Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Rural Coopetition: A Consumer Perspective Of Marketing Activities Involving Smes, Cassandra A. Ritzen

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are central to global and domestic economies and are a significant factor in rural economic development. Rural SMEs face unique challenges of geographical location and limited resources requiring strategies that can create an enduring competitive advantage. This study explores market-oriented coopetition as a competitive strategy that forms collaborative relationships between competitors to create value for consumers. Through the analysis of a small cluster of rural SMEs, the focus of this study addresses the underexplored consumer perspective of coopetition events based on quantitative analyses of customer satisfaction and market share.

Small Business And Sustainability: How The Back Bone Of America And The Buzz Word Of The 2010s And 2020s Can Be A Powerhouse For Change, Raleigh Woods

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Over the years phrases like “going green” or “reduce, reuse, recycle” have been the war cries of environmentalist conservationists. Now, a new word has begun to heavily circulate among the environments communities and beyond: sustainability. However, the concept of sustainability has been around for centuries. According to the World Energy Foundation sustainability was “coined in German, the original term was Nachhaltigkeit, meaning ‘sustained yield.’ It first appeared in a handbook of forestry published in 1713, and was used to mean never harvesting more than the forest can regenerate.” (The World Energy Foundation, 2014). Since then, the word and concept has …

The Relationship Between Religious Freedom In America And The Current And Future Workplace, Liz Spence

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

In regards to religious freedom, the current climate in America is ambiguous and sensitive. This has carried over into the workplace and will continue to affect the way that leaders must manage their employees. This study contains a survey that addresses historical cases dealing with religious freedom, personal experiences in the workplace, and finally, questions regarding the ideal workplace and leadership. This study also includes in-depth interviews of current employees in a variety of careers that adhere to a religion. The paper concludes with a summary that explores how managers should react in the future to the findings in this …

Social Media Preferences Of Individuals Seeking Graduate Business Degrees, Peyton N. Boxberger, Hannah C. Lee

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to provide actionable insight to the Walton MBA Programs Office for a cohesive social media strategy that is inclusive of all audiences. This research hopes to help the Walton MBA program better understand potential and current students based on their social media behavior and learn how social media use has changed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This report will analyze the results of a survey crafted to better understand the social media preferences of individuals seeking graduate business degrees. From these, a social media marketing strategy can be created to tailor content to …

Comparative Job Skill Development Initiatives In Northwest Arkansas And Barcelona, Grace Davis

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Social innovation strategies are being used around the world to create new avenues to meet the social needs of people that can vary from lack of jobs or food to deforestation and loss of wildlife. In the past, simple donations and corporate programs have made an impact, but there is a new way of creating sustainable and profitable impact through newly introduced strategies that consider society as a whole and allow the perceived obstacle to work as a solution. It is important to first note what social innovation is. Social innovation is the restructuring of philanthropic endeavors by creating sustainable …

Consumer Behavior And Coronavirus: How The Pandemic Transformed The American Shopper, Gina L. Riedell

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the changes in consumer shopping behavior resulting from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States as well as the effects on in-store and e-commerce sales and market share within the CPG industry. Most Americans faced some level of disruption throughout developments in the coronavirus outbreak. The study of their ongoing behavior changes in shopping preferences and purchasing decisions is revealed through CPG sales and offers insight into how it has affected the industry long-term. This paper analyzes the consumer behavior shifts in chronological order as new developments in the pandemic affected shopping decisions from January 2020 to …

Lean Production And Operational Performance: The Influence Of Organizational Culture, Rick Hardcopf, Gensheng (Jason) Liu, Rachna Shah

Management Faculty Publications

The use of lean production methods to drive sustainable competitive advantage has been a cornerstone of worldwide manufacturing strategy since the early 1980’s. Unfortunately, success from using lean has been mixed. Some researchers suggest that contextual variables play a central role in explaining the inconsistent results. This study evaluates the role of one critical contextual variable, organizational culture, in realizing operational improvements from lean. We investigate the influence of four distinct organizational cultures, as well as a hybrid culture and a firm’s ability to be culturally ambidextrous, on the relationship between lean and operational performance, as measured by cost, quality, …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Trader Joe’S: Exploration From National And Omaha Metropolitan Perspectives, Natalie R. Bauermeister

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Trader Joe’s started in 1967 when founder Joe Coulombe became inspired to provide local Pasadena residents a refreshing grocery store experience. Aimed at the young college student crowd, his idea quickly grew into a chain of successful grocery stores. The concept was simple: private label products cut out the middleman to keep prices fair, and the floor space compacted to feel like a local market experience. With a nautical theme to match the casual and outgoing feel of the stores, customers have flocked to Trader Joe’s stores around the country for the “wow” experience only found within those walls. Fast …

Arbor Day Foundation Programs: Analysis And Recommendations, Justin Myers, Emily Alston, Cameron Claborn, Charles Erker, Braelyn Isernhagen, Jonathan Jameson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

We are proposing the enhancement of the current Tree City USA program to include a special recognition program for high-achieving communities. These “Golden Oak” tree cities will be recognized each year based on a variety of metrics detailed in a new and more comprehensive program application. Recommendations:

● Updated application to include more information about both quantitative and qualitative insights

● Special recognition program awarding “Golden Oak” status to communities in village, town, city, and metropolis categories based on either percentile or benchmarking system

● A cumulative “Golden Oak” award given to the State that achieves the highest percentage of …

The Advantages Of Active Management Overtime Through Turbulent Markets, Alexandria Rook

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Unlike many other financial institutions and investment companies, GT seeks out and hires the best investment managers they can find instead of picking all the individual investments themselves. This fund-of-fund management approach is “an investment vehicle where a fund invests in a portfolio composed of shares of other funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds, and other securities” (Corporate Finance Institute). This approach allows GT’s clients to have access to the best in the business managers that they would not be able to source or buy into on their own. Many of the best managers have a higher buy-in …

How Has Covid-19 Affected Financial Gains Of Big-Tech Companies?, Erin Flanigen

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial returns received by Big-Tech companies in order to predict future financial returns and related business activities. The main objectives of this paper are to delineate business models and financial statements of Big-Tech companies prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, present ample, relevant economic information regarding COVID-19, and encompass the effects of COVID-19 on global economies. This study then predicts the future economic effects of COVID-19 on Big-Tech companies. The selected Big-Tech companies included in this study are Facebook, Alphabet (Google), Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon; each company saw …

How Remote Work Is Shaking Up The U.S. Workforce: Research On The Recent Shift To Remote Work, Jonathan Oliver

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States and lingered, it brought many new norms in the workplace. At the top of that list is the number of employees now working remotely. Though remote work is not a new concept, mandated lockdown restrictions beginning in March of 2020 prevented most citizens from working in their business offices. Companies were challenged to re-evaluate business practices and determine whether their employees could produce work from home.

There have been benefits recognized in the past for remote work, including employee life balance. The environmental benefits of people working remotely are possibly the …

Covid-19: An Optimal Strategy To Resume Life With Safety And Economic Prosperity, Skyler Tate

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world hard since the beginning of 2020, and the United States has certainly felt a negative impact. Many important aspects of life have been greatly altered by the pandemic, and this has resulted in a hindered economy. The purpose of this project was to determine if there is an optimal strategy with respect to policy and the economy that the United States could implement in order to mitigate the coronavirus. In order to determine this, I evaluated multiple aspects of the disease through a literature review. Upon review, I conducted a survey and performed …

An Exploration Of The Impact Of Economic Recessions On The S&P 500 And Its Sectors, Weston Sizemore

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is a method of predicting future stock prices based on past returns. Specific areas of CAPM analysis utilize regression analysis to accomplish this goal. Historic prices and returns for a specific stock in a company, or even whole sectors of the economy, are compared with the corresponding returns for the market. There have been several historical recessions in United States history, as well as a current, ongoing recession. These recessions, along with their causes and effects, will be discussed extensively in this paper. This paper utilizes an analysis of the Capital Asset Pricing Model …

Can Small-Scale Poultry Initiatives Alleviate Food Insecurity And Increase Empowerment For Women In Economically Disadvantaged Areas?, Patrick Daniels

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the summer of 2019, I, along with 8 other students from the University of Arkansas departed the United States for the Central American country of Belize. Despite our limited knowledge of what Belize held in store for us, we were enthusiastic about the coming months. While we had different projects, we all set out with the same universal question in mind. How can we use the knowledge we have gained through education to make a positive impact on the lives of people living in an impoverished town? Some of the members of our team worked alongside local businesses to …

Effects Of Covid: Non-Essential V Essential Industries, William Shipley

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

As the year 2020 has finally come to an end and the end of Covid is in near sight, it is important for us to look back at how it has shaped the world from an economic perspective. Ever since the closure of most of the U.S. and global economy in March 2020 it has made us deem which companies we consider essential and non-essential. This major decision came as all governments across the world had to close the operations of as many companies they could to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus. This major choice of determining what …

How The Growth Of Technology Has Forced Accounting Firms To Put An Emphasis On Cybersecurity, Holden Halbach

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

The advancement of technology has brought many changes to accounting firms. Computer applications such as Microsoft Excel have made calculators and physical spreadsheets obsolete. Then with the introduction of cloud computing employees can store, access, and exchange large amounts of data instantaneously from any location. These technological innovations have increased the accuracy and efficiency of firms substantially. However, this growth in technology has shown the importance of putting an emphasis on cybersecurity throughout the accounting industry. The emphasis placed on cybersecurity throughout accounting firms is more prevalent than any other industry. This is primarily because accounting firms not only deal …

How Workplace Attire Affects Employee Perceptions And Organizational Culture, Ethan Surrett

Honors Theses

Companies invest millions of dollars into developing workplace attire policies in their organizations to control outcomes (Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993). This research focuses on seeing the impact that workplace attire plays on employees' perceptions of themselves and their organization's culture. Through Qualtrics, an online survey instrument, information was gathered from respondents in various industries and workplaces all over the United States. These employees answered questions about the attire in their workplace, the impact of attire, the organization's policies, characteristics of their organization, the management of the organization, and execution of policies. Results illustrated that most respondents felt that workplace attire …

The Gender Equity Gap: A Multi-Study Investigation Of Within-Job Inequality In Equity-Based Awards, Felice B. Klein, Aaron D. Hill, Ryan Hammond, Ryan Stice-Lusvardi

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Laws in many countries mandate paying men and women equally when in similar jobs. Such laws, coupled with considerable organizational efforts, lead some scholars to contend that within-job pay inequality is no longer a source of the gender pay gap. We argue important differences in a widely used form of pay heretofore overlooked in existing studies—equity-based awards (i.e., pay where the value is tied to the employing organization’s stock, such as stock and stock options)—may cause underestimation of gender-based within-job pay inequality. Specifically, we theorize that because of differences in both why and how equity-based awards are distributed to employees …

The Power Of Good: Micro Level Outcomes From Corporate Social Responsibility And Social Mission Orientation, Michael Darin Mcdaniel

Management Dissertations - Archive

What happens to employees on an individual level when they see their organization doing good things for society? Whether the manifestation of good be in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or social mission orientation (SMO), this paper seeks to explore the micro level outcomes from employee perceptions of these organizational attributes. Considered together, these three articles provide significant insight into the individual level outcomes from doing good as an organization, as well as the mechanisms through which those relationships flow. Specifically, CSR and SMO result in positive individual outcomes including increased organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and …