Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
School
Business Administration
Advisor
Ronald Jones
Abstract
AbstractEntrepreneurship is a leading avenue for job creation in the United States. The lack of access to necessary resources negatively impacts nascent IT-based entrepreneurs’ ability to sustain their business beyond 5 years of beginning operations. Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies founders of IT-based entrepreneurial ventures use to survive in business for more than 5 years. The participants comprised 4 entrepreneurial IT founders in San Francisco who effectively used strategies to survive beyond 5 years. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Yin’s 5-phase process was used to analyze the data. Four themes emerged: business planning strategies, financial planning strategies, human resource planning strategies, and gauging the effectiveness of growth. A key recommendation is for nascent IT-based entrepreneurs to implement an initial business planning strategy to gain access to adequate venture capital and human resources. The implications for positive social change include the potential for IT entrepreneurs to increase their sustainability rate, leading to improved community-based social organizations and the standard of living of people in local communities through increased job stability and a lower unemployment rate.
Recommended Citation
Singer, Matthew, "Survival Strategies for Information Technology Startups Beyond 5 Years" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 10069.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/10069
