Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Weatherhead School of Management

Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States. The number of Latino-owned firms has grown from 2.3 million in 2007 to 3.3 million in 2012, highlighting a 46.3% growth rate. Reports from 2017 estimate that Latino-owned firms create nearly 3.2 million American jobs and drive more than $2 trillion in GDP in the U.S. Despite their strong growth rates and growing contribution to the U.S. economy, only 3% of Latino-owned firms exceed $1 million in annual gross revenues—less than half the rate of White, non-Latino-owned firms. Much of the literature on Latino and ethnic entrepreneurs focuses on the barriers to growth the individual entrepreneurs and their firm's experience or their lack of resources such as economic or social capital. Our mixed-methods study—integrating qualitative and quantitative research findings—highlights differences in how Latino entrepreneurs of large, scaled firms differ in their approach when compared to Latino business owners of smaller firms. Moreover, we find differences in how Latino entrepreneurs approach sense of community, belongingness, and humility when operating their businesses, which differs from non-Latino, Anglo entrepreneurs in the U.S. While our qualitative findings highlight the salient traits—sense of community, belongingness, and humility—with Latino business owners of scaled firms, our quantitative findings show trends that highlight clear differences between Latinos and Anglo business owners. Also noted in our findings is that Anglos continue to financially outperform minority entrepreneurs, including Latinos.

Committee: Philip Cola Ph.D. (Advisor); Stephan Liozu Ph.D. (Advisor); Mike Stull DBA (Advisor); Corinne Coen Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Business Administration; Business Community; Entrepreneurship; Ethnic Studies; Hispanic Americans; Management; Social Psychology; Social Research

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, Weatherhead School of Management

The “Great Dilemma” of the Great Recession forced nonprofit organizations to manage the dual challenge of carrying out their missions to greater, needier constituencies and survive, with fewer resources. Despite suggestive advice garnered from seminars and practice-based sector think-tanks, there is little in the scholarly literature that would specifically inform and guide nonprofit leaders through cycles of economic adversity. This exploratory, mixed methods inquiry was intended to lay the groundwork for further examination of nonprofit performance and reliability during the Great Recession, and by extension, to subsequent episodes of economic adversity. We were guided by, and contribute to, organizational ecology and survival theory, as well as research pertaining to highly-reliable organizations to study how nonprofits managed the challenge of carrying out the organizational mission during this stressful period. We first focused on the lived experience of executive leaders, and found very clear distinctions between the most stable and most vulnerable organizations in their prevention-oriented, pre-planned stance against risk and crisis events. A second phase of the research used a conceptual model focused on mission-defensive behavior, comprised of mindful, protective, and coping mechanisms, to analyze 351 executive leader survey responses. The results indicate the impact of executive and board leadership on organizational resiliency and resourcefulness under conditions of financial duress. We found the Great Recession provoked “conflicts of commitment” (Golden-Biddle & Rao, 1997) and a willingness to engender deep financial retrenchment and deficit spending, if necessary, to keep serving constituents. However, executive-driven coping strategies and outwardly-focused orientation, augmented by mindful and protective policies, significantly improved financial resiliency and enterprising resourcefulness. We also propose a novel construct – Mission-D (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kalle Lyytinen, Ph.D. (Advisor); Paul Salipante, Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Ethics; Organizational Behavior