Business Commons^™

Do The Oscars Move Markets? Best Picture Recognition And Public Equity Responses, Avi Dayani

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines when culturally salient events become financially material by testing whether Academy Awards recognition is reflected in public equity markets. The central question is whether Best Picture nomination announcements and wins generate abnormal returns or abnormal trading activity for the publicly traded parent firms linked to nominated films, and whether those responses depend on the firm’s exposure to filmed entertainment. I study Best Picture nominees from 2000 through 2024, map each film to the public parent of its primary distributor, and construct a firm-by-Oscar-year sample of 119 observations. Using an event-study framework, I calculate abnormal returns as firm …

Hidden Fragility: Leveraged Loan Risk And Tail Exposure In The Clo 2.0 Era, Francis P. Gehring Iv

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines whether post-crisis changes in leveraged loan characteristics have increased the underlying credit risk embedded in collateralized loan obligation (CLO) portfolios and whether that risk is fully reflected in market pricing. Since the Global Financial Crisis, the leveraged loan market has expanded significantly alongside the growth of CLOs, while underwriting standards have weakened through higher borrower leverage, covenant-lite lending, and greater private equity sponsorship. Although post-crisis CLOs are often viewed as more resilient because of stronger structural protections, the quality of the underlying collateral remains central to overall risk. Using loan-level data from the Refinitiv DealScan database from …

Prediction Markets Vs. Sportsbooks: A Comparison Of Nfl Forecast Accuracy, Dylan Cotti

CMC Senior Theses

This paper compares the forecast accuracy of Kalshi, a prediction market, and DraftKings, a sportsbook, using data from 285 NFL games in the 2025-26 season. I collect win probabilities from both platforms at three time points in the week before each game and measure accuracy using the Brier score. I find that Kalshi produces slightly more accurate predictions than DraftKings, but the gap is small and marginally significant. More surprisingly, both platforms become less accurate as the game approaches rather than more accurate. Once I control for differences in how each platform distributes its quoted probabilities, the accuracy gap largely …

Why Dining Out Stayed Cheap In Japan, Taketo Hayashi

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines why food-away-from-home inflation in Japan was persistently lower than in the United States from 1995 to 2021 and why this dynamic changed after 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two structural buffers sustained the divergence: wage stagnation in Japan, which kept restaurant labor costs flat for nearly three decades, and a strong yen, which absorbed global commodity price shocks before they could reach restaurant menus. In 2008, the financial crisis sent food and energy prices skyrocketing. However, even though Japan imports most of its food and energy, the effects from global price increases were due to a strong …

Fair Value And Funding Structures: Motivators Behind Banks' Reclassification Activities., Thomas Walker

CMC Senior Theses

U.S financial regulations and reporting standards are ever-changing and have a significant impact on how banks classify and oversee their assets. The implementation of ASC 320 in 1993, as well as ASC 820 and ASC 825-10 in 2008, altered the effects of fair value accounting. This study examines factors that drive banks to use the held-to-maturity (HTM) and available-for-sale (AFS) classifications following the implementation of ASC 825-10 during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. I focus on how banks use the HTM classification to obscure the accurate valuation of their securities by failing to disclose unrealized gains or losses, and on …

Audit Pricing Under Asc 606: Evidence From Software-As-A-Service Technology Firms, Donald Weigle

CMC Senior Theses

ASC 606 is an accounting standard issued in May 2014 that fundamentally changed how firms identify performance obligations and recognize revenue. The standard requires a five-step framework that links recognition to the timing of customer contract satisfaction. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firms were uniquely affected by this standard due to subscription-based pricing models and multi-element contracts that make revenue recognition more complex. For this thesis, I estimate the impact of adopting ASC 606 on SaaS firm audit fees. I hypothesize that more complex revenue recognition results in more complex audit procedures and, hence, higher fees. I use a Differences-in-Differences (DiD) regression model …

The Impact Of Asu 2023-08 On Reported Profitability Of Cryptocurrency-Exposed Firms, William C. Graff

CMC Senior Theses

This study investigates the performance of corporate cryptocurrency holdings in the context of recent accounting regulation changes. It specifically examines how adopting Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2023-08 has affected firms with material cryptocurrency exposure. Using a panel of U.S. public firms from 2019–2025, I classified 138 companies as having material crypto exposure if cryptocurrency comprised more than 0.01 percent of total assets, which was manually calculated. Of these firms, 67 were exposed to the rule change (under GAAP), 66 were not, and 5 were excluded from final calculations due to a lack of relevant information.

Results showed statistically significant effects …

Impact Of Attention And Yield Curve On Term Structure Of Equity, Matthew C. Aved

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the term structure of equity and specifically focuses on the impact of term spread and market attention. The paper builds on prior work that developed the concept by adding behavioral explanations for differences between the short-term and long-term returns while also attempting to link the term structure of equity and the bond yield curve. The study examines these influences by running t-tests and regressions on dividend strip and S&P 500 return data (1996-2017) and attention data collected by Bloomberg (2010-2017). The results provide some insight into how these variables influence short-term and long-term returns; however, limited instances …

Attention And Technical Analysis: State‑Dependent Predictability Of Cnn‑Based Stock Return Forecasts, Crystal Y. Ma

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis studies how investor attention around Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcements affects cross-sectional return predictability measured by a convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on price charts. I replicate Jiang, Kelly, and Xiu’s (2023) image-based CNN using 20-day OHLCV “price images,” train it on U.S. equities from 1993–2000, freeze the model, and apply it out of sample to 2001–2024 CRSP data. The CNN assigns each stock a weekly probability of outperforming which is then sorted into deciles that form high–minus–low (H–L) long–short portfolios at horizons of 1 to 10 trading days. For matched non-FOMC (control) weeks, the equal-weighted CNN …

Investor Reactions To Clinical Trial Outcomes: Interpreting Impacts Using Ai-Based Measures Of Investor Sentiment, Sofia K. Weinstein

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how investors react to biotechnology firms’ clinical trial announcements and whether artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance our understanding of those market reactions. Using a representative sample of 95 firm-event observations between 2014 and 2025, the study measures cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) surrounding clinical readouts, regulatory decisions, and partnership disclosures. Event-study regressions test for heterogeneity across trial phase, therapeutic area, and textual sentiment derived from company press releases. Consistent with expectations, later-phase trials, particularly Phase II and III, produce stronger short-term abnormal returns. However, categorical variables such as phase or therapeutic area explain little of the total variation …

Determinants Of The U.S. Experience Economy: A Macroeconomic, Demographic, And Technological Analysis, 1984–2023, Chloe Ross

CMC Senior Theses

Pine and Gilmore et al. 1999 examine American consumers’ preferences for experiences over durable goods. Since then, there has been a multitude of research on the psychology behind this shift in consumption preferences, and there has been an abundance of media coverage of the new “experience economy.” This thesis goes beyond psychology and examines the macroeconomic, demographic, and technological determinants of experiential spending in the United States from 1984 to 2023. I use annual data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) and variables from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), US …

Auditor Independence And Its Impact On Debt Financing Outcomes, Harry Zhou

CMC Senior Theses

This study investigates whether perceived auditor independence, proxied through proportions of non-audit service fees and client dependence of the auditor, is associated with the outcome of debt contracts. While prior research examines how these proxies relate to auditor independence itself, and other strands of literature assess how audit quality influences debt contracting, few studies evaluate whether lenders interpret auditor independence signals in ways consistent with auditors. This study aims to contribute to the broader literature by examining the auditor independence proxies and its direct relationship to debt contract structure holistically. Two OLS models were employed to investigate the relationship between …

Pillpetz: A Smarter Way To Encourage Medication Adherence In Children, John H. Begley

CMC Senior Theses

Medication adherence is usually framed as a problem of patient behavior, but this thesis argues that it is equally a problem of design. Children who take daily medication face barriers that adults often do not: developing executive function, dependence on caregivers, shifting school and home routines, privacy concerns, and stigma around being perceived as different. The standard prescription bottle, by contrast, was designed primarily for dispensing efficiency, safety, and accidental ingestion prevention—not for sustained daily use by a developing child.

This thesis proposes PillPetz, a smart pill case and digital companion that uses routine, play, dose confirmation, and caregiver-connected support …

Revenue Sharing: Effects On Small Market Teams, Bryant Smaaladen

CMC Senior Theses

The gap between small market teams and big market teams in the MLB

has done nothing but grow in this era, seeing vast differences in payroll and

performance. To try and counteract this, team revenue sharing was introduced in

1996 to try and level the playing field. Revenue sharing was designed to promote

a more competitive balance by redistributing resources from higher revenue

teams towards ones in smaller markets. This study aims to examine the impact

revenue sharing has on team payrolls, and particularly examining the difference

between both markets, by using panel data of teams revenue and the amount …

Ceo Linguistic Stress And Abnormal Stock Returns Evidence From S&P 500 Earnings Conference Calls, Yiqi Sun

CMC Senior Theses

Stress is pervasive among corporate executives, yet its effect on firms' future abnormal return remains largely unexplored. This paper examines whether CEO's Linguistic stress exhibited during earnings conference calls predicts future abnormal stock returns. I provided a Large Language Model (Claude Sonnet 4.6) psychology-backed prompts to analyze CEO stress from linguistic patterns in 7491 earnings call transcripts from 470 companies in the S&P 500 during 2020-2024. I found three main results. First, the CEO linguistic stress is negatively and significantly associated with the immediate market reaction, with a one-unit increase in stress score associated with a 0.9% decrease in the …

Eurovision As A Platform For Cultural Diplomacy In Times Of Conflict, Lucy Meza

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how states utilize the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform for soft power, focusing on the conditions under which cultural performance translates into reputational gains. Drawing on Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power, Biasioli’s theory of songwashing, Zamorano’s typology of cultural diplomacy, Anholt’s competitive identity framework, and Feklyunina’s analysis of identity and narrative, it argues that Eurovision’s effectiveness as a soft power platform is fundamentally contingent on the alignment between a state’s cultural narrative and dominant international perceptions of its legitimacy. Through a qualitative comparative case study approach, the thesis examines two nations whose Eurovision participation during …

Macroeconomic Resilience And Sentiment Dynamics In The Global Luxury Fashion Industry, Mehr Gupta

CMC Senior Theses

The global luxury fashion industry is often viewed as a sector where broad economic conditions intersect with individual spending behavior. Yet despite this common assumption, it remains unclear whether macroeconomic fluctuations meaningfully shape luxury firms’ financial performance. This thesis examines the relationship between four key macroeconomic indicators - consumer sentiment, disposable income, unemployment, and exchange rates - and firm-level quarterly revenue for twelve publicly listed luxury companies from the early 2000s through 2024. Firm financial data from S&P Capital IQ are matched with macroeconomic measures from the Federal Reserve (FRED), and the analysis employs a two-way fixed-effects framework with firm …

Audit Fee Spillovers Following Sec Scrutiny: Evidence From Auditor Portfolio Effects, Rakhshaan R. Adamjee

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines whether audit firms reprice clients that are not under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) review when a greater share of the auditor’s other clients face SEC scrutiny. Results indicate economically meaningful pricing spillovers. In the full sample, a ten-percentage-point increase in auditor-level exposure is associated with approximately 2% higher fees for non-scrutinized clients. The effect is stronger for Big Four networks: the Big Four slope is about 3.6% per ten points, and a Big Four only replication yields roughly 8.9%. Among Big Four, measuring exposure at the signing-office level also produces a positive but smaller association (~0.4% …

From Static Λ To Moving Penalties: Dynamic Regularization In Mean-Variance Portfolio Choice, Ariel Santiago

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis evaluates whether dynamically tuned weight penalties can improve high-dimensional mean-variance portfolio choice. Classical Markowitz portfolios perform poorly when the number of assets is large relative to the data, because small estimation errors in means and covariances can generate extreme, fragile allocations. A common remedy is to regularize the weights using L1 (lasso), L2 (ridge), or elastic-net penalties, but these are typically chosen once and held fixed. Using monthly excess returns on the 48 Fama-French industry portfolios from January 2010 to June 2025, this thesis compares penalized mean-variance and minimum-variance strategies under long-only and long-short constraints, with and without …

Tinjauan Frasa “Setiap Orang” Dalam Pasal 3 Ayat (1) Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 56 Tahun 2021 Tentang Pengelolaan Royalti Hak Cipta Lagu Dan/Atau Musik, Fajar Hidayansyah Ilham, Luna Dezeana Ticoalu

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Copyright is one form of legal protection for intellectual works, occupying an important position within the intellectual property law system. The Copyright Law explicitly grants exclusive rights to creators, encompassing both moral rights and economic rights. Economic rights, as stipulated in Article 9 paragraph (1), allow creators to obtain economic benefits from their works, ranging from publication, reproduction, distribution, performance, to communication to the public. This provision shows that creators hold a primary position as legal subjects entitled to protection, while also serving as central actors in the creative industry ecosystem. In practice, the mechanism for copyright protection requires implementing …

Case Study: The Economic And Legal Challenges Moving From A Township To A City, George F. Dierberger Dr., Ibrahim Keita Dr., Cory Erickson

Journal of the North American Management Society

The paper examines the economic and legal challenges moving from a township to a municipality in the state of Minnesota. One of the authors was a member of the township board as they went through the process of educating the citizens on the risks and rewards of changing from a township to a municipality.

Maximizing Online Intersession Enrollment Through Targeted Course Offerings, Heather S. Mcmillan, Charles D. Mcallister

Journal of the North American Management Society

Abstract

Online winter intersession courses have become an increasingly important strategy for universities seeking to support accelerated student progression while generating incremental tuition revenue. This study examines ten years of winter intersession enrollment data from a public, master’s-level comprehensive university in the Midwestern United States to identify course characteristics associated with higher student enrollment. Using 12,520 individual enrollment records, the analysis focuses on course type (general education versus major requirement), course classification (lower level, upper level, blended undergraduate/graduate, and graduate), and course discipline. A series of ANOVAs and Bonferroni post-hoc tests reveal significant differences in enrollment across these dimensions, with …

The Relationship Between Team Psychological Safety And Voluntary Turnover Intention: A Quantitative Study Of Manufacturing Employees, Stella Bowen, Tracy Shroyer

Journal of the North American Management Society

High voluntary employee turnover in manufacturing significantly affects organizational performance and profitability. Although prior studies have identified numerous predictors of voluntary turnover intentions, limited research has examined psychological safety as a potential factor. This quantitative correlation study addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between team psychological safety and voluntary turnover intentions among production associates and supervisors at an auto parts manufacturing plant in Southeastern Tennessee (N = 31). Using a cross-sectional survey administered via Qualtrics, participants completed demographic items, a team psychological safety scale, and a turnover intention scale. The initial analysis found no statistically significant correlation between team …

Organizational Pitfalls Of The Dual-Identity Leader, Yvonne Randolph, Asa Wilson

Journal of the North American Management Society

The dual-identity leader (D-IL) is an individual assigned to one job description yet is, in practice, fulfilling an additional position’s role. This secondary role is self-determined; has not been assigned yet is being allowed by those with governance and/or executive authority. Three case examples of the D-IL are presented and discussed as a problematic leadership configuration for an organization. The personal characteristics driving this approach are identified as a foundation for clarifying the organizational consequences of such an executive leader. Preventative and corrective tactics are discussed that eliminate or minimize the adverse impact of the D-IL’s organizational behavior.

Reflections At The Close Of My Freshman Year As Editor, Heather S. Mcmillan

Journal of the North American Management Society

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Organizational Sustainability On Improving Companies’ Financial Performance (Applied To The Southern Refineries Company.), Thaer Khalaf Khashan

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

The impact of organizational sustainability on improving companies' financial performance, applied to the Southern Refineries Company. The research aims to explore the impact oforganizational companies' financial performance. The research variables were organizational sustainability as an independent variable with its three dimensions (economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability), and improving financial performance as a dependent variable. To achieve the research objectives, the descriptive analytical approach was adopted. A questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of (400) individuals from the employees of the Southern Refineries Company, (388) questionnaires were retrieved, …

Feasibility Assessment Of Energy As A Service With Third Party Ownership For Development Of Utility-Scale Solar Pv In The Consumer Goods Industry, Winda Puspadimiati, Widodo W Purwanto

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

Global awareness of climate change impacts has compelled the power sector to adopt renewable energy as a primary source of electricity, driving innovation in renewable energy business models. This study analyzes the feasibility of Energy as a Service (EaaS) with a Third-Party Ownership (TPO) scheme for utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) development in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Four scenarios of utility-scale solar PV configurations under the EaaS model are evaluated: on-grid ground-mounted (OG-GM), hybrid ground-mounted (H-GM), on-grid floating (OG-F), and hybrid floating (H-F). All scenarios are developed under the assumption of utilizing the PLN grid through a power wheeling …

Moving From Feasible Solutions To Sustainable Systems In The Built Environment, Mohammed Ali Berawi, Mustika Sari, Perdana Miraj

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

The built environment plays a crucial role in global sustainability efforts. Buildings, infrastructure, and cities consume large amounts of energy and materials that shape social behavior, and lock in environmental impacts. Over the past two decades, research has produced a wide range of technical solutions to reduce these impacts. Renewable energy systems, energy-efficient buildings, alternative construction materials, and new construction methods are no longer experimental concepts. Many have proven technical and economic potential. Yet, real-world transformation remains slow and uneven. This gap suggests that sustainability challenges in the built environment are no longer driven by a lack of technology. Instead, …

Barriers To The Adoption Of Modular Construction Technology In South Africa, Mokete Matoba, Christopher Amoah

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

Construction, mining, and manufacturing are the most significant contributors to South Africa's GDP. While manufacturing and other industries utilise advanced technologies to enhance productivity, he construction industry continues to lag behind in technological adoption. This study examines the barriers that hinder the South African construction industry from leveraging the benefits of modular construction technologies (MCT). The study employed a quantitative research method, using closed-ended questions to collect data. The questionnaires were emailed to South African construction industry professionals selected through a combination of purposive and convenience sampling. A total of 98 questionnaires were distributed, of which 46 were returned. However, …

Effects Of Calcination Conditions Of Locust Bean Pod On The Mechanical Properties Of Locust Bean Pod Ash High-Strength Concrete, Iorwuese Anum, Umar Abdullahi, Megat Azmi Megat Johari, Felix Nkapheeyan Isa

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

Locust Bean Pod Ash (LBPA) is produced from the calcination of Locust Bean Pod (LBP), an agricultural waste of the African locust bean tree (Parkia biglobosa). This study evaluated the use of LBPA obtained through controlled calcination and open burning as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in high-strength concrete (HSC). Cement was replaced by LBPA at 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by weight using both ashes—LC for ash produced through calcination at 600 °C, and LO for ash obtained through open burning. Slump and strength were assessed, including compressive strength (100 × 100 × 100 mm cubes) and splitting tensile …