Business Commons^™

Evaluating Vendor-Managed Inventory (Vmi) In Non Traditional Environments Using Simulation, Peter Southard, Scott Swenseth

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This study provided empirical evidence that sufficient economic benefits could be achieved with the use of a technology-enabled vendor-managed inventory (VMI) system in a unique chain such that a firm could justify spending the money necessary to create the infrastructure to support it. The models, while based on a specific type of business, were still generic enough that the results could be generalized to many types of highly distributed, variable demand delivery systems. The study compared the costs of inventory systems used in practice by rural farm cooperatives to possible technology-enabled systems. Fuel delivery data from two agricultural cooperatives in …

Understanding The Economic Factors Influencing Farm Policy Preferences, Keith H. Coble, Thomas O. Knight, George F. Patrick, Alan Baquet

Department of Agricultural Economics: Presentations, Working Papers, and Gray Literature

Freedom to Farm legislation enacted in 1996 was widely perceived as a dramatic step toward a more market oriented farm policy which would create a producer decision environment more conducive to competitive adjustments. Enacted in a time of high market prices and large exports of agricultural products, the transition payments were initially larger than deficiency payments would have provided. Generally, this legislation received strong support from Midwestern and Central Plains states. However, final passage was secured through concessions to legislators from other regions. Abrupt declines in many farm program crop prices in 1998 have tested the support for Freedom to …

Summer Sessions Breakdown Of Course Dates And Time, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This report highlights an exhaustive analysis of the hundreds of Summer Session courses to develop an understanding of when they occur during the day and during which of the four academic terms. The analysis shows that the most popular time for scheduling courses is between 9:30 am and noon for each of the four summer session terms. Given the limited number of general purpose classrooms on campus, accommodating faculty preference for rooms, buildings, and computer equipment is sometimes not possible during the most in demand course times. The results also showcase the potential for having summer courses four-day per week …

Brain Drain In Nebraska: What Do The Data Show?, Steve Carlson, Hanna Hartman, Eric Thompson

Business in Nebraska

Brain Drain in Nebraska: What do the data show?

Introduction

Nebraska is a growing state, but it is a slowly growing state. Over the last decade, population growth in Nebraska, at 0.6% per year, has lagged the national average rate of 1.0%. This gap in growth rates is large in real terms. Given a current population of approximately 1.8 million persons, Nebraska would grow by approximately 18,000 persons per year if it grew at the national growth rate of 1.0% per year. Instead, the state only adds about 11,000 persons per year. A lower growth rate results in a loss …

Sorghum & Pearl Millet In Zambia: Production Guide, [2006], Kimberley Christiansen

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

U.S. government publication about sorghum and pearl millet production and sales in Zambia.

The Joint Role Of Locus Of Control And Perceived Financial Need In Job Search, Edwin A. J. Van Hooft, Craig Crossley

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Guided by economic rational choice theory and the behavioral-coping literature, the present study examined contrasting perspectives of the role of job-search locus of control (JSLOC) and perceived financial need in predicting job-search intensity. Data were collected in two independent studies in the Netherlands and in the United States, both using a two-wave longitudinal design. Results from both studies suggested that job seekers with external JSLOC and high perceived financial need engaged in more intense search behavior to compensate for anticipated difficulties in finding employment. Findings suggested that stress may mediate this relation, and may play a positive role in the …

Do Tax-Exempt Yields Adjust Slowly To Substantial Changes In Taxable Yields?, Donna Dudney, John Geppert

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

This paper examines the profitability of two futures trading strategies: a municipal bond futures contract strategy and a spread strategy consisting of a municipal bond futures contract and a Treasury bond futures contract. Both strategies are designed to exploit a slow municipal yield adjustment following changes in Treasury yields. We find economically significant profits to both strategies. Average holding period returns per trade for both strategies tend to increase with the magnitude of the Treasury yield change. Profit distributions associated with various Treasury yield change thresholds tend to be positively skewed, and median profits are significantly lower than average profits. …

Supply Chain Risk, Simulation, And Vendor Selection, Desheng Wu, David L. Olson

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This paper considers three types of risk evaluation models within supply chains: chance constrained programming (CCP), data envelopment analysis (DEA), and multi-objective programming (MOP) models. Various risks are modeled in the form of probability and simulation of specific probability distribution in risk-embedded attributes is conducted in these three types of risk evaluation models. We model a supply chain consisting of three levels and use simulated data with representative distributions. Results from three models as well as simulation models are compared and analysis is conducted. The results show that the proposed approach allows decision makers to perform trade-off analysis among expected …

A Strategy For Third-Party Logistics Systems: A Case Analysis Using The Blue Ocean Strategy, Changsu Kim, Kyung Hoon Yang, Jaekyung Kim

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

One of today’s most frequently discussed topics in the business world is how to escape from the intense Red Ocean and how to create an uncontested Blue Ocean. However, because there are few practical guidelines available on this topic, we will introduce a case study of a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, CJ-Global Logistics Service (CJ-GLS), to show how it aspires to be a leader in the newly introduced 3PL industry in South Korea. CJ-GLS is a latecomer in the logistics industry, and its resources, such as the number of trucks and warehouses, are relatively small in comparison to those of …

Learning: The Interface Of Quality Management And Strategic Alliances, Mahour Mellat-Parast, Lester Digman

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate the practice of quality management in strategic alliances. By employing a relational view of inter-organizational competitive advantage, the paper addresses the concept of quality management in strategic alliances and networks. We argue that institutional/network relationships influence the practice of quality within a network. In that regard, firms that have adopted quality management practices are more effective in managing and coordinating their interactions with other firms in the network, which results in their enhanced learning capability within the alliance. The proposed framework recognizes the role of trust and cooperative learning as critical factors that affect the …

How Management Style Moderates The Relationship Between Abusive Supervision And Workplace Deviance: An Uncertainty Management Theory Perspective, Stefan Thau, Rebecca J. Bennett, Marie S. Mitchell, Mary Beth Marrs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Based on uncertainty management theory [Lind, E. A., & Van den Bos, K., (2002). When fairness works: Toward a general theory of uncertainty management. In Staw, B. M., & Kramer, R. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 181–223). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.], two studies tested whether a management style depicting situational uncertainty moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Study 1, using survey data from 379 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and organizational deviance was stronger when authoritarian management style was low (high situational uncertainty) rather than high …

Emotional And Behavioral Reactions To Social Undermining: A Closer Look At Perceived Offender Motives, Craig Crossley

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This study examined how perceptions of underlying offender motives affect victims’ emotional and behavioral reactions toward their offender. Perceived offender motives of malice and greed were embedded in a cognition–emotion–behavior model based on theories of attribution, forgiveness and revenge, and tested in the context of social undermining. Findings suggested that victims distinguished between offender malice and greed, and that these attributions shaped subsequent emotional reactions, which in turn demonstrated independent relations with revenge, avoidance, and reconciliation.

Follow The Leaders: You’Ve Created A Team To Solve A Problem; Here’S Some Advice: Don’T Put One Person In Charge, Craig L. Pearce

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

It’s a common corporate approach to a problem: Build a team of experts from different parts of the company and ask them to find a solution. But these teams could be a lot more effective if companies took one radical step: share leadership. This concept, of course, flies in the face of the traditional idea of how companies should operate. One person in charge, and the others follow. But in a team of specialists, one expert usually doesn’t have the know-how to understand all the facets of the job at hand. Instead, a better approach is to share the top …

Employee Development Using Webct Vista, Jennifer Link Jones

E-JASL 1999-2009 (Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

In an effort to make required training easily available to academic library employees, the author used the campus course management system (CMS), WebCT Vista, to create online learning modules for the library. Also discussed are general benefits of online learning, the technology competencies that prompted the development of the learning modules, and the design and components of the learning modules.

Does The Corn/Soybean Farmer Have Time For Alternative Crops? [Abstract], Lori A. Hoagland, Laurie Hodges, Glenn A. Helmers, James R. Brandle, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Diversification of traditional row-crop farming in the Corn Belt is seen as advantageous in providing a wider economic base, decreasing economic risk associated with the link between commodity grain and cattle, increasing net farm income, and increasing biodiversity in the region. As farm size has increased to provide sufficient farm income, farm operations during the critical planting and harvesting windows are seen as limits to additional on-farm enterprises.

Circular And Cumulative Causation And The Social Fabric Matrix, F. Gregory Hayden

College of Business: Faculty Publications

This study combines the problem orientation of instrumentalism and the systems analysis of circular and cumulative causation (CCC) through the utilization of a social fabric matrix (SFM) and network digraph. The SFM is utilized to articulate part of the Nebraska State system used to distribute state funds among local K-12 public schools. The empirical content is used to derive conceptual conclusions about CCC and to make comments about a controversy regarding agents, institutions, and new rule development. This study provides a refinement of CCC, and it confirms that rules are not the result of self-action by agents.

A Long Spell Of Uncertainity, John Austin, Chris Decker, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Bruce Johnson, Lisa Johnson, Ken Lemke, Franz Schwarz, Scott Strain, Eric Thompson, Keith Turner

Business in Nebraska

We find ourselves in a period of sustained economic uncertainty. Today, like 6 months ago, the U.S. economy is on the brink of a recession. Weakness in lending activity, coupled with weakness in the housing sector and related manufacturing industries has stymied economic growth since late 2007. At times, recession seems imminent. But, the official measures, such as quarterly gross domestic product, do not clearly signal that the economy is contracting. Further, prices are rising rapidly for food and energy. That is the uncertainty. Will 2008 be remembered as a recession year, or as a period of disappointing but slow …

The National Assessment Of Educational Progress In Economics: Findings For General Economics, William Walstad, Stephen Buckles

College of Business: Faculty Publications

Since 1969, achievement studies have been conducted in various subjects in elementary and secondary school curricula as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Economics has now been added to the list. This study offers a brief description of the NAEP test in economics and presents some findings from the 2006 assessment given to twelfth-grade students who were taking a general economics course.

NAEP is mandated by Congress and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the US Department of Education. Policy direction and review are under the control of the National Assessment Governing Board …

The Test Of Understanding Of College Economics, William Walstad, Ken Rebeck

College of Business: Faculty Publications

This edition of the Test of Understanding of College Economics (TUCE-4) is a revision of a test that was developed 40 years ago, and has a long history of use by teachers and researchers in the economics profession. The previous editions and their uses have been described in earlier studies (e.g., Rendigs Fels 1967; Phillip Saunders, Fels, and Arthur L. Welsh 1981; Saunders 1991) and in research in economic education (e.g., William E. Becker 1997).

As with past editions, the TUCE-4 has two main objectives: to offer a reliable and valid assessment instrument for students in principles of economics courses; …

Animal-Companion Depictions In Women’S Magazine Advertising, Patricia F. Kennedy, Mary G. Mcgarvey

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Via a content analysis of 1398 advertisements that include both people and pets and that appeared in women’s magazines over a period of four decades, this study examines the changing roles played by companion animals and the changes in themes used in these advertisements. Considering both the pictures and text, the study codes advertisements for themes, pet roles, whether or not the pet appears on a leash, and the physical location of the pet. These data show the movement of companion animals from outdoor protectors and companions to loved family members sharing all areas of the home with their human …

Non-Farm Proprietors And The Nebraska Economy: 1997-2006, Randy Cantrell

Business in Nebraska

Non-farm proprietors are of growing importance in the Nebraska economy. This paper utilizes recently released data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to further explore this important class of workers, and to identify trends in their distribution and impact across Nebraska’s 93 counties. These data demonstrate that growth in non-farm proprietor jobs has not been matched by growth in income for those jobs, and that the discrepancy between jobs and income is most pronounced in rural portions of the state.

More Evidence On The Value Of Chinese Workers’ Psychological Capital: A Potentially Unlimited Competitive Resource?, Fred Luthans, James Avey, Rachel Clapp-Smith, Weixing Li

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

As China continues its unprecedented economic growth and emergence as a world power, new solutions must be forthcoming to meet the accompanying challenges. We propose a positive approach to Chinese HRM that recognizes, develops and manages the psychological capital (PsyCap) of workers. After providing a brief overview of hope, efficacy, optimism, resilience and overall PsyCap in today’s Chinese context, the results of a follow-up study provide further evidence that the PsyCap of Chinese workers is related to their performance. The implications that this evidencebased value of Chinese workers’ psychological capital has for China now and into the future concludes this …

Back To Basics: Reviving Ethical Practice In Library Management, Suzanne Milton

E-JASL 1999-2009 (Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

This paper examines the last twenty years of literature on the subject of organizational ethics. It reflects on the cultural tide and reasserts the need for establishing core values as a basis for management practice. It concludes with steps towards achieving a viable organization.

Evaluating Roads As Investments: A Primer On Benefit-Cost And Economic-Impact Analysis, Eric Thompson, David Rosenbaum, Arthur Hall

Bureau of Business Research Publications

Kansas and neighboring states spend billions of dollars on roads. Do the huge expenditures represent good investments? The taxpaying public will never know because public decision makers rarely analyze road projects as investments. A disciplined use of benefit-cost analysis can close this knowledge gap.

Roadways constitute an economically vital form of transportation infrastructure that have the potential to contribute to the productivity and economic growth of state economies—if the economic benefits of the roadways exceed their cost. Benefit-cost analysis totals the annual user benefits derived from road projects and compares these benefits with the total costs related to construction. The …

Securitization Of Catastrophe Mortality Risks, Yijia Lin, Samuel H. Cox

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Securitization with payments linked to explicit mortality events provides a new investment opportunity to investors and financial institutions. Moreover, mortality-linked securities provide an alternative risk management tool for insurers. As a step toward un¬derstanding these securities, we develop an asset pricing model for mortality-based securities in an incomplete market framework with jump processes. Our model nicely explains opposite market outcomes of two existing pure mortality securities.

A Gravity Model Of Immigration, Joshua Lewer, Hendrik Van Den Berg

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This paper develops a gravity model of immigration. Tests of the model using panel data for 16 OECD countries for 1991–2000 confirm the model’s high explanatory power, and examples illustrate its usefulness for testing other hypothesized determinants of immigration.

Omaha Area Projections To 2050 The 2007 Update Final Report, Eric Thompson, Christopher Decker, Roger Riefler, Pavel Jeutang

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The Omaha area is in a period of sustained expansion. Population, employment, housing stock, and commercial and industrial space are growing together both in the City of Omaha and in surrounding communities and counties. This pattern of growth is likely to continue over the next few decades, but the pace and nature of growth is in question. In particular, it is unclear whether growth in the Omaha area will accelerate from its current pace, or moderate. Also in question is the degree to which growth will occur in core counties like Douglas and Sarpy or suburban and exurban areas of …

Can Positive Employees Help Positive Organizational Change? Impact Of Psychological Capital And Emotions On Relevant Attitudes And Behaviors, James Avey, Tara S. Wernsing, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Although much attention has been devoted to understanding employee resistance to change, relatively little research examines the impact that positive employees can have on organizational change. To help fill this need, the authors investigate whether a process of employees’ positivity will have an impact on relevant attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, this study surveyed 132 employees from a broad cross-section of organizations and jobs and found: (a) Their psychological capital (a core factor consisting of hope, efficacy, optimism, and resilience) was related to their positive emotions that in turn were related to their attitudes (engagement and cynicism) and behaviors (organizational citizenship …

Authentic Leadership: Development And Validation Of A Theory-Based Measure, Fred Walumbwa, Bruce Avolio, William Gardner, Tara Wernsing, Suzanne Peterson

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This study developed and tested a theory-based measure of authentic leadership using five separate samples obtained from China, Kenya, and the United States. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a higher order, multidimensional model of the authentic leadership construct (the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire [ALQ]) comprising leader self-awareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, and balanced processing. Structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated the predictive validity for the ALQ measure for important work-related attitudes and behaviors, beyond what ethical and transformational leadership offered. Finally, results revealed a positive relationship between authentic leadership and supervisor-rated performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The Business Of Academic Publishing: A Strategic Analysis Of The Academic Journal Publishing Industry And Its Impact On The Future Of Scholarly Publishing, Glenn S. Mcguigan, Robert D. Russell

E-JASL 1999-2009 (Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

Academic libraries cannot pay the regularly escalating subscription prices for scholarly journals. These libraries face a crisis that has continued for many years revealing a commercial system that supports a business model that has become unsustainable. This paper examines the “serials crisis,” as it has come to be known, and the economics of the academic journal publishing industry. By identifying trends within the industry, an analysis of the industry is undertaken using elements of the five forces framework developed by Michael Porter. Prescriptions are offered concerning what can be done and what should be done to address this problem.