Business Commons^™

Service-Learning And Cross-Cultural Impact: Preparing Underrepresented Students For An International Service-Learning Trip, Kalene Dean

University Honors College

No abstract provided.

Cannabis: Its Benefits And Risks, Becca Bischoff

University Honors College

Cannabis is a psychoactive drug that comes from the cannabis plant that has been used medicinally and recreationally for decades. With cannabis becoming legalized in more and more states, it is important to know its e*ects, whether they are good or bad. However, there are most benefits to using cannabis as its properties can help treat various diseases and conditions. Using cannabis can not only be beneficial to the individual who is using it but also to the state that legalized it. Various questions arise from cannabis use, including, how does it help manage pain or other conditions? What makes …

The Marketplace Of Ideas Quenched: Examination Of Christological Conflicts, And Their Outcomes, In The Early Christian Church, Brent Monnett

University Honors College

The first four centuries of church history were largely dominated by a diverse mix of philosophical arguments, theological debates, and seemingly intractable conflicts over the nature of Christ and his person. The paper presented here will endeavor to examine these through multiple lenses of understanding, historical, political, geographical, and theological. Perhaps the most defining conflicts of this period of upheaval were the gnostic controversy of the 2nd century, followed by the Arian controversy of the 4th century A.D (Pagels, 1974, & Haas, 1993). The theological kerfuffle's over Christ and his humanity considered against his deity were every bit as sociopolitical …

Uncovering The Dark Side Of Technology: Exploring The Connection Of Conflict Minerals, Child Labor, And The Global Supply Chain In The Electronics Industry, Dylan Maupin

University Honors College

A topic that has recently come to light over the past few years is the conflicts with the electronics supply chain. With the increasing amount of technology, people are wanting more and more electronic devices that satisfy all their needs and make their lives easier. With this increase in demand for these devices, minerals such as tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold are being sourced at a rapid rate. This leads to conflicts within the supply chain as the minerals are being sourced from countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo where minerals are being mined by children and women …

What Accounts For The Effect Of Sustainability Engagement On Stock Price Crash Risk During The Covid-19 Pandemic—Agency Theory Or Legitimacy Theory?, Junru Zhang, Chen Zheng, Yuan G. Shan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this study, we conduct a textual analysis of the third-party disclosure of corporate sustainability news focused on the Standard and Poor's 500 firms in the United States market during the first and second quarter of 2020. We find a positive relationship between corporate sustainability news release and firm-specific stock price crash risk. This finding is surprising, but it indeed aligns with agency theory. It indicates that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated the tendency of managers under increasing financial pressure to use the sustainability information release as a mechanism to mask and withhold bad news for extended periods at …

Government Program Decision Analysis In Nebraska At The Farm Level, Tatum R. Brunkow

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill until September 30, 2024, has extended several government programs for the 2024 crop year including those in Title I: Commodities. This analysis looks at three different financial scenarios and analyzes five different alternatives for a case farm to select the optimal farm program decision for the operation by evaluating net farm income. Since 2021, eligible producers have been able to elect either Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) for their operation on an annual basis. Support levels for these programs are trending close together making the election decision more …

Lockheed Martin Strategic Audit, Trevor Deboer, Gunnar Lombard, Sam Nelson, Tj Taylor, Paul Wynegar

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Abstract

This case study explores Lockheed Martin, a global leader in defense contracting. Our team performed a strategic audit using the theories of strategic management. Our research was pulled from various sources, including Lockheed Martin’s website, SEC filings, related news articles, and relevant industry analysis. The goals of this case study revolved around collecting data and performing analysis to evaluate Lockheed Martin’s potential for competitive advantage in the airplane and parts manufacturing industry.

Some of the various analyses performed on Lockheed Martin include firm analysis, industry analysis, internal analysis, external analysis, competitive dynamics, business-level strategy, corporate-level strategy, and exploring their …

Spotify: A Strategic Analysis Of A Digital Music Streaming Industry Leader, Madison Giacomo

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Spotify (Spotify Technology S.A) is a digital music streaming platform headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Offering music, podcasts, and audiobooks, Spotify is the leading digital music streaming platform with over 30% of the market share. Spotify bases their business model on user growth and experience, content acquisition and expansion, monetization, and partnerships and collaborations. Spotify’s main focus is to differentiate themselves through a personalized user experience, offering music and podcast recommendations based on listening history. This analysis looks to understand Spotify’s growth and business strategy within a competitive industry, through the use of a PESTEL analysis, Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, evaluating …

Adaptive Apparel For People With Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review And Future Research Agenda, Md. Rafiqul Islam Rana M.S.,Ph.D, Kerri Mcbee-Black, Ishtehar Sharif Swazan

Faculty Publications

This systematic literature review examines research on adaptive apparel for people with disabilities (PWDs), an underrepresented consumer group. Using the scientific procedures and rationales for systematic literature reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol and the theories, contexts, characteristics, and methods (TCCM) framework, 51 articles from three academic databases were analyzed based on specific keywords and inclusion/exclusion criteria. The review highlighted advancements addressing the needs of PWD consumers, such as innovative designs, user-centered methodologies, and inclusive marketing. However, there remain gaps in areas like disability types, methodologies, cultural factors, and societal barriers. The implications of this research underscore the urgent need for the apparel …

From Baguettes To Gold Medals: The Paris 2024 Olympics And Paralympics Exhibit Signs, Tim Bottorff, Kerri Bottorff

Rosen Library Exhibits

On display: May-August 2024
Featured items: Books from the Rosen Library Collection. Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics mascots and t-shirt. T-shirt and credential from U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Marathon.

Curators: Tim Bottorff and Kerri Bottorff

See more items from this exhibit

From Baguettes To Gold Medals: The Paris 2024 Olympics And Paralympics Exhibit Postcard, Tim Bottorff, Kerri Bottorff

Rosen Library Exhibits

On display: May-August 2024
Featured items: Books from the Rosen Library Collection. Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics mascots and t-shirt. T-shirt and credential from U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Marathon.
Curators: Tim Bottorff and Kerri Bottorff

See more items from this exhibit

Sunsetting Tax Provisions: Is Your Estate Plan Affected?, Anastasia Meyer, Glennis Mcclure

Cornhusker Economics

It is never too early to begin thinking about estate planning, how you want to transfer your assets to the next generation, and how your decisions may be taxed to the next generation. Those decisions may need to be adjusted as some provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Reinforcement Learning With Maskable Stock Representation For Portfolio Management In Customizable Stock Pools, Wentao Zhang, Yilei Zhao, Shuo Sun, Jie Ying, Yonggang Xie, Zitao Song, Xinrun Wang, Bo An

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Portfolio management (PM) is a fundamental financial trading task, which explores the optimal periodical reallocation of capitals into different stocks to pursue long-term profits. Reinforcement learning (RL) has recently shown its potential to train profitable agents for PM through interacting with financial markets. However, existing work mostly focuses on fixed stock pools, which is inconsistent with investors’ practical demand. Specifically, the target stock pool of different investors varies dramatically due to their discrepancy on market states and individual investors may temporally adjust stocks they desire to trade (e.g., adding one popular stocks), which lead to customizable stock pools (CSPs). Existing …

From Tweets To Token Sales: Assessing Ico Success Through Social Media Sentiments, Donghao Huang, S. Samuel, Quoc Toan Huynh, Zhaoxia Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the advent of social network technology, the influence of collective opinions has significantly impacted business, marketing, and fundraising. Particularly in the blockchain space, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) gain substantial exposure across various online platforms. Yet, the intricate relationships among these elements remain largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate the relationships between social media sentiment, engagement metrics, and ICO success. We hypothesize a positive correlation between favorable sentiment in ICO-related tweets and overall project success. Additionally, we recognize social media engagement indicators (mentions, retweets, likes, follower counts) as critical factors affecting ICO performance. Employing machine learning techniques, we conduct …

Potential Consumer Response To The Healthy Symbol Proposed By The Us Food And Drug Administration, Jillian Hyink, Brandon R. Mcfadden, Brenna Ellison

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed updates to the definition of “healthy,” including distinctions between types of sugar and fats and limits on added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. To communicate the updated standards, the FDA is developing a Healthy symbol to display on food packages, which could reduce knowledge gaps by assisting U.S. consumers in meeting recommended nutritional guidelines. This study aimed to explore the potential for the label to increase consumers' ability to correctly identify a food product that met the FDA's criteria for a healthy symbol. To complete the study objective, 1018 adults were …

Exploring The Potential Effect Of Google Chrome’S Removal Of Third-Party Cookies On Paid Display Advertising, Zhenya (Yevgen) Naydonov

Honors College Theses

The digital marketing industry continues to experience tremendous challenges caused by rising consumer privacy concerns. One of the industry’s most notable challenges revolves around the constant technological advancements and changes that these advancements pose on the advertiser’s strategies. My study explores the relationship between advertising expenditure and key performance indicators, such as impressions in paid display advertising. Google Chrome’s removal of third-party cookies could potentially affect this relationship. I chose this topic because of my passion for online consumer behavior and the role of technology and advertising in the continually evolving field of my study, where consumers’ behavior plays a …

Does Contingent Reward Leadership Enhance Or Diminish Team Creativity? It Depends On Leader (Un-) Predictability, Debjani Ghosh, Martin Buss, Amita Shivhare

Management Faculty Publications

Although prior research has shown that reward provision might sometimes increase creativity, little is known about how leadership that clarifies effort-reward contingencies (i.e., contingent reward leadership) is related to team creativity. Drawing on the theory of learned industriousness, we argue that contingent reward leadership can enhance team knowledge exchange and, in turn, team creative performance. However, we propose that this relationship is moderated by leader unpredictability, which can create uncertainty about resource allocation, thereby undermining the otherwise positive effect of contingent reward leadership. In a two-source, lagged design (three-wave) field study with data from 60 organizational teams, we found a …

Robo-Advisers And Investor Behavior, Benjamin Loos, Pengfei Ma, Alessandro Previtero, Andres Hackethal

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

Using data from a large German retail bank, we investigate the effects of the introduction of a robo-advisory tool on clients’ portfolios. Robo clients experience a significant increase in financial risk-taking and improve portfolio efficiency along several dimensions (more diversification, less home bias, more investment in passive funds, reduced investment fees). Our evidence is consistent with robo-advisers being a more cost-effective approach for offering financial advice, especially to less sophisticated investors.

2024 May, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for May of 2024.

Project Foresight Annual Report, 2022-2023, Paul Speaker

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.

The benchmark data for the 2022-2023 performance period includes laboratory submissions for a variety of fiscal …

An Inconvenient Truth About ‘Bundling’ Commitment, Engagement, & Embeddedness: Unbundling To Extend Theory On Turnover Motivations And Beyond, Carl Maertz, Clark D. Johnson, Brittney C. Bauer

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper critiques a research practice that we call “bundling,” which has produced highly popular constructs in the organizational behavior literature, including organizational commitment, employee engagement, and organizational embeddedness. We show how these bundled constructs, using broad labels from common parlance, have produced overlapping meanings, confounded theoretical mechanisms, and imposed limiting “ideal employee” conceptions in the literature, organizations, and ultimately, societal discourse about employees. We argue that “unbundling” these constructs can provide multiple benefits to theory, empirical inquiry, and practical assessment of complex employee motives. As a demonstration, we unbundle the three focal constructs to integrate and clarify their component …

Sports Science: An Entrepreneurial Venture, Nicole J. Jones

Senior Honors Projects

In sports science, ensuring maximum athlete safety and optimizing data utilization are pivotal yet leave room for further work. My project, Unbeaten SafeWare, addresses these critical issues by focusing on two primary concerns: preventing heat-related and cardiac illnesses, which are significant causes of athlete fatalities, and enhancing the transparency and utility of sports data. This initiative involves developing a shirt integrated with sensors to monitor vital signs and an athlete management system to handle data input, storage, analysis, and accessibility for athletes.

The project has advanced through the efforts of a multidisciplinary team, which includes biomedical engineering undergraduates, two faculty …

The Future Of The Organization Of The Petroleum Exporting Countries, Mikayla Gross

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a multinational and intergovernmental organization that dictates the petroleum exportation policies of 13 countries: Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela (About Us, 2023). The mission of OPEC is to ensure a stable supply of petroleum through its shared policies for its Member Countries and consumers (Our Mission, 2023). Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela founded OPEC in 1960 under the foundations and principles that dictated the international world order. Those foundations and principles …

Lululemon Strategic Audit, Tessa Mozingo, Olivia Eno, Molly Mitchell, Connor Morrissey, James Eshleman

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This case study focuses on lululemon, a prominent athleisure apparel company. Our team conducted an audit of the company revolving around strategic business management principles. Our research used publicly available information that included the company’s website, SEC filings, news articles, lululemon’s annual reports, financial statements, IBIS industry reports, and online sources. The goal of this strategic audit is to develop an understanding of lululemon’s business activities and strategies, collect and analyze both internal and external data, and evaluate lululemon based on strategic management concepts.

In this strategic audit, we conduct internal, external, performance, and competitive analyses and an examination of …

Jp Morgan Chase Strategic Analysis, Carson Swartzbaugh

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

JP Morgan Chase is an American financial institution that touches all sides of the financial sector, including commercial banking, consumer banking, investment banking, and asset management, to name a few. JP Morgan Chase is the largest American Bank and a global leader in the financial industry. A PESTEL analysis of JP Morgan Chase and the financial sector of the United States will give an overall view of the industry while providing critical insight into the opportunities and challenges faced by JP Morgan Chase and its competitors. Additionally, Porter’s Five Forces will focus on the competitive environment in which JP Morgan …

A Strategic Audit Of Instacart, Taylor Durbin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Instacart is an online grocery delivery and pick-up service that allows users to order groceries and other household items from local and large stores and retailers through its website or mobile app. Apoorva Mehta founded Instacart in 2012 with the intent to help people conveniently access the food they enjoy, and the service now reaches over 14,000 cities across the United States and Canada. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the company as its rise to becoming a prominent player in the online grocery delivery industry has skyrocketed demand for the service and presented numerous operational challenges for the …

Target Strategic Audit, Ashley Mcrae

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Target is a prominent American retail chain known for its wide array of affordable yet stylish products. The company has built a strong reputation over several decades for its commitment to offering exclusive brands and unique shopping experiences to its diverse customer base. This strategic audit specifically focuses on the dynamic mass-market retail industry and analyzes Target’s ability to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in an evolving industry. This report will specifically focus on an overview of the company and its operations, analysis of the competitive advantage Target possesses, and an examination of the strategy Target utilizes. Tools, like Porter’s …

Financial Literacy And Ipo Underpricing, Xiaoran Jia, Kiridaran G. Kanagaretnam, Chee Yeow Lim, Gerald J. Lobo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using an international sample of IPO firms and two country-level measures of financial literacy, we find strong evidence that financial literacy is negatively associated with IPO underpricing. In cross-sectional analyses, we find that the effect of financial literacy in reducing IPO underpricing is more pronounced when the information environment is less transparent. Employing path analysis, we document that information friction, firm transparency, and stock market participation are mechanisms that mediate this relationship. Our study contributes to and extends the literature by providing strong evidence that citizens' financial literacy has an important and consistent influence on IPO underpricing.

The Governance Of Director Compensation, Lily Fang, Sterling Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The average total compensation of directors in U.S.-listed companies was $342,030 in 2020, 5.06 times the median household income. Directors set their own pay, giving rise to potential self-dealing. We argue and document that in the presence of self-dealing, external mechanisms such as legal standards act as effective means of governance. Following a landmark Delaware court ruling that subjected director pay to a more stringent legal standard, Delaware-incorporated firms reduced director compensation relative to non-Delaware firms and experienced positive and non-transient stock price reactions. Our results indicate that proper governance of director compensation enhances firm value.

Do Firms With Technological Capabilities Rush In? Evidence From The Timing Of Licensing Of Stanford Inventions, Young-Choon Kim, Reddi Kotha, Mooweon Rhee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study investigates the influence of licensees’ technological capabilities on the timing of technology licensing in university technology commercialization. Drawing on the appropriation-collaboration tension from the literature on university technology licensing and intellectual property management, we propose that while the licensee’s technological capabilities drive early licensing by averting technological obsolescence, this effect diminishes significantly with an overlap in the technological domain of the focal invention due to expropriation concerns. Cox regression analysis of Stanford University’s invention dataset confirmed our hypotheses. This research reveals that technology licensing experiences delays with the most suitable licensees, namely, those with strong technological capabilities in …