Business Commons^™

How Decision Makers Learn To Choose Organizational Performance Measures, Annemarie N. Hooge

Theses & Dissertations

This study, framed by decision making, program theory, and performance measurement theory, explored the knowledge and experience that enable decision makers to identify organizational performance measures. It used a mixed method, exploratory sequential research design to discover the experience, knowledge, and skills (EKS) senior decision makers felt were important in learning to choose organizational performance measures. From the analyzed interviews, a survey was designed to measure the importance of the EKS characteristics. Qualitative analysis identified 55 life, work, or educational experience; knowledge; or skill characteristics and 23 effective measure characteristics. Regression analysis and PCA were used to extract 6 components. …

Call Center Experience Optimization: A Case For A Virtual Predictive Queue, William Pugh

Theses & Dissertations

The evolution of the call center into contact centers and the growth of their use in providing customer-facing service by many companies has brought considerable capabilities in maintaining customer relationships but it also has brought challenges in providing quality service when call volumes are high. Limited in their ability to provide service at all times to all customers, companies are forced to balance the costs associated with hiring more customer service representatives and the quality of service provided by a fewer number. A primary challenge when there are not enough customer service representatives to engage the volume of callers in …

The Impact Of Lean Startup Theory Upon Local Business Entrepreneurs, Gary Boyd

Theses & Dissertations

Research Focus. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the entrepreneurs in South Texas are aware of the Lean Startup Methodology, and have utilized its principles in their business startup decisions. If so, how have these Lean Methods impacted their ongoing operational management? Additionally, this study ascertains the degree of satisfaction these entrepreneurs have with their startup processes. Finally, this study determines whether selected entrepreneurs would recommend a Lean Startup approach to other entrepreneurs. The research focused only upon selected business entities formed since 2000.

Research Methods. This study utilized a survey methodology. In particular, …

The Impact Of Culture On Hispanic Entrepreneurs As Mediated By Motivation, Challenge, And Success, Valerie V. Ballesteros

Theses & Dissertations

In the modern economic environment, demographic shifts in U.S. population resulting from changing immigration, changing economic policies and environments, and growing socioeconomic disparity, scholarly research examining the business behavior of specific groups and the impact of behavior on the broader marketplace is valuable and necessary. Hispanic entrepreneurs, when compared to both minority and non-minority business-owners, started and flourished in successful business ownership at a greater growth rate than any other group (Davila, Mora, & Zeitlin, 2014). Since the beginning of the 21st century, Hispanic entrepreneurs have become a measurable economic force. The cultural experience of the Hispanic entrepreneur is important …

The Roles Of Product Type And Product Newness In Consumer Value Co-Creation For Luxury Brands, Qi Lu

Theses & Dissertations

The study examines the effect of consumer co-creation in different new product development stages on consumer loyalty, purchase intention and word-of-mouth. It also examines (a) the mediating role of consumer perceived value, (b) the moderating effect of product type (search goods vs. experience goods) and (c) the influence of product newness (high-level vs. low-level) on the moderating effect of product type. Two scenario-based experiments on real luxury buyers in China were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.

The findings show that co-creation at the early (vs. late) stage have a greater positive impact on consumer loyalty, purchase intention and word-of-mouth. …

Informed Institutional Shareholding : Evidence From Political Promotion, Chi Zhang

Theses & Dissertations

Are institutional investors informed to the political promotion events? This paper examines the informed trading of institutional investors in the context of political promotion. Institutional investors have superior information environment compared to retail investors. It can establish private information channel with firm management, financial analysts, regulatory bodies and other types of institutions. Since contemporary economic activities are more or less influenced by politics, promotion of important officials can bring favorable local economic development opportunities to companies. If institutional investors are informed to the political promotion events, they are supposed to react in advance of the occurrence of promotion events. We …

Geographic Distance And The Impact Of Investor Sentiment On Stock Prices, Yan Yang

Theses & Dissertations

Based on China’s stock market, this study investigates how firms’ geographic distance from a financial center affects the sensitivity of stock prices to investor sentiment. I find that firms located closer to a financial center are more affected by investor sentiment than firms located far from a financial center. This distance effect holds for different geographic cutting boundaries and after excluding firms located in financial centers. Besides, using China’s High Speed Railway (HSR) as an exogenous shock, I find that HSR connection significantly decreases the effect of geographic distance on the sentiment-driven stock price relationship. In addition, firms with shorter …

Managing Sales And Product Returns Under The Word-Of-Mouth Effect : Pricing, Quality, And Restocking Fee Decisions, Sun Yuen Hui

Theses & Dissertations

This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain involving a manufacturer and a retailer who make their pricing, quality, and restocking fee decisions under the word-of-mouth (WOM) effect. To investigate the decision-making problem for the sales and product returns, we construct a leader-follower game model in which the manufacturer first determines his quality effort and the wholesale price and the retailer then decides on her retail price and the restocking fee. Our results show that the wholesale and retail prices under no WOM effect are smaller than those when the WOM effect exists; and, as the WOM has a higher impact …

Insurance And Self-Protection For Increased Risk Aversion, Jian Zhang

Theses & Dissertations

We re-examine the classic problem of risk aversion and self-protection in this paper. In the beginning of this paper, we conduct comparative statics of risk aversion and prevention efforts based on the mono-periodic two states model of choice under risk. We show this new condition is effective with self-insurance-cum-protection model (Lee, 1998), in which the decision maker's activities to prevent the risk can sever both as self-insurance and self-protection. We suggest a new condition that increased risk aversion induces more prevention activities. This new condition requires only one assumption concerning fear of ruin coefficient, marginal effect of SICP activity on …

A Simulation Experimental Study On The Utility Of Pay Changes, Liu Ye

Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, we conduct an experimental simulation of 131 students from a university in Hong Kong and investigate the relationship between pay changes and the perceived values (i.e., utility). Applying traditional psychophysical methods, we measure the utility of pay changes (i.e., pay raises and pay cuts) of different sizes by individual responses (i.e., happiness/unhappiness). Drawing on utility theory and expectancy theory, we examine the function that best fits this relationship by considering common function forms including linear, quadratic, logarithmic, and power functions. Using regression techniques, we find that a quadratic function best fits the data, and the utility function …

Relationship Between Generations Of Entrepreneurs And Entrepreneurial Traits, Ihsan Eken

Theses & Dissertations

This quantitative descriptive study investigated the relationship between 3 different generations of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship traits. The specific purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial traits and generations of U.S. entrepreneurs in Southwest (San Antonio), Northeast (Dallas), Center (Austin), and Southeast (Houston) Texas, to see whether generational differences are associated with entrepreneurial traits. 3 different generations of entrepreneurs were investigated in the study: baby boomers, generations Xers, and millennials. The research aimed to contribute beneficial insights to their understanding in enterprising potential and differentiate themselves in entrepreneurial traits in (a) need for achievement, (b) need for …