Mapuche Resilience: Environmental Justice in Chile

This paper presents a close analysis of the Mapuche Conflict and its implications from an Environmental Justice perspective. It serves to outline the plight of the Mapuche, a South American indigenous group, in their continued struggle to gain the rights to autonomic control over their ancestral territory from the Chilean government. By utilizing a holistic approach to research, this paper serves to provide a background on the conflict as well as to incorporate claims to justice. It chronicles the depth and breadth of media attention on the issue by incorporating perspectives from scholarly articles, news sources and social media platforms. In addition, the paper places emphasis on the importance of being aware of cultural diversity and epistemic differences through the incorporation of interdisciplinary approaches like history and psychology. Throughout the paper, it is evident that the Mapuche are a distinct ethnic group with a unique history and a unique set of values. However, the work highlights the fact of the Chilean government’s continued disregard for and misrepresentation of Mapuche problems in its legislation. Finally, the work utilizes the Mapuche conflict as a microcosmic example of the effects a greater global problem in which capitalists overvalue the accumulation of wealth to a point of detriment of actual human bodies.https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/env434_justice/1006/thumbnail.jp

Sustainability as a Small Business Competitive Strategy

In our global village, sustainability has been an important topic for all countries, and small businesses can create a competitive advantage through developing sustainability strategies. This conceptual article extends the current literature by presenting the case for small businesses to become integrated in the surrounding community and to make sustainability a strategic long-term competitive advantage and a critical co-producer of its long-term success. Implications and the need for further research are discussed

Sustainability as a Small Business Competitive Strategy

In our global village, sustainability has been an important topic for all countries, and small businesses can create a competitive advantage through developing sustainability strategies. This conceptual article extends the current literature by presenting the case for small businesses to become integrated in the surrounding community and to make sustainability a strategic long-term competitive advantage and a critical co-producer of its long-term success. Implications and the need for further research are discussed

Rural Entrepreneurship Success Factors: An Empirical Investigation in an Emerging Market

Small businesses in rural communities play a key role in achieving global sustainable economic development because they are the driving force of poverty reduction, job creation, resiliency, and economic development. This study examines the factors that drive the success or failure of small businesses in rural communities in an emerging market. The methodology is survey interview research using a logistic regression model to test the Lussier success vs failure prediction model with a sample of 230 businesses (successful n = 120, failed n = 110) from the rural communities in an emerging market. This study supports the Lussier model validity (p < 0.01) with a high overall accuracy of 71% in predicting a venture as successful or failed. Capital, industry experience, staffing, and marketing skills are the most significant (t-values < .05) factors that distinguish successful from failed rural businesses in an emerging market. The findings can help future, and nascent rural entrepreneurs avoid failure and successfully contribute to economic development. Implications for government agencies, public regulatory bodies, financial institutions, investors, suppliers, educators, professional institutions, and society, as well as limitations and future research, are presented. This study also contributes to the international validity of the Lussier model that can be used in both advanced and developing economies, and it contributes to the development of theory

There Are Few Differences Between Successful and Failed Small Businesses

Literature supports the idea that the difference between a successful and a failed small business is dependent upon the firm having ( or using with more efficiency) greater access 10 variables such as ( capital ...management ski//s). With a sample of 216  ma1ched pairs this study used bivariate statistics lo rest the hypothesis that successful businesses have significantly belier results for a/1 15 literature variables (p<.05 ). The rest results reveal that successful firms made significantly greater use of only two variables: professional advisors and their parents owned a business. At variance with the literature and expectations, the failed business owners had a higher level of education and experienced fewer staffing difficulties. It can be concluded that there may not be a valid and reliable set of variables that can distinguish success from failure, and that a different methodological research approach may be necessary. It can be implied that success comes from examining and understanding these variables and applying them for the specific situation at hand

The Influence of the Entrepreneur's Education Level on Strategic Decision Making

The Entrepreneurship literature includes many studies focusing upon antecedents of entrepreneurial behavior and performance, but a specific focus upon education as an antecedent has been minimal. This study of 184 small businesses specifically tests the relationship between two variables: 1) the owner/manager's level of formal education and 2) his or her choice of entrepreneurial strategies for the business. To measure strategy, the Entrepreneurial Strategy Matrix, a situational model which suggests appropriate entrepreneurial strategies for both new and ongoing ventures, was utilized. As discussed below, certain limited relationships between these two variables were found. The implications of these findings and the opportunities for future research are presented. This study and its conclusions advance the literature of entrepreneurship and offer implications for those who study and/or assist small business owners and managers

The Influence of Family Business Size on Management Activities, Styles and Characteristics

This is an empirical study of family firm size, as measured by the number of employees, and the relationship of a firm’s size to a variety of management activities, styles, and characteristics. A statistical analysis of data drawn from 159 American family businesses indicates significant differences by size with regard to the number of nonfamily members in top management, use of outside advisors, time spent engaged in strategic management, use of sophisticated methods of financial management, proportion of women family members involved in firm management, and level of conflict between family members. Implications are offered for family firm owner-managers, for those who assist such businesses, and for researchers in the field of family business

Religious Leaders and Elections in the Polarizing Context of Indonesia

Studies of elections in young democracies point to the risk of elections intensifying existing social conflicts, a process observed in Indonesia in recent years. The 2017 mayoral election in Yogyakarta contradicts this trend, presenting an empirical puzzle. Despite the fact that local conditions might encourage electoral mobilization along sectarian lines, we find evidence of restraint. Based on analysis of the contents of sermons in 12 mosques and churches in the month before the election we identify three factors that discourage religious leaders from exercising opportunities to intensify religious tension. These include (a) elites were not motivated to exacerbate communal tension because they do not feel the election will bring about reform or change that would seriously affect their established position, (b) even though sectarian messaging is possible, the elites did not believe masses could be easily persuaded by sectarian political messaging, and (c) political outbidding by using sectarian messages would risk confronting the local dominant culture of harmony. These findings suggest that several factors need to be activated for religious leaders to exercise their moral authority over worshippers for political purposes. The presence of an opportunity structure for intensifying sectarian conflict is not sufficient for that conflict to emerge. 

Improving Small Business Viability Through the Strategic Longevity and Health Maintenance Evaluation

Most adults are urged to go through an annual health checkup. We recommend that most mature small businesses perform an annual strategic longevity and health maintenance evaluation as well to ensure their viability. To this end, we provide strategic areas of critical importance to a small business viability and longevity and offer guidelines for small business owners, managers, consultants, and small business/entrepreneurship educators use to help improve performance. We add to the body of literature on small business success and failure factors by emphasizing the need for a closer look at the open systems nature of these businesses and the impact of interaction with the larger external environmental system for viability. We urge small business owners to be more proactive in evaluating the health and viability of their businesses by using systems approach before the emergence of signs of trouble through the use of the Annual Health Maintenance and Viability Evaluation checklist. We recommend the use of the checkup for use by consultants including SBI student consulting projects

Entrepreneurial strategy: The relationship between firm size and levels of innovation and risk in small businesses

The expression that “Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity” (Michael Porter), encapsulates the importance of entrepreneurial strategy, which has been linked to firm growth, particularly through its dimensions of innovation and risk. Firm growth will increase its size, which in turn may affect the entrepreneurial strategy; a research area that has been under-studied. This research contributes to the literature by exploring the relationship between firm size and the entrepreneurial strategy. Findings support the hypothesis that in larger firms the owners pursue a strategy that tends to be higher in innovation but with reduced risk, while in smaller firms the owners pursue a strategy that is higher in risk but lower in innovation. Additionally, it was found that the firms’ Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is moderated by the organizational size; which supports the notion of bi-directional relationship between EO and organization attribute