Business Commons^™

Feasibility Study Of Cold Room Renovations For P.O.V.E., Kurtis Kobara

Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

Does Student Leadership Participation Enhance The Development Of Emotional Intelligence, Michelle Breanne Curro

Master's Theses

Emotional Intelligence is believed to explain how emotions may be used, monitored, and measured to predict workplace success and failure, the suggestion that if individuals can balance the emotions within themselves and others, they can use their skills to better their organization. This study explored the development of Emotional Intelligence in the ASI Student Manager Team in comparison to Student Government members at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) during the fall 2008 quarter. The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was used to assess student leaders’ Emotional Intelligence (EI) development (N = 27). A two sample t-test …

Modeling Feedback Between Economic And Biophysical Systems In Smallholder Agriculture In Kenya: The Crops, Livestock And Soils In Smallholder Economic Systems (Classes) Model, Emma C. Stephens, Christopher B. Barrett, Douglas R. Brown, Johannes Lehmann, David Mbugua, Solomon Ngoze, Charles F. Nicholson, David Parsons, Alice N. Pell, Susan J. Riha

Agribusiness

We investigate natural resource-based poverty traps using a simulation model of smallholder farms in highland Kenya. Simulation modeling allows for detailed examination of the complex interactions and feedback between farm-household economic decision-making and long-term soil dynamics, which may contribute to persistent poverty among smallholders in this region. We examine the effects of changing initial endowments of land, labour and stocks of on-farm soil organic matter on the long-term welfare of these households. We find that larger farms are better able to cope with both labour shocks and deteriorating natural capital than smaller farms, with smaller farms remaining poor and unable …

Dialogical Inquiry: An Extension Of Schein's Clinical Inquiry, Jean-François Coget

Management, HR and Information Systems

this article introduces dialogical inquiry, an extension of clinical inquiry. Following clinical inquiry’s main principles, dialogical inquiry adopts a dialogue over videotaped segments of behavior as its main tool. The goals of dialogical inquiry are (a) to raise participants’ awareness about how they interpret work situations in the moment, so that they can increase their effectiveness and (b) to allow the researcher to build actionable academic knowledge. The process of dialogical inquiry has four phases: (a) a life interview with the participant, (b) shadowing and filming the participant in action in the work environment, (c) selecting episodes from the videotaped …

Le Rôle De L’Émotion Dans La Prise De Décision Intuitive: Zoom Sur Les Réalisateurs-Décideurs En Période De Tournage, Jean-François Coget, Christophe Haag, Annabel-Mauve Bonnefous

Management, HR and Information Systems

La plupart des chercheurs s'accordent sure le fait que l'emotion est une caractéristique essentielle de la prise de décision intuitive (PDI), mais rares sont ceux qui ont étudié le phénomène de façon empirique. De ce fait, on ne sait pas précisément comment l’émotion interagit avec le processus de prise de décision. Cet article se propose de commencer à élucider le rôle de l’émotion dans la PDI par une étude empirique de type exploratoire portant sur les réalisateurs de cinéma en période de tournage. Les résultats de l’étude montrent que la PDI peut être influencée par trois types d’émotions : les …

Designing For Agility As An Organizational Capability: Learning From A Software Development Firm, James Sena, Jean-Francois Coget, A.B. (Rami) Shani

Management, HR and Information Systems

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of agility in an organizational setting-- how a software development firm (SDF) developed, maintained and enhanced agility as it changed from a developer of experimental prototypes to a product-based provider. Qualitative approach based on extensive interviews and on-site observations at two points in time separated by a five-year interval. Agility mechanisms tend to be dynamic and evolve over time. At time 1, SDF achieved agility by adopting a formal platform-based product design and an informal, organic organizational structure. By time 2, SDF had adopted a modular-based product design and a …

Long-Term Insider Action Research: Three Decades Of Work At Kaiser Permanente, Michael W. Stebbins, Judy L. Valenzuela, Jean-Francois Coget

Management, HR and Information Systems

Since 1973, the pharmacy operations division of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program (KPMCP) has used long-term action research programs as the principal method for orchestrating change. This chapter covers the evolution of action research theory within large, complex organizations, with particular attention to health care organizations. Four case examples from KPMCP are discussed in depth and mapped to the recently advanced Roth model of insider action research. This model considers external and internal business context, the perceived need to create new organizational capabilities, as well as insider action research theory and learning mechanisms used in change programs. Issues posed …

Marketing Concept Manifestations In Fiji Enterprises: Confirming The Link To Organizational Competitiveness, Stern Neill, Raghuvar Dutt Pathak, Narendra Reddy

Marketing

This paper proposes an integrative view of the marketing concept (i.e., the ability to understand and satisfy customers) and examines its prevalence and effect on competitiveness in organizations operating in an isolated and less economically developed country. The marketing concept manifests as marketing expertise, market orientation, and externally directed organizational values. Based on a sample of 86 firms operating in Fiji, the results indicate that these three mechanisms promote organizational competitiveness, thus supporting the universality of the marketing concept. These findings confirm the important role of the marketing concept in the competitiveness of firms in a less developed economy.

Financial Management To Support Sustainability, Doug Cerf, Arline Savage

Accounting

No abstract provided.

Setting Agricultural Science Strategy In Tumultuous Economic Times, Jennifer S. James, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey

Agribusiness

The international competitiveness and prosperity of U.S. agriculture depends on steady and rapid productivity growth fueled by public agricultural research and development (R&D). Agricultural science benefits consumers and the environment, not just farmers. Enhanced productivity as a result of agricultural R&D means that consumers have access to a more abundant, cheaper, safer, higher quality, and more diverse and convenient food supply, produced with less stress on natural resources and the environment. From a global perspective, productivity growth allows agricultural production to increase faster than demand; food has become much cheaper over time in spite of a rapidly growing world population …

The Economics Of Agricultural R&D, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey, Jennifer S. James, Matthew A. Andersen

Agribusiness

Agricultural research has transformed agriculture and in doing so contributed to the transformation of economies. Economic issues arise because agricultural research is subject to various market failures, because the resulting innovations and technological changes have important economic consequences for net income and its distribution, and because the consequences are difficult to discern and attribute. Economists have developed models and measures of the economic consequences of agricultural R&D and related policies in contributions that relate to a very broad literature ranging across production economics, development economics, industrial organization, economic history, welfare economics, political economy, econometrics, and so on. A key general …

Structural Changes In U.S. Agricultural Production And Productivity, Jennifer S. James, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey, Matthew A. Andersen

Agribusiness

The structure of U.S. agricultural production changed dramatically during the 20th Century. Major technological innovations transformed the relationship between agricultural inputs and outputs, and contributed to rapid increases in agricultural productivity. However, evidence is mounting that suggests we have entered a new era, with substantially lower rates of productivity growth. In this article, we examine trends and spatial patterns in agricultural input use, production of outputs, and productivity. We focus on productivity growth over the period 1949–2002, and find a statistically significant slowdown in productivity growth after 1990.

Economics And Policy Context For The Biological Management Of Soil Fertility (Bmsf) In Ethiopia, Habtamu T. Kassahun, Charles F. Nicholson, Dawit Solomon, Amy S. Collick, Tammo S. Steenhuis

Agribusiness

Many developing countries implement programs and policies to increase or maintain soil fertility, with the objectives of increased crop yields and decreased poverty. However, few countries give emphasis to the biological management of soil fertility (BMSF) compared to more traditional approaches. Ethiopia emphasizes the use synthetic fertilizers to increase food security and reduce poverty, with little attention to BMSF. This paper examines the long term fertilizer consumption and agricultural productivity response trend and discusses the potential for BMSF to promote agricultural productivity and reduce poverty in Ethiopia. The paper also discusses the Economics and Policy Context for BMSF for the …

Downtown Revitalization: Consumers' And City Planners' Perceived Barriers To Integrating Large-Scale Retail Into The Downtown, Jennifer M. Donofrio

Master's Theses

Statement of Problem

Revitalization of downtowns across America continues to be challenged by the shift to the suburbs. The barriers to integrating large-scale retail in a small, medium, and large city downtown were examined.

Forces of Data

The System View Planning Theory (Taylor, 1998) guided the study of city planners’ and consumers’ perceived barriers to integrating large scale retail into the downtown. In order to ascertain the barriers to integrating large-scale retail into the downtown intercept-surveys with consumers (n=30, responded to the intercept survey in each city) and interviews with city planners were conducted.

Conclusion Reached

Some significant differences were …

Dynamic Market Impacts Of Generic Dairy Advertising, Charles F. Nicholson, Harry M. Kaiser

Agribusiness

Generic advertising of fluid milk and cheese represents the principal promotional activity undertaken with the $370 million per year provided by dairy farmers and fluid milk processors. This article describes a stock-flow-feedback simulation model that includes 17 intermediate and final dairy products, short-term and long-term milk supply response and government policies that influence the impacts of generic advertising on net revenues for dairy farmers. Permanent increases in generic advertising expenditures increase net revenues for dairy farmers, with a cumulative net benefit to cost ratio of 2.8. Permanent decreases produce a larger reduction in net revenues and indicate a net benefit …

Agricultural R&D Policy: A Tragedy Of The International Commons, Jennifer S. James, Philip G. Pardey, Julian M. Alston

Agribusiness

Over the past 50 years public agricultural research has contributed enormously to humanity, enabling the supply of food to grow faster than demand in spite of a rapidly growing population, income growth, and shrinking natural resources. Nonetheless, in many countries we see waning public support for agricultural R&D, especially in Africa, a diversion of research resources from farm productivity towards other agendas, and early warning signs of a slowdown in agricultural productivity. The world has continued to collectively underinvest in agricultural R&D because of domestic and international market failures associated with appropriability problems. Governments have failed to effectively address these …

Pet Wine Bottles: Will Consumers Accept Them?, David Baird, Wayne Howard

Agribusiness

No Abstract

Implementing Assessment In An Outcome-Based Marketing Curriculum, Norm A. Borin, Lynn E. Metcalf, Brian C. Tietje

Marketing

This article describes the development and implementation of assessment in our new outcome-based marketing curriculum (described fully in Borin, Metcalf, and Tietje 2007). Outcomes for the marketing curriculum were specified at the program, department, course, and lesson levels. Direct embedded assessments as well as indirect assessment methods were used to gauge student achievement. Results indicate that, on both self-reported (indirect) and direct, as well as non-embedded and embedded assessments, significant value-added learning occurred. We chronicle the stages in developing and implementing an assessment plan, and reflect on our experiences in the process to provide a roadmap for other marketing departments …

Applying Experimental Economics To Obesity In The Family Household, Mariah D. Ehmke, Travis Warziniack, Christiane Schroeter, Kari Morgan

Agribusiness

The objective of this study is to identify experimental economic tools that can be employed to explain the role of economic behavior in overweight and obesity in the household. We identify three economic experiments that can be used to understand how parent-child economic relationships relate to obesity. Loss aversion experiments are discussed as a tool to understand challenges some individuals face in achieving a healthy diet. Finally, testbed experiments are introduced as a means to test and understand new policies and incentives for better health at the household level.

Economic Factors And Body Weight: An Empirical Analysis, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson L. Lusk

Agribusiness

With this study, we investigate the effects of changes in economic factors on body weight by constructing a utility theoretic model. The model is empirically estimated by combining data on individuals’ body weight, demographic and physical activity information, and state level measures pertaining to the prices of food away from home, food at home, and wages. By combining these data sources, we aim to estimate directly the weight effects of price and income changes. The empirical analysis suggests that decreasing the price of food at home could decrease body weight, a finding which has important public policy implications.

Do College Students Learn By Correcting Missed Exam Questions?, Christiane Schroeter, Steven V. Green, Erin Bess

Agribusiness

This study determines the learning benefit of correcting missed exam questions. The results show that in addition to exams being an assessment tool, they can also be used as a tool for student learning. The availability of this information will provide help considering design, development, and improvement of traditional assessment methods for student learning.

Exploring The Intention To Use Computers: An Empirical Investigation Of The Role Of Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, And Perceived Ease Of Use, Mary Helen Fagan, Stern Neill, Barbara Ross Wooldridge

Marketing

This research utilizes the Integrated Model of Technology Acceptance (IMTA) study the intention to use computers among first line managers in a mid-sized manufacturing among line managers in manufacturing organization (n=172). As hypothesized, the study found 1) a positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and behavioral positive behavioral intention to use computers, 2) positive relationship between intention a between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention to use computers, 3) a a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and relationship between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, 4) positive relationship between perceived extrinsic motivation, 4) a a positive relationship between perceived ease of …

An Investigation Of Real Estate Investment Decision-Making Practices, Edward J. Farragher, Arline Savage

Accounting

This survey investigation reports on the investment decision-making processes used by equity investors in real estate. The survey covers the entire investment decision-making process, from setting strategy to auditing operating performance. Respondents identify the most important stages of the process as searching for investment opportunities, forecasting expected returns, and evaluating forecasted returns. Most believe that individual project factors are more important than strategic and portfolio factors, and that returns should be measured on a before-tax cash flow basis and evaluated using discounted cash flow measures. Respondents are more concerned with project than portfolio risk and are unlikely to make a …

Determining The Impact Of Food Price And Income Changes On Body Weight, Christiane Schroeter, Jayson Lusk, Wallace Tyner

Agribusiness

We develop a theoretical model to identify conditions under which price and income changes are most likely to change weight. Although it is intuitive that raising the price of high-calorie food will decrease consumption of such goods; it is not clear that such an outcome will actually reduce weight. Our empirical analysis demonstrates a case where a tax on food away from home, a food intake category blamed for much of the rise in obesity, could lead to an increase in body weight; a finding which emphasizes the need to employ economic modeling when developing public policy to reduce obesity.

Flexible Learning Spaces: The Integration Of Pedagogy, Physical Design, And Instructional Technology, Stern Neill, Rebecca Etheridge

Marketing

To support pedagogical innovation, educators must reexamine physical space. This paper describes a project to redesign an existing classroom into a flexible learning space. The desired outcome was a classroom that would support a variety of pedagogical approaches and learning experiences. The findings, based on data gathered from students and faculty, indicate that the renovated classroom increases student engagement, collaboration, flexibility, and learning. A flexible learning space better enables innovative approaches to teaching and learning when compared to the traditional classroom.

Bargaining Rationale For Cooperative Generic Advertising, Jennifer S. James

Agribusiness

The beggar-thy-neighbour aspect of commodity advertising means that benefits to one commodity from advertising come at the expense of other commodities. The effect can be mitigated by cooperation among groups as shown by Alston, Freebairn and James (AFJ). A drawback to AFJ’s analysis is that some cooperative outcomes require side payments from one producer group to another. This paper offers a bargaining solution as an alternative to cooperation in the case where cooperative side payments would be needed. We show that while bargaining without side payments is not as effective as cooperation at reducing beggar-thy-neighbour effects, it is a welfare …

Making The Case For Sustainable Business Practices: An Introduction, Kathryn Lancaster

Accounting

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Management Decisions On Farm And Household Outcomes In An Integrated Crop-Livestock Agro-Ecosystem In Yucatan, Mexico, David Parsons, Jerome H. Cherney, Charles F. Nicholson, Robert W. Blake, Quirine M. Ketterings, Luis Ramirez-Aviles, Luis O. Tedeschi

Agribusiness

Mixed farming systems are defined by Sere and Steinfeld (1996) as those in which more than 10% of the dry matter fed to livestock comes from crop by-products or stubble, and more than 10% of the value of production comes from non-livestock farming activities. More simply, they are systems where livestock rearing and crop cultivation are, to a greater or lesser extent, integrated components of one farming system. The more integrated systems are characterized by interdependency between crop and livestock activity, optimizing circulation of locally available nutrients. The less integrated systems are those in which crop and livestock activities make …

Diversity Or Identity Crisis? An Examination Of Leading Is Journals, Anteneh Ayanso, Kaveepan Lertwachara, Francine Vachon

Management, HR and Information Systems

Since its founding in the 1960s, the Information Systems (IS) field has been involved in critical debates about the nature and future of the discipline. Many researchers feel that diversity in IS research is our strength; others fear that too much diversity leads to losing the field’s core identity. Do the scholarly contributions of the IS community reveal either of these two phenomena? In order to address this question, we examine articles published in leading IS journals (MISQ, ISR, and JMIS) during the period of 2000 to 2006. Our analysis includes classifying the articles using a …

The Economic Impact Of The Stanislaus County Food Processing Industry And The Food Processing By-Products Use Program, Jay E. Noel, Sean P. Hurley, Jessica Bylsma

Agribusiness

In the late 1970’s, Stanislaus County recognized that there existed a potential issue with the disposal of food processing by-products. The concern at the time was that the disposal of the by-products could be handled in a more efficient manner that could benefit all interested stakeholders. In 1978, the county took a proactive stance on the issue and brought together a group of producers, UC extension representatives, management from local food processors, and other interested stakeholders to discuss better ways of handling the by-products that came from processing agricultural products. As a result of these discussions, Stanislaus County developed the …