Business Commons^™

Board Member Behavioral And Cognitive Biases: The Impact On Board Level Strategic Decision-Making Processes, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

Prior studies of board effectiveness have primarily focused on the relationships between board structure and composition relative to the performance of the firm. To better understand the role of board members in strategic decision-making it may be helpful to gain deeper insights into the processes and behaviors that are actually utilized during strategic decision-making both within and outside the board room. Of particular interest to scholars are the specific processes that boards use to generate quality strategic decisions. We propose research to examine the conditions under which diverse board members' individual biases, backgrounds and behaviors impact the collective strategic decision-making …

Paul M. Klekner (B), Roger R. Schnorbus

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

This is a fictitious case study, including the name of the restaurant and the people involved.

Paul Klekner graduated first in his class from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in 1998; his fellow students named him the chef most likely to succeed in the future. After graduation, he and his wife, Sarah, moved back to his home in Richmond, Virginia where he was employed as a chef at several restaurants including Bottega and Old Original Bookbinders. In 2003, he decided to open his own restaurant, Rogerios, in the Tobacco Row section of Richmond. With an inheritance of $300,000 he …

Motivations For Us Foreign Direct Investment, Christina Buoninfante

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to determine US firms’ motivations for foreign direct investment and to explore to what extent US firms continue to invest into China and India. I first correlate the agricultural, industrial, and service sectors in the United States with those of China and India. I find that there is a positive relationship between the correlation of US sectors and the host country’s sectors and foreign direct investment into each sector. This supports the theory of Vernon’s product life cycle hypothesis, which explains that firms expand into lesser developed countries when their product becomes more sensitive …

Pfizer, Inc., Nadezhda Smirnova

Honors College Theses

This paper addresses a few major problems that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. has recently been facing. The paper also provides promising solutions to these major problems, which without action can lead to the demise of the pharmaceutical giant. The implementation of the proposed solutions would allow Pfizer Inc. to improve its position and inevitably save it from possible demise.

Is Pay For Time Not Worked Due To A Hurricane A Best Practice?, Laura Dugan Bowie

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Why They Stay: Career Longetivity Of Women In U.S. Corporate Engineering, Kathleen R. Buse

Student Scholarship

Women have a low representation in engineering as well as other science, technology, and math (STEM) fields as compared to other professions – and retention rates for males in engineering significantly exceed those for women. While previous research has identified numerous reasons why women exit STEM careers at a higher rate than men, the literature is silent about those women who stay. To better understand why women remain in corporate engineering professions despite well-researched and well-documented organizational and occupational obstacles that make it difficult for them to succeed, a qualitative study is proposed based on semi-structured interviews with both women …

Close Encounters Of A Meaningful Intercultural Kind: Enhancing Deep-Level Diversity In Voluntary Organizations On College Campuses, Ruth Sessler Bernstein

Student Scholarship

We propose qualitative research to understand how majority and minority undergraduate college students construe meaningful intercultural experiences (MIEs)\, under what circumstances these experiences are likely to occur\, and to what extent they lead to deep-level diversity in voluntary organizations. This research will facilitate greater understanding of the enabling and constraining factors that affect MIEs. The conceptual framework for this research focuses on individuals engaging in sustained interactions of favorable contact with diverse group members who are willing to move outside of their “comfort zones” and develop cross-cultural skills. The interview sample will focus on undergraduate student members and alumni of …

Managing The Mission Through Times Of Adversity: What Leads To Highly Reliable Performance?, Kathleen Roche

Student Scholarship

During times of severe economic adversity, nonprofit managers must lead their organizations and carry out their charitable missions to ever-growing and needier constituencies despite unpredictable endowment erosion, fewer contributions, less staff, and the most severe funding cuts most of them have ever experienced, or are prepared for. We propose research to explore which leadership skills and styles are most helpful and if reliance upon traditionality is a good indicator of endurance. By capturing the experiences of nonprofit leaders as they manage under conditions of duress, we will relate these factors to research about high reliability organizations, which have been found …

The Ngo Strategic Dilemma: An Examination Of Factors Enabling Or Constraining Corporate Engagement Strategy, David Graham Hyatt

Student Scholarship

Social movements focused on sustainable development represent a significant force for change in business practices and governmental regulation. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) arise from social movements as mobilizing structures and framing mechanisms for collective action to fill governance and social needs that remain unmet by the governmental and market sectors. This study focuses on environmental NGOs and their strategies for engaging the business sector. Although cross-sector collaborations increasingly seem instrumental to effecting environmental change, NGOs face a strategic dilemma: to confront or collaborate with businesses, or both. This research explores how the NGO mission, purpose, and ideology; core competencies and repertoire …

The Role Of Local Cluster Agents As Key Determinants In Knowledge Creation, Absorption And Retention In Regional Biotechnology Industrial Clusters, Francisco Montalvo

Student Scholarship

Industrial clusters and innovation systems have been the focus of considerable academic research. Similarly, general research on knowledge creation is abundant, but the literature on knowledge absorption, transfer and retention on a regional level is limited. A better appreciation of knowledge creation, absorption and retention as determinants of industrial cluster success may be of value to industry decision makers, policy makers, and researchers seeking mechanisms for promoting innovation and preventing the flight of locally generated knowledge. Knowledge retention is assumed to be a source of innovation and a key determinant of knowledge diffusion and exploitation, local and multinational firm performance, …

Convergence Of Corporate Governance: Critical Review And Future Directions, Toru Yoshikawa, Abdul A. Rasheed

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research Question/Issue: Convergence in corporate governance across countries has been a subject of interest and controversy in a variety of disciplines. We attempt to address a number of related research questions: (1) what constitutes convergence? (2) what are the drivers that propel corporations in different nations towards convergence? (3) what are the major impediments that stand in the way of convergence? (4) what empirical evidence do we have to suggest that we are moving towards or away from convergence? and (5) what would be some productive avenues for further research on this topic? Research Findings/Results: Despite the vigorous intellectual position …

2009-04-23 Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes, Morehead State University. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Records

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes for April 23, 2009.

2009-04-16 Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes, Morehead State University. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Records

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes for April 16, 2009.

Culture As A Mitigating Factor In The Perception Of Path-Goal Leadership Styles And Workgroup Effectiveness, Alison Rampersad

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Sustaining a competitive edge in today's global business environment depends upon highly effective levels of teamwork from within an organization. During the last few decades, there has been a continuing trend of flattening or compressing the organizational hierarchy and depending on groups of employees working together as units, or workgroups, in a variety of industries. Corporate stockholders and stakeholders tend to consider workgroups an effective way to improve various aspects of organizational performance.

With the advent of the borderless organization, the workgroup has emerged as a significant entity involved in decision-making; project planning, design and implementation; inter-departmental endeavors; and other …

2009-04-02 Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes, Morehead State University. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Records

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes for April 2, 2009.

Establishing And Maintaining Organizational Trust In The 21st Century, Matthew L. Hunt, Tracy M. Lara, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

Recent corporate and academic scandals have led to decreasing levels of trust and confidence in many organizations. Whether the organization is a college or university, a government agency, a private company or a public corporation, the establishment and maintenance of trust is essential to both short-term success and long-term efficacy. This article deals with how managers and leaders can work to establish trust in their organizations via such strategies as fostering behavioural consistency, behavioural integrity, sharing of control, effective communication and demonstration of concern for employees. Also included are strategies of maintaining and enhancing trust, how the level of trust …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of E-Recruitment Efforts In State Government, Joseph Orenstein

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This study provides an evaluative framework for state e-recruitment efforts. Challenged bv the impending retirement of the baby boomer generation, public employers are implementing innovative hiring practices to aid in the recruitment of a new, talented workforce. Web-based recruitment offers an opportunity for state recruiters to reach a broader pool of job seeker talent. An effective framework for assessing the adequacy of state hiring websites would establish a set of criteria to aid in the development and implementation of state e-recruitment efforts. The framework is based on a literature review of relevant recruitment strategies in the public and private sector, …

Reaching For The Moon: Expanding Transactive Memory's Reach With Wikis And Tagging, Terri L. Griffith, Mark B. Allan, Anthony A. Korolis

Management & Entrepreneurship

Transactive memory systems (TMS) support knowledge sharing and coordination in groups. TMS are enabled by the encoding, storage, retrieval, and communication of knowledge by domain experts-knowing who knows what. The NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group provides an example of how TMS theoretical boundaries are stretched in actual use. This group is characterized as being highly innovative as they routinely engage in field studies that are inherently difficult due to time and technology resource constraints. We provide an expanded view of TMS that includes the technology support system available to this group, and possible further extensions to NASA's or other such …

Imsa360: Spring 2009, Imsa Fund

IMSA Fund Reports

As a teaching and learning laboratory for imagination and inquiry, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy enables students to pursue their own compelling questions and identify and solve real-world problems. In these pursuits, they learn to collaborate with each other and the best minds around the globe. This process fosters integrative learning and enhances critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and teamwork.

Our feature stories in this issue of IMSA360 take you on an amazing journey that demonstrates how IMSA students turn their passions, talents and knowledge into action. Under the guidance of inspiring faculty, staff and world experts, students have …

The Relationships Among Gender, Work Experience, And Leadership Experience In Transformational Leadership, Jennifer Y. Mak, Chong W. Kim

Management Faculty Research

Transformational leadership is an organizational leadership theory centered around "the ability to inspire and motivate followers to achieve results greater than originally planned and for internal reward" The investigation into transformational leadership began in the mid-1980s with a number of influential publications by Bass (1985), Bennis and Nanus (1985), Kouzes and Posner (1987) and Tichy and Devanna (1986). In the 1980s, the study of transformational leadership was focused on case-based research (Conger, 1999). By late 1990s, a substantial body of empirical investigations on transformational leadership had been conducted.

When Practice And Theory Conflict: Do Financial Incentives Influence Championing Behaviors In Mergers And Acquisitions?, Byron C. Clayton

Student Scholarship

Successful mergers and acquisitions require its managers to achieve substantial performance improvements in order to sufficiently cover acquisition premiums, the expected return of debt and equity investors, and the additional resources needed to capture synergies and accelerate growth. Acquirers understand that achieving the performance improvements necessary to cover these costs and create value for investors will most likely require an incredible effort from M&A management teams. This understanding drives the common and longstanding practice of offering hefty performance incentive packages to key managers, assuming that incentives will induce behaviors that champion organizational change and growth. This practice is in direct …

Ethical Ideologies And Decision Making Among College Athletes, Mary-Beth A. Cooper

Student Scholarship

Ethical decision making is a complex, yet timely topic for managers and consumers alike. In a collegiate setting, student athletes are scrutinized on and off the field not only for their athletic success but also for the ethical decisions they make that could change the course of their lives and the reputation of their institution. This research includes a survey covering over one thousand collegiate student athlete from the northeast who participated in a study determining the impact of ethical ideologies and social norms on their decision making. Specific constructs in the analysis include locus of control, ethical ideologies (idealism/relativism) …

The Rationale For Mergers & Acquisitions In The U.S. Wireless Industry, Eric Pereira

Honors College Theses

The mergers between AT&T and Cingular, Sprint and Nextel, and Verizon and Alltel telecommunication companies have become the most fascinating transactions in the wireless industry. This paper provides a detailed summary of the two companies in each merger as separate entities before the merger, the actions they took while completing the merger, and the new look and strategies they put into place after the merger. The thesis provides a thorough view of how AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon successfully completed their merger plans and how they gained nationwide consumer satisfaction. The reader will examine the problems within the companies such …

Reconceptualizing Social Influence Mechanisms For Buyer-Seller Relationships, Stuart Strolin

Student Scholarship

Selling is a social activity in which bilateral influence is exchanged but ultimately where the seller seeks to influence the buyer. Previous work has investigated social influence in many forms and settings but has been of limited, practical use in B2B sales. This paper introduces new measures, derived from French and Ravens bases of power, which integrate ideas from social psychology and ideas grounded in business practice. These measures are tested in a theoretical model linking B2B social influence to trust and sales performance. This paper contributes to the existing understanding of B2B buyer-seller relationships in two ways. First, it …

Harnessing Opposing Forces To Achieve Organizational Ambidexterity, Radhashyam Giridharadas

Student Scholarship

Generating sustainable competitive advantage, a perennial challenge for managers, requires organizational ambidexterity--the ability to simultaneously align business units towards unified, corporate strategic goals and adapt to the challenges of the external environment. Prior research on the antecedents of ambidexterity has identified cohesive but distinct independent variables and posited inanimate organizational mediating mechanisms. This research contributes to the field in three ways. First, we examine how harnessing opposing forces can yield important synergistic benefits, by modeling the interaction of management practices of exploration and exploitation on the input side and of adapting and aligning on the output dimension. Second, we propose …

Deconstructing Discovery: Diversity And Knowledge Sharing In Research Teams, Rebecca Minnillo

Student Scholarship

The purpose of this research is to shed light on aspects of knowledge sharing that are productive in advancing innovation in scientific research. We report on a quantitative study of scientific research teams who presented their work at an international conference. We explore how internal and external knowledge sharing practices and structural diversity are associated with the production of innovative medical research. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a model for use by knowledge generating organizations that will help accelerate the process of innovative discoveries.

Product Market Competition And Corporate Mergers And Acquisitions, Yen-Chih Liu

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Conventional models assume competition improves corporate efficiency as firms strive to outperform competitors. In the context of agency models, the link between competition and managerial behavior becomes fuzzy. Hart (1983) and Schmidt (1997) posit that competition reduces managerial slack. Scharfstein (1988) argues that competition might increase managerial shirking. Recent studies on the relation between managerial compensation and competition further document conflicting evidence. In this study, I examine the effect of product market competition on corporate mergers and acquisitions. My initial results suggest that the definition of competition is critical in evaluating corporate mergers and acquisitions. Using three new dimensions (product …

The Green Business Revolution, Jacob Martin, Penny Mcclendon, Brian Watson, Jimanna Watson

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Going Green Makes Cents!, Anthony Caldwell, Logan Fountain, Tiffany Snider

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Performance-Based Acquisition In Non-Western Countries, Fatih Cebeci

Theses and Dissertations

"Performance-based acquisition (PBA)" means an acquisition structured around the results to be achieved as opposed to the manner by which the work is to be performed. Performance-based acquisition is a results-oriented acquisition strategy used to achieve innovative solutions in agency programs. Most military systems have been used for decades, so future planning of defense procurement is critically important. Performance-based acquisition is a strategic method to manage business by promoting flexibility and innovation and creating win/win solutions through effective communication, organizational goal alignment, and clear accountability among the buyer, seller(s), and subcontractors. In this century, many governments are transitioning their acquisition …