Business Commons^™

Inter-State Economic Development- Powered By Utilities, John R. Lombard

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

In 2000, a group of state business recruiters from New England joined to promote New England to corporate real estate and site selection consultants at IDRC’s1 World Congress in New York City. At roughly the same time, the two metropolitan areas of Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., formed the Hartford-Springfield Economic Partnership (HSEP). These informal ventures that cross state borders represent coalitions of business, academic, political and policy leaders working together to foster the combined regions’ economic well-being.

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 …

The State Of The Region: Hampton Roads 2007, James V. Koch, Vinod Agarwal, John R. Broderick, Christopher B. Colburn, Vicky Curtis, Steve Daniel, Susan Hughes, Elizabeth Janik, Feng Lian, Sharon Lomax, Trish Manthey, Janet Molinaro, Ken Plum, Maurice Seaton, Lowell Singh, Qian Sun

Economics Faculty Books

This is Old Dominion University's eighth annual State of the Region report. While it represents the work of many people connected in various ways to the university, the report does not constitute an official viewpoint of Old Dominion or it's president, Roseann Runte. The report maintains the goal of stimulating thought and discussion that ultimately will make Hampton Roads an even better place to live. We are proud of our region's many successes, but realize that it is possible to improve our performance. In order to do so, we must have accurate information about "where we are" and a sound …

Ex Post Valuation Correction And Motives Of Merger And Acquisition Decisions, Hien T. Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This study seeks to decipher the motives of mergers and acquisitions and identify the source of value creation or destruction. The existing literature on corporate mergers and acquisitions generally agrees on four primary motives of merger and acquisition decisions: (1) market timing, (2) response to industry shocks, (3) agency cost and hubris, and (4) synergy. In studying the motives behind acquisition decisions, prior studies have used incomparable methodologies and measures, which often lead to inconclusive debates. In this study, we address the possibility that there could be multiple motives behind a merger. Instead of using a multitude of methodologies to …

Two Essays On Ipo Earnings Management, Yong Sun

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation includes two essays that study initial public offerings (IPO) earnings management. The first essay examines the underwriter's certification and monitoring roles in IPO earnings management; the second essay explores the relation between IPO earnings management and post-IPO institutional ownership.

In the first essay, we investigate the certification role played by underwriters. We hypothesize that there is a negative relation between IPO earnings management and underwriter reputation and that there is a positive relation between underwriter reputation and firm operating performance. In addition, underwriters continue providing monitoring to the firms they take public. Using a sample of IPOs, we …

Coopetition (Contemporaneous Cooperation And Competition) Among Nonprofit Arts Organizations: The Case Of Symphony Orchestras, Theresa A. Kirchner

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Coopetition was formalized as a strategic management concept in the early 1990s by Ray Noorda, CEO of Novell, who coined the term and proposed that often, in order to achieve growth in an organization or industry, "You have to cooperate and compete at the same time" (Davis 1993). Although the individual ideas of cooperation and competition in the business environment have been well-established for some time, the formal idea of contemporaneous cooperation and competition, or cooperation among competitors, is relatively new in business and academic literature. Why is this hybrid concept important? The literature to date on coopetition and its …

Costly Arbitrage And The Lead-Lag Structure Between Value And Glamour Stocks, Meng Li

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Motivated by the findings of Lo and Mackinlay (1990) that size premium can be partially attributed to the lead-lag relation between the returns of large stocks and those of small stocks, in this thesis we hypothesize that a possible lead-lag structure between value and glamour returns can partially explain the value premium anomaly.

The thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter I documents a pronounced lead-lag structure between value and glamour stocks: the glamour stocks lead value stocks in terms of both mean returns and residual volatilities, suggesting that value stocks delay in price adjustment to new information. To further explore …

An Exploratory Study Of Iso 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems Using The Iso/Iec 15504 Architecture, Paul Richard Shimp

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory study on the implementation and issues regarding Quality Management Systems as defined by ISO 9001 :2000 using the architecture of ISO/IEC 15504. The recently published ISO/IEC 15504 series of standards provides a framework to assess processes and determine levels of capability. With the use of this framework, the study will focus on the assessment and identification of problem areas requiring focus for continual improvement within an ISO 9001 :2000 quality management system.

The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 1 provides a background discussion of ISO 9001 :2000. …

Identifying University Minors To Support The Construction Specialization Area Within A Civil Engineering Technology Program, Vernon Lewis, Carol Considine

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Construction programs at many universities are diversified and provide students with opportunities to examine topic areas that include mechanical and electrical systems, safety, business administration, residential construction, real estate, and management. It is impossible for small civil engineering technology programs with a construction emphasis to encompass all of these expertise areas. As industry looks for students with a knowledge base in these areas, it is incumbent upon programs to find avenues to provide these educational opportunities to their students.

To meet the upper division general education requirements for Old Dominion University, students must have either a minor, second major or …

Relational Benefits And Costs In Channel Distribution: A Dyadic Research From Buyers And Sellers Perspective, Dung The Vu

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The benefits from having long–term relationships with customers have become a focal topic and have been widely discussed in the marketing literature (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987; Reichheld and Sasser 1990; Reichheld 1993; Morgan and Hunt 1994; Walter, Ritter and Gemuden 2001). However, careful review of the literature indicates that the literature is deficient in several ways: (1) relational benefits are mostly examined in term of economic benefits, especially in b2b and channel distribution contexts, (2) there is limited number of studies examining cost dimensions, (3) there is lack of studies examines both benefits and costs from dyadic perspective (i.e. …

The Effect Of Nutrition Information On Menu Selection When Eating Food Away From Home, Rebecca Foster Hochradel

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

As the number of Americans diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes, and excessive weight continues to increase, providing information to allow consumers to choose healthier foods becomes imperative. The number of consumers eating food away from home (EFAH) is rising. Although nutrition information is required on food products purchased for home use, it is not required when EFAH. How can a consumer know what is healthy if nutrition information is not provided? Policy makers and restaurateurs are in conflict regarding the provision of nutrition information on the menu. Policy makers want this information to be provided while restaurateurs say providing this …

Financing Port Dredging Costs: Taxes Versus User Fees, Wayne K. Talley

Economics Faculty Publications

The article examines the use of user fee and tax programs to finance the cost of port dredging. The article discusses the U.S. Water Resources Development Act, the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, the Harbor Maintenance Tax, which is an ad valorem tax on the cargo's value, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, articles from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, national user fee program proposals by the former U.S. President Bill Clinton administration, Moriarity's Rule, and the Shapley Value Rule.

Industry Specialization And Auditor Quality In Us Markets, Brian Cadman, Michael T. Stein

Accounting Faculty Publications

This study investigates the relation between audit quality, auditor industry market share, and audit fees. Prior literature has asserted that audit providers with high market shares can be designated as industry specialists and that the fee premiums that sometimes attach to these auditors is evidence of a quality differentiated audit product. Using data from the U.S. audit market for the fiscal year 2003 we extend this literature by investigating the relationships among audit fee premiums, auditor market shares, and two dimensions of audit quality: external reporting and economies of scope in providing joint audit and non-audit services. We find little …

The Impact Of An Employer Sponsored Walking Program On Employees' Cardiovascular Risks, Joan Breslin Sechrist

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The problem of this study was to determine if participation in an employer sponsored walking program reduced employees' cardiovascular health risks. The independent variable was the "WalkAbout with Healthy Edge" program and the dependent variables included: body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol, amount of exercise, and tobacco use. The study population was an employer group of 1300, and 284 employees registered for the program. Due to attrition, 79 submitted the first month of step logs and participation decreased over the months respectively to 58, 40, 38, 32, and 29. Twenty-three participants submitted six months of walking logs, and pre-test …

Two Essays On Lead-Lag Patterns Between Trading Volume And Stock Return In China Stock Markets, Xiaotian Zhu

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation systematically investigate the lead-lag relations between the trading volume and stock return patterns in China A share and B share markets through two streams of behavioral postulations. In the first part, we summarize all the potential lead-lag patterns between trading volume and stock returns and link them to the corresponding behavioral explanations. In particular, Lee and Swaminathan's (2000) Momentum Life Cycle theory best explains the strong negative relations between lagged trading volume and subsequent return in China A share market. The strong positive relations between lagged market return and subsequent trading volume found in both China's B share …

Two Essays On Corporate Spin-Offs, Yingchou Lin

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation investigates two possible sources that contribute to the gains of corporate spin-offs. In the first essay, I investigate the relation between the value created by corporate spin-offs and the misvaluations of the parent firms and their spun-off divisions. I argue that spin-offs could create value even though the efficiency of the firm remains unchanged. Corporate spin-offs could be driven by the desire to correct the undervaluation of the parent firm or the spun-off unit. Thus, the gains of spin-offs should be highly correlated with the degree of misvaluation. By examining a 263 corporate spinoffs sample in the period …

Dealing With Harrassment In All Of Its Forms, Michael T. Zugelder, Paul J. Champagne, Steven D. Maurer

Finance Faculty Publications

Workplace harassment in its many forms presents an increasingly serious challenge for employers, in terms of legal liability and its potential negative effect on employee behavior. This article reviews workplace harassment with attention to the affirmative defense that the Supreme Court has authorized and the factors the courts have considered in deciding whether the defense has been established. That analysis in turn is applied to a discussion of specific actions organizations might take to prevent harassment and create a more positive and effective organizational environment.

Real Estate Mutual Funds: A Style Analysis, Crystal Lin, Kenneth Yung

Finance Faculty Publications

We find that the characteristics of real estate related securities are different from those of the general common equities. To help investors understand better the products offered by real estate mutual funds, we develop style descriptors that are specifically created for real estate related securities. Among the universe of real estate securities, we find real estate funds tilt toward large stocks and favor growth moderately over value. Growth managers outperform value mangers in this sector by 1.51% to 2.30% per year. However, there is evidence of shifts in the investment style among the funds. Our results help investors in evaluating …

The Effect Of Survey-Based Sentiment Measures On The Predictability And Volatility Of Stock Returns Conditioned On The Payout Yield And Issue Yield, Darryl Philip Samsell

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Survey-based sentiment indexes from the American Association of Individual Investors, Investors' Intelligence, and the Yale University International Center for Finance show strong in-sample monthly return predictability and are strong factors in explaining the cross-sectional variation in monthly returns and in explaining the excess volatility in returns beyond that explained by cash flow fundamentals proxied by the payout yield and the issue yield from Boudoukh, et al. (2007). These finding are robust to the use of numerous methods of sentiment variable computation. Sentiment is a more significant factor during the period from January 1997 to December 2005 when U.S. stock valuations …