Business Commons^™

How To Build Student Organizations In A Post-Pandemic World: A Strategic Analysis, Allison Karr

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

As student organizations recover from the damaging effects of COVID, how do they encourage membership retention and involvement? Post-pandemic, the Beta Alpha Psi chapter at the University of Nebraska at Omaha has had an involvement problem, which stems from there being a misalignment between the value that students desire and the value that the organization provides. To find the areas of the misalignment, different values offered by student organizations were identified. Then, the significance attributed to each value by Beta Alpha Psi members was assessed, and the extent to which Beta Alpha Psi delivers on each of these values was …

Leadership Behaviors, Practices, And Sytles In Mergers And Acquisitions In The U.S. Technology-Based Organizations: A Qualitative Study, Susan E. Glover

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Leaders guide and shape the success of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to meet an organization’s goals and objectives. In this study, I explored the role of leadership during M&A and the effect of different leadership behaviors, practices, and styles (BPS) on different organizational cultures during M&A. This study explored the contribution of leadership BPS on M&A outcomes within an organization with a robust and innovative culture. I focused on the human capital investment strategies of M&A integration concerning different leadership BPS utilized to improve the success rate of M&A goals and objectives. I concentrated on technology-based organizations because they are …

Towards Agile Academia: An Approach To Scientific Paper Writing Inspired By Software Engineering, Tyler Procko

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The construction of scientific papers is performed in service of the greater scientific community. This iterative process is, in effect, an academic economy, where all members benefit from well-written papers. However, many published scientific papers are poorly written; they often lack sufficient detail to allow replication, there is improper usage of citations or a lack of regard to relevant work, reporting is vague or without linked empirical data to allow verification, figures do not correspond to text or are non-sensical, literary elements, e.g., bulleted lists, are used ineffectively, formatting renders certain sections unreadable, and grammatical errors abound. The issues of …

Successfully Scaling Digital Technology Ventures: An Empirical Study Of The Strategic Choices That Maximize Firm Value, Scott Morris

Dissertations

Our study aims to understand the choices managers working for subscription-based digital ventures must make at arguably the most critical juncture of their firm’s lifecycle. With few slack resources to repair mistakes, managers at these scaling firms must make decisions that are larger in scope and scale than in the start-up phase. Tradeoffs are often required as decision-makers face choices such as investing more resources in sales and marketing to drive growth or in product development to improve quality and add new products or features. In many instances, the question is whether to forego some growth opportunities to maximize profitability …

Combatting Consolidation In The United States Banking Industry: An Analysis Of Performance And Strategy Of First National Bank Of Clarksdale, Lydia Johnsey

Honors Theses

This thesis is based on a submission with group members in the 2023 Case Study Competition for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. This thesis includes additional background information not included in the original competition paper in order to clarify the competition standards and goal of the paper. This thesis evaluates First National Bank of Clarksdale with respect to two areas: financial analysis, which evaluates earnings performance, loan portfolio composition, asset growth, capital levels, and liquidity of the bank; and strategy, which includes staffing, succession, training, and technology strategies instituted by bank management. Data from the bank’s Uniform Bank Performance …

Testimonios Of Latinas In The Federal Government Senior Executive Service: Honoring Women Who Excel In Public Service, Amarylis Lopez

Theses & Dissertations

The Senior Executive Service (SES) is the highest tier of executive management and leadership in the federal government. The Latino/a population has significantly increased in the past three decades with no corresponding increase in the federal workforce and the number of Latinos/as serving in the SES remains low. As Latinos/as in the SES are largely underrepresented, their ability to influence federal policies is significantly undermined. The purpose of this study is to explore the testimonios (testimonies) of Latinas in the SES to better understand their experiences while navigating entry into the SES and maintaining their respective positions.

This study used …

Driving Forces Of Mining Outsourcing: Evidence From China, Bingxu Zheng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The outsourcing of services by mining enterprises has become a significant global trend. Classic studies have demonstrated that outsourcing can help enterprises obtain professional services, improving productivity and reducing production costs. However, as a transitional economy, China has its unique characteristics regarding the driving forces of service outsourcing. By employing a case study method, one mining service outsourcing provider, and five mining enterprises' interviews and archival data, this study constructs a theory to identify the driving forces and mechanisms of mining enterprises' choice of service outsourcing and a logic relationship between variables via a diagram.

The case study results reveal …

The Effects Of A Private Domain Strategy On Retail Sales Performance, Jianzhong Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The proliferation of Internet technology has led people to become increasingly accustomed to online consumption, thus forming a substitution effect for offline consumption. In particular, the development of social media helps retailers circumvent public domain platforms and develop their own controllable private domain channels to cultivate emotionally connected loyal consumers and finally realize the monetization of emotional relationships. Through empirical study of the quarterly data of 244 self-operated stores of Sanse Corporation in the fourth quarter of 2022, this research obtained the following results: 1. The implementation of private domain marketing strategies, including private domain membership development strategies, live conversion …

Hard Seltzers In Europe: A Sparkling Opportunity? An Analysis Of The Market Potential For Hard Seltzers In Europe, Amanda R. Harper

Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to uncover the potential for the hard seltzer category in the European alcohol market. First, through secondary research, it establishes the conditions of entering the European alcohol market by looking at the challenges of entering markets abroad, the challenges of entering the European market, and the history and current state of alcohol in Europe. Second, this thesis will analyze the history and characteristics of the hard seltzer category. This will include profiles of seven key brands: White Claw, Truly, Bud Light Seltzer, Vizzy, Topo Chico, Mike’s Hard Seltzer, and Pure Piraña. Next, this thesis will analyze primary …

How Refugees Can Be Integrated Into Development In Malawi Through An Entrepreneurship Approach, Desire Patience Iraguha

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The study examines the potential of entrepreneurship as a means to effectively integrate refugees into the economic and social development of Malawi. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research incorporates interviews with refugees and key stakeholders, a survey of refugee entrepreneurs, and a comprehensive literature review on entrepreneurship and refugee integration. The findings underscore the transformative power of entrepreneurship in facilitating economic self-sufficiency for refugees and promoting their integration into the host community. The study identifies various challenges confronted by refugee entrepreneurs in Malawi, such as limited access to financial resources, language barriers, and legal obstacles to business establishment. To address …

Soft System Methodology Applied To Stakeholder Engagement In Social Services Nonprofit Organizations, Robyn Chin

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explored the challenges of a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a non-profit social service organization, and the value of employing a systems thinking approach to problem formulation and problem-solving to address its challenges. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a systems-informed framework, encourages collective learning and fosters an appreciation for differing perspectives about problem formulation amongst stakeholders instead of rushing to solve predefined issues. One common challenge from current research is that due to reliance on sparse profits and grants earmarked for programmatic endeavors, there is insufficient funding for organizational development. The literature also identified a deficit in stakeholder engagement …

Using Input From Administrative Staff To Make Cost-Effective Decisions For Telecommuting, Technology, And Productivity During The Covid-19 Era, Chika Egemba

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The purpose of this research was to examine if collaborative technologies enhance productivity in the face of remote work during the COVID-19 era using the diffusion of innovation framework. Dothan Housing is a Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion Agency under the Landlord Incentive Cohort #3. This means the agency was granted certain flexibility to pursue innovation. This research study used a post-positivist philosophy and a quantitative research design to investigate the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of Dothan Housing administrative staff about their experience with telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were selected from among Dothan Housing staff who were …

The Impact Of Racism: Experience Of Black Women Leaders In The Public Sector, Maisha Inaya Giles

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Despite the Civil Right Act and a myriad of DEI initiatives that claim to create an anti-discrimination and antiracism environment, Black women leaders still experience racism, discrimination, and disrespect in the workplace. Black women are less likely to be promoted than their White counterparts, and over 25% of Black women reported that their social identities led to a missed advancement opportunity (McKinsey & Lean In, 2022). Society is in the midst of a unique time in history where government institutions, willingly or forced, are having difficult conversations regarding institutional racism. The national movement that declares racism as a public health …

Ceo Characteristics And Compensation In Fortune 100 Companies, Adam C. Carroll

Theses & Dissertations

The existing literature on CEO compensation places heavy emphasis on the interrelationships between educational background and personal experiences of a CEO and how it affects a firm’s performance and, in-turn, how the firm’s performance impacts the CEO compensation. However, there is sparse research on the direct impact that socio-demographic factors and other variables have on CEO compensation. This dissertation’s aim is to identify if socio-demographic factors play a role in how a firm compensates its CEOs by using information gathered from the CEOs of the top Fortune 100 companies.

Given the non-random and limited sample, the primary research methods in …

Reducing The Cost Of Agency: Looking Beyond Top Management Teams, Stephen C. Giles

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

The year 2020 demonstrates that powerful forces exist in the external environment, which may threaten a firm’s survival, but agency problems, within the organization, persist even in years where there are minimal external pressures on the firm. Agency costs can present meaningful challenges to the firm beyond the chief executive and top management team, and the concept of agency is applicable to all employees, not just management. An organizational learning culture is proposed to both aid firms in reducing the cost associated with agency, as well as to enable firms to adapt to rapid changes in the external environment. In …

Empirical Study Of Cashback Affiliate Strategy: Evidence From A Cashback Website, Liu Xinyong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the rapid development of internet technology, e-commerce has become increasingly prosperous with online shopping increasingly penetrating into the daily life of consumers. Online channel has become an indispensable channel for merchants to reach their customers. To improve sales performance and address competition from rivals, online merchants have developed various promotion methods. Cashback promotion has gradually become one of the popular promotion methods, and attracted attention from scholars. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between cashbacks and consumer behaviors using data on Taobao merchants on a large cashback website in China. Two studies with a large number of transaction …

A Bright Idea: Assessing Stakeholder Impact Of Social Sustainability Strategies, Sara Theis

Dissertations

The performing arts industry is experiencing an awakening in terms of the need to integrate inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) into their practices. This is the result of calls for change in the industry from members of historically marginalized communities. The challenge is that in order for social sustainability strategies like IDEA to be effective, they need to integrate them into the organization’s culture (Serafeim, 2020). IDEA cannot be a checklist. Using stakeholder theory and resource-based view as theoretical foundations, this qualitative case study examines one exemplary organization that has differentiated on social sustainability for decades. In 27 open …

The Impact Of Board Heterogeneity On Corporate Internationalization Strategy, Yi Qiang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study analyzes the relationship between board heterogeneity and the company’s internationalization strategy to determine the internal mechanism through which board heterogeneity affects the company’s internationalization strategy. Based on the analysis of the primary effect, the moderating effects of contextual factors at various levels, such as individual, organization, and environment, are introduced. Subsequently, this study empirically tests the proposed research hypothesis using the data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2020.

The empirical results indicate that board heterogeneity has a positive impact on the company’s internationalization strategy. When the board chairman is female or has a longer tenure, board …

How An Abusive Supervision Climate Impacts Business-To-Business (B2b) Sales Performance, And The Roles Of Leader–Members Interdependence And Team Psychological Safety, Matthew J. Daniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sales supervisors can tremendously influence the sales teams they manage, and their behaviors can influence a team’s engagement and sales performance. Because of the supervisor’s influential role, their behavior, positive or negative, can ripple throughout the organization. As a result, a supervisor who role models abusive behavior within their organization also promotes a climate of abuse and incivility that can contribute to a toxic workplace. Abusive supervision (AS) is a significant problem in many business-to-business (B2B) sales organizations that negatively impacts the financial welfare and subjective well-being of organizations and their employees. This quantitative correlational study aimed to examine how …

Study Of Stochastic Market Clearing Problems In Power Systems With High Renewable Integration, Saumya Sakitha Sashrika Ariyarathne

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

Integrating large-scale renewable energy resources into the power grid poses several operational and economic problems due to their inherently stochastic nature. The lack of predictability of renewable outputs deteriorates the power grid’s reliability. The power system operators have recognized this need to account for uncertainty in making operational decisions and forming electricity pricing. In this regard, this dissertation studies three aspects that aid large-scale renewable integration into power systems. 1. We develop a nonparametric change point-based statistical model to generate scenarios that accurately capture the renewable generation stochastic processes; 2. We design new pricing mechanisms derived from alternative stochastic programming …

A Digital Leadership Lens For A Physical World: Digital Transformation Levers Of Control For Incumbent Companies, Michael J. Seals

Dissertations

A new wave of advanced technologies is disrupting companies of all types and transforming business models within every industry. Long-standing industrial firms that rose to prominence in a pre-digital economy are particularly vulnerable. Prevailing views suggest these companies (hereafter referred to as incumbents) must reimagine their value propositions and transform themselves by leveraging today’s advanced technologies. The opportunities provided by these advanced technologies will significantly affect incumbents whether they participate or not. The pursuit of these opportunities, commonly referred to as digital transformation (DX), is the focus of our research.

Traditional technology-enabled business endeavors creating incremental operational improvements fell within …

Defining Regenerative Business Through The Context Of Place: A Case Study West Michigan Businesses, Aislinn Teachout, Aislinn Teachout

Masters Theses

This study builds upon existing scholarly literature on regenerative design and regenerative sustainability by relating the framework to existing West Michigan businesses and their place-specific practices. Applying concepts from those more developed fields to business sustainability, this paper contributes to the still emerging field of regenerative business by proposing a comprehensive definition of regenerative business. The definition is then applied to three businesses in a case study format to highlight regenerative business practices. While none of the businesses highlighted claim to be regenerative, all have examples of practices that demonstrate regenerative action and enhance the West Michigan community.

By defining …

Key Factors In The Strategic Transformation Of Traditional Food Enterprises In China, Hui Ching Lau

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The food industry is an important industry for China’s social development and one of the pillar industries of China's industrial economy. With the development of China’s urbanization, the victory of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, consumer demand has become diversified and rationalized from “seeking for fullness” to “seeking for good”. In this context, the supplier of food products, that is, food companies, has become more competitive in market segments. With the continuous improvement of China's market openness, many top international food companies have flooded into the food industry. Coupled …

A Study On The Role Of Innovative Enterprise-Farmer Contracts In The Sustainable Development Of Agricultural Industrialization - A Perspective Based On Ghm Theroy, Yanjie Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Agricultural industrialization is the primary channel to promote large-scale agricultural production, intensive processing, and marketing, enhancing agricultural production efficiency. In the long run, promoting agricultural industrialization is conducive to the deep integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. It can improve the comparative efficiency of agriculture and reduce poverty by promoting the employment of agricultural labor and the flow of production factors between urban and rural areas. The model of “leading enterprises+farmers” is a significant agricultural industrialization business model. In China, the development of agricultural industrialization is late and fast, and more problems have emerged in the development. The contractual …

Three Essays On The Effect Of Scarcity On Consumer Behavior And Firm Performance, Pritosh Kumar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies have consistently shown that scarcity plays a significant role in shaping decision making. Under conditions of scarcity, individuals tend to behave impulsively, and firms are inclined to redefine their set of priorities and strategies, ultimately impacting their performance. Considering the scant investigation of the mechanisms and effects of scarcity in the supply chain management literature, this dissertation aimed to investigate the roles of scarcity in shaping consumer behavior and firm strategy in three essays.

The first essay investigated the effect of post-stockout scarcity disclosures on consumer responses to stockouts through the lens of product scarcity and signaling theory. The …

Factors Influencing The Adoption Of Smart-Home Appliances: Users' Perspectives, Prakash Shahi

Dissertations

Smart appliances will be a significant part of the annual $300 billion smart-home market by 2025. Their use is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 31% for the foreseeable future. Currently, 12-16% of households use smart-home products in the U.S., including thermostats, TVs, refrigerators, coffee machines, garage door openers, and vision-equipped doorbells. Smart appliances provide significant benefits to us over traditional appliances. Smart appliances simplify our lives by automating various tasks in our homes and allowing us to monitor and control them remotely from our offices, grocery stores, and wherever we may be.

Despite the usefulness …

Les Deux Jeannots: An Investigation Of Firm Behavior In Corrupt Environments, Howard Jean-Denis

Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, members of the African Diaspora have endured the brunt of slavery, colonization, economic challenges, and corruption which was imposed on them by their colonial rulers. As a proud descendant of these original, indigenous African groups of people, I embarked on this dissertation to explore the role of the managerial perceptions and indigenous philosophies held by this focal group on their ultimate organizational strategy. Strategic management research has established that organizations with valuable resources and relevant competencies, as well as those which are dynamically capable, will perform better than firms that do not have these capabilities (Barney, 1991; Teece, 1997, …

Scenario Acceleration Through Automated Modelling: A Method And System For Creating Traceable Quantitative Future Scenarios Based On Fcm System Modeling And Natural Language Processing, Christopher W.H. Davis

Dissertations and Theses

Scenario planning is used extensively in strategic planning because it helps leaders broaden their perspectives and make better decisions by presenting possible futures in story form. Some of the benefits of using scenarios include breaking away from groupthink, creating better products, acceleration of organization learning and reducing bias. Product development teams, particularly for digital products, are gaining more autonomy in organizations and tend to manage risk by undergoing very short development iterations on their products while leaning on their consumers for feedback -- a process known as agile development. This method tends to limit the perspective of the team and …

Essays On Financial Materiality Of Corporate Social Responsibility And Corporate Strategies, Yang Lan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation investigates how the endorsement of certain social activities by CSR standards impacts stakeholders’ interpretation on firms’ motivation of doing CSR and how managers make decisions on which specific CSR activities they would like to participate in. The first essay examines how the standards release of CSR by Sustainability and Accounting Standards Board (SASB) affects the relationship between material CSR and firm performance outcomes in terms of stock returns (for investors) and sales growth (for customers), through shaping investor and customer perceptions on the motivation underlying a firm’s material CSR activities. I further argue that a sharp increase in …

A Glimmer Of Hope: Environmental Change And Strategy Adaptation At World Wrestling Entertainment (Wwe), Siraat Mustafa Jd/Mba

Major Papers

This paper addresses the strategic and environmental adaptation of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the undisputed leader in the professional wrestling and sports entertainment industry. With over three decades of dominance, the WWE surpassed $1 billion in revenues and continues to produce live content in new ways, which successfully increased audience interaction and engagement. As the WWE continued to adapt its business to the changing media environment during the global pandemic of COVID-19, it completed an important agreement to license its WWE Network content to Peacock. The agreement is expected to expand the reach of its brands and enhance the …