The major issues in the case were leadership and team building issues that were impacted by environmental factors. A PESTLE analysis was sufficient to show that this was true. In the L.A. Arts District, Wurstkuche had done well because it had invited patrons in to be part of the building process. The community and the workers were all connected from the beginning, all part of the same journey, as Wilson stated: “We all created something together” (Knapp, Orr, 2017, p. 4). In Denver, this process was much less organic and had a more business-type feel: everyone was hired to do a job; the love of labor and bond of family that helped to establish the Wurstkuche in an up-and-coming district was not there the same way it had been in L.A. The environments were different, and thus the outcome was different. Every place has its dynamic, its own needs—and Wilson and Pitruzzelli were able to see that in the Arts District, mainly because Wilson went to school nearby and was aware of a need for a place where young people could go to hang out, enjoy good but simple food, and have a nice beer. The area needed a good, solid social setting like that which the two entrepreneurs offered. In a sense, the two were not just opening a business but were also adopting a corporate social responsibility perspective: meeting a need in the community and projecting good vibes and good will among the patrons in that region by sharing their struggles with them in the early stages. This allowed fast bonds to be made and for everyone to be pulling together for the same end: all stakeholders were made to feel like they were involved in the process and, ultimately, like they were all on the same team. It wasn’t just Wurstkuche that felt it had a responsibility to provide a social outlet in the District, but also the people there who felt they had a responsibility to provide support to Wurstkuche.In L.A., the two “entrenched” themselves in the community (Knapp, Orr, 2017, p. 5). They received some initial good press that brought more light on their endeavors and lit...

The bar also benefitted from new social media apps and sites like Yelp, which allowed anyone and everyone to be a food reviewer. As Cousins stated, it was “a place people wanted to be in”—it was the perfect social setting for young, serious Millennials in need of a social environment that they could identify with and call their own. It was the perfect representation of their generation and their cultural tastes—and, best of all, it filled a gap in the neighborhood.
As Ganescu (2012) notes, corporate social performance from a contingency theory perspective allows one to see how environments impact leadership and organizational achievement—and that argument certainly applies to the case of Wurstkuche in L.A. A quick PESTLE analysis of the setting shows that the environment in the L.A. Arts District was perfect. The politics were liberal and creative. The economic incentive was there: the district was entering into a revitalization phase. The social element expressed a need for this type of business. The technological factor was minimal and provided an escape from the tech-heavy world of the Millennials (but at the same time, the new tech of social media helped generate interest in the company). The environmental factors were an obstacle, because of zoning issues in the beginning, but the obstacle and its challenges were shared by the company leaders with the company’s patrons, who could see that the business owners were doing their hardest to keep the bar going—and patrons liked being part of that process, as they began to feel like they were true stakeholders too. The legal factors were similarly challenging, but they did not deter the two entrepreneurs from opening shop and proceeding to just sell sausages while they worked on ironing out the other legal issues relating to the liquor license. Cousins said the situation worked so well because Wilson and Petruzzelli had no egos to get in the way of success—but that might not necessarily be totally true. As Petrenko,…