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has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Operational Plan Small Business Owners Use to Sustain Business

  AUTHORS: Lyndabelle Virgil Jakes, Scott Burrus

  KEYWORDS: Business Success, Business Sustainability, Insurance Brokerage Organization, Porter’s Five Forces, Life Insurance Broker, Small Business

  JOURNAL NAME: Open Journal of Business and Management, Vol.10 No.5, September 19, 2022

  ABSTRACT: The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify and explore the strategies that life insurance brokerage owners use to sustain business operations beyond 5 years. Porter’s 5 forces model was served as the conceptual framework for exploring this subject matter. Owners of 3 separate small life insurance brokerage firms in Texas, who sustained their businesses beyond 5 years, participated in semistructured interviews. A secondary source of data was relevant to company documents. Methodological triangulation and member checking assured the reliability and validity of the interpretations. Through thematic analysis and supporting software, 5 themes emerged: exceptional customer service, relationship-building, efficient promotional strategies, regular training of salespersons, and hiring the right employees. Findings in this study supported the efforts of small business owners to improve strategies to sustain business operations beyond 5 years.