Business Commons^™

A Case Study Exploring Organizational Development And Performance Management In The Operational Infrastructure Of A Professional Working Organization, Using Academic Constructs, Wm. Casey Crear

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Curriculum, as a concept, has been historically associated with traditional schooling, but the reality is that its application extends to many arenas beyond academia. Through the case study lens, this dissertation utilized the ideologies of curricular theorists John Dewey, John Franklin Bobbitt, and Ralph Tyler to explore how intended, enacted, and assessed curricula phases can integrate into a professional working organization’s comprehensive functionality and materialize into the planning and implementation of its operational infrastructure. Following content analysis of a selected institution’s operational system, using closed codes, a descriptive comprehensive curriculum was designed to address the research purpose of understanding …

Creativity Inspired Community: A Practice And Process For Growing Communities Through Group Creativity, David Eyman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the use of group creativity practices to support changing attitudes and the formation of cohesive communities in civic and business settings. More specifically this project explores the use of a predetermined sequence of group creativity tools to facilitate a change in participant mentality. The attitudinal shift is from self-serving to engaged and collaborative. The ultimate outcome of using the proposed framework is the bonding of incompatibly opinionated people into a solidified community that is responsible for implementing their novel ideas. Ideas formed within this process are a reflection of the individual’s personal life objectives as they relate …

An Experiment: Instagram Marketing Techniques And Their Effectiveness, Ashley Ha

Communication Studies

Social media marketing has become the newest form of advertising for companies. The mobile-social platform, Instagram, has become an important tool for marketing. About two-thirds of big companies are already using Instagram to their advantage. There are no set guidelines on how companies should be advertising themselves on Instagram but there are patterns. The purpose of the study is to find out which Instagram marketing technique out of the three I’ve chosen can be the most successful when trying to achieve more followers, have a wider brand recognition, and increase sales. The marketing techniques I’ve chosen are Instagram posts showing …

The State Of Open Data In American Local Governments, Alice Zanmiller

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Bilanci Dhe Pasqyra E Të Ardhurave Si Instrumente Të Konsolidimit Financiar, Egzona Loshaj

Theses and Dissertations

Është e ditur se pasqyrat financiare janë raporte që u lejojnë palëve të interesuara që të vlerësojnë profitabilitetin dhe aftësinë e pagesës së biznesit, dhe përbëjnë tiparin kryesor të kontabilitetit, sepse ato janë mjetet e para të komunikimit dhe të informimit kontabël, si dhe produkti final i analizave financiare kontabël i transaksioneve të biznesit

Në këtë temë diplome do të trajtohen çështjet që kanë të bëjnë me bilancin dhe pasqyrën e të ardhurave duke përmbledhur aktivitetin e një ndërmarrjeje. Në mënyrë që ndërmarrja të sigurojë një pasqyrë të qartë të situatës momentale dhe të përparimit të kompanisë, për të realizuar …

An Investigation Into The Training Needs Of Social Entrepreneurs In Ireland, Gerard White

Theses

Internationally, social entrepreneurship is a relatively recent phenomenon; an expanding area of interest to researchers, academia, policy makers and the general public. Social entrepreneurship seeks to create and sustain social value. The concept of social entrepreneurship is contested, because it is capable of multiple interpretations. The concept is informed by a number of academic, practitioner and policy streams across a number of jurisdictions. The concept encompasses themes of social economic activity; activities of nonprofit organisations; the promotion of social innovation; new types of philanthropy and a corporate sector intent on behaving in a more socially responsible way.

This sphere of …

An Examination Of Service Level Agreement Attributes That Influence Cloud Computing Adoption, Howard Gregory Hamilton

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Cloud computing is perceived as the technological innovation that will transform future investments in information technology. As cloud services become more ubiquitous, public and private enterprises still grapple with concerns about cloud computing. One such concern is about service level agreements (SLAs) and their appropriateness.

While the benefits of using cloud services are well defined, the debate about the challenges that may inhibit the seamless adoption of these services still continues. SLAs are seen as an instrument to help foster adoption. However, cloud computing SLAs are alleged to be ineffective, meaningless, and costly to administer. This could impact widespread acceptance …

Chipper: Capacitive Bed Occupancy Sensing For An Intelligent Alarm Clock, David Levi

Electrical Engineering

What if your alarm clock knew when you got out—and stayed out—of bed? Current alarm clocks happily let you go back to bed after turning them off. In this project, I build an alarm which only stops ringing when you get out bed, and starts ringing again if you lie back in bed.

This project uses capacitance to detect bed occupancy. A person on or near the bed creates a tiny, picofarads level increase in capacitance, as seen by a sensor placed under the mattress. A microprocessor interprets this signal, and also drives an audio alarm. Shielding of the sensor …

The Effects Of Local Government Gaap Regulation On Audit Market Concentration, Auditor Specialization, And Audit Fees, Alfred A. Yebba

Dissertations - ALL

This study examines the effects of financial statement disclosure regulation on auditor market concentration and audit fees. I compare auditor industry concentration rates between municipalities reporting under the Single Audit Act in the state of Michigan, which requires all local governments to follow GAAP reporting, with concentration rates in Pennsylvania, which has unregulated reporting. Using both an interstate comparison as well as examining a policy change in the unregulated environment, I find evidence suggesting that auditor concentration is related to disclosure mandates. Through survey data, I then explore the impact of reporting regulation on audit fees. My findings suggest GAAP …

A Close Reading Analysis Of Bud Light's Pacman Super Bowl Commercial, Sally Hurst

Communication Studies

This paper offers a close reading analysis of Bud Light's PacMan Super Bowl commercial to uncover what rhetorical strategies are employed to appeal to the millennial generation. It discusses three main strategies: creating a "real" experience, nostalgia marketing, and emphasis on the "experience."

A Case Study: Effects Of Operational Model Changes On Firm Performance, Jennifer Leanne Cowles

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This project follows the implementation of a new supply fulfillment model for a service organization. Research findings provide evidence that a change in operating model can result in an increase in firm performance. The purpose of this project is to study a real-life example of an organization experiencing an increase in firm performance based on a change in operating model. The project utilizes historical data of growth and average costs to determine the environment for the current year experiencing the change in operating model. It is determined that this study reveals a decrease of order costs, increase in data integrity …

The Economics Of Successful Billboard Advertising, Alexa Thomas

Graphic Communication

This study explains the economics of billboard advertising, specifically pertaining to the internal and external elements that make them effective for both consumers and the brand. Billboards have been used as an advertising medium for more than a century, and are still used today. The question is, “What about billboards make them so effective?” Secondary research was examined to better understand the history of billboards, how they compare to other mediums, and the elements experts consider throughout the campaign process. After analyzing secondary articles and studies, primary research was conducted by interviewing a sample of consumers and experts to determine …

Clothing Company Differentiation Through Social Media, Joshua Birnbaum

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study was to analyze social media techniques utilized by some of the dominant clothing companies in the industry. This will provide a base of information to strategize a social media approach to increase followers for the Birds Apparel clothing company across multiple social media platforms.

This study investigated the impact social media marketing techniques had on consumer response, and their effectiveness in translating this into a paying customer. Collaborations with photographers, a revamped website, and giveaways were all used as methods to draw new followers. Results from data collected from surveys and on the Birds Apparel …

Hop Farm Business Plan And Economic Study, Matt Polvi

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

The purpose of this project is to create a business plan for a hop farm in the

Willamette Valley of western Oregon with the final document including a study for both

financial and agricultural feasibility.

Continuous Monitoring Of Enterprise Risks: A Delphi Feasibility Study, Robert Baksa

Dissertations

A constantly evolving regulatory environment, increasing market pressure to improve operations, and rapidly changing business conditions are creating the need for ongoing assurance that organizational risks are continually and adequately mitigated. Enterprises are perpetually exposed to fraud, poor decision making and/or other inefficiencies that can lead to significant financial loss and/or increased levels of operating risk. Increasingly, Information Systems are being harnessed to reinvent the risk management process. One promising technology is Continuous Auditing, which seeks to transform the audit process from periodic reviews of a few transactions to a continuous review of all transactions. However, the highly integrated, rapidly …

Information Filtering By Multiple Examples, Mingzhu Zhu

Dissertations

A key to successfully satisfy an information need lies in how users express it using keywords as queries. However, for many users, expressing their information needs using keywords is difficult, especially when the information need is complex. Search By Multiple Examples (SBME), a promising method for overcoming this problem, allows users to specify their information needs as a set of relevant documents rather than as a set of keywords.

Most of the studies on SBME adopt the Positive Unlabeled learning (PU learning) techniques by treating the user's provided examples (denoted as query examples) as positive set and the entire data …

Assessing Learning Outcomes And Social Capital Formation Resulting From The Use And Sharing Of Internet Knowledge Resources, Regina S. Collins

Dissertations

Today’s “digital natives” use the Internet to address most, if not all, their learning-related knowledge needs. This research evaluates the outcomes of formal learning activities requiring students to use, manage, share, and consolidate Internet knowledge resources (such as websites, videos, and blogs) to achieve both individual and group learning. This research takes an integrative approach to learning, capturing learner cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal characteristics as well as the impact of the digital environment by evaluating the technological affordances of two different systems supporting such learning activities. This research also examines pedagogical modifications that would best integrate course assignments utilizing Internet …

Bank Monitoring: Impact On Equity Reit Risk And Return, Mariya Letdin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The first half of this paper studies the impact of bank screening on the risk of asset collateral pledged against secured loans for a sample of US equity REITs. Using a unique, hand-collected data sample, I show that bank screening results in lower risk assets being pledged as collateral, a finding confirmed by property type risk and location risk. Further, I find evidence consistent with the role of monitoring for secured, non-recourse mortgage loans. Finally, examining risk at the company level, I find that screening and monitoring of REITss assets via utilizing secured mortgage financing (as opposed to unsecured, recourse …

Essays On International Payout, Governance, And Information, Richard Clifton Herron

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of four chapters that span international payout policy, firm- and country-level governance, and information in capital markets.

Chapter 1: This chapter tests if information gathered by investment bankers during a firm's initial public offering (IPO) creates value in a subsequent acquisition of that same firm. In a sample of 1,519 all-public acquisitions, for 54 of these acquisitions the target's IPO underwriter later becomes the acquirer's adviser. These "same adviser" acquisitions outperform, with three-day acquirer cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) that are 4% higher, all else equal. This outperformance is through both better acquisitions and better prices, and combined …

Shaky Foundations: The Tradeoff Between Structural Safety And Financial Security, Grace Daly

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper investigates the relationship between the financial positions of a subcontractor and their performance on the construction site. Financial default by a subcontractor can cost general contractors additional time and expense, as they try to find replacements and keep the projects on schedule. This highlights the importance of vetting subcontractors before awarding a bid. This study attempts to bridge the gap between the subjective nature of construction quality and the more technical financial analysis in determining the overall quality of subcontractors. Safety measures are also incorporated into performance ratings. Data is collected for the years 2009 through 2014 from …

The Relevance Of Economic, Institutional And Cultural Determinants For Venture Capital Investments. A Us-Europe Comparison., Nadja Benes

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the determinants of early-stage VC investments by identifying characteristics in the economic, institutional, as well as cultural framework that could explain the diverging levels of early-stage VC investments across countries. Data was assembled for 16 countries during the period from 1995 until 2013. The results indicate that countries that are more open to trade are associated with higher levels in early-stage venture capital. A higher unemployment rate negatively affects a country’s level of early-stage VC funds. Higher R&D expenditures as a proxy for the technological and innovation capacity in a country as well as a higher value …

Bitcoin: Currency Of The Future Or Investment Property, Kelly Y. Yu

Undergraduate Honors Theses

We live in a digital age where almost every aspect of our lives is based on computerized information. In 2009, currency became digital in the form of Bitcoin. The existence of Bitcoin has brought a variety of obstacles to government agencies and regulators. Specifically, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been debating the treatment of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin for tax reporting purposes. In March 2014, the IRS issued a notice classifying Bitcoin and other convertible virtual currencies as investment property, similar to stocks and bonds. The notice from the IRS provoked outrage from the Bitcoin community. This project …

An Investigation Of The Relationships Between And Among Power, Trust And Job Satisfaction Of Nurse Managers In Acute Care Hospitals Using Rogers Science Of Unitary Human Beings, Maureen A. Schneider

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Background: Defined as control and freedom, power is often characterized as hierarchical. Power-as-freedom exists as a unitary manifestation of the whole and is acausal. Thus a worldview that emphasizes mutual process rather than a causal (control) view supports a culture of trust in the healthcare environment that generates a committed and a thriving work force. When nurse leaders support a climate of trust, managers develop a sense of commitment to the organization which may lead to job satisfaction. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence supporting the relationship between power, trust and job satisfaction among nurse managers.

Purpose: The …

Storytelling In Art Museums, Hayley P. Trinkoff

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Storytelling, in the context of art museums, is a method of communicating the qualities and attributes of art through a story. It helps the visitor bring the work of art to life and understand something the eye cannot see, a compelling narrative. It is important for visitors to discuss art and share stories on tours and through virtual media. We learn and form our own meanings from stories. These interactions will help build more relationships within communities. It is the museum’s job to take visitors on a journey and introduce them to new objects and perspectives.

This thesis addresses what …

Patriarchy, Empire, And Ping Pong Shows: The Political Economy Of Sex Tourism In Thailand, Kristen Kelley

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project provides a postcolonial feminist analysis of the prosperity and reputation of the sex tourism industry in Thailand. It examines the ways in which Western imperialism created the space for the globalization of sex work, as well as providing a postcolonial analysis of the hegemonic structures which have existed throughout Thailand's history that enable the sex tourism industry to thrive today. This project also explores how policy making and enforcement in Thailand affects the sex tourism industry, as well as the ways in which activism works to change or support these policies, and how this affects individuals who are …

Two Essays In Financial Economics, Kyle J. Putnam

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation contains two distinct empirical essays which contribute to the overall field of Financial Economics. Chapter 1, entitled “The Determinants of Dynamic Dependence: An Analysis of Commodity Futures and Equity Markets,” examines the determinants of the dynamic equity-commodity return correlations between five commodity futures sub-sectors (energy, foods and fibers, grains and oilseeds, livestock, and precious metals) and a value-weighted equity market index (S&P 500). The study utilizes the traditional DCC model, as well as three time-varying copulas: (i) the normal copula, (ii) the student’s t copula, and (iii) the rotated-gumbel copula as dependence measures. Subsequently, the determinants of …

Essays On The Impact Of Institutional Investors On Firms' Liquidity And Payout Policy, Munira Ismail

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of 2 essays in the area of corporate finance. The title of my first essay is “Impact of Institutional Investors on Firms’ Financial Constraint and Liquidity”. We can find ample evidences in existing literature which show that institutional investors play a vital role in the corporate world. Many researchers have linked institutional investors to activism, monitoring benefits, mitigating the cost of debt using government bond, spin off activities and improving information asymmetry problem. In the first essay, I would like to add another dimension to institutional investors’ literature by examining institutional investors’ role in mitigating financial constraint …

Essays On Executive Turnover, Johan Maharjan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1 deviates from the conventional practice by highlighting an alternative to forced CEO turnover. An interesting puzzle in corporate finance is the week sensitivity of disciplinary action against CEO to poor firm performance. I show that this weak relation is in part driven by an overlooked alternative to firing, which in practice takes the form of splitting the CEO-Chairman role or demoting the incumbent CEO to the executive Chairman position. I first document that such demotions are a frequently used alternative disciplinary mechanism, accounting for nearly 40% of all involuntary CEO transitions. I further show that the use of …

Essays In Financial Economics, Suying Liu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In Chapter 1, we generalize the concept of "systematic risk" to a broad class of risk measures potentially accounting for high distribution moments, downside risk, rare disasters, as well as other risk attributes. We offer two different approaches. First is an equilibrium framework generalizing the Capital Asset Pricing Model, two-fund separation, and the security market line. Second is an axiomatic approach resulting in a systematic risk measure as the unique solution to a risk allocation problem. Both approaches lead to similar results extending the traditional beta to capture multiple dimensions of risk. The results lend themselves naturally to empirical investigation.For …

Essays In Modeling The Consumer Choice Process, Taylor Bentley

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I utilize and develop empirical tools to help academics and practitioners model the consumer's choice process. This collection of three essays strives to answer three main research questions in this theme.In the first paper, I ask: how is the consumer's purchase decision impacted by the search for general product-category information prior to search for their match with a retailer or manufacturer ("sellers")? This paper studies the impact of informational organic keyword search results on the performance of sponsored search advertising. We show that, even though advertisers can target consumers who have specific needs and preferences, for many …