Business Commons^™

It's Like A Video Game: How To Use Twine To Create Scenario Based Learning Online, Amanda Mapel Belarmino

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

How can you engage students online by utilizing the online environment? Solution: a choose-your-own adventure style game. As an Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management, I teach a class in Strategic Management where I used a software called Twine to create a choose-your-adventure type scenario where the students make their own decisions for a business scenario and then see the consequences of their decisions.

A System Dynamic Analysis On Taiwan Sports Lottery From Stakeholders' Perspective, Day-Yang Liu

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

No abstract provided.

Identifying Opportunities To Inform And Inspire: Tribal Casino Employee Perceptions Of Tribal Self Sufficiency And Philanthropy, Sandra Sun-Ah Ponting Dr, Jess Ponting, Katherine Spilde

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

While the business case for employee engagement and satisfaction is well documented in the service profit chain and the cost savings of employee retention are easily quantified, the means to achieving these related goals in the casino industry is not well known. The pathway to employee engagement and satisfaction is even less well known in the tribal government gaming industry. This paper finds that employees in casinos that are owned by tribal governments in the United States find particular pride in sharing the tribal government’s self-sufficiency, community engagement, and philanthropic activities with casino guests, who often wonder “where the money …

Pyramids To Players Clubs: The Battle For Competitive Advantage In Las Vegas, Oliver Lovat

Occasional Papers

The evolution of the Las Vegas casinos from owner operator to the institutionally financed and corporately managed casino-resort has been the predominant feature of the evolution of the US Gaming market in the past 30 years. This paper examines the strategic frameworks used by Las Vegas casino resorts and identifies the drivers for competitive advantage moving forward.

Logistics And Supply Chain Management In The Hotel Industry: Impact On Hotel Performance In Service Delivery, Clement K. Odoom

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this professional paper is to identify and describe the way logistics and supply chain management practices can be used for costs savings. As hotel companies manage and operate their properties, they should focus on several aspects such as logistics management, inventory management, information technology, procurement and distribution, lean and green supply chain practices. Finally, this paper explores the competitive benefits that come from applying these concepts. Part three will contain a set of recommendations how they can be utilized in the hotel industry

Why China? A Study Of Why Foreign Hotel Companies Are Rushing To Develop New Luxury Hotels In China, Sean Hardingham

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of this professional paper is to identify why China is currently the number one recipient of foreign investment from foreign multinational luxury hotel companies.

Statement of Objective: An exploratory study will be conducted in support of the purpose. With such a lack of available information relating specifically to luxury hotel development in China; published data on the current economic, cultural, and tourism environment in China will be used to support conclusions made in regard to luxury hotel development by multinational hotel companies.

Justification: Deng Xiaoping’s introduction of the Open Door Policy in 1978 opened the door to …

The Marketing Plan Of The Cotai Strip, Pui Shan Wong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2003, when most the current Cotai Strip was still a piece of reclaimed land, Sheldon Adelson started a visionary development on this piece of land: the Asian Las Vegas - the Cotai Strip under the corporate Sands China Limited. Its first property, the Venetian Macau was opened in August 2007 followed with a Four Seasons hotel in 2008 with a great success. The forthcoming project is the Sands Cotai Central which includes a 1,200-rooms Holiday Inn Macau, a 600-rooms Conrad Macau and a 4,000-rooms Sheraton Macao with an additional complex of casino, meeting facilities, and shopping mall.

Marketing these …

Chinese Culture And Casino Customer Service, Qing Han

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the tightened competitive conditions in the gaming industry, it is essential for casino management to focus on customer service. Chinese customers are very important for the Las Vegas gaming market. Even though the games offered by the casinos are the core value that Chinese customers seek when visiting a casino, a warm, comfortable and intimate service will enhance their gaming experience as well. Understanding important Chinese culture factors such as superstitions, gaming characteristics and communication styles can help casino employees enhance the quality of the service they are able to offer to Chinese customers, thereby increasing satisfaction and retention.

Lean And Six Sigma In Hospitality Organizations: Benefits, Challenges, And Implementation, Justin M. Lancaster

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose:

The purpose of this paper to provide a plan and framework to successfully implement Lean and Six Sigma into a hospitality organization.

Preparation Of A New Business: Shanghai Studio, Wai Hung Wu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this professional paper is to develop a business plan for a hair salon studio concept that emphasizes customer focus and social responsibility.

Using Lean To Teach The Technical Services Value Stream: An Online Continuing Education Course, Tamera Hanken

Library Faculty Presentations

Lean Principles:

• Identify steps in the process that add customer defined value

• Identify waste in transportation, wait, overproduction, defect, inventory, motion, or extra processing

• Eliminate the steps in the process that don’t add value or are unnecessary

• Make sure the steps flow in an efficient sequence

• Establish pull, i.e., make sure the steps in the sequence don’t create bottlenecks

• Continue to improve the process

Evaluating And Implementing Web Scale Discovery Services: Part Two, Jason Vaughan, Tamera Hanken

Library Faculty Presentations

Part Four: Quick Tour of the Current Marketplace:

• "The Big 5"
• Similarities and differences

Part Five: It's Not All Sliced Bread:

• Shortcomings of web scale discovery

Part Six: Implementation (pre launch steps):

• Selecting and preparing implementation staff
• Preparing and communicating process/decisions with all staff
• Working with the vendor (roles, expectations, timeline)
• Workflow changes and implications (technical services)

Part Seven: Specific implementation tasks, issues, and considerations:

• Record loading and mapping (catalog content)
• Harvesting and mapping digital/local content
• Working with central index data (internal & external content)
• Web integration and customization
• Assessment and continuous improvement

Evaluating And Implementing Web Scale Discovery Services: Part One, Jason Vaughan, Tamera Hanken

Library Faculty Presentations

Preface: Before Web Scale Discovery

• A very brief overview

Part 1: What is Web Scale Discovery

• Content
• Technology

Part 2: Why is Web Scale Discovery important?

• What’s the need?
• How is it different from earlier attempts at broad discovery?

Part 3: A Framework for Evaluating Web Scale Discovery Services

• What we did at UNLV
• Other options

Preventing Workplace Injuries Commonly Sustained By Hotel Guestroom Attendants, Jennifer Daros

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction:

Hotels are generally organized into various departments. These provide specialized services to guests. Almost every hotel in the world has (in one form or another) a housekeeping department. Guestroom attendants (GRAs) are a primary component of any housekeeping department. GRAs (also known as maids, housekeepers, or room/suite service attendants) are employed by hotels to clean guestrooms, change bed linens, restock supplies, and provide turn down services when requested (see Appendix A). Those employed as GRAs frequently suffer injuries at work that can be costly to employers. This paper reviews some of the more common causes of GRA workplace injuries …

Hotel Front Office Training: Turning Expense Into Investment, Thomas Sanders

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The process of employee training is typically looked upon as an expense, but perhaps a more insightful view would be to consider employee training an investment. This becomes possible when employees are taught to execute service-marketing principles during customer interactions. Well-executed interactions then lead to satisfied guests, repeat purchases, and company profitability. The purpose of this paper is to develop a customer focused training guideline integrating service-marketing concepts into the front office employee training process. A literature review was conducted to identify service marketing concepts and best training practices that can be applied to the hotel employee workplace. This information …

Hospitality Loyalty Program Effectiveness Evaluation Rubric, Nazia Charania

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper examines the various loyalty program strategies and design elements utilized within the hospitality industry and evaluates the implications of the various strategies on establishing and fostering loyalty among consumers within a hyper competitive industry. In order to maintain competitive parity, many programs have constantly lowered reward thresholds and increased program offerings, making such programs very costly and with little direct evaluation in their ability to stimulate true loyalty. In a society bombarded by loyalty programs in almost all industries, consumers are becoming very savvy in comparing their personal rewards to the effort and inconveniences incurred by enrolling. The …

The Modern Brand: A Guide To The Intigration Of Csr Practices Into Hotel Branding, Matthew Warren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction:

There are certain components of the hospitality industry that make it unique in comparison to other industries. One of those components is the perishability that is associated with the hotel product. When it comes to hotel rooms, if a room is left empty then there is instantly lost profit for that property with no way of recovering it. In order to make maximum profit all rooms must be filled each night, this makes the task of attracting customers of the upmost importance within the industry. One of the primary ways in which hospitality companies have strived to attract customers …

Sustainability’S Correlation To Profit, Cheryl Annissa Drummond

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sustainability and its correlation to profits in hospitality institutions is the subject of this paper. The lack of knowledge about sustainability and the benefits of sustainable practices are discussed. The evaluation of a GreenSeal (2010) Bronze certification G46-Restaurant audit is also examined. Research includes the review of industry experts’ findings on the subject and the social costs and benefits are evaluated based on the goal of economic, ecological, and social sustainability.

Self Service Technology In Airports And The Customer Experience, Hannah Drennen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Justification:

This paper will help the airline industry identify how SST has influences customer behavior and reactions to SST while also understanding how airlines have been affected financially by the use of SST. The material discussed will help readers understand where the airline industry stood years ago, where the airline industry stands today and where it has the potential to stand 5 – 10 years down the road with the use of SST. The information will present both the positive and negative affects SST has on the airline industry and will assist in moving the industry forward in implanting SST …

Explore Guerrilla Marketing Potentials For Trade Show, Jie Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This is an exploratory research paper trying to identify effective guerrilla marketing practices in solving tradeshow marketing challenges. Major problems faced by trade show marketers are analyzed in the beginning: limited marketing budget, ineffective marketing tools and dissatisfaction from exhibitors. The study introduced guerrilla marketing methods by both exploring the theory and identifying successful cases. At the end, specific guerrilla marketing guidelines were built for tradeshow marketers.

Identify Key Business Strategies To Target The Mass Market In Macau, Chia-Li Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Statement of Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to examine Macau’s present gaming environment and identify factors that will contribute to the success of a mass gaming market in Macau. The study intends to provide economic justification and tourism policy considerations which support the growth of Macau’s mass gaming market by taking advantage of the booming Chinese economy and the fast growing popularity of gaming in China. In addition, this study will examine literature supporting Macau’s transformation from a simpler gamblers’ destination into a Las Vegas style international gaming, entertainment, and tourism destination, as well as arguments for sustaining …

Diversity Strengthening Companies In The Economic Downturn, Shandrea Daniel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of companies using diversified strategies to advance in a competitive market and withstand the economic downturn. This paper will explain the benefits of the strategies and how one can implement them in their own business. The variety of strategies and examples will be presented in a literature review and a case study about the Los Angeles Clipper franchise. The goal is to present diversified strategies as an alternate response to the decline, so companies will gain ideas about how to develop cost saving initiatives that will increase long term revenue. Furthermore …

Clean, Green, And Not So Mean: Can Business Save The World?, Andy Spackman, Celia Ross, Christy Donaldson, Louise Feldman, Patrick Griffis, Elizabeth Stephan, Laurie Bridges, Baseema Krkoska, Tony Lin, Mark Siciliano

Library Faculty Publications

No matter how you define it, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a hot topic. From community investing to business ethics to environmental sustainability and beyond, proponents of CSR view the business landscape through a lens that focuses less on profitability and more on the greater good.

“Doing well by doing good” is the business world’s new mantra. Concepts of CSR, green business, social entrepreneurship, and peace through commerce have become a focus of research and are inspiring the next generation of businesspeople. The 2010 BRASS Program gave attendees an expert’s view of certain niches within the broader realm of ethical …

Strategic Management Of Three Critical Levels Of Risk, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The financial crisis that erupted in 2007 revealed a major gap in the management systems of government and business. For the most part, governments focused on revenue growth, productivity, cost control and quality. There were many interrelated factors involved with the failures but two in particular stand out in my mind: a failure to explicitly account for risk when formulating organizational strategies and a failure to monitor and manage the risks that they had identified and assumed. Organizations face many different types of risk but often they can be categorized into three types based upon their predictability, controllability and management. …

Strategic Management In A Networked World, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The article provides guidelines to an effective approach of managing employees in the U.S. These include the ability to both detect a problem and to effectively respond to it. It is also considered important when strategies are adopted, where a collaborative action among network partners can be promoted. The author also stresses the importance of valuing and nurturing organizational learning and development.

Managing In A Time Of Crisis, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

Some managers shine during a major crisis, while others don’t. As a strategic manager, one must follow a comprehensive protocol that includes the implementation of teams, systems and tools to respond to a crisis. It also requires having an action plan in place to react quickly, manage rumors and respond to victims and stakeholders sincerely while recovering from the crises’ impact. It starts with being willing to ask and answer important questions like: What is the worst that could happen? It then requires addressing how to plan for and avert crises by securing the workplace and the proper management of …

Customization Vs. Standardization In Global Hotel Expansion, Nenad Praporski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There are numerous challenges that an international hotel chain faces when opening a property in a foreign country. The company’s response to those challenges will determine the new hotel’s overall success rate. This will in turn directly affect the corporation’s profit levels. The critical issue of this project is to define to what extent the world’s largest hotel chains utilize the theories of customization and standardization when designing a business strategy for a new property. In order to truly grasp the concept, it is essential for one to value the importance of brand standard in regards to globalization in the …

Organizational Credibility Counts, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

As economic stressors increase and voting participation decreases, it is important for public administrators to find ways to minimize the negative consequences of distrust in government and to rebuild credibility by making the necessary changes to organizational culture, improving business practices, working with the media to build new more positive relationships, and by accentuating the good news about progress made. Events like Hurricane Katrina tragically teach us how long lasting one negative event can truly be because it is truly a disaster not only for those directly affected but also for those indirectly involved due to its negative affect on …

Strategic Management Of Crises, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The article discusses the duties and responsibilities of managers in assessing workplace threats. Managers should care when someone causes harm in the workplace. It is a duty of the managers to warn through a collaborative discussion about the advantages or drawbacks in a small group meeting. It is also an obligation of managers to act when an employee indicates that he or she is being harassed or threatened.

Strategically Managing Resources And Revenue, Christine G. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The author reflects on the use of strategic management in the success of the United States Postal Service. She states that the U.S. Postal Service has used the breakthrough productivity scheme to reduce mail-processing costs and address retail locations and bulk-mail areas. She believes that the service is committed in gaining sustained success through the scheme and in serving its customers effectively.