Business Commons^™

Volkerding Family Papers (Mss 385), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 385. Letters written chiefly by Herman Frederick Wilhelm Volkerding, of Louisville, Kentucky, to his wife Mary Elizabeth (Hauber) Volkerding while traveling as a salesman for the John T. Barbee distillers. Volkerding pines for home and describes the scenery, hotels, amusements and rail travel in the western United States.

Rushing, Jon Rhett (Fa 42), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 42. [Martial arts equipment vendors] Project completed by Jon Rhett Rushing with Mike and Terri Doss (pseudonyms) and their personal narratives concerning an itinerant family selling business. Project completed for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Hester, Elizabeth Allen, B. 1956 (Fa 43), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 43. [Flea markets] Collection of typescripts, photographs and cassette tapes concerning the family/personal history and current occupation (flea market seller) of Margie Hawks. Collectioncontains a detailed account of the family history of Mrs. Hawks and their subsistence farming. Project completed by Elizabeth (Beth) Hester for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Pomerantz, Sandra Jean (Fa 36), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 36. [Mary Kay beauty consultant: Janet Stratton] Collection of transcripts, interview questions, interview indexes, and various supporting materials concerning the Mary Kay consulting business of Janet Lee Barton-Stratton, as well as family folklore and Mary Kay legends. Interview completed by Sandra Jean Pomerantz for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Imsa360: Winter 2012, Imsa Fund

IMSA Fund Reports

Last year we celebrated IMSA’s 25th anniversary. With the commencement of our 212 Seniors, we closed this incredible chapter of IMSA’s history knowing that these young men and women have joined a long line of IMSA alumni whose life work has made an important, positive impact. While the past 25 years have seen IMSA graduates become great leaders in new fields and new careers, they have also seen even more IMSA alumni making less famous but equally as important contributions.

In addition to our Seniors, we also “graduated” more than 3,547 students and 727 teachers whom we served last year …

Maintaining Relevance In A Changing World, Robertico R. Croes, Manuel A. Rivera, Seung Hyan Lee, Valeriya Shapoval, Nancy Kageyama, Milos Bujisic, Anil Bilgihan, Eric D. Olson

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

Bok Tower Gardens (BTG) is located in Lake Wales, between Tampa and Orlando, and offers the Singing Tower, the gardens, the Pine Ridge Trail and the Pinewood Estate along with a visitor center and a café. BTG stretches nearly 50 acres of Olmsted Gardens and is built on Iron Mountain, one of the highest points in Peninsular Florida. The Gardens is listed as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. BTG recorded 149,888 visits in 2011, slightly more than its 2002‐2010 average of 133,045. Increasing total visitation is an important goal for BTG. At the request …

Beckon The Dragon: How Businesses Can Attract The Chinese Consumers Through Digital Marketing, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

With a population of more than 1.3 billion people, China is one market that any business would be remiss not to attract. But, with the population spread over an area of 9,600,000 sq km, how do businesses ensure their messages get through to their potential customers?

The Impact Of Social Networking Sites On College Students' Consumption Patterns, Whitney Sue Thoene

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This research study examines the effect of social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, on the purchasing habits of college students by testing for correlations between recommendations on social media and consumption patterns. Moreover, the research also examines the role of gender and social media usage frequency on consumption patterns. Findings revealed that both Facebook and Twitter are being used to obtain sales information and promotions. Furthermore, gender has an impact on both social networking sites. Additionally, this study found the higher the frequency of social media usage the more likely customers are to shop at the businesses they have befriended.

King's Daughters Medical Center: Taking Medicine Further: How A Local Health System Strives To Bring World Class Care To A Rural Community, Nga Thi Chu, Anthony Dotson, Xiaofei Wang

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

King’s Daughters Health System is a network of companies located in Ashland, Kentucky. The leadership of King’s Daughters employs a corporate level strategy successfully by deciding to diversify their services into similar industries. They entered the retail industry by opening King’s Daughters Home Health and selling home health furnishings and equipment. By creating King’s Daughters Medial Transport, they entered the transportation industry. Insurance sale with King’s Daughters Integrated Health Insurance is another way they diversified. Externally the environment influences King’s Daughters Health System in many ways. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are the one factor that has the …

An Examination Of Star Players' Effects On The Branding Process Of Professional Sports Teams, Nathan David Pifer

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Although various models and real-life examples seem to convey its presence, the relationship between star players and the branding process of professional sports teams is one that remains rather vague and unquantified. Though numerous examples seem to suggest that star players are capable of exerting an effect on a team’s brand, more thorough analysis is required in order to decipher which areas of a brand’s development are more or less affected by these marquee athletes. Taking responses from survey questionnaires containing 40 items pertinent to the topic, this study deployed Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to uncover six underlying factors that …

Hermes International, Phuong Tran

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Hermes International Company is the second strongest brand in luxury industry. They have spent more than 100 years to make Hermes name as famous as today. With 3,000 million euro in average revenue, Hermes has a very strong financial position and potential growth compare to other competitors. Their products are always well-designed, high quality, and fashionable. They do not make good products but extremely good ones. Hermes’ target customers are wealthy people who have high level of income and are interested in luxury items. With more than 300 stores all over the world, Hermes is working on their ways to …

Bank Of America: Is Bigger Always Better?, Marty Gillenwater

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Bank of America is the largest bank in the world for now. The case is an attempt to see how the bank got to the point where it is today. It was interesting to follow the flow from two small banks through their histories and how they became one large institution. Now, acting as the one entity, Bank of America, there are many pressing issues facing it. The firm has many internal problems before even addressing the external environment. This is not only the competitors in the market but also the environment itself. The case addresses some of them and …

The Innovative Success That Is Apple, Inc., Katherine Johnson, Yang Li, Hang Phan, Jason Singer, Hoang Trinh

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Apple, Inc. has been a successful company for years now. However, the company faces issues just like any other company. How Apple responds to these issues is in conjunction to the strengths and weaknesses of the firm. The business-level strategy of Apple also has much to do with how the company approaches various situations. The diversity and organization of the firm itself helps to address any issues that may arise. Competing in high level competitive industries also requires Apple Inc. changing day by day in order to overcome its competitors.

Advertising Budget And Sales Paths Under The Dynamics Of The Student Work Control Problem And Regularity Requirements, Aharon Hibshoosh

Faculty Publications

Consider a firm promoting a product in a fast expanding industry by using advertising as its single promotional tool. The firm's objective is to minimize the overall cost of advertising necessary for reaching certain target sales of the product by the end of a given planning period. We adopt the Student Work Control problem (SWC) framework for modeling this marketing context, in general, and the advertising-sales response function, in particular. We compare the SWC's optimal control budgeting principle with the solutions of equally effective, alternative advertising budgeting principles, which require strong regularity conditions on the path of either the advertising …

The Importance Of The Historical Tang Dynasty In Place Branding Contemporary Xi'an, Norman Harry Rothschild, Ilan Alon, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunity of utilizing Tang dynasty history, heritage, buildings and names in the effort to place brand the contemporary city Xi'an.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a conceptual framework for place branding cities consisting of two main dimensions. The first describes the continuum of functional versus emotional values within a city; the second measures the degree to which the image of a place is historical or contemporary. The paper then employs historical analysis to examine the meaning and construction of a Tang dynasty brand for place branding twenty-first century Xi'an. …

Beckon The Dragon: How Businesses Can Attract The Chinese Consumers Through Digital Marketing, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The rise of China to the world’s second largest economy has seen a boom in its consumer market with its citizens having more purchasing power. China’s retail market is growing rapidly, including the trend of online shopping with the expansion of the credit card industry. As more and more Chinese citizens get online, the internet is slowly becoming a powerful tool for businesses to reach out to them.

Infomercial: A Marketing Odyssey, Bligh Macdonald

Undergraduate Review

Few forms of media are so derided as the infomercial. It seems to ooze tackiness and low production standards, coupled with shameless pandering and questionable selling points. Still, the infomercial, or “direct-response” commercial, can be an astoundingly effective selling tool. In this age of ubiquitous mass media, infomercials for products such as the “Snuggie” and the “Shake Weight” have used their inherent “butt-of-joke” qualities to make millions and to attain cultural icon status. For this project, I researched the infomercial as a genre in an attempt to explain its success and rhetorical appeal. I then applied my analysis to the …

A Study Of Visual Puffery In Fragrance Advertising: Is The Message Sent Stronger Than The Actual Scent?, Mark Toncar, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper investigates visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects’ expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations. It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations.

Design/methodology/approach - By means of a semiotic analysis we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare …

Reaching Smokers Via Email Blasts - Cost Effective Blast To The Future, Alice Dalla-Palu Mpa, Ctts-M, Cac, Jeanne Fignar Aas, Edward Frack Ba

Department of Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Counterfeits, Copying And Class, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

Consumers who want to express themselves by wearing contemporary clothing styles should not have to choose between expensive brands and counterfeit products. There should be a clear distinction in trademark law between illegal, counterfeit goods and perfectly legal (at least with respect to trademark law) "knockoffs," in which aesthetically functional design attributes have been copied but trademarks have not. Toward that end, as a normative matter, the aesthetic features of products should not be registrable or protectable as trademarks or trade dress, regardless of whether they have secondary meaning, just as functional attributes of a utilitarian nature are not eligible …

Finanzkapital And Consumers: How Financialization Shaped Twentieth Century Marketing, Nikhilesh Dholakia

College of Business Faculty Publications

Purpose – By tracing the history of the links of financialization to consumer behaviors and marketer actions in the twentieth century, this paper aims to show that consumer market phenomena are often shaped by the imperatives of finance.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs selective historical overviews, mainly focusing on the USA, of four tranches of the past century: the run up to the Great Depression; from post-Depression to the Second World War; the post-Second World War Bretton Woods system and its collapse in the 1970s; and the increasingly risk-charged last three post-Bretton Woods decades of the twentieth century.

Findings – …

Remixing Business Models: Technology And The Future Of The Modern Music Industry, Ryan Brown

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

The music industry has undergone significant changes over the past decade. The growth of the Internet has caused record labels to reevaluate the ways in which they obtain revenue, market their products, and compensate their artists. However, the industry as a whole has been very slow to adapt to new technology, which has caused widespread industry problems such as music piracy and reduced revenues. In addition, new forums for showcasing new artists, such as YouTube and other social media outlets, have given new artists increasing power to market themselves and achieve success with a reduced reliance on the resources and …

A Resolution Model Of Consumer Irritation Consequences And Company Strategies: Social Networking And Strategy Implications, Sweta Thota

Marketing (Formerly Marketing and Law)

This paper utilizes the cognitive-neoassociationistic model, primacy and recency effects to propose superior memory for previously encountered irritating encounters. Since consumers do not forget irritating stimuli encountered in the past, this paper addresses the under-researched issue - how do consumers handle previously encountered irritations? The paper models its propositions on previous research on negative emotions (Nyer 1997) and suggests that consumers choose one of these paths to handle their irritation: taking no action, engaging in negative word of mouth (NWOM) behavior or complain to the company. Along this vein, the paper identifies three segments based on consumer responses to irritation: …

A Comparative Study Of Prospective Natural Gas For Vehicle (Ngv) Buyers' Behavior Intention In Thailand, Howard W. Combs, N. Likitsuwannakool, S. Chaipoopirutana

Faculty Publications

This study examines the prospects of how Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) could gain more popularity, and more consumers, throughout Thailand. A survey of 500 potential consumers, comprising l00 respondents in each of the five separate regions, identified relevant geographic locations, demographic factors and their impact on behavior intention. The results of the study suggest that consumer’s behavioral intentions toward NGV are affected by factors pertaining to social influences and NGV attributes. Each group contains several sub-variables and is used in verifying its individual impact on consumer’s behavioral intention, while the differences in vehicle factors did not strongly affect the behavior …

A Structural Guide To In-Depth Interviewing In Business And Industrial Marketing Research, Elad Granot, Thomas Brashear Alejandro, Paulo Cesar Motta

Business Faculty Publications

Purpose – The authors aim to present a structural guide for data collection in a participant-oriented, B2B context. Design/methodology/approach – A three-stage interview process following the work of Seidman is presented, along with key issues on how to plan, structure, and execute a B2B interview-based hermenuetic ethnographic study. Research limitations/implications – The framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of the research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required. Originality/value – There is a serious gap in …

Price Dispersion In The Airline Industry: A Conceptual Framework And Empirical Analysis, Edward D. Gailey, Ashutosh Dixit, Thomas W. Whipple, Rajshekar G. Javalgi

Business Faculty Publications

Many businesses compete in multiple markets which can cause businesses to temper their price adjustments, affecting price dispersion. The authors propose a framework based on major characteristics of competition and market structure which influence price dispersion. The focus of this study is the U.S. airline industry analyzing data from 5,974 city pair routes. The results of this empirical analysis show that multi-market contact and the interaction of market concentration with multi-market contact have considerable effects on price dispersion. An understanding of these effects provides valuable insights for developing pricing strategies and extending the stream of research on price dispersion.

Comparative Study: The Impact Of The Sw3 Armband And Physical Activity Logbook In Promoting Physical Activity Adherence, Bernie Cunningham, Suzanne Kennedy, Joseph English, Humphrey Murphy

Irish Business Journal

The purpose of this study is to compare the impact of portable body sensing technology (SW3 Armband) to a traditional approach, a Physical Activity Logbook (PAL) in promoting physical activity adherence. Participant’s physical activity adherence levels were recorded over a six month period. The primary research involved a six month physical activity programme that commenced in October 2010 and finished in April 2011. Females (n=30) were recruited through a local newspaper and a radio advertisement. Participants were randomised to an Intervention Group (n=15) or a Control Group (n=15). To be eligible to participate in the study the following criteria applied: …

Fair Trade, Marketing And Consumer Behaviour, Brigit Derler, Vicky O'Rourke, Simon Stephens

Irish Business Journal

This paper examines different aspects of fair trade marketing. Firstly, secondary research examines the development, advantages and challenges of fair trade. Secondly, primary research explores consumer buying behaviour in Ireland and Austria in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) market. Thirdly, the attitudes of consumers towards mainstreaming and clean-washing are explored. Phase one of the data collection involved one hundred and twenty consumer surveys. In phase two exploratory research using mixed modes collected data from nine suppliers of fair trade FMCGs. The findings suggest that the effects of mainstreaming are perceived to be predominantly positive. The research findings also suggest …

Advertising The Thin Ideal-The Effect On Women, Christine Murphy

Irish Business Journal

Debate on the thin ideal has been prevalent for many decades, however given the substantial increase in eating disorders and the omnipresent influence of the media the time is now ripe for decisive action in the area of women in advertising. Most research in this area has focused on the psychological impact of the thin ideal. The new research presented in this paper is important as it explores the marketing implications of the portrayal of women in the fashion and cosmetic industry. The success of this industry depends entirely on how receptive consumers are to the images portrayed. This paper …

Consumer Xenocentrism And Consumer Cosmopolitanism: The De-Velopment And Validation Of Scales Of Constructs Influencing Attitudes Towards Foreign Product Consumption, Steven James Lawrence

Wayne State University Dissertations

Like many other attributes, consumers exhibit varying degrees of preference with regard to foreign and domestic products. Some consumers have preferences for domestic products while other, seemingly similar, consumers prefer the foreign counterpart. Product quality differences aside, we aim to investigate the attitudinal constructs behind the varying preferences among consumers as they relate to foreign and domestic products.

The author created two new scales for the measurement of the consumer xenocentrism and consumer cosmopolitanism constructs. The consumer xenocentrism scale is intended to measure consumers' favorable orientations to products from outside their membership group. The consumer cosmopolitanism scale is designed to …