Daniel V. Holland

Deciding to Persist: Adversity, Values, and Entrepreneurs’ Decision Policies

Entrepreneurial persistence occurs when the entrepreneur chooses to continue with an entrepreneurial opportunity regardless of counterinfluences or enticing alternatives. The decision to persist is influenced by personal characteristics and by feedback from the environment relative to thresholds. Using a conjoint experiment, we investigate how adversity and values influence the weight placed on the decision attributes for the persistence decisions of 100 entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that the persistence decision policies are heterogeneous depending on the level of adversity experienced and the individual values held by the entrepreneurs. The results provide interesting insights into why and how entrepreneurs choose to persist.

The Role of Human Capital in Loan Officers' Decision Policies

Using a human–capital perspective and the similarity–attraction paradigm, we examine the role of general and specific human capital in the decision policies of 114 Swedish loan officers in their assessments of small–business loan requests. We found that human capital characteristics had marginal impact on decision policy contingencies and that specific human capital had no significant influence on the probability of loan approval. However, we did find that the similarity between the loan officers’ human capital and the applicants’ human capital was a significant indicator of loan approval. The findings offer interesting insight into the heterogeneity of loan decision processes and outcomes and future research opportunities are suggested.

Entrepreneur start-up versus persistence decisions: A critical evaluation of expectancy and value

Research suggests that entrepreneurs tend to seek to maximize utility when considering whether to pursue a new venture opportunity. However, when choosing whether to persist with their current venture or not, utility maximization may not be of primary importance. Using a conjoint experiment, this article examines the difference between policies in start-up decisions versus persistence decisions. The analysis of the decisions of 135 entrepreneurs indicates that the manner in which entrepreneurs use expectancy and value in persistence decision policies is significantly different to the way that they use expectancy and value in general opportunity pursuit decision policies. The results offer novel insights into the entrepreneurial decision-making process.

A cross‐country perspective on professional oversight, education standards and countries' perceived level of corruption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the existence of a professional oversight body and certain country‐specific education regulations in auditing are associated with a countrys perceived level of corruption.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on data from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) database, the authors used the Mann‐Whitney U analysis technique to test the difference between countries perceived level of corruption based on whether they have or have not developed professional oversight bodies and licensing regulations.Findings – Results suggest that countries that have established an audit profession oversight body are, indeed, perceived to be less corrupt. Similarly, countries that require practical experience, academic study, and a licensing examination in order to practice auditing are perceived to be less corrupt. On the other hand, the analysis shows that requiring auditors to fulfil continuing education requirements is not significantly related t...

Utility maximization? An expectancy view of entrepreneurial persistence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of expectancy and valence in the decision policies of entrepreneurs when choosing whether or not to persist with their current venture.Design/methodology/approach – Using a conjoint experiment design, 105 entrepreneurs made a series of decisions based on a common set of attributes. The decisions were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling to determine how the attributes were weighed in the decision policies.Findings – The results indicate that entrepreneurs use expectancy and valences and interestingly, a negative interaction between expectancy and valences in their persistence decision policies.Practical implications – An understanding of how individuals make decisions may be of great value to entrepreneurs as they consider the decision to persist with a venture in the face of adversity.Originality/value – Previous research has focused on the decision to start a business. This study adds to the literature by considering the important decision...

Strategic revenue analysis

Purpose n n n n nStrategic revenue analysis is something that the authors have used in our consulting and classroom teaching for many years, yet has never been formally developed nor written about by researchers and practitioners. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThe authors outline the seven-step process behind strategic revenue analysis and provide numerous examples. n n n n nFindings n n n n nOrganizations that discipline themselves and perform strategic revenue analysis almost always grow quicker than the competition, focus on high margin products and develop other types of discipline that make them more successful. n n n n nPractical implications n n n n nThe paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The Leadership Traits Shared by Successful Entrepreneurs

This paper is based on a research process used by social anthropologists while investigating a new cultural phenomenon. It involves walking the streets, peeking around corners, observing practices, conducting indepth interviews, recording oral histories, and analyzing a rich description of a complex human process. This methodology puts the researcher much closer to realworld conditions, and sets the stage for future work. The conclusions in this paper are based on several hundred oral histories of successful business founders. The entrepreneurs include male and female business founders from various ethnic backgrounds who operate regional, national and international companies in the full spectrum of industries: manufacturing, high tech, petrochemical, transportation, wholesale, retail, service, health care, real estate, entertainment, restaurants, food service, and the arts. The companies have moved beyond the sole proprietorship stage: they are expanding operations, creating jobs, hiring employees, increasing revenue, paying taxes, and gaining market share in their industry.

Talk With Real Customers Before the Launch

As online crowdsourcing has shown, people will support a proposed business or cause that moves them. For entrepreneurs, the ability to test a proposed product or services uniqueness and appeal has never been better. EIX panelists Heidi Neck of Babson College, Kim Eddleston of Northeastern University and Dan Holland of Utah State University discuss how entrepreneurs can test the waters before they roll out their business ideas.

Why Didn’t I Think of That? A Classroom Exercise for Developing Entrepreneurial Thinking

Entrepreneurs tend to think differently, juggling different thinking styles more easily than others. They are comfortable with both linear and non-linear thinking, and both causal and effectual logic. In order to help students develop diverse entrepreneurial thinking skills, teachers must employ unique educational strategies. This article provides educators with an engaging openmarket trading card activity that was created to help students identify and overcome barriers to entrepreneurial thinking. Designed for strategy and entrepreneurship classes at the undergraduate and graduate level, this activity challenges students’ mental models and sets the stage for a fruitful discussion about entrepreneurial thinking.