Business Commons^™

Innovation In The Economy: An Examination Of The Role Of Innovation On Economic Growth, Samuel Macchiarolo

Honors Projects

This paper will be examining factors that may have contributed to past economic recessions, particularly in the US, by looking at levels of both financial innovation and physical innovation, as well as research and development. The paper will take a deeper look into how previous economic recessions happened, how the changes in the level of innovation played a part in those recessions, why innovation levels change so much, and what can be done to eliminate the variation of innovation to help stabilize economic output.

Total Taxation: An Examination Of The Total Tax Burden Of Individuals In The West Michigan Area, Connor C. Meech

Honors Projects

Have you ever thought about how much you might pay in tax each year, across all tax types? If you have, a chill probably went down your spine before you gave up thinking about it. When the subject is brought up, most people think primarily of income. The truth of the matter is that income tax is far from the only tax we pay. Throughout the year, Americans may end up also paying sales tax, property tax, fuel taxes, various sin taxes, and estate tax, just to name a few. With so many ways to be taxed, some of which …

The Role Of Perceived Organizational Support In Anxiety And Depression, Chloe Dingens

Honors Projects

This study seeks to explore the relationships between employees’ levels of perceived organizational support (POS) and their levels of anxiety and depression. Eisenberger et al. (1986, p. 500) defines POS as an employee's perception about how much the organization they work for values them and cares about their well-being. It was hypothesized that workers who experience higher POS will report lower anxiety and depression. Survey data were collected from 494 adults who worked an average of 39.9 hours per week (SD = 8.3). Participants completed survey measures of POS, anxiety, and depression, and reported demographics (e.g., job tenure) that were …

Supply Chain Sustainability In The Fashion Industry, Quinn Hanley

Honors Projects

Sustainability in the fashion industry has become an important topic recently for both retailers and consumers. Through my research I will be laying out what supply chain sustainability is, how it relates to the fashion industry, as well as how companies are doing it well or poorly. I will be using both scholarly pieces and other articles online to perform my research on the topic, to find a more in-depth understanding of how companies are affecting the world around us as well as the people around us. My goal with this research is to educate consumers about how supply chain …

An Entheogenic Endeavor: Exploring Indigenous Healing In Modern Times, Samantha J. Deboer

Honors Projects

There are thousands of years of practice and tradition surrounding the use of entheogens as medicine in indigenous cultures around the world. While our modern western culture methodically dives into this research whilst exploring these medicines for pharmaceutical usage, this work delves into indigenous and shamanic cultures uses of these plants.

Economic Forecast Of Grand Rapids, Mi, Zachary Fillmore

Honors Projects

The purpose of this report is to analyze the current state of the Grand Rapids, MI economy, as well as provide a ten-year forecast of the city’s economic condition. Economic forecasting is the process of predicting the future condition of an economy using the combination of several indicators. The indicators being used for this report will include population growth, economic production, wages, industry specific production trends, unemployment rates, home values, occupancy rates, rent forecasts, education, and tourism. From intensive research and data analysis, a snapshot of the economic condition of Grand Rapids in ten years will be displayed. Additionally, several …

The Impact Of Culture On Business Negotiations, Nadia L. Gonzalez

Honors Projects

Understanding the impact of culture and cultural differences is essential in negotiations. Using both Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory and the GLOBE Project’s nine cultural dimensions, this paper highlights the impact of culture in international business negotiations. After discussing the dimensions and various national attributes attributed to these dimensions, this paper highlights several important cultural strategies for firms to keep in mind when negotiating. It concludes with propositions and a discussion about how negotiators can improve their skills through an understanding and respect of cultural differences.

Mathematical Modeling In Finance, Owen Sweeney

Honors Projects

Financial tools play an integral role in the day-to-day lives of individuals and businesses. Many of these tools use predefined formulas to calculate items such as loan payments, interest and capital structure components. These tools do not usually provide the flexibility needed when new parameters are introduced. By utilizing mathematical modeling, these standard formulas can be derived and even improved to provide the needed flexibility.

Investor Behavior In The Midst Of A Global Pandemic, Abigail N. Bates

Honors Projects

Investors partaking in portfolio and asset management through the stock market and other avenues do so with certain reasoning and methods in hand. Each investor may have different interests and risk tolerances that guide their choices for investment. Behavioral finance allows for an in-depth look at an investor’s actions and the influencing psychology behind it. Before this approach was popularized, early studies of finance assumed that investors were always rational in their decision making and put resources only into opportunities that would increase their utility or happiness. The behavioral finance approach takes a more comprehensive look at these behaviors and …

Using Alteryx Designer In Audit, Nolan Asiala

Honors Projects

My senior project was built around data analysis and how it relates to the auditing profession. Initially, I was planning on attending a data analytics competition, but that was canceled due to the events of COVID-19. This project utilized the Alteryx Designer program to demonstrate how it can be used during an audit engagement. By creating a workflow in Alteryx Designer, a report from a client can be cleaned and reformatted into a working dataset. My project includes two Excel files, a Microsoft Word document that serves as a brief introduction to the program, and a video describing the workflow …

Analyses Of Five Industries, Potential Job Prospects, And Expatriate Employment In Spain, Leonardo Brista

Honors Projects

This memorandum analyzes five industries of personal interest and potential job opportunities within each, as well as an analysis of Spain’s economy and identifying the process of working as an expatriate. The goal of this project is to lay out the career opportunities in various industries in and out of the United States, the situation of their environments, and rationalizing them in an evaluative method. Each industry of interest will be analyzed on their economic strength, sociopolitical environment, and geographic area of focus. The top five companies in each industry will also briefly analyzed, comparing their overall employee approval rating …

Marketing Play Book: Shoreline Orthopaedics, Rio Weikum

Honors Projects

This campaign book is comprised of essential information for conducting a successful campaign for our client, Shoreline Orthopaedic located in Holland, Michigan. For the purpose of this campaign, both primary and secondary research were conducted in order to gain crucial information that would form Shoreline's marketing strategies, tactics, and objectives. Primary research was conducted in order to get a better understanding of the attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and needs of the patients at Shoreline. Secondary research was conducted to gain marketing information on other orthopedic practices, the best marketing strategies to implement in the digital world, and information about our target …

Finding My Future: Defining The Landscape, Discovering The Path, Samantha Frankhouse

Honors Projects

One of the most pivotal moments in a young adult's life is transitioning from high school to pose-secondary opportunity; whether this is to university, trade school, or right into the workforce, each student has a unique experience. Finding My Future, a local startup in Grand Rapids, Michigan, wants to give these students "the tools they need to define a future they'll love." However, as a startup that is also on a quest to be educated and informed on their decisions, FMF is in need of marker research and customer discovery to better understand and appropriately design for their audiences.

Eqm Investment Research Report, Kaitlyn Berg

Honors Projects

The piece includes both an investment research and industry analysis report on EQM, a midstream oil company. Based on the industry environment, valuation metrics, and financial statement analysis, EQM holds a buy recommendation and demonstrates a large potential for growth and strong cash flow returns. The following analysis provides evidence to support this recommendation.

Looming Consumer Debt: A Comparison To The Great Recession, Andrew Jenks

Honors Projects

A look into the current outstanding debt in the United States and comparison to conditions prior to the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

The Impact Of The Seidman College Of Business Outreach Centers On The Grand Rapids Business Community, Benjamin M. Thoenes

Honors Projects

The purpose of this research was to explore the advisory role of selected Outreach Centers of the Seidman College of Business as led by their executive directors, and to examine the effects of their relationships with the Grand Rapids business community. For the basis of comparison the interviews included the director of one organization outside the Seidman College of Business. A qualitative approach in the form of a researcher-designed interview was used for the purpose of collecting data (Creswell, 2005). The interviews, conducted at each of the Outreach Center Offices, were designed to elicit important information regarding the Centers and …

The Corporate Occupation Of The Final Frontier; Emerging Market Analysis Of Spacex And The Privatized Race To Space., Nicholas Herbert

Honors Projects

This project is important to allow a full understanding of the current environment of the emerging market of space transport and travel. As we continue to move into a more technologically advanced society, we will no doubt have more contact with companies looking to profit from the race to deliver the promise of satellite space to companies all over the world in a more cost effective and powerful manner. To this end, Google and Facebook have already begun cooperation with private companies to propagate the space around our planet, and in addition, the investment and return basis of this work …

Using Technology To Monitor Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Winter Clusters: A Study In Comparative Advantages Of Thermal Imaging And Temperature/Humidity Sensing Technologies, Andrea Kress

Honors Projects

Introduction: Wintertime is difficult for many beekeepers, as honey bees must keep themselves warm and dry while surviving on food stores from previous seasons ^[4]. Honey bees are able to survive such cold temperatures by vibrating their bodies in a cluster, which moves throughout the hive, to keep themselves and the queen warm and dry ^[4]. Outside temperatures greatly influence the efficiency of the internal cluster of the hive ^[4]. Honey bee colonies have the most efficient (i.e. least amount of energy spent and least amount of food stores used) clusters when the outside temperature is between …

From Shelf To Screen: Marketing In The Digital Age, Anna Bouwkamp

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Economic Impact Analysis On Olympic Host-Cities, Michael P. Overmyer

Honors Projects

When a city decides to undertake an Olympic Games, they do so with the notion that hosting the Olympics will provide many direct financial benefits to the city in addition to countless other indirect benefits. Like many activities, the Summer-Olympic Games tend to be more popular when it is warm, and this paper will focus on only the previous five Summer Olympic Games. As host cities look to cash in on the Olympic Games popularity, the number of Olympic infrastructure projects has skyrocketed, leaving many cities with facilities that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and nothing to …

Tuition Toss Up: An Economic Analysis Of Public And Private University Tuition And Fees, Alex Nannetti

Honors Projects

In a society where post-secondary education is a near necessity, examining the true cost of university is an important factor to consider when determining the benefits of higher education. While the long run career benefits of a bachelor’s degree are undeniable, the exponential rise in university tuition is a concern for many. This paper examines public and private universities ranked in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges Ranking: National Universities Ranking and analyzes their fiscal and academic differences. Using economic analysis, the following attempts to determine if public or private universities are a better overall investment when considering the …

Hierarchy In The Medical Field, Rachel M. Eaton

Honors Projects

Prior to volunteering in a southern United States hospital setting I had only my preconceptions of hierarchy in medicine, but this hospital had a different reality. At the hospital, I noticed a decreased sensitivity to the hierarchical structure of medical professionals in the hospital. I was able to learn that these professionals intermingled very well. As a volunteer on a floor, I could not even differentiate between the different professions, as they all wore similar uniforms and interacted with everyone on the floor. While participating in this volunteer program, I noticed how the health professionals at Arkansas Children’s Hospital used …

The Laker Dream: A Short Guide For Grand Valley Students, Lucas Escalada

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Honors Projects Brochures, Kaitlyn Balboa

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Library Quest: Using Customer Discovery Process To Determine Product-Market Fit, Todd Mcguire

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of Research On Altruism In Recent Literature Of The Three Sectors: Public, Private, And Non-Profit, Jennifer Saksa

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the topic of altruism in the recent research literature of the public, private, and non-profit sectors. The top twenty most cited articles of each of the three sectors from 1995 to 2014 were retrieved from the Web of Science Journal Citation Report database and reviewed. Data was accumulated for content analysis of trends of publishing, changing industry viewpoints on altruism, and how altruism is referenced in these articles in each sector. With the results of the literary analysis, altruism can be considered a developable skill by organizations and that it can be …

Family Owned Businesses: International Charitable Contributions & Tax Savings, Gloria Lacourse

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Tax Inversion: What Is It Good For?, Stephen Cimbalik

Honors Projects

Taxation is often regarded as one of the most complex aspects of modern society. With a tax code that is now over 70,000 pages long, it is no wonder that many have little to no understanding of how taxation works in the United States. In spite of the length and depth to which the code explains tax procedure, there are still individuals that find ways to exploit loopholes. In the past 30 years, the technique of tax inversion has become an incredibly popular way for companies to reduce the amount of tax they have to pay each year.

In simple …

Assessing Predictors Of Work Engagement In Full-Time Undergraduate Students With Part-Time Jobs, Megan Wertheimer

Honors Projects

Past research has shown that work engagement is beneficial for employees and employers. It is linked with performance, job satisfaction, motivation, employee health, and well-being. We tested whether social-support, conscientiousness, generalized self-efficacy, and work/school congruency would be predictive of work engagement of full-time undergraduate students at Grand Valley State University. Findings showed that work/school congruency and perceived organizational support significantly predict work engagement. These results have implications for how student workers and their employers should seek to increase engagement.

Analyzing The Financial Future Of The Millennial Generation, Matt Smartt

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.