TITLE:
Practical Business Strategies Independent Quick Service Restaurants Use to Sustain beyond Five Years
AUTHORS:
Mario D. Wallace
KEYWORDS:
Competitive Advantage, Diversification, Heterogeneity, Independent Quick-Service Restaurant
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.10 No.4,
July
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: Grounded in the resource-based theory, this study focused on
quick-service restaurant owners who fail to apply practical business strategies
that could close or become inactive within the first 5 years. Data came from
semistructured interviews with 6 owners of independent quick-service
restaurants in Little Rock, Arkansas, who sustained their business beyond the
first 5 years and from the review of business documents concerning
sustainability. Data were also collected using business artifacts such as job
descriptions, menus, websites, social media platforms, and business licenses,
reviewed, and analyzed using methodological triangulation. Member checking validated
the collected data to ensure the reliability and validity of the
interpretations. Six key themes emerged from the data: 1) organization value, 2)
customer required excellence, 3) financial perspective, 4) human assets, 5)
physical operating materials, and 6) technological prowess. The 6 themes
aligned with the five types of internal resources established the conceptual
framework 1) organizational capital, 2) financial capital, 3) human capital, 4)
physical capital, and 5) technological capital. The implications for positive
social change include the potential to support the welfare of the citizens in
Little Rock, Arkansas, and owners of quick-service restaurants across the
United States by providing them with the strategies necessary to increase their
survival rate, improve job sustainability, and encourage job creation.