Focus on the future : small business in the 1990s : the 10th National Legislative Conference on Small Business Issues, December 11-13, 1989, San Francisco, California.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Fleet Store : devising a public retail exhibition to promote creative, innovative and sustainable business models for emerging fashion designers

1.Description of the Work The Fleet Store was devised as a creative output to establish an exhibition linked to a fashion business model where emerging designers were encouraged to research new and innovative strategies for creating design-driven and commercial collections for a public consumer. This was a project that was devised to break down the perceptions of emerging fashion designers that designing commercial collections linked to a sustainable business model is a boring and unnecessary process. The focus was to demystify the business of fashion and to link its importance to a design-driven and public outcome that is more familiar to fashion designers. The criterion for participation was that all designers had to be registered as a business with the Australian Taxation Office. Designers were chosen from the Creative Enterprise Australia Fashion Business Incubator, the QUT fashion graduate alumni and current QUT fashion design and double degree (fashion and business) students with existing businesses. The project evolved from a series of collaborative workshops where designers were introduced to new and innovative creative industries’ business models and the processes, costings and timings involved to create a niche, sustainable business for a public exhibition of design-driven commercial collections. All designers initiated their own business infra-structure but were then introduced to the concept of collaboration for successful and profitable exhibition and business outcomes. Collaborative strategies such as crowd funding, crowd sourcing, peer to peer mentoring and manufacturing were all researched, and strategies for the establishment of the retail exhibition were all devised in a collaborative environment. All participants also took on roles outside their ‘designer’ background to create a retail exhibition that was creative but also had critical mass and aesthetic for the consumer. The Fleet Store ‘popped up’ for 2 weeks (10 days), in a heritage-listed building in an inner city location. Passers-by were important, but the main consumer was enlisted by the use of interest and investment from crowd sourcing, crowd funding, ethical marketing, corporate social responsibility projects and collaborative public relations and social media strategies. The research has furthered discussion on innovative strategies for emerging fashion designers to initiate and maintain sustainable businesses and suggests that collaboration combined with a design-driven and business focus can create a sustainable and economically viable retail exhibition. 2. Research Statement Research Background The research field involved developing a new ethical, design-driven, collaborative and sustainable model for fashion design practice and management. The research asked can a public, design-driven, collaborative retail exhibition create a platform for promoting creative, innovative and sustainable business models for emerging fashion designers. The methodology was primarily practice-led as all participants were designers in their own right and the project manager acted as a mentor and curator to guide the process and analyse the potential of the research question. The Fleet Store offers new knowledge in design practice and management; with the creation of a model where design outcomes and business models are inextricably linked to the success of the creative output. Key innovations include extending the commercialisation of emerging fashion businesses by creating a curated retail gallery for collaborative and sustainable strategies to support niche fashion designer labels. This has contributed to a broader conversation on how to nurture and sustain competitive Australian fashion designers/labels. Research Contribution and Significance The Fleet Store has contributed to a growing body of research into innovative and sustainable business models for niche fashion and creative industries’ practitioners. All participants have maintained their business infra-structure and many are currently growing their businesses, using the strategies tested for the Fleet Store. The exhibition space was visited by over 1,000 people and sales of $27,000 were made in 10 days of opening. (Follow up sales of $3,000 has also been reported.) Three of the designers were ‘discovered’ from the exhibition and have received substantial orders from high profile national buyers and retailers for next season delivery. Several participants have since collaborated to create other pop up retail environments and are now mentoring other emerging designers on the significance of a collaborative retail exhibition to consolidate niche business models for emerging fashion designers.

Focus on survival : leader's guide.

Cover title.

Use of business analysis in beef businesses to direct management practice change for climate adaptation outcomes

Beef businesses in northern Australia are facing increased pressure to be productive and profitable with challenges such as climate variability and poor financial performance over the past decade. Declining terms of trade, limited recent gains in on-farm productivity, low profit margins under current management systems and current climatic conditions will leave little capacity for businesses to absorb climate change-induced losses. In order to generate a whole-of-business focus towards management change, the Climate Clever Beef project in the Maranoa-Balonne region of Queensland trialled the use of business analysis with beef producers to improve financial literacy, provide a greater understanding of current business performance and initiate changes to current management practices. Demonstration properties were engaged and a systematic approach was used to assess current business performance, evaluate impacts of management changes on the business and to trial practices and promote successful outcomes to the wider industry. Focus was concentrated on improving financial literacy skills, understanding the business’ key performance indicators and modifying practices to improve both business productivity and profitability. To best achieve the desired outcomes, several extension models were employed: the ‘group facilitation/empowerment model’, the ‘individual consultant/mentor model’ and the ‘technology development model’. Providing producers with a whole-of-business approach and using business analysis in conjunction with on-farm trials and various extension methods proved to be a successful way to encourage producers in the region to adopt new practices into their business, in the areas of greatest impact. The areas targeted for development within businesses generally led to improvements in animal performance and grazing land management further improving the prospects for climate resilience.

Idea Competitions under scrutiny: Acquisition, intelligence or public relations mechanism?

Idea Competitions (ICs) are becoming a popular mechanism chosen by firms to perform Open Innovation. They are a way to engage with external sources of knowledge such as individual entrepreneurs and small firms who are asked to submit ideas and compete for a prize. However, little is known about the success of ICs as acquisition mechanisms. The researchers conducted interviews in five multinational companies to evaluate the effects of using ICs as an acquisition mechanism. Although still preliminary, the results of this study show that the success of ICs as an acquisition mechanism remains uncertain because their output (i.e. the number of ideas acquired) is often low compared to the input (i.e. the number of ideas submitted) and effort required to run them (e.g. to vet ideas). Across the cases observed, ICs appear to be more successful at identifying and acquiring early-stage ideas, particularly those outside the current business focus. The study shows that ICs deliver other functional benefits such as improved intelligence and public relations and that these need to be considered as part of the evaluation of the IC's success. The paper concludes by discussing the conditions in which ICs are implemented and the implications for Open Innovation theory. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Processo de estratégia : um estudo de caso em uma empresa fabricante de equipamentos de telecomunicações

A pesquisa sobre o processo de estratégia busca responder questões complexas de como as estratégias são formadas, executadas e modificadas, capturando a complexa e dinâmica relação entre o conteúdo da estratégia e seu contexto de utilização. Apesar da vasta literatura existente, relativamente pouco se sabe sobre como os processos afetam de fato a estratégia, tornando o trabalho em processo de estratégia mais sobre processos que estratégia. Este trabalho visa contribuir no conhecimento da estratégia empresarial, utilizando a estratégia como prática como maneira de observar no campo o fenômeno do processo de estratégia e explorando as práticas de estratégia na organização. Esta pesquisa se baseia num estudo de caso único exploratório em uma empresa fabricante de equipamentos de telecomunicações, líder global em tecnologia nos segmentos onde atua, identificando as mudanças no processo de estratégia ocorridas após a troca de CEO e seus resultados observados nas práticas da estratégia. São investigadas algumas das mudanças estratégicas ocorridas: realinhamento das soluções para novos negócios, foco em conteúdo para as redes celulares para captura de valor e internacionalização. São utilizadas algumas informações de mercado de instituições internacionais relevantes sobre o crescimento da internet, infra-estrutura de comunicações e mobilidade. Da academia, foram aproveitados conceitos para ampliar o entendimento do contexto e análise do ambiente externo a organização: economia da informação, internet e custos de transação, cadeia de valor e teoria dos jogos e velocidade evolutiva da indústria; e ambiente interno: estratégia, sua formação e prática, planejamento estratégico, valor da inovação nos negócios, internacionalização e influência da estrutura. Analisando-se o conjunto acima, observou-se o aumento da importância do tema da estratégia e de sua complexidade nas indústrias relacionadas de alguma forma com a internet, sugerindo, por exemplo, interpretações alternativas no relacionamento entre a estratégia e a estrutura organizacional.

Estudio y desarrollo del plan de negocio de una empresa: Sistema Web que gestiona e informa sobre las cuentas digitales que el cliente ingresa

El presente documento tiene como objetivo general desarrollar un plan de negocio para analizar la viabilidad de la creación de una nueva empresa, “MyTested S.L.”. Pretende ofrecer una herramienta para que las personas puedan comunicar a sus familiares el acceso a sus cuentas digitales una vez fallecidos. En cuanto a cómo surge la idea, fue a través de una noticia que trataba sobre el derecho al olvido en las redes sociales y en internet. Investigando un poco y prestando atención a los movimientos de las grandes empresas de internet, mi compañero/socio y yo, nos dimos cuenta de que ofrecer este servicio podría valer como negocio, ya que no existe mucha competencia en el mercado. Gracias a eso, nos planteamos en más de una ocasión la posibilidad de montar nuestro propio negocio, de forma que pudiéramos utilizar los conocimientos adquiridos en la universidad como base para crear la herramienta web. Escogimos empezar el proyecto utilizándolo como materia para el trabajo de fin de grado porque nos aporta dos valores muy importantes, ayuda de la comunidad de profesores existentes en la UPM, siendo una persona de gran aporte nuestro tutor Oscar Corcho y también, porque como estamos dedicando todo el tiempo a este proyecto, tener una fecha límite para presentar tanto la parte de modelo de negocio como la parte de desarrollo en una fecha concreta, nos ayuda a planificar y mantener una presión constante sobre el proyecto y así forzar a no abandonarlo ni prolongarlo. Con ello, nos encontramos con dos grupos de dificultades, la escasa formación a nivel empresarial y creación de modelos de negocio y en el ámbito del desarrollo al desconocimiento de tecnologías y APIs de las redes sociales. Al tratarse de una herramienta Web, parte de unos costes muy bajos como el alojamiento del servidor o la contratación temporal de comerciales para publicitar la herramienta entre funerarias y hospitales. Estos factores positivos benefician tanto la realización del proyecto como su avance. Como ya se puede intuir de la lectura del párrafo anterior, el servicio que ofrece la herramienta “MyTested S.L.” está relacionado con el segmento testamental de una persona fallecida, podríamos definirlo como testamento digital. Actualmente, vivimos en un mundo que se centra cada vez más en la parte digital y es por ello, que en un futuro cercano, todas las cuentas que creamos en internet tendrán que ser cerradas o bloqueadas cuando caen en el desuso por el fallecimiento del propietario, es en ese hueco donde podemos situarnos, ofreciendo una herramienta para poder trasladar la información necesaria a las personas elegidas por el cliente para que puedan cerrar o bloquear sus cuentas digitales. Consideramos que existe una interesante oportunidad debido a la escasez de oferta de este tipo de servicios en España y a nivel mundial. En Abril de 2015 hay inscritos en el registro Nacional de últimas voluntades 185.6651 personas por lo que encontramos que un 0,397%1 de las personas en España ha registrado su testamento. El gasto medio al hacer un testamento vital ante notario de tus bienes tiene un coste de 40 a 80 euros2 , este es el principal motivo por el que la mayoría de españoles no realiza su testamento antes de morir. Con este dato obtenemos dos lecciones, lo que la herramienta ofrece no es el documento notarial de los bienes del cliente, sino la sistema, puedan bloquear o cerrar sus cuentas. La segunda lección que obtenemos es que el precio tiene que ser muy reducido para poder llegar a un gran número de personas, añadiendo también el criterio de que el cliente podrá actualizar su información, ya que la información digital es muy fácil de cambiar y frecuente. Como se podrá leer en al apartado dedicado a nuestra visión, misión y valores, aunque estamos convencidos que se puede extraer de la lectura de cualquier parte de este documento, todos nuestros objetivos los queremos conseguir no sólo buscando un enfoque empresarial a nuestro día a día, sino convirtiendo nuestra responsabilidad social sincera, en uno de los retos que más nos ilusionan, fomentando para ello, aspectos como el desarrollo web, estudios de mercado, conocimiento de las necesidades de la población, nuevas tecnologías y negocio. En general, los objetivos que se pretenden cumplir con este estudio son: - Conocer los pasos para crear una empresa - Desarrollar un documento de plan de negocio que contenga lo siguiente: - Análisis de mercado - Definición de productos y/o servicios - Plan de publicidad y expansión (marketing) - Plan financiero - Capacidad para definir los requisitos de una aplicación Web. - Capacidad de elegir la tecnología idónea y actual de un sistema Web. - Conocer el funcionamiento de una empresa y cómo comunicarse con las herramientas gubernamentales. - Comprobar si las posibilidades que nos ofrece el entorno son las adecuadas para nuestras actividades. - Estudio, análisis de la competencia - Definir los diferentes perfiles de cliente para nuestro negocio. - Analizar la viabilidad de nuestro modelo de negocio. Para ello, comenzamos realizando una definición de las características generales del proyecto, detallando cuáles son las motivaciones que han hecho a los emprendedores embarcarse en el mismo, qué servicios ofreceremos a nuestros clientes, el porqué de la elección del sector, así́ como nuestra misión, visión y valores.---ABSTRACT---The goal and aim of the present document is to develop a business plan in order to analyze the viability of build a new enterprise, that we will name MyTested S.L., it wants offer a tool for sharing and to facilitate to the relatives of a dead person the access to the digital accounts. Talking about how come up the idea, it was once a have read a news over the “right of forgotten” throughout social nets and inside internet, researching a little and paying attention to the different movements of the biggest internet companies, my peer ( and partner) and I were aware that to offer this service might be a good business, because does not exist many competitors on this kind of market service, mainly thanks of that, we have planned on several times the possibility to build our owner company, in the way to use the capabilities that we achieved in the University as based to develop and make a web tool. We choose begin this project as subject of our Final Project Degree after analyze the positive and negative point of views: The positive was because it has two main values, firstly the support of the current teachers UPM community, specially our fellow Oscar Corcho and also because we can´t dedicate all our time to this project, so to have a deadline to present either the business model as the develop on time, help us to plan and remain a constant pressure over the project and neither drop out it or extend it more that the necessary. As a web tool, neither the hosting of maintenance or for sort out a net of temporary commercials for visiting hospitals or undertaker´s or insurances, the cost don´t are expensive In the negative side, however, we found twice some main difficulties, the few training as entrepreneur level and how to build a business model and on the other hand the lack of awareness of the technologies and apps of the social net software as well. As summary, these positives facts enhance to work project out and also to develop it. As we could understand reading on the latest paragraph, the service that will do MyTested tool is relation with the testament issue of a dead person, we might call as a digital testament. Currently we are living in world which is focus further on the digital life, for that in a near future every internet accounts should be closed or locked whenever aren´t used by the dead of the owner, this is a market niche (never better said) where we can lead, offering a tool that might transfer the necessary information to the chosen persons by the client in order to allow either close or lock his digital accounts. We are considering that there are interesting opportunities due to the few offers of that kind of service in Spain and at global level. In April 2015 there were 185.6651 persons registered in the Official National last will and testament, this figure mean that the 0,397%1 of the Spaniards citizens have registered their testaments. The average cost of doing the testament of your assets with a Notary is since 40 up to 80€2, this is one of the principal motives because the majority of the Spaniards don´t do it before dead. With these data we might get two lessons, we are not talking about an official notary testament at all, it is only for close or lock the digital accounts by the chosen person by the dead client, and the latest lesson, but not least, the price of our service must be very cheaper in order to achieve touch an important amount of people, knowing also that he client will be able update the information filled, considering that this kind of information is very easy to change and update frequently. As we can read on the stage dedicated to our Vision, Mission and Values, although we are persuaded that can be read in everywhere of this document as well, our aim doesn´t be an business focus on day to day, is also to become our honest social responsibility in this challenge, that is our mainly eagerness, enhancing some aspects as the web development, market research and the knowledge of the population needs, new technologies and new market opportunities. In general the goals that we would like get within this project are: - Achieve the knowledge needs for be an entrepreneurial, and find out the steps for star a business - Achieve market research skills - Products and services definitions - Advertising plan and growth (marketing plan) - Financial plan knowledge - Capability of a web design requirements - Capability for choose the best and actual technology for web design - Knowledge over how work out inside a company and how communicate with official tools. - Check whether the possibilities of the environment are the adequate for our activities. - Research and competitiveness analysis - Define the different profiles of the target for our business. - Analyze the viability of the business model For all that, we began with a definition of the general features of the project, detailing which are the motivations those done to the entrepreneurial get on board, which kind of service we offered to the client, also why the selection of the market sector and our mission, vision and value as well.

An investigation into manufacturing technology sourcing practices

This paper investigates the decisions that companies make when choosing the source of their manufacturing technology. It builds on previous research that has identified differences between the practices of US and Japanese manufacturing companies. A structured study of manufacturing technology sourcing practices at 14 US-based manufacturing companies is described. This research has confirmed that there is a trend in the companies studied to acquire manufacturing technology from sources external to their organisations. However, no formal processes are used to form these policies. When a rationale for this behaviour was sought, companies gave a series of reasons concerned with business focus, efficiency of technology acquisition, and the extent, defence and support of manufacturing capabilities.

In Favor of Hospitality-Management Education

Despite the almost one-hundred-year history of hospitality-management education; the hundreds of well-established two-year, four-year, and graduate programs worldwide; and the hundreds of thousands of graduates those programs have prepared for careers in the industry, hospitality-management education’s merit and place in higher education are still questioned at times, to the dismay of hospitality educators the world over. This article delineates several features of hospitality management that make these programs valuable and unique and provides compelling arguments in its favor. The arguments include: 1) courses tailored to the hospitality industry, the world’s largest industry; 2) focus on small-business management as well as corporate enterprises; 3) emphasis on services and service management, not manufacturing; 4) programs and coursework focused on people management, which it at the core of the hospitality businesses; 5) unique focus on the specific issues of food and beverage management, the largest component of the hospitality industry; and 6) transferability of graduates’ knowledge and skill sets, which are in high demand among other service industries. While business programs focus on the fundamentals of management and production, hospitality- management programs prepare graduates who are aware of general management principles and are particularly well-versed in managing the guest experience and employees in a service environment.

Business process management : an introduction to the special focus issue

The management and improvement of business processes are a core topic of the information systems discipline. The persistent demand in corporations within all industry sectors for increased operational efficiency and innovation, an emerging set of established and evaluated methods, tools, and techniques as well as the quickly growing body of academic and professional knowledge are indicative for the standing that Business Process Management (BPM) has nowadays. During the last decades, intensive research has been conducted with respect to the design, implementation, execution, and monitoring of business processes. Comparatively low attention, however, has been paid to questions related to organizational issues such as the adoption, usage, implications, and overall success of BPM approaches, technologies, and initiatives. This research gap motivated us to edit a corresponding special focus issue for the journal BISE/WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK. We are happy that we are able to present a selection of three research papers and a state-of-the-art paper in the scientific section of the issue at hand. As these papers differ in the topics they investigate, the research method they apply, and the theoretical foundations they build on, the diversity within the BPM field becomes evident. The academic papers are complemented by an interview with Phil Gilbert, IBM’s Vice President for Business Process and Decision Management, who reflects on the relationship between business processes and the data flowing through them, the need to establish a process context for decision making, and the calibration of BPM efforts toward executives who see processes as a means to an end, rather than a first-order concept in its own right.

International students' perceptions of their experience of higher education in Australia: A focus on Saudi Arabian students in their first year of a business course in a major Australian university

This study examined perceptions of international students from Saudi Arabia living and studying in Australia. As a qualitative study that featured case study methodology, the thesis discusses the experiences of Saudi Arabian students in the light of two important factors: students' expectations prior to coming to Australia and the impact of intercultural competency on students' experiences. The study found that while study participants reported mostly positive experiences, there were challenges faced such as coping with English language and culture shock. The thesis culminates in a comprehensive list of implications for educators in the light of the study's findings.

Focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationship between business owners' age and venture growth

Combining upper echelons and lifespan theories, we investigated the mediating effect of focus on opportunities on the negative relationship between business owners' age and venture growth. We also expected that mental health moderates the negative relationship between business owners' age and focus on opportunities. Path analytic findings based on data from 84 business owners (mean age = 44, range 24-74) supported these hypotheses. Findings suggest that focus on opportunities is a psychological mechanism that links business owners' age with venture growth. Our findings also indicate that mental health helps maintain a high level of focus on opportunities with increasing age.

How small business managers’ age and focus on opportunities affect business growth: A mediated moderation growth model

Research on business growth has been criticized for methodological weaknesses. We present a mediated moderation growth model as a new methodological approach. We hypothesized that small business managers' age negatively affects business growth through focus on opportunities. We sampled 201 small business managers and obtained firm performance data over 5 years, resulting in 836 observations. Growth modeling showed systematic differences in firm performance trajectories. These differences could be explained by modeling focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationship between small business managers' age and business growth. The study illustrates how mediation models can be tested using growth modeling.