Business Commons^™

The Generalized Dea Model Of Fundamental Analysis Of Public Firms, With Application To Portfolio Selection, Xin Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

Fundamental analysis is an approach for evaluating a public firm for its investmentworthiness by looking at its business at the basic or fundamental financial level. The focus of this thesis is on utilizing financial statement data and a new generalization of the Data Envelopment Analysis, termed the GDEA model, to determine a relative financial strength (RFS) indicator that represents the underlying business strength of a firm. This approach is based on maximizing a correlation metric between GDEA-based score of financial strength and stock price performance. The correlation maximization problem is a difficult binary nonlinear optimization that requires iterative re-configuration of …

Radical Impact Of Change In Actions And Confidence Index On Reverse Decision Making An Application Based Study, Swatee Trimbak Paithankar

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

While making decisions under uncertainty, people are often unaware of the logical approach to form the decision process. It is assumed that collecting details, analyzing and evaluating data is enough to make 'proper' decisions. However, past research in the decision making arena has significantly validated that there exists a class of decision problems which is complex, ill-structured and not defined to the level where decision makers can draw logical conclusions based on existing traditional decision approaches. RDM (reverse decision making), one of the novel approaches of decision making under conditions of uncertainty, has shown potential towards addressing some of these …

Algorithms For Multi-Sample Cluster Analysis, Fahad Almutairi

Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, we develop algorithms to solve the Multi-Sample Cluster Analysis (MSCA) problem. This problem arises when we have multiple samples and we need to find the statistical model that best fits the cluster structure of these samples. One important area among others in which our algorithms can be used is international market segmentation. In this area, samples about customers’preferences and characteristics are collected from di¤erent regions in the market. The goal in this case is to join the regions with similar customers’characteristics in clusters (segments).

We develop branch and bound algorithms and a genetic algorithm. In these algorithms, …

Approximation Methods For The Standard Deviation Of Flow Times In The G/G/S Queue, Xiaofeng Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

We provide approximation methods for the standard deviation of flow time in system for a general multi-server queue with infinite waiting capacity (G / G / s ). The approximations require only the mean and standard deviation or the coefficient of variation of the inter-arrival and service time distributions, and the number of servers.

These approximations are simple enough to be implemented in manual or spreadsheet calculations, but in comparisons to Monte Carlo simulations have proven to give good approximations (within ±10%) for cases in which the coefficients of variation for the interarrival and service times are between 0 …

Ethical Marketing Controversial Products And Promotional Practices, Jared D. Cohen

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In the field of business ethics, there has been much written and discussed about ethical matters in areas where there is a distinct right and wrong, but relatively little written about how to make decisions when the ethical issue isn’t as black and white. When marketing a product, it is one’s hope that ethical issues are typically not inherent to the marketer; however, when one has the unenviable task of marketing a controversial product, it becomes a true question of “gray-area” ethics that makes marketing decisions more difficult to make. Companies depend on marketing, as it is the one higher-level …

Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (Ceai): Refinement And Validation Of A Survey Measure, Michael S. Cates

Theses and Dissertations

The study of corporate entrepreneurship has established itself as a valuable area of research for both public and private-sector organizations. The measurement instrument known as the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Index (CEAI) has been designed to tap the climate-related organizational factors that represent and potentially encourage corporate entrepreneurship. This study is an attempt to refine the CEAI. The core constructs of the CEAI are redefined, the items are tested for content validity, the factor structure is analyzed, and the CEAI is correlated to other known measures to validate the CEAI. Through this testing, the CEAI was refined and found to be …

A Project Manager's Personal Attributes As Predictors For Success, Vhance V. Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine what personal attributes project managers (PMs) possess which leads them to project management success. Numerous attributes are identified in the literature through a variety of methods, but very few studies relate specific qualities to success. The traits identified in the literature were compiled and condensed into seven distinct skills and attributes: leadership ability, communication skill, decision making skill, administrative skill, coping ability, analytical thinking, and technical competence. A survey method was developed which involved the PM, to measure levels of each attribute, and the PM’s supervisor and project data, to provide a …

Hi-Tech Cheating: A Study Of Student Attitudes On Academic Dishonesty Involving The Use Of Information Technology, Michael P. Smith

LSU Master's Theses

Despite the fact that research into cheating has continued for several decades, cheating in higher education appears to be widespread and endemic. This may be particularly troublesome for business school students, who, according to some research, appear to cheat more than students in other curriculums. Technology is giving students new opportunities to cheat. Companies are developing products specifically designed to help students cheat. Although there are some resources and tools to help faculty monitor things such as plagiarism, technology is providing a continuous stream of new opportunities for students to cheat, oftentimes without a high likelihood of being caught. Beliefs …

Mitigating Disaster: Mapping Cognitive Processes In Applying Technology To Crises, John Clinton Borne

LSU Master's Theses

Extreme events are sometimes defined as unexpected events in which local resources are insufficient to cope with the extent of the damage and require outside resources to address the hazards specific to the event. For that reason, communities immediately adjacent to disaster areas have a unique and important role in the study of measures to mitigate the effects of the resulting hazards to human life and property. This exploratory study looks at the use of information technology in conjunction with disaster mitigation activities in areas adjacent to a large disaster. The experiences, thoughts, and beliefs of individuals involved in mitigation …

Learning To Co-Create The Solutions We Seek: The Art Of Hosting A Nonprofit Organization, Jeannel E. King

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The Art of Hosting is an emergent leadership model that compliments rapidly changing business needs and environments. This paper presents grounded theory on Art of Hosting components, including the Four Fold Invitation, Hobbit Tools, Five Diamonds of Participation, and Harvesting. An in-depth case study describes the use of Hosting architecture as the design for a nonprofit organization. While the Art of Hosting is effective for involving the community in discussions to co-create solutions to difficult problems, the practice does not easily facilitate a transition from discussion to action. As a framework for operating a nonprofit organization, further research is necessary …