Abstract
In the United States, microenterprises, critical segment of the small business population, accounts for 110 million small businesses that source new jobs. Despite the increase in the number of created businesses in the USA, more than 70% of microenterprise business owners are unsuccessful after 2 years. The multiple case study included 6 participants living in Houston, Texas, and intended to explore business strategies microenterprise event management owners used to succeed in business beyond 2 years. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was the 5-stage small business growth model and the 5-stage of the evolution of entrepreneurship theory. The data collection process consisted of interviews resulting in transcripts, review of company documents, and interview observations notes. The data analysis process while triangulating the data consisted of creating thematic codes, and clustering keywords, and ideas from the data. Development of visual aids assisted with organizing information, synthesizing, and generating new ideas. Text, word, and matrix coding queries were conducted and summarized for a cross-case analysis as relating to the interview questions. Thematic analysis and cross-case analysis revealed 3 major themes: customer relationship management, education/work experience, and promotional activities. Implications for social change include encouraging entrepreneurial and small business development programs to develop innovative curriculums that microenterprise business owners may benefit from to increase more business opportunities. An increase in microenterprises may help provide more employment opportunities that meet the needs of local communities and improve socioeconomic conditions.
Highlights
In the United States, microenterprises a critical segment of the small business population accounts for 110 million small businesses that source new jobs (CroninGilmore, 2012; Gohmann & Fernandez, 2014)
Small businesses have been recognized for their contributions to economic growth (Doer, 2016), only 70% remain in business after 2 years (SBA, 2014)
The reasons why scholars suggested that business owners do not persist after 2 years contributes to several factors not limited to lack of skill set with financial management (Haniff & Halim, 2014; Sarasvathy & Dew, 2013)
Summary
Foundation of the Study More than 110 million microenterprises and small businesses are the source of all new jobs (Fiore, Niehm, Hurst, Son, & Sadachar, 2013; Liao, Hung, Kao, & Wu, 2014) in the United States (Cronin-Gilmore, 2012; Gohmann & Fernandez, 2014). I offered a critical synthesis of literature on the evolution of entrepreneurship theory, and aligned it with the topic of successful strategies microenterprise small businesses owners use to keep their business viable beyond 2 years. In their discussion of the 5-stage evolution of entrepreneurship Arenius and Ehrstedt (2008) explored organizational arrangements that lead to success and survival of a business, and how other entrepreneurs can imitate the selection of successful arrangements. I selected the 5-stage entrepreneurship theory and the first three stages of the 5 stages of small business growth model to explore successful strategies necessary for microenterprise entrepreneurs to succeed in business beyond 2 years. Each of the three types, the employee, academics, and user entrepreneur have different methods in obtaining advance knowledge to create or to revitalize an existing business (Agarwal & Shah, 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
