Business Commons^™

The Anthropology Of Family Business: An Imagined Ideal, Alex Stewart

Management Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Investigating American Cancer Society Volunteer Experience, Kari Liotta

Professional Projects

The nonprofit sector is crucial for a vital economy, and volunteers are at the core of many of these organizations. Research has shown many different factors related to nonprofit organization success, including volunteer management, recruitment, and retention techniques. This study adds to the current literature by investigating the American Cancer Society Relay For Life Advisory Team and explores what factors have led to the retention of these high-level volunteers, what skill-based trainings have they received throughout their volunteer career with the American Cancer Society, and what sentiment do the volunteers have toward receiving spokesperson training, facilitation training, and coaching training. …

A Need For A Sales Course In Academia, Kevin H. Scholz

Professional Projects

Nearly 50% of all college graduates entering the workforce, after earning a business related degree, find themselves initially in a sales role. With only 4.8% of colleges and universities offering a sales course, are the vast majority of recent graduates entering the workforce prepared for a sales role? This exploratory study seeks the feedback of hiring managers in the field to bring awareness to faculty members involved with course selection and academic curriculum design for the purpose of encouraging colleges and universities to consider a sales course. The study provides learning objectives and competencies for a sales course based on …

An Investigation Of Key Factors Impacting Front-Line Service Providers' Efforts To Deliver A Quality Customer Experience, Donna Wells

Professional Projects

The relevance of competitive differentiation for any business that strives to achieve success is undeniable. An awareness of how to best satisfy the customer is instrumental in helping a company to distinguish itself from the competition. Service firms in particular realize that the customer’s perception of service quality can prove to be a valuable asset in the quest for customer satisfaction and retention. In the customer’s eyes, evaluation of the service experience as satisfying or less than satisfying is largely dependent upon the treatment extended by frontline employees during the face-to-face service encounter. The aim of this qualitative study was …

Antecedents And Outcomes Of Employee Perceptions Of Intra-Organizational Mobility Channels, Jennica R. Webster, Terry A. Beehr

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Employees' beliefs about how promotions are awarded within their organizations can have important consequences. We conducted two studies that focus on perceptions of the criteria used to make promotion decisions. In Study 1, we identified two types of perceived promotion criteria, performance-based and nonperformance-based. Then we use justice and social exchange theories to develop a model linking employee perceptions of promotion criteria to performance via their relationships with promotional justice and organizational commitment. In a sample of 305 employee–supervisor pairs, we found that both promotional justice and organizational commitment mediated between perceptions of promotion criteria and supervisor rated in-role and …

Experimental Tests For Discrimination By Mortgage Loan Originators, Andrew Hanson, Zackary Hawley, Hal Martin, Bo Liu

Management Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Control, Process Facilitation, And Requirements Change In Offshore Requirements Analysis: The Provider Perspective, Vanita Yadav, Monica Adya, Varadharajan Sridhar, Dhruva Nath

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Process, technology, and project factors have been increasingly driving organizations to offshore early software development phases, such as requirements analysis. This emerging trend necessitates greater control and process facilitation between client and vendor sites. The effectiveness of control and facilitation has, however, not been examined within the context of requirements analysis and change. In this study, we examine the role of control and facilitation in managing changing requirements and on success of requirements gathering in the Indian offshore software development environment. Firms found that control by client-site coordinators had a positive impact on requirements analysis success while vender site-coordinators did …

Investigating The Effects Of Daily Inventory Record Inaccuracy In Multichannel Retailing, Thomas J. Kull, Mark Barratt, Anníbal C. Sodero, Elliot Rabinovich

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Inventory record inaccuracy (IRI) challenges multichannel retailers in fulfilling both brick-and-mortar and direct channel demands from their distribution centers. The nature and damaging effects of IRI largely go unnoticed because retailers assume daily IRI remains stable over time within the replenishment cycle. While research shows that a high level of IRI is damaging, in reality the level of IRI can change every day. We posit that daily IRI variation increases the uncertainty in the system to negatively affect inventory and service levels. Our research uses data collected daily from a multichannel retailer to ground a discrete-event simulation experiment. Going beyond …

Toni M. Conley - An Empirical Analysis Of How Purchase Decision Makers Arrive At A Fair Price For Subscription-Based Crm, Toni M. Conley

Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program 2013

Internet based technologies have played an important role in the development of modern CRM applications over the last several years. They have been the critical driving force behind the rise of on-demand CRM, and have also enabled on-premise CRM vendors to dramatically simplify deployment and administration. As a result of this, business purchase decision makers are in the midst of a recent and accelerating shift in how they acquire marketing support solutions for their enterprises. They are moving from a CAPEX (capital expenditure) to an OPEX (operational expenditure) model. Many time, marketing support solutions acquired via an on-demand model (OPEX) …

Yunus Abdullah - Use Of Social Media By Businesses: A New Opportunity For Consulting Services By Accounting Firms, Yunus Abdullah

Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program 2013

In the last 10 years, social media has been restructuring business policies and practices creating new business models. These models are shaping the internal and external aspects of businesses, improving efficiency, and hopefully yielding higher profits while reducing costs. At the same time, social media is being implemented in such internal operations as employee training, recruiting, communication within organizations, and building business loyalty. Businesses are becoming more dependent on social media, making social media an inevitable expectation of effective business models. The millennial are the new generation of adults who are taking over the business world. This generation of young …

Catering Driven Substitution In Corporate Payouts, Manoj Kulchania

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

This paper investigates catering as a motivation for substitution between share repurchases and dividend payments. I hypothesize that firms cater to investor demand by repurchasing shares when investors place a premium on the stock price of firms that repurchase shares, and by paying dividends when investors place a higher value on dividend-paying firms. I propose a proxy to measure the relative preference for repurchases over dividends — the difference premium. Results show that the decision to repurchase shares or to pay dividends depends on this premium. Firms channel higher fractions of the additional payout dollars toward share repurchases when this …

Examining The Impact Of Information Technology On Healthcare Performance: A Theory Of Swift And Even Flow (Tsef) Perspective, Sarv Devaraj, Terence T. Ow, Rajiv Kohli

Management Faculty Research and Publications

The impact of information technologies on manufacturing operations and performance is well established. However, scant research has been devoted to examining information technology (IT) investment among hospitals and how it influences patient care and financial performance. Using the lens of the Theory of Swift Even Flow (TSEF), we present an operations management-based perspective on the effect of IT in streamlining hospital operations. Specifically, we examined the role of IT on patient flow and its consequences for improved hospital efficiency and performance. Analysis of data from 567 U.S. hospitals shows that IT is associated with swift and even patient flow, which …

Narcissism And Accounting Majors, Jill C. Brown, Michael D. Akers, Don Giacomino

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Narcissism is a personality trait that varies in individuals much like other characteristics. Accordingly, narcissism can positively or negatively impact the leadership style and career of business leaders. While personality research has examined the level of narcissism in college-aged students over the past 30 years, only recently has limited research examined narcissism in business students. Prior research has not examined accounting students. Using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), we assess the level of narcissism in accounting students at a public and private institution in the Midwest. Our findings show accounting students have a lower level of narcissism than other business …

Evaluate Your Business School’S Writings As If Your Strategy Matters, John Cotton, Alex Stewart

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Business school publications are widely criticized for their lack of managerial or teaching relevance. One reason for this criticism is that business school scholarship is typically evaluated purely in terms of one type of work: academic journal articles that are meant to be read by other scholars. However, academics produce multiple types of publications, and business schools serve a wider range of stakeholders. These other stakeholders are often central to the schools’ purposes and may be critical in acquiring resources. These stakeholders probably prefer to see scholarship that is relevant for students or for practitioners. They may prefer scholarship that …

Charitable Ratings And Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence From The Human Service Sector, Qianhua Ling, Daniel G. Neely

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Prior research has shown that many donors utilize charity ratings for decisions and they give more to higher rated charities. Because ratings are partly or completely based on financial information, the financial reporting quality of highly rated charities is more critical to donors than that of the poorly rated ones. In this study, we examine whether the financial reporting quality of charities systematically varies with charitable ratings. Examining a sample of human service charities. we find that highly rated organizations are more likely to underreport fundraising expenses and overstate program ratios. Highly rated organizations appear to be exercising accounting discretion …

The Discretionary Effect Of Ceos And Board Chairs On Corporate Governance Structures, Matteo P. Arena, Marcus V. Braga-Alves

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

In this study we analyze the effect of latent managerial characteristics on corporate governance. We find that CEO and board chair fixed effects explain a significant portion of the variation in board size, board independence, and CEO-chair duality even after controlling for several firm characteristics and firm fixed effects. The effect of CEOs on corporate governance practices is attributable mainly to executives who simultaneously hold the position of CEO and board chair in the same firm. Our results do not show a decline in CEO discretionary influence on corporate governance after the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and stock exchange …

Implications Of Caritas In Veritate For Marketing And Business Ethics, Thomas A. Klein, Gene R. Laczniak

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

In an effort to assess the latest thinking in the Roman Catholic Church on economic matters, we examine the newest encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) for guidance concerning marketing and business strategy. Core ethical values, consistent with historical Catholic Social Teachings (CST), are retained. However, some important nuances are added to previous treatments, and, reflecting the mind of the current Pontiff, certain points of emphasis are shifted to account for recent global developments. Key areas of consistency and differences (as we perceive them) are spelled out along with some brief commentary on the evolution …

Commercial Property Rent Dynamics In U.S. Metropolitan Areas: An Examination Of Office, Industrial, Flex And Retail Space, Maria R. Ibanez, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

This paper is concerned with the market rental rate for space offered by commercial property and how that rental rate evolves over time. Rental rates reflect the value of the services provided by the property and can have a significant impact on the ability of its owners to make monthly debt obligations. We investigate commercial property rent dynamics for 34 large metropolitan areas in the U.S. The dynamics are studied from the second quarter of 1990 through the second quarter of 2009 and the results are compared across four property types or uses (office, industrial, flex, and retail). There is …

Foundations In Wisconsin: A Directory [32nd Ed. 2013], Mary C. Frenn, Katie M. Barnhart, Victoria Browne, Anne M. Carpenter, Melanie Pauly, Jakob K. Rinderknecht

Foundations in Wisconsin: A Directory

The 2013 edition of Foundations in Wisconsin marks the 32nd production of the print directory and the 13th year of the online version. The directory is designed as a research tool for grantseekers interested in locating information on private, corporate, and community foundations registered in Wisconsin. Each entry in this new edition has been updated or reviewed to provide the most current information available. Most of the data was drawn from IRS 990-PF tax returns filed by the foundations. Additional information was obtained from surveys, foundation websites, annual reports, and newsletters.

Making Sense Of Entrepreneurship Journals: Journal Rankings And Strategy Choices, Alex Stewart, John Cotton

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Dozens of peer-reviewed, English language journals are currently published in our field. How ought we to evaluate them? This paper seeks to answer this question. To do so, we utilize both relevant literature and data on Entrepreneurship journals. The literature derives from both information science and other research areas that reflect on their journals. The data derives from six citation measures from Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. We find 59 currently published English language, peer reviewed journals in Entrepreneurship. Contestable judgments based on their impact measures suggest that one of these 59 could be considered as “A+, four …

Dilettante, Venturesome, Tory And Crafts: Drivers Of Performance Among Taxonomic Groups, Stanley W. Mandel, Jane S. Craig, Alex Stewart

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Empirical research has failed to cumulate into a coherent taxonomy of small firms. This may be because the method adapted from biology by Bill McKelvey has almost never been adopted. His approach calls for extensive variables and a focused sample of organizations, contrary to most empirical studies, which are specialized. Comparing general and special purpose approaches, we find some of the latter have more explanatory power than others and that general purpose taxonomies have the greatest explanatory power. Examining performance, we find the types do not display significantly different levels of performance but they display highly varied drivers of performance.

Competitive Threats, Strategic Responses And Performance Of Brazilian B2b Firms, Syed H. Akhter, Paulo Fernando Pinto Barcellos

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose – The economic realignment in Latin America has created two clusters, one stagnant in the north and the other growth-bound in the south. This study aims to focus on Brazil, the key player in the growth-bound southern cluster, and address three fundamental questions: how Brazilian executives in four B2B sectors (telecommunications, business equipment, steel, and transportation) viewed the internal competitive developments, how they strategically responded to these developments, and what were the marketing and financial outcomes of these strategies.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained by interviewing top decision makers such as president, chief executive officer, and director of the …

Proposed Financial Statement Changes By The Fasb-Iasb: Reactions From Chinese Accounting Majors, Don E. Giacomino, Xin Li, Michael D. Akers

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Based on concerns regarding the usefulness of the current format of the financial statements to assist users in making decisions and as part of the convergence efforts of the IAS and GAAP, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) created a joint project (2004) on financial statement presentation which resulted in the publication of their joint Discussion Paper, Preliminary View on Financial Statement Presentation. Prior research has examined the response of academics, preparers (CPAs) and US accounting students (future preparers). This paper extends that research by examining the reaction of Chinese accounting students, future …

Being Ethically Minded: Practising The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning In An Ethical Manner, Ruth L. Healey, Tina Bass, Jay L. Caulfield, Adam Hoffman, Michelle K. Mcginn, Janice Miller-Young, Martin Haigh

Management Faculty Research and Publications

The authors propose a working definition of ethical Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), advance an ethical framework for SoTL inquiry, and present a case study that illustrates the complexity of ethical issues in SoTL. The Ethical SoTL Matrix is a flexible framework designed to support SoTL practitioners, particularly in the formative stages of their inquiries. Three dominant ethical traditions form the basis of the matrix: teleological or pragmatic, external, and deontological. The key message of the paper is that SoTL practitioners should reflect on different perspectives in their efforts to do what is right in any given situation. The …

Factors Associated With Preferences Regarding Selected Forms Of Variable Pay: A Replication And Extension, Timothy Keaveny, Bonnie S. O'Neill, Edward Inderrieden

Management Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigates the relationships among being paid via different variable pay systems, perceptions regarding selected work environment characteristics, and preferences regarding selected variable pay plans. The data highlight the importance of studying pay system preferences among those with significant work experience because measurement of such variables as experience with variable pay systems and perceptions of work environment characteristics is otherwise not possible. The findings suggest a link between perceptions of work autonomy, efficient management of firm resources and job support, pay satisfaction, experience with variable pay systems and preferences regarding selected variable pay systems.

Older Workers, Occupational Stress And Safety, Gary A. Adams, Sarah Dearmond, Steve M. Jex, Jennica R. Webster

Management Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Rule Based Forecasting [Rbf] - Improving Efficacy Of Judgmental Forecasts Using Simplified Expert Rules, Monica Adya, Edward J. Lusk

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Rule-based Forecasting (RBF) has emerged to be an effective forecasting model compared to well-accepted benchmarks. However, the original RBF model, introduced in1992, incorporates 99 production rules and is, therefore, difficult to apply judgmentally. In this research study, we present a core rule-set from RBF that can be used to inform both judgmental forecasting practice and pedagogy. The simplified rule-set, called coreRBF, is validated by asking forecasters to judgmentally apply the rules to time series forecasting tasks. Results demonstrate that forecasting accuracy from judgmental use of coreRBF is not statistically different from that reported from similar applications of RBF. Further, we …

The Case Of Microsoft's Surface Tablet: Going Behind The Strategy With Swot, David R. King, Todd Peterson

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Following its development at Harvard Business School in the 1950s, the SWOT framework became a frequently used decision tool. While the complexity organizations confront in the modern business world has increased, SWOT provides an intuitive way to organize information into internal “Strengths and Weaknesses” and external “Opportunities and Threats.” Another reason that SWOT remains relevant is its flexibility that enables integrating other analysis tools. It also encompasses multiple steps of strategy development to cover analysis, formulating options, and implementation.

Recruiting Older Workers: Realities And Needs Of The Future Workforce, Barbara L. Rau, Gary A. Adams

Management Faculty Research and Publications

This chapter examines literature pertaining to the recruitment of older workers. It begins by addressing the question of relevance and why older worker recruitment matters. It then examines what is known about older workers, including their attitudes, motivations, and behaviors. Next the chapter addresses what employers are looking for in older workers and, more specifically, discusses the continuum of employers’ practices from those that aggressively try to attract and retain older workers and apply a conservation model of older worker management to those that apply a depreciation model and focus primarily on retrenchment and downsizing older employees. Finally, it addresses …

An Examination Of Personal Values And Value Systems Of Chinese And U.S. Business Students, Don Giacomino, Xin Li, Michael D. Akers

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Using the Rokeach Value Survey and the Musser and Orke typology this paper examines the personal values and value systems of business students in China and compares the results with the results of a recent study that used similar methodology to examine the values and value systems of U.S. students. The study also examines the differences in values and value systems of the Chinese students by gender and by major. While there are few differences for the Chinese students by gender, our findings show several differences in the rankings of values by the Chinese and U.S. students as well as …