first student reference 

AriyanGreetings Class,  Women-and minority-owned small businesses in the U.S face different obstacles and opportunities. Regarding obstacles, these businesses often face lending disparities. According to Acs et al. (2018), this is so because small businesses have a lower net worth, have little or no credit history, poor location, and lack sufficient collaterals to help them secure bank loans for expansion. Additionally, small businesses lack social capital, which entails a lack of a network of other business owners, colleagues, peers, and advisors. On the part of opportunities, small businesses receive funding under the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Also, the body has designed a development program that nurtures small businesses to grow.             Lack of planning and poor management are major reasons why small businesses fail. An example of a business that failed due to this reason is BHS. Notably, this company failed due to poor debt management. In April 2016, the company had £1.3 billion in debts that became unbearable to handle. Thus, small businesses can use this example to manage their debts effectively. Reference Acs, Z. J., Estrin, S., Mickiewicz, T., & Szerb, L. (2018). Entrepreneurship, institutional             economics, and economic growth: an ecosystem perspective. Small Business              Economics, 51(2), 501-514. less0 Unread 0 Unread 0 Replies 0 Replies 2 Views 2 Vie

  second student- Alvin

An obstacle women and minority owned small businesses face in the U.S. is a lack of access to capital to start and maintain a business. Research shows minority owned businesses have a higher rate of loan application rejections than other businesses or are overlooked by financial institutions altogether (Asiedu et al., 2012). However, there are funding and support opportunities specifically designed for women and minority owned small businesses sponsored by the SBA such the Office of Women’s Business Ownership and Minority Business Development Agency.

One company that became victim to fail factors 1. No planning and poor management and 5. Competition not researched-- was Blockbuster. Blockbuster dominated the video home rental market with VHS tapes. However, the bulk of revenue generated were through high late fees thus punishing customers. There were no new ideas to find alternate way to produce revenue from Blockbuster’s management (Satell, 2014). Blockbuster’s management also failed to foresee the widespread adoption of DVDs and streaming services. Companies like Netflix and Redbox were gaining market share from Blockbuster consistently. When Netflix was initially created the company struggled and on two separate occasions offers were made to sell Netflix to Blockbuster (Satell, 2014). Blockbuster was either unable or unwilling to take Netflix seriously and declined to purchase Netflix.

References

Asiedu, E., Freeman, J. A., & Nti-Addae, A. (2012). Access to Credit by Small Businesses: How Relevant Are Race, Ethnicity, and Gender? The American Economic Review, 102(3), 532–537.

Satell, G. (2014). A Look Back at Why Blockbuster Really Failed and Why It Didn't Have To. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/09/05/a-look-back-at-why-blockbuster-really-failed-and-why-it-didnt-have-to/?sh=426792791d64