Business Commons^™

Barlee: Business Plan For An Urban Beer Garden, Marcella M. Lahara

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The development of a business plan is a requirement of all graduating seniors enrolled in the Hospitality Management program. The concepts and development of the businesses are extremely varied. In the particular case of BarLee, an urban beer garden, the idea came from a variety of sources.

BarLee’s layout and format adheres to that outlined by the Small Business Association. The guideline for business development is a standard followed by all small business entrepreneurs. The style of the writing is in the form of a pitch to an investor. The investor may be a bank, in the form of small …

The Significance Of Color In Food Marketing, Faith Elizabeth Zaki

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The effect of color on the perception and expectation of flavor and taste was researched. Psychological and scientific studies were used to demonstrate the benefits of using the right colors in advertising and marketing. Color, in these studies, was proven to affect consumers’ behavior when purchasing food. Color is interpreted by different genders, races, and ages were also studied. Color is a significant marketing tool that can help attract the right target markets. Also, examples of how color has help and hindered marketing campaigns in the past were examined.

Workplace Health Promotion Programs: An Assessment Of Factors Influencing Participation, Tomeka Lashell Harbin

Dissertations

Increasing health care costs are indicators of a major threat to short and long term viability of American businesses. As leaders in American businesses and industries face rising health insurance and medical care costs, interest in disease prevention and health promotion increases. Decreasing health care costs coupled with a greater public interest for addressing health issues has led to the workplace health promotion movement. This study utilized quantitative research methods to examine employee perceptions of workplace health promotion in the Mississippi Delta, a rural area identified as one of the three unhealthiest places to live in the United States.

Electronic …

Communication Artifacts And Interaction Evaluation For Requirements Engineering, Miloslava Plachkinova

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper aims to answer an important question regarding the development of new information systems (IS): "What is the predominant factor for the selection of communication artifacts for requirements engineering (RE)?". Many researchers have focused on the RE and communication as separate disciplines, but little or no research addressed the RE communication issues. These problems are important because they often lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the gathered requirements. We develop expectations about the RE communication process based on prior literature from both disciplines and we test them through several case studies. Our methodology consists of analysis of six case …

Evaluating Shared Governance For Nursing Excellence, Evette Michelle Wilson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The national challenges of nursing shortages, decreased staffing levels, and increased patient acuities have contributed to nurse's increased workload and job dissatisfaction. Nurses have become frustrated with the professional practice environment. The inability to make decisions about issues that affect their nursing practice and the care provided to their patients results in nurses leaving the work environment in search of higher job satisfaction. Employers are becoming more creative in their strategies to improve the work environment and retain nurses within their organizations. Healthcare leaders have implemented management strategies such as shared governance models. These models focus on providing a satisfying …

Perceptions Of Workplace Bullying Among Practicing Registered Nurses, Crystal Regina Threadgill

Dissertations

Workplace bullying (WPB) is a social and organizational problem. Within the health care arena, employees, particularly registered nurses, are at risk. WPB has several adverse effects and has been cited in the literature as closely associated with burnout and nurses leaving their positions. This quantitative study examined workplace bullying among practicing registered and its relationship with burnout and nurses’ intent to leave their current position.

The surveys utilized were the Negative Acts Questionnaires-Revised (NAQ-R), Maslach Burnout Inventory Survey, Intention to Turnover Scale and a demographic survey. Of the surveys distributed, a total of 185 were returned from one selected hospital …

The New Orleans Museum Of Art: Connecting A Cultural Legacy To The Community Through Interpretation And Audience Engagement, L. Sullivan

Arts Administration Master's Reports (1984-2016)

The following report is the result of an internship with the oldest fine art institute in the city of New Orleans. I had the opportunity to work at the New Orleans Museum of Art within the Department of Interpretation and Audience Engagement. Over the course of this internship, I observed the staff of this prolific organization create and facilitate educational experiences and public programming relating to special exhibitions and the permanent collection while appealing to all ages and supporting the Museum’s mission. This report seeks to summarize the history of the institution, outline particular programs, and to define the importance …

San Antonio Museum Of Art: Addressing The Needs Of Cultural Consumers In The 21st Century, Katherine Hoffpauir Marquette

Arts Administration Master's Reports (1984-2016)

In January of 2012, I began an internship with the San Antonio Museum of Art. At the time, the Education Department was engrossed in an audience research study, designed to strengthen the Museum’s understanding of its constituents. This study was my entry-point into the organization and where all my efforts were focused over the course of my internship. This paper includes: an organizational summary; an account of my internship experiences; a SWOT analysis; a review of industry best practices; and recommendations based on observations acquired over the course of my internship.

Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans (Cac): Past, Present, And A Vision Towards The Future, Jennifer L. Francino

Arts Administration Master's Reports (1984-2016)

Today’s arts nonprofits are navigating a challenging landscape where competition for funding and audiences is on the rise. To intensify this issue, rates of participation in the arts have declined and funders have raised the bar requiring that nonprofits demonstrate higher levels of accountability concerning results and mission achievement. These conditions have caused nonprofits to assess their leadership, community relevancy, program effectiveness, and management practices. Consequently, audience engagement has become a prominent topic in the field, with a growing body of research and varying perspectives. Arts nonprofits are experimenting with an array of strategies and activities to increase participation. New …

Load Mixing To Improve Container Utilization, Crystal Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The under utilization in trucking leads to nearly 5 billion gallons of wasted fuel annually. One way to recapture part of this waste is to use collaborative logistics. This research focuses on one specific aspect of collaborative logistics: load mixing. Load mixing is the idea of mixing two or more items of different weights in the same container to reduce the number of trucks needed.

Load mixing is similar to other packing problems such as the knapsack and container loading problems. However, traditional packing problems typically only assume a single type of capacity (e.g., weight), whereas load mixing must simultaneously …

Level Crossing Times In Mathematical Finance, Ofosuhene Osei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Level crossing times and their applications in finance are of importance, given certain threshold levels that represent the "desirable" or "sell" values of a stock. In this thesis, we make use of Wald's lemmas and various deep results from renewal theory, in the context of finance, in modelling the growth of a portfolio of stocks. Several models are employed .

It's A Business: A Financial Analysis Of The Bcs System And Its Alternatives, Wilson Neely

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is an annual debate over the structure of the postseason format of college football. In this thesis, the current format is explained, along with two popular alternatives. Gameday profitability is determined for each of the three formats to provide an answer to the question of which format is the most lucrative.

Financing Public Solar Projects: California Public Jurisdictions' Experiences In Acquiring And Financing Solar Photovoltaic Installations, Dana M.C. Hoffman

Master's Theses

More efficient technologies, state laws as well as environmental, social, and political pressures have all contributed to placing solar acquisition on the agenda for California’s public entities over the last half decade. But a key question for these frequently cash-strapped jurisdictions is how to utilize public dollars and lands, and how to leverage incentives to obtain solar PVs. As an alternative to outright purchase, a promising financing option made available to jurisdictions in recent years is ownership by a third party, usually the solar company, including various forms of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s) and leasing. Due in part to state …

A Profile Of The Characteristics And Professional Development Needs Of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division Ii Athletic Directors, Dustin Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose for conducting the study was to identify the personal, professional, and educational backgrounds of NCAA Division II athletic directors. The study was designed to detail the professional development opportunities that existed among the population, and determine how frequently the NCAA Division II athletic directors took advantage of the opportunities that were available to them. The significance of the study rested on the ability to identify the NCAA Division II athletic director population and describe the qualities and characteristics that comprised the target population. Since little data existed detailing this population, the study provided an opportunity to describe a …

The Chain-Link Fence Model: A Framework For Creating Security Procedures, Robert F. Houghton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Information technology security professionals are facing an ever growing threat to the networks that they defend. The process for creating procedures to help stem this threat is very difficult for security professionals. The Chain-Link Fence Model helps security professionals by guiding them through the process of creating and implementing new security procedures.

Empirical Properties Of Functional Regression Models And Application To High-Frequency Financial Data, Xi Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Functional data analysis (FDA) has grown into a substantial field of statistical research, with new methodology, numerous useful applications and interesting novel theoretical developments. My dissertation focuses on the empirical properties of functional regression models and their application to financial data. We start from testing the empirical properties of forecasts with the functional autoregressive models based on simulated and real data. We define intraday returns and consider their prediction from such returns on a market index. This is an extension to intraday data of the Capital Asset Pricing model. Finally we investigate multifactor functional models and assess their suitability for …

Leadership Expectations-Personal Experience As A Target Intern, Amber Shaffer

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The past seventeen years of my short life have been defined by school calendars, academic standards, and test scores. Although stressful at times, my formal education has directed my personal development and fashioned my character. On May 4th, 2013, the doors are closing on my lecture education. On May 18th I will begin a career that I am confident will continue where my university left off.

Indication With Further Analysis Of Mispricing And Barriers In Arbitrage In Chinese Option Market A Five-Month Study On Sample Option, Hao Feng

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

This thesis presents indication of mispricing of options in the Chinese option market, focusing on the very first and the most representative option in the Chinese option market. I used the Black-Scholes model to calculate the option price and compare the result to its real performance. The mispricing of sample option is statistically significant. With further analysis, I found out that underlying asset price and its volatility are the possible factors that most likely lead to mispricing. Because of the consistent mispricing, I investigated the industrial regulations from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and found proof with examples that …

Essays On Ceo Networks And Banking, Fang Fang

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation includes three essays on CEO networks and banking. I built a social networks matrix among the U.S. bank CEOs based on their biographical information. I investigate how social networks of CEOs impact bank risk-taking, bank performance, and bank acquisitions during financial crisis. Essay one, "CEO networks and bank risk taking", investigates the relevance of bank CEO networks to bank risk during the credit crisis of 2008. If social networks provide a CEO an enhanced flow of information, a better understanding of risk embedded in industry innovation, and more accurate marketing timing and forecast, then the expectation is that …

Investor Return In Reits: Evidence Of Market Timing And Capacity Constraints, Ekaterina Petrova Damianova

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation studies the returns earned in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) from the point of view of the average investor. Traditional buy-and-hold returns while appropriate as a measure of return for financial asset may not adequately reflect the returns of the average individual investor because they do not take into account the capital flows in and out of an asset. Just as their name suggests, these are the returns one would earn if one buys a financial asset or portfolio at the beginning of a period and holds the investment until the end without making changes to the amount …

Assessing The Impact Of Conflict-Type On Decision-Effectiveness In Top Management Teams: The Moderating Effect Of Attributions, Emotions, Conflict-Handling Behavior, And The Environment, Kevin J. Hurt

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Conflict is considered a multi-dimensional concept conveying both constructive and destructive overtones. Within a strategic decision-making team, conflict can have positive and negative effects, which collectively are considered `paradoxical' because they can simultaneously lead to improved group decisions along with decreased member commitment. Decision quality and commitment to the decision are a requisite of high performance; yet, some suggest that these cannot co-exist because of conflict's paradoxical effects in the decision-making process. The early consensus on conflict research suggests that one form of conflict, i.e. cognitive, yields positive effects, whereas another form of conflict, i.e. affective, yields negative results. Not …

Three Essays On Hedge Fund Flows, Regulation, And Economic Geography, Weifang Yang

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Chapter I studies the effect of tax policies (Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAS)) on hedge fund flows and indirectly on hedge fund manager and investor behavior in six tax haven countries. I find that structural changes in both hedge fund dollar flows and net flows occurred in the tax haven countries as a result of TIEAS. I also find that both hedge fund dollar flows and net flows of the countries that signed TIEAS and the countries that did not sign TIEAS increased after their structural break points. Chapter II investigates whether a causal relationship exists between hedge fund flows …

Can Managerial Knowledge Of Executive Compensation Encourage Or Deter Real Earnings Management? An Analysis Of R&D Reporting Methods, Andrea Gouldman

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of research and development (R&D) reporting method and managerial knowledge of supervisor compensation on R&D project continuation decisions. The current study employs an experiment with a 2x3 between-participants design, manipulating both R&D reporting method (expense vs. capitalize) and knowledge of supervisor compensation (control group with no knowledge vs. knowledge of non-restricted stock compensation vs. knowledge of restricted stock compensation). Using salient short-term incentives to motivate real earnings management, this study demonstrates that capitalization may result in managers foregoing economically efficient R&D investment opportunities. The results indicate that managerial knowledge of supervisor compensation structure has little …

Equilibrium Implications Of Social Utility And Reference Dependence, Kangkang Wang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

It is well-known that consumers can deviate from the assumptions of standard economic theory in many ways. My dissertation examines the strategic implications of some behavioral anomalies of consumers in an equilibrium framework. In particular, I focus on how these behavioral anomalies could affect the optimal strategy and profitability of firms. The dissertation is comprised of two essays. In the first essay, I study the implications of consumer utility having a social component for competitive strategy of the firms and propose a model to explain the randomness of fashion hits observed in the fashion market. In the second essay, I …

"The Living Building Challenge", Giovanni Roberto

Honors Theses

As we look around our community and the world, it becomes very apparent that we are facing many environmental, social and economic issues. In hope to make strides toward a positive future, the International Living Future Institute has developed many stringent programs, one of them being the Living Building Challenge (The Challenge). The Challenge is working to fix the problems of the built environment and to restore the negative impacts our building, landscapes, structures, etc. are having on the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit).

The Challenge’s mission states:

To encourage the creation of Living Buildings, Landscapes and Neighborhoods in …

Three Essays On Return Predictability And Decentralized Investment Management, Dashan Huang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

My research field is asset pricing with a focus on return predictability, innovation and market efficiency, and delegated investment management.

In Chapter 1, "Maximum Return Predictability", I develop two theoretical upper bounds on the R2 of the regression of stock returns on predictive variables. Empirically, I found that the predictive R2s are significantly larger than the upper bounds, implying that existing asset pricing models are incapable of explaining the degree of return predictability. For example, the predictive R2 of the price dividend ratio for the U.S. market forecasting is 0.27% with monthly data. However, the theoretical upper bound is at …

Leadership: Learning To Surf Into A Wave Of Change, Zachary Putnam

Honors Theses

In recent decades, leaders have needed to learn to surf into the wave of change. Throughout the business world, there are number of changes that are currently happening. The ideals of surfing can be used as an analogy to guide how leaders should react to these changes. Leadership is a process of influencing people, and it continues to change with the uncertainty and ambiguity in the business world today. Therefore, it is important to try to move through the five levels of leadership: position, permission, production, people development and personhood. Over the past decades, the nature, scope and intensity of …

The Predictors And Outcomes Of Customer Loyalty In B2c E-Commerce, Rui Zhang

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Public Affairs at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Rui Zhang on April 17, 2013.

Behavioral Intervention To Reinforce Correct Youth Employee Behavior At A Nonprofit Boy Scout Summer Camp: A Case Study, Joshua Kallen

Honors Theses

A reinforcement plan was implemented to improve employee adhesion to set parameters in performance at a 24-hour employment scenario. The reinforcement plan successfully negated the extinction effects of the contingency across the 4 week quasi-experimental period which showed improvement compared to qualitative baseline data. These findings suggest that the reinforcement plan, rather than punishment contingencies, is a more effective tool for encouraging employee participation in activities which participation is aversive.

Explaining Political Activeness And Attitudes Toward Unionization Among Nurses In The United States., Crystal L. Lesmeister

Political Science Theses and Capstones

There is no question; nurses play a key role in healthcare. Nurses provide direct care, coordinate health promotion activities, educate, and provide support and advocacy to patients. Today, there are over two million registered nurses in the United States. My research aims to determine the variables that influence some nurses to be more politically active and more engaged in unionization than their counterparts. I analyze The National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses 2004 looking at a variety of potential explanations for union participation. Findings show a strong regional variation in the percentage of unionization, however, some of the conventional explanations …