Business Commons^™

The Value Of The Integrated Business Core Experience: Perceptions Of Recent Graduates From Brigham Young University-Idaho, Craig D. Bell

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The effectiveness of business education has come under intense scrutiny—with many questioning its overall value. Main criticisms center on the lack of integration across the curriculum, too much emphasis on quantitative analysis, and the absence of relevant application. Most critics call for business education to become more hands-on and to create opportunities for students to practice the discipline of management. The purpose of this mixed method explanatory study was to explore the perceived influence of the Integrated Business Core (IBC) experience at Brigham Young University – Idaho on career success. The study sought to capture the perceptions of recent graduates …

Exploring The Adaptive Function In Complexity Leadership Theory: An Examination Of Shared Leadership And Collective Creativity In Innovation Networks, David S. Sweetman

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Leadership, creativity, and innovation are becoming increasingly important to the sustainability of organizations. Facing ever more complex environments, traditional views embodied in the individual are being augmented by theorizing which views leadership and creativity as a property of the collective. With theoretical grounding in complexity leadership theory, this dissertation leverages the emerging constructs of shared leadership and collective creativity from a network perspective to provide empirical understanding of the adaptive function of complexity leadership. Social network hypotheses were advanced positing that shared leadership and collective creativity comprise the adaptive function, and that the adaptive function is related to innovation. Results …

The Essence Of Developing Entrepreneurial Food Businesses, David S. Jackson

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses the attributes of successful small business food entrepreneurship. Refers specifically to Nebraska and the INTSORMIL program.

Eagle Lager: A Sorghum Success Story On Many Levels, Ian Mackintosh

INTSORMIL Presentations

In 1999 in Uganda we were faced with a static but highly competitive market.

Needed to grow our market and to do this we needed to make beer cheaper

It was felt that a suitable local ingredient would reduce the cost of manufacture and stimulate local agriculture and the economy as well as provide opportunities for growth and profit for the company.

An extensive base line study of the Ugandan agricultural sector was undertaken to determine what was “out there.”

It was clear that there was enormous potential but little else.

Sorghum seemed the logical starting point because there was …

Virtues Of Sorghum: Utilization And Supply Chain Management, Lloyd W. Rooney

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses the consumer demands, value-added supply chain, strategy for value-added products, functionality of sorghums and millets, sorghum food use in Central America, plant breeding and improvement of grain quality, sorghum image, special sorghums as a particularly healthy food item, food utilization, improving sorghum quality, effect of molds, insects, and weathering on grain quality, and mycotoxins.

Food Entrepreneurship Curricula, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus R. Ballegu, Jeremia Makindara

INTSORMIL Presentations

SUA Food Entrepreneurship Program Mission Statement: To educate and assist entrepreneurs in developing their sorghum based food manufacturing business. Covers ideas generation, market research, business development, regulations, food safety, brand development, sales and distribution, and with a focus on product development.

Developing Entrepreneurship, The Tanzania Experience: Sua-Intsormil Project, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus R. Ballegu

INTSORMIL Presentations

Project Title: Building a Sustainable Infrastructure for Product Development and Food Entrepreneur/Industry Technical Support: A Strategy to Promote Increased Use of Sorghum and Millet in East Africa.

Long Term Program Objectives: Development of successful entrepreneurial businesses that add-value to sorghum and millet such that:

~Farmers have an established outlet for cash sales of high-quality sorghum and millet

~Small businesses or cooperatives develop processing capabilities enabling the incorporation of sorghum and millet into a wide variety of food products

~Markets and market channels for sorghum and millet-based products develop.

Further develop research, extension and marketing expertise of National Agricultural Research Institutes …

Developing Entrepreneurism: Student Training And Involvement, Curtis L. Weller

INTSORMIL Presentations

Student training is an important component of INTSORMIL UNL-SUA-UNZA project. One current project, "Measurement of Starch Digestibility in Starch and Flour from Tannin containing Sorghum" by N.L. Mkandawire, C.L. Weller, D.J. Rose, and D.S. Jackson, is outlined in this presentation.

Economic Analysis Of Small Scale Sorghum Processing In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Jeremia Makindara, Joseph J. Mpagalile, Wenceslaus Ballegu

INTSORMIL Presentations

Due to small scale food processing initiatives, several entrepreneurs dealing in small scale sorghum processing have emerged in Tanzania and especially in urban centers such as Dar es Salaam. The recent initiative that has contributed to this is the SUA-INTSORMIL Project that started in 2005. However, despite such initiatives being received by many entrepreneurs, very few economic studies have been conducted to assess the benefits obtained by sorghum processing entrepreneurs and the challenges they face are not well explained. This study therefore assessed costs and benefits obtained by small scale sorghum processing entrepreneurs in Dar es Salaam and the challenges …

Sorghum And Pearl Millet Seed Value Chains In Zambia: Opportunities And Challenges For Smallholder Farmers, Priscilla Hamukwala

INTSORMIL Presentations

Sorghum and pearl millet rank second and third, respectively, as important staple cereals after maize.

-There are new market developments in the beer industry requiring farmers to increase productivity and production

-These markets can significantly affect access to improved seed, and thus increase decisions on utilization

-Even though market developments indicate great potential for the two crops, their supply has remained erratic

-There was need therefore to identify the constraining factors to steady supply of sorghum & millet grain through conducting a seed value chain

-Little is known about the existing seed acquisition channels, extent of utilization, how they function …

Zamace: Zambia Agricultural Commodities Exchange, Brian Tembo

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses what ZAMACE is, the services it offers including commodities trading, ZAMACE and the smallholder farmer, partnerships, and challenges including dispute resolution.

Recent Legislation To Promote Wind Energy In Nebraska, Ryan Lemke

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Nebraska is currently ranked 4th in the nation for wind energy potential, but ranks low in actual wind power production. The lack of wind energy production could be the result of Nebraska’s unique public power districts that have eminent domain of distribution and retail sales of electricity in the State. Public Power districts are prohibited from receiving benefits of state and federal tax incentives for the development of wind farms, however some Nebraska power districts still pursue wind energy as a renewable source of energy.

Recent legislation changes, including the passing of laws LB629 and LB1048, have provided the State …

Information Quality On The World Wide Web: A User Perspective, Jaikrit Kandari

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Information Quality has emerged as an important measure for the success of Information Systems. At the same time the World Wide Web has established itself as the key infrastructure for information administration, exchange, and publication. Users are getting information from the web at the click of a button however they must filter sub-standard information before they can use quality content. Researchers have aimed to address this problem by suggesting various information quality frameworks. Research till date has seen twenty important Information Quality (IQ) frameworks emerge. These models though varied in their approach and application share a number of characteristics regarding …

Coaching Efficacy With Academic Leaders: A Phenomenological Investigation, Deanna Lee Vansickel-Peterson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this psychological phenomenological research was to understand the efficacy of life coaching from the perspective of academic leaders. To date, not one investigation or attempt has been made towards the above stated purpose. This study includes a theoretical overview and a review of the coaching literature from Socrates (469-399 BC) to current day Humanistic theory presented in part by Roger (1902-1987).

This process included data collection from five academic leaders who have been coached for at least two years. Levels of analysis of 365 statements, quote and/or comments produced finding of efficacy in life coaching with academic …

What's Your Pitch?, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

We all need to have our "pitch" ready! This PowerPoint, when used with the corresponding worksheet of the same title (What's Your Pitch), walks people through the process of creating an Elevator Pitch or Quick Pitch for their idea, business or organization. In the global economy, it is important for all of us to be able to clearly communicate what we do so we can sell ourselves and help others understand the purpose of what we are working to accomplish. A great pitch has the power to help anyone...from a University employee to a new entrepreneur to a team working …

Coaching Leaders: Co-Creating Purpose Based Innovation, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

The purpose of the presentation was to demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of coaching leaders in today's global economy. Leadership coaching has the potential to co-create innovation in organizations of all sizes. Three case studies were shared. In each example, Dr. Connie presented the effectiveness of her coaching program. Each case study demonstrated the power of leadership and innovation on the economy, society and individual.

Towards A Model Of Information Systems User Competency, Brenda Eschenbrenner

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The ability to utilize information systems (IS) effectively is becoming a necessity for business professionals. However, individuals differ in their abilities to use IS effectively, with some achieving exceptional performance in IS use and others being unable to do so. Therefore, developing a set of skills and attributes to achieve IS user competency, or the ability to realize the fullest potential and the greatest performance from IS use, is important. Various constructs have been identified in the literature to describe IS users with regard to their intentions to use IS and their frequency of IS usage, but studies to describe …

The Impact Of Green Supply Chain Practices On Supply Chain Performance, Jin Sung Rha

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has become a critical factor to sustain organization’s competitive advantages. In this regard, many firms and researchers have attempted to find out factors that affect either positively or negatively on SCM. Recently, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has been receiving the spotlight in many studies. Social and political concerns about the environment in Korea emerged in the early 1990s when Korean government established new environmental regulations in order to implement environmental management throughout the entire supply chain. The Korean government established national GSCM strategies. However, there has been minimal research on measuring GSCM performance among Korean …

Application Of Open-Source Enterprise Information System Modules: An Empirical Study, Sang-Heui Lee

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Although there have been a number of studies on large scale implementation of proprietary enterprise information systems (EIS), open-source software (OSS) for EIS has received limited attention in spite of its potential as a disruptive innovation. Cost saving is the main driver for adopting OSS among the other possible benefits including security and reliability, transparency of development process, etc. Due to the costly implementation of proprietary EIS, small- and medium-sized organizations have given attention to OSS as an alternative. OSS EIS can also help create a competitive advantage by enabling organizations to customize their information systems by modifying the open-source …

A Tentative Recovery, Eric Thompson, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

Business in Nebraska

U.S. Macroeconomic Outlook

The U.S. economy is persevering in its transition to a self-sustaining recovery fueled by private consumer spending and business investment. But, that transition is tenuous, with factors both encouraging and discouraging growth. Among factors encouraging growth, consumer spending and business investment continue to expand, supported by rising wage income and profits. As is typical in an economic recovery, profits have rebounded as businesses which cut costs during the recession are benefiting from rising revenue. The labor market also has begun to recover. While gains have been limited, the U.S. economy has added private sector jobs over the …

Financial Literacy Explicated: The Case For A Clearer Definition In An Increasingly Complex Economy, David L. Remund

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This study explicates the concept of financial literacy, which has blossomed in use this century. Scholars, policy officials, financial experts, and consumer advocates have used the phrase loosely to describe the knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation necessary to effectively manage money. As a result, financial literacy has varying conceptual definitions in existing research as well as diverse operational definitions and values. This study dissects the differing financial literacy definitions and measures, urging researchers toward common ground. A clearer definition should improve future research, in turn helping consumers better understand and adapt to changing life events and an increasingly complex economy.

Antecedents Of Servant Leadership: A Mixed Methods Study, Curtis D. Beck

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the antecedents of servant leadership. The sequential explanatory research design consisted of two distinct phases: quantitative followed by qualitative.

The Phase One quantitative survey collected data from 499 leaders and 630 raters from community leadership programs in the United States using the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006).

During Phase Two, selected leaders from phase one (N = 12) were interviewed to explain those results in more depth. The data were coded and analyzed for possible themes. Triangulation was used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data to validate …

University Students' Assessment Of Entrepreneurial Environments, Byungku Lee

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Entrepreneurial intention is a primary step to create new venture in the entrepreneurial process. Environmental conditions are one of the main factors that are strengthening or weakening intention of prospective entrepreneur. Therefore, it is important to develop conducive environments for entrepreneurship to promote entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, the promoted entrepreneurial intention will raise the rate of new venture creation.

This paper investigates the relationships between five key environments for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention. The five entrepreneurial environments are: government policies and procedures, socioeconomic conditions, entrepreneurial and business skills, financial assistance, and non-financial assistance, respectively. Conjoint analysis was used to determine the …

Essays On International Research And Development Spillovers, Bernard Jagre Walley

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The dissertation consists of three essays on international research and development spillovers. In the first essay, I investigate the degree to which differences in institutional arrangements among Sub-Saharan African countries determine the extent of benefits they derive from foreign research and development spillovers. In particular, I compare the international research and development spillovers for English common law and French civil law Sub-Saharan African countries. I show that differences in the legal origin of the company law or commercial codes in these countries may reflect the extent of barriers they place in the paths of firms that engage in the investment …

The Impact Of Positivity And Transparency On Trust In Leaders And Their Perceived Effectiveness, Steven M. Norman, Bruce Avolio, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

A critical challenge facing today’s organizational leaders is gaining their followers’ trust and having them view leaders as effective in addressing turmoil and change. Using a downsizing scenario as the context, this field experiment examined how a leader’s positivity and transparency impacted followers’ perceived trust, defined in terms of willingness to be vulnerable, and effectiveness of their leader. To test the hypotheses, 304 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions of high (low) leader positivity × high (low) leader transparency. Results of our mixed methods study indicated both the leader’s level of positivity and transparency impacted followers’ …

Exploring Social Constructions Of Followership: A Qualitative Study, Melissa K. Carsten, Mary Uhl-Bien, Bradley J. West, Jaime L. Patera, Rob Mcgregor

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

This study adopts a qualitative approach to deconstruct the meaning of followership. Interviews were conducted with employees in various industries to examine how individuals socially construct their roles as followers and to explore followership schemas and contextual influences that relate to these constructions. Results suggest that while some individuals socially construct definitions around passivity, deference and obedience, others emphasize the importance of constructively questioning and challenging their leaders. With regard to personal qualities that are thought to make followers effective, major themes such as obedience, expressing opinions, and taking initiative were found to be most disparate across different groups of …

Managing Bpo Service Workers In India: Examining Hope On Performance Outcomes, Gwendolyn M. Combs, Rachel Clapp-Smith, Sucheta Nadkarni

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Much attention has been given to the explosion in business process outsourcing (BPO) operations in India. Little concern, however, has been paid to the performance of Indian service workers in these fast-paced and sometimes turbulent environments. Using a sample of 160 service workers from a privately held BPO firm in India, we examine the relationship between Indian service workers’ hope and their performance outcomes. Regression and structural equation model analyses indicated a significant positive relationship between Indian service workers’ levels of hope and their performance. These promising results highlight the importance of measuring and managing employee hope to maximize employee …

Two Essays On Health Care Costs And Asset Returns, Brian C. Payne

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The first essay investigates whether health care is a priced factor in asset returns. Specifically, in the search for empirical relationships between macroeconomic factors and asset returns, health care appears to be a significant US economic force receiving less attention than others such as (aggregate) inflation, production, or consumption measures. We use the medical care component of the Consumer Price Index to measure medical inflation shocks as a candidate macroeconomic factor whose riskiness the market rewards. Incorporating multiple model specifications during the period 1967-2009, we find this inflationary component to be a relatively robust source of priced risk in US …

Determining The Relationship And Influence Organizational Culture Has On Organizational Trust, Mindy S. Genetzky-Haugen

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

The present research examines the influence of organizational culture on organizational trust. Leaders in the present and future will try to create a culture of trust, but leaders who do not examine and understand their current culture will not be successful in changing their organizational culture. The study shows constructive behavioral norms are both predictors and influencers of trust. The results suggest that companies that want to create a culture of trust need to instill into their culture achievement, self-actualizing, humanistic-encouraging and affiliative behavioral norms. Leadership needs to make sure avoidance behaviors are reduced in order to create and instill …

Leadership And Innovation Program, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

No abstract provided.