Lake Superior University

When thinking about the different terms that are used in the topic of credit cards, one of the most mentioned and talked about is credit card debt consolidation. It’s true that credit cards have been very useful and convenient for us and we, in fact, treat the credit cards as a necessity.

However, with every good you have evil too. In the world of credit cards, ‘Credit card debt’ is that evil and ‘Credit card debt consolidation’ is often regarded as a medicine for treating credit card debt.

For the most part, anybody who has read any news on the topic of credit card debt party knows what a credit card debt consolidation consists of. But for the sake of those who have been hiding under a rock, any credit card debt consolidation is the process of putting all of your credit card debt from high interest cards onto a card with a low interest rate.

So the main benefits of consolidating your credit card debt is that you get a lower annual percentage rate which helps to keep the overall growth of your credit card debt reduced.Many people often say that this is the only benefit from consolidating your credit card debt.

I am going to show you though that there are some other benefits to this as well. You have probably seen many of these benefits publicized by suppliers of credit cards, but others you haven’t:

1. Initial APR: As mentioned above, lower APR is the biggest benefit from credit card debt consolidation. Since many credit card companies use this as a tool to lure you in, many companies will offer you a 0% APR for the first 6 to 9 months of your contract thereby allowing you to save a lot of money.

2. Standard APR: Your long-term annual percentage rate is another benefit that you are going to gain as it will be calculated at a lower rate as well. It is not a given that every credit card suppliers going to provide you with a lower standard APR for your consolidation, but there are many suppliers that provide the use programs with low APR’s. What you normally end up with is a trade-off between initial and standard APR rates.

3. 0% on purchases: This is another common benefit from credit card debt consolidation. These companies will offer this 0% interest rate, or just a really low rate, on purchases for an added incentive. These aren’t never a full-time benefit though, only for a limited time.

4. Easy management: You rarely hear of this debt consolidation benefit. However, one benefit of credit card debt consolidation (from multiple to single credit card) is the fact that you need to track and manage a lesser number of credit cards.

5. Other benefits: Many credit card companies, especially ones that are co branded, will offer you incentives such as rebates, discounts, and reward points as a measure to secure your business.

According to Zhara et al., (1999) different scholars use different expressions to describe entrepreneurship (e.g., Entrepreneurship , Corporate Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, Entrepreneurship Posture, Entrepreneurial Orientation), but contrary to the variety of expressions used to describe entrepreneurship, there is consistency regarding entrepreneurship’s definition and measurement.
Generally speaking, entrepreneurship based research usually focus on either Traits or Behavior. Since the nineties, behavior underlie the vast majority of entrepreneurship’s research, the main reason for this is a limited success of scholars to reinforce the existence of common traits that characterize entrepreneurs (Smart and Conant, 1994). Gartner (1988) argues that the focus should be on “what the entrepreneur does” and not “who is the entrepreneur ”. Behavior based research focus on the entrepreneurship process through the entrepreneur activities, that instead of referring to personal specific traits (Smart and Conant, 1994). Behavior based entrepreneurship’s research is usually conducted at entrepreneur level; nonetheless, scholars claim that entrepreneurship is implemented at the firm level as well (Carland et. al., 1984; Naman and Slevin, 1993; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996; Wiklund, 1999).

This article tries to establish a common base for defining firm level entrepreneurship. Naman and Slevin (1993) states that organization can be characterized and measured based on the level of entrepreneurship demonstrate by the firm’s management. According to Covin and Slevin (1986), top managers at entrepreneurship’s firm possess an entrepreneurship style of management, which affect the firm’s strategic decisions and management philosophy.
In order to establish definition for the firm level entrepreneurship, it is necessary to present the characteristics of management behavior used by scholars for that matter. Schumpeter (1934) states that innovativeness is the only entrepreneurship behavior that separates between entrepreneurship’s activities to non-entrepreneurship’s activities. Innovation relates to the pursuit after creative solutions through the development and improvement of services and products as well as administrative and technological techniques (Davis et al., 1991). Innovation reflects the firm’s tendency to support new ideas and procedures, which can end as new products or services Lumpkin and Dess (1996).
In his book “Essai sur la Nature Commerce en General”, Richard Cantillon (1755) argues that the essence of entrepreneurship is a risk-taking behavior. According to Lumpkin and Dess (1996), risk-taking can range from relatively “safe” risk as deposit money to the bank to quite risky actions like investing in untested technologies or launching new product to the market. In their research, Miller and Friesen (1982) define an entrepreneurial model of innovativeness, this model regards firm that innovate audacity and regularly while taking substantial risks in their strategy.
Third dimension, which can be added to innovation and risk-taking, is Proactive. According to Davis et al., (1991) proactive associates with an aggressive posture, relatively to competitors, while trying to achieve firm’s objectives by all rational needed means. Lumpkin and Dess (2001) mention that proactive relate to the way the firm associates to business opportunities through acquisition of initiatives in the market it’s operate in.
Although other dimensions are used to define firm level entrepreneurship, the vast majority of scholars use these three dimensions – Innovation , Risk-taking and Proactive (e.g., Miller and Friesen, 1978; Covin and Slevin, 1986, 1989; Naman and Slevin, 1993; Knight, 1993; Wiklund, 1999).

Finding a college scholarship is important if you’re going to go to college. Going to college today is imperative if you plan on getting a quality job and being successful in life; however, the prices of a good college education have never been higher before. Today the costs of attending college are skyrocketing, making a college education an expensive investment that many are finding themselves unable to afford. However, there are a variety of college scholarships available to help students with college costs, but many are not even trying to apply. If you are looking for a way that you can afford college, then you may want to try applying for a college scholarship to help you afford your education.

 

Although you will find that there are many options to choose from when you are looking for a college scholarship, many of these scholarships are going unawarded each year, simply because no one has applied for them. There are actually thousands of different scholarships out there that one can apply for. Although many of these scholarships are merit based, there are different qualifications for each scholarship, and many are not based on just merit or financial need alone.

 

If you are looking for a college scholarship, you will find that many of them are based on financial need. This means that those who are having difficulties coming up with the money to go to college should definitely apply for these scholarships. Even if you are not financially needy though, there are other great scholarship opportunities that are not just based on need. You’ll find that there are many scholarships out there that are especially for people of particular heritages, some for those going into certain fields, and a whole lot more.

 

Many times you’ll find that you can easily find a good college scholarship in your area. More than likely there are local scholarships available. When you are competing for scholarships that are based on a small geographical area, you will have a much better chance of winning them. Consider talking to your guidance counselor to find out what local scholarships are available in your area. Of course there are scholarships that are offered on a national basis as well, including National Merit scholarships, Coca-Cola scholarships, ROTC scholarships, Robert Byrd scholarships, and very many more.

 

Chances are that your employer or your parents’ employer may also offer scholarships as well. If you are working already, find out if your employer has any scholarships programs. Ask your parents if their companies offer scholarships for the children of their employees. Also, you may find that your church may even offer some scholarships as well.

 

There are so many different ways that you can find a college scholarship today. There are online sites that provide listings of top scholarships, and books that you can check out of your library full of possible scholarships. One of the best places that you can find a great scholarship is online at scholarship search sites. These sites ask you specific questions and will then help to match you up with scholarships that you may be eligible for. So, why pay for college on your own? There are plenty of great scholarships out there that can help you get the education you need and deserve.