Business Commons^™

The Importance Of Starting A For-Profit Business As Mission To Advance God’S Kingdom, Hannah M. Mitchell

Senior Honors Theses

All Christians have a duty to advance the Kingdom of God according to Matthew 28:16-20, which tells Christians to, “go and make disciples of all nations” (New International Version). The gospel has not yet reached many areas of the world that Christians could influence if they started a Business as Mission (BAM). A BAM start-up would provide jobs to the surrounding communities and aid in improving the economy. Assisting others by providing jobs and meeting their physical, spiritual, social, and economic needs will empower individuals and allow communities to flourish. Even non-Christians find helping others important, which is seen through …

The Identification And Exploitation Of Terrorist Financing, Jacob S. Gordon

Senior Honors Theses

Terrorism and the threat of terrorist attacks have forced the United States to place a high priority on developing a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. A crucial component of this overarching strategy focuses on targeting the finances of a terrorist organization, hoping to eliminate or stifle their sources of funding in an effort to render the organization incapable of launching successful operations due to an absence of funding. By analyzing the most common financing options that terrorist groups use, the United States can hone its ability to disrupt the funding operations for terrorist groups. Likewise, developing a method for tracking the laundering …

Cultivate: Inspiring Women In Their Pursuit Of Creativity And Entrepreneurship, Ana P. Campbell

Senior Honors Theses

Cultivate Magazine’s purpose is to inspire and educate creative women in their business ventures. Furthermore, Cultivate serves as a catalyst for our readers’ business by featuring insightful interviews from other creative women and practical advice on how to run a successful creative business. In short, Cultivate’s target market is female creative business owners with occupations such as photographers, designers, writers, entrepreneurs, artists, and bloggers.

The Celtic Way: Order, Creativity, And The Holy Spirit In The Celtic Monastic Movement, Fiona Leitch

Senior Honors Theses

The Celtic monastic movement lasted hundreds of years and is responsible for much of the spread of Christianity to the West. Much of the movement’s success can be attributed to the Celtic Christians’ understanding of the importance of the role of creative culture and order as well as an openness and responsiveness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is these three things working in tandem that influenced the success of the Celtic monastic movement. Although the movement ended a thousand years ago, it can offer guidance and wisdom for carrying out ministry today. A case study of Cuirim …

The Balanced Scorecard: The Key To Effective Strategic Management, Josiah D. Grimm

Senior Honors Theses

The intent of this paper is to define the importance of the balanced scorecard in the strategic management process. The need for the balanced scorecard will be established by explaining the roles of demand shifters, traditional management accounting, Senge’s concept of a learning organization, and the strategic management process. This will involve detailing the stages of the strategic management process and connecting them to the various aspects of creating a balanced scorecard. Ultimately, the goal of the balanced scorecard is to translate the overarching strategy into specific actions that can be implemented throughout the organization. Lastly, other strategic applications of …

The Correlation Between Commerce And Management, Rochelle Dean

Other Graduate Scholarship

This paper proposes to explore the correlation between Commerce and Management as I give a better insight on the role of Management and the effects it has globally. Commerce should be properly managed as a commercial activity that enhances the standard of living within a nation that will increase its standing in the world. When commerce is allowed to run unregulated as it has, large businesses and major conglomerates can become immune to failure making them too powerful which levies negative externalities on citizens as well as globally to the benefit of business owners. Broadly speaking, nations should be concerned …

A Moral Debate: The Responsibility Of Human Resource Professionals In The Implementation Of A Code Of Ethics, Erika Felty

Senior Honors Theses

The overarching idea of this thesis is that human resource professionals have a responsibility to oversee a code of ethics that governs employee behavior within an organization. Although the development and implementation of such a code is a collaborative effort between stakeholders, human resource managers bring value to a code through factors such as training and communication. Initially, one must define ethics and a code of ethics, in order to better understand the creation, management, and implementation of the code. Recent ethical situations in the world today, such as Enron and TI Instruments, establish and exemplify the purpose and overall …

Business Startup And Cause Marketing In The Running Apparel Industry, Zachary Barker

Senior Honors Theses

Entrepreneurship has been the backbone of the American economy since the penning of the Declaration of Independence. Small businesses help the United States prosper and help create jobs for the American people. As today’s business world is increasingly changing in a technological and global way, entrepreneurs must consider many environmental conditions in their small business planning. Business start-up is a long process backed by research and market testing that will maximize the opportunity for success. One way many business start-ups have become successful is through cause-related marketing programs that many people support. Additionally, a particular industry that has proven to …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Collegiate Athletic Involvement And Academic Achievement Among Sport Management Students, Christopher Amos

Masters Theses

Within the last several decades, more attention has been focused on the academic success of college athletes. It has been documented from several studies that high school athletes perform better academically than their non-athlete peers (American Sports Institute, 1995; Brand, 2007; Dilley-Knoles, Burnett, & Peak, 2010; Foltz, 1992; Fox, Barr-Anderson, Neumark-Sztainer, & Wall, 2010; Slear, 2005). However, at the collegiate level, this heightened academic achievement trend among student-athletes is not so clear. Lapchick often releases data regarding graduation rates among a select group of highly achieving teams in certain sports but not much exists in the way of a comparison …

Inclusive Business: Using For-Profit Business Models To Address Global Poverty, Samuel James Conner

Senior Honors Theses

Due to the rise of globalization, modernization, and the Internet revolution, awareness of global poverty has expanded, making its eradication a chief goal of the global development community for the twenty-first century. Though corporations are often expected to participate in social and community development initiatives without regard for profits, this paper presents inclusive business as a way for businesses to profitably engage impoverished segments of society. Inclusive businesses seek to expand their consumer bases or strengthen their supply chains by moving into new markets among the poor that have limited access to global markets and remain largely untapped. The research …

Corporate Social Responsibility, Daniel H. Brown

Senior Honors Theses

This paper will address Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its far-reaching implications. Initially, the term CSR will be introduced and defined to provide the backbone for the following discussions. The paper will address the theoretical constructs of CSR, managerial strategies for implementing CSR and the application of stakeholder theory. The thesis is built upon Dr. Archie Carroll’s four-part CSR construct. In addition, international standards of CSR, with a focus on Nike, Inc.’s actions, will be evaluated.

Coporate Governance, Institutional Ownership, And The Decision To Pay The Amount Of Dividends: Evidence From Usa, John Obradovich, Amarjit Gill

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The decision to pay dividends is influenced by many financial factors. The purpose of this study is to find the relationships between corporate governance, institutional ownership, and the decision to pay dividends in American service firms. A sample of 296 American firms listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for a period of 3 years (from 2009-2011) was selected. This study applied a co-relational and non-experimental research design. The findings of this study indicate that the decision to pay dividends is a positive function of board size, CEO duality, and internationalization of the firm, and a negative function of institutional …

The Impact Of Corporate Governance And Financial Leverage On The Value Of American Firms, John Obradovich, Amarjit Gill

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the impact of corporate governance and financial leverage on the value of American firms. This study also seeks to extend the findings of Gill and Mathur (2011a). A sample of 333 firms listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for a period of 3 years from 2009-2011 was selected. The co-relational and non-experimental research design was used to conduct this study. Overall, findings show that larger board size negatively impacts the value of American firms, and CEO duality, audit committee, financial leverage, firm size, return on assets, and insider holdings positively impact the value of American firms. …

Intellectual Capital Disclosure And The Ipo Prospectus: An Exploratory Study, Keith Harman

Faculty Publications and Presentations

ICD (Intellectual Capital Disclosure) was studied via content analysis of IPO (Initial Public Offering) filings by retailers versus software companies. Data were obtained from 106 firms’ SEC S-1 filings between 2001 and 2011. Key findings were: (1) ICD increased over time, (2) significant differences in the type of IC disclosed, (3) Structural Capital was the type of IC most frequently disclosed, (4) consistency among firms regarding the frequency with which specific IC components (e.g. brands) were disclosed, and (5) no significant difference in ICD when comparing retailers and software companies.

An Assessment Of Selected Investment Risk Exposures Of Joint Ventures In China For Multinational Companies Headquartered In Hong Kong Or The United States, Stephen P. Preacher

Faculty Dissertations

THE PROBLEM. The research required an investigation into and an assessment of selected risk exposures of multinational companies headquartered in the United States and Hong Kong which have engaged in or planned to participate in joint ventures within the special economic areas or mainstream economy of China.

THE METHOD. A data sample of forty-five companies (twenty-two in Hong Kong and twenty-three in the United States) was obtained from a population of 187 published listings of parent companies with verifiable joint ventures. A questionnaire was mailed to top-level corporate managers responsible for or vitally involved in the joint venture investment decision. …

The American Debt Crisis And The Effect On World Capital Markets, Phillip Imel

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is a research of the literature concerning American sovereign debt and possible effects on world capital markets. The American sovereign debt components were analyzed in the context of their present and future implications to worldwide capital markets. The American political situation was examined with possible outcomes of governmental service reduction and/or tax increases for debt reduction. The American political situation was also examined for possible outcomes of American business tax regulatory reforms that could entice businesses to inject capital into the economy spurring possible economic growth and capital formation. Together, these findings suggest that, in the short term, the …

Cost Efficiency Estimations And The Equity Returns For The Us Public Solar Energy Firms In 1990–2008, Chris Kuo

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper provides a direct estimate of the cost efficiencies of firms in the US solar energy industry. It suggests that the cost efficiency in the industry is associated with the risk-bearing behaviour of firms. Less efficient firms maintain low price-cost margins and high labour–capital ratios in order to compete with their efficient peers. The study then establishes the linkage between cost efficiency and stock returns. It shows that the change in cost efficiency, rather than cost efficiency itself, possesses a stronger explanatory power for stock returns. A buy-and-hold strategy for stock portfolios of different efficiency levels is then analysed. …

Nonprofit Administrators' Perceptions Of Time Use And Effective Time Management Strategies That Impact Organizational Success, Deborah Johnson-Blake

Faculty Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore leaders’ perceptions of time use and the use of effective time management strategies. The study included five research questions and responses from 20 nonprofit administrators working within 33 technical college foundations across the state of Georgia. Respondents participated in follow-up interviews after completing the online Time Management Practices Inventory (TMPI) survey. The findings of the study revealed statistically significant relationships between TMPI scores and selected demographics. Findings revealed that leaders’ perception of time use, demographic characteristics, attitudes, and time management strategies were factors in implementing effective time management techniques to …

Eat More Chicken And Lead More People: Perceived Measures Of Servant Leadership At Chick-Fil-A, Michael Mishler

Masters Theses

This present study used survey data from 31 employees working at 2 Chick-fil-A locations to assess the supervisor's perceived level of supervisor's level of servant leadership and how the level (a) affects coworker's perceptions of performance, (b) job satisfaction, and (c) relational trust amongst coworkers. The participants ranged in ages from 18-50. The average age for the participants was 26. The data for the study was collected through the distribution of surveys to individuals who currently work at Chick-fil-A. The two selected locations were approximately 300 miles apart in Virginia. The study employed quantitative research methods in order to collect …

Art And Space: Impacting The Workplace, Erin V. Mccool

Senior Honors Theses

Art in its various forms and applications has always been a part of the human experience. Art can be intrusive, thought provoking, or simply beautiful. Although art comes in many different styles and forms, art continues to capture our imagination. The purposes of this thesis are to discover how art affects human activity in the workplace as well as the qualities that make artwork in the workplace successful. Based on the findings of this study, artwork will be created for the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence at Liberty University in order to create a lively, creative environment. By …

Alternative Work Arrangements: An Examination Of Job Sharing, Compressed Workweeks, And Flextime, Joseph D. Lutz

Senior Honors Theses

Alternative working arrangements have become increasingly popular in workplaces across America and the world. One segment of alternative work arrangements is schedule flexibility. The three types of flexible schedules examined include: job sharing, compressed workweeks, and flextime. Each arrangement will be examined individually. First, a definition and background information will be given. Then, the benefits of the arrangement will be discussed. Next, the risks and challenges of the arrangement will be examined. Finally, there will be analysis of what conditions are necessary for the arrangement to be successful.

Employee Assistance Programs: The Return On Investment For An Eap, Joshua M. Leon

Senior Honors Theses

This paper examines the subject of employee assistance programs (EAP) and whether they provide a return on investment that merits their use. The historical background of the EAP will be first looked at to demonstrate its purpose and growth in the business world. Research will be presented in relation to EAP use in companies and the outcomes that resulted. Criticisms against EAP use occurs in the business world as well and therefore will be investigated in conjunction with research that supports EAP use. Finally, statistical proof for the return on investment of using an EAP will be given to conclude …

Social Recruiting: The Role Of Social Networking Websites In The Hiring Practices Of Major Advertising And Public Relations Firms, Keri Cook

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the role that professional networking websites, such as LinkedIn, play in the hiring decisions of talent recruiters at major advertising and public relations firms. A study of literature relating to social media, traditional recruitment techniques and legal implications regarding the use of networking websites in the hiring process provided a foundation for the study. Primary research, in the form of online surveys distributed to hiring managers at some of the largest international advertising and public relations firms, was conducted to set a foundation for understanding the use of networking websites in the …

Build Your Niche Practice With Preparation, Introspection, And Opportunity, John Karaffa

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Adult Retraining Programs And Reemployment For Dislocated Workers, Tony J. Perry

Faculty Dissertations

A variety of government sponsored programs provide retraining and income assistance to dislocated workers, yet it is unclear whether these initiatives are effective in providing workers the essential skills needed for new careers. Using Mezirow’s transformational learning theory, this study was designed to evaluate programs in selected counties in the states of Virginia and North Carolina. Using self-administered surveys, data were gathered from college instructors, dislocated workers, and local business owners. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and related to each research question. Results showed that instructors were effectively using adult training methods, the majority of students perceived their retraining …

An Analysis Of The Sports Equipment Industry And One Of Its Leading Companies, Head, N.V., Priit Pihl

Senior Honors Theses

Sports equipment manufacturing is an estimated $13.5 billion industry that is continually growing worldwide. Head, N.V. (N.V. stands for Naamloze Vennootschap which is the Dutch terminology for a public limited liability corporation) is one of the leading manufacturers and marketers in the sports equipment industry focused on developing and producing innovative, high quality and technologically advanced Alpine skiing and snowboarding equipment, racquet sports equipment and diving equipment. The following thesis will provide an analysis of the sports equipment industry, including a competition analysis, and a discussion of the driving economic forces and key success factors in the industry. This is …

Punishment: Benefits, Risks, And Alternatives In A Business Setting, Chris Vaden

Senior Honors Theses

Punishment is utilized in many settings in the world today, but it is continually getting more negative responses for its use in the workplace. Punishment's main use is to decrease the occurrence of a behavior that is undesirable. In a business setting, this would most likely be a behavior that is a violation of policy or unsatisfactory work performance. A comparison of the positive aspects of punishment with its negative features, by utilizing information provided by scholarly journals and websites along with a survey of 31 employees, has yielded the results that there may be a better alternative to punishment.

Volume 1, Liberty University

Liberty Business Review

No abstract provided.

An International Cross-Cultural Study Of The Role Of Chief Informational Officers In Healthcare, Wallace Saunders

Faculty Dissertations

The introduction and utilization of Information Systems (IS) in the hospital environment has had a significant and lasting impact on the practice of medicine. The development of this dissertation will attempt to explore a widely overlooked area: The comparison of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Aspects of CIO experiences relating to assumed roles, CIO challenges, skills, frustrations, success, failure, leadership, management, involvement and perceptions about the role of Information Technology (IT) in healthcare are discussed with a comparative global model. This study investigates the managerial roles of the Chief Information Officer based on …