Business Commons^™

Nebraska Cash Corn Prices And Basis Patterns, Jessica J. Johnson, Cory Walters

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Local cash grain prices can be broken down into two components, futures and basis.1 The futures portion is determined by buyers and sellers of futures contracts, which often represents factors influencing global supply and demand. The basis portion represents factors influencing the local elevator. For any grain marketing decision, sale or purchase, there is a corresponding basis. Understanding the forces driving basis and how to maximize returns from basis is central to making informed grain marketing decisions. The purpose of this publication is to provide an understanding of how basis works for a primary commodity grown in Nebraska, aimed at …

Innovation Campus Newest Piece Of Nu'stradition Of Excellence, Mike Johanns

Nebraska Innovation Campus Materials

Throughout the years, the University of Nebraska (NU) System has transformed and adapted to meet the ever-changing needs of our state. It continues to innovate and adapt to new technologies, ensuring our students receive a quality education while providing top-tier research for the nation. Part of that evolution is the Nebraska Innovation Campus(NIC) that will bring new opportunities to our students and state. I enjoyed touring the new facility this month with Chancellor Harvey Perlman and NIC’s Executive Director Dan Duncan. Still in its first phase of construction, the impressive facility is a research campus designed to facilitate new and …

Diet And Health Care Cost, Sarah Rehkamp, Azzeddine Azzam, Christopher Rand Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

In the article "Putting Your Car Where Your Mouth Is: Diets and Carbon Emissions," published in the April 23, 2014 issue of Cornhusker Economics, we compared the environmental damages in terms of CO₂ emissions associated with the U.S. diet relative to the Japanese, Mediterranean (represented by Greece), French, and Nordic (represented by Finland) diets. In this article, we compare the health care cost associated with the U.S. diet and the same four alternative diets. The theme of both articles is sustainable consumption, and specifically sustainable diets.

As a first step to finding the relationship between diet and health …

Results Of The July Survey Of Nebraska Business: August 1, 2014, Eric Thompson, Shannon Mcclure

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Respondents to the July 2014 Survey of Nebraska Business remain positive in their outlook for sales and employment at their business. More respondents expect sales to rise (29%) than decline (20%) in the next six months. Similarly, more expect to increase (13%) rather than reduce (6%) employment. These July results mark the sixth consecutive month in which Nebraska businesses held a positive outlook, although the outlook was somewhat less positive than in June. Within the state, respondents located in Southeast Nebraska were especially positive in their outlook for sales and employment, respondents from Omaha had a similar outlook as businesses …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: August 15, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Summary: The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) fell by .75% during July 2014. The decline in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, is the first in six months. The decline suggests that economic growth may slow in Nebraska in early 2015 after strong growth in the second half of 2014. Three components contributed to the decline in the leading economic indicator in July. There was a decline in manufacturing hours and in single-family building permits during the month. There also was an increase in initial claims for unemployment insurance during July. …

Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Perceptions Of Well-Being, 2014 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

By many different measures, rural Nebraskans are positive about their community. Many rural Nebraskans rate their community as friendly, trusting and supportive. Most rural Nebraskans also say it would be difficult to leave their community. In addition, most rural Nebraskans disagree that their community is powerless to control its future.

Differences of opinion exist by the size of their community. Residents of smaller communities are more likely than residents of larger communities to rate their community favorably on its social dimensions. However, residents of larger communities are more likely than residents of smaller communities to say their community has changed …

State Entrepreneurship Index, Eric Thompson, William Walstad

Business in Nebraska

Unemployment rates and job growth are popular measures for state economies. However, these trends may differ from the state’s performance in core measures of underlying economic strength such as entrepreneurship, net migration and capital formation. Given this, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Bureau of Business Research seeks to track these core economic measures in Nebraska and in all U.S. states. The State Entrepreneurship Index is one effort to track these core trends. Specifically, the index is used to track entrepreneurship in all 50 states. The index was initially developed by Eric C. Thompson and William B. Walstad in Entrepreneurship …

Recession And Recovery: Jobs In Nebraska: 2008 To 2012, Randolph L. Cantrell

Cornhusker Economics

A commonly used resource for tracking changes in jobs and income at the county level is the Regional Economic Information System (REIS) data base produced annually by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). REIS data are derived from tax filings by employers, employees and the self-employed. The data base has been relatively unchanged (except for a reorganization of industry codes) since 1969. Reporting is always for the tax year two-years previous to the release date, so the data are more about historical than current conditions. However, REIS is generally seen as reliable and does provide a trend line that now …

Results Of The June Survey Of Nebraska Business: July 3, 2014, Eric Thompson, Shannon Mcclure

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Summary: Respondents to the June 2014 Survey of Nebraska Business are positive in their outlook for sales and employment at their business. More respondents expect sales to rise (33%) than decline (18%) in the next six months. Similarly, more expect to increase (16%) rather than reduce (3%) employment. These June results mark the fifth consecutive month in which Nebraska businesses held a positive outlook. Within the state, respondents located in the Omaha Metropolita Area were especially positive in their outlook for sales. As might be expected during a period of growth, businesses were very focused on the individual challenges facing …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: July 18, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) rose by 1.01% during June 2014. The rise in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, is the fifth consecutive monthly increase. Cumulatively, these increases provide reliable evidence of solid growth in the Nebraska economy in the second half of 2014. Positive business expectations are a key reason for the improvement in the LEI-N. Specifically, June respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predict a strong increase in both sales and employment at their business over the next six month. There also was a decline in …

A Conceptualization And Empirical Examination Of The Effects Of Marketing Alignment On Franchising Relationships, Joseph Matthes

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Franchising is a widely utilized business format that continues to grow in popularity both domestically and abroad. Through the recruitment of franchisees as agents, franchisors are able to access additional resources and rapidly expand their networks. The marketing relationship between franchising partners presents unique opportunities and challenges due to this captive and codependent channel structure. In order to fill a gap in the literature and better understand franchisee-franchisor relationships, the author conceptualizes marketing alignment as being comprised of both agreement and cooperation across the dimensions of strategies, operations, and values. A conceptual model is developed that addresses the following research …

Results Of The May Survey Of Nebraska Business: June 13, 2014, Eric Thompson, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Respondents to the May 2014 Survey of Nebraska Business remained positive in their outlook for sales and employment at their business. More respondents expect sales to rise (29%) than decline (17%) in the next six months. Slightly more respondents expect to add (7%) than to reduce (4%) employment. Respondents also are more focused on the market challenges facing their businesses. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, 6.5 in 10 focused on core business operations issues such as customer demand, the cost of supplies, labor quality, competition, improved business practices, and credit availability. 3.5 in 10 focused …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: June 20, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) rose by 0.13% during May 2014. The rise in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, is the fourth consecutive monthly increase and provides further reason to expect solid growth in the Nebraska economy in the second half of 2014. Among the growing components of the leading economic indicator, there was growth in manufacturing hours and airline passenger counts. There also was solid improvement in business expectations. Specifically, respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predicted an increase in sales at their business over the next …

Startran To Add Route To Innovation Campus, Chris Dunker

Nebraska Innovation Campus Materials

StarTran will add a bus route to shuttle University of Nebraska-Lincoln students to and from Nebraska Innovation Campus beginning in August2015. The NU Board of Regents approved a five-year, $4.1 million agreement for bus service with the city of Lincoln on Friday, including the new route connecting UNL’s City and East campuses with Innovation Campus. The agreement comes on the heels of the board acquiring $4.5 million in additional lease space at Innovation Campus in February, furthering plans to move the Food Sciences and Technology Department from its home in the Food Industry Complex on East Campus. Under the terms …

Follower Perceptions Deserve A Closer Look, Peter D. Harms, Seth M. Spain

P. D. Harms Publications

On the whole, we embrace the wisdom of Lord and Dinh’s suggestion that leadership researchers need to refocus our attention on the distinction between leadership perception and effectiveness. That said, we hope that the field can move one step further by recognizing the need to treat perceptual biases as more than systematic errors to be controlled for. As encoded in Lord and Dinh’s first two principles, followers are active participants in the construction of leadership phenomena, so the perceptual “baggage” that they bring into the leader–follower system is an important building block in that construction. We believe that by accounting …

Determining Forage Intake Of Nursing Calves Grazing Native Sandhills Rangeland, Jennifer A. Walker

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Effective management of grazing lands is important for longevity and productivity. Accurate calculations of stocking rates per animal unit will aid in long term sustainability. Calculating stocking rates for cattle can prove challenging for cows and nursing calves. Limited research has been conducted to determine forage intake of the nursing calf pre-weaning. The objective of Trial 1 was to determine nursing calf forage intake over time until weaning. Trial 1 used 8 crossbred cow-calf pairs in experiment 1 and 12 pairs in experiment 2. Pairs were separated into two groups rotating between grazing upland range or housed in individual pens …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: May 16, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) rose by 1.89% during April 2014. The rise in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, suggests solid growth in the Nebraska economy in the second half of 2014. Among the growing components of the leading economic indicator, there was a sharp drop in initial unemployent claims, suggesting solid improvement in labor market conditions. There also was solid improvement in business expectations. Specifically, respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predicted an increase in sales and employment at their business over the next six month. At …

Results Of The April Survey Of Nebraska Business: May 9, 2014, Eric Thompson, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Respondents to the April 2014 Survey of Nebraska Business remained positive in their outlook for sales and employment at their business. More respondents expected sales to rise (31%) than decline (18%) in the next six months. Further, more respondents expected to add (10%) than to reduce (4%) employment. Respondents also were more focused on the market challenges facing their businesses. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, 6.5 in 10 focused on core business operations issues such as customer demand, the cost of supplies, labor quality, competition, improved business practices, and credit availability. 3.5 in 10 focused …

Case Study On The First-Time Use Of A Webinar By A Small Marketing Firm, Lauren M. Harrison

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

The term webinar has become part of the English language, but use of this technology is not yet widespread. Can a webinar help a small marketing firm reach its broad audience efficiently and effectively? That was the question asked by Harvest Retail Marketing before it decided to launch its webinar series. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages as well as best practices of webinars when used by a small marketing firm. The research also presents “next” practices that can be used in the planning and presentation of a first-time webinar by other small marketing firms.

Exploring The Neighborhood Preferences Of A Segment Of Millennials In Omaha, Nebraska, Aaron Kloke

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

In 2010, Millennials, or those between 18 and 34, surpassed the Baby Boomers in population size. Today, Millennials, also known as Generation Y, make up over 25 percent of the United States’ population. In Omaha, they make up 26.9 percent of the population. The next largest generation in Omaha, the Baby Boomers, make for 19.2 percent of the population. Clearly, this emerging demographic has the ability to change the way we create and design our built environment if it so chooses.

To review how this generation may choose to change the way we design our future neighborhoods, national trends were …

Structures And Relationships Between The Business Executive And Information Technology Executive At The University: A Mixed Methods Study, Angela K. Hollman

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study uses an explanatory mixed methods methodology to attempt to determine the reporting relationships between business and IT executives within the university. The study also explores IT and business executives thoughts on these relationships. Supporting research from organizational studies and business-IT alignmfent is combined in order to enhance the study. In the first quantitative phase, an exploratory factor analysis is used to determine organizational dimension factors while simple response and frequency analysis are used to model the top occurring organizational structures between IT and business executives. The second qualitative phase used semi-structured interviews with 12 random CIOs and CFOs …

The Relationship Between Fashion Blogs And Intention To Purchase And Word Of Mouth Behavior, Cassidy L. Vineyard

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Blogs are an influential social media platform and a powerful marketing tool (Hsu & Tsou, 2011). A corporate fashion blog is an online product community. Online product communities established by retailers enable customers to interact with the company as well as amongst themselves (Nambisan & Watt, 2011). Online communities are a social space wherein relationships and ties are formed among the members and a common set of values and norms are established and shared (Nambisan & Watt, 2011).

The objective of this study was threefold. First it explored what factors shape readers’ intention to browse products on blogs. Based on …

Psycap And The Impact On The Development Of Intercultural Sensitivity Of Healthcare Educators: A Mixed Methods Study, Helen A. S. Fagan

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to examine the intercultural sensitivity development process of faculty and staff at a health sciences college in the Midwest. In the quantitative phase, this study investigated changes in intercultural sensitivity over a three year period, along with the relationship between developmental level of intercultural sensitivity (as measured by Intercultural Development Inventory [IDI] [Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003]) of participants and Psychological Capital (PsyCap, a multidimensional construct consisting of hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism [Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007]). In the qualitative phase (Case Study) data collection and analysis further explored …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: April 18, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) declined by 0.07% during March 2014. The slight decline in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, followed a solid increase in February. Together, results for the two months are consistent with moderate growth in the Nebraska economy during the summer of 2014. Among the components of the leading economic indicator, there was an increase in initial unemployent claims, suggesting a weakening of labor market conditions. At the same time, there was solid improvement in business expectations. Specifically, respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predicted …

Future-Focused Leadership: Three Mega-Trends Influencing Distance Learning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

While many continue to question the skyrocketing costs and value of a college education, future-focused leaders are recreating learning experiences by blending technology with the human experience. What does the future of distance learning look like, taste like and feel like? It can be difficult to predict the future of education as the world continues to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace; however, distance learning administrators can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to plan for the future. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this paper is to …

An Integrated Marketing Communications Campaign For The Lincoln Saltdogs, Silver Lining Advertising Agency, Nicole Bormann, Annie Pigaga, Michaela Ostronic, Shelby Hinze, Miranda Milovich, Kayla Van Wie

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

Campaign Challenge To develop a campaign focused on increasing attendance at Saltdogs games while promoting an affordable and engaging form of entertainment for the Lincoln community.

Target Audiences The campaign's primary target markets are adults living in Lincoln with at least one child, possibly more, living at home.

Budget The campaign's budget is $50,000.

Objectives The objectives of the campaign are to increase attendance at home Saltdogs games and to promote the Saltdogs in the Lincoln community.

Creative Strategy The creative strategy for the campaign revolves around the theme, "Join the pack. Pack the park. Creative elements include print, outdoor, …

An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan For The Lincoln Saltdogs, Bullpen Team, Andrew Schori, Madi Maclean, Jeremy Shipe, Alex Wickenkamp, Aron Wehr

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

For the Spring of 2014 UNL CoJMC ADPR capstone course, Advertising and Public Relations Campaigns, the Lincoln Saltdogs approached our Campaigns class in developing a strategic campaign for Lincoln’s only professional baseball team. Brett Beer, the Director of Marketing for the Saltdogs, along with his associates, provided us with one objective in developing a full campaign strategy. Mr. Beer wanted us to “get butts in seats.” Our team, Bullpen, conducted both secondary and primary research, developed a core media mix and strategies, and incorporated strategic creative tactics that would get more “butts in seats” in portraying Saltdog baseball games as …

Two Essays On Stock Repurchases And Insider Trading, Noel Pavel Nangatie Jeutang

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The first essay examines how the outcome of prior repurchasing activity influences future repurchasing decisions. We find strong evidence that future decisions to repurchase equity are negatively influenced by poorly timed past repurchases. Specifically, we show that the past losses on stock repurchases reduce the propensity to engage in additional repurchases in the future. We find almost no evidence that past gains on repurchases positively or negatively influence future repurchasing activity. These results are robust to various firm characteristics, estimation and sampling methods. Further analyses show that losses on past repurchases influence dividend policy. We show that the dividend-repurchase substitution …

An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan For The Lincoln Saltdogs, Jayus Advertising And Public Relations, Jessica Robertson, Lindsey Lehms, Mel Mitchell, Becca Rose, Laura Dennis, Nate Gran

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

Research: Our research upheld that the Lincoln Salt dog's baseball game is a well-known and popular summer activity for adults and their young children. Saltdogs games are generally well attended, but certain aspects of the experience are disliked such as the cost of concessions.

Audience: This campaign targets adults 35+, primarily those with young families who are homeowners and live/work in the Lincoln area.

Objective: The primary goal of this campaign is to increase game attendance by 10% and to make the community more aware of new and existing promotions.

Budget: The budget constraints we operated under were $50,000 plus …

Results Of The February Survey Of Nebraska Business: March 10, 2014, Eric Thompson, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Summary: Respondents to the February 2014 Survey of Nebraska Business turned positive in their outlook for sales and employment at their business. More respondents expected sales to rise (28%) than decline (24%) in the next six months. Further, many more respondents expected to add employees (13%) than to reduce employees (5%). Respondents also were more focused on the market challenges facing their businesses. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, nearly 6 in 10 focused on core business issues such as customer demand, the cost of supplies, labor quality and competition while out only 4 in 10 …