Business Commons^™

Review: Personal Finance (Saylor Foundation), Aaron Henrichsen

Open Textbooks & Reviews

Review of the textbook Personal Finance originally posted on Open Textbook Library (https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/personal-finance).

From Bitcoin To Blockchain, And Back Again, Danielle Szetho, Rene Michau

Asian Management Insights

In the context of the current FinTech revolution, it remains to be seen how the wealth of knowledge on new technologies and business models in the area of finance can effectively and efficiently drive change and seize the new opportunities being created in the vast and fast-paced world of digital and crypto-assets.

Irrational Exuberance: Panic Rooms And Flutters In Financial Markets, Vijay Fafat

Asian Management Insights

As the memory of the 2008 financial crash fades, there are cautionary thoughts on why we tend to overshoot in our optimism, and why even genius comes to grief in the face of capricious, mercurial capital markets.

Research Project In Finance: Target Corporation, Saba Ajmal

Student Scholarship

Target Corporation was founded in Minnesota and is currently the eight-largest retailer in the US. Target Corp. stock is a part of the S&P500 index. Target’s primary business focus is on selling customers everyday essentials that are on the trendier side at a reasonable price (Form 10- k). Target Corp. has designed a system to provide customers with a unique shopping experience that is well integrated in stores and online via Target.com. According to the firm’s 10-k report, “Our ability to deliver a preferred shopping experience to our guests is supported by our supply chain and technology, our devotion to …

Research Project In Finance: Six Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, Keagan Parsons

Student Scholarship

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is a theme park company that offers guests thrill rides, water attractions, and other themed events. Six Flags currently operates 25 parks, with 22 parks in the United States, 2 parks Mexico and one in Montreal, Canada. These 25 parks span over 5,900 acres of land and the company has an additional 800 acres of available land yet to be used. In 2018, Six Flags had an aggregate of 920 rides being offered, with the largest segment being their 150 roller coasters.

Six Flags holds exclusive licensing, through Warner Bros and DC Comics, of the theme …

Thinking Finance - The Comic Book, Dimitrios V. Siskos

Dimitrios V. Siskos

Thinking financially results in the best possible outcome and establishes a secure foundation for the future as an independent man. In contrast, thinking emotionally leads to short-sighted financial decisions and usually, deep regrets. However, thinking financially is not pleasant for the people around us. This comic book presents a guy, whose dream is to become an accountant. When he finally succeeds in this, he realizes that thinking financially may be effective for his boss but it is irritating for everyone else, even for his family.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Fin 4093 (Corporate Credit Risk), Michele Costello

Open Educational Resources

The course will provide students with an overview of key concepts in corporate credit risk through the lens of a commercial banking risk analyst. Students will be assigned a company to follow throughout the semester and will be required to use the tools of the course to build their own credit rating analysis in a term paper due at the end of the semester. Topics including country risk, industry risk, market risk, business risk (financial and management), and structure risk will be explored through lectures, industry publications, and access to industry analysis and tools. Upon completion of this course, students …

The Fintech Revolution, Robert J. Kauffman

MITB Thought Leadership Series

The traditional dominance of established big-hitters in financial services is at an end. The market for many types of financial transaction is being disrupted by small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. They are quicker off the mark in both spotting gaps in the market and developing state-of-the-art systems to respond to customer needs.

Financial Institutions And The Taxi-Cab Industry: An Exploratory Study In Canada, John D. Obradovich, Amarjit Gill, Nahum Biger, Leo-Paul Dana, Ansari Mohamed

John Obradovich

A current challenge taxicab owner/operators face in Canada is the lack of financing for taxicabs. This article examines business opportunities and lending risk; it also provides risk management strategies for financial institutions to manage the risk of lending to the taxi-cab industry. Members of the boards of directors and shareholders from the Canadian taxicab industry, and lenders from financial institutions that do not provide financing to taxicab owner/operators, were interviewed. Board members and shareholders were asked about their perceptions regarding business opportunity, risk, and their willingness to provide collateral for taxicab loans. Lenders of financial institutions were asked about their …

Evaluating An Mlb General Manager’S Bang For Their Buck, Devin Mathura

Honors College Theses

With my passion for baseball, I decided to calculate the value of each player on an MLB active roster and determine whether they are underpaid or overpaid. I then used that information to evaluate and rank how efficient each MLB general manager utilizes their money on players. With the luxury tax becoming more of an issue for teams with high payrolls, there has been an emphasis on general managers to construct a team that will be highly competitive at a reasonably low price. In my report, I imported data that reflected the position for each player as well as their …

An Analysis Of The Business Structures And Performance Of Traditional Vs. "Freemium" Applications, Daztar Pagdiwala

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis will examine the rationale and financial success of “freemium” applications versus traditional applications. I define what the “freemium” model is, and how it compares to the traditional (premium) and “free trial” models. In addition, I discuss the value proposition of the business structure, and how it is fully dependent on the consumer’s ability to perceive an increase in value through the purchase of additional features. I also analyze the major positive and negative aspects of the “freemium structure.

Overall trends that I note in the paper include a general shift towards “freemium” and “subscription” based products; within the …

The Cfa Research Challenge, Kevin Grube

Honors Student Research

This paper explores the CFA Research Challenge, a financial analysis competition, and what it entails. The paper expands on a wide range of topics regarding the challenge, motivations of its competitors, class influences towards the challenge, and tips and tricks for future competitors. The paper includes my team's finalized research paper and includes our graded rubrics. It also discusses my opinions on the CFA as an organization, detailing my distaste with the professionalism I observed over the challenge.

Research Project In Finance: Kinder Morgan Inc. (Kmi), Christopher Holmes

Student Scholarship

KMI is a buy because the market is currently mispricing the company due to fears over their CO2 segment and their debt level.

First, it is currently being rumored that management is considering the sale of its CO2 business. This would be a positive because it would take away the concerns regarding CO2 and could help lead to a higher multiple. Additionally, the company’s backlog would become much more concentrated in higher growth areas if this segment is sold.

Second, the debt picture is misunderstood. The company currently has an investment grade rating from the rating agencies and currently has …

Effects Of Terrorism On The U.S. Stock Market: Evidence From High Frequency Data, Kyla Scanlon

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This paper investigates the effects that terrorist attacks and mass shootings had on the U.S. stock market, using high frequency intraday data to identify stock price and variability reactions in the hours after the attack. The impact that terrorist attacks had on price level variability was examined using the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model. The market reaction to domestic versus foreign attacks was examined to measure a potential for contagion across financial markets. The potential for flight-to-safety/quality and capital reallocation in response to terrorist attacks were measured using ordinary least squares (OLS) model, measuring the respective betas of small …

Clarity For Due Diligence In 401(K) Qualified Retirement Plans, Erin O'Reilly

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My focus for this project is to educate myself and my peers on the process of analyzing a 401(k) plan, specifically the due diligence that should be performed when analyzing a retirement plan. Specific aspects of this project will involve: (1) explaining the different roles needed to administer a 401(k) plan; (2) discussing an advisor's role in a 401(k) plan; (3) analyzing fiduciary duty levels; (4) reviewing the appropriate types of investments to include in a 401(k) plan; (5) providing suggestions for financial wellness programs; and (6) discerning the appropriate level of fees for each service. I seek to provide …

Fraud In Small Businesses: A Preliminary Study, Esther Bunn, Jack Ethridge, Kaili Crow

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the attitudes small business owners and managers have towards fraud and internal controls. Commonly small businesses consist of long-term friends and relatives and tend to embody a culture of family, love, and trust. Four factors were identified that lend themselves to a lack of internal controls and a breeding ground for fraud. A survey was distributed to small business owners and management. The responses were analyzed and compared to the data in the 2016 American Certified Fraud Examiners Report to the Nations. Of the four expectations studied, only the anticipated results of Expectation 1 were confirmed.

Strategies To Sustain Small Accounting Businesses For Longer Than 5 Years, John Chidi Nwabueze

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses represent over 99% of all United States businesses and are engines of economic growth and job creation. In 2018, the Small Business Administration estimated that a total of 30.2 million small businesses employed over 58.9 million workers. Small businesses are known to face significant challenges, and most fail within 5 years of startup. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that owners of small accounting businesses used to sustain their organizations for longer than 5 years. The population in this study consisted of 5 owners of small accounting businesses in Michigan. The conceptual framework …

The Future Of The Euro In A Post-Greek Environment: Opportunities And Perils, Mallory Orr

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This thesis will discuss the integration across Europe within the past century that led to European monetary union with the creation of the euro currency. It will then explain how the global financial crisis manifested in Europe, namely with the European sovereign debt crisis. This crisis deeply affected the economy of the eurozone, notably Greece and other southern European nations. Finally, this thesis will examine the future of the currency as well as the European Union.

Capital Financing Strategies Of Small-Scale Contractors In Nigeria, Tony Emeka Anamege

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small-scale contractors in Nigeria, as small business owners, face challenges accessing external sources of capital financing. Inadequate sources of working capital is one of the major reasons for poor business performance and failure. A multiple case study approach was used in this study to explore how small-scale contractors obtained capital financing to grow their businesses. The study population included small-scale contractors in the construction industry in Nigeria. Credit rationing model was chosen as the conceptual framework for the study. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data from 5 participants. Data analysis included thematic coding of the data using qualitative data …

M&A Performance: Market’S Initial Reaction As An Unbiased Indicator Of Post-Acquisition Performance, Nikolaos Papageorgiou

CMC Senior Theses

This paper investigates the reliability of the stock market’s initial reaction to M&A announcements as a predictor of actual post-acquisition performance. The two prevailing methods for evaluating M&A performance are event studies (stock market-based measures) and accounting-based measures. The present study combines these two performance evaluation approaches in a single empirical examination. Both the post-merger buy-and-hold abnormal returns and changes in ROA are used as actual post-acquisition performance variables. The acquirer’s cumulative abnormal return (CAR) around the announcement is used as the market predictor variable. An econometric model is employed to test the predictive power of the announcement-period CAR on …

Are Cds Auctions The Tail Wagging The Dog? An Empirical Study Of Corporate Bond Return Volatility At The Time Of Default, Jennifer Mace

CMC Senior Theses

Over the past decade, numerous engineered credit events and cases of market participants manipulating bond prices to influence Credit Default Swap (CDS) auction payouts have occurred. These cases have become increasingly common, and the CFTC has stated they may constitute market manipulation and undermine not only the CDS market but also the credit derivative and default markets. Although there is a plethora of news and media coverage on publicized cases, there is no previous empirical research on evidence of these practices. This paper is motivated by the desire to determine if there is indirect evidence of bond price manipulation around …