Business Commons^™

Active Vs. Passive Management: The Elusiveness Of Alpha To The Modern Hedge Fund, Robert Wesley Long Jr

Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis stated off with one question: are hedge funds worth the fees? This seemed like it would simple to answer, but the measurement of hedge fund performance turned out to be far more complex than one would imagine. The first complexity that became apparent was the bias to overly weight returns as a measure of performance. This is the simplest metric to comprehend and universally can be understood by investors. It seems like common sense that the fund with the highest return would be the best investment opportunity. But this rush to judgment often overlooks other …

Humanitarian Logistics For Grassroots Disaster Relief, Miller L. Love Iv

Senior Theses

Humanitarian Logistics is a branch of logistics which studies the field in the context of disasters. Research in the field divides the Disaster Relief process into three phases: Preparation, Immediate Recovery, and Reconstruction. Each phase has specific tasks and their sub-phases, which will be discussed in detail in this paper. I will examine grassroots Disaster Relief and Beacon in the context of Humanitarian Logistics by determining how grassroots relief differs from traditional Disaster Relief in each phase. I will also examine how Beacon can assist grassroots relief organizations apply the concepts of Humanitarian Logistics. Finally, I will recommend improvements to …

College Level Mentoring For Underrepresented Populations: Enhancing The Transition Into The Corporate World, Titilayo O. Abiwon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research paper examines existing mentoring services at a regional southeastern university with major emphasis on mentoring services mainly available to underrepresented populations at the institution. The investigation aims to define the importance of and the need for such programs and the impact the absence of said programs might have on the university population with emphasis on the underrepresented. For the purpose of this research, mentoring is considered in terms of employment preparation and transition into the corporate world. Mentoring services awareness and employment preparedness from the student perspectives are surveyed.

Portfolio Insurance Using Leveraged Etfs, Jeffrey George

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the use of leveraged exchange traded funds (LETFs) within a portfolio insurance framework to reduce exposure to downside risk. Investors have learned the importance of mitigating this risk having experienced two “once in a century” events in the last 20 years with the tech crash in the early 2000s and the financial crisis in 2008. Current portfolio insurance strategies are either option based (Leland & Rubinstein, 1976) or constant proportional portfolio insurance (CPPI), (Black & Jones, 1987). The cost of option based strategies can be quite high while a CPPI strategy requires constant rebalancing.

This study combines …

A Theoretical Application Of Metaphor Research To The Film Industry, Michael J. Stanton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the value of using metaphor based marketing research methods (most notably Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) in the development and green-lighting processes of filmmaking. A review of literature reveals that even large blockbuster films lack any marketing research employed in the developmental stage. Audiences are extremely difficult to analyze when considering something as abstract and subjective as what makes a “good” film. Metaphor based marketing research methods (e.g. ZMET) offer a solution by examining the minds of consumers through language markers called metaphors. Using a metaphor based marketing technique early in a film’s development process may help to …

Developing A Leadership Curriculum 'Innovation, Creativity And Leadership', Pamela Zh Pauwels

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Growth and innovation are key drivers to a company’s long-term success. Creativity (creative thinking) is a necessary condition for innovation. Supervisors and managers who are able to build a positive work environment that enables creative and innovative behavior have a competitive advantage. This Master's project focuses on the development of an in-company leadership curriculum to provide leaders and supervisor with theoretical background and a “ toolbox ” to develop their own and their team’s innovative and creative behavior. A pilot version of curriculum was well received and validated the need to gain more understanding on the topic of creativity and …

Developing Computer Vision Technology To Automate Pitch Analysis In Baseball., Mahdi Moalla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lokator is a baseball training system designed to document pitch location while teaching pitch command, selection and sequencing. It is composed of a pitching target and a smartphone app. The target is divided into a set of zones to identify the pitch location. The main limitation of the current system is its reliance on the user's feedback. After each throw, the pitcher or the coach needs to identify and report the target's zone that was hit by the ball by just relying on the naked eye. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility of using computer vision …

I Love My Team! Factors Leading To Relationship Formation With A Sports Team, Carly L. Odom

Honors Theses

The sports industry is highly profitable, with a large and diverse fan base. Many people claim to be loyal to different teams, but what moves a more ‘casual fan’ to the team ‘fanatic’ status? Prior research in sports marketing focuses on elements such as geography and family history, while general marketing research considers the impact of behavioral and emotional loyalty (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001). This focus on strict loyalty can, however, be limiting. Examining the factors within the larger relationship context gives us more insight into extreme fans (Pimentel & Reynolds, 2004), as well as the more casual fan. Prior …

The Design Of An Instrument To Assess Clinical Laboratories Efficacy Post Implementation Of The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, Harry Mcdonald Jr.

Dissertations

The healthcare system in the United States has undergone substantial changes in support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). On March 23, 2010, the implementation of the new healthcare law brought universal healthcare access to all Americans, while attempting to increase quality and decrease medical costs. The new law promotes more of a quality-focused, outcome-based model rather than a pay-for-fee service model; thus, moving the paradigm from infrequent to preemptive healthcare. The PPACA postulates as the only way to achieve cost savings while increasing quality and access. Never before has there been such an extensive change to …

Motivation To Play Esports: Case Of League Of Legends, Yaoyao Sun

Theses and Dissertations

The population of playing electronic sports has increased recently, and the most popular one is League of Legends (LoL). As a multiplayer online battle arena video game, it’s not only a game, but also a competitive electronic sport. The purpose of this study was to assess the motivations of playing League of Legends and to relate them by genders, age groups and frequency groups. The final sample comprised 111 LoL players. The study categorized 12 items into three factors: achievement, socialization and immersion. Results indicated that achievement factors were stronger motives for men than women. For different age groups, there …

Social Media Transformation Of Human Resource Management, Lavita A. Williams

Honors Theses

Social media is rapidly transforming the way individuals interact in the real world day by day in the workforce. This research focuses on how social media effects human resource management (HRM) in areas of recruitment, selection, retention, and termination. Through a SurveyMonkey information was gathered from human resource professionals primarily in the southeastern region and throughout the United States. Human resource managers where asked about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter in areas of recruitment, selection, and termination. The results, illustrated that there were many advantages when using social media sites in …

The Implications Of Rising Turnover And Voluntary Turnover Within The Federal Government, Laura E. Kirkman

Honors Theses

Human Resources (HR) is a dynamic, changing, and vital part of every business whether commercial or governmental. HR is also often left to deal with voluntary turnover and the difficulties it brings. This study focuses on the implications of rising turnover/voluntary turnover within the federal government. The aim of this study was to analyze the data collected by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to determine the connections between turnover/voluntary turnover and demographic factors, workplace satisfaction factors, and organizational/relational factors within the federal government. This analysis examined the Fed Scope data from 2011 through 2016, and employee surveys …

Workplace Bullying: Proven Methodologies To Mitigate The Issue Within The Government Contracting Workplace Environment, Wendy Jan Kirk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to ascertain proven methods to adopt within the workplace to mediate workplace bullying in organizations in a specific region of north Alabama, with emphasis given to organizations whose workforce is mixed, consisting of federal government employees as well as contracted staffers. At the theoretical level, this study aims to consolidate knowledge from Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) in the field of workplace bullying and outline concrete steps and implementable plans for area corporate leadership to implement within their organization. At the practical level this study aims to bring attention to the issue of workplace …

Feasibility Analysis Of Recycled-Paper Fueled Agricultural Desalination Process: Design Of Recycling And Desalination Processes, Sean M. Street

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

While recycled-paper-briquettes have lower BTU ratings than wood, and fresh water is typically a low cost to agricultural entities, situations exist where economic and/or environmental factors may allow a recycled-paper-fueled desalination process to be viable for some specific agricultural entities. This document begins with a discussion of how water is priced throughout India before analyzing trends in the Maize futures market. By tying the two together, an opportunity is created for solution which the remainder of the document presents. Paper waste in India makes-up 50% of its solid waste country-wide; however, only a quarter of that waste is recycled - …

Women In Leadership: A Comparative Case Study On Successful Leadership, Christine Newcomb

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this report is to understand what makes a successful female leader. Since there are so few women in executive level positions, especially chief executive officer positions, I became interested in analyzing how successful leaders act in contrast with how unsuccessful leaders act. To analyze, I will focus on the leadership of two prominent businesswomen, one who has been successful in their tenure, and one who has been unsuccessful. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, Inc. has been successful throughout her tenure, while Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo has been unsuccessful in turning the company around. I will …

Measuring Social Engagement Within A Triple Helix Cluster Consisting Of The Academic Institute, The Innovation Centre And The Public Authority Using Sociometers, Shay Ryan

Theses

This thesis examines tools used to measure social engagement in a Triple Helix cluster. Triple Helix members were identified in the following areas: Academic Institute, Innovation Centre and Public Authority. The main objectives of the study were to; 1) Identify how formal and informal communication occurs in a Triple Helix Cluster; 2) Measure and analyse communication within and between groups using sociometers and 3) Use qualitative techniques to establish the communication experiences of Triple Helix members.

A critique of the literature is presented pertaining to Triple Helix theory, Knowledge, Social Engagement and Measuring Social Engagement. The empirical approach involved using …

Mitigating An Energy Utility Death Spiral In The United States: Applying Lessons From Germany, Eric W. Hopf, Will O'Brien, Timothy Downs, Alistair Pim

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this paper is to present evidence that the United States is entering a "Utility Death Spiral" - a dramatic shift away from the utility based model of electricity supply to consumers. It also explores how U.S utilities can reposition themselves to best mitigate the economic losses associated with a Death Spiral. A Utility Death Spiral is currently taking place in Germany called the "Energiewende" and it is having immediate impacts on its energy landscape. The case study of the Energiewende is presented, its impacts, and the response taken by the country’s “big four” utility companies. After analyzing …

The Disclosure Of Organizational Secrets By Employees, Danny Franklin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizational secrets enable firms to protect their unique stocks of knowledge, reduce the imitability of their capabilities and achieve sustained competitive advantages (Hannah, 2005). In today’s business environments, the loss of valuable proprietary organizational knowledge due to intentional employee disclosure represents a substantial threat to firm competitiveness. Anecdotal evidence suggests that firms in the United States lose more than $250 billion of intellectual property every year, with intentional employee disclosure accounting for a significant portion of these losses (Dandliker, 2012; Heffernan & Swartwood, 1993). Thus, understanding factors that influence such intentional secret disclosure is a key concern, especially in knowledge-intensive …

A Multi-Period Facility Location Model For Service Organizations Operating In A Competitive Environment., Sven W. Brose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops a multi-period, mathematical programming location model for facilities operating in a competitive environment. The objective is to maximize the profit in a variable demand environment. The solution of the problem can either be done in a robust or in a dynamic manner. A robust solution methodology forecasts the demand for all the periods in the planning horizon and provides a robust solution that may be suboptimal for any given period, but optimal when all the periods are taken into consideration. A problem with this approach is that it requires accurate forecast of demand for multiple periods into …

The Business Of Dentistry: A Financial Plan, Katherine Elizabeth Stewart

Senior Theses

At the University of South Carolina, I have taken action to find different ways to be more involved in my local community and to help families and people from underrepresented societies. While it is important to have this overarching goal, I have always wondered how I will be able to finance my goal so that I can have the money, supplies, and human capital to give back to communities in need. Through my thesis I have been able to create a business plan for a future dental practice in the Charlotte, NC metropolitan region. This business plan includes a financial …

Health Professions At Carolina: Promoting The University Of South Carolina Galen Health Fellows And Health Sciences Initiatives Using Social Media Marketing, Sarah Adair Roof

Senior Theses

This project sought to bring awareness to the newly developed Galen Health Fellows and health sciences programs at the University of South Carolina. In collaboration with the University of South Carolina Office of Admissions, investigators created and promoted a trackable social media marketing campaign for prospective program participants composed of online profiles of current USC health science students. These profiles aimed to promote the beyond-the-classroom experiences and advantages gained from pursuing a health sciences career at the University of South Carolina, particularly as a Galen Health Fellow. Student profiles were posted on the USC Admissions account of the blog site …

Examining The Decoy And The Phantom Decoy Effects On The Menu Item Choice, Yang-Su Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the modern foodservice industry, restaurant potential customers encounter a vast quantity of information that influences their dining choices. Using theoretical foundations of traditional asymmetrical-dominating decoy and phantom decoy effects, this dissertation empirically tested a variety of decoy and phantom decoy items applied to a menu and investigated whether these effects increase the attractiveness of the target item and further increase customers’ likelihood of choosing the target item, as well as their post-choice assessments. Two separate experimental designs that manipulated different decoy and phantom decoy conditions and customers’ familiarity with the food items were conducted.

The results of study 1 …

Volunteer Management In Faith-Based Organizations, Cheryl Regina Coleman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) rely heavily on volunteers to carry out their mission, making volunteer labor fundamental to an organization’s business operations and outcomes. A review of the literature revealed a significant gap in managing volunteers effectively in a nonprofit, faith- based setting. The standard business management practices typically employed when managing volunteers lack effectiveness in nonprofit FBO environments. Employing for-profit management practices to managing volunteer labor in nonprofit settings is especially challenging given the uniqueness of nonprofit organizations that rely on volunteer over paid labor. Challenges include the organization’s values, mission, identity, social goals, outcomes, and ideological characteristics. The purpose …

Influence Of Sustainability Reward Program On Meeting Planners’ Site Selection Decision And Perceived Value-For-Money, Shinyong (Shawn) Jung

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many types of voluntary sustainable programs have been integrated into the hospitality industry standards and been examined to measure their effectiveness by research firms and institutions (Giebelhausen & Chun, 2016). However, there is a lack of research examining how the benefits received by participating in green meetings influence perceptions and behavioral intentions on environmentally sustainable meetings. Consequently, this research investigates how incentivizing tools such as incorporating sustainability reward points for choosing sustainable venues and participating in environmental programs can affect planners’ perceived value for money and site-selection intention. The results of the three-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) did …

The Effects Of Availability Heuristic Cues On Restaurant Purchase Decisions, Nadia Hanin Nazlan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation applied the theory of judgment heuristics to investigate the influence of availability cues on restaurant purchase decisions. Two studies were conducted in which respondents made food choice decisions. In the first study, respondents evaluated menu items in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design that manipulated scarcity cues, bundling, and price. In the second study, respondents evaluated restaurant appeal and menu choice in a 3 × 2 × 2 experiment that manipulated information vividness, message frequency, and price. The results of Study 1 suggest that respondents’ evaluations and purchase intentions can be influenced by scarcity …

The Role Of Human Resources In Organizational Restructuring: Perceptions Of Hrdepartment, Line Managers, And Employees, Mohamed Abdulla Mohamed Al Hammadi

Dissertations

The process of organizational restructuring is an integral and common aspect that has been integrated into the growth and development of organizations all around the globe. It is mainly undertaken to ensure that organizations are up to date with ever-changing external and internal business environments to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The government of Abu Dhabi emirate has developed a long-term plan to guide the future growth of the emirate (Abu Dhabi 2030). As a result, all of its departments and entities need to align to this strategic plan, which involves change. In many cases, this has forced organizations/entities to …

Strategic Plan Implementation In The Uae Public Sector Organizations: Antecedents And Outcomes, Fakhrah Alqubaisi

Theses

This study presents one of the first attempts to empirically test a conceptual model that discusses the effect of four factors; namely, decentralization of strategic planning, personnel commitment, senior management support, and importance of the strategic plan, on the success of strategic plan implementation and investigate whether the success of the strategic plan implementation affects organizational performance. Environmental munificence and organizational size are used as control variables in this investigation.

This research targeted executive managers, senior analysts and strategic advisers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government organizations. The research sample covered all the relevant public bodies. Out of 290 …

Price Prediction: Determining Changes In Stock Pricing Through Sentiment Analysis Of Online Consumer Reviews, Daryl F. Boykin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The rapid growth of technology has changed the dynamics in which consumers socialize and make their purchasing decisions. The volume of online reviews has grown rapidly over the past decade, leading the peer groups of consumer to carry a disproportionate weight in the purchasing decision process. The sheer volume of reviews can be a daunting task for an operator to attempt to incorporate the reviews in their analysis. Sentiment analysis allows for large volumes of consumer reviews to be processed in a relatively easy, and time sensitive manner. The information contained in these reviews, the sentiment score, is the same …

A Case Study On The Emergence Of Boutique And Lifestyle Hotels, Tiffany M. Braun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lifestyle and boutique hotels entered hospitality landscape twenty years ago. When they arrived, they were competing with the larger brands and chains and at first struggled to stay competitive (Sears, 2016). However, these hotels were eventually able to survive, and then compete, and then excel in the hospitality industry. Over the last five years, the supply of lifestyle hotel rooms has now increased at a double-digit annual rate (Skinner, 2016). And in 2015, both segments of hotels generated room revenues of over $13.7 billion (Skinner, 2016).

Lifestyle and boutique hotels have brought back the elements of architecture, design, and authenticity …

An Examination Of The Short Term Reversal Premium, Timothy Burgess

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The intent of this study is to explore short-term reversal effects in public securities markets.

The basis of this study is to take into consideration prior work done by economists, paying particularly attention to periods specifically before and after the decimalization of the stock market in 2001. This study finds that from years 1980-2000, there is a monthly return premium of -0.0552% or 5.5 basis points, which is quite significant with a t-statistic of 11.08. Following decimalization in 2001 through year 2012, this monthly return premium drops 44% to -0.031% or 3.1 basis points, again with a high t-statistic of …