Business Commons^™

Three Essays On The Enterprise Strategy For Multinational Firms, Veselina Plamenova Vracheva

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The enterprise strategy (ES) of the firm is the overarching organizational strategy which reflects the firm's degree of integration with society. It asks, "What do we stand for?" Very little is known about the ES; however, it is an important construct which can deepen our understanding of the stakeholder management process and the firm's long-term performance. Unlike much previous ES research, this three-essay dissertation examines both the nature of and the antecedents for ES in a cross-national setting.

The introductory essay offers a conceptual model describing the organizational identity orientation effects on the multinational enterprise's (MNE) ES. Additionally, it shows …

The Antecedents And Effects Of Strategic Caring: A Cross-National Empirical Study, Thomas Weber

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This study develops a new construct, strategic caring, defined as actions taken by top managers within stakeholder relationships to improve the well-being of both the stakeholders and the firm. This construct is based on a review of the multidisciplinary caring literature from which a definition of individual caring was developed through content analysis, and then subjected to conceptual inferences to the organizational level of analysis. Strategic caring focuses on a broad set of firm stakeholders, and this stakeholder orientation suggests that a firm can take actions to improve the well-being of these many stakeholder groups and perform as well as, …

An Empirical Examination Of The Moderators Of Direct Versus Indirect Comparative Advertising, Chun-Kai Hsu

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This research examines the relative effectiveness of different kinds of comparative advertising. The effects of direct and indirect advertising are discussed and empirically tested. Extant research focuses on the differential effects of comparative and non-comparative advertising. However, with the growing popularity of comparative advertising in recent years, it becomes crucial to examine different kinds of comparative advertisements more closely to provide guidelines to marketing managers in the application of comparative advertising. In the marketing literature, very little has been known about how advertising-specific moderators may influence the effectiveness of direct and indirect comparative advertising. In this dissertation, different advertising-specific moderators …

Impact Of Transformational Leadership On Job Satisfaction And Organizational Commitment And The Re-Enlistment Intention Of Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers, Kervin Gregory Sider

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

A key component to the success of the Army National Guard (ARNG) is the retention of its soldiers. The ARNG must maintain enough soldiers to accomplish their mission of supporting the active duty Army. Leadership is one of the important factors that influence soldiers' level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and ultimately their intention to remain or leave the ARNG. This research study sought to determine the impact of transformational leadership on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and re-enlistment intention. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) Does transformational leadership impact the re-enlistment intention of first term soldiers, mid-term …

Self-Regulating Teamwork Behaviors In Low-Volume & High-Complexity Production, Aaron W. Powell

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An environment of ever increasing competition drives manufacturing organizations to continually search for ways to improve the performance of their production operations. Lean manufacturing, born out of the Toyota Production System (TPS), has become the dominant improvement method sought to meet this need. Although well established in high-volume production settings, the application of lean production methods in low-volume and high-complexity (LVHC) manufacturing contexts has not been as successful. A commonly cited reason is a biased focus on the technical aspects of implementing lean methods with little regard for the social system involved in the change. In the LVHC manufacturing context, …

The Effect Of Online Reviews On Attitude And Purchase Intention: How Consumers Respond To Mixed Reviews, Chatdanai Pongpatipat

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Three studies investigate how consumers respond to mixed reviews under personal and social influences. The first study looks at how individual self-construal influences the way consumers process mixed reviews from professional critics vs. regular consumers. The study finds consumers with an independent (interdependent) self construal to have less favorable attitude and to be less likely to purchase the product when the negative review comes from professional critics (consumers). Study 2 explores how consumption social context determines the way consumers respond to mixed reviews and how consumer knowledge moderates this behavior. For public consumption, the study finds that both attitude and …

Dynamic Capabilities And Resilient Organizations Amid Environmental Jolts, Stav Fainshmidt

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Despite a growing body of research on dynamic capabilities, their contribution to competitive advantage and firm performance, as well as their origins remain unclear. This three-essay dissertation integrates the literatures on dynamic capabilities, environmental jolts, and imprinting theory to examine the following research questions:

1) What is the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm performance?

2) How do dynamic capabilities influence firm performance during environmental jolts? and

3) What is the role of industry conditions in the development of dynamic capabilities and the dynamic capabilities-performance relationship?

While several scholars have suggested that dynamic capabilities should lead to superior firm performance, …

Simulation Modeling And Analysis Of Customs-Regulated Container Terminal Operations With Multimodal Transportation, Mariam A. Kotachi

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

World trade has been increasing dramatically in the past two decades and, as a result, container exchange has grown significantly. Consequently and to meet this increase, several container terminals are expanding and many new ones are being established. A port with one or more container terminals is considered a complex system in which many entities interact to accomplish seamless handling of containers inbound and outbound. The level of complexity is drastically heightened for container terminals containing multimodal transportation systems as they typically involve ships, rail, and trucks arriving to one or more terminals delivering containers of different sizes to several …

Assessing Organizational Effectiveness Through The Competing Values Framework A Data Envelopment Approach, Raghavender Macherla

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This study proposes a model to diagnose organizations using the mathematical principles of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to the variables generated using competing values framework (CVF) in order to evaluate overall organizational effectiveness. The notion of organizational effectiveness is abstract and difficult to measure due to its complexity and multi-functional nature. Over the years, measurement of organizational effectiveness has remained a challenge due to the lack of agreement on the factors that should be assessed to determine effectiveness. This research is aimed at shedding some light into this topic by using data envelopment analysis as a tool to measure relative …

Systems Theory Based Framework For Competency Models, Joseph M. Bradley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop and apply a systems theoretic framework for design, analysis and transformation of competency models using an inductive research design. This research examines the origins and development of competency models from a systems theoretic perspective. Competency models have been largely developed by a comparative method first proposed by McClelland, or the use of Delphi method survey techniques. The assumption that a population containing an exemplar and fully successful members would enable population of a holistic competency model has reported numerous failures. Similarly, reporting on the use of Delphi methods has focused on attempting …

A Systems-Based Framework For The Assessment Of Performance Measurement System Implementations In R&D Organizations, Kenneth S. Baggett Jr.

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Performance measurement is utilized by organizations in all industries, including research and development (R&D). Measures are developed, data are collected, and the measurement results are used to drive the organization. The implicit hope is, of course, that the measures drive the organization to improve. However, literature identifies high failure rates directly related to performance measurement system (PMS) implementations. Establishing the fundamental operational characteristics associated with successful PMSs would provide a significant contribution towards the establishment of PMS assessment criteria. This research addresses this gap through the use of a grounded theory method employed to identify these operational characteristics, assesses the …

An Investigation Of Business Transformation Disruptors At The Military Strategic Command Level, Thomas Bock

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation contributes an empirical research on business transformation disruption in the military. Specifically, this exploratory research seeks a better understanding of disruption of business transformation and some of the factors that are likely to impact the transformation process at the military strategic command level. A lack of empirical studies existing in the literature, coupled with the continuous transformation challenges faced by military organizations, make it necessary to conduct this empirical study of business transformation disruption in the military.

This research was carried out utilizing a two-phase mixed-methods approach. The first phase included qualitative data gathering through a series of …

Mutual Performance Monitoring In Virtual Teams, Nathan Haugejorde Bjornberg

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The use of virtual teams in organizations has become commonplace (SHRM, 2012). While a great deal of research on teamwork exists, much of it has focused on collocated teams. Spatial and temporal separations inherent in virtual teams make working together as a team more difficult. This research examined a teamwork process previously unexplored within virtual teams -- mutual performance monitoring. An experimental intervention was conducted and outcomes at both the individual and team levels of analysis were examined. A total of 161 participants were assigned to work together in 47 teams on a decision-making task. Participants communicated and worked together …

Assessing The Impact Of Electronic Health Record Systems Implementation On Hospital Patient Perceptions Of Care, Katherine Sofia Palacio Salgar

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The delivery of health care services has been impacted by advances in Knowledge Management Information Systems (KMIS) and Information Technology (IT). The literature reveals that Electronic Health Records Systems (EHRs) are a comprehensive KMIS. There is a wide recognition in the body of knowledge that demonstrates the potential of EHRs to transform all aspects of health care services and, in consequence, the performance of Health Care Delivery Organizations (HCDO). Authors of published research also agree that there is a need for more empirical contributions that demonstrate the impact of EHRs upon HCDO. It is argued that in most cases, studies …

What Constitutes The Success Or Failure Of Multinational Corporations (Mncs) In Foreign Markets? A Case Study Of Chinese And American Mncs, Shiwei Jiang

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Scholars have identified multinational corporations (MNCs) as increasingly important and influential actors in international politics. However, mainstream international studies scholarship has failed to explain why MNCs succeed or fail in entering foreign markets. Market entry is a particularly vexing question for U.S. and Chinese firms seeking to compete for each other's consumers. As this study shows, surprising differences in success among U.S. firms in China, as well as Chinese firms in the U.S., suggest that statist and market factors interact with corporate strategies in confounding ways. Through case studies in the internet, automobile and fast food industries, this dissertation builds …

Human Capital Management Within The Federal Government Utilizing Generational Stratification With A Focus On Generation Y, Ian Nathaniel Barford

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

With many individuals in the Baby Boomer generation eligible to retire, many open positions will need to be filled by other Baby Boomers, or those from Generation X or Generation Y. Private industry has taken note of this and has been exploring workplace differences between Generation Y, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. Unfortunately for the federal government, data shows Generation Y is also separating; specifically quitting for unknown reasons. Understanding this apparent dichotomy between Generation Y and Generation X and Baby Boomer federal government employees is a current knowledge gap within the federal government's strategic human capital management focus.

From …

Two Essays On Attracting Foreign Direct Investment: From Both A National And Firm Level Perspective, Ryan Lawrence Mason

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Countless studies with a wide variety of financial and economic indicators have been conducted over the years within the context of international business research, all searching for hints or signals as to what makes the never ending process of globalization progress. Our research follows these efforts while focusing specifically on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Our first study sets out to empirically test if nations adopting the inflation targeting (IT) monetary policy are more successful in attracting inbound and outbound FDI cash flows than those nations utilizing alternative monetary policies. IT is a relatively new policy which was first put into …