Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Driving Enterprise Adoption Of Blockchain Technology, Matthew C. Foster

Theses and Dissertations

Amidst the rapidly evolving advancement of blockchain technology (BT), enterprises face notable challenges in leveraging its transformative potential, starting with a need to understand the technology and how it can be used for particular applications. Two challenges are that many BT trials have not been successful and large-scale implementations that have led to continued use are scarce. This research provides a comprehensive examination of factors that drive the successful adoption of BT for enterprise use cases. A dual-phased approach was employed. First, I introduce a taxonomy matrix correlating BT design characteristics with use case characteristics, offering a framework for BT …

Impact Of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility Factors On The Employee’S Innovation Climate In The Medical Diagnostics Industry, Sofia M. Beglari

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between employee-driven corporate social responsibility (CSR) factors and employee innovation in U.S. medical diagnostic companies during the respiratory syndrome coronavirus (COVID) pandemic. This study examined what employee-driven CSR factors affect such motivation of employees toward innovation. The research population was employees who have worked in operation, quality control, research, technical, and management departments of medical diagnostics companies in the United States of America. The investigator used a survey questionnaire for this correlation design study. Employees’ responses were analyzed based on education level, gender, and job function using descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA-test. The theoretical framework …

Corporate Venturing In The Media & Entertainment Industry: Contextual Factors That Influence Corporate Venture Decision Making, Graylind R. Wherry

Theses and Dissertations

This research study focuses on Corporate Venturing (CV) within the Media and Entertainment(M&E) industry and investigates factors that influence CV decision-making. CV provides a viable strategy to facilitate innovation and organizational change within companies; however, this area is understudied within the M&E industry. Companies that make up the entertainment industry may not have specific insight into how best to exploit this opportunity. Specifically, this study looks at the influence of firm characteristics, industry characteristics, and other outside factors using the PESTLE strategy model characteristics impacting the parent or venture unit's CV decision-making within the M&E industry. In terms of this …

Modern Privacy Advocacy: An Approach At War With Privacy Itself?, Justin "Gus" Hurwitz, Jamil N. Jaffer

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article argues that the modern concept of privacy itself, particularly as framed by some of its most ardent advocates today, is fundamentally incoherent. The Article highlights that many common arguments made in support of privacy, while initially seeming to protect this critical value, nonetheless undermine it in the long run. Using both recent and older examples of applying classic privacy advocacy positions to key technological innovations, the authors demonstrate how these positions, while seemingly privacy-enhancing at the time, actually resulted in outcomes that were less beneficial for consumers and citizens, including from a purely privacy-focused perspective. As a result, …

The Kairos Model: Best Leadership Practices For Small-To-Medium Sized Management Consulting Firms, Edward Eng

Theses and Dissertations

Breakthrough technologies and ever-increasing customer demands are paving the way for new entrants to disrupt the traditional management industry. With their capacious resources, industry incumbents have mitigated these emergent forces by integrating digital capabilities into their arsenal of services. Without the capacity of market leaders, small and medium-sized business consultants are struggling to compete effectively. To fill this research gap, this study strove to develop a practical framework to help small- to medium-sized business consultants act more purposefully amidst growing competitive pressures.

The researcher chose a qualitative grounded theory design to collect data through face-to- face, semi-structured interview questions. Insights …

Taxing The Robots, Orly Mazur

Pepperdine Law Review

Robots and other artificial intelligence-based technologies are increasingly outperforming humans in jobs previously thought safe from automation. This has led to growing concerns about the future of jobs, wages, economic equality, and government revenues. To address these issues, there have been multiple calls around the world to tax the robots. Although the concerns that have led to the recent robot tax proposals may be valid, this Article cautions against the use of a robot tax. It argues that a tax that singles out robots is the wrong tool to address these critical issues and warns of the unintended consequences of …

Traits And Trends Of Social Entrepreneurship/ Innovation Leaders, Heet Ghodasara, Juanie Walker

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The purpose of this study was to examine qualifications, characteristics, successes and motivations among leading social entrepreneurs in not-for-profit or for-profit organizations. Based on an interview guide developed by Dr. Juanie Walker and Heet Ghodasara, Ghodasara conducted interviews with 20 leaders of social entrepreneurship/innovation strategically located in Washington, D.C. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed traits of successful organizations and individuals supported by provocative quotes. Themes of successful organizations include system disruptions, mutual investment, broad network and founder obsolescence. Individual themes include traits such as self efficacy, humility, grit and perseverance as well as imperatives to Get Dirty but Clean …

Why Trade Credit Financing Is More Important Than Developing Large Customer Relationships For Video Game Suppliers, Jocelyn D. Evans, Dominique G. Outlaw

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Trade credit extended to suppliers in the video game industry does not serve as a commitment device for large customers in determining which vendors to make relationship-specific investments in. Suppliers of video games are better off investing in relationships with trade creditors than seeking out large customers. The costs of large customer relationships are lower sales growth and less long-term debt leverage. Also, large customers don’t form relationships with suppliers in this industry, which has high research and development expenditures nor do they facilitate economic viability with regard to continued independent operational performance or listing on a stock exchange.

Disrupting Immigration: How Administrative Rulemaking Could Transform The Landscape For Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Tess Douglas

Pepperdine Law Review

Immigrant entrepreneurs come to the United States and start thriving companies that create jobs, drive the economy, and facilitate innovation. However, U.S. laws do not provide a clear path for immigrant entrepreneurs to lawfully enter and work in America. Therefore, immigrant entrepreneurs must seek lawful status in the United States through unusual routes. While Congress, the President, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recognize the need for clear and accessible immigration standards for immigrant entrepreneurs, the politicized nature of immigration law has impeded significant change. This Comment details how administrative rules could offer a less politicized and …

The Trademark As A Novel Innovation Index, Brian J. Focarino

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

When studying the relationship that exists between entrepreneurship and intellectual property, patents receive the most scholarly attention. The attention makes sense when we consider that patents are closely associated with technical progress, grant temporary monopolies that incentivize investment in research & development (R&D), and function as vectors of technological dissemination in and of themselves. In a number of industries however, conventional forms of innovation often associated with patenting are minimal or missing altogether, and require us to look elsewhere to discern innovative behavior. This Essay highlights novel applications for trademark law to entrepreneurial activity in low-technology industries and low-financing locations …

Essential Entrepreneurial And Innovation Practices Of Executive Leaders In California Education Service Agencies, Karen M. Connaghan

Theses and Dissertations

The role of entrepreneurship and innovation in K-12 education continues to evolve. As more reform efforts come and go, it is clear that little has changed despite billions of dollars invested in these efforts. Education leaders are being asked to leverage entrepreneurial and innovative solutions to transform the K-12 education environment to meet the needs of a modern society and workplace. Consequently, there is an urgent need to expand the boundaries of possibilities for improving public education. Identifying the essential practices of executive education leaders is of particular importance to K-12 education which is under increasing pressure to provide better …

Leaders' Roles In Creating And Sustaining Collective Genius, Tanya L. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined leaders’ roles in fostering collective genius innovation within one private elementary school, including managing the paradoxes of innovation. Based on content analysis of eleven participants, this study found that teamwork, clear student learning outcomes emphasizing individualized learning, design thinking, and a growth mindset, all impacted willingness to innovate. To develop conditions for collective genius, leaders again focus on teamwork as well as being relational. In terms of their management of the six innovative paradoxes, the school leaders tend to balance their affirmation of the individual and the group, support staff and parents, focus on experimentation and learning, …

Impact Of Leadership Style On Innovation: A Study Of Retired Military Senior Officers In Executive-Level Supervisory Roles Within The High-Technology Engineering Defense Industry, Jose Collazo

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between leadership style and past military rank, and how these might impact an organization’s innovation climate. The sample consisted of (a) retired U.S. Army senior officers currently employed as executive-level supervisors in the high-technology engineering defense industry and (b) those working under such supervisors. Two leadership styles investigated in this study are transactional and transformational, the former defined by incentive structures based on pay and promotion according to performance, and the latter defined by charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Although these are not mutually exclusive styles, they are conceptually distinct operating modes. The …

Work Environment Preferences Of Los Angeles Generation Y Contract Managers In The Defense And Aerospace Industry, Santor Nishizaki

Theses and Dissertations

There are currently 4 different generations in the workplace, and the newest generation, Generation Y, has caused leaders within organizations to rethink their management and workplace cultural approach to leading this emerging generation. This qualitative phenomenological dissertation examines the work environment preferences of Generation Y contract managers who work in the Los Angeles area in the defense and aerospace industry by interviewing 11 participants from both the public and private sectors. The research indicates that this new generation, Generation Y or Millennials, prefer to have autonomy over their workload and schedule, but prefer to have their direct manager active in …

Ileadership: The Leadership Style Of Steve Jobs, Christopher J. Valentine

Theses and Dissertations

In a technology-driven society, the global hunger for innovative products has put increased pressure on organizations to think differently. The pressure from shareholders on management to drive innovation and deliver financial results has forced leaders to adapt and look for new solutions to meet this demand. The solutions for which organizations are searching may reside in a new form of leadership required to achieve this expectation of performance. The purpose of this dissertation was to discover what leadership characteristics are required to achieve a high-performance technology organization. The primary goal was to review and decode archival scholarly and contemporary literature …

The Future Of Free Expression In A Digital Age, Jack M. Balkin

Pepperdine Law Review

In the twenty-first century, at the very moment that our economic and social lives are increasingly dominated by information technology and information flows, the judge-made doctrines of the First Amendment seem increasingly irrelevant to the key free speech battles of the future. The most important decisions affecting the future of freedom of speech will not occur in constitutional law; they will be decisions about technological design, legislative and administrative regulations, the formation of new business models, and the collective activities of end-users. Moreover, the values of freedom of expression will become subsumed within a larger set of concerns that I …

Qualitative Factors As Determinants Of Continued Success:An Examination Of Ebusiness Entrepreneurial Firms Using The Newventure Template, Ervin L. Black, F. Greg Burton, Peter M. Johnson

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

In this study, we analyze eBusiness entrepreneurs nominated by the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award program to ascertain whether qualitative factors are correlated with success. We find qualitative factors are incrementally informative above and beyond the information provided by quantitative factors. More specifically, firms that are able to maintain their innovative strategies by improving upon the product (or service) they offer and are able to meet the long-term needs of the customer are more likely to experience increased sales growth and have greater access to capital which results in a successful harvest strategy.

Entrepreneurship, Innovation And Growth: The David-Goliath Symbiosis, William J. Baumol

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Investment in innovation in industrialized economies increasingly is taken over by large firms that operate their own R&D divisions and transform technological change into a routine bureaucratized process. Powerful competitive forces require firms to do this for survival. But such routinized innovation has not replaced the individual independent innovator, the traditional source of technical change. The latter have tended to provide the more revolutionary breakthroughs, to which corporate research has added reliability, enhanced power and ease of utilization. Thus, both make a vital contribution to growth. While the results of big business research are often less spectacular, they have typically …

Innovation In Large And Small Firms, Kenneth J. Arrow

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This essay is intended to begin the elaboration of a theme: the interaction between the observed sizes of firms and their internal decision making procedures. This theme is a major one in the symphony of entrepreneurial activity. The entrepreneur, as the maker and changer of economic and productive life, is usually envisaged as an individual. In the neoclassical tradition, he (or, rarely, she) is the lightning calculator, the individual who rapidly scans the field of alternative productive processes and chooses the optimum any given set of prices.