The Emergent Strategic Human Capital Resource: A Multilevel Model Incorporating Social Capital And Absorptive Capacity, Alia Crocker

Doctoral Dissertations

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Strategy scholars have exhibited interest in human capital, and in this dissertation, I follow recent work in this area to explore human capital from a multilevel perspective. In particular, I seek to answer the question of how the individual resources that are component to the unit-level human capital resource (HCR) and the collective capabilities that are characteristic of the HCR together impact performance through absorptive capacity. In examining the emergent HCR, with respect to human capital, social capital, and absorptive capacity, I seek to reconcile the tension between the preference for firm specific knowledge, skills, and abilities in prior human …

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Three Essays On Bank Liquidity Creation And Funding Liquidity Risk, Feng Tu

Doctoral Dissertations

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According to the modern theory of financial intermediation, liquidity creation is an essential role of banks. Chapter 1 investigates the relationship between diversification of activities conducted by banks and bank liquidity creation. We show that despite the passage of GLBA act in 1999, banks increased their specialization in the traditional loan market and thus became less diversified from 2004 until the end of 2008. In addition, we find evidence that more specialized banks tend to create more excess liquidity during normal times, suggesting too much specialization in mortgage and other types of loans created abundant liquidity leading up to the …

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Conflicting Voices And Strategic Choices: Capital Structure Heterogeneity And Strategic Actions, Chetan Chawla

Doctoral Dissertations

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The mix of debt and equity in a firm’s capital structure has been associated with varied strategic actions, such as diversification and innovation. Different forms of debt and equity have been associated with particular types of strategic actions. Although there are clear differences between debt and equity, I argue there are also similarities across the two forms of capital. I develop a theoretical framework to categorize both debt and equity along the dimensions of time horizon and risk tolerance, so as to categorize the providers of capital as Transient Equity, Dedicated Equity, Transactional Debt, and Relational Debt. I then empirically …

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Quality Competition In Supply Chain Networks With Applications To Information Asymmetry, Product Differentiation, Outsourcing, And Supplier Selection, Dong Li

Doctoral Dissertations

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The quality of the products produced and delivered in supply chain networks is essential for consumers' safety, well-being, and benefits, and for firms' profitability and reputation. However, because of the complexity of today's large-scale highly globalized supply chain networks, along with issues such as the growth in outsourcing and in global procurement, as well as the information asymmetry associated with quality, supply chain networks are more exposed to both domestic and international quality failures. In this dissertation, I contribute to the equilibrium and dynamic modeling and analysis of quality competition in supply chain networks under scenarios of information asymmetry, product …

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An Investigation Into The Effect Of Consumer Experience Tourism On Brand Loyalty And Purchasing Behavior, Robin M. Back

Doctoral Dissertations

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Brand loyalty and repeat purchase intentions are accepted as important and inextricably intertwined phenomena in contemporary marketing literature, with many studies pertaining to this area. In order to achieve customer loyalty, it is important for companies to create strong bonds between their products or brands and consumers. Consumer Experience Tourism (CET) has been increasingly used as a strategic marketing tool in an attempt to strengthen such bonds, particularly by producers of frequently purchased consumer staples such as food and beverages. With no studies to date identified as having tested the effects of CET on medium to long-term consumer brand loyalty …

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Evaluation Of Leafy Green Species Popular Among Ethnic Groups For Production And Markets In The Northeastern Usa, Ricardo A. Orellana

Doctoral Dissertations

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ABSTRACT

EVALUATION OF LEAFY GREEN SPECIES POPULAR AMONG ETHNIC GROUPS FOR PRODUCTION AND MARKETS IN THE NORTHEASTERN USA MAY 2015 RICARDO A. ORELLANA, B.S., ESCUELA AGRICOLA PANAMERICA EL ZAMORANO, HONDURAS M.B.A, INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE ADMINISTRACION DE EMPRESAS (ISEADE) EL SALVADOR M.Sc. UNIVERSIDAD BOLIVARIANA (UB), CHILE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Frank X. Mangan This dissertation addresses the need to evaluate the potential of leafy green species popular among ethnic groups for production and marketing in the northeastern US, specifically in Massachusetts. The targeted potential consumers for these leafy greens are three ethnic groups living on the US …

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The Effect Of Creative Culture On Aggressive Financial Reporting, Ryan Guggenmos

Doctoral Dissertations

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Chief Executive Officers identify creativity as the leadership competency most desired in business today (IBM 2010). As companies recognize the benefits of creativity and innovation, managers are increasingly looking to build creative cultures within their organizations. However, research in psychology suggests that there may be unintended negative consequences to these attempts. In this study, I predict and find that innovative company culture primes creative thought and, in turn, leads to higher levels of real earnings management (REM) behaviors. Using construal level theories of psychological distance proposed by Trope and Liberman (2010), I design and test both a lower-level and a …

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Amalgamation And The Ideology Of White Supremacy In American Sport, Todd Crosset

Todd Crosset

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Prepared for Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: 7th session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)

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Resource And Supply Allocation And Relief Center Location For Humanitarian Logistics, Guven Ince

Doctoral Dissertations

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This dissertation examines two salient issues that arise in the strategic planning of disaster management operations for providing relief to populations that are impacted by a disaster, such as an earthquake. The first issue is the alleviation of destitution faced by affected populations in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The second is the establishment of an infrastructure for provision of relief, for a much longer period of time, until normalcy is restored. Central to the alleviation of destitution is the avoidance of critical shortages in meeting the demand for relief supplies. The literature on pro-active and strategic planning of …

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The Microfoundations Of Middle Manager Strategic Influence: Three Essays, David G. Cohen

Doctoral Dissertations

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My dissertation is a set of three independent papers exploring both conceptually and empirically the processes by which middle managers influence organizational strategy. Specifically, I examine the hows and whys of middle management strategic influence. By what mechanisms do middle managers change the course of organizational strategy and why do some middle managers, but not others, change the organization’s strategic direction? I do so from a perspective of methodological reductionism (that is, I look to the actions of the individual for explanations of organizational level phenomena, such as strategic change). In particular, all three papers explore how an individual middle …

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Umass Amherst Campus Master Plan Sustainability Chapter, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Nariman Mostafavi, Mohamad Farzinmoghadam, Kylie A. Landrey, Somayeh Tabatabaee Pozveh, Ezra Small, Ted Mendoza, Jason J. Burbank, Robert Ryan, Dennis Swinford, Niels La Cour, Alexander Stepanov

Campus Planning Master Plans

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The UMass Amherst Campus Master Plan Sustainability Chapter articulates the manner in which the Campus Master Plan 2012 principles translate into specific recommendations for campus systems development in support of future smart growth. It summarizes the current physical campus-scale planning projects that Facilities & Campus Services have completed during and after the Master Plan process, and incorporates other operational and educational initiatives that have engaged our campus community as we plan for sustainability.

The CMP Chapter is organized in three major sections: i) sustainability overview; ii) campus master plan systems; iii) current initiatives; and iv) next steps. The first section …

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