Business Analytics Commons^™

Evaluating Event Effectiveness Across Alternate Platforms, Kristin Malek, Sarah Tanford, Seyhmus Baloglu

Hospitality Faculty Publications

Organizations are rapidly adopting new technologies and have justified their return on investment by examining new attendee rates, “click throughs” on links, and company-specific metrics. Despite advances in technology and growing consumer dependence on electronics, the meeting and events industry has been slow to adopt IT advances for fear of cannibalization. The purpose of this study was to gather foundational knowledge of how various event platforms, such as face to face and online, can affect overall event effectiveness. Variables examined include attendee satisfaction, loyalty, and content retention. This research used a multimethod approach in which one experimental study and one ...

Effects Of Mismanaged Condensed Project Life Cycles In The U.S. Consumer Ready Meat Industry, John E. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Projects have been undertaken by the United States (U.S.) consumer ready meat industry to advance strategic objectives and provide consumers with desired food products. The management of the projects’ industry life cycles was impacted by diverse consumer groups’ continual demands for new and varied products. The problem addressed was the inefficient management of projects’ costs, scopes, and deliverables because of the shortened projects’ life cycles for consumer ready processing lines in the U.S. meat industry. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects inefficient management of condensed project life cycles had on stakeholders and deliverables. This ...

Assessing The Determinants Of Cross-Border Traveler Flows Between Canada And The United States, Tanja Armenski, Sean Clarke

TTRA Canada 2018 Conference

Canada and the US border accommodate the greatest portion of international cross-border traffic. Given its magnitude, the cross-border traffic is important for the national economies of both countries. There are, however, a number of factors that determine the volume of cross-border traffic.

This paper examines a number of economic, socioeconomic, and geopolitical determinants and their impact on the Canada-US car traffic between 2000 and 2017. Data are drawn from Frontier Counts. This is a database built by Statistics Canada from an extraction of administrative files comprising same-day and overnight car trips collected by Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA).

To explain ...

How Might Servant Leadership Principles Impact Employee Turnover At A Solid Waste Management Firm?, Clifton Thacker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study analyzed the impact servant leadership had on employee turnover at an SWM firm. Many authors were reviewed with literature pertaining to leadership, servant leadership, and SWM. Multiple interviews were conducted with current personnel at an SWM firm that utilizes servant leadership in order to gain a better understanding of the experiences of these employees. The results of the study indicate that servant leadership has a profoundly positive impact on employee satisfaction and, consequently, decreased turnover. The researcher developed many themes based on data analysis, which included culture, accountability, support, and commitment.

Yelp’S Review Filtering Algorithm, Yao Yao, Ivelin Angelov, Jack Rasmus-Vorrath, Mooyoung Lee, Daniel W. Engels

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we present an analysis of features influencing Yelp's proprietary review filtering algorithm. Classifying or misclassifying reviews as recommended or non-recommended affects average ratings, consumer decisions, and ultimately, business revenue. Our analysis involves systematically sampling and scraping Yelp restaurant reviews. Features are extracted from review metadata and engineered from metrics and scores generated using text classifiers and sentiment analysis. The coefficients of a multivariate logistic regression model were interpreted as quantifications of the relative importance of features in classifying reviews as recommended or non-recommended. The model classified review recommendations with an accuracy of 78%. We found that ...

The Resource Allocation Optimization Problem For Cloud Computing Environments, Victor Yim, Colin Fernandes

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we present the use of optimization models to evaluate how to best allocate cloud computing resources to minimize cost and time to generate analysis. We look at cloud platform providers Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure on their product offering. We selected 18 machine configuration instances among these providers and analyze the pricing structure of the different configuration. Using a support vector machine analysis written in python, performance data was gathered on these instances to compare time and cost on various data sizes. Using this result, we build models that allow us to select the ...

An Optimal Airline Revenue Management Seat Pricing Plan Model, Constantine M. Koursaris, James W. Marion Jr.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The goal of an airline is to sell tickets at the highest fare possible, thus yielding maximum profit for the stakeholders. As airline seat pricing is divided into different fare classes, a revenue management system is created and maintained to identify opportunity costs where the airline may sell an optimum number of available seats in both discounted fare and full fare classes. Ideally, under perfect conditions, the airline will sell all available seats at full capacity for each leg of a trip. Under non-ideal conditions for the airline, not all available seats may sell at either full fare or discounted ...

Project Management And The Temporary Relocation Of The Decoupling Point: Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study, Christopher Hicks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigates, understands, and describes the value of engaging a project manager to support a customer-driven project that creates a random supply chain demand event. Specifically such an event would require the temporary re-positioning of the decoupling point between the supply push and demand pull within the supply chain. In response to the challenges of this type of event, this study will focus on two specific project manager roles. First, the project manager would act as an extension of a customer-driven project and serve as a conduit for the voice of the customer (VOC) into the supply chain. Secondly ...

Determining Theme Park Attraction Attributes: An Analysis Of Factors That Impact Theme Park Attraction Popularity And Success, Danica Dvorachek

Senior Honors Theses

Theme parks have some attractions that are more popular than others, referred to as main ticket attractions (MTA). The purpose of this thesis is to create a model which can successfully predict whether or not theme park attractions are considered MTA. Data from leading USA theme park attractions has been recorded and analyzed for this thesis. A neural network model has been created using Matlab that categorizes attractions with up to 85% accuracy. However, some of the inputs are considered unstable once run through SAS JMP. To create a comparative study, a decision tree has been created in Matlab with ...

An Exploration Of Internal Controls And Their Impact On Employee Fraud In Small Businesses, Kent Lachney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain greater understanding of the current practices of the internal control systems of small businesses and to explore the effectiveness of their systems in comparison with anti-fraud activities recommended by forensic accountants. The researcher selected five small businesses that were members of the Central Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce and had fewer than 100 employees. The researcher interviewed the owners and/or managers of the businesses, reviewed and analyzed company documentation, interpreted data, made observations, and offered recommendations. The researcher asked each participant to respond to questions related to the five elements ...

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim ...

Effects Of Extreme Heat On Aviation, Brandon T. Carpenter

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Weather is a common cause of flight delays and cancellations. However, the vast majority of the time we think about weather and its effect on aviation, winter conditions, such as snow, come to mind. Heat is usually one of the last types of weather we associate with airline challenges. Recently, the Bomb Cyclone has made headlines for the headaches it caused with travel, especially at The John F. Kennedy International Airport. Interestingly, the exact opposite of winter weather conditions can cause just as many challenges. Over this past summer, a number of flights at various airports such as Phoenix Sky ...

Supply Chain Sustainability: Understanding The Financial Impact, Matthew J. Guinn

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a differential impact on the financial performance of a company between environmental and social events.

This study uses a randomization of publicly traded companies within specific, pre-determined SIC codes, which is a collection of 66 companies, split between manufacturing and retail, to get the most accurate representation.

This study utilizes multiple regression models via STATA to analyze data compiled from the Wharton Research Database Services (WRDS) utilizing the MSCI ESG KLD, and Bloomberg, to analyze the percent increase in stock price which is the overarching models independent variable. Then ...

Marriott International, Inc: A Financial Analysis, Lai Wei

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Marriott International, Inc: A Financial Analysis

Avis Budget Group: A Financial Analysis, Tralonie Perkins

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This paper presents a financial analysis behind Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR), a leading global provider of vehicle rental and car sharing services, operating three of the most recognized brands in the industry: Avis, Budget and Zipcar. Utilizing both qualitative and quantitative analysis, this report encompasses comprehensive data regarding the industry in which CAR competes, the company’s recent financial results, and forecasts of its future growth with five-year pro forma financial statements used to build a valuation model.

The Value Of The Global Supply Chain & Operations Management Capstone Consulting Course On Graduates Careers, Ashley Kathleen Hannon

Senior Theses

The University of South Carolina’s Global Supply Chain & Operations Management [GSCOM] program in the Management Science Department has witnessed incredible growth and success throughout its first ten years as a major in the Darla Moore School of Business. The crown jewel of the GSCOM program is the Capstone project, a consulting course offered for program seniors. This thesis paper examines the value of the Capstone program through analysis of results from a graduate survey. The survey was administered to graduates from the 2013-2017 classes, and aims to capture the value that Capstone had on the first year of each ...

Cultural Disparity And The Impact On Work Life Balance, Bryan Campbell

Senior Theses

This research examines the differences in work life balances between varying countries around the world. In order to do so, a proxy index was created by investigating a portion of questions from respondents of the World Values Survey. Comparing this to Hofstede's Insights on National Culture allowed for a unique perspective as to whether the country individualism ratings could then be used to assert a relationship between these metrics.

Evolution Of Insurance: A Telematics-Based Personal Auto Insurance Study, Yuanjing Yao

Honors Scholar Theses

Insurance has been constantly evolving since its inception; nowadays, insurance has become an indispensable part of people’s daily life. Nonetheless, very few individuals understand the mechanism behind their insurance coverage. This paper focuses on the evolution of personal auto insurances. The first part of the paper summarizes traditional pricing techniques for personal auto insurance and discusses their deficiencies. The second part of the paper introduces telematics insurance, an innovative form of auto insurance. This new kind of insurance integrates telematics as well as other technologies in the premium calculation process. The study proceeds to evaluate the pros and cons ...

Realistic Market Basket Data Simulation For Retail Marketing, Elizabeth N. Nichols

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

An Overview And Analysis Of The Impacts Of Extreme Heat On The Aviation Industry, Brandon T. Carpenter

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.