Business Commons^™

A Review Of The Business Capstone: Working With An Education Program, Hanna Tran

University Honors Theses

This review thesis walks through the business capstone process which is a hands-on experience with a local business client. The business client, Company A, is an arts and education program that has reached out to the School of Business's capstone class to help them improve their reach to potential customers and find alternative funding other than student tuition and donations. To achieve these goals, our group conducted several analyses and thorough research combined with our existing business education. Our findings and final recommendations are shown in presentations and a final report that the business client can utilize for their future …

A Capstone Journey In Enterprise Software Consulting For Microsoft: How An Interdisciplinary Philosophy Fosters Critical Thinking And Promotes Cross-Functional Teamwork, Jacob Mccall

University Honors Theses

This capstone review thesis explores the application of strategic innovation and enterprise software with a Portland State University (PSU) School of Business Administration (SBA) interdisciplinary team consulting for Microsoft. Faced with improving pitch meetings with a new target audience of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), Microsoft’s West Coast enterprise software sales team sought consultation from the PSU SBA 2023 Business Honors cohort. This text reflects on the precursors responsible for the consulting project’s success, including the university’s guiding principles, interdisciplinary philosophy, and applicable business practices. The final solution includes insights into CMO types, needs development, a marketing enterprise software visual sales …

Small Business Marketing In The Sports Industry, Cheyenne L. Abbett

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores how small sports businesses can avoid high failure rates by establishing a strategic marketing plan that makes the most of their constrained resources. The current literature on sports marketing strategy examines social media, relationship, and influencer marketing, but is limited in its application to small businesses. The purpose of this thesis is to address and fill that gap. This thesis consists of a literature review of the previously stated topics, best practices that incorporate the findings of this research, and a brief case study of these recommendations in action. Best practices include establishing a greater purpose for …

The Power Of Algorithms And Big Data: A Marketing Perspective On Consumer Manipulation In Business, Jordan C'Rene Reuille-Dupont

University Honors Theses

In marketing, predictive analytics molds big data into tools that can create demographics, target pleasurable neuromodulator chemicals like dopamine, and influence individual and societal behavior patterns. Professionals and scholars alike can use machine-based computation to transform big data into usable knowledge that accurately represents and tracks human behavior. In the past couple of decades this has led to the acceleration of the attention economy and has fueled the age of information. It has pushed countries to not only enforce new laws and regulations, but also race to secure control over data science technologies. The research for this thesis will ultimately …

Monetizing Attention And Branding Strategy: Assessing The Effects Of Personal Branding On Amateur Athletic Compensation, Abby Christiansen

University Honors Theses

What role does branding play in the compensation issues faced by amateur athletes? How has the rise of influential online social personas legally impacted their case? This thesis explores the long-standing compensation issues that many amateur athletes have faced while under the control of the NCAA. It connects the social impact of online personal branding to some of the legal victories won by student athletes as they gain more freedom over their NIL (name, image, likeness) by detailing the importance of branding and its evolution into personal branding in a 21^st century economy. Many of the rules and regulations …

Branding In Motion: How Animation And Branding Intersect To Support Nonprofits In Need, Shannon M. Steed

University Honors Theses

Nonprofits often don’t receive the kind of attention needed to garner a wide audience. Especially during the pandemic when the world has largely gone online, it can be a challenge for many of these organizations to adapt to the fast-paced digital landscape. This is largely due to a lack of access to resources and modern design practices to create more community visibility. This thesis is an exploration of how thoughtful design can bring these nonprofit events a new life. I created design systems for two nonprofit events, each with a digitally-focused approach and a focus on deeply considering the audience. …

"Real" Marketing Within The Fast Fashion Industry: An Analysis Of Internal Vs. External Dei Practices, Marinda Lynn Carlyle

University Honors Theses

This thesis will analyze the social media marketing (SMM) practices of Fast Fashion industry trends that have surfaced due to recent events. Specifically, this work will compare customer-facing SMM efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives against the internal values and practices a company expends towards these efforts. This thesis will use H&M as an illustrative example in representing a company within the Fast Fashion industry. The motivation of this thesis or[i]ginates from the ongoing shifts in corporate SMM practices after the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020 and the corresponding increase in social justice activism …

Fandom In The Digital Age: Examining Parasocial Relationships Between Fans And Music Artists On Instagram, Brittani Wert

University Honors Theses

With the rise of social media as a cultural staple in entertainment industries such as music, Instagram changes the landscape of the artist-fan connection and muddles the boundaries of parasocial relationships in a digital space. While a wealth of research exists on how fans perceive mediated relationships, the perspective of the artist and how they navigate this connectivity is missing from the discourse. This study builds on the current literature surrounding mediated artist-fan interactions and examines how music artists use Instagram to build strong, loyal relationships with fans through the lens of parasocial relationships. Through interviews with up-and-coming artists and …

Corporate Sociopolitical Activism And Nonprofit Identity Orientation On An Individual's Likelihood To Support, Tara Duenas

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this study aims to identify whether corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA) as a marketing strategy impacts individual stakeholders and their likelihood to support (time, money, or for-profit partnership) a nonprofit who may have different identity orientations (collectivistic or relational). The two nonprofits that inspired this study are Portland State University (PSU) and SNACK BLOC. Both organizations vary greatly in size and have implemented CSA in response to police abolition within the past year and currently receive public funding. There are various organizational differences between these nonprofits but there has been a suggested link in research that an organization’s …

Immersive Media & Books: Consumer Behavior And Experience With Multiple Media Forms, Panorama Project, Rachel Noorda, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is the first study to capture data about how people engage with books, video games and TV/movies. The study’s main emphasis is on behavior with books, with demographic data in three age groups, five U.S. regions, and seven racial/ethnic groups. Books exist in a connected media ecosystem where the most important customers are avid: avid book engagers (4+ books per month), but also avid consumers of other media. It is possible that these people are the ones who drove the 8.2% increase in book sales during 2020. This study finds that customers who engage avidly with books do so …

Social Media In Business-To-Business Marketing And Sales: Review Of Literature & Research Recommendations, Daniel Bello Manjarrez

University Honors Theses

Social media usage in business to business marketing and sales has been steadily rising since its advent in the late 2000s. Similarly, research surrounding social media in this context has increased, with specific focus on its usage, influence, and adoption from B2B marketers and salespeople. This focus has resulted in gaps in the literature, especially when regarding small and medium B2B enterprises. This review of literature provides a systemic understanding of the research landscape by identifying the theory, methods, context, and results of twenty-one peer-reviewed business marketing articles concerning social media. This review also proposes five key recommendations to inform …

The Role Of Marketing Education In Reactions To Advocacy Advertising, Tobin Carlberg

University Honors Theses

The present research aims to explore whether marketing education creates a positive or negative reaction towards advocacy advertising in general. To test this, consumers with varying levels of marketing education were either interviewed or surveyed to gauge their level of persuasion knowledge, advertising appreciation, and overall reactions to advocacy advertising. Thus, a combination of qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (survey) methods were employed. Interview results suggested that those with greater marketing education held more favorable attitudes toward advocacy advertising, and survey results illustrated a strong correlation between those with more marketing education and one’s appreciation for advocacy advertising, which influenced positive …

The Moderating Effect Of Buying Impulsivity On The Dynamics Of Unplanned Purchasing Motivations, Jacob Suher, Wayne D. Hoyer

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Previous studies of in-store decision making have assumed that motivations for unplanned purchases are homogeneous throughout a shopping trip. In response to this assumption, the authors develop a conceptual framework to explain how consumers’ internal (i.e., intrinsic) and external (i.e., extrinsic) motivations for unplanned purchases actually vary during a shopping trip. Two field studies and five online experiments provide evidence that the personality trait of buying impulsivity predicts differences in whether a shopper initially focuses on internal motivations (e.g., “because I love it”) or external motivations (e.g., “because it is on sale”) for unplanned purchases at the beginning of a …

Exploring Consumer Psychographics Of Ethnic Representation Within The Cosmetic Industry, Johnny A. Hickman

University Honors Theses

Consumers are more sensitive than ever to a brand that has contrived messaging. Despite brands like Maybeline and Covergirl featuring famous women of color in their ads, there has never been a reaction to their brand like there has been for Fenty Beauty. This is because of Fenty Beauty's authentic mission to fulfill a need for consumers. This is a level of authenticity that cannot be matched by simply show-casing women of various skin tones and proceeding to provide a limited amount of products. Is brand authenticity the key to winning over consumers and significant enough for consumers' ability to …

The Rise And Infiltration Of Pac-Man And Street Fighter, Angelic Phan

University Honors Theses

With the social, cultural, and economic influence of video games, it is important to examine why they have become such popular forms of entertainment. Particularly, why certain franchises have continued to persist among the growing industry. Two notable franchises are Pac-Man and Street Fighter, which are also most frequently discussed in scholarly texts. I supplement a literature review with an analysis of marketing texts to illuminate a series of shared factors that help explain both games' popularity despite the apparent dissimilarities of their content. First, my work helps us look across multiple scholarly papers to create a bigger picture …

Project - Smart Sole, Dharshanika Selvakumar, Garrette Stauffer, Dmitry Gryaznov, Elaina L. Gabriel, Waseem Khalaf

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Smart Soles aims to further expand the realm of smart wearable technology with its smart insoles focused on biometric tracking and customized insole comfort. This product provides Dr. Scholl’s with a means to enter and capture much of the early market for smart insoles. Smart Soles is continuing Dr. Scholl’s history of foot products while adding technology to disrupt the stagnant and primitive insoles market. Company objective: Dr. Scholl’s main objective with Smart Soles is to enter and capture some of the smart wearables market by adding smart, biometric tracking insoles to its portfolio. Smart Soles will utilize Dr. Scholl’s …

Everywear Marketing Plan, Khalid Bouredji, Raghav Gupta, Gwendolyn Jester

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

An investigative marketing team at Nike has identified an opportunity to acquire the rights to a new Smart Fabric technology. First-pass feasibility investigations look promising: discussion between a Nike engineer and the company that owns the technology paints a plausible picture, and the claimed technical specifications of the material performance imply a promising potential in Nike products. R&D dollars will need to be dedicated in order to nail down the actual performance of these potential products, and New Product Introduction teams will need to investigate the capability to produce and scale.

Does the market landscape warrant allocating resources to a …

Homesense, Ashwaq Al Khalil, Brian Aebi, Mitesh Dedhia

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

HomeSense is a proposed new smart home monitoring solution by Honeywell Inc and will be part of the Resideo smart home brand. This marketing plan for HomeSense will describe the problem we are solving, the solution, our target market, our ideal customer, and go to market strategy.

Based on market research, we have identified the residential market to be the most suitable market to launch the product. Currently there are only two solutions in the residential market for utility monitoring and those are only focused on energy consumption. HomeSense provides additional capabilities beyond the existing solutions to the residential market …

Exoskeleton, Vinu Casper, Liliana Fitzpatrick

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

This is a research about the marketing plan for exoskeleton wearable devices. The objective is to provide a meaningful Customer Value Proposition to the prospective customers.The Samsung company SWOT analysis is the basis for a marketing strategy. The exoskeleton features and market definition is included in the analysis. A competitor analysis of homogeneus exoskeletons providers is included to review the current market. An exhaustive customer analysis was performed to identify the customer needs as the input for the marketing plan development. The potential market was identified to learn about the exoskeleton market share opportunity. The exoskeleton global market is analyzed …

Marketing In Portland's Small Publishing Industry: Case Studies In The Biographical Approach, Kate Jay

University Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the influence of a publisher’s individual experience and background on the marketing functions of a small publishing press. In order to complete this task, the biographical approach was used. This approach requires interviews of small business owners in order to gain an understanding of their motivation, history, and background. Three Portland publishers of similar size but varying genre focuses were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed and treated as individual case studies. The results of the interviews and analysis was an understanding that the impact on a press from the owners’ knowledge, personalities, and backgrounds change …

Hdm Model To Select Marketing Analyst Job Offer, Alex Tacco-Melendez

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Times have changed and we no longer pick a career in terms of climbing the corporate ladder or to continue with a “family profession tradition” that will make our parents happy. We now select an occupation based on the satisfaction and fulfillment it will bring to our lives.

Nowadays, people spend significantly more time on the job than in any other single activity, making this a crucial decision that will influence their lifestyles.

Recent graduates and entry-level professionals are not only interested in receiving a fair remuneration at the end of each month, they are also seeking for companies that …

Enterprise Marketing Automation Software Selection, Anju Babu

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Enterprises devote a large amount of time and effort in selecting software products that are critical to their competitive advantage, and one such software is the marketing automation software. The paper discusses in detail the different criteria and methodology for selecting one marketing automation software product among the leading products available in the market.

The selection process was identified as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem and the methodology used for analysis was Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM), a variation of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Nine experts with different backgrounds in terms of job functions, functional experience, and geographies, who had expertise …

Drivers Of Consumers’ Emotional Engagement With Everyday Products: An Intensive Review Of The Literature And An Attempt To Conceptualize The Consumer-Product Interactions Within The Emotional Design Process, Ahmed Alibage, Antonie Jetter

Student Research Symposium

This research intensively reviews the literature on designing emotional-driven products and aims to identify the drivers of the consumers’ emotional engagement with everyday products. The research also aims to develop a conceptual framework based on the basic model of product emotions and the classical process control, by which the identified emotional drivers in consumer products, the basic concerns of consumers, the context of the consumer-product interactions, and the design approach(s) would be interrelated and modeled. Furthermore, this research will study the psychological and theoretical perspectives on the human phenomenon of emotion to understand what does an emotion means, and why …

Cheers To Haptic Sensations And Alcohol Consumption: How Glassware Weight Impacts Perceived Intoxication And Positive Emotions, Courtney Szocs, Dipayan Biswas, Adilson Borges

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

People often consume alcohol as a means of emotional control. More specifically, people frequently consume alcohol to enhance positive feelings (e.g., happiness) and reduce negative feelings (e.g., stress, tension). The results of two field studies and one laboratory study showed that holding the volume of alcohol consumed constant and varying the haptic (i.e., weight) sensations individuals experience during consumption can influence these emotional responses and also perceived intoxication. Specifically, we manipulated haptic weight sensations by varying the weight of the cup/container (e.g., champagne flute) alcohol was consumed from and showed that consuming champagne from lighter (vs. heavier) flutes leads to …

Communicating With Library Donors, Marilyn K. Moody

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

How do you communicate effectively with donors and potential donors? What does that communication look like? Libraries often envision donor communications as including only direct fundraising requests. Communications with donors, however, encompass a wide range of activities, is ongoing, and may even span decades with an individual donor. Library staff not directly involved with fundraising may not even think about donors as part of their user audience, but almost everyone who works in a library has a potential role in communicating with donors.

Support The Library, Support The University: Communicating The Value And Impact Of The Library, Marilyn K. Moody

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

What is the value and impact of the library on the university, and how do you communicate it to others? How do you frame the conversation about library value with both external and internal audiences? Given the rapidly changing library and higher education environment, what are meaningful ways to discuss the value of libraries with donors and alumni whose own experiences as students may have been very different? What key messages about the library engage and resonate, and how can you identify and convey those messages?

Volume 21 Issue 4 Introduction (Library Marketing And Communications), Joan Petit

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Oregon libraries provide an incredible array of resources and services, but sometimes we struggle to educate our users and each other about all that is available. Over the past several years, many libraries have become more intentional in our efforts to market and promote our offerings, through traditional PR and advertisements as well as newer approaches like social media. However, we may lack the formal training and expertise to do this well—marketing is not a class offered in all library school programs—and, even with appropriate training, we may lack the budget and staff to implement a large-scale marketing program.

This …

The Intangible Factors Of Design And New Product Development, David L. Driskill

Student Research Symposium

When thinking about product value it is important to realize that there are two main value classifications to take into account, tangible and intangible value. Although it may not seem obvious at first, all values that the consumer receives through using a product, whether tangible or intangible, do not happen by accident. All aspects of a product are built in by design. This is possible because of the intangible factors of the design process and implementation itself that a design team can utilize. The intangible design process is defined by three major layers: the knowledge layer, the emotion layer, and …

Friends Or Foes?: Examining Social Capital Of International Ngos And Food Security Programs, Mariah Ann Kraner

Dissertations and Theses

Food insecurity and chronic hunger are devastating global problems currently facing more than a billion people. There are many actors involved in the response to stomp out world hunger, including International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs). These INGOs, however, work in tumultuous environments with limited resources. This dissertation examines the INGOs involved in the food security dilemma (N=51) to investigate how they use resources to reach hungry populations.

It is hypothesized INGOs use a mix of material resources and social capital to enhance their organizational performance. However, little is known about the impact these resources have on reaching communities in need. Social …

Madécasse: Competing With A 4x Fairtrade Business Model, Scott Marshall, Darrell Brown, Bex Sakarias, Min Cai

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Brett Beach and Tim McCollum, co-founders of Madécasse, spent two years as Peace Corps volunteers in Madagascar. During that time, they fell in love with the country and its people. Recognizing the need of the Malagasy for stable jobs and fair wages and the connection between poverty and environmental destruction, Brett and Tim discussed possibilities for a social enterprise in the country.

Madagascar presents a beautiful yet challenging place to operate a business. It has a wide range of flora and fauna, approximately 70% of which are found nowhere else on Earth and it produces coffee, vanilla, sugar, cotton, pepper, …