Business Commons^™

Green Delivery- Arbor Day Foundation Consulting Project, Sarah Schilling, David Peterson, Anthony Hare, Casey Arritt, Ross Grieb, Vinny Malene

Honors Theses

The Arbor Day Foundation (ADF) will partner with online retailers to create a ‘Green-Delivery’ option wherein customers can opt to delay the shipment of their order by a day in exchange for a tree being planted in their name. Each partner would fulfill their donation obligation to the ADF by allocating a portion of the cost savings generated by shipping their orders via a slower service.

Arbor Day Foundation, Shoilee Rahman, Caleb Krohn, Kevin Woolworth, Kathryn Shehan, Nicholas Senior, Jairo Gamboa

Honors Theses

As consultants, our team’s goals are to provide the Arbor Day Foundation with ideas for future business lines and strengthen the company’s outlook moving forward. Our proposal strongly integrates the organization’s mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Entering the birch sap water market will accomplish this task and create a plethora of opportunities for the Arbor Day Foundation. Our recommendation to ADF is to enter the birch sap market by creating licensing deals with birch sap water producers and distributors. ADF can assist these companies by offering its strong brand value, marketing expertise, and competitive advantages.

Arbor Day Foundation Consultation, Drew Spadaro, Leigh Hanson, Demi Van Reeuwijk, Fran Munro, Mason Smalley, Trevor Lockard

Honors Theses

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the world’s …

Strategic Success: The Ansoff Matrix Vs. The Balanced Scorecard, Christian Cleberg

Honors Theses

Academic and professional research has proven that strategic planning and management frameworks have tremendous impact on an organization’s success. However, these studies do not opine on the usability and fit of strategic frameworks within an organization. This paper examines the composition of two popular frameworks, the Ansoff matrix and the balanced scorecard, and illustrates the various ways that these frameworks have found success in the corporate world. It also compares and contrasts the frameworks’ differing structures and offers recommendations for how these frameworks may be applied to companies with diverse goals and missions.

A Strategic Audit Of Google, Timothy Knaak

Honors Theses

Google is the premier tech company. One of the largest, most successful companies on the planet, Google derives the overwhelming majority of its revenue from Google AdWords to the tune of $136 billion last year. The following is an analysis of Google’s strengths, competition, and place in the market and society. Although Google needs no help dominating the ads industry — and thus no suggestion has been provided — should the digital ads industry falter, Google faces an existential threat. To counter this, various strategies to diversify Google’s sources of income, all of which leverage Google’s existing assets and competencies …

A Strategic Analysis Of The Nebraska Alumni Association, Colton Siebert, Michael Eesley, Conrad Shiu, Melissa Newkirk, Joshua Demers, Jeb Vavak

Honors Theses

The Nebraska Alumni Association (NAA) is in a unique position regarding where it fits in the lives of the people it serves and the potential growth of their programs. Being separate from the University system, yet still driven by mission to help the university grow, has given the association several advantages as to being able to act in an agile manner. However, only 24,000 of the over 200,000 University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumni have paid to become a part of the Nebraska Alumni Association. This is shocking, and we believe that our recommendations can turn the tide through engagement of the …

Microsoft Store Strategic Audit, James Onnen

Honors Theses

This paper looks at Microsoft's Universal Store's digital distribution strategies for apps and games and potential strategies Microsoft can use to leverage its store to create value for itself and its users. This paper looks at specific uncaptured markets in gaming that Microsoft could capture.

Strategic Audit Of Amazon.Com, Inc, Sarah E. Kenny

Honors Theses

Amazon has recently grown as a company, surpassing many other online retailing websites. However this success is threatened by Amazon's reputation as an evil company. Amazon faces numerous lawsuits for unlawful termination and inhumane warehouse conditions. This current generation of consumers dislikes supporting companies that they view as evil, meaning that if a company entered the market that had better business practices, consumers would quickly leave Amazon. The audit suggests that Amazon combats these views by improving warehouse conditions, increasing minimum wage at their workplaces, and increasing benefits for workers. This audit also suggests that Amazon improves one of their …

Strategic Audit Of Facebook Through The Lens Of International Reputation, Ryan M. Mcmanaman

Honors Theses

This report investigates the history and current situation of Facebook, an international social media firm based in Menlo Park, CA. Facebook faces a number of international controversies and growing resentment from its userbase. In an industry where people are synonymous with capital, a strategic recommendation will be made to help Facebook regain some of its users’ lost faith and hopefully recapture old markets.

This report will analyze Facebook’s internal situation using the framework of SWOT analysis, and the external environment Facebook exists in through PEST analysis. These tools will provide a helpful foundation to understand Facebook’s competitive advantages, and render …

Google Ads: A Strategic Audit, Jessee Zhang

Honors Theses

Google began as an internet search product, allowing users to find relevant sites based on a search query. Over the past several decades, Google has become an extremely large and profitable business though online digital advertisements. While Google has a diverse product mix, the overwhelming majority of its revenue is generated through ads. This strategic audit first looks at the current external environment, looking at the political, economic, social, and technological changes and opportunities relevant to the industry. Then, it looks at the current competitive environment and shows the profitability of the business because of the large barrier to entry. …

A Strategic Audit Of Boston Beer, Jake Lindvall

Honors Theses

The Boston Beer Company ("Boston Beer") is an American brewery founded in 1984 whose mission is "to seek long-term profitable growth by offering the highest quality product to the U.S. beer drinker." Headquartered in Boston, the company is well-known for its flagship brand bearing the name of founding father Samuel Adams. This and other Boston Beer products have become popular across the United States in the past few decades; the Brewers Association ranks Boston Beer as the sixth largest brewery nationally. However, when subsetting to breweries defined as "craft," Boston Beer ranks even higher as the second largest brewery nationally. …

Strategic Audit Of Microsoft Office, Dylan Dmitri Gray

Honors Theses

Microsoft Office is some of the most iconic software ever made. It empowers people and organizations across the planet to achieve more.

The scope of this audit is limited to Office for business. The consumer market, which is less profitable and dominated by free products, is not considered.

This audit attempts to explain the strategies currently being pursued by the Office leadership team, and the relation of these strategies to the broader industry. Ultimately, this paper attempts to identify threats to Office and offer suggestions on how best to mitigate those threats.

The Naa Challenge: Serving Millennials Through Subscription Boxes, Katie Gaul, Tommie Brechbill, Kylee Yakel, Grant Schirmer, Regan Burnham, Paris Gunderson

Honors Theses

As an older generation of University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates phases out, capturing the attention of millennials becomes more and more important. Unfortunately for the Nebraska Alumni Association (NAA), many soon to be and recent UNL graduates do not see the value in spending hundreds of dollars to become a lifetime member. Although some people we interviewed saw an NAA membership as just a donation and are not expecting much in return.

We believe that the Nebraska Alumni Association can take advantage of its connections with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to offer experiences through subscription boxes that will engage millennials and …

Ibm Cloud Strategic Audit, Jack C. Johnson

Honors Theses

An examination of IBM Cloud's strategy and history and a recommendation for what to do moving forward.

A Strategic Audit Of Microsoft Azure, Lee Fitchett

Honors Theses

This paper looks at Microsoft Azure's current strategies and proposes possible options for the future. It looks at several competitors and explores how Azure will affect and react to Microsoft’s vision.

Huskers Helping Huskers: A Corporate-Level Analysis Of The Nebraska Alumni Association, Rachel Kleist, Jordan Newsom, Jackson Grasz, Anne Conley, Anna Brodersen, Samantha Turco

Honors Theses

The Nebraska Alumni Association appears to have become distracted from serving the alumni and has instead focused its energy into advancing University interests. To graduating Huskers, it has become unclear what value the Nebraska Alumni Association provides to them and whose interests they are promoting. This has resulted in a declining alumni membership base and an unstable revenue source. Because of this, we recommend that the Nebraska Alumni Association refocus their resources into serving alumni first.

Adidas: A Strategic Audit, Rebekah Birch

Honors Theses

Adidas is a leader of today’s sportswear industry with its core competencies being footwear and apparel. Adidas employs various strategies to remain competitive in the industry against powerful companies including Nike and Under Armour. The industry is strongly defined by the high levels of competitive rivalry, among other forces. Adidas is directly affected by various factors in their external environment including political, economic, social, technological and environmental factors. It also has various opportunities and threats that affect its external environment and help determine the company’s success. Adidas’s internal environment explains the basis of their strategic decisions and why certain aspects …

Strategic Audit: Spreetail, Jake Rehwoldt

Honors Theses

This report is an in-depth look at the history and trajectory of Spreetail, an ecommerce company based in Lincoln, Nebraska. As the ecommerce market itself grows rapidly, Spreetail is facing challenges and obstacles to success in the industry, especially since it is competing with Amazon. This report breaks down the factors affecting Spreetail both internally and externally (using SWOT and PEST analyses) and outlines several strategic possibilities for moving forward. The final strategy recommendation for Spreetail is to increase their catalog size and focus on exclusives.

Cboe Global Markets: Strategic Audit, Lambros Karkazis

Honors Theses

This thesis fulfills the requirement for the strategic audit in MNGT 475H/RAIK 476. It provides in depth analysis of Cboe and its competitors, with particular attention given to comparing net income, market cap, and share price. Informed by this analysis, there is discussion of Cboe’s acquisition of BATS, which appears to have had the best impact on share price of any decision made by an exchange operator in the last 5 years. Finally, this thesis provides a strategy recommendation for Cboe moving forward.

Nvidia Corporation: A Strategic Audit, Daric Teske

Honors Theses

NVIDIA is company that has been involved with the production of computer hardware known as a graphics processor units (GPUs) since the turn of the century. Over the past decade, NVIDIA has begun to explore other applications of its proprietary technology, including the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated computing. Looking from a business perspective, this strategic audit analyzes the history of the company and its current state, as well as industry outlooks to provide a strategic recommendation. Annual reports, market reports, and press releases were all utilized to provide the best perspective of the industry possible. Though NVIDIA …

A Strategic Audit Of Tesla, Abigail Hoelzlhammer

Honors Theses

This strategic audit will examine the problems Tesla is currently facing, do a Porter’s Five Forces analysis of the company, review environmental factors affecting Tesla, state Tesla’s current strategy, evaluate their distinguishing resources and competitive advantages, and end with a strategic recommendation along with implementation requirements.

One of Tesla’s vehicles crashed in March 2018 while on autopilot, which caused their stock to drop significantly. They’re also experiencing issues with the production of the new Model 3. The current political situation and growing demand for the parts Tesla needs are environmental factors that are having a negative effect. On the other …

Strategic Audit Of Wwe, Henry Recker

Honors Theses

WWE is a media and entertainment company that is known as the most popular professional wrestling promotion in the U.S. It has transformed from one of many regional promotions in the 1980s to the dominant force in “sports entertainment” with a market capitalization of $2.4 billion. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the situation WWE is in both internally and externally, and to develop a strategic recommendation for the company. Analysis tools like SWOT and PEST are used to evaluate the current state of WWE, and strategic alternatives are generated based on WWE’s existing differentiators and distinctive competencies. …

A Strategic Audit Of Tesla, Inc.: Electrifying Our Future Or About To Run Out Of Energy?, Chloe Dana

Honors Theses

Tesla, Inc.’s stock had reached its peak during September of 2017. However, due to manufacturing delays of its new Model 3 sport sedan, cash flow issues, and a recent fatal autopilot accident, investors and consumers are questioning the firm’s long-term stability. Although Tesla has created technology that makes it easier for consumers to harness and utilize electricity to power their homes and vehicles, many wonder if the company’s stock price is about to figuratively run out of energy. The following will be a strategic analysis, illustrating the firm’s Current Strategy & Background Information, Situational Analysis & Issue Summary, Strategy Recommendations …

Google Strategic Audit, Margaret Witzenburg

Honors Theses

This thesis fulfills the requirement for the strategic audit in MNGT 475H/RAIK 476. It discusses Google's competitors and the rest of the technology industry along with how Google fits into it all. It's a red ocean industry, so Google must continually innovate to maintain its competitive advantage. In addition to a summary of the current strategy and how Google competes, the thesis explores alternative strategies for Google to pursue given their strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats in the industry. It includes a timeline, potential budget, and contingency plan for the best strategy.