Business Commons^™

A Social Marketing Plan For 7hills Homeless Center, Kendra Labri Williams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

7hills Homeless Center is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas and is committed to ending homelessness in Northwest Arkansas by developing and implementing innovative services to equip the near-homeless and homeless in leading healthy and productive lives through strategic community partnerships with citizens, business, and government agencies. This thesis offers 7hills Homeless Center a comprehensive social marketing plan. The goal is to increase awareness of homelessness in Northwest Arkansas and to increase donor and volunteer involvement with 7hills. In order to accomplish these goals, a social marketing plan was developed by researching target volunteer and donor audiences, homelessness, and successful campaigns from …

Bumpers College Students In Action, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Dean, Lona Robertson

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Message From The Faculty Editor, Mary Savin

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 18 2017, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Marketing Tips For Small-Scale, Local Honey Bee Keepers In Northwest Arkansas, Samuel L. Goll, Michael P. Popp, Jennie S. Popp, Donald C. Steinkraus

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The objective of this thesis was to gain market information for beekeepers regarding different honey bee products and to provide information about economic feasibility when produced on a small, local scale. Since cost-of-production information about operating an apiary is widely available, the focus of this work was on gaining marketing knowledge. One of the objectives of the surveys was to develop a better sense of what potential resellers of honey bee products considered locally produced. Another objective was to determine preferences for honey bee product packaging as well as bee pollination services. Using that feedback, a marketing plan for different …

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of Supply Chain Transparency Among Consumers, Audrey Mcclain

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study seeks to understand the impact that a business’s level of transparency may have on consumers. Extant research and literature suggests a relationship between transparency and consumer confidence. However, though a relationship exists, there is reason to believe that many consumers do not use the transparency efforts they demand. This study hypothesizes that there is in fact a demand for transparency, but ultimately, consumers do not use the transparency efforts that they call for. A survey was created for the purpose of this study and its results were analyzed and then compared against the hypotheses laid out in the …

Misuse Of Company Time: How The Internet And Social Media Are Creating A New Time Theft, Ryan Hancock

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines how social media and online shopping are providing new forms of employee time theft for companies and considers the impact they have on productivity. Whether the trends are actually apparent was then connected to an individual’s perception of whether stealing company time is unethical. Data was obtained in this study through a survey. The survey was conducted through direct and behavioral questions of participants. The first half of the survey contained direct questions measuring the respondent’s own usage of social media, their online shopping habits, and whether they do these activities while working. The second half of …

Why Teens Today Wear The Brands They Wear And How This Is Affected By Reference Groups, Moriah Houser

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper describes and reports the results of a study that examines how teenagers choose to purchase and wear different brands. I wanted to find out if they would be affected positively or negatively towards different brands when they were associated with their membership, aspirational, or dissociative reference groups as well as how a teenager decides what brands are relevant to them or convey what they want to convey about themselves. Through the exploration of friends, hobbies, advertising, social media, situational factors, parents, through interviews, along with the help of many scholarly articles, I was able to find out what …

The Impact Of Unions On Information Asymmetry, Caroline Burke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior literature documents a positive association between union power, calculated using industry-level union data, and information asymmetry. Prior literature also finds a mitigating effect from employee ownership on the negative association between union power and voluntary disclosure. Using a sample of company observations for fiscal years 2008 through 2010, I examine the effect of company-specific measures of employee unionization on market-based measures of information asymmetry (proxied for by insider trading activity, analyst following, and analyst dispersion). I also examine whether employee ownership impacts the effect of company-specific measures of employee unionization on my market-based measures of information asymmetry. I find …

Big Data And Organizational Impacts: A Study Of Big Data Ventures, Taha Havakhor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

New information technology (IT) ventures are at the forefront of developing IT innovations. In spite of their importance in the advancement of IT and the unique risks of survival that distinguishes them from established firms, the organizational literature on IT has mostly overlooked new IT ventures. Specifically, Big Data industry is a context where new IT ventures actively change the landscape of IT innovations. However, less is known about the factors influencing the economic success of Big Data ventures (BDVs), as well as the established firms that invest in them. To shed light on these factors, three essays are designed …

Two Essays On Analytical Capabilities: Antecedents And Consequences, Rishikesh Jena

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although organizations are rapidly embracing business analytics (BA) to enhance organizational performance, only a small proportion have managed to build analytical capabilities. While BA continues to draw attention from academics and practitioners, theoretical understanding of antecedents and consequences of analytical capabilities remain limited and lack a systematic view. In order to address the research gap, the two essays investigate: (a) the impact of organization’s core information processing mechanisms and its impact on analytical capabilities, (b) the sequential approach to integration of IT-enabled business processes and its impact on analytical capabilities, and (c) network position and its impact on analytical capabilities. …

Perceptions Of Division I Athletic Director Career Paths, Eric A. Wood

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is increased information about the profile of current collegiate athletic directors as it relates to education, age, race, and gender. However, there is a gap in the knowledge of the career paths of the modern day Division I collegiate athletic director position compared to the athletic directors studied over 20 years ago. There is also a gap in the knowledge of the skills necessary to be an effective athletic director from the perspective of Division I athletic directors. The purpose of this study was to use the Perceptions of Division I Athletic Director Career Paths (PADCP) scale to determine …

Does Assurance Matter? Evidence From U.S. Financial Institutions, Ashley Warwick Douglass

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I explore the determinants and consequences of the level of assurance that a bank selects. Using a sample of small, privately held U.S. (United States) financial institutions (banks), I find that two differing types of banks are more likely to purchase more assurance. First, larger banks that are experiencing growth purchase relatively more assurance than other banks. Second, more complex banks with lower returns on assets, losses, and higher leverage are more likely to purchase an audit than a lower level of assurance. This may indicate the influence of regulators on banks’ assurance purchasing decisions. I also …

Why We Follow: Exploring How Culture Shapes Users’ Motivation For Following Sport Organizations On Twitter And Weibo, Bo Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how culture shapes Social media users’ usage as they follow sport organizations on two similar microblogging services - Twitter and Weibo. In particular, the study attempted to measure whether Social media users exhibited different usage pattern, points of attachment, and usage motivations within two different cultural environments known as individualism and collectivism.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ Social media followers were selected and invited to participant in this study. There were 839 the Lakers’ Weibo followers and 334 Twitter followers who completed an online survey facilitated on Qualtrics. The results of Multivariate analysis …

Audit-Related Services And Audit Quality: Evidence From Benefit Plan Audits, Jaclyn Prentice

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following study examines a material but less understood component of the public audit marketplace, namely the provision of “audit-related” services to financial statement audit clients. I use the benefit plan audit service setting to examine the company and benefit plan characteristics associated with auditor selection and the impact of audit-related services on financial statement audit quality. I provide market evidence of distinct shifts in the use of the same audit firm for the financial statement audit and other audit-related services over time as well as characteristics of the choice of auditors. I then test whether having the same audit …

A Social Marketing Plan For The Lester C. Howick Animal Shelter, Joseph Michael Spiegelhoff

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Lester C. Howick Animal Shelter (Howick) is a non-profit organization serving Washington County, Arkansas and the Northwest Arkansas community. This thesis offers Howick a comprehensive Social marketing plan. The goal of the animal shelter is to increase the total number of cats and dogs adopted, increase the total amount of donations, and increase the number of volunteers helping at the facility and various events. In order to accomplish these goals for 2016, a Social marketing plan was developed through research on other non-profit organizations, other animal shelters, communication with the shelter employees, crafting a public service announcement (PSA), and …

Leveling The Playing Field? A Content Analysis Of Espn.Com And Espnw.Com’S Online Coverage, Rachael Caldwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory study was to compare sports coverage provided by the male-centric website ESPN.com and its affiliated female-centric website ESPNW.com. The amount and type of coverage provided for female athletes was the primary focus of this study. Results suggest that ESPNW.com provides an outlet for increased coverage of women’s sports, but the type of coverage provided to female athletes is not equivalent to that of their male counterparts. These results supported findings in previous studies on mass media coverage of women’s sports, specifically coverage on the emerging field of Internet coverage.

Omni-Channel Supply Chain Management: Assessing The Impact Of Retail Service Operations In The Retail Supply Chain, Simone Theresa Peinkofer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The traditional retail environment, which is characterized by a clear division between brick-and-mortar and non-brick-and-mortar retail channels, has been recently disrupted by developments in e-commerce and mobile technologies. The result has been the emergence of omni-channel retailing. Within the reality of this new retail environment, it has been proposed that retailers should develop the necessary capabilities to fulfill consumer demand from anywhere – the store, the distribution center, or via drop-shipping from a supplier – which leads to the emergence of new operational complexities and challenges in the retail supply chain. In light of the growing popularity of these new …

It's Not The Load That Breaks You Down, It's The Way You Carry It: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Negative Identity And Consumer Behavior, Cassandra Denise Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research examining Social identity and consumer behavior often centers on groups with positive Social identities, exploring the influence of similar identities (i.e., shared values, shared gender, shared political affiliations, shared ethnicity…etc.) or desired identities (e.g., sports celebrities, actors, and actresses). For example, research has shown that people display an increased attention to identity-based stimuli following the activation of a Socially distinct identity (Forehand, Deshpandé, and Reed 2002) and that heightening the self‐importance of a consumer Social identity leads to a preference for identity-related brands (Reed 2004). An important but often overlooked aspect of the influence of Social identity on consumption, …

It's All About Me: How Self-Brand Connection And Social Media Interactivity Influence Purchase Intent, Shannon Taylor Mccarthy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social media is ubiquitous and allows consumers to display identity by through possessions through posts, images, and interactions. The self is all the individual calls their own and is expressed outwardly through everything visible, including possessions, relationships, and interactions. They tell their story through the display of envy-inducing artifacts, and create a perfect, photoshopped life. Consumers seek a connection to positively viewed brands they feel are self-representative through interaction. This dissertation seeks to better understand consumer rationale for and gratification from online brand engagement and how that, in turn, impacts the brand. Three studies examined the effects of self-brand connection, …

Recruiting: An Act Of Trust, Krystal Evette Beachum

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The realization for incoming freshmen to be able to balance education and participate in athletics at the college level takes complete dedication. Participation in athletics has been linked with reports of growth in the individual's personality and leadership skills and with their overall satisfaction with the college experience (Ryan, 1989). Using former student-athletes as participants, the study aims to look at college athletics through the eyes of the student-athletes.

The purpose of this study offers an inside look at former Division I football student-athletes perception of the recruiting process, along with the perception of the financial agreement and the National …

4 Wynnes Boating Manufacturing Company: A Market Analysis And Business Plan For Northwest Arkansas, Hayden S. Wynne

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on a business plan for the opening and developing of a boat manufacturing company in Northwest Arkansas and, specifically, manufacturing of duck hunting boats. South Arkansas and Eastern Arkansas have boat-manufacturing companies, but none exist in Northwest Arkansas. Having developed an interest in duck hunting over the years, I have discovered a tremendous need to bring the boats to where a large portion of Arkansas population exists. The objective of this business is to identify the Northwest Arkansas market viability for a customized duck boat manufacturing company. This analysis and evaluation is meant to provide a business …

The Impact Of A Woman's Physical Attractiveness On The Height Of Her Glass Ceiling, Kelsey L. Wheelhouse

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract: The impact of a woman’s physical attractiveness on the height of her glass ceiling

It is the purpose of this thesis to identify whether or not a woman’s level of physical attractiveness has any impact on the height of her glass ceiling. The thesis first provides a comprehensive review of literature and previous studies. It is well established by prior research that attractiveness is beneficial to women pursuing entry-level employment, but there have been mixed conclusions as to whether or not attractiveness is beneficial or detrimental for women seeking employment at the managerial level (Heilman and Saruwatari, 1979; Hosoda, …

The Production And Exportation Of Arkansas Non Gmo Vs Gmo Soybeans To China, Weston Cartwright

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

In recent years, the increase and shift in China’s population combined with a reduction in useable farmland due to soil contamination has prompted a significant increase in food imports. Soybeans, in particular, have become a significant import, and the United States is one of their prime suppliers. Chinese soybean imports have increased from 18 million bushels in 1996 to 1.171 billion bushels in 2015. Soybeans are used in food products like tofu and cooking oils and also as a base for animal feed. In the United States, soybeans are the second largest field crop, ranking just behind corn. Close to …

Seats: A Business Plan, Mycah Sandridge

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Every year over 88 million people participate in recreational boating on lakes all across the U.S. (http://www.statista.com/topics/1138/recreational-boating/). While enjoying their favorite aquatic activities, these people have needs and desires just like any other time in life, but with a relatively high opportunity cost to acquire goods. Making a trip to the marina and back costs both money and time that boaters would rather be spending having fun with family and friends. The Seats model, a mobile vending vessel, will fill this gap, providing food necessities and a fun environment that does not require boaters to dock their boat in order …

Improving Reliability Of Medical Device Tracking Using Unique Device Identification, John A. Bonfanti

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The term “disruptive innovation” has been the buzzword of industries looking to create technological advancements in their respective fields ever since the term was first coined in 1995. In order to invest in the future of the industry, companies are beginning to focus on new, innovative ideas that come into the market as a low-cost alternative to the sustaining innovations currently in place. Similar business-models can be seen in the healthcare industry, as physicians look to disruptive innovations to provide methods of diagnosis and treatment that are easier to perform and maintain. Companies, from medical device manufacturers to the hospitals …