Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Business Administration

Advisor

Gregory N. Uche

Abstract

In the United States, many small businesses fail within the first 5 years due to poor implementation of sustainability strategies. Researchers and business practitioners have indicated that small business owners face challenges on how to maintain their businesses beyond 5 years due to lack of sustainability strategies. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies that health care small business owners and managers in New York State use to maintain their businesses beyond 5 years. Sustainability development theory was used for the study's conceptual framework. Semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 6 purposively-selected participants who had owned and managed health care small businesses for more than 5 years together with companies' official documents on strategies used to sustain their businesses to achieve goals. The 5 themes that emerged from the thematic analysis of the interview data are education, training, and experience; customer-centricity, information technology update, development of business plan, and relationship and networking. The findings indicated that participants use similar strategies to sustain small businesses. The results from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing area healthcare small business owners and managers with more knowledge on strategies for sustaining businesses. By sustaining their businesses, these business owners and managers can improve economic growth by offering employment opportunities and paying more corporate taxes, which the municipal government could use to provide social amenities to local citizens.

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