Business Commons^™

In Re Dewey Ranch Hockey, Llc: The Bankruptcy Of The Phoenix Coyotes, Chris Rowe, Jeff Upshaw

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

While only a small percentage of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings garner the attention of the American public, a bankruptcy petition involving a “big four” professional sports franchise (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) is big news to the American sports world. Perhaps the reason is that few, if any, commercial entities make such a passionate connection with its customers as professional sports teams.

In comparison to the other members of the “big four”, the NHL simply does not have the same level of financial success. Almost half of the 30 NHL franchises lost money in the 2011-2012 season.^[1] Of the nine ...

Force Out: A Dodgers Bankruptcy, Richard Marrero, Cj Fayton

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

The premise of a chapter 11 bankruptcy is that the business’ going concern value exceeds its liquidation value. It provides the debtor with an opportunity to restructure their debt so that they can pay back their creditors and stay in business.

The debtor’s filing of the bankruptcy petition creates an “automatic stay.”[1] The automatic stay is an injunction that prevents creditors from pursuing legal actions against the debtor and its assets. The automatic stay, however, protects not only the debtor but the creditors as well. In the absence of the automatic stay, creditors would “race to the courthouse ...

Business Strategy For A Newly Designed Husk Fly Trap, Taylor Denney

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the analysis, evaluation and business strategy for a newly designed Husk Fly Trap from Ag Chem Wholesalers located in Yuba City, California. This prototype is designed to hold 2 to 3 weeks’ worth of Ammonium Carbonate and alleviate the hassle of monitoring the Walnut Husk Fly. This system is cost affective, able to hold the same amount, or 2 – 3 weeks, of Ammonium Carbonate as a “supercharged” trap. The Prototype Trap is easier to handle by not having to replace blown away traps or ruined sticky cards saving Pest Control Advisors time and allowing them to ...

The Impact Of New Product Announcements On Quick Service Restaurant Companies’ Stock Returns, Tim Drechsler-Martell

Honors Projects in Finance

This study seeks to answer two main questions: 1) Do product announcements impact quick service restaurant stock returns? 2) Do economic conditions impact the degree which product announcements impact quick service restaurant stock returns? 159 total product announcements were collected for 6 quick service companies: McDonald’s Corp., YUM! Brands Inc., The Wendy’s Co., AFC Enterprises Inc., Jack in the Box Inc., and Sonic Corp. 84 of these announcements were from 2005-2007 (Labeled “Pre-Recession”), and 75 were from 2009-2011 (Labeled “Post-Recession”). Using historical stock price data, an analysis of the overall trends of the mean-adjusted excess returns was conducted ...

Technology And Adaptation In Logging, Jeremy D. Rosenblad

History Department

Between 1880 and 1917 there was a dramatic shift in technology with the coming of mechanization. This dramatic process, which started just after the end of the American Civil War, in a Period of Transition (1870-1880) would continue to gain speed with the Period of Rapid Advances (1880-1900) in technology all the way to the start of the First World War with the Rapid Proliferation of Technology (1900-1917) into everyday life. As a result of these shifts loggers, mill owners and their respective associations that represented them and the logging industry as a whole, in the Pacific Northwest, were increasingly ...

Who Is The American League Mvp On A Per Dollar Basis?, Patrick Decker

Honors Projects in Mathematics

This study will look at the value of MLB players in the American League on a per dollar basis. It will be based on the 2011 statistics and will use a linear regression model to create a value for each player. The value will be based on a variety of statistics based upon position. For all players: age, team wins, and years in the league will be accounted for. For field players: games played, hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, walks, strike outs, stolen bases, on base percentage, slugging percentage, fielding percentage and errors will be accounted ...

Grass-Fed Dairy Steer Enterprise Analysis For Alexandre Family Ecodairy Farms, Joseph Jackson Alexandre

Agribusiness

Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms (AFEF) is a family dairy farm, producing organic milk in northern California. In the last decade, AFEF has been expanding in value added natural food enterprises, including pastured free-range eggs, pastured pork and grass-fed beef.

This study focuses on the analysis of an organic grass-fed ground beef from dairy-beef cross steers coming from AFEF. The grass fed beef enterprise was analyzed by adopting a UC Davis cost and returns study, modifying it to AFEF production limitations and conditions. Through partial budgeting analysis, opportunity costs were discovered leading to breakeven prices for the final grass fed ground ...

If Not For Profit, For What?, Dennis R. Young

2013 Faculty Books

The primary purpose of this book is to develop the rudiments of a theory of behavior of nonprofit organizations on which public policies that govern the use of these organizations for public service can be intelligently based. A review of literature on nonprofit organizations is presented to give the reader a sense of the state of existing theory and knowledge about these agencies. The function of entrepreneurship serves as the point of departure for theory development, necessitating considerable review and discussion of this subject. Thus clarification of the entrepreneurial process and its role in the nonprofit sector occupies a major ...

Managing And Securing Business Networks In The Smartphone Era, Sathiadev Mahesh, Aaron Hooter

Management Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the impact of user owned mobile computing devices (smartphones, tablets, and future devices like Google Glass) on management and security of the corporate network. Personally owned portable computing devices are widely used at work and create a porous network perimeter for the enterprise network. The paper reviews corporate policies posted on websites along with research papers and corporate whitepapers to develop a comprehensive user owned mobile computing device policy. This is a rapidly evolving topic that has not been researched in the business academic literature. We survey trade journals and corporate websites for information regarding this policy ...

Creative Collaboration: Maximizing Resources For Multi-Collection Exhibits, Jillian M. Slater, Nichole Rustad

Faculty Presentations

This presentation illustrates the collaborative, multi-format approach used in preparing an exhibit of archival materials on the 1913 Dayton flood at the University of Dayton Libraries. Originally formed due to the absence of a University Archivist, the small planning committee was able to combine areas of expertise including archives, history, graphic design, video/audio production, marketing, and digitization. The collaborative process facilitated a creative approach resulting in a unique, interactive exhibit utilizing audio, video, original materials, reproductions, a permanent digital component, and a discussion panel event. The presenters will also discuss how the planning committee maximized available resources (without a ...

Recreation Displacement Of Bass Fishermen From Central Coast Lakes, Erin Gray

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

The purpose of this study was to assess the impacts of aquatic invasive species preventative measures on recreation displacement of bass fishermen from Central Coast lakes. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to participants at a local bass fishing tournament. Thirty-six respondents completed the questionnaire. The results indicated that boat inspection procedures do not necessarily cause bass fishermen to displace. This study found that fishermen are likely to avoid recreating at a Central Coast lake in fishing practice conditions rather than in tournament conditions, and are likely to avoid tournaments at their least favorite lake if boat inspection procedures take too ...

Sustainability Trends For Museums, Zoos, And Aquariums: A Website Evaluation, Alison Sunahara

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

Sustainability is an emerging trend that is accessible through programs and practices for the public and organizations. Museums, zoos, and aquariums exhibit and maintain collection pieces for observation and study. The purpose of the study was to analyze the top museum, zoo, and aquarium websites to determine their sustainability practices. This study was conducted through a website checklist developed by the researcher. Data were collected using a representative sample of the top museum, zoos, and aquariums within the United States. The sample was based upon the Travel Channel’s “Top 10 Free U.S. Museums”, “America’s Wildest Zoos”, and ...

Assessing The Need For Personalized, Jewelry-Based Customer Loyalty Programs Within Top Las Vegas, Nevada Luxury Casino Resorts, Melissa Brick

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

Luxury markets have begun to expand from material items into places, experiences, and lifestyles. As the popularity of the luxury travel increases, resorts may benefit from incorporating some type of luxury aspect into a guest’s stay. The purpose of this study was to assess the current need for personalized, jewelry-based, luxury customer loyalty programs focused on wealthy visitors to resort casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. The researcher created an over the phone interview script and interviewed representatives from 15 top luxury resort casinos in Las Vegas, NV. Existence of customer loyalty programs and ‘high-roller’ customer loyalty programs were found ...

Portable Hammock Stand Design And Business Model Development, Evan Keith

Industrial Technology

Currently hammocks are thought of as stationary relaxation devices that use tress as support structures. The industry mainly focuses on hammock innovation over the way in which the hammock is actually hung. Having been around for thousands of years, reinventing the idea of the hammock is not something that is occurring or has been thought of.

This senior project proposes the idea of a portable or more adaptable hammock stand. It takes the idea of hammocks as stationary devices to them being something that can be taken almost anywhere. Shifting how hammocks are thought of and exposing the potential they ...

Analysis Of The Petan Ranch, Danielle Jackson

Agribusiness

The purpose of this study was to determine the best time to sell calves on the Petan Ranch in Tuscarora, Nevada. The Petan Ranch has two options of when to sell their steer calves: shortly after weaning in November weighing 500 pounds and run more cows, or keep 70% of the steer calves and sell them as 875 pound yearlings in August and run fewer cows.

Prices and expenses for raising steer calves and stocker steers were collected from the Petan Ranch from the last ten years. Enterprise budgets for a cow-calf enterprise and a cow-calf-yearling enterprise were used. Based ...

Enabling Greater Access To Home Meal Delivery, Maciek Nowak, Leo Gala, Mike Hewitt

Information Systems and Operations Management: Faculty Publications & Other Works

Non-profit organizations like the Meals on Wheels (MOW) association of America prepare and deliver meals, typically daily, to approximately one million homebound citizens in the United States alone. However, many MOW agencies are facing a steadily increasing number of clients requesting meal service without an increase in resources (either financial or human). One strategy for accommodating these requests is to deliver multiple (frozen) meals at a time and thus make fewer delivers. However, many of the stakeholders (funders, volunteers, meal recipients) value the relationships that are developed by having a client receive daily deliveries from the same volunteer. Further, meal ...

From Craft To Industry: The Boat Builders Of Holland, Geoffrey D. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

The article From Craft to Industry: The Boat Builders of Holland is an article concerning the history of ship and boat building in the Holland, Michigan area from 1836-2013.

Essays On Fresh Vegetable Production And Marketing Practices, Michael Vassalos

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Commercial fresh vegetable production is one of the most rewarding and risky farming activities. The price and yield variations throughout the production year, the special characteristics of fresh vegetable produce (i.e. perishability), and the changing consumer demands are some of the factors contributing to the increased uncertainty faced by vegetable producers. This dissertation combined mathematical programming and econometric techniques to: 1) investigate the optimal production and marketing practices under different price distribution information scenarios, risk aversion levels and marketing outlets and 2) examine growers’ preferences as well the effect of risk aversion levels and growers’ risk perception on the ...

Culture For Radical Innovation: What Can Business Learn From Creative Processes Of Contemporary Dancers?, Nina Bozic, Bengt Köping Olsson

Organizational Aesthetics

Organizational culture is considered by several scholars to have a significant impact on the organization's capacity for innovation. However, there is little known about the specific aspects of organizational culture that facilitates radical innovation. This article investigates in what ways contemporary dancers´ creative practice may contribute to our understanding as well as to the development of radical innovation in business. By interviewing twenty contemporary dancers and choreographers from different countries, we found five key elements that support their creative processes from idea to performance. These elements or categories are improvisation, reflection, personal involvement, diversity, and emergent supportive structures.

An ...

Supporting Personalized Learning, Rebecca Schutzengel

2013 Grand Challenge Scholars Program

This is my portfolio for the Grand Challenge Scholars Program. In this portfolio, I reflect on my experiences at Olin College within the following five areas: entrepreneurial experience, global awareness, interdisciplinary experience, service learning and a long term project addressing a Grand Challenge. These experiences have helped me develop the skills necessary to tackle the Grand Challenges of the 21st century. In particular, the Grand Challenge that I am committed to addressing is advancing personalized learning.