Business Commons^™

Baby Names As A Determinant Of Cultural Assimilation In The Continental And Non-Continental United States, Paige M. Harrison

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Using baby names a signal for cultural attitudes has been studied before several times. This paper looks at trends in baby names across the United States over five decades, and then uses these trends to look at the quasi-natural experiment of Alaska and Hawaii becoming states and accepting the dominant United States culture as their own. Both Alaska and Hawaii have their own indigenous cultures which could influence their cultural assimilation to the United States, this paper uses baby names to measure this assimilation. By using vector auto-regressions and the time period between 1960 and 2013 this paper determines the …

Launching And Maintaining A Wedding Photography Business, Shelley D. Owens

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With the popularity of the wedding industry in America perpetuated by social media, blogs, and other networking sites, thousands of self-employed photographers have set out to make a living documenting the most important day of some people’s lives. Digital photography appeals to many for its convenience, but having a camera does not make one a professional photographer. What separates the hobbyists from the professionals is the development of skills and creative vision and the proper legal and business licensing to make a profit off of their wedding photography. Shelley Owens provides her own experiences as a professional wedding photographer as …

Just-In-Time Management In Healthcare Operations, Jinglin Li

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Reducing costs and improving quality are two of the most important goals in managing healthcare operations. In this study, we explore how to improve healthcare operations by integrating Just-in-Time (JIT) management system. We first introduce the JIT management system, and then discuss how it can generate benefits in healthcare operations. We investigate implications for healthcare practice, which include how JIT techniques can be applied to healthcare operations, how hospitals and general practices can use JIT techniques, how JIT can help the patient throughput rate, and how technological advances can speed up healthcare processes. Implications for management and directions for future …

Viral Hollywood: How Social Media & Other Emerging Technologies Have Molded The Modern Moviegoing Landscape, Benjamin P. Conniff

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

There’s no denying that the rise of the internet has brought about change in the Hollywood landscape. Fans now use social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to share word-of-mouth about movies both good and bad. In a sense, anyone can use these new “spreadable media” to be a critic. I myself took it one step further and started my own film review blog. I was even published in the College Heights Herald student newspaper for over a year! In gauging my audience’s tastes in social media usage and in film, I have uncovered the fact that the hot-button marketing issues …

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study On Carlsberg, Anne Sofie Brusendorff

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In today’s business environment corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are extremely influential in a firm’s competitiveness. A literature review will provide an analysis of past cases illustrating the importance of CSR, considering both positive and negative impacts CSR strategy can have on business success. Furthermore, important definitions and terminology critical to understanding CSR will be highlighted. This paper explores the evolution of CSR and provides a general overview of the effects CSR can have on a company’s reputation. The way a company can effectively utilize a CSR-strategy as a competitive advantage is also examined, along with scholarly views both …

Rebranding The Wku Office Of Sustainability, Mary Boothe

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Since its inception in 2008, the WKU Office of Sustainability has struggled with general program and initiative awareness as well as student engagement in university sponsored sustainability activities. Attempts to target and capture an audience have been inconsistent due to lack of budget and staff, resulting in varying levels of success. The purpose of this project is to identify, through a population survey, a student market that is interested but unaware of the information, services, and initiatives provided by the WKU Office of Sustainability. Once identified, the market was assessed using statistical data and focus groups to determine the most …

White Space: An Overlooked Element Of Design, Samantha Coates

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

There are many different elements used to enhance visual appeal in Advertising and Graphic design. While all elements of design are important, arranging all of these components effectively, affects the overall visual appeal to viewers. The use of space may be thought of as the single, most important element of design. How things are arranged contributes to how effective an advertisement is to its audience. While space is important, it is also vastly taken for granted, specifically in the form of “white space.” Whitespace is important to visual appeal in many ways. This includes readability, viewer perception of brand image, …

Visual Tension In Graphic Design, Raven Heinstein

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My thesis explores the use of visual tension in various graphic design areas and works. It delves into the purposes of creating visual tension and in which instances it can be most effective, as well as most ineffective. It discusses the use and creation of visual tension with design hierarchy, rhythm and dynamics, symmetry and asymmetry, negative and positive space, color relationships, and typographical design. I will define visual tension, discuss its relevance and significance, and show informative examples. I'm using mainly secondary research in the form of textbooks and examples by other designers, but I have also included a …

The Sentencing Structure Of White-Collar Crime, Catherine Reeves

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Corporate fraud is an all-too-common element in our society today. Unfortunately, many of those convicted of fraud end up with a seemingly light jail sentence. A possible explanation for this is that the judges could have many subconscious reasons to give lighter sentences in these cases than they do with other more violent cases. Since there are no strict guidelines for the sentencing of these “white-collar criminals,” the judge’s personal views can play a significant role. Many of the laws and guidelines for determining the sentence in fraud cases have stemmed from the corporate scandals of the early 2000’s, but …

Financial Literacy In Retirement Planning, Jennifer Potts

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Studying finance, I have been exposed to the retirement plan options and how they work in most of my classes. But when I would talk to my family and friends about what I was learning, I quickly discovered that many people simply had no interest or understanding about the subject. I believe everyone needs to have a basic understanding of where income will come from once they retire. This realization pushed me to study the level of financial literacy about retirement and plan options of adults in the working world and determine how I could bring information about this topic …

An Analysis Of Public Education Informatics, Brandon Moss

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Information systems and informatics technologies are employed to increase profitability and efficiency of business models. The most common mistake made by managers, when incorporating informatics into their business model, is under-utilizing the technological capacity of their resources and investing in extraneous functions. This thesis will examine the usage of information systems and informatics principles in the United States public education system. Approaching the case from a consultant’s perspective, this paper will map out the business model theory, its actual implementation, and identify key failure points and areas of improvement in informatics usage. The structure of the thesis follows the first …

Indigenous Credit Associations In Botswana: An Application Of Elinor Ostrom's Common-Pool Resource Analysis, Christopher A. Yates

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this paper I attempt to analyze and explain the important of certain indigenous credit agreements in Botswana. Rotating Savings and Credit Associations are agreements made by a group of people who create a communal fund which rotates around the group until each member had had access to the pooled resource. These agreements are informal and most commonly found in the poorer traditional sectors of Botswana’s economy.

Furthermore, I attempt to explain why these agreements can be best understood using Elinor Ostrom’s common-pool resource analysis. This framework explains why these agreements are so successful in creating a source of capital, …

Changing The World From Classrooms To Communities: Designing And Disseminating A Service-Learning Curriculum For Teaching In A Formal Education Setting, Amanda English

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To change the world is a growing desire among many of today’s student populations, portrayed increasingly across the spectrum of media, social trends and career pursuits. While the demand grows among students for community-oriented and socially-responsible opportunities, the offerings in educational institutions must respond to these emerging requests with new and innovative academic programs. This text emphasizes the role of the developing discipline of service-learning in channeling these energies and providing students with deep and meaningful academic experiences. Its content seeks to combat misconceptions of service-learning as simply an extra-curricular activity and provide tangible methods for incorporating its concepts into …

The Growing Use Of Social Media In Political Campaigns: How To Use Facebook, Twitter And Youtube To Create An Effective Social Media Campaign, Kaitlin Vonderschmitt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

A political campaign is carefully crafted for each candidate, to address their constituency and present the candidate and party in the best possible way. After the creation of the United States suffrage was limited to land owning white men, these men were involved in politics by reading local newspapers and visiting the politicians face to face. However as we fast forward to the 1930’s President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the radio to connect with the American public, and then in 1960’s Nixon and Kennedy’s debate introduced the mass-produced version of face-to-face politics through televisions all over the country we begin …

“Make Your Move, Choose Your Food”: A Healthy Lifestyles Empowerment Campaign, Michelle Child

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis documents the campaign “Make Your Move. Choose Your Food.” This healthy lifestyles empowerment campaign was one of six conducted in Bowling Green, Kentucky during February 2012 for the Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) 2011-2012 Bateman Case Study Competition through the public relations capstone courses Journalism 454 and 456. The objective of this campaign was to encourage children, teenagers, parents, educators and community organizations to improve their individual health and the health of the community. My team, consisting of four public relations seniors and myself, created three overall objectives grounded in research, planned strategies specific to our …

The Federal Imd Exemption And Cost-Shifting, Todd Rainey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Federal IMD exclusion has resulted in states opting to shift costs to the government by enacting inefficient Medicaid programs in order to gain federal reimbursement. The claim of “cost-shifting” relies on the assumption that state programs are inefficient – that is, that their Medicaid programs are less effective at reducing incarceration rates (as a metric for failure to properly treat) than their psychiatric hospitals. Literature in the Public Health, Psychiatric, and Criminal Justice fields was surveyed in order to determine relevant factors to be included in the model. Model variables include factors which contribute to …

Using The Web Wisely: Assisting The Nonprofit Sector With Internet Use, Lesley N. Greenwell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study explores the unique difficulties nonprofit professionals may experience in creating and maintaining online presence. Both quantitative and qualitative methods in the form of an online survey and a focus group were used to gather data from nonprofit practitioners around Bowling Green, Kentucky. Findings revealed that nonprofits suffer from limited resources, like time, funding, personnel, and expertise, which impede their ability to take advantage of websites, social networking, and online grant research. In an attempt to address the needs identified by participants, research results were used to develop a series of training workshops facilitated by experienced professionals in the …

The Running: Live At Mercy Lounge, Caitlin Richard

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This video is a one-hour live performance program created for the band The Running. The Running is a rock-reggae three-piece band originating from Nashville, Tennessee, consisting of a guitar player and vocalist, Mike Williams, a drummer, Andy Zimmerman, and a bass player, Christ Mironescu. The three artists have been playing together in and around Nashville for the past five years, as well as producing two albums and touring the Virgin Islands. After over 500 shows the band has created a large fan base among rock-reggae listeners. The Running: Live at Mercy Lounge was created to document a show performed …

Assessment Of The 'Accounting Cycle': Test Tools For The Accounting Professor, Nicole M. Swanson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The two main goals of this thesis are to provide an assessment tool for accounting professors as well as a learning tool for students to gain a better understanding of the accounting cycle. Many students coming out of the basic accounting courses have a pretty good understanding of the different parts of the accounting cycle, but few have a solid understanding of the bigger picture and how each part fits together. I believe this is partly due to the fact that students in 200 level courses are never required to complete the accounting cycle from beginning to end. As such, …

Growing Up Financially Literate: A Lifelong Curriculum, Amanda J. Brown

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This work ventures to find a solution to one source of economic instability: financial illiteracy. The inability to manage money, caused by a lack of education, has led to poor decision making. These bad decisions can lead to a number of financial hardships, as well as emotional and physical problems. Better education can combat all of these symptoms and lead to a healthier financial future. Growing Up Financially Literate attempts to help close the curriculum gap surrounding financial literacy by recognizing that the gap does not only exist in a single age group. Financial education cannot stop with any one …

What Appeals To The Wku Honors Student? A Promotion Mix Designed To Intrigue, Brittany T. Kittleman

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The presence of honors programs and honors colleges at universities is a growing trend in response to increased competition for high-caliber students. Public universities are finding that honors colleges can provide students with an affordable option that is equivalent to the educational experience of a private institution. There is minimal research regarding the promotion strategies of honors colleges, and regarding promotions that are most effective in attracting high-caliber students to universities with honors colleges. This thesis attempts to expand on this area of research by analyzing the factors, opportunities, and experiences that were most important to current honors students of …

Preservation And Renovation Of Historical Downtown Bowling Green: The Galloway Resort, Brandy Nicole Hill

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

For the past 50 years, urban development such as suburbs, shopping malls, highways, and retail chains have impacted the way that Americans live their everyday lives. While it is nice to quickly accomplish that daunting to-do list, these developments have demolished the main streets and downtowns of America. No longer do residents enjoy scenic shopping days, coffee in the park or simply a stroll around the town. Thus resulting in downtown business establishments closing and buildings became condemned. The property around what used to be an area full of life, fun and excitement became dull, boring and underappreciated. For this …

Institutional Inconsistencies And Microentrepreneurial Intent To Quit A Business: Street Vendors In Vietnam, Mai N. Tran

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Beyond actual institutional influences, entrepreneurs’ perceptions of institutions and their potential inconsistencies in interpreting institutional change may influence entrepreneurial intent to quit a business. Especially at the microentrepreneurial level, inconsistencies in perceptions of institutional change may variously affect individuals’ intent to abandon their business, seek jobs in other sectors, or even continue in business despite regulatory institutional changes making their business legally untenable. Our goal in this research is to empirically measure these intents in the face of inconsistent perceptions of institutional change with a sample of 660 street vendors from different cities in Vietnam. We find that perception of …

Don't Give Grandma An Ipod For Christmas: An Expository Study Examining The Consumer Behavior Of Senior Citizens In The Digital Music Indistry, Joshua T. Coleman

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Senior citizens are the fastest growing demographic today, and the digital music industry is one of the fastest growing aspects of our economy. This study explores the relationships and underlying correlations between these two facets. Three research methods were employed: field observation of a musician targeting his music to the elderly; data analysis of this musician’s sales records; and a questionnaire seeking the purchasing and listening preferences of baby boomers and senior citizens. The results reveal that, as age increases, senior citizens’ comfort purchasing and listening to music through digital methods decreases. A negative correlation between age, nostalgic marketing, and …

How Do Characteristics Of Organizational Budgetary Systems Affect Employee Attitudes And Behaviors?, Holly Coover

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This paper is a review of the literature that examines relationships between budgetary system characteristics and employee attitudes and behaviors. Articles were selected on the basis of several criteria: (a) they present studies that empirically examine the effect of one or more budgetary system characteristics on one or more attitudes and behaviors, (b) they were published in accounting and organizational behavior journals that are common outlets for empirical budgeting research, and (c) they were published in 1995 or later. Results of this review indicated that budgetary participation and budgetary justice are particularly important budgetary system characteristics that affect a variety …

Crunching Numbers: A Critical Look At Annual Reports, Stephanie Caron

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

The Furniture Industry: United States Manufacture Vs. Chinese Importers, Emily Burnley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The United States furniture industry has been affected by the amount of wooden bedroom furniture that has been imported from China over the past five years. In 2003, the domestic industry decided to fight the low-cost Chinese imports by filing suit and instituting trade barriers against the Chinese- who were accused of illegally dumping furniture into the U.S. The following study explores not only the legitimacy of the charge but the larger question of whether or not protective tariffs are warranted.

Crisis Management At Western Kentucky University, Jeana Leann Woods

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To assist universities in developing effective crisis-management systems, this thesis provides a general overview of crisis-management procedures and guidelines that are applicable to various types of organizations, including institutions for higher education. An analysis of Western Kentucky University's crisis-management plan is incorporated, as well. The plan's strengths and weaknesses are examined. Finally, the thesis includes recommendations, based on innovations at other Kentucky universities, that Western might adopt for use in its own crisis-management system.

Voices Of Color: The Presence Of Minority Broadcast Media Professionals, Kristi Runyon

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

'Workplace diversity" is becoming something of a catch phrase in the business world. As the United States population diversifies, so must the United States workforce, or so the theory goes. In the broadcasting industry, organizations have issued mandatory minority-hiring regulations. However, a large number of minorities argue that there is much room for improvement when it comes to newsroom diversity. Studies show not only that there is an insufficient number of minorities in front of the camera, but also that there are few minorities in the executive and management offices. Minorities do have a presence in the broadcasting industry, but …

Giving Credits Where Credits Are Due: Revising The Script On Hollywood's Books, Lisa Simmons

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

For the past decade, the motion picture industry has been heavily scrutinized for its questionable accounting practices. This paper reviews these practices and shows how motion picture companies have manipulated accounting numbers to further their financial interests. The paper also discusses several proposed reforms to restore the public's faith in the financial assessment of motion picture companies.