Business Commons^™

Harley-Davidson, Inc.: A Strategic Audit, Sheila Lenz

Honors Theses

Thesis presents a strategic audit to assess the strategy of Harley-Davidson, Inc. Includes financial information, risks and strategies, and marketing information.

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 …

Cross-Sector Models Of Collaboration For Social Innovation, Marlene J. Le Ber

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation consists of three studies that collectively examine the genesis and dynamics of collaborative cross-sector partnerships between nonprofit and for-profit organizations. The overarching question that frames the papers is how cross-sector partnerships organize across sectoral interfaces to advance social innovation. This thesis makes three contributions: 1) the standpoint of the beneficiaries needs to be explicitly discussed when exploring social innovation in cross-sector partnerships; 2) neither success nor failure are absolute but rather cross-sector partners deliberately and iteratively adjust their roles to sustain momentum towards success or rebound from temporary failure in pursuit of social innovation; and 3) despite largely …

Influence Of Financial And Policy Environments On The Business Strategy Of Biotechnology Companies In India, Sumesh Mohan Arora

Dissertations

The biotechnology industry thrives on innovation and new knowledge creation, but is also capital intensive with a complex regulatory environment (Hine and Kapeleris 2007). It is seen as a sunrise industry by the Indian government (Natesh and Bhan 2009). Current literature on the business strategy of Indian biotechnology companies and the influence from external factors is very limited. The objective of this research was to qualitatively test the applicability of the Miles and Snow (1978) theory of organizational behavior which describes four strategy choices: prospector, analyzer, defender and reactor, in the context of the Indian biotechnology sector. Research on Western …

Assessing The Alignment Of Information Security With Strategic Business, And Strategic Information System Planning: A Department Of Defense Perspective, John H. Scanlan Iv

Theses and Dissertations

This research extends the Strategic Information Systems Plan (SISP) and Strategic Business Plan (SBP) alignment model construct by adding the Information Security Plan (ISP) as an additional component considered essential to the success of network centric organizations. Six hypotheses were considered to measure the two-way alignment among three components of the proposed model. The research was adapted for a public sector organization and analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test. A vertical, cross-sectional sample from the United States Marine Corps, a Department of Defense organization, was surveyed (n = 149). Results indicate a strong two-way alignment exists between SISP - SBP …

Organic Restaurant Business Plan, Jesse Adam Godsey

Agribusiness

This study was undertaken to determine if it is feasible to open an organic restaurant in San Luis Obispo, CA.

All collected data went into the development of a bare bones business plan for the organic restaurant. The report utilizes two techniques for analysis of this data. A strategic analysis was used to determine if the restaurant could be a legitimate competitor among the many local restaurants of San Luis Obispo. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats were outlined, given weights according to their impact, and used to develop a SWOT matrix. Strategic goals were set after reviewing the matrix and …

Generational Perceptions Of Productive/Unproductive Information Received From Management Through Different Communication Channels, Eva Lynn Cowell

Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory study identified generational preferences for receiving information from management through different communication channels and determined if age predicted productivity for productive and unproductive information received through different communication channels. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationship between age cohorts, communication channel preferences, information categories, and productivity. Sample participants worked as Extension agents at a major land-grant university. The four generations represented in the sample utilized multiple communication channels and were geographically dispersed throughout the state. The survey was administered electronically and completed by 204 (74%) of the eligible 275 employees in the organization. Independent Samples …

Options Under Uncertainty: An Empirical Investigation Of Patterns Of Commitment In Display Technologies In The Flat Panel Tv Set Industry, Derek Lehmberg

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation considers fundamental questions about real options reasoning and its application in the face of uncertainty: do firms behave as real options reasoning predicts, and are there performance benefits from its application? The concept of uncertainty is further developed by considering two primary types: technological uncertainty and market needs uncertainty. A qualitative industry level historical case study is performed on the flat panel TV industry, chosen because it exhibits high technological uncertainty and low market needs uncertainty. Real options logic predicts, in such an industry, that firms will develop and maintain technology options until uncertainty is resolved. Firm level …

The Effects Of Emotions On Strategic Decision-Making: A China-U.S. Cross-Cultural Experimental Study, Weichu Xu

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation examines how two different emotions—pride and guilt—experienced by managers influence their strategic decision-making. Four different aspects of strategic decisions are investigated: risk, comprehensiveness, speed, and resource commitment. The dissertation also investigates how culture moderates the relationship between emotions and different aspects of the strategic decision-making process.

The hypotheses of this study were tested using a 2 x 2 experimental design with two emotions (guilt and pride) and two cultures (U.S. and China). The experimental design used scenarios to elicit these two emotions. Next, PANAS-X scale was used to check the effectiveness of emotion manipulation. Finally, respondents were asked …