Business Commons^™

A Structural Equation Model Of The Factors Associated With Influence And Power Of It Departments And Their Relationship To Firm's It Orientation And Business Performance, Raghu V. Kowshik

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although few firms can function without an information technology (IT) department, senior executives often consider IT as secondary. Historically, studies have found IT departments to have low influence and power status compared to other departments. Few, if any, studies have investigated what factors contribute to this subservient position. Three research questions that inspired this study regarding the IT department's influence and power included factors that shape the IT influence and power, the consequences for the firm's IT orientation and business performance, and how firm's IT orientation affects business performance. This quantitative study explored the notion that accountability, innovativeness, customer connectedness …

Impact Of Social Capital On Buyer Supplier Relationships In A Multi-Cultural Context, Sherry Avery

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

Both manufacturers and service companies rely heavily on their suppliers to provide quality products and services. The management of these suppliers can be critical to the success of an organization. In this research study, the relationship between buying firms and their suppliers is examined and how it contributes to the overall performance of the buying firm. Prior research has confirmed that a strong buyer supplier relationship can have a positive impact on the buying firm's performance. However, these studies primarily examined relationships within the context of a western country. This study examines the similarities and differences in business practices that …

Temporary Network Development Capability In High Velocity Environements: A Dynamic Capability Study Of Disaster Relief Organizations, William Ross O'Brien

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

Organizations involved in crisis relief after a natural disaster face the multifaceted challenge of significantly changing needs of their various stakeholders, limited, ambiguous and even incorrect information, and highly compressed time limitations. Yet the performance of these organization in these high velocity environments is critical for the lives and welfare of disaster victims. This research suggests that relief organizations that possess a dynamic capability to proactively form temporary networks are better suited to respond to crises. Further, the study identifies antecedents of such a temporary network development capability (TNDC), specifically prior network experience, swift trust, prior crisis experience, a generalist …

Social Exchange And Post-Employment Citizenship: Evidence From Public Accounting, David N. Herda

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

In this study I examine why some ex-employees more than others choose to benefit their former firm (post-employment citizenship). The study is based on social exchange theory and involves former employees of a Big Four accounting firm. Among individuals who left the firm voluntarily, post-employment citizenship was found to be predicted by a two-phase social exchange relationship between employees and the firm, and the two-phases, represented by during-employment perceived organizational support and during-employment organizational commitment, partially mediated the relationship between during-employment organizational fairness and post-employment citizenship. For layoff victims, I extend Brockner, Tyler, and Cooper-Schneider's (1992) research on the interaction …

The Internal Control Provisions Of Sarbanes-Oxley Act And Quality Of Interim Earnings, Lei Han

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

This study examines the change in the quality of interim earnings around the enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and whether the change differs between interim and annual earnings by focusing on the impact of internal control provisions. In particular, two hypotheses are tested in this study. First, the quality of interim earnings improves after the SOX. Second, the gap in earnings quality between annual and interim reporting decreases after the SOX. Prior research indicates that the quality of interim earnings is lower because managers have more discretion in interim reporting and interim earnings are only subject to review which involves …

Resource Accumulation Dynamics During The New Venture Formation Process, Amy Gresock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As described by the resource-based view, resource accumulation is a key concern for new ventures. Although we know that getting the right resources is a critical issue to organizations, we know far less about how fledgling firms assemble these resources over time. The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamics of resource accumulation and their effect on performance and growth during new venture formation. In particular, I examine the constructs of financial capital, human capital, and performance, and will test relationships using a sample from the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) that provides the necessary data to test my …

A Method For Developing Churchmanian Knowledge Management Systems, Lars Linden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Some problems confronted by managers include ill-formulated wicked planning problems, a type of problem that is difficult to solve because, in part, it is difficult to know what the problem is. The Churchmanian Knowledge Management Systems (CKMS) (Richardson & Courtney, 2004) is comprised of design principles for aiding system designers, managers, and clients who make decisions pertaining to these ill-formulated wicked planning problems. Problemography theory is proposed as a method for developing a CKMS. The method aims to measure CKMS development by using development tools that enables stakeholders and theoreticians to clarify CKMS development. A study was conducted to test …

Principal-Agent Conflict And Seller's Strategy Approaching Listing Contract Expiration, Zhenyu Zhang

Theses & Honors Papers

Real estate markets are excellent venues in which to study principal-agent incentive misalignments. Buyers and sellers who face relatively higher information costs rely on agents to reduce information costs and to assist their negotiation. Previous literature has focused on a typical dilemma real estate gents face - sales price versus time on market (TOM). This paper analyzes sellers' behavior when an exclusive listing contract nears unsuccessful expiration.

A Remanufacturing News-Vendor With Pricing And Take-Back Pricing, Keyu Lu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper analyzes the problem of a remanufacturing news-vendor with selling and take-back price decision. In our model, the remanufacturer decides selling price, take-back price, and order quantity for new materials. She then uses the stochastic take-back quantity and the new material to meet the stochastic demand comparably to a news vendor setting. We allow demand and take-back supply to be correlated. In this thesis, we study a production problem with dual input sources: raw materials and recycled or remanufactured take-back items. To answer when mixed-sourcing is best, we analyze the model under deterministic setting first, provide criteria for different …

Service Innovation In The Non-Profit Sector, Gabriel Boon Siong Lim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Non-profit organisations are valued because they provide services that address unmet needs. Nonprofits who engage in social entrepreneurship augment their contributions through new services, programmes, enterprises and revenue generated. It is not surprising, therefore, for policy makers to encourage social entrepreneurship, service innovations and social enterprises. However, not all nonprofits seek to innovate by creating revenue-generating social enterprises. They may continue to devote themselves to specific fields and existing practices through other forms of service innovations instead. The intent of nonprofits in starting new services is investigated through a two-pronged quantitative and qualitative research approach.

In the quantitative section, a …

Pelaksanaan Instrumen Pelaburan Islam Di Islamic Bank Of Thailand (Isbt)., Fatimah Abdulmajid @ Ahmae

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research was carried out at Islamic Bank Of Thailand (ISBT), Wattana district, Bangkok, Thailand. The objectives of this study are try to observe and evaluate the performance and implementation of its Islamic investment instruments then analysis the performance and implementation, its effective and problem in its implementation. First chapter will describe the meaning of investment in both conventional and Islamic economic system. Chapter two will focus on Islamic Bank Of Thailand (ISBT) where will consist of history towards establishing of Islamic financial institution in Thailand, Muslim societies economic situation in Thailand until the existence of Islamic Bank Of Thailand …

Standards, Training, And Guests' Perceptions In Luxury Hotels, Sarah Peterhans

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Very few hotels are able to consider themselves to be truly luxury. These hotels hold a certain mystique that invites their guests to continually return, no matter what the cost is. While luxury is providing something exclusive that is not found everywhere, it is also becoming more about the experience (Allcock, 2007). Today, luxury hotels are aiming for ultra-luxury, and to do this, service and people factors make a huge difference (Tungate, 2009). The luxury concept includes being exclusive, sophisticated, and indulging your guests (Allcock, 2007). It is crucial that the design and service follow these concepts (Gunter, 2005). These …

Sistemi Bankar Dhe Politika Kreditore Në Kosovë, Jeton Uka

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

“Adoptimi I Euro-S Në Kosovë: Përparësitë Dhe Të Metat”, Valon Suka

Theses and Dissertations

Ky studim analizon përfitimet e mundshme dhe sfidat me të cilat euroizimi i njëanshëm i sjell në Kosovë. Në përgjithësi, studimi ka vlerësuar se euroizimi në Kosovë ishte i dobishëm në sjelljen e stabilitetit makroekonomik dhe financiar dhe të zgjidhjes së problemit të besimit në monedhën. Euroizimi ka eliminuar shpenzimet e transaksionit dhe të tregtisë së promovuar mes Kosovës dhe vendeve që e përdorin euron. Studimi gjithashtu adreson çështjet e mungesës së një pjese të mjeteve të zakonshme të politikës monetare dhe të të ardhurave. Përfitimet e siguruara nga një euroizim arrin qëllimin e plotë në Kosovë duke redukutuar shpenzimet, …

Factors Influencing The Adoption Of Online Purchase Through Blogs In Malaysia / Fariza Malawati Abdullah, Fariza Malawati Abdullah

Student Works (2010-2019)

Internet users in Malaysia have grown from only fifteen percent Internet penetration over population in year 2000 to sixty-six percent penetration in year 2009. The Internet has become a means of transaction for consumers in the global market. A study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates that the future forecast of online shopping in Malaysia looks bright and promising. One of the more popular online marketing channels is Blogs. This study aims to identify the adoption factors towards online purchase through Blogs in the Malaysian consumers’ context. A conceptual model integrating five determinants namely, utilitarian orientation, hedonic orientation, trust, …

Sensitivity To Diversity In The Workplace, Kelly Robinson

All Capstone Projects

Since the early 1990s, the construct of diversity training has been diligently examined as it relates to managing a diverse workforce. Employers have been faced with the daunting task of figuring out how groups of dissimilar people can work collaboratively in the workplace without incident. Differences have to be addressed in the arena of gender, race, sexual orientation, age, and religious views without prejudice, so that we can form more cohesive work groups in the labor force. In an effort to deconstruct negative attitudes and ideals towards differences, we must explore, with employees, differences that may cause friction in the …

The 2008 Short Sale Ban: Did We Sell Price Discovery Short, Yen-Ling Chang

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation investigates the impact of a short sale ban on the stock market and the options market and the interrelation between the two markets during the US financial crisis of 2008. The first essay focuses on the impact of the short sale ban on financial stocks between September 18, 2008 and October 8, 2008. I examine how daily returns responded to the ban. Non-banned firms with similar sizes and standard deviations of past stock returns as the banned firms served as a control group. An event study shows significant positive cumulative abnormal returns which might indicate that the banned …

Three Essays On Real Estate Equities And Real Estate Investment Trusts, Fahad Almudhaf

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation consists of three distinct essays. The first essay provides initial empirical evidence on the usefulness of consumer confidence index and investor optimism index in predicting REIT price movements. I find evidence of uni-directional Granger causality from REIT returns to the change in Michigan consumer sentiment index for the period 1978 - 2008. I find a negative and statistically significant relationship between the level of Michigan consumer sentiment index in one month and the FTSE/NAREIT US REIT returns in the next one, six, and twelve months. On the other hand, I find a positive and statistically significant relationship between …

How Predictable Is The Chinese Stock Market?, Fuwei Jiang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We analyze return predictability for the Chinese stock market, including the aggregate market portfolio and the components of the aggregate market, such as portfolios sorted on industry, size, book-to-market and ownership concentration. Considering a variety of economic variables as predictors, both in-sample and out-of-sample tests highlight significant predictability in the aggregate market portfolio of the Chinese stock market and substantial differences in return predictability across components. Among industry portfolios, Finance and insurance, Real estate, and Service exhibit the most predictability, while portfolios of small-cap and low ownership concentration firms also display considerable predictability. Two key findings provide economic explanations for …

Aircraft Leasing With Contracts, Qiong Zuo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We study a problem of rental rate pricing and rental contract designing in aircraft leasing industry. In a framework of Stackelberg game, the system is composed of an airline company (carrier) and an aircraft leasing company (lessor). Acting as the leader, the lessor announces daily rental rates and/or provides long-term contracts on a finite horizon with multiple periods. For each period, the carrier determines the aircraft leasing number to adjust the flight capacity, and applies a dynamic pricing policy for air-tickets based on a seasonally stochastic demand and some economic factor, such as oil price. We find the optimal policies …

Discounts And Termination Of Close-End Funds, Chen Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Based on an extensive sample of U.S. closed end funds undergoing termination, this study offers a comprehensive analysis of closed end fund exiting behaviors. There are four ways for a fund to exit: merger into other closed-end fund, liquidation, conversion to open-end mutual fund and merger into open-end mutual fund. Closed-end funds that exit must choose the most efficient and optimal mechanisms corresponding to funds‟ characteristics and organizational forms. In this study, I find that closed-end funds exit optimally. First, funds with persistently larger discount and smaller size are more likely to exit and consistent with rational expectation, market incorporates …

Short-Selling Prior To Analyst Recommendations, Can Qu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper investigates short-selling five days prior to analyst recommendations by using a complete data set from Reg SHO database during January, 2005 to July, 2007. Empirical tests uncover the evidence that short-sellers significantly increase their short positions prior to negative analyst recommendations, which is consistent with the informed trading hypothesis. This finding is robust to model specification. Further, this paper also examines which of the two competing hypotheses-prediction and tipping-could better explain short-sellers’ informative front-running. The tests indicate that short-sellers use book-to-market ratio as a filter to narrow down their pool of candidates, while market capitalization doesn’t play a …

The Use Of Social Marketing Messages In An Anti-Tobacco Context: An Investigation Of Irish Female Adolescents, Barry Griffin

Theses

The WHO (2008) report states that although tobacco deaths rarely make headlines, tobacco kills one person globally every six seconds. Tobacco kills a third to a half of all people who use it, on average 15 years prematurely. Today tobacco use causes 1 in 10 deaths among adults worldwide - more than 5 million people a year (Murray and Lopez, 2006). The Irish Office of Tobacco Control’s research has confirmed that initiation into smoking is largely a childhood phenomenon. More than 75% of all smokers in Ireland started to smoke before they reached the age of 18 (HBSC Ireland, 2006). …

A Framework For Analysis Of Spatial Specialisations Of Industry, John Hobbs

Theses

Concentrations of firms in an industry sector within a geographic space or region have exercised the minds of economists for more than 100 years. Several models attempt to analyse the interactions and dynamics of such concentrations. Industry clusters (Porter, 1990) and industrial districts (Becattini 1978, Piore and Sabel 1984, Scott 1988a 19886, Storper 1989) are well known examples.

Yet debate continues about the validity of such models and how they function. While cluster theory has many adherents, spatial boundaries of a cluster and its determinants of competitive advantage remain controversial. Several variants of industrial district have been analysed, and according …

The Role Of Fair Value Accounting In Bank Failures: 2001-2010, Jacob Edward Eugene Spring

CMC Senior Theses

Over the Past two and a half years banks have failed at the fastest pace since the Great Depression. These rapidly mounting bank failures have rekindled a debate surrounding the use of fair value accounting, with many arguing that fair value has exacerbated the severity of the recent financial crisis through asset devaluation and the forced sale of assets in an effort to meet capital requirements. This paper seeks to test if an entity’s exposure to fair value which includes assets available-for-sale, trading assets, and loans held-for-sale as a percent of total assets increases the probability of bank failure through …

The Value Of The Sovereign Credit Default Market: Domestic Stock Market Interaction And Contagion Effects During Credit Crisis, Alexander M. Reichert

CMC Senior Theses

Credit Default Swaps have become a large part of financial markets and recently the center of debate between academics and regulators alike. Transferring the techniques to measure information flow between the CDS market and stock markets presented by Acharya and Johnson (2007), this paper looks at the relationship between a countries sovereign CDS spread level and its predominate stock exchange. Under the back drop of the Greek Credit Crisis in Spring of 2010 I measure contagion effects in the Euro Zone comparing the level of Granger causality significance between the stock and CDS market. I find that the greatest information …

How Brand Name And Packaging Quality Affect The Consumer Choice Process, Albert Edward Price

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Current research tells us that both the brand name and packaging of a product have an effect on the consumer and his or her individual purchasing decision. The following study attempts to further explore and explain how each one affects the other and in which situations, one has a greater influence on the consumer choice process. The research focuses on the comparison of what role brand name and packaging quality play in the consumer choice process. Specifically, the study looked at how the following factors, brand consciousness/familiarity, product experience and individual confidence/self-esteem of the buyer, influence the choice process as …

Pengurusan Majlis Taklim Di Provinsi Sumatera Selatan : Kajian Dari Aspek Persepsi Guru Agama., Ali Mursyi Abdul Rasyid

Student Works (2010-2019)

The effectiveness of da’wah through religious class or majlis taklim has caused the increase of religious knowledge and appreciation in the community. One of the main reasons of the successful of a majlis taklim was a good management implemented in its activities. This dissertation, entitled Management of Majlis Taklim in South Sumatera Province: A Study on Perception of Religious Teachers has three objectives: to identify management of majlis taklim in South Sumatra; to identify the views of religious teachers on practices in management functions, such as planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling activities of da’wah in majlis taklim; and to recognize …

Supplier Partnerships : Dimensions, Antecedents, And Outcomes, Dewan Rezaul Karim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Firm vertical relationships have received considerable attention in recent years in the relational and embeddedness approaches, yet pervasive confusion and uncertainty exist over the conception, conditions, and the benefits accrued from such linkages. The research is also known to be too diverse and scattered to provide any definitive explanations. Drawing on across the board literature reviews and extensive conversation with supply managers, I develop a conceptual model to study the concept of close ties between the manufacturers and their first-tier suppliers, identify their antecedent conditions and outcomes. I also investigate the variables that best predict the relationship formation and firm …

Applying Trait And Situational Leadership Approaches To Assess Theoretical Antecedents Of Managers' Work-Life Supportive Behaviors, Sue A. Epstein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Managers' work-life supportive behaviors positively impact the usage of work-life programs, help reduce work-life conflict, and improve additional organizational and individual outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, turnover intentions) (Foley, Linnehan, Greenhaus, & Weer, 2006). These behaviors include helping their subordinates rearrange their work schedules and encouraging subordinates' use of organizational work-life policies (e.g., flextime, job sharing, leave programs) (Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2006). While the benefits of such targeted leadership have been well studied, the predictors of managerial work-life supportive behaviors have received little attention. In this research, the trait and situational approaches to effective leadership are used as the basis for …