Business Commons^™

Investor Reaction To Exploration Versus Exploitation Using An Asorptive Capacity Lens, Kevin Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

In his seminal work, March (1991) points to innovation as a key to a firm’s survival. In this dissertation proposal, I seek to build on March’s research by leveraging his construct of balancing a focus on improving existing capabilities (“exploitation”) while simultaneously creating new competencies (“exploration”). These two approaches to innovation are often viewed as requiring a firm to leverage very different skills. Not only are there differing skills, but the level of risk and potential reward also vary based on a firm’s decision to focus on exploration versus exploitation. The reaction of investors to this dichotomy is the focus …

Pandemic Plan Revision Capstone Project, Sharon L. Haylett

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

A Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) for a company “. . . ensures that primary mission essential functions continue to be performed during a wide range of emergencies . . .” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, n.d.). The COOP includes information for reacting to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, pandemics, etc. As my capstone project, the pandemic section has been updated using an integrative process to include new information and lessons learned from the current pandemic. The revised pandemic section will provide examples of protocols designed to keep employees and the public safe and healthy.

Essays On Managerial Attributes And Corporate Finance, Juntai Lu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation, I explore how managerial attributes affect corporate policies.

In my first essay, I examine the effects of public firm CEOs’ prior private equity (PE) target experiences on corporate policies. Based on difference-in-differences and propensity score matching analyses, public firm CEOs previously serving as CEOs in PE targets reduce investment by about 15 percent while enhancing patent values by over 7 percent after taking office compared to CEOs without such experiences. The effects are stronger if these CEOs (1) worked in targets invested by more reputable PE firms, (2) worked in targets invested by PE firms known for …

The Effects Of Population Diversity On The Economic And Household Welfare Of Metropolitan Areas In The U.S., Liria M. Litano

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper was to understand the impact of population diversity on household and economic welfare in all the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States of America (U.S.). We focused on positive views concerning the relationships between population diversity and factors such as human capital, knowledge, and innovation. We established economic growth factors using the Endogenous Growth Theory, which stated that human capital, innovation, and knowledge were significant contributors to economic growth (Romer, 1994). We argued that population diversity affected these contributors; therefore, it helped to create economic growth.

From a human capital perspective, population diversity …

Regional Economic Impacts Of China's High-Speed Rail Development And Its Institutional Challenges, Hankun Zhao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This article studies the impact of connecting to high-speed rail (HSR) network on regional development and the replication and sustainability of China’s GIUR system, aiming to summarize the experience of China’s HSR, which can provide several policy references for developing countries. This article conducts two research: (1) explore the impact of connecting to HSR network on the urban industrial structure, urban creativity and urban-rural income gap of cities in different regions and cities with heterogeneous locations along the HSR lines in the long and short term; (2) explore the advantages and disadvantages of the Government-Industry-University-Research (GIUR) system in the process …

Using Sequential Mixed Methods To Evaluate The Contribution Of Absorptive Capacity (Acap), Anthony Paul Buckley, Francis Martin Behan

Conference papers

How might Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) (Cohen & Levinthal 1990,,Song et al. 2018) contribute to indigenous firm innovation and growth and how might the effects of this construct be evaluated at both firm and policy level? This paper demonstrates how a mixed methods research design and data analysis strategy can address the research question outlined above. Within the ‘mixed methods’ research genre, the design approach argued for here is for a ‘sequential mixed methods research’ approach. This is where one methodology is followed sequentially by another to add robustness to the overall findings from a study. The approach can also be …

Board Of Director Composition: An Examination Of How Director Age And Board Innovation Committees Impact Corporate Social And Financial Performance, Sami Ghaddar

2021

This dissertation explores how director age affects a firm’s social domain, and how board-level oversight of firms’ innovation activities affects financial performance. Specifically, the dissertation points to board configurations that can potentially improve social and financial performance. The first chapter reviews the literature by examining two research streams linking board composition to corporate social performance (CSP) and innovation. The chapter presents the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of these two streams. It details the descriptive and thematic findings and offers an understanding of the different contexts in which board composition relates to both CSP and innovation. This chapter also discusses inconsistencies …

Less Commute Miles. Decreased Tire Wear. What Would You Do?, Dylan Schwarz, Brendon M. Ford, Brandon D. Hadinger, Abbie N. Pearce, Jacinta M. Pikunas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the flagrant recognition of the coronavirus as one of those most impactful viruses in the history of the world, it is important to study how the effects of such a disease can create troublesome ripple effects in the world. Covid-19 has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of individuals and has negatively impacted the lives of American’s all across the country during the nationwide lockdown. Decreased work commuters, minimal road travel, and little need for car repairs hit the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company hard. The University of Akron has teamed up with Goodyear to explore such effects …

A Systems Perspective In Examining Industry Clusters: Case Studies Of Clusters In Russia And India, Anton Klarin, Rifat Sharmelly, Yuliani Suseno

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article explores an examination of industry clusters from a systems perspective. We analyze Russia’s pharmaceutical clusters and India’s automobile clusters in terms of the systems concepts of holism, emergence, and open systems. We further consider the aspects of human capital investment and the availability of professional labor, infrastructure, private–public sector collaboration, support for funding and commercialization, as well as innovation corporate culture, when examining the institutional pillars supporting the development and growth of industry clusters within the national innovation ecosystems. The findings illustrate how industry clusters can be viewed from a systems perspective. We also highlight how the institutional …