Business Commons^™

Shared Appreciation Mortgages—Sams Or Scams In The Foreclosure Crisis, Phoebe A. Hathorn

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Mission Statements: The Soul Of An Organization, Brian Johns

Honors Theses

When a culture is created or decisions are made, the presence of a viable mission statement is critical. This document can be used as a tool to create a business environment employees are attracted to, as a model for how decisions should be made, and is an image of who the company is and what it does. This paper looks to explore the makeup of a good mission statement through scholarly articles and research and the effect it has on corporate culture through real life examples of top companies in a variety of industries, supported by first-hand experience from the …

The Role Of The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act In The Real Estate Crisis, Sarah Maheu

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Society’S Reaction To Whistleblowing From The 1920s – 1990s, Rachel Elizabeth Scott

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The American Health Insurance System: What Went Wrong And How We May Fix It, Joseph Maxfield Vincent

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Financing And Reform Of The United States Healthcare System, Sarah Georgeau Bernheisel

Honors Theses

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately forty-five million people in the United States, including nearly nine million children, were without health insurance in 2007 ("Fast Stats A to Z" 1). Additionally, in 2007, nearly 30% of young adults, ages 18-24, in the United States were uninsured ("Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage" 22). Sadly, none of these figures includes the countless individuals who have insufficient healthcare coverage caused by their high out-of pocket costs compared to their wages.

Stock Markets And Household Wealth: Can A Stock Market Crash Cause A Recession In The U.S. Economy?, Ishan Singh

Honors Theses

Stock market wealth effects on the level of consumption in the United States economy have been constantly debated; there is evidence for arguments for and against its prominence and its symmetry. This paper seeks to investigate the strength of its negative effect by creating models to analyze unexpected shocks to the Standard and Poor's 500 index. First, a transmission mechanism between the stock market and GDP is established through the use of second-order vector autoregressive models. Following which, theory from the life cycle model and adaptations of previous researchers' models are used to create a structural model. This paper finds …

The Importance Of An Internship And What Makes Quicken Loans An Extraordinary Place To Intern, Frank C. Salinger

Honors Theses

Records the author's experiences interning for Quicken Loans as a student studying Business at Western Michigan University, and what benefits were found from the internship process.

A Clock, A Stopwatch, And A Looking Glass. The Timeliness Of The Fasb's Due Process: Is It Really Meeting Our Needs?, Alison Hamby

Honors Theses

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was established in 1973 in response to an increased demand in organized accounting standards set by an independent full-time board. In response, the FASB emerged with the following mission:

The mission of the Financial Accounting Standards , Board (FASB) is to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information (FASB Facts 2002).

The timeliness of the FASB has been under great scrutiny since the recent accounting scandals in 2002. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 further increased the …

Are Stock Prices Related To New York's Climatic Conditions?, Matthew M. Cullen

Honors Theses

The past five years has shown tremendous growth in a new wave and style of investing strategy. This new style, known as behavioral investing, attempts to analyze financial markets through the eye of a social scientist rather than a financial professional. Its followers try to see market movements as affected not necessarily by the business or economy but by the cognition and mood of buyers and seller. This paper analyzes the effect of climatic conditions on mood and the effect that has on market movements and volume. For the most part, it was found that there is no significant relationship …

The Global Stock Market: Implications To American Investors, Angela Giordano

Honors Theses

Investors in most industrialized nations have many alternatives beyond the traditional checking and savings accounts. Alternatives such as stocks, which can be purchased off over 180exchanges worldwide, bonds, mutual funds, retirement plans (401k, 501c, 403b), annuities, money market accounts and CDs are often used as investment tools. With all these alternatives, how does one determine which tool or tools to utilize in investing their hard-earned income?

A Company Specific Analysis Of The Capital Budgeting Process As It Pertains To A Zero Emissions Mandate On The American Automobile Industry, Brian M. Woodcock

Honors Theses

The rapid growth of the U.S. auto industry in the 20th century has led to a fast-paced society that emphasizes the importance of convenience and time-efficiency. Consequently, the cost of this society has been high levels of emissions, causing pollution to the surrounding environment. General Motors' attempt at a solution to the problem is their introduction of the first electric vehicle known as the EV1. The EV1 has the potential to meet society's transportation demands and to create a more pollution-free environment. However, in a free market economy, the price tag for a solution such as GM's may currently be …

A Review Of Defensive Strategies Used In Hostile Takeovers, Chirag Shah

Honors Theses

Nineteen Ninety Five smashed all records for mergers and acquisitions at home and abroad. An unprecedented $458 billion in deals were announced by U.S. companies, up 32% from the old record of $347 billion reached in 1994, according to the Securities Data Co. Similarly, deal count, which last year came in with 7,565 announced transactions, registered a new record as 8,954 transactions were announced in 1995. Globally, a record $866 billion in transactions were struck, up 51% from the $572 billion announced in 1994. The big highlights were banking, financial services, pharmaceuticals and big transactions in media and telecommunications. From …

Technical Analysis: Connecting The Dots Or A Legitimate Investment Tool?, Daniel P. Sutter

Honors Theses

Wall Street is full of many unusual characters. They appear frequently in the newspaper headlines, on the evening news, and now on the Internet. They are portrayed both as villains such as Michael Milken or Ivan Boesky and as heroes such as Warren Buffett or Martin Zwieg. While these people may seem very distant at times they really impact each one of us every day, whether or not we are aware of it. The companies we conduct our routine transactions with are financed through them, our retirement plans our dependent on them, and even our jobs rest on the success …

Case Study Of First National Bank Of Phillips County, Michelle Leigh Early

Honors Theses

First National Bank of Phillips County, located in Helena, Arkansas, is a small commercial bank with assets totaling a little over fifty-one million dollars. A small bank in a small town, First National is not the place to go if you need a loan involving millions of dollars, and they may not offer all the in depth financial services found in large metropolitan banks, but it does serve the basic needs of the citizens of Helena, Arkansas. Farmers need crop loans, businesses need financing, and individuals need personal loans as well as the services such as savings, checking, and certain …

Mathematics Of Investment, Claudia Morgan Griffin

Honors Theses

By using the text Mathematics of Investment by William L. Hart, Griffin examines the mathematics of investments.

A Comparative Study Of The Truth In Lending Act, Robert R. Riggins

Honors Theses

Consumer credit probably began in the United States early in the nineteenth century, but it has only in recent years acquired such a position of social and economic imminence. Today, credit is an integral part of our life style and the volume of consumer credit sales reaches monumental proportions.

Though credit use has benefits, the unwise use of credit has serious ramifications. Little can be done to protect the consumer from himself, so attention must focus on protecting the consumer-borrower from the lender. The full-disclosure facet of the Act assures consumer-borrowers that they will be informed as to the real …