Business Commons^™

E-Commerce Internship At Coretrex, Noah Mrok

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

E-commerce is changing the digital world as we know it, and it is an important part of our daily lives as it influences our behaviors as consumers. In this paper, I will describe the complicated nature of e-commerce through the lens of my personal experience at CoreTrex, an e-commerce agency based in Rogers, Arkansas. E-commerce has transformed how businesses connect with consumers and how consumers connect back with businesses. From its early stages as smaller online marketplaces to its current state as a much more complex virtual ecosystem, e-commerce has undergone many changes due to technological advancements and changing consumer …

Impact Of Leadership In Project Management, Ian Wegh

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Today’s business environment demands effective project management for enterprises to meet their goals and continue to be innovative. Inherently, this also means that project managers must have strong leadership skills. Project management provides a framework of techniques that provides a symbiotic relationship between both the framework and the leader. The idea behind project management is to complete objectives efficiently within a certain time period given a restricted number of resources. This means project management is a process of principles, tools, and methodologies used to effectively manage a team through the System Development Life Cycle. The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) …

Go And Grow Business Plan For A Social Media Application, Piper Duke

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Go and Grow proposes to develop a new iOS social media application to connect students studying abroad with students in the destination country. With the use of geolocation, in-app communication, and multi-language support, Go and Grow allows students to make the most of their once in a lifetime experience and give local people and businesses a chance to show off their home country. With Go and Grow, users will create relationship networks by posting questions, connecting with locals, and accessing information not provided by their program, making the student feel more comfortable before they depart and while they are in …

The Evolution Of 5g: Delineating The Impact And Limitations Across Transportation, Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, And Manufacturing, Thomas Bailey

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

A world previously only thought possible in science fiction is about to become a reality. A world where doctors can operate on patients thousands of miles away. A world where students can experience ancient cities and distant galalike they are physically there. A world of fully self-driving cars. A world where every step of the supply chain is automated. A world where factories have a handful of employees overseeing robots handling the entire manufacturing process. A world of fully autonomous farms, where one farmer can manage an entire farm from seed to harvest from their smartphone. The development, implementation, and …

How Company Culture Can Make Or Break An Organization, Savannah Rubino

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

"Company culture" is one of many buzz phrases researchers use to define the climate of the modern workforce. It's a company's shared values and beliefs and manifests in the way they do business, what employees they attract, and even their bottom line. Company culture initially gained traction during the COVID-19 work-from-home wave when a remote setting allowed companies and employees alike to reevaluate the role of the workplace in their lives and how it shapes their personal and professional goals. This caused a pivot from "hustle" workplace culture to more of a holistic, balanced one. According to Forbes, hustle culture …

Discovering Data-Driven Solutions: A Practical Guide For Small Businesses Implementing Data Analytics, Katherine Richoux

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

In today’s highly competitive business environment, small businesses are under growing pressure to fight for market share. To do this, a competitive advantage must be established to outperform other business competitors both big and small. One way that small businesses can create a competitive advantage is by utilizing their data and applying basic data analytics. Data analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing large sets of raw data using statistical tests to identify patterns and insights to make conclusions that inform business decisions. The use of data analytics is not exclusive to large corporations and can be greatly beneficial …

Employment Discrimination’S Impact On African American’S Professional And Personal Lives, Trey D. Williams

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against a person because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The law also protects individuals from retaliation if they complain about discrimination, participate in an employment discrimination proceeding, or reasonably oppose discrimination. Although Title VII makes discrimination illegal, it is still present in the workplace. The objective of this thesis is to discuss employee discrimination based on race and sex. Specifically, I will analyze the current workplace discrimination against African American men and women as well as the psychological, physiological, and emotional effects …

How Blockchain Solutions Enable Better Decision Making Through Blockchain Analytics, Sammy Ter Haar

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since the founding of computers, data scientists have been able to engineer devices that increase individuals’ opportunities to communicate with each other. In the 1990s, the internet took over with many people not understanding its utility. Flash forward 30 years, and we cannot live without our connection to the internet. The internet of information is what we called early adopters with individuals posting blogs for others to read, this was known as Web 1.0. As we progress, platforms became social allowing individuals in different areas to communicate and engage with each other, this was known as Web 2.0. As Dr. …

Forecasting Razorback Baseball Game Outcomes, Austin Raabe

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite the disappointing end to the 2021 Arkansas Razorback baseball year, the team’s success provided hog fans something to look forward to next season. While they will be without the 2021 Golden Spikes Award winner, Kevin Kopps, and four All-SEC team selections, the 2022 roster has promising new and returning talent. With fifty percent of the players who played significant time last year coming back (minimum ten hits or ten innings pitched), the arrival of several impact transfers from major conferences, and a recruiting class ranked in the top five according to Perfect Game, there is reason to believe that …

Bitcoin, Blockchain Technology, And Cryptocurrencies, Jeffrey Dodson

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The blockchain based cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin was theorized in a whitepaper published October 28, 2008, by Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym) (Nakamoto, 2008). The paper, titled, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” laid out a digital currency creation/exchange structure that employs a decentralized ledger that would later run on the author’s open-source application (Nakamoto, 2008). The main innovation of this technology is found within the security benefits provided by the proof-of-work consensus mechanism that requires solving a mathematic trap-door compression function to verify transactions/blocks added to the blockchain. On January 3, 2009, the genesis block, a term for the first block …

Internship Thesis – Koch Industries, Sophia Gesualdi

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The history of Koch Industries dates back to 1927, when Fred C. Koch improved the process of converting heavy oil into gasoline. This innovation was the moment that started it all; the company has only grown since its humble beginnings. Today, Koch Industries (Koch) is one of the largest privately held companies in America (Summary of Koch Industries History). Koch has involvement in an extremely diverse list of businesses and industries around the world; the organization is a conglomerate of companies that all function under the same umbrella. Two of the most noteworthy companies owned by Koch Industries are Flint …

Pay Negotiations Differences In Men And Women How Gender’S Effect On Self-Advocacy Contributes To Sex Discrimination In Corporations, Laurel Mccabe

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sex discrimination comes in many shapes and colors, such as not wanting to hire pregnant women, passing women up for promotions because of their status of motherhood, women being more likely to be removed from their upper management positions when things go wrong compared to their male counterparts, and economic differences in negotiated outcomes based on gender. Sex discrimination is something organizations should be concerned with their participation in and facilitation of and examine, internally, how to diminish its effect on female employees. Organizations need to clarify that wages are negotiable and increase visibility into compensation plans, hiring, and promotions. …

Downsizing The Silver Screen: An Analysis Of Covid-19'S Impact On The American Filmmaking Industry, Andrew Paxson

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The following case analysis details the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the American entertainment industry, with particular commentary given to ethical considerations amongst the changing landscape of consumer behavior. While the entertainment sector suffered at great lengths due to prolonged closures, multimedia firms such as Warner Bros. and Disney elected to modify their service methods, delivering continued programming at the expense of business partners and creatives. Through legally ambiguous and precedent setting business decisions, cinema chains were neglected and employed talent disenfranchised, thereby setting a trend in the industry that seeks to both eliminate communal theater experiences and reinterpret …

The Importance Of Agile Reporting Methods In A Retail Sales Environment, Katie Haefner

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary objective of this project is to understand the importance of agile reporting methodologies for a retail sales team. Data has proven to be very vital for businesses to use and understand. In software systems that serve as data warehouses, it is expected that value be provided at each iteration within the system. This includes all the measurements, metrics, and reports. Agile reporting effects the way that data is utilized within a company. This paper looks at some of ways that value can be added when companies focus on ways to consolidate and standardize data as well as make …

Arclothmasks: A Pandemic Startup Journey, Adam Jackson

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Covid-19 changed the way the world operated when it became a pandemic in 2020. The need for personal protection equipment was unexpected and suppliers were not prepared for the demand. The government mandate of masks furthered the need of PPE across the nation. To help fill this shortage, many companies began to retool their manufacturing processes from clothing to masks. This thesis will dive into one PPE company and its journey from the start of the pandemic. The business plan for the company will follow it along with graphs and charts that help tell the tale of the startup.

What Were The Factors That Led To The Gamestop Short Squeeze?, Riley Burnette

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The world of finance is rapidly evolving - for better or for worse. The introduction of social media in sentimental stock market trading, and new brokerage apps, combined with the new resurgence of retail investors, has led to some interesting results. These new factors in the stock market have challenged the status quo of the stock market. A group of retail investors has led this change on a Reddit forum known as /r/WallStreetBets

In early January 2021, a group of retail investors collaborated a short squeeze on GameStop stock, creating an attack against the hedge funds on a popular Reddit …

Business Analysis Of Flexpacer: The Viability And Profitability Of Rechargeable Pacemakers, Bailey Arnold

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Heart disease being as prominent as it is in the United States enables medical technology manufacturers to create lucrative businesses and products for cardiothoracic and cardiovascular physicians and patients. As a proposed rechargeable pacemaker (PM) that uses piezoelectric energy harvesting technology, FlexPacer has the chance to eliminate the need for battery replacement surgeries. This paper aims to outline the current issues in PM products and technology, identify the potential risks and benefits of FlexPacer, and discuss FlexPacer’s potential for profitability.

Supply Chain Student Biases Regarding Transportation Jobs, Drew Mahosky

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

As a Supply Chain student at the University of Arkansas, I have made some observations about how students view jobs with a transportation focus. I have seen other students gravitate towards jobs on the consumer-side of the supply chain job market, with many joining large companies like Walmart and Amazon. The university itself has helped instill this feeling in me as well, due to their focus more on the consumer-side of supply chains. There have only been two classes offered to me thus far in my degree plan that I felt truly addressed transportation-side supply chains at all, with them …

The Bidirectional Relationship Between Art And Business, Hannah Brletich

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

There has long been an established relationship between art and business, finding its roots in the Industrial Revolution when the effects of arts on the economy were first explored. Since then, creative economies have been influenced by adaptation of businesses through urban development and revitalization and by continuous growth in artistic and cultural spaces. Capturing the relationship between arts and urban design, cultural districts establish strong economic communities within vastly creative, business- and culture-centered spaces. Current research provides insight to the economic, social, and cultural outcomes of creative economies.

As a contribution to that narrative, I will use this analysis …

Technology And The American Criminal Justice System, Taylor Hunt

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The American prison population has grown to over 2.3 million citizens incarcerated (“United States of Incarceration,” 2016) and there are more than 900,000 police officers in the nation (“Law Enforcement Facts,” n.d.). These over 3 million people use technology every day in either their work or incarcerated lives. As the effectiveness of the criminal justice system is being questioned, now is the time to perform an assessment of the technology used and make technological recommendations to lower crime, incarceration, and recidivism rates simultaneously. To obtain that technology assessment, a student research study was conducted and consisted of research and interviews …

Blockchain: Is It The Future Of Business?, Stuart Welsch

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Blockchain is one of these new and disruptive technologies being developed; it is predicted to change the landscape of business in an extremely similar fashion as the Internet did. In lay terms, blockchain is a new technology designed to secure privacy (Collins, 2016), cut out unnecessary middleman costs (Eha, 2017), dramatically lower the cost of transactions (Iansiti & Lakhani, 2009), lower transaction time (Underwood, 2016), and assist in making assets become more liquid and appealing (like cash) because they are more easily transferable (Paech, 2016). Blockchain functions like a ledger; it is able to keep track of an asset’s ownership …