Penn State Football: An Analysis Of Crisis Communication Best Practices And How Psu Overcame The Ultimate Pr Crisis, Meaghan Grace Lane

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis paper is an analysis of the crisis communication response to the 2011 Pennsylvania State University child sex abuse scandal. The reputation of this iconic university and its football program was changed forever by this horrific event, which involved years of administrative cover-ups of the sexual assault of children by an assistant football coach. However, despite widespread public backlash, administrative upheaval and heavy NCAA sanctions in the months after the scandal broke, Penn State has since made major strides in image improvement.

This project delves into what defines best crisis communication practices, using Penn State as a case study. …

Invest For Impact: An Exploration Of The Incongruities In Social Finance, Kelly Marie Thompson

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Within the impact investing industry, a definition for societal return and how to measure this concept is lacking. Although its potential has been proven, there is still very limited exposure to impact investing within the United States. The present study aims to survey the current status of the impact investment industry in the United States, assess the presence of gaps between investments and their outcomes, and formulate a framework for addressing such shortcomings. The current status of the impact investing industry was examined and evaluated in order to understand how the industry is defined, what is the outcomes social finance, …

Advertising In The Super Bowl: Worth The Cost?, Avi Steinbach

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Super Bowl has long been considered an unofficial American holiday. Advertisers look at this day as their Christmas – a day when the audience looks forward to commercials. Because of the immense value that a Super Bowl spot holds, there is an equally high price tag to pay for a spot.

The original question posed in this thesis was: Is a Super Bowl advertisement worth the cost? After diving into countless articles arguing both sides and looking at companies’ successes and failures, it became clear that the wrong question was being asked. Rather than thinking about all companies, the …

Find It In Football: An International Marketing Plan For Young Women, Melanie Michelle Holohan

Honors Capstone Projects - All

What follows are multiple components of a creative advertising project. While this work relies heavily on research, it was a very creative process. The premise of this work is an integrated marketing campaign that utilizes my two majors: international relations and advertising, combined with my love for sports. Using primary and secondary research, I found that the benefits that sports have on child development are huge (Humphrey, 2003). I narrowed my sport choice down to soccer and my target down to young women. I wanted to focus on Islamic states because, at least by American standards, Muslim women are often …

An Investigation Into The Accounting Practices Of Owners In The Professional Sport Industry With Specific Consideration Of Implications To Players, Taxpayers, And Local Governments, Stephen Michael Rathbun

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In today’s sport industry there is a push by players to maintain an equitable split in revenues to ensure ownership groups do not exploit them. This has been of particular importance over the past five years during collective bargaining agreements. Players associations are not the only groups who are affected by the financial management of professional sport owners. Taxpayers and local governments also share an interest in the manner owners operate teams. With an increase in public subsidization of sport teams, taxpayers have a natural vested concern for professional sports.

The concern on this topic comes with the financial management …

Stir, Alyssa Di Rienzo

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Syracuse University student body is overflowing with brilliance. Over the course of their four years on campus, many Syracuse students engage in truly amazing academic initiatives. Currently, there is no single resource that captures the stories and accomplishments of the university’s most talented students. I have set out to address this opportunity, by creating a website that celebrates and shares the stories of the Syracuse University students. ! I have created STIR, an online resource featuring video testimonials from outstanding Syracuse University students. The website has four main missions. First, to share the stories of Syracuse University talent with …

Let’S Bring It Home: Discovering Efficiency In Re-Shoring Production In The Beauty Industry, Julie Sarah Gibli

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The beauty industry is an understudied industry that can benefit greatly from reshoring. Product developers in this industry source raw materials from Europe when creating a complex product, and from China when creating a mass-market, basic product. Many companies across the United States have begun to reshore all or parts of their manufacturing process. They have been able to benefit by cutting transportation costs and lead time, and by maximizing quality. This thesis aims to explore the reshoring trend and its viability for mass-market products in the beauty industry.

A case study was compiled to discover whether it is economically …

Elements Of The Nordic Leadership Framework, Origins, And Transferability, Maggie H. Chen

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Leadership styles can be classified into different buckets based on previously developed leadership framework theories such as transformational, transactional, charismatic, and democratic leadership. This thesis explores the characteristics that define the Nordic style of leadership from a cross-cultural perspective. Under the assumption that the four Nordic nations: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden share a similar set of leadership practices, my capstone investigates the linkage between the Nordic national cultures and the influences on the leadership approach. The four small, but powerful nations are the homes to many corporations recognized for their highly innovative solutions to meet consumer needs. Nordic leaders …

The Nature Of Lessons Learned From Argentina’S 2001 Financial Crisis, Emma Van Wagenberg

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper makes the argument that though Argentina’s 2001 financial crisis was influenced by several factors, it is the 1991 Convertibility Plan that most strongly pushed the nation to the point of needing outside financial assistance. Its implementation led to and worked in combination with a multitude of unexpected factors. Together, these created economic conditions that chipped away at the stability of Argentina’s economy.

Given the nature of this project, information was gathered solely through research in texts published by both supporters and critics of organizations like the International Monetary Fund. In my readings, I found that there is generally …

What’S Gender Got To Do With It? How Client Gender Influences Public Relations Practices And Crisis Management Strategies, Tiana Rojas

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Media leads gender stereotyping. Consumers of media internalize messages of gender put forth by the media, thus shaping their attitudes and expectations of gender. This paper focuses on gender and how it influences public relations (PR) practices and crisis management strategies, specifically in entertainment PR. This is a subject that has yet to be explored. Utilizing primary, secondary and quantitative research methods, I hope to answer my research question: how does client gender influence PR strategy? To test my research question, I designed an online survey composed of four common PR crises seen in the entertainment industry among celebrities. The …

Beaver Professional Public Relations Research Case Study, Francheska Munoz

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This research study combines public relations and marketing to examine how women think about buying hair products. Using Beaver Professional, a hair care company, as the client, this study incorporates different methods of research to understand what factors affect which products women buy and where they go to buy them. This study also examines how salons think about selling hair products to their customers and where they go to shop or find the products for their salons.

A Geographical Analysis Of The Origin Of National Football League Players And Draftees, Robert Murray

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The inspiration for this examination of NFL football players came from a September 17, 2010 CBS Television program 60 Minutes report “American Samoa: Football Island” by Scott Pelley. Pelley determined “that a boy born to Samoan parents is 56 times more likely to get into the NFL than any other kid in America” (Pelley, 2010). As a result of this investigation, I was inspired to travel to American Samoa in June 2013 to learn firsthand what variables and conditions led to the production of National Football League (NFL) Draft picks from this country, Tonga and all the regions within the …

Capstoned: Advertising Research, Account Planning, And The Development Of A Marketing Plan For Recreational Marijuana In Denver, Co, Erica Clapp

Honors Capstone Projects - All

One of the hottest current issues in the United States among politicians and many other groups of citizens is the legalization of recreational marijuana. This issue has a long history, and it has constantly resurfaced in the media for years. However, the recent attention being given to recreational marijuana legalization is not going to die down anytime soon, for landmark progress has been made in this area. On November 6, 2012, Colorado Amendment 64 was passed, implementing a statewide drug policy for cannabis. Consequently, Colorado has taken a revolutionary step that marks the first electoral decision to legalize marijuana in …