Small Business Owners\u27 Search for Profitability Under the Affordable Care Act

Health care costs for small businesses have been rising annually for the past few decades. Congress voted to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to lower the cost of health care in 2010. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore small business owners\u27 experiences in implementing ACA requirements and how the ACA affects small businesses as their owners work to make these organizations profitable. Complex adaptive systems theory formed the conceptual framework for this study Data were gathered during face-to-face and telephone interviews with a sample of 20 small business owners in the Philadelphia region. The research questions focused on participants\u27 experiences with the ACA and changes made to their business model to maintain profits throughout the implementation process. A modified version of the Van Kamm data process assisted in finding themes within the data collected and analyzed using descriptive coding. Following data analysis, member checking was used to establish the trustworthiness of the outcomes. The themes that emerged indicated that small business owners adjusted their strategies because of ACA implementation but were concerned about the healthcare needs of their employees. This study may promote positive social change by informing small business leaders about ways to create efficient and inventive prototypical solutions specific to the needs of the business community, as well as ways to improve profitability. Both employees and employers may benefit

Leveraging supply network relationships to drive performance

Effective supply chain management requires focal firms to develop capabilities to manage a myriad of multi-tier, interconnected relationships often spanning multiple industries. Conventional assessments of supply chain relationships as linear or dyadic structures, rather than as a network, limit academician and managerial approaches to overcome challenges to effectively manage supply chains. Further, empirical research on innovation and performance implications of supply network structure and its corresponding relationship dynamics is still fairly nascent. My research focuses on leveraging supply network relationships to drive performance. Specifically, in my dissertation I examine how the structural, knowledge, and dependency differences in a firm’s supply network can affect knowledge and information flow, and ultimately the firm’s innovative, operational, and financial performance. My first study (CH. 2) contributes to current research at the interface of supply chain management and innovation. My second (CH. 3) and third paper (CH. 4) incorporate the intensity of each supply network link, reflective of focal firms as customers (suppliers) that may rely heavier on a supplier (customer) based on their percentage of cost (revenue) that goes to (is generated from) that supplier (customer). All three papers extend current research findings by bringing a more holistic assessment of firms that are embedded in a supply network, addressing the need for deeper structural analysis.Ph.D