Business Commons^™

Concussion The Film, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Several months ago there was a minor flap over the fact that the National Football League was given the right to delete parts of the film “Concussion” before its general release to the public. At the time many, including myself, feared that the NFL would defang the bite of the film. It did not. In fact it’s hard to imagine what the NFL censored in “Concussion” given the devastating nature of the final product which is now in release.

Concussions, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

ESPN reported this week that the NFL had pulled funding for concussion research because one of the principal researchers was Dr. Robert Stern of Boston University who has been critical of the NFL. The grant was awarded by the National Institute of Health(NIH) and the NFL denied pulling out of the grant saying that the NIH made all funding decisions and that the NFL has no veto power over the use of the $30M it had donated to the NIH in 2012 with no strings attached. It turns out however that it did retain a veto over the use of …

Bowling For No Reason, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Are you ready for some football? Are you ready for some mediocre football? Are you ready to watch teams that couldn’t break even have their time in the spotlight at some nondescript bowl game?

Pearl Harbor, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This piece on Pearl Harbor and Baseball was the fifteenth of this series of essays on Sport and Society. It dates from December of 1991 the 50th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and was written as a radio commentary for WUCF-FM an NPR affiliate in Orlando. It aired on December 6, 1991.This seemed like a good time to retrieve it from an HD floppy disc and air it out one more time.

Extravagance, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In a recent analysis of the money flow in intercollegiate football, The Washington Post, laid out in considerable detail the not so surprising conclusion that revenue at the Power Five Conferences has increased dramatically over the past decade, while spending has exceeded the growth of revenue. Nationally between 2004 and 2014 some 48 athletic departments increased their income from $2.67B to $4.49B. Despite the apparent windfall 25 of those departments ran a deficit in 2014, and two of them, Auburn and Rutgers, lost more money in 2014 than they did in 2004.

Student Perception Of Barriers To Study Abroad, Jessica Walker

HIM 1990-2015

Studying abroad during the collegiate experience is an idea sought by the many high school seniors and college freshmen alike. The social, intellectual, and cultural benefits received from participating makes it a seemingly easy decision. Yet, lack of action plagues the nation as there exists a miniscule number of students who follow through with their desire to study abroad. Prior research exemplifies that students rely on the perceptions of their peers and family when approaching an unfamiliar subject. These perceptions result in concocted barriers that dissuade the student from participating in study abroad before they seek concrete information. There are …

Thanksgiving, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As with all American traditions, if it happened once or twice it is one. Therefore I present my traditional Thanksgiving piece.

A Month To Remember, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For the past several weeks I have seen a multitude of stories from the wild world of sport that have struck me as something about which I wanted to write and set my brain whirring. Unfortunately for a number of reasons I have not been able to find the time to expound on any of them.

Are Travel Purchases More Satisfactory Than Nontravel Experiential Purchases And Material Purchases? An Exploratory Study, Galia Fuchs, Po-Ju Chen, Abraham Pizam

Rosen Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Satisfaction derived from purchases can affect one's happiness and quality of life. Previous studies illustrated that this effect is not equal across purchase categories. Specifically, experiential purchases were found to bring more satisfaction and happiness to consumers than material purchases. However, these comparison studies treated a variety of experiential purchases as one homogeneous category regardless of their nature of consumption. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to bridge this gap and to assess the difference in the level of satisfaction among the three purchase categories: material, travel (composite event experiential purchases), and nontravel experiential purchases (single event experiential purchases). …

Curacao North Sea Jazz & Destination Convergence: A Harbinger Beckoning?, Robertico R. Croes, Manuel A. Rivera, Kelly J. Semrad

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

The CNSJF was held at the World Trade Center in Curaçao on September 3-5, 2015, marking the 6th annual CNSJF. This year’s festival offered, similar to the previous year, a unique promotion with one free admission to a show on Thursday night (September 3) featuring Juanes and Oscar de Leon. Friday and Saturday featured an impressive line-up of twenty-five top performers including Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriters John Legend and Lionel Ritchie, R&B legends The Isley Brothers, Grammy-winning star jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson, Enrique Iglesias, and Usher.

The festival attracted 7,216 international tourists mainly from the Netherlands, the USA, Venezuela, Colombia, Aruba, …

Curacao: Building On The Power Of The Past, Robertico R. Croes, Kelly J. Semrad, Manuel A. Rivera

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

Curaçao faces hard choices in the upcoming years. High unemployment (especially among the youth), a stagnant economy, and low confidence levels may spiral the island into dangerous socio-economic waters. These domestic challenges are occurring in the midst of the global economic uncertainties that have been triggered by a shaky Chinese economy, a weakened European Union and Euro, and the deepening economic travails and budget problems of Brazil and Venezuela.

Yet, despite these challenges, Curaçao has made great strides in the tourism sector compared to other economic sectors on the island. The tourism sector demonstrated resilience against outside shocks and was …

Larry Brown Etc., Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Larry Brown was awarded the hat trick this week by the NCAA. For the third time in his college coaching career Brown is the head basketball coach at a university whose basketball program was found to have violated NCAA regulations. The first came in the early eighties at UCLA where his program was found to be guilty of getting “improper inducements” from UCLA boosters. The second came in the late eighties at Kansas where recruiting violations and improper use of travel funds were on the list of achievements

Fgcuscholars: Using Undergraduate Research As A Tool To Enhance Student Writing, Critical Thinking, And Information Literacy, Mary Crone-Romanovski, Hulya Julie Yazici, Rita Rubin, Charles W. Gunnels

Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

This presentation will overview FGCUScholars, a university-wide program at Florida Gulf Coast University that integrates undergraduate research across the university as a means of teaching and assessing writing, critical thinking, and information literacy. We will overview the development and learning outcomes of FGCUScholars and the implementation across the campus, highlighting examples of curricular changes in engineering that engage students throughout their career at FGCU, the role of problem/project-based learning (PBL) in business classes, the development of research assignments that use digital media in literature courses, and the creation of disciplinary-specific sections of Composition II.

Tennis, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Nearly every year the U.S. Open Tennis Championships seem to offer some remarkable match, a stunning upset, or tennis at an extremely high level. This year it showcased all three.

Goodell, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The opening of the new NFL season also marks the fifth anniversary of the elevation of Roger Goodell to the position of NFL Commissioner. It also marks the resolution of the biggest issue that he has dealt with in his role of leadership of the most popular and successful sports league in the United States.

Missouri, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

On Monday the protests on the campus of the University of Missouri came to their climax with the resignation of Tim Wolfe the president of the Missouri system, and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin of the Columbia campus. For the past several months students have been protesting a range of arbitrary and unpopular actions initiated by President Wolfe. African American students contributed the charge of “racial insensitivity’ to the growing list of complaints about President Wolfe.

Moderating The Impact Of E-Commerce Expenses On Financial Performance In Us Upper Upscale Hotels: The Role Of Property Size, Agnes L. Defranco, Cristian Morosan, Nan Hua

Rosen Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The heavily fragmented hotel industry, embracing the changes in their guests’ use of electronic devices, has spent considerable resources to incorporate electronic commerce (e-commerce) practices. The extant literature offers inconclusive findings with regard to the effect of e-commerce on firm performance, especially when firm size is considered. Given the high fragmentation of size in the hotel industry, understanding its role in the deployment of e-commerce could result in substantial benefits for both hotel firms and consumers. Using the financial performance of 689 observations of over 110 hotels during 2007 to 2012, this study finds that e-commerce expenses positively impact firm …

Pharoah And Roger, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In the world of sport or in the world generally, how often can you say that today there are two major pieces of good news? Yesterday was such a day.

Consumer Reviews And The Creation Of Booking Transaction Value: Lessons From The Hotel Industry, Edwin N. Torres, Dipendra Singh, April Robertson-Ring

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In recent years, much has been said about online consumer-generated feedback. Concern typically emerges regarding consumer decision-making as well as the preservation of an organization's image. Additionally, a company's financial performance can be affected by customer online ratings. The present study explores the impact of a hotel's rating and number of reviews on the value generated through online transactions. Through collaboration with consulting company Travel Click, the research team gathered a sample of 178 hotels representing various companies and brands within the United States. Research results demonstrate that TripAdvisor ratings as well as the number of reviews had positive relationship …

Brady And Goodell, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The success of the NFL derives in part from its mastery of the electronic media as the league is able to blanket that world at all times and places. There is no off-season for the NFL. On the rare occasion, there can be drawbacks to this dominance. The last seventy-two hours is not what the media mavens at the NFL would call “a good run.”

Hall Of Fame Denial, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This past Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department announced that it was dropping the obstruction of justice case against Barry Bonds. He had been charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007 for testifying to a grand jury that he had never knowingly used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, Bonds’ testimony was given to the grand jury in 2003 as part of a federal investigation into steroid use by athletes popularly known as the BALCO case. Estimates of the cost of this failed pursuit of Bonds run upwards of $100M.

The Use Of Consumer-Generated Feedback In The Hotel Industry: Current Practices And Their Effects On Quality, Edwin Torres, Howard Adler, Carl Behnke, Li Miao, Xinran Lehto

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Consumer-generated feedback is hard to ignore these days. Word-of-mouth has expanded beyond a customer’s immediate friends and family; with the help of technology it reaches thousands of current and prospective guests. In light of this, scholars and practitioners are exploring the subject of consumer-generated feedback. Today, most of the research regarding this subject focuses on the use of consumer-generated feedback to make purchase decisions. In contrast, the present study explores the use of such information for the purposes of improving hotel operations. This article examines the amount of value placed on consumer-generated feedback, the relative importance placed on positive and …

Women's World Cup, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was a remarkable performance. Two goals in five minutes, four goals in sixteen minutes. Five overall in a 5-2 World Cup Victory in front of over 53,000 fans in Vancouver. According to NPR early reports put the peak U.S. television audience at nearly 23 million viewers. It is the highest rating and largest audience for any U.S. World Cup match in U.S. television history. The overnight rating approached the ratings of the recently concluded NBA Finals. The game had such excitement that even FOX’s commentators and announcing team could not put a damper on the event.

The Accelerator, Volume 8 Issue 15, Summer 2015, Christa Santos

The Accelerator

No abstract provided.

Ucf Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter Summer 2015, Megan M. Haught

UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter

This is the Summer 2015 edition of the UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter which celebrates the accomplishments and community activity of the faculty, staff, and students from the University of Central Florida Cocoa and Palm Bay campuses.

Some of the exciting news in this edition:

• Knights Helping Knights Pantry will be opening in Cocoa
• Dr. Lauren Miller and Sheryl Schagen were interviewed by Brevard Business News about UCF's new Integrated Business program
• A school supply drive was hosted to benefit Brevard County Public School's Supply Zone for Teachers
• Free flu shots will be offered to students on November 9 …

A-Rod, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The past few weeks have been full of riveting sport. The Stanley Cup Final proved to be one of the most exciting in several years as no team enjoyed more than a one goal lead until the last few minutes of the final game. The NBA finals were marked by expected and unexpected star performances. The College World Series went down to the final game in the best of three series with Virginia besting Vanderbilt. And continuing this week is the Women’s World Cup which has offered both newcomers and established teams a chance to shine in this world class …

Happy Valley, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Documentary film can be one of the most effective forms of journalism when done right. “Happy Valley” directed by Amir Bar-Lev is an impressive, haunting, and powerful example of documentary at its very best. The subject on its surface is the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Penn State University. Bar-Lev follows the story from the first revelations of November 2011 through the cascading fallout over the next year.

Triple Crown, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was a just a year ago that I wrote about the last attempt at a Triple Crown. This year we are at that point again where a race of approximately two minutes and twenty seconds will either end a remarkable era of Triple Crown futility or extend it for yet another year. And so with a few changes of the cast I submit again these observations on this marvelous weekend in horse racing history.

Women At A Music Festival: Biological Sex Defining Motivation And Behavioral Intentions, Robertico R. Croes, Seung Hyan Lee

Rosen Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study aims to assess whether biological sex impacts motivation and experience at a music festival in Curacao and is premised on different consumption behavior induced by biological sex. Differences in motivations and behavioral intentions based on biological sex were observed. The study further revealed that biological sex plays an important role in framing the experience and behavior intentions of the female segment. This finding is relevant as females are becoming an important mainstream at music festivals and travel and leisure consumers. Biological sex as a predictor of motivation and behavioral intentions has wider effects than just increasing demand; it …

Deflategate, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As I mentioned previously it seems as if there are always some bizarre or hilarious developments in the world of sport while I am out of touch. A few days ago I reported on my experiences watching hockey in Russia. Now I want to revisit what many of you will consider old news.