Defining Economic Success as it Pertains to Native American Owned Businesses Located on/or Adjacent to North Dakota Reservations

Successful economic development is essential in building and sustaining a healthy community. The purpose of this study was to identify indicators of successful economic development as it pertained to Native American owned businesses located on/or adjacent to North Dakota reservations. More specifically this study sought to explore specific relationships between the perceived level of importance of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and sustainable Native American owned business ventures. Using a quantitative correlation research design, 194 Native American owned businesses located on/or adjacent to the four reservations in North Dakota: Spirit Lake, Standing Rock, Fort Berthold, and Turtle Mountain responded to a self-administered 69 item survey instrument. The instrument was designed to gain an understanding of how important each factor was to the business owner and to what extent the business owner used each factor. The compiled research data was analyzed in addressing the following questions: (a) How important are knowledge, skills, and attitudes to the sustainability of Native American owned businesses? and (b) To what extent are Native American environmental factors, knowledge, skills, and attitudes significant for emerging verses mature Native American owned businesses? Native American owned businesses play a significant role in their communities. This research indicated Native American owned businesses need planning and organization skills to be successful. Strategic planning, operational planning, communication, managing change, innovation, and human resources are all essential planning and organization skills that both emerging and mature businesses need. Emerging Native American business owners also need to be technically proficient in their field. Therefore, they should be encouraged to participate in training which focuses on technical skills. They also need to solicit critical suggestions from a business network to be successful. Receiving constant feedback on the performance of the business will assist emerging business owners in identifying and correcting issues which would otherwise hold a business back or cause it to go out of business. Tribal administrations and tribal economic development offices may benefit from this study by providing foundational knowledge to advance their economic development efforts. The results from this study may also benefit higher education business departments who offer economic development courses.North Dakota Indian Scholarshi