If this finding is correct, business development agencies may wish to cut back resources devoted to writing a business plan, and devote them to other areas. Being a member of business network group also is not associated with business success.

The growth of rural entrepreneurial businesses is well documented. These businesses provide many social impacts to the local community not only by providing products or services need but also by providing employment. This research is imperative to providing the best success plan for these businesses as the proliferate.

There has been very little research on rural entrepreneurship. This study takes a unique look at a rural community and the success or failure of their businesses over a one-year period when most small businesses succeed or fail. There is much more to be done on examining the tools they need to be successful.

This paper examines what drives match-fixing in football and why some leagues collapse from corruption. Based on more than 220 interviews with players, referees, sports officials and law enforcement officers, the gambling industry and corrupters, three factors presented when high levels of match-fixing were observed: strong illegal gambling networks, high levels of relative exploitation of players, and perceived corrupt officials. Leagues collapsed if the public became aware of high-level corruption and an alternative market competitor was introduced.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the background and reasoning behind the June 18, 2007 US Supreme Court decision in Credit Suisse Securities (USA) v. Billing et al.

The paper explains the US District Court for the Southern District of New York's dismissal of two antitrust class action lawsuits filed against a group of investment banks in 2002, the reversal by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2005, and the Supreme Court's rejection of the Second Circuit's analysis in 2007.

The Court found that, due to the specialized knowledge required to parse the SEC's rules and distinguish permissible from prohibited conduct, there was a “serious risk” that antitrust courts would produce inconsistent results. The Court also expressed a concern that allowing antitrust claims here would weaken the heightened pleading requirements in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which Congress passed to weed out “umeritorious securities lawsuits.”

The decision undoubtedly will have important implications regarding the extent to which the antitrust laws may be applied to other conduct regulated by the securities laws, or in the context of other regulated industries.

The paper provides practical interpretation and guidance by experienced securities lawyers.

With an ever-expanding focus on reading and mathematics, many elementary schools have chosen to reduce time previously reserved for social studies. Elementary teachers who understand both the relevance of social studies content and the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teaching regularly incorporate applicable history-based children’s tradebooks in their curricula. Locating developmentally appropriate books is simple. Teaching history using children’s literature can be effective. It can be counterproductive, however, if the selected book is replete with historical misrepresentations. Teaching historical thinking in elementary school is problematic no matter what the teaching tool, and there are few methodological roadmaps for elementary teachers. Here, I first suggest ways for teachers to nurture elementary students’ historical thinking using anecdotes from everyday activities and literature with themes germane to history and multiculturalism. Then, I suggest ways for elementary educators to locate and develop engaging, age-appropriate, and historically accurate curricular supplements. Using literature on Christopher Columbus as a reference point to facilitate young students’ historical thinking, I propose an interdisciplinary approach, discipline-specific historical literacy strategies, and history-themed authentic assessments.

The novel coronavirus and associated restrictions have resulted in mental health services across the UK having to adapt how they deliver psychological assessments and interventions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the accessibility and prospective acceptability of providing telephone and videoconference-mediated psychological interventions in individuals with intellectual disabilities.

As part of a service evaluation, a mixed-methods questionnaire was developed and completed by clients who had been referred for psychological therapy at an adult intellectual disabilities’ community health service in the north of England. All clients were assessed using the Red/Amber/Green (RAG) system by a consultant clinical psychologist for risk and potential suitability for indirect service delivery given their ability and needs.

Overall, 22 clients were invited to take part, of which, only seven (32%) were accepting of telephone or videoconference-mediated psychological therapy. Most of the clients were unable to engage in video-conference therapy and therefore, only suitable for phone therapy. This paper presents the remaining findings and discusses the clinical implications and unique considerations for intellectual disability services drawing on the existing literature.

This is the first paper that the authors are aware of, examining videoconference-mediated psychological therapy in this population. It is hoped the data will be used to help inform practice or policy when using such therapeutic approaches in adults with an intellectual disability.

This article discusses how the concepts of exploration and exploitation are fruitful for understanding individual fantasies of escape from the demands of contemporary workplaces. We examine one influential articulation of such fantasies, namely the best-selling self-help book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” This book advocates that individuals outsource the bulk of the routine (“exploitation”) tasks of their lives, leaving themselves free for creativity, play, and leisure (“exploration”). In this way, a radical separation of exploitation and exploration at the individual level is proposed. We examine the meanings and contradictions of such ideas by discussing how they may function as powerful escape fantasies for those facing corporate overwork. However, we argue that the solution proposed is unsatisfactory because of its individualism, which fails to see the inherently social nature of work and life.

In the past few decades, relationship management (RM) theory and RM strategies in business-to-business (B2B) contexts have evolved tremendously, driven by constant innovation. Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand the trends and evolution of RM and relationship quality (RQ) in B2B contexts and empirical insights on RM and RQ in B2B, which in turn would provide insights into trends and future research directions.

Grounded on the industrial marketing and purchasing group, this study adopts a critical systematic literature review to provide a comprehensive analysis of the past, current and future trends in empirical research insights of RM and RQ in B2B markets.

This study provides some novel insights into RM in B2B context by using a multidimensional approach to RM and RQ and analyzing prior marketing research from three perspectives: the evolution of RM and RQ in B2B context; prior empirical research; and practical business insights. Overall, these perspectives inform the development of an evolving side of RQ in B2B contexts, leading to some predictions regarding the future of RM in B2B markets.

The exploratory results of this study shed light on the key factors that drive RQ and the importance of RM in B2B markets in the digital age where customers still long for human interaction regardless of the prevalence of advanced technology.

In the wake of advanced technologies and particularly, B2B companies had to turn to virtual platforms and embrace digital transformation to establish and manage their customer relationships. Yet, managing relationships via digital channels has its own challenges for both B2B practitioners and scholars. This indicates that there is still a huge need for attuned RM strategies that align with the changing environments – mainly driven by technological advancement – in B2B markets.