Business Commons^™

May 2008, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

The 2008 State of San Bernardino County

Computers/Technology

Motivational: Empower yourself through any setback

Investments and Finance

Commentary - Opinion

Customer Service

The Lists: Dental Plans

Real Estate Notes

Management: Lead Through Listening

The Lists: Law Firms Serving the Inland Empire

The Lists: Environmental Companies

Restaurant Review

Retain your best workers: how to recognize the stars in your company

Management: Five steps to build credibility: shed the superman cape

The Lists: Employment Services/Agencies

Beyond Spellcheck - - - Find costly and embarrassing mistakes in every document you write!

Manager’s Bookshelf

New Business Lists: County of San Bernardino

New Business Lists: …

April 2008, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

Motivation through mission

Investments and Finance

Economic Review and Forecast: The California Report: Uncharted Waters

Commentary - Opinion

Sales: Six business trends every salesperson must know

Real Estate Notes

Management: Recession survival guide for business

The Lists: Meeting Facilities

The Lists: Visitors and Convention Bureaus

The Lists: Top Travel Agencies

Computers/Technology

The Lists: Indian Gaming Facilities

RedFusion media wins five ADDY awards

Executive Notes

Restaurant Review

Manager’s Bookshelf

New Business Lists: County of San Bernardino

New Business Lists: County of Riverside

Executive Time Out

March 2008, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

How to overcome the 10 biggest mistakes in decision making

Investments and Finance

Management: Unlock the power and potential of your team: 5 secrets to empower your people and become a better leader

Commentary - Opinion

Close-Up

Negotiation: Why some cultures have to negotiate

Sales: Do you provide world-class service?

Real Estate Notes

How to help any employee go from chump to champ! Four steps to coaching a personal quantum leap

Executive Notes

The Lists: MBA/Executive Programs in the Inland Empire

Corporate Profile

The Lists: HMOs and PPOs Serving in the Inland Empire

The Lists: Largest Residential Real Estate Builders …

February 2008, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

Growth Patterns Directing Investing to Pursue New Locations in the Inland Empire

Investments and Finance

Sales: Are you Relevant to Woman?

Commentary-Opinion: Phase out the Destructive Sales Tax

Leadership

Real Estate Notes

Management: Tackling Tough Questions

The Lists: Architectural/Engineering Firms

Controlling Investment Risks

The Lists: Residential Real Estate Builders

We’ve Merged or Reorganized, Now What? Successfully Lead Through Major Organizational Change

The Lists: Independent Banks

Computers/Technology

The Lists: Top Commercial/Industrial Contractors

Close-Up

Manager’s Bookshelf

New Business Lists: County of San Bernardino

New Business Lists: County of Riverside

Executive Time Out

January 2008, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

Brilliant Branders and Wolf Criers: Five Companies Who

Knowthe Importance of the Ultimate Customer Experience

(And Six More Who Haven't Learned the Lesson) 10

Computers/Technology: A Farewell to the Boob Tube 13

Overcome a Talent Shortage: Create a Gen-X Friendly

Workplace to Retain Key Talent 14

Corporate Profile: A Tasty Growth Market in the Inland Empire 23

Storm Clouds on Horizon in 2008: Calm Seas of Workers' Compensation Threatened 28

If People Love You, They Give You More Money: The Undisputed Secret of Repeat Business 30

Analysis Of The Benefits For Implementing An Employees Stock Option Plan (Esop), Ashraf Selim Mekhael

Theses Digitization Project

This project will show through literary analysis, and by presentation of tax laws and the governing ESOPs, how ESOPs can be used as both tax shelters and management tools. The paper illustrates how ESOPs can fund and shelter operating income, and how companies have used ESOPs to motivate employees to achieve higher performance and efficiency.

Content Dimensions Of Web Advertising: A Cross-National Comparison Between United States And Thailand, Kuntida Traiwanatham

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to determine whether and how web advertising differs across countries of diverse cultures (between U.S. and Thailand) in such areas as creative appeal used, the amount and type of information contained, and selected descriptive characteristics that are unique to this relatively new medium.

Upgrade Tracking System From Paper To Digital For Brazilian Parcel/Post Delivery Company, Sennex Express, Keith Walter Witzel

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to aid in the development of improved service of an existing small package and document delivery service in Belém, Brazil. This company, Sennex, makes its deliveries by bicycle and motorcycle due to extreme traffic congestion in the city. In order to keep a leading edge on the competition, this project after stating existing conditions, proposes using a barcode tracking system comparable to that used by American companies such as UPS and FedEx.

Improving The Quality And Quantity Of Commercial Loans For Today's Lenders, Jeffrey Scott Kowallis

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to create financial models and techniques that will streamline the loan process as well as improve the risk quality.

Test For The Existence Of Casualty Relationships Between The Market Indices Of The United States And The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, Yusef Abdullah Yusef Alyusef

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to test for such relations between the markets of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the United States (U.S.). The GCC countries include the six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All six countries stock markets are put to the test to look for correlations and to determine the impact of any relationship between them and the U.S. On the other hand, the U.S. is the largest economy, as it represents one of the largest energy consumers of their oil production.

Victoria's Secret Gets Into Chinese Market Business Plan Proposal, Luyan Zhang

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to develop a business plan for Victoria's Secret to enter the Chinese market. Currently, Victoria's Secret doesn't operate any stores in China. This project will discuss the following aspects of the Chinese lingerie textile market: the distinct backgrounds of Chinese and United States' lingerie markets, the potential advantages and risks for entering the Chinese market.

Awareness Of Global Warming And Car Purchasing Behavior In Singapore, Chika Nakayama

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to determine consumers' attitudes toward and perceptions of global warming and hybrid cars and examine the car purchasing behavior in Singapore. The benefits of the study will provide marketers with insight of consumers' demand for cars in Singapore. Findings will help automakers develop more effective, consumer-oriented advertising plans for cars in Asia as Singapore consists of diverse Asian ethnic backgrounds- Chinese, Indian, and Malaysain.

Factors Affecting The Level Of Trust And Commitment In Tops Supermarket Supply Chain Management, Bangkok, Kamolchanok Saisomboon

Theses Digitization Project

This research's objective is to find out and analyze the factors that affect level of trust and commitment in supply chain management in Tops Supermarket, Bangkok.

Behaviors Of The Stock Indexes-Correlation Analyses For The Stock Markets Of Japan, The United States, And China, Kazuma Koseki

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to reveal relationships among the stock market performances of the most eye-catching countries the United States, China, and Japan.

Long And Short-Term Effects Of Regime Change On Emerging And Established Markets, Joseph Edward Mayne

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to examine a 149-day period surrounding the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on December 13th, 2003. Daily stock returns were obtained from ten major stock market indexes, five from emerging Middle Eastern countries and five from established markets such as the United States and Japan. The ultimate significance of this study is that it can provide insight into whether or not the change of regime in Iraq had a stabilizing or destabilizing impact on the emerging markets of Iraq. This can shed light on future political escalation of violent conflict and give …

The Development Of A Framework For Enterprise Security Architecture And Its Application In Organizations, Yi-Ting Shen

Theses Digitization Project

The main purpose of this study is to develop an enterprise security framework that is based on a comprehensive following the Zachman EA architecture. The enterprise architecture (EA) is a long-term view or blueprint for an organization. It is a very important blueprint for balancing business and IT technology and for adding value to an organization. Security is also an essential dimension for enterprises nowadays. This paper will incorporate the security dimension with the Zachman EA framework, which intends to serve as an enterprise security framework in assisting an organization to successfully and effectively implement security.

Developing Data Mart Using Extraction, Transformation And Loading, Senthil Murugan Lakshmanan

Theses Digitization Project

This project is organized to develop the sales data mart for the purpose of reporting data. Data warehouses support online analytical processing applications by gathering the data from various kinds of source information in a multidimensional format. Developing this strategic information can be done with the ETL, which means Extract, Transform and Loading. ETL functions reshape the relevant data from source systems into useful information to be stored in the data warehouse or data marts. The successful deployment of the sales data mart allowed the creation of a user interface that permits users to make strategic decisions. The reports can …

Parametric Media: A Strategic Market Analysis And Marketing Plan For A Digital Signage, Interactive Kiosk And Content Company, Helena Irita Fowler

Theses Digitization Project

This project had two major objectives. The first objective was to conduct a strategic market analysis to serve as the backbone and roadmap for the marketing plan. The second objective was to create a strategic marketing plan to address Parametric Media's strategic marketing and business goals and objectives. This project was designed to fullfill the company's marketing needs. To do so, the author examined the digital signage industry, in order to understand what similar companies have done in the past, explored how consumer-based companies have deployed digital signage systems, and presented statistics and trends within the digital signage industry. The …

Drivers And Inhibitors Of Online Donations To Nonprofit Organizations, Horst Treiblmaier, Irene Pollach

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Despite the overall economic and social importance of nonprofit organizations and the plethora of schol- arly literature on electronic commerce, few authors have combined these two fields to tackle the issue of online donations to nonprofit organizations. In this paper we first present a framework that illustrates several antecedents of online donations. After discussing the descriptive results from two surveys, we compare different user groups regarding their attitudes toward online donations. The results suggest that our scales exhibit sufficient reliability and validity and that the two groups differ significantly. Further- more, we conduct a regression analysis with the cause, trust …

The Voyeur Among Us: Navigating Around The Global Spyware Epidemic, Daniel B. Garrie, Liane R. Komagome

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Spyware poses a serious threat of privacy infringement to unassuming internet users across the globe. Existing European legislation attempts to protect end-users from unethical review and use of their personal data. Outlawing spyware technology and strengthening the legal consent requirement for data- mining may offer end users additional assurances that their privacy rights are upheld, as well as more tangible shelter from the existing spyware epidemic. These proposed solutions, however, will only create successful safe havens for internet users by obtaining international buy-in.

Seniors And Information Technology: Are We Shrinking The Digital Divide?, Mark E. Mcmurtrey, Ronald E. Mcgaughey, James R. Downey

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The “digital divide” has been present in the field of information technology (IT) since the inception of the digital computer. Throughout the course of history, one group (or more) has had better access to computer and information technology than another faction. For example: rich versus poor, young versus old, advanced societies versus less developed countries, etc. This disparity has existed for a variety of reasons, among them political, cultural, economic and even class or socioeconomic in nature. This paper examines one particular component of this phenomenon, the “gray divide” pertaining to the use of IT by our elderly, or senior …

Similarities And Differences Of Custom Designed Erp Systems Development And Implementation In Two Cases In Services And Manufacturing, Farshad Salimi

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

In this paper we made a comparative review of two case studies in development, design, and implementation of in-house custom-designed Enterprise Resource Planning packages in manufacturing and services. For comparison, we scanned through business solutions, tangible and intangible benefits, process of implementation, implementation problems and planning, benefits of ERP implementation, business processes, business strategies, project goals, IT infrastructure, and key critical success factors (KCSFs). The KCSFs and the important key factors were the focus point in evaluation of differences. For instance, in manufacturing, the innovation strategy was identified as an important KCSF in implementation planning phase whereas in service, understanding …

Enterprise Modelling Using Unified Framework Supporting Distributed Object Computing, Manuj Darbari, Bhaskar Karn

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper provides a support for the analysis phase in the life cycle of the enterprise distributed computing systems. The major goal of our work is to provide a small but powerful set of enterprise modeling concepts. We will be extending the concept of Enterprise Modeling using EDOC inter-agent system using OPEN Framework.

A Primary Study Of Attributes Of Innovations During The Prediffusion Stage, Frank M. Valier, Richard V. Mccarthy, Jay E. Aronson

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

We provide a theoretical model for testing the adoption of information technology during the prediffusion stage (research and development and early trials) of an innovation. The model was tested using Linux based applications of Open Source Software (OSS). The results of surveying 1000 members of the Linux User Groups WorldWide (LUGWW) are presented. This study is significant because it provides empirical evidence that attributes of innovations correlate with adoption during the prediffusion stage (research and development) of an innovation. This extends diffusion of innovations research and has important implications for DOI theory and practice.

Linking Information Technology And Competitive Strategy: Evidence From China’S Third-Party Logistics Industry, Fujun Lai, Dahui Li, Qiang Wang

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study examined how information technology (IT) influences competitive strategies of third- party logistics (3PL) providers in mainland China. First, we examined the influences of IT on the firm’s IT advantage over its competitors. Second, the relationship between IT and competitive strategy was examined. The results show that IT has a significant influence on a firm’s IT advantage and its competitive strategy.

Strategic Approaches To Erp Implementation, Farshad Salimi, Ben Dankbaar

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Strategic reasoning behind ERP triggers a specific path to ERP implementation. In this article we present a simple typology of ERP implementation approaches based on literature review and an empirical research for both manufacturing and services. We distinguish between bottom-up and top-down approaches and between process-oriented and technology-oriented approaches and we discuss the differences between the four resulting types of implementation approaches.

Determinants Of Mobile Payments: An Empirical Analysis, Lei-Da Chen, Ravi Nath

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Success of mobile commerce hinges on the availability of methods of payment that are secure, ubiquitously available, globally accepted, and easy-to-use. Mobile payment (mPayment) entails making payments using mobile devices such as wireless handsets, personal digital assistants, and other radio frequency (RF) and near field communication (NFC) devices. While mPayment is still in its infancy, its acceptance is likely to increase considerably in the coming years. In the United States, the acceptance of mPayment lags behind that of Europe and Asia. In the U.S, many experts believe that the next step in mPayment evolution is the development of a single-device …

Expanding Group Support System Capabilities From The Knowledge Management Perspective, Shin-Yuan Hung, King-Zoo Tang, Tsan-Chuan Shu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

A group support system (GSS) is a computer-based system that enables people in different places to discuss and make decisions on connected computers. Expanding GSS capabilities from the knowledge management perspective is believed to significantly improve the performance and satisfaction of group meetings. This study develops the organizational knowledge management process, proposed by Alavi and Leidner (2001), to expand the capabilities of a GSS. Additionally, a prototype system has been implemented. Finally, an experiment is conducted to evaluate the system and demonstrate its applicability and usability. Experimental results indicate that users perceive a web-based GSS with knowledge management capabilities to …

Project Management: Is/It Research Challenges, Debbie Tesch, Lewis R. Ireland, Julie Yu-Chih Liu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

A major challenge in Information Systems and Information Technology is to improve the ability to conceptualize, design, develop and deliver information systems that meet customer requirements. Project management is often adopted to create solutions that work and meet customer needs. The principles of project management as defined by the Project Management Institute, can improve project success rates. Researchers in the project management need to help practitioners understanding the impact of different principles on the success of IS development. This study undertakes a survey of project management experts on the state of practice and research to examine the need for improving …

Technology Support For The Classroom: Technology Alternatives To The Traditional Classroom, Michael L. Gibson, Mari W. Buche, Jerry J. Waite

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

As technology continues to advance, instructors in higher education are able to enhance course instruction. Course support tools can be customized to meet the needs of the instructor, including file sharing, grade tracking, communicating, and making announcements. Blended learning advances course enhancements to include integrated solutions such as links to electronic textbooks and assignments. The most advanced use of technology for educational purposes is found in the distance learning format. This paper describes various uses of technology to support classroom instruction. Examples are provided.