Business Commons^™

Graduate Bulletin, 2013-2014, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

Success At The Base Of The Pyramid: A Relational View Of Competitive Advantage, Carol M. Sanchez, Alexandra Schmid

Peer Reviewed Articles

In this paper, we propose a new framework to measure the success of projects at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), based on the relational view of strategy (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Lavie, 2006; Mesquita et al., 2008), and we test the framework using new case studies. We argue that the success of BoP projects depends on relation-specific resources and capabilities resulting from partnerships among participating organizations. Typical partners involved in a BoP project are firms that make a product or a service designed for BoP customers, a public or private agency that has local knowledge and presence, and a …

Determining The Optimal Values Of Exponential Smoothing Constants--Does Solver Really Work?, Handanhal Ravinder

Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A key issue in exponential smoothing is the choice of the values of the smoothing constants used. One approach that is becoming increasingly popular in introductory management science and operations management textbooks is the use of Solver, an Excel-based non-linear optimizer, to identify values of the smoothing constants that minimize a measure of forecast error like Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) or Mean Squared Error (MSE). We point out some difficulties with this approach and suggest an easy fix. We examine the impact of initial forecasts on the smoothing constants and the idea of optimizing the initial forecast along with the …

Clan Capitalism, Graph Distance, And Other Issues, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This book consists of 6 papers focusing on social and economic issues. The topics covered include graph distance and optimal communication, migration in Jaipur, urbanization, clan capitalism, world population growth rate, and scientific inquiry. These papers were written in the period between 20092010. Hopefully the readers will find some new insights in this collection of papers.

Knowledge Management: Style, Structure, And The Latent Potential Of Documented Knowledge, Sean Mcmahon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the volume, growth, and accessibility of documented knowledge – the insights and experiences stored on paper and in electronic form - management research has yet to demonstrate the same usefulness for documented knowledge as that found in knowledge residing in human sources. This dissertation explores two areas of potential for documented knowledge, suggesting the efficacy of a piece of documented knowledge is contingent not only on content, but upon the style and structure associated with that content. Style, how cognitively 'concrete' and affectively 'memorable' documented knowledge is perceived to be, is hypothesized to affect how much attention it draws …

Exploring The Development Chain – An Inquiry Into The Linkages Between New Product Development And Supply Chain Management, Dirk J. Primus

2013

This dissertation conducts an inquiry into the linkages between new product development and supply chain management. Simchi Levi, Simchi-Levi and Kaminsky (2008) coined the term "Development Chain" for the area where product development and the supply chain intersect. The first chapter of this research (Chapter 2) contributes to a more thorough understanding of the Development Chain (DC) and its impact on financial success with new products. We expand the term Development Chain and provide precise definitions for its scope and its activities. We develop a conceptual view of the DC at the single product/project level which can be understood and …

User Resistance And Trust In A Clinical Rfid Employee Location Tracking Information System, Wilson Wong

2013

User resistance has been identified as a factor in information systems implementation failures in the health care industry. RFID, radio frequency identification, is being incorporated into new health care information systems in order to effect cost reductions by tracking, identifying and monitoring individuals and medical items. This is the first study to research the relative contributions of vendor trust and IT artifact trust components to user resistance and, as a result, makes a unique contribution to the information systems literature. An understanding of the degree to which technology adoption behavioral beliefs, and particularly system trust, affect user resistance towards information …

Practicing Technology Implementation: The Case Of An Enterprise System, Yukika Awazu

2013

Drawing on four theories of practice – Communities of Practice (CoP), Bourdieu's theory of practice, Pickering's mangle of practice, and Actor Network Theory (ANT), the study provides an in-depth understanding about technology implementation practice. Analysis of an Enterprise System implementation project in a software manufacturing company reveals five stories of practice that relate to the major challenges faced. The story of mentoring related to the challenge of developing skilled analysts, and is examined by focusing on episodes about newly hired staff members. The story reveals the inhibiting impact of past habits and the role of occupational status. The second challenge …

The Challenge Of Intervention To Monetarily Support Or Not Support The National Airline Carriers: A Case Of The Airline Industry In Eastern Europe, Dawna L. Rhoades, Tamilla Curtis

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

The airline industry has been considered a special case in national and international business virtually since its beginning. Because of this status, national governments have repeatedly intervened to support national carriers in order to prevent bankruptcy and failure. The nations of Eastern Europe are no exception to this rule and are currently considering additional intervention to support their carriers. This paper explores the rationale for intervention, particularly the suggested economic impact, using traffic and financial information from the Flightglobal database. The conclusion is that the case for intervention is weak at best and that the results may not justify the …

Omni-Channel Retail And The New Age Consumer: An Empirical Analysis Of Direct-To-Consumer Channel Interaction In The Retail Industry, Alec J. Dorman

CMC Senior Theses

It is indisputable that the internet has become a necessary component of contemporary multi-channel retail, as more consumers are choosing to purchase goods online each year. As online spending continues to grow, many have called into question the future of brick-and-mortar retail. This thesis seeks to empirically prove that brick-and-mortar retail remains not only relevant, but indispensable in direct-to-consumer business models. The basis of this conjecture is the idea of channel synergism, in which online and brick-and-mortar operations are complementary. This theory is predicated on the emergence of the omni-channel retail, which is characterized by the integration of the various …

Portfolio Company Selection Criteria: Accelerators Vs Venture Capitalists, Cody Chang

CMC Senior Theses

The explosive growth of ‘accelerators’ in the United States has given entrepreneurs and their startups the opportunity to pursue seed-stage financing. While the specific economic role of accelerators remains unclear, a study comparing the selection of portfolio companies between accelerators and venture capitalists was performed. A difference of means was performed on the responses per question between the collected 19 accelerators’ response and the 100 venture capitalists’ response, recorded from a prior study. It is found that venture capitalists place significantly more weight, than accelerators, on the potential of the startup’s product or service to be proprietary, to enter a …

The Impact Of Prior Performance On Leadership Appointment In A Merger Of Equals, David A. Hirsch

CMC Senior Theses

Leadership appointment during mergers has a logical and established precedent when there is a clear target and acquirer. However, in the extraordinary case of Merger Of Equals (MOEs) – where this is relative equal ownership, board representation, earnings contribution etc - this process is much less defined and can often have serious consequences on the merger, both in closing negotiations as well as post-merger performance. Intuition assumes the better performing CEO should and will be appointed. In practice, however, that is often not the case. It is arguable that performance can be defined through objective means (financially & operationally), yet …

Aligning Strategy And Talent In Creative Professional Service Firms, Deirdre Canavan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Articles

Purpose – Reliance on individual talent and motivation renders creative professional service firms (PSFs) highly dependent on their ability to attract and mobilise the right individuals. This paper aims to build an integrated framework showing firstly how creative industry PSFs can differ in their strategy for growth, and secondly how these alternative strategies for growth can influence the firm's approach to organising and the type of talent required.

Design/methodology/approach – The findings are based on a series of interviews with managing directors, senior management and practitioners of architectural organisations in a single country, combined with an extensive literature review.

Findings …

Case Study Of 2008 Beijing Olympics, Gina-Marie Dipierro

Whittier Scholars Program

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was one of the most highly anticipated mega sporting events of the last century. Three billion people worldwide were expected to watch the opening ceremonies. In an international poll, 90% of adults planned on turning their television sets to games. Tourism experts predicted that approximately 2 million tourists would flock to Beijing within the two-week time period of the games, with an estimated 500,000 of these visitors coming from overseas. China invested $42 billion dollars, and time into preparing the city for the competition. China looked to use the games to catapult them into being …

An Exploration Of Determinants Of Organizational Commitment: Emphasis On The Relationship Between Organizational Democracy And Commitment, Boya Chen

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In public organizations, organizational commitment plays a significant role in determining both efficiency and efficacy of the organization. Organizational commitment is just like an invisible hand affecting the performance of staff. The degree of organizational commitment can also be a double-edged sword, by which performance outcomes can either be promoted dramatically or impaired greatly. The purpose of the paper is to examine the determinants of organizational commitment, especially the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational democracy.

From the literature review, I build a model including several variables. The dependent variable in my model is organizational commitment. Independent variables in my …

The It-Business Equilibrium Model: Understanding The Dynamics Between Business Demand And It Supply, Lawrence Ness, Shankar Babu Chebrolu

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

The factors that could be used to define, measure, and improve IT flexibility are not considered to be well-defined or understood. A theoretical framework for understanding and determining such factors is proposed in this article, which could be used by business and IT leaders to assess their IT flexibility. Organizations can use this framework, termed the IT-business equilibrium model, as a tool to improve their own IT flexibility as a means to improve their IT effectiveness and ultimately achieve sustained competitive advantage for their businesses.

The Contribution Of Social Simulation In The Advancement Of Marketing Issues And Challenges, Mario V. González Fuentes

School of Business Faculty Research

For some years now, marketers have been praising for a more holistic approach of a company’s marketing efforts across all areas. However, traditional models show serious limitations to address the complexities of managing all of a company’s touch points with a customer. Agent-based modeling (ABM) has opened the door to explore the unfolding behaviors and outputs of an increasingly connected and interactive marketplace. The contribution of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it provides researchers with a state-of-the-art repository for this strand of research. This facilitates the identification of relevant gaps in the literature and future research avenues. …

Understanding Supply Chain Resiliency: Identification Of The Factors Contributing To Performance, David Widdifield

Student Scholarship

Businesses view supply chain operations as critical components to customer satisfaction, market competitiveness, and profitability. Over the last decade, these operations have been exposed to ever increasing levels of disruption risk from sources such as cultural differences, geography, managerial actions, shifting market demand and supply, and technological changes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the types and management of risks within the supply chains of large US base companies in the apparel, footwear, nutritional supplement and supply chain services sectors operating on a global basis. We intend to compare relevant frameworks within extant literature and data obtained during …

Design For Social Change: Consequential Shifts In The Designer's Role, Mariana V. Amatullo

Student Scholarship

This study focuses on the shifting role of the designer as change agent in the 21st century. The investigation includes four case studies in which designers are addressing human needs linked to large-scale social, cultural and economic challenges. These cases underscore how designers contribute to and experience complex projects in which their expertise is deployed among multidisciplinary teams with a transdisciplinary focus across a variety of organizational structures. Key aims were to uncover 1) what the distinct methods to inquiry put forth by the various design groups are, and in turn, what critical implications arise for organizational practice as a …

Leading In Combat: The Role Of Situation Awareness And Perceived Control During In Extremis Situations, Deirdre Dixon

Student Scholarship

For military teams faced with the threat of death, this study found that the generally accepted positive effects of training and experience may be insufficient to ensure survival and met mission goals. Positive outcomes of acute--or "at the point of death"--events encountered by military team leaders did not correlate with general training, overall team leadership experience or frequency of experience. Survey responses of 494 military team leaders reveals situation awareness and perceived control trump training and experience in positive outcomes of in extremis events. These results empirically support the rapidly accreting, but, to date, mostly theoretical literature on situation awareness …

Strategic Anticipation: Toward An Understanding Of How Managers Anticipate Strategic Moves, Gabriel Berczely

Student Scholarship

Strategic anticipation refers to the capacity to anticipate possible future strategic scenarios and thus anticipate required strategic moves in response to them. The academic community has produced significant literature regarding strategy formulation and implementation, but very little has been published in regard to what managers actually do, and should do, to anticipate the need for a strategic change. This study aims to uncover factors that influence the capacity for strategic anticipation. This paper reports on a qualitative, interviewed based, grounded theory study I conducted on the strategy practices of successful CEOs in Chile. I discovered that Mintzberg’s critique of the …

أعادة تقييم الممتلكات والمصانع والمعدات بالقيمة العادلة في ظل المعيار المحاسبي الدولي 16 بالتطبيق على الشركة العامة للصناعات الصوفية, صفوان قصي عبد الحليم, اسماء عبد الكاظم عبد علي

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

برز من ينادي باستخدام القيمة العادلة من خلال كل من مجلس معايير المحاسبة الدولية ومجلس معايير المحاسبة المالية (IASB) International Accounting Standard Board Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) بإصدار وتعديل العديد من معايير المحاسبة والتي تركز في مضمونها على القيمة العادلة ، فقد بدأت الهيئات المحاسبية الدولية والمحلية بالبحث عن بديل لتغطية الثغرات الناتجة عن تطبيق التكلفة التاريخية، خاصة في الموجودات غير المتداولة، حيث تم التحول إلى مفهوم القيمة العادلة الذي أصبح أساساً ومقياساً هاماً للاعتراف بالقياس وللإفصاح عند المعالجة المحاسبية للعمليات المالية. وظهر ذلك التحول بصورة واضحة في معظم معايير المحاسبة الدولية والتي أطلق عليها بعد ذلك معايير الابلاغ …

ملخصات الكتب المحاسبة المتوسطة رؤية معاصرة, سعود جايد مشكور, علي نعيم جاسم, ناظم حسن عبد السيد

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تعرف المحاسبة بأنها لغة الأعمال التي تقوم باستخدام مجموعة من المفاهيم والفروض والمبادئ والطرق في إدخال ومعالجة العديد من الأحداث الاقتصادية التي تحصل في منظمات الأعمال وجعلها على شكل معلومات يمكن إيصالها إلى العديد من الجهات المستفيدة في عمليات اتخاذ القرارات. كذلك تعرف المحاسبة بأنها لغة الأعمال التي تتخصص في القياس والتوصيل وتقديم التقارير وتوفير المعلومات المالية إلى مختلف الأطراف المعنية مثل الإدارات والحكومات والمستثمرين والدائنين لاتخاذ قرارات اقتصادية رشيدة.

Can Partial Offshoring Contribute Growth Of Multinational Electronic Manufacturing Service Companies In The United States?, Harjit S. Naru, Tim Truitt

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

With the increasing trend of offshoring, leaders of many companies prefer to offshore projects to reduce product cost and be competitive in the global market. This phenomenon creates fewer jobs in the United States as compared to low-cost foreign countries such as China. To address this problem, this quantitative correlational study reviewed the extent to which partial offshoring impacted the business growth of multinational electronic manufacturing service (EMS) companies in the United States. Results showed that partial offshoring does not have a significant relationship with business growth. Although statistically not significant, partial offshoring was found to be positively related to …

How Much Is Too Much? The Limits To Generous Treatment Of Stakeholders, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Douglas A. Bosse

Management Faculty Publications

Firms must allocate some minimum amount of value to stakeholders in order to retain access to the resources they provide. Stakeholder theory suggests managers optimize firm-level performance by allocating more than this minimum amount. However, how much is too much? This article addresses the misleading notion that more is always better when it comes to the treatment of stakeholders and, in doing so, provides needed refinement of the boundary of stakeholder theory's predictions. The upside for managers is guidance in distinguishing between the types of value-allocating behaviors that will lead to greater value creation in their firms and actions that …

An In-Depth Comparison Of Three Fast Food Industry Giants: How Chick-Fil-A Differs From Mcdonald's And Wendy's In The Growth From Humble Beginnings To Become Multi-Billion Dollar Companies, Jonathan Cardwell

Honors Theses

From humble beginnings to industry giants, three companies have combined for over 163 years of implementing innovative business models and growing sales across the globe. Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, and Wendy's have accounted for tens of billions of dollars in sales revenue since their respective inceptions. Chick-fil-A is a family-owned company started and run by S. Truett Cathy and his children. McDonald's is an industry juggernaut created by Ray Kroc, and Dave Thomas founded Wendy's. Over the years, Chick-fil-A has prioritized its growth by maintaining their high quality standards in exchange for a slower growth rate. McDonald's has grown rapidly to an …

Homeownership As A Sign Of Immigrants' Consumer Acculturation: The Role Of Region Of Origin, Mario V. González Fuentes, C. Iglesias Fernández

School of Business Faculty Research

One of the limitations highlighted by the consumer acculturation literature is the lack of empirical research to identify better constructs or indicators of consumer acculturation. In this article, the use of homeownership by immigrants in the host society is proposed as an indicator of advanced consumer acculturation. The decision to own a home by a minority group, such as immigrants, represents a key landmark in the process of adaptation to the new culture and a commitment with the host country's values and culture. The empirical case used is the immigrant population of Spain. The sharp rise in its foreign-born population …

Staying Hungry, Staying Foolish: Academic Reflections On The Life And Career Of Steve Jobs, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio

Business Faculty Articles and Research

The 2011 death of Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and cofounder, generated a flood of articles in the popular press acknowledging his influence on the design and delivery of consumer products that changed the way multiple generations work and play. As one of the most visible, yet controversial CEOs in recent history, stories of his management style are likely to fuel a debate over his leadership effectiveness. It is expected that scholarly and academic articles will emerge in the next few years detailing the business lessons that can be learned from the way that Jobs ran Apple Computer, NeXT, Pixar, and …

The Green Port Policy: Sustainability In Long Beach, Casey Connorton

Whittier Scholars Program

This project revolves around sustainable development which aims to achieve economic growth and industrialization without environmental damage. This project specifically focuses on sustainability especially that of the Port of Long Beach. Sections include defining sustainable development, a history of port pollution, the green port policy, essential components of a sustainable strategy, pollution prevention, cutting emissions at the POLB, Mitigation Projects, and Community Involvement.

The Impact Of Availability Of Vegetarian Menu Items On Consumers' Behavioral Intention, Mengwei Yue

Open Access Theses

Yue, Mengwei. M.S., Purdue University, December, 2013. The Impact of Availability of Vegetarian Menu Items on Consumers' Behavioral Intention. Major Professor: Douglas C. Nelson.

The purpose of this study is to find out how the availability of vegetarian menu items affects customers' behavioral intention using the theory of planned behavior and the impact vegetarian-friendly menus have on vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian customers when they make their restaurant selections. This paper also discussed the implications for a vegetarian lifestyle on the food service industry and menu development in restaurants. Seven hypotheses related to the relationship among attitudes, subjective norms, perceived …