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This thesis explores the extent to which entrepreneurship is possible for women in Saudi Arabia, and it's potential to increase Saudi women's socio-cultural autonomy, financial independence, and overall well-being. The study uses interviews and an online surveys to gather information from recognized female entrepreneurs, those officially registered with the Women's Business Center in Alkhober, Saudi Arabia, about how they founded their businesses, the challenges they have experienced, and the effects of business ownership. These women are interesting because their experience seems to run counter to Saudi society, which generally restricts women's activities. The study's findings show that despite their successes, Arab traditions still hinder the success of Alkhober female entrepreneurs, for instance, by requiring male guardianship and prohibiting travel unaccompanied by a man. From an institutional perspective, administrative and legal requirement can prevent women from fully realizing their potential as businesswomen. The existing women's rights legislation lacks authority because political opportunities for Alkhober women are still limited. For Saudi women entrepreneurship remains an alternative to joblessness and dissatisfaction derived from other employment sources. The challenges women entrepreneurs experience while starting businesses are lack of support from the executive branch of government, lack of quality education, and lack of available financial resources, in addition to the cultural barriers caused by Arab traditions restricting the activities of women. However, a key finding from this study is that the women interviewed all showed a high level of resourcefulness and creativity that helped them to circumvent such obstacles. This study recommends that the government provide financial services, or training programs to aspiring female entrepreneurs and offer incentives for women to register their businesses. This will benefit not just Saudi women but for the Saudi economy overall.
ContributorsAlhabidi, Mariam (Author) / C. Parmentier, Mary Jane C. Parmentier Jane (Thesis advisor) / Grossman, Gary M. (Committee member) / Crewe, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This project sheds light on trombonist Andy Martin's improvisation and provides tools for further learning. A biographical sketch gives background on Martin, establishing him as a newer jazz master. Through the transcription and analysis of nine improvised solos, Martin's improvisational voice and vocabulary is deciphered and presented as a series of seven thematic hooks. These patterns, rhythms, and gestures are described, analyzed, and presented as examples of how each is used in the solos. The hooks are also set as application exercises for learning jazz style and improvisation. These exercises demonstrate how to use Martin's hooks as a means for furthering one's own improvisation. A full method for successful transcription is also presented, along with the printed transcriptions and their accompanying information sheets.
ContributorsWilkinson, Michael Scott (Author) / Ericson, John (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
A common concern among musical performers in today'’s musical market pertains to their capacity to adapt to the constantly changing climate of the music business. This document focuses on one aspect of the development of a sustainable, entrepreneurship skill set: the production of a recording. While producing the recording Chocolates, the author examined and documented the multiplicity of skills encompassed with a recording project. The first part of the document includes a discussion of various aspects of the recording project, Chocolates, through an entrepreneurial lens, and an evaluation of the skill sets acquired through the recording process. Additionally, the inspiration and relevance behind the recording project and the process of collaboration between the two composers from whom I commissioned new compositions, Noah Taylor and James Grant, and myself is considered. Finally, I describe the recording and editing processes, including the planning involved within each process, how I achieved the final product, and the entrepreneurial skills involved. The second portion of this document examines a broad range of applications of entrepreneurship, marketing, and career management skills not only within the confines of this particular project, but also in relation to the overall sustainability of a twenty-–first century music-–performing career.
ContributorsStuckemeyer, Mary (Author) / Micklich, Albie (Thesis advisor) / Carpenter, Ellon (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Spring, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Jazz continues, into its second century, as one of the most important musics taught in public middle and high schools. Even so, research related to how students learn, especially in their earliest interactions with jazz culture, is limited. Weaving together interviews and observations of junior and senior high school jazz players and teachers, private studio instructors, current university students majoring in jazz, and university and college jazz faculty, I developed a composite sketch of a secondary school student learning to play jazz. Using arts-based educational research methods, including the use of narrative inquiry and literary non-fiction, the status of current jazz education and the experiences by novice jazz learners is explored. What emerges is a complex story of students and teachers negotiating the landscape of jazz in and out of early twenty-first century public schools. Suggestions for enhancing jazz experiences for all stakeholders follow, focusing on access and the preparation of future jazz teachers.
ContributorsKelly, Keith B (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation examines the role that business counselors in a public entrepreneurial development program play in improving the Entrepreneurial Specific Human Capital (ESHC) of nascent and active entrepreneurs. Through multiple research methodologies, this study identifies the types of ESHC provided by business counselors then compares them to the types of ESHC commonly accepted as necessary for entrepreneurial success. The comparison reveals a number of insights for policy and research, most notably a minimum portfolio of skills necessary for entrepreneurial success. This study also examines the methods counselors use to help entrepreneurs acquire higher levels of ESHC. These methods allow counselors to assist entrepreneurs in recognizing and overcoming common barriers to business growth, and a model of entrepreneurial business growth barriers has been produced which depicts these barriers as conceptual-operational transition points for the entrepreneur. Additionally, this dissertation develops important information about the use of the business plan in entrepreneurial development, and uncovers a number of moderators in the relationship between the use of the business plan and entrepreneurial success. Finally, the study produces detailed information about ESHC which has potential for scale development, and highlights a number of insights for policy and research that have not been identified previously.
ContributorsDahlstrom, Timothy R (Author) / Chapman, Jeffrey I. (Thesis advisor) / Phillips, Rhonda (Committee member) / Knopf, Richard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The jobless recovery of the Great Recession has led policymakers and citizens alike to ask what can be done to better protect regions from the cascading effects of an economic downturn. Economic growth strategies that aim to redevelop a waterfront for tourism or attract high growth companies to the area, for example, have left regions vulnerable by consolidating resources in just a few industry sectors or parts of town. A promising answer that coincided with growing interest in regional innovation policy has been to promote entrepreneurship for bottom-up, individual-led regional development. However, these policies have also failed to maximize the potential for bottom-up development by focusing on high skill entrepreneurs and high tech industry sectors, such as green energy and nanotechnology. This dissertation uses the extended case method to determine whether industry cluster theory can be usefully extended from networks of high skill innovators to entrepreneurs in traditional trades. It uses U.S. Census data and in-person interviews in cluster and non-cluster neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio to assess whether traditional entrepreneurs cluster and whether social networks explain high rates of neighborhood self-employment. Entrepreneur interviews are also conducted in Raleigh, North Carolina to explore regional resilience by comparing the behavior of traditional entrepreneurs in the ascendant tech-hub region of Raleigh and stagnant Rustbelt region of Dayton. The quantitative analysis documents, for the first time, a minor degree of neighborhood-level entrepreneur clustering. In interviews, entrepreneurs offered clear examples of social networks that resemble those shown to make regional clusters successful, and they helped clarify that a slightly larger geography may reveal more clustering. Comparing Raleigh and Dayton entrepreneurs, the study found few differences in their behavior to explain the regions' differing long-term economic trends. However, charitable profit-seeking and trial and error learning are consistent behaviors that may distinguish traditional, small scale entrepreneurs from larger export-oriented business owners and contribute to a region's ability to withstand recessions and other shocks. The research informs growing policy interest in bottom-up urban development by offering qualitative evidence for how local mechanics, seamstresses, lawn care businesses and many others can be regional assets. Future research should use larger entrepreneur samples to systematically test the relationship between entrepreneur resilience behaviors to regional economic outcomes.
ContributorsAuer, Jennifer Claire (Author) / Chapman, Jeffrey (Thesis advisor) / Johnston, Erik W., 1977- (Committee member) / Jurik, Nancy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In order to cope with the decreasing availability of symphony jobs and collegiate faculty positions, many musicians are starting to pursue less traditional career paths. Also, to combat declining audiences, musicians are exploring ways to cultivate new and enthusiastic listeners through relevant and engaging performances. Due to these challenges, many community-based chamber music ensembles have been formed throughout the United States. These groups not only focus on performing classical music, but serve the needs of their communities as well. The problem, however, is that many musicians have not learned the business skills necessary to create these career opportunities. In this document I discuss the steps ensembles must take to develop sustainable careers. I first analyze how groups build a strong foundation through getting to know their communities and creating core values. I then discuss branding and marketing so ensembles can develop a public image and learn how to publicize themselves. This is followed by an investigation of how ensembles make and organize their money. I then examine the ways groups ensure long-lasting relationships with their communities and within the ensemble. I end by presenting three case studies of professional ensembles to show how groups create and maintain successful careers. Ensembles must develop entrepreneurship skills in addition to cultivating their artistry. These business concepts are crucial to the longevity of chamber groups. Through interviews of successful ensemble members and my own personal experiences in the Tetra String Quartet, I provide a guide for musicians to use when creating a community-based ensemble.
ContributorsDalbey, Jenna (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Spring, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra was conceived in February of 2013, and conceptually it is my attempt to fuse personal expressions of jazz and classical music into one fully realized statement. It is a three movement work (fast, slow, fast) for 2 fl., 2 ob., 2 cl., bsn., 2 hrn., 2 tpt., tbn., pno., perc., str. (6,4,2,2,1). The work is approximately 27 minutes in duration. The first movement of the Concerto is written in a fluid sonata form. A fugato begins where the second theme would normally appear, and the second theme does not fully appear until near the end of the solo piano section. The result is that the second theme when finally revealed is so reminiscent of the history of jazz and classical synthesis that it does not sound completely new, and in fact is a return of something that was heard before, but only hinted at in this piece. The second movement is a kind of deconstructive set of variations, with a specific theme and harmonic pattern implied throughout the movement. However, the full theme is not disclosed until the final variation. The variations are interrupted by moments of pure rhythmic music, containing harmony made up of major chords with an added fourth, defying resolution, and dissolving each time back into a new variation. The third movement is in rondo form, using rhythmic and harmonic influences from jazz. The percussion plays a substantial role in this movement, acting as a counterpoint to the piano part throughout. This movement and the piece concludes with an extended coda, inspired indirectly by the simple complexities of an improvisational piano solo, building in complexity as the concerto draws to a close.
ContributorsSneider, Elliot (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Over the past few decades, businesses globally have advanced in incorporating the principles of sustainability as they strive to align economic outcomes with growing and complex social and environmental demands and opportunities. This transition is conditioned by the maturity, scale, and geographical location of a business (among other factors), with particular challenges placed on small enterprises in middle- to low-income communities. Within this context, the overarching research question of this dissertation is why and how business incubation processes may foster sustainable enterprises at the middle and base of the socioeconomic pyramid (MoP/BoP). To explore this question, in this project I used as a case study the experience of a network of social business incubators operated by Tecnologico de Monterrey, a private, non-profit, multi-campus university system in Mexico. Centering on its campus in Guadalajara and in order to understand if and how MoP/BoP businesses address sustainability, I developed a current state assessment of incubator processes, analyzing during two semesters the activities of incubated entrepreneurs and their goals, motivations, and outcomes. The general expectation at the outset of the study was that Tec's social business incubation process, in both its design and implementation, focuses on the economic viability and outcomes of incubated projects and hence does not promote entrepreneur commitment to sustainability goals and practices. The general approach of the research project involved a qualitative, in-depth ethnographic assessment of participants. Data were collected by means of the following research tools: (a) archival and documentary review, (b) participant observation, (c) surveys of participants (entrepreneurs and advisors/mentors), and (d) semi-structured interviews of participants. The overall design of the research was inspired by the transitions management approach and by the intervention research method, while qualitative results were assessed under the grounded theory approach. Results of the research are reported under three general categories: (a) analysis of entrepreneur goals, motivations, and outcomes, (b) identification of social and environmental opportunities, and (c) review of the role of social networks and broader support structures. While results confirmed the general expectation of the study, it was possible to establish (based on the interaction with the entrepreneurs and other actors) that there is both interest and commitment to identify and explore opportunities in social and environmental issues. Thus, the dissertation concludes with a proposal for potential future interventions in this social incubator, exploring a new vision and strategies for a transition to a more sustainability-oriented approach. Finally, key recommendations define the most critical elements of an agenda for transition in the social incubation process at Campus Guadalajara and provide input for other efforts.
ContributorsWood, Mark Williams (Author) / Redman, Charles L. (Thesis advisor) / Wiek, Arnim (Committee member) / Basile, George M (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of gendered communication on women's behavioral intentions regarding nonprofit and for-profit entrepreneurship. Women represent half of the U.S. workforce, but only about one third of all American entrepreneurs are women. Feminists have argued that because entrepreneurship is largely understood as a masculine activity, women — who are predominantly socialized to espouse a feminine gender role — are less likely to become entrepreneurs. Previous scholarship and the particular theoretical lens of social feminism suggest that communication about entrepreneurship that is congruent with a feminine gender role would lead to the recruitment of a greater number of women entrepreneurs. Findings of the current study, however, suggested the opposite, providing support for poststructuralist feminist theory. Women who viewed a feminine entrepreneurship recruiting brochure about entrepreneurship reported themselves to be more feminine and less likely to report intentions to become entrepreneurs than women who viewed a masculine entrepreneurship recruiting brochure. These findings suggested that feminine communication may prime women to think of themselves as feminine, which may then lead them to view themselves as not masculine enough to be entrepreneurs. The applications of these findings stretch beyond engaging more women in entrepreneurship and also extend to scholarship that investigates gender's effects on women's pursuit of other masculine careers, including those in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Until the larger discourse on entrepreneurship changes to be inclusive of femininity, it is unlikely that strategies that feminize entrepreneurial activity in controlled situations will have an effect on changing the patterns of women's entrepreneurial intentions.
ContributorsIffert, Audrey (Author) / Montoya, Mitzi M. (Thesis advisor) / Rund, James (Thesis advisor) / Niemczyk, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014