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Most studies of entrepreneurial failure do not have good measures of consumers' perceptions of product quality. As a result, perceived quality in entrepreneurial success is often omitted. The craft brewery industry is comprised of small entrepreneurial firms selling an experience good making it an ideal study setting. Using online beer reviews, the authors examine how perceptions of beer quality and the size of brewery production influence entrepreneurial success of microbreweries and brewpubs.

Using data from the Brewers Association and over 12 million reviews from beeradvocate.com between 2002 and 2016, the authors examine the relationship between perceived product quality to firm survival. Perceived quality is measured using online beer reviews. The authors expect larger microbreweries will survive longer as will breweries with higher perceived quality. The authors use a conditional log-log hazard model to estimate survival for microbreweries and brewpubs.

A one standard deviation increase in the beer ratings reduces the probability of exit by 26% for a microbrewery and 19% for brewpubs. The authors find that larger microbreweries have a lower hazard of exiting.

Entrepreneurs in the brewing industry start as home brewers before beginning commercial enterprises. Scaling up production is difficult. The initial size of their brewery is an important determinant of their success. Likewise, the perception of the quality of their beer as measured by consumer ratings gives a good market indication about future survival. This research is one of the few studies to examine the influence of perceived quality on firm survival in a growing industry.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the appropriate level of data to use for the analysis of public policies.

The paper discusses national, regional and local levels of analysis and the benefits of using local data when available.

A benefit of local analysis is that policy implications may be clearer.

The paper gives a better understanding of the costs and benefits of different levels of data analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the correlation between the degree of economic freedom in state institutions and industry employment and then determine how these correlations relate to economic growth.

The authors find the correlation between employment and economic freedom for each NAICS industry code and then calculate total employment in industries with positive correlation and negative correlations. The authors use these values in a GDP equation.

The authors find that employment growth in industries characterized by a negative correlation is associated with a decline in state per capita GDP. When the correlations between employment and economic freedom are positive, state per capita GDP tends to grow, even after accounting for overall economic freedom in the state.

Eliminating or reducing opportunities for firms to use government institutions to gain special treatment will lead to greater economic growth.

This paper allows the data to determine which industries potentially engage in productive and unproductive entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this paper is to review issues pertaining to estimating market potential for consumer services which may cause underestimates of market potential and result in inappropriate marketing strategies. Particular attention is paid to the issue of double counting disqualified individuals.

The process of estimating market potential for consumer services is described. Attention is paid to the role of factors that disqualify groups of individuals from inclusion in the relevant market and the problem of double counting disqualified individuals. Secondary data for enlistees in the United States Army are used to illustrate the process.

The United States Army's estimate of its market potential was approximately twice as large as previous estimates when the double‐counting of disqualified individuals was eliminated.

This is the first study appearing in the academic literature that directly addresses the issue of double‐counting disqualified individuals when estimating market potential. It is intended to raise awareness of the issue and lead to a more thorough coverage of the topic in marketing textbooks and other practitioner‐related materials.

The process of estimating market potential applies to a broad range of service industries in which the double counting of disqualified individuals is an important issue. More accurate estimates of market potential can lead to more effective marketing strategies and improved allocation of marketing resources.

A review of the literature indicates that, surprisingly, no previous studies have addressed these important issues. This article helps to fill that void.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the impact of economic freedom on entrepreneurial activity in the service sector. Specifically, the paper examines how economic freedom at the state level affects employment among North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) six-digit service industries.

The paper uses a fixed effects model to predict the effect of economic freedom on employment in each of the NAICS six-digit service industries. The paper uses the significance of the economic freedom coefficients to determine which industries grow and which shrink with increases in economic freedom.

The empirical findings reveal that economic freedom improves job growth for some, but not for all industries. Employment tends to grow in the six-digit industries that are categorized as finance and insurance, administrative and waste services, and professional and technical services. Employment in many of the health care and social assistance industries as well as accommodation and food services industries tends to fall with increases in economic freedom.

These results give a more detailed assessment of the influence of economic freedom on employment growth based on micro-level data. The results can be used by policy makers to better understand how changes in economic freedom influence the portfolio of industries that develop in their states.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the institutional environment on firm birth and death rates. It is hypothesized that high taxation levels, large government size, high levels of unionization and high minimum wages will be associated with relatively low firm birth and death rates.

This study makes use of a set of custom tabulations from the US Census Bureau that contain data on county-level firm births and deaths. To account for differences in state policies, matched contiguous counties located on state borders are used to calculate matched birth and death ratios.

In the sample of eastern US state border counties, state taxation levels and minimum wages had no significant relationship with firm birth rates, but there was a negative relationship between state union densities and firm birth rates. Both state education and public welfare expenditures were marginally negatively related to firm birth rates. State public welfare expenditures were negatively related to firm death rates, while a marginally significant negative relationship between hospital/health expenditures and firm death rates was observed.

These results indicate that state government expenditures may have varying influences on firm birth and death rates, and that high union densities may deter new firm entry.

This paper makes use of a county matching technique to help control for confounding variables, allowing for differences in state policies to be better accounted for.

The primary objective of this research was to develop a segmentation model for the United States Army Recruiting Command Headquarters (USAREC), located at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The segmentation model was based on the MicroVision geodemographic system, developed by National Decisions Systems. Cluster analysis was used to develop the segmentation model. The research resulted in identifying 18 unique segments, or clusters, that were based on demographic and socioeconomic variables. The second objective of the research was to predict contract production within each market segment. The results of this portion of the analysis have allowed USAREC to more effectively establish and evaluate contract production goals across the command structure. The methodology employed in the research has wide applications to both the military and other service organizations that use geodemographic systems in their marketing programs.

This paper examines how perceptions about salesforce automation (SFA) systems are influenced by the perceived accuracy of the information the system provides.

Three hypotheses are tested. They are as follows. Sales people who perceive that the information is inaccurate will be less likely to: have a positive perception of the system; think that their training was helpful; and think that the system improves their productivity. Chi‐square tests are used to test the association between the perceptions of information accuracy and the statements in the hypotheses.

Negative perceptions about the accuracy of information leads to negative perceptions about other aspects of the SFA system.

This study examines the results for only one particular organization. The results may not be generalizable to other organizations. As similar data about other SFA systems become available, this study can be used as a basis for examining the effect of information accuracy on perceptions of SFA systems.

Since the company has some control over the accuracy of the information provided by the system, they should attempt to provide information that the salesforce finds useful. To enure that the proper information is provided, management must seek the user's input about what information should be provided. Additionally, the data should be cleansed and provide an indicator of the probability that a particular lead will result in a sale.

While previous studies have looked at the negative consequences of beer drinking often as a prelude to discussing benefits of laws that curtail consumption, the purpose of this paper is to understand the downside of such regulations insofar as reducing entrepreneurial activity in the brewing industry.

Using a unique data set from the Brewers’ Association that contains information on the number and type of brewery in each county, this study explores the relationship between the number of breweries and regulations targeted at the brewing industry. Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions are used to determine the relationship between the number of microbreweries and brewpubs per county and state beer taxes, self-distribution legislation, and on-premises sales.

The authors find that allowing breweries to sell beers on-premises as well as allowing for breweries to self-distribute have statistically significant relationships with the number of microbreweries, brewpubs, and breweries. The authors do not find an economically significant relationship between state excise taxes and the number of breweries of any type.

Results suggest that whatever public health benefits are brought about by alcohol laws, they are not a free lunch, as they may hinder entrepreneurial development.