Business Commons^™

Hospital-Physician Integration And Physician Collaboration: Implications For Care Efficiency And Outcomes, Hui Jia

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis focuses on healthcare operations management and consists of two essays that investigate empirically how the relationship between physicians and hospitals and the relationship between peer physicians, respectively, affect clinical care outcomes and care efficiency.

In the first essay, I study hospital-physician integration as a type of organization-service provider relationship. Many prior studies have provided insights into the benefits of a tight collaboration between hospitals and physicians. However, neutral and even negative effects of this relationship on healthcare performance have been observed and discussed in the literature. This mixed evidence points to a need for further study to elucidate …

Essays On Size Asymmetry In Supply Chain Disruptions, Yu Chu

Doctoral Dissertations

While size asymmetry (e.g., large buyer and small supplier) has been discussed in a no-disruption operation context (Lee & Johnson, 2012), little is known whether, how and why a large buyer reacts differently when different-sized suppliers cause different types of disruptions. Extant research suggests in a supplier-induced disruption supplier’s recovery actions yield various effects in a dependence-unbalancing setting, indicating a need for a deeper understanding of what buyers prefer in order to resolve disruptions caused by facing different sized suppliers and the rationales behind the decisions. Accordingly, this dissertation examines whether and how the supplier size and supplier-induced disruption type …

Major Healthcare Legislation: Effects And Reactions By Large U.S. Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, 2001-2018, Eric A. Allen

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Oppressive Pressures Of Globalization And Neoliberalism On Mexican Maquiladora Garment Workers, Jenna Demeter

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The international economic trends of globalization and neoliberalism have exposed and enabled the exploitation of Mexican workers, especially women in the maquiladora garment industry. During the 1950s, globalization gave rise to the new international division of labor and transnational corporations (TNCs) that have offshored labor-intensive phases of production to developing countries, many of which have pursued export-led industrialization. Export processing in Mexico was encouraged in the 1960s by Item 807 of the U.S. Tariff Code and Mexico’s Border Industrialization Program. Especially following the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, advanced capitalist countries and International Financial Institutions foisted neoliberal structural …

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

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Weather is a common cause of flight delays and cancellations. However, the vast majority of the time when thinking 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, a bomb cyclone made headlines for the disruptions it caused with travel, especially at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Interestingly, the exact opposite of winter weather conditions can cause just as many challenges. During the summer of 2017, a number of flights at various airports such as Phoenix Sky Harbor …

One Shot Pub: A Business Plan, Ben Dale

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Business Analysis Dive Into Knoxville-Based Knowledge Launch, Corey R. Renee

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Yes, We Can Brewing Company, Madison Hailey Murphy

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Supervisor-Subordinate Relationships And Its Effect On Job Satisfaction And Job Performance, Charles T. Hampton Jr

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Yes, We Can Brewing Company, Madison Hailey Murphy

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Yes, We Can! Brewing Company is a minority owned and operated small batch microbrewery for black women, by black women. The brewery aims to change the narrative of women of color in the craft beer industry by creating unparalleled quality beverages that empower this underserved market. Yes, We Can! is blazing the trail by paying homage to the original trailblazers, crafting beer as complex as the women on our labels. From Mae Jemison, the first African American female astronaut to travel to space to Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to hold a pilot license, each can’s label will …

Nsa Site Access: Twenty-Fifth Air Force’S $95m+ Problem, Shane Smith

Aerospace & Defense MBA Organizational Action Project Reports

This Organizational Action Project (OAP) examined and addressed security clearance-based delays for Twenty-Fifth Air Force (25 AF) airmen at National Security Agency (NSA) sites and other locations with that organization’s mission systems. The approximate personnel cost associated with this issue was $95.98M at the beginning of the OAP cycle. Across the enterprise, 985 airmen were unable to perform their missions due to this problem. Given its significance, the OAP focused on discovering initiatives that could be pursued at any stage of the security clearance granting process.

Data relevant to the issue was collected from our field units and published weekly …

Rethinking University Operations: Applying Circular Economy Concepts At The University Level, Victoria M. Clements

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Welcome Home, Chelsea Schulz

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Hearth & Home Renovation and Design, LLC is a real estate investment, renovation and home design company serving the greater Nashville Area market. Hearth & Home acts primarily in the following three industries: real estate, flipping/renovation, and design. Through synergistic actions across all of these industries, Hearth & Home delivers superior customer value to home-buyers. Hearth & Home has identified several strategic competitive advantages which are found through key partnerships, design and brand equity. Key partnerships will lead to mutually beneficial cost efficiencies. Design will create distinction and opportunities to retain customers longer than competitors. Brand equity will be built …

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 …

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

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Family Endorsement In Venture Creation And Sustainability, Thomas Daniel White

Doctoral Dissertations

Entrepreneurship research has shown that family social support is an important factor in an entrepreneur’s venture creation and sustainability efforts, yet little is known about the nature and impact of family processes that occur prior to venture start, or how early endorsement of a venture impacts the entrepreneur. These processes are important to consider, because they may facilitate or inhibit ongoing family social support and influence the entrepreneur’s venture creation and sustainability decisions. Utilizing a family systems theoretical framework, I draw on theories of self-perception, social support and conservation of resources to address three issues. First, I introduce the construct …

Disaster Relief Logistics: An Academic Framework Evaluation Of The 2016 Great Smoky Mountain Wildfires, Clay Edward Daniel, Alexandre Medeiros Rodrigues

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Consumer Acceptance Of Retail Service Robots, So Young Song

Doctoral Dissertations

This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) and domestication theories as the underlying framework of an acceptance model of retail service robots (RSRs). The model illustrates the relationships among facilitators, attitudes toward Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety toward robots, anticipated service quality, and the acceptance of RSRs. Specifically, the researcher investigates the extent to which the facilitators of usefulness, social capability, the appearance of RSRs, and the attitudes toward HRI affect acceptance and increase the anticipation of service quality. The researcher also tests the inhibiting role of pre-existing anxiety toward robots on the relationship between these facilitators and attitudes …

Individual And Organizational Celebrity: Two Essays On Media Attributions And Organizational Agency, Laura D'Oria

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational researchers are increasingly interested in how organizations are perceived by their constituents, because such perceptions have important implications for strategy formulation, strategy implementation and organizational outcomes. In this two-essay dissertation, I focus on a specific type of social approval asset, celebrity – the extent to which a social actor attains high levels of public attention and elicits positive emotional responses. Specifically, I examine how celebrity emerges at different organizational levels.

In Essay 1, I first develop a theoretical multilevel framework of business celebrity, building on agenda setting theory and framing theory. Second, I propose a typology of business celebrity …

The Business Grind: Business Plan, William Gass

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Consequences Of Disclosure Regulation: Evidence From Dodd Frank 1502b, Charles Whitley Emerson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Sara Liza: A Pant Suit And A Paint Brush, Sara E. Seaman

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

I am a painter who seeks more for my art business and career than that of a “starving artist.” Trading the Pant Suit for a Paint Brush is a business plan that serves as my blueprint and foundation for becoming a well-known artist, owning a personal studio and maintaining significant gallery presence across the country. I am to accomplish this through intentional customer targeting and production mastery.

My target market is not specific to a certain demographic but instead a psychographic – original art enthusiasts and collectors. I am specifically targeting those who appreciate the value of original paintings through …

Constrained Multi-Group Project Allocation Using Mahalanobis Distance, Abdulaziz Saud Alkabaa

Doctoral Dissertations

Optimal allocation is one of the most active research areas in operation research using binary integer variables. The allocation of multi constrained projects among several options available along a given planning horizon is an especially significant problem in the general area of item classification. The main goal of this dissertation is to develop an analytical approach for selecting projects that would be most attractive from an economic point of view to be developed or allocated among several options, such as in-house engineers and private contractors (in transportation projects). A relevant limiting resource in addition to the availability of funds is …

Developing Entrepreneurial Ecoystems: Integrating Social Evolutionary Theory And Signaling Theory To Explain The Role Of Media In Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Jason Andrew Strickling

Doctoral Dissertations

Entrepreneurship drives innovation, social change, and economic development locally, regionally, nationally, and worldwide (Konczal, 2013). The activities, relationships, and entities utilized to enhance entrepreneurial activity are just one important part of what scholars have termed the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), in acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of these factors with other market dimensions.

This dissertation integrates previous definitions of the EE and proposes a new definition that emphasizes the importance of the social environment and the role of communication for change and EE development. Building on evidence from diverse streams of research to further our understanding of entrepreneurial ecosystem activity, this dissertation …

Highly-Educated Immigrant Entrepreneurs' Location Decisions, Nastaran Simarasl

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I draw on theories from sociology, economics, and economic geography, namely ethnic enclave theory, location theory, and heterolocalism theory to investigate factors that highly-educated immigrant entrepreneurs take into account when they decide where to locate their start-up. In doing so, I use an experimental method, conjoint analysis, on a sample of first-generation graduate students at the University of Tennessee to examine the factors that highly-educated aspiring immigrant entrepreneurs take into account when deciding about their start-up location. This dissertation is one of the first studies to bring theories from other disciplines to provide a more comprehensive understanding …

Governance Of Supply Chain Information Flows, Joonhwan In

Doctoral Dissertations

With the recognition of the criticality of information flow in the supply chain, much research has examined various pertinent areas such as information sharing and the use of IT applications, and generated valuable insights about how an organization could reap the benefits through an effective supply chain information flow by building on the implicit assumption that organizations in the supply chain cope with issues around supply chain information in a similar way, which would lead to the conjecture that the quality of supply chain information is equivalent across supply chain members. However, many organizations still struggle for poor information flow …

Cross-Functional Integration In The Supply Chain: Construct Development And The Impact Of Workplace Behaviors, Daniel A. Pellathy

Doctoral Dissertations

Cross-functional integration (CFI) is central to supply chain theory and practice. However, researchers have yet to settled on a consistent definition or measure of CFI, creating confusion over its conceptual content and making it difficult to validate given operationalizations. In addition, researchers have only recently begun to explore the impact of workplace behaviors on CFI and supply chain performance. The two studies in this dissertation seek to contribute to the supply chain literature in both of these areas. Study 1 develops a comprehensive definition and valid measure of CFI based on a systematic process of construct development. Study 2 employs …

Applications Of Business Analytics In Marketing: Joint Modeling Of Correlated Multivariate Outcomes, Sumin Han

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation I develop a general regression methodology for mixed multivariate outcomes. This methodology extends the generalized linear mixed model paradigm (glmm) to allow for correlated multivariate normal random effects across regression equations for differing outcomes. This methodology, referred to as joint modeling, is particularly useful in business and marketing applications where multiple outcomes of varying data type must be analyzed simultaneously with regression.

I apply joint models to binary and continuous measures of customer loyalty in a large multinational survey of car owners. Survey respondents’ word-of-mouth and desire to switch brands were used as proxies for attitudinal loyalty …

Examining The Nature And Consequences Of Interfunctional Bias In A Corporate Setting, William Adam Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Interfunctional bias is examined in this dissertation as a potential barrier to interfunctional cooperation. Interfunctional cooperation is desirable in modern corporate organizations as a contributor to effective service delivery, operations planning, and sales performance. Interfunctional stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are hypothesized to relate positively, and together provide the bias-based theoretical basis through which barriers to interfunctional cooperation can be more thoroughly understood. Based on the extant literature in marketing and psychology, competing models of interfunctional bias are developed and hypothesized. In the first of three studies a questionnaire-based survey of supply chain employees’ perceptions of salespeople permitted the examination of …

How Do Sharing Economy Companies Grow? A Comparison Of Internal And External Growth Patterns Of Airbnb And Uber, Piper Davis

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.