Small Business in America: A Historiographic Survey

1991 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansel G. Blackford
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Current State ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Small businesses have held a paradoxical position in U.S. history: their particular forms and structures have received little scholarly attention compared to that devoted to big business, yet they have always been a significant part—social and cultural, as well as economic and political—of American life. This essay discusses the changing views on the role of small-scale enterprise in the United States, outlines the current state of historical research, and suggests profitable areas for future study.

Accounting and Marketing—Key Small Business Problems

1983 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Wichmann
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Administration ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
Business Failure ◽  
Business Managers

The Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that small businesses represent 97 percent of all businesses in the United States [5, p. 1]. The SBA defines a small business as “one that is not dominate in its field.” While the ma and pa shops fall within this definition, much larger firms are considered small under SBA criteria. The owner-managers of these small firms face unique problems—success or failure is keyed to solving these problems. Each year in the United States, some 500,000 new businesses start and 400,000 businesses discontinue operations [1, p. 47]. These discontinuances are not all due to business failure (a bankrupt firm). Some small firms are merged with larger companies, while the spark of life leaves other small firms because the owner retires without a son or daughter to take over the reins of leadership. The purpose of this article is to aid small business managers by (1) reviewing the process of beginning a business, (2) identifying some of the attributes that characterize a successful or unsuccessful small business, and (3) discussing small firms’ problems common to the frontier states of Alaska and Wyoming.

scholarly journals Do Performance Goals and Development, Feedback and Recognition, and a Climate of Trust Improve Employee Engagement in Small Businesses in the United States?

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Tywanda D. Tate ◽  
Franklin M. Lartey ◽  
Phillip M. Randall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Performance Goals ◽  
Overall Performance

Small businesses are the predominant contributors to the U.S. economy, yet they face many challenges to remain competitive and sustainable. There are several reasons a small business could fail, including a lack of human resources, limited financial resources, competition, technological advancements, disaster, and globalization. Improving employee performance by getting them engaged and productive in their work is an issue that cannot be overlooked for small businesses to function and remain competitive. There is limited empirical evidence that explains the dimensions of performance management and employee engagement in small businesses. However, how small businesses sustain their long-term performance remains uncertain. This study sought to bring together two previously distinct constructs: overall employee engagement and overall performance management, characterized by performance goals and development, a climate of trust, and feedback and recognition. The research was correlational in nature. A survey was conducted to generate and analyze data gathered from 121 employees of small businesses located in the United States. A series of Pearson correlation analyses confirmed the existence of statistically significant positive relationships between employee engagement and each variable of performance management, namely performance goals and development, feedback and recognition, and climate of trust. Notwithstanding these positive correlations, a multiple regression model with the three performance management variables as independent variables and employee engagement as the dependent variable suggested that there was a statistically significant regression model F(3, 117) = 32.34, p < .001, R2 = .453, explaining 45.3% of the variability in employee engagement. Nonetheless, this model confirmed that the variables performance goals and development and climate of trust were not statistically significant in the model (p > .05). In other words, only the feedback and recognition variable was statistically significant in the regression model, suggesting that it explained most of the variability in engagement, including that already explained by the other two variables. Overall, the outcome of this study suggests that small businesses implementing performance management processes have more engaged employees. The conclusions drawn from these findings suggest that overall performance management and overall employee engagement contribute to small business productivity and organizational success.

scholarly journals Avanços e limites na historiografia da legislação urbanística no Brasil

2001 ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Feldman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S

Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a produção recente no campo da história da legislação urbanística no Brasil, procurando detectar avanços e limites para a reflexão sobre desenvolvimento urbano e práticas urbanísticas. O texto organiza-se em três eixos analíticos. Em primeiro lugar, procura-se situar os trabalhos no processo de disseminação de estudos da história urbana no Brasil, vinculando-os ao movimento de ampliação do território da história que ocorre na Europa e nos Estados Unidos, a partir dos anos 60, com a chamada História Nova. Em segundo, baseado em um panorama da produção recente, são detectadas as vertentes dominantes e emergentes nos trabalhos sobre legislação. Em terceiro, são discutidos dois aspectos que se configuram como lacunas na historiografia da legislação: o lugar ocupado pelas normas, a partir do momento em que idéias e práticas urbanísticas têm um espaço institucionalizado na administração pública; e o lugar dos pressupostos modernistas na legislação brasileira, visto que o movimento modernista formula a proposta de um novo sistema legal para o urbanismo.Palavras-chave: legislação urbanística; história; movimento moderno. Abstract: This paper analyses recent developments in the history of Brazilian urban legislation, pointing out the progress made and limits faced, as a basis for reflection in the debate on urban development and planning practice. The analysis is divided into three parts. The first relates the dissemination of urban historical research in Brazil to the expansion of the field of history which began in the 1960s with the "New History" movement in Europe and the United States. The second part sets out the dominant and emerging approaches to urban legislation. Finally, there is a discussion of two aspects that are seen as gaps in the history of urban legislation: the role of norms, as the ideas and practices of urban planning become institutionalised within public administration, and the influences of modernist ideas on Brazilian urban legislation, taking into account that the modern movement proposes a new legal system for urban planning.Keywords: urban legislation; history; modernist movement.

scholarly journals Black Cowboys In the American West: A Historiographical Review

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-89
Author(s):  
David Goldstein-Shirley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
American West ◽  
The United States ◽  
Half Century ◽  
History Texts ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Few subjects in the ethnic experience of the United States are as fraught with mythology and misinformation as black cowboys. Although absent from most classic history texts of the American West, black cowboys probably constituted about a quarter of the working cowboys in the nineteenth century, although q uantitative data to establish a number are lacking. This essay reviews the historiography of black cowboys published during the last half-century, noting how much of it is marred either by glossing over the presence of black cowboys or by credulously repeating estimates of their numbers established by earlier work. The essay speculates whether such problematic scholarship stems from unacknowledged prejudice among mainstream historians or from carelessness and calls for more and improved scholarly attention to the role of African American cowboys in the American West.

scholarly journals Small Business Entrepreneurships In The United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
RamMohan R. Yallapragada ◽  
Mohammad Bhuiyan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Service Information ◽  
Qualified Personnel

A small business entrepreneur is defined as an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principal purpose of profit and growth. Small businesses constitute an increasingly large proportion of businesses generally in the United States economy. They account for 39 per cent of the United States gross national product and create two out of every three new jobs in our economy. Seven important prerequisites are identified as being necessary for successfully operating a small business. These include adequate financing, qualified personnel, efficient operation and production, marketing and sales, customer service, information management and administration. One of the most significant contributors to failure of a small business relates to acquisition of adequate capital. Small Business Administration (SBA) was established by Federal Government in 1953 to provide low interest loans to small business borrowers that would not otherwise have access to credit. However, there is some criticism that these SBA programs unfairly benefit, not the small businesses, but the financial institutions that participate in the SBA loan programs. Another significant source of debt financing to small businesses is known as micro-financing, started as new wave in providing capital to small businesses by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Small Business Owners’ Perception of Balanced Scorecard for Business Survival and Growth

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 14-33
Author(s):  
Dr. Emad Ahmed ◽  
Dr. Medhat Alsafadi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Small Business Owners ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Business Survival ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) defines Small Business Enterprises (SMEs) business establishments that are independently owned managed or operated. Small business organization indicates that some of them have found the Balanced Scorecard to be very significant in boosting general performance in two key perspectives: higher complexity and management capability and drives change and enhance rapid growth. However, in the recent past, there has been increased study on the adoption of BSC in small organizations. The objective of this study was to determine the how small business owners in the United States perceive the aspects of balance score card in regard to business survivability, growth and competitiveness. Hypotheses that were to be answered include H1: Small business owners’ perceive learning and growth as the most significant perspective for their business survival, growth, and competitiveness beside the financial perspective. H2: Small business owners’ perceive customers as the most significant perspective for business growth, survival, and competitiveness. H3: Small businesses owners perceive internal business processes as the most significant perspective for their business growth, survival, and competitiveness. The philosophy adopted is positivist with explanatory and descriptive strategies. The approach of the research is quantitative using ANOVA analysis. The 100 sample companies were selected from the Best 100 small business in the SBA website and survey questionnaire sent online to this selected companies. The result of the research indicated that the most significant Balanced Scorecard perspective is the customer. At the end of the research, it was deciphered that all initiatives that the small business listed in SBA undertake when applying the BSC, customer focus is always the guiding force. Therefore, it can be stated overly that there a significant positive perception of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool to enhance growth and survivability among small businesses.

scholarly journals An Overview of the Current State of Human Issues in Horticulture in the United States

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia I. Lohr ◽  
Paula Diane Relf
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
United States ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Gardens ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Plant Sciences

Throughout history, plants have been used to benefit people. In the United States, formal research to document the impacts of plants on people was not published until the 1970s, when papers from social and medical scientists began to appear. In the 1990s, symposia, including the first on “The Role of Horticulture in Human Well-being and Social Development,” brought people together from around the world to share and expand their knowledge in this emerging field. Symposium participants have included researchers in the social sciences and plant sciences, practitioners in horticultural therapy, teachers in colleges and public gardens, industry representatives applying the knowledge, and more. This has formed the basis for current activities in research, teaching, and practice throughout the United States. Examples from research that now documents a variety of beneficial impacts of plants on people are discussed.

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