Business Commons^™

Racing To Success By Identifying Key Performance Drivers, Kathy Paulson Gjerde, Susan B. Hughes

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

This article focuses on ways to identify key performance drivers (KPDs) and key performance indicators (KPIs). Unfortunately, lists of KPIs published in the past often focus on one industry and assume a generic business strategy. In addition, an overemphasis on financial measures will mean that KPIs will reflect past activities rather than signaling future performance. Managers need to develop meaningful metrics for their own businesses, not use generic KPIs. This is particularly important in small and medium-sized enterprises. How adept are you at this task? Do you know what drives net income for your organization?

Preface To Supply Chain Management And Logistics In A Volatile Global Environment, Edward Sweeney

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

Culture’S Influence On The Perceived Characteristics Of Employees: Comparing The Views Of U.S. And Chilean Workers, Chong W. Kim, Leopoldo Arias-Bolzmann, Harlan M. Smith Ii

Management Faculty Research

As noted in previous work (Kim & Sikula, 2005; Kim & Sikula, 2006; Kim, Sikula & Smith, 2006; Kim, Cho & Sikula, 2007), there are three types of people in the workplace: “Necessities,” “Commoners,” and “Parasites.” A person of Necessity is irreplaceable and crucial to the functioning of an organization. A Commoner is a person of normal ability and talent who has no significant impact on organizational success. Parasites are detrimental freeloaders who damage the functioning of an organization.

Kim & Sikula (2005) asked 25 students in an MBA Organizational Behavior class and 13 working managers (all of whom live …

First Among Equals: The Effect Of Team Leader Characteristics On The Internal Dynamics Of Cross-Functional Product Development Teams, Shikhar Sarin, Gina Colarelli O’Connor

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Drawing upon the Path-Goal Theory of leadership, this study examines the effect of team leader characteristics on an array of conflict resolution behavior, collaboration, and communication patterns of cross-functional new product development (NPD) teams. A hierarchical linear model analysis based on a survey of 246 members from 64 NPD teams suggests that participative management style and initiation of goal structure by the team leader exert the strongest influence on internal team dynamics. Both these leadership characteristics had a positive effect on functional conflict resolution, collaboration, and communication quality within the NPD team; while discouraging dysfunctional conflict resolution and formal communications. …

A Multidimensional Analysis Of The Relationship Between Leader-Member Exchange And Organizational Citizenship Behavior With An Alternative Measure Of Leader-Member Exchange, Yann-Jang Wu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory proposed that a leader will develop a unique exchange pattern with each subordinate (Liden, Wayne, & Stilwell, 1993). Empirically, LMX has shown significant associations with many work outcomes (Gerstner & Day, 1997). One of these valued outcomes is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which is defined as action enacted beyond one's assigned duties on the job (Farh, Podsakoff, & Organ, 1990). Positive correlations between LMX and OCB have been demonstrated in previous research (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000). Both LMX and OCB were proposed to comprise several sub-factors; nevertheless, correlations between LMX and OCB have always …

The Influence Of Leader Behaviors On The Leader-Member Exchange Relationship, Mark Edward O'Donnell

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Most studies examining the relationship between leader behavior and leader-member exchange (LMX) have examined only one or two leader behaviors, and many studies have employed composite leader behavior measures. The exclusive use of composite measures eliminates the examination of more distinct behaviors that may have substantially different effects on LMX. For example, composite measures of transformational leadership behavior often include a broad range of distinct leader behaviors, such as supporting, developing, leading by example, envisioning change, and encouraging innovative thinking (Bass & Avolio, 1990). The composite measures of transformational leadership do not include some important relations-oriented behaviors, such as consulting, …

The Influence Of Leader Behavior Patterns On Leader Effectiveness And Follower Satisfaction, Minsu Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A survey field study was conducted to analyze the impact of task-oriented and relations-oriented behaviors on leadership effectiveness and subordinate satisfaction. The current study not only looked at the simple relationships among variables, but also examined on the possibility of curvilinear relationships and additive effects versus multiplicative effects in predicting leader effectiveness and follower satisfaction.

Qualitative Mapping For Understanding The Collective Judgment Building Process : A Study Of The Federal Open Market Committee, Hyunjung Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study develops a mapping method for studying a collective judgment building process in a decision-making group. Environmental uncertainties and a lack of information require a decision maker to make judgments about various issues relevant to the decision task. In a group setting, the members together weave their structural model of the system with available information to build a collective judgment for the decision task.

An Examination Of Family Communication Within The Core And Balance Model Of Family Leisure Functioning, Kevin M. Smith, Patti A. Freeman, Ramon B. Zabriskie

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine family communication within the core and balance model of family leisure functioning. The study was conducted from a youth perspective of family leisure and family functioning. The sample consisted of youth (N= 95) aged 11 – 17 from 25 different states in the United States. Path analyses indicated that family communication mediated a positive relationship between family leisure variables and family functioning variables. Implications and recommendations are discussed. The addition of communication in the Core and Balance Model is recommended.

A Model To Explain Microfranchising In Bottom Of The Pyramid Markets, Robert J. Jensen, Chris Sutter

Faculty Publications

Microfranchising, an emerging business model in the developing world, is effectively enhancing bottom of the pyramid markets (BOP) or markets serving the poorest of the poor in developing countries. This Article seeks to explain how and why microfranchising has emerged as a business model in the developing world. Approaching microfranchising from the perspective of the franchisor, this Article proposes a model to determine when microfranchising might present a viable option for firms seeking to operate in BOP markets.¹

Firm's Image Restoration Strategies: Cases In Ethical Apologia In Corporate Crisis, Kristin D. Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines ethical behavior in organizations and the decisions made when faced with a crisis. The research looks at the anatomy of a crisis and the stages of a crisis (Gottschalk, 1993). The image restoration strategies are also included, along with the justification for image restoration in organizations. The five image restoration strategies are denial, evading responsibility, reducing the offensiveness, corrective action, and mortification (Benoit, 1995). Ethical apologia theory is described in the paper as well as the four factors of verbal defense (Ware and Linkugel, 1973). These four factors are denial, differentiation, bolstering, and transcendence. The paper also …

Hdtv Division Of Global Electronics, Inc., Alan J. Kirkpatrick, Leonard K. Gashugi

Faculty Publications

CASE DESCRIPTION: The primary objective of this case is to describe realistic capital budgeting issues within a large organization. The case illustrates ways that staff inside a corporate finance department (and in related departments) position themselves in the capital planning process. The case also stresses steps that a large firm can take to leverage its size to gain the maximum benefit of investment projects. Further,, the case demonstrates sensitivity analyses in the capital budgeting process, and the resulting internal rates of return. We suggest the case be used to follow the related case “HDTV Systems”, which shows the firm as …

Strategic Human Resource Management At The Crossroads: Relationships Among Human Resource Capital, Overlapping Tenure, Behaviors, And Performance, Christopher Harris

Management Dissertations - Archive

Empirical work in strategic human resource management has tended to focus solely on the relationship between human resource practices and firm performance. This study attempts to shift the focus of strategic human resource management to the human resource pool to examine the influence that the human resource has on performance. Additionally, this study examines the social capital variable of overlapping tenure, which is the amount of time individuals have worked together towards common performance outcomes. The resource-based view of the firm is employed as the guiding theoretical framework in which to examine the relationships of human capital and social capital …

The Role Of Intuition In Ethical Decision Making, James Richard Guzak

Management Dissertations - Archive

The literature regarding ethical decision making has focused almost exclusively on examination of variables that test relationships between individual or situational differences and ethicality. These examinations, on the whole, have not been fruitful. Little attention has been given to the actual process of ethical decision making to try to explain how ethical decisions are made, not just under what circumstances they might occur. Recently, some authors have begun to suggest that intuition and affect might play an important role in our ethical decision making processes. This paper examines evidence as to whether the ethical decision making process uses both rationality …

Generating Opportunity From Uncertainty, David R. King

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Learning to deal with uncertainty makes organizations more robust. Leaders can take steps to help their organizations take advantage uncertainty. When continued success transitions from informed decision to luck, small differences in the ability of organizations to handle uncertainty can have a large impact. An example from military history is used to outline current day lessons for military and business leaders.

Crm In Russia And U.S. -- Case Study From American Financial Service Industry, Tamilla Curtis, Tom Griffin, Donald Barrere

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

This paper discusses Customer Relationship Management in two sharply contrasting business cultures: the United States and Russia. Included in the present work is a case study of a midsized American financial services firm that illustrates a common path to the decision to have a CRM system: the planning, selection, and the implementation of the CRM program, including a discussion of the likelihood of success. The clients in this case are Financial Advisors, who in turn sell the investment products to the end user individual investors. CRM in Russia is yet in its infancy as the economy emerges from 200 years …

Three Essays On Chinese Outward Investment, Yan Gao

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Empirical research and theory development have traditionally focused on Western MNEs. The rise of multinational firms from the emerging markets, particularly MNEs from China has attracted limited empirical research attention. In the current research, I attempt to fill this gap by exploring the entry modes strategies, motivation and government interference when Chinese MNEs go abroad. Early international business theories suggested that firms invest abroad on the basis of possessing certain-firm specific competitive advantages. By leveraging these existing firm-specific advantages overseas, firms are able to generate sufficient returns to overcome the "liability of foreignness". These early FDI theories were largely based …

Predicting Inter -Organizational Knowledge Satisfaction Through Knowledge Conversion And Task Characteristics In A Minority -Owned Business, Terrence L. Ward

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Knowledge management has been extensively studied from the single organization (intra-organizational) perspective for many years. Although the literature on intra-organizational knowledge is extensive, there still exist gaps in the literature with regards to knowledge being shared by multiple organizations (inter-organizational knowledge). Inter-organizational knowledge satisfaction is gained when the organizations successfully embody the knowledge gained via the cooperation and crystallizes that knowledge within the organization. The problem addressed in this study is the lack of a model for predicting inter-organizational knowledge satisfaction utilizing task characteristics and the knowledge conversion process. The purpose of the study was to predict inter-organizational knowledge satisfaction …

The Role Of Universities In Attaining Regional Competitiveness Under Adversity – A Research Proposal, S. Hartman, C. C. Trumbach, O. Lundberg

Management Faculty Publications

This study examines the role of the university in attaining regional competitiveness in technology in periods of extreme adversity such as has been the case in the post-Hurricane Katrina situation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. In such situations, much can be learned from the experiences of developing nations which have successfully attained technological leadership in specific niches. University leadership will be important in several arenas. Teaching and research will need to be targeted to regionally-important areas. The research findings must be transferred to organizations which can exploit opportunities and develop needed technologies. Universities can serve as both disseminators …

Taiwanese Gambling Behaviors, Perceptions, And Attitudes, Che Hao Chang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study categorizes different Taiwanese gambling types using PGSI, and further evaluates the perceptions and attitudes toward the legalization of casino gambling. A survey was conducted using convenient sampling and distributed by Internet. Results indicate that across groups of different types of gamblers, there are significant differences in perceptions toward the legalized casino gambling industry. Also, across groups of different types of gamblers, there are significant differences in attitudes toward legalized casino gambling. Additionally, there are significant differences between perceptions toward the legalized casino gambling industry, and attitudes toward the legalization of casino gambling. In general, non-gamblers are relatively more …

Improving Casino Profitability Through Effective Offer Packages, Ren Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of the this study is to investigate effective marketing techniques to attract potential customers in a particular demographic group, young people aged from 21 to 34, as a way of exploring the local market. This demographic group constitutes a dynamic part of the local population and is characterized by its unique financial conditions and spending preferences. The hypothesis is that with well-designed price bundling, the casinos can realize increased revenue through increased visits from the local young population. The marketing technique used in this study is to utilize offer packages which bundle promotional items and other hotel-provided services. …

Examining The Influence Of Restaurant Green Practices On Customer Return Intention, Audrey L. Szuchnicki

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years there has been an increased awareness of how the actions of the foodservice industry are effecting the environment. With this awareness we have begun to see a change in priorities for both new and existing businesses. At the forefront of this change in the "green" direction is the GRA who certifies how eco-friendly an establishment is based on its' environmental guidelines. This study will examine the correlation between customer return intention and the institution of green practices within a restaurant setting. The expected outcome would be that a restaurant that is certified green or, implementing measures to …

Effectively Implementing Project Based Learning In The Business Classroom, Leasha Henriksen

Graduate Research Papers

Far too many of our students are leaving high schools unprepared to routinely engage in these thought processes in order to sustain our innovative, economic edge in the economy. These concerns put the United States at risk for losing our competitive advantage in the marketplace. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are far too important to be ignored. This realization leads to an important question: How can project based learning be implemented effectively in order to increase student engagement, critical thinking, and understanding? For the purpose of this paper, research will be focused primarily on controlled studies; however, valuable insight …

Unraveling Adaptive Selling: An Empirical Analysis Of Underlying Relational Behaviors, Ganesh Kumar

Student Scholarship

Adaptive selling capabilities enable salespeople achieve success with their customers. Despite numerous studies, there is very little understanding on the mechanisms salespeople use to adapt to various selling situations. Current sales management practices overlook a salesperson's capability to craft customer specific sales strategies, relying excessively on end-results and activities based controls. This paper aims to increase knowledge by conceptualizing relational behaviors as trust building and value creating efforts, and measuring adaptive selling as a salesperson's capacity to vary these behaviors depending on customer relationships. Our empirical analysis establishes a positive link between trust building behaviors and sales effectiveness and performance …

Asian Corporate Governance Or Corporate Governance In Asia?, Shaomin Li, Anil Nair

Management Faculty Publications

Corporate governance has become an important issue for Chinese and Indian firms as they increasingly interact with regulators and investors from developed markets. For instance, tapping into global capital markets to raise funds to finance their domestic and international growth requires firms from China and India to demonstrate strong corporate governance credentials, so that investors do not discount their stock (LaPorta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, & Vishny, 2000). The swift action of Chinese and Indian authorities in response to recent corporate scandals – such as the one at Satyam Computers – reveals that even governments in emerging countries such as China and …

Alliance Paradox: An Empirical Study Of Alliance Portfolio Effects On Customer Service Quality In The U.S. Airline Industry, Zhe Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies the potential paradoxical effects of alliance participation. Over the past two decades, alliance participation has become a popular firm strategy to obtain benefits that are difficult for a firm to obtain on its own. Yet, as firms increasingly participate in alliances, boundedly rational managers may not effectively manage all aspects of alliances to achieve intended alliance outcomes. Paradoxically, alliance participation may cause harm to the participating firms. To unveil an alliance paradox, this dissertation first examined the relationships between alliance portfolio attributes (i.e., alliance portfolio size, multilateral alliances, alliance partner country diversity, and alliance type) and customer …

Key Factors For Successful Export Performance For Small Firms, Lance Eliot Brouthers, George Nakos, John Hadjimarcou, Keith D. Brouthers

Faculty Articles

What key factors result in superior export performance for small firms from small countries? Drawing on the internationalization process model and organizational learning theory, the authors hypothesize and find that (1) emphasizing international sales while (2) restricting exports to a few foreign markets results in superior perceived export performance for the sample of small firms from Greece and several Caribbean countries. Emphasizing international sales while focusing on a few markets enables small firms to develop expertise in those markets, build strong distribution networks, and manage export activities effectively.

A Chilling Discovery At Family Frozen Foods, Inc, John Leaptrott, J. Michael Mcdonald, R. Kent

Management: Faculty Publications

Work published in Southeast Case Research Journal.

How Fairness Garners Loyalty In The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Role Of Trust In The Wholesaler-Pharmacy Relationship, Thani Jambulingam, Ravi Kathuria, John R. Nevin

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to understand how fairness garners loyalty by breeding trust in the pharmaceutical wholesaler‐pharmacy relationship. Specifically, the paper seeks to understand if the two dimensions of fairness – procedural and distributive – contribute differently in fostering the two types of trust – credibility and benevolence. The paper further aims to examine how the two dimensions of trust mediate the fairness‐loyalty relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data from 156 retail pharmacies on their relationship with the pharmaceutical wholesalers are used to test the hypotheses. The mediation models are tested using the Barron and Kenny procedure.

Findings …

The Impact Of The Implementation Of Modularisation And Semesterisation On Academic Staff In Cork Institute Of Technology: A Qualitative Study, Regina O'Flynn

Theses

This study investigates the perceptions of academic staff in Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) on the implementation of modularisation and semesterisation in CIT. The study was undertaken when the institute was at the initial stages of changing to a modularised and semesterised system of education delivery. The study investigated the reasons for such fundamental changes. The findings contribute new knowledge to the literature on change management, while specifically adding to an understanding of managing change in a higher educational institute in Ireland. Forty-five academic staff and five members of senior management were interviewed.

The study revealed overall reluctance among academics …