Business Commons^™

Goldin Ceramics: Website As Primary Advertising Vehicle For Small Business, Alfiya Mukhutdinova

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

I wanted my Honors Capstone Project to capitalize on the combination of advertising, design, and website-building skills I have gained both inside and outside of the classroom during my time atSyracuseUniversity. I wanted the chance to apply my conceptual knowledge as well as my knowledge of advanced design and website software to an actual client with measurable results. I decided to tackle the challenge of creating a new website for my aunt’s small business, Goldin Ceramics. Since Olga’s only method of advertising is in-person at craft shows that she attends roughly once a month, her website plays a crucial role …

Comparative Determinants Of International Equity Diversification, Ying Zhang

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This study provides a comprehensive, simultaneous comparison of the country and sector determinants of international diversification. Specifically, it bridges the theory between the cointegration methodology and diversification by linking market integration, cointegration and portfolio diversification. Cointegration tests are conducted to both analyze the stationarity of country and industry index covariances and to dissect the diversification contributions of each component. Portfolios comprised of market indices independent of cointegrating relations produce, on average, better risk-return profiles than those constructed from cointegrated market indices. Although country and sector allocations both contribute to independent market portfolio gains, the diversification determinants have differential impact on …

Ecotourism Sustainability, Lori W. Hedrick

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ecotourism is defined by the Ecotourism Society as “responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of the local people”. The effect of this type of tourism poses both negative and positive impacts on the tourist and society. The importance of true ecotourism is to conserve and improve the environment, but the sustainability of this type of tourism can face ecological and economic challenges.

Managing Change: The Challenges Faced At Cne, Brandon Hill

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cherokee Casino Resort (CCR) is relatively new in the gaming industry compared to other casino resort locations such as the resorts in Las Vegas. From its inception less than ten years ago, when legalized gambling was passed in the state of Oklahoma, Cherokee Casino has gone from two bingo halls to seven casinos and a horse track. Included with the seven casinos are truck stops, outposts, motels, and hotels located throughout the state. It has grown from approximately 50 employees to over 3,000 companywide. Along with the rapid growth of casinos and employees, Cherokee Nation Enterprises (CNE) has been able …

Creating, Sustaining, And Growing The Learning Culture Of A New Luxury Hotel, Andres F. Vargas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper uses exploratory, qualitative research to study the development of an organizational learning culture at a new luxury hotel. In the service industry, human resources represent the most valuable asset in the organization. Simply put, employees embody the brand as they interact with guests at every touch point. Internal and external guests evolving expectations, global competition and product commoditization, have forced lodging companies to look for ways in which to remain competitive and appealing to all stakeholders. A new property that joins a renowned hospitality management company, faces the challenge to deliver service that is up to its existing …

Greening In The United States Hotel Sector: An Exploratory Examination, Adam Kaplan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The aim of this paper is to explore the concept of greening in the U.S. hotel sector. Much of the existing research on the topic of greening is relegated to the European and Asian hotel sectors. Within the literature review, the paper will examine what industry leaders and scholars have reported about the progress of greening in the global sector. Given the scant research domestically, the paper will attempt to generalize some of the findings to the situation in the U.S. hotel sector. The paper’s methodology section will build on European research on greening and develop a blueprint for U.S. …

Higher Education Event – A Case Study And Special Event Approach, Matthew J. Muldoon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of the present paper is to gain a better understanding of hospitality management literature in order to improve higher education event management strategies. The resulting professional paper intends to bring forward relevant literature and practical trends in event management. In addition, the paper intends to take a useful approach in examining the role of university conference and event standards in coordinating successful university development events. Moreover, this review expects to identify trends in higher education event programs as they relate to the hospitality industry. Events are important development initiatives and when properly planed can become a true cultivation …

Perceptions Of Emotional Intelligence Preparation And Industry Expectations For Utah State University Mba Graduates, Arthur D. Waller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study sought to determine whether an MBA degree from Utah State University (USU) was meeting the emotional intelligence (EI) needs of the workplace from the perception of its graduates. This research assessed perception of EI skills with a researcher-designed instrument that consisted of a 22-question survey that was e-mailed to USU students who completed an MBA between 2000 and 2006. The survey questionnaire given to MBA graduates was titled Assessment of Emotional Intelligence and was divided into three distinct parts. The first category (questions 1-10) had to do with industry expectations as perceived by MBA graduates. The second category …

Three Essays On Stock Market Volatility, Qianru Li

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Volatility is inherently unobservable, and thus the selection of models and their definition is crucial in financial research. This dissertation attempts to check the role of investor sentiment and forecast Value-at-Risk (VaR) of the stock market using both parametric and nonparametric approaches. In the first essay, based on daily return data of three stock indices and four individual stocks from January 1988 to December 2006, the role of day-of-the-week, as well as investor sentiment, is examined using two approaches: linear regression to test investor sentiment effect on stock returns and Logit regression to test the investor sentiment effect on market …

The Creation Of Wealth For Company Stakeholders Through Managerial Behavior In Leveraged Buyouts, Joshua P. Clayton

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Student Ambassador Program, Heather James

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The need for colleges to explore alternative methods of increasing enrollment provides new opportunities and challenges in the quest to attract students. These challenges and opportunities can be addressed with the development of a Student Ambassador Program. This work presents the creation of an ambassador program consisting of current and former students who reach out to local high schools, career seminars, and industry related venues in order to both increase awareness of the program while also answering questions and being a point of contact for potential students. The implementation of the program involves a targeted recruitment strategy, coupled with training …

An Assessment Of The World Wine Auction Marketplace, Michael M. Bowden

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The fine wine marketplace has exploded in recent years, especially within the United States. Driven from super-heated prices this year [2007], American and European wine auctions sponsored by English-language houses realized at least US$333,209,438 in revenues this year, up from last year’s [2006] US$242,803,251 (Goldberg, 2007). It should also be noted that Peter D. Meltzer, from Wine Spectator magazine, stated that “worldwide auctions of fine and rare wines rose 25 percent over 2006 to hit a record $301 million in sales, according to figures just released by the major auction houses” (Meltzer, 2008, P. 128). This charge, especially in the …

Designing A Business Identity, Ashley Masias

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Food Marketing Association: Fund Raising Task Force, Miranda K. Owen

Honors Theses

The objective of this project was to develop a sustainable fundraising program for the Food Marketing Association, a Western Michigan University student organization, which would not only provide income to the organization but provide an educational experience for the students. The concept was to contact a food manufacturer or marketing group and offer the resources of the student organization to introduce and test one of their new products on WMU's campus in exchange for a donation to the organization. The following report summarizes and outlines the process followed in order to obtain this position.

The Stewardship Academy: Fostering Tomorrow's Stewards A Nonprofit Business Plan For Community Stewardship, Cody Nelson

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

A Comparison Of The Elements And Principles Of Feng Shui And Its Beneficial Application To Tradeshow Design, Angela Fasciana

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

The Impact Of Information Technology On Small, Medium, And Large Hospitals: Quality, Safety, And Financial Metrics, Stacy Alicia Bourgeois Roberts

Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations - Archive

This study focuses on the role of information technologies in healthcare, and investigates the relationship of IT sophistication to patient safety, healthcare quality, and financial performance in Texas acute care hospitals. A value/supply chain perspective guides the development of a general model that integrates hospitals' IT sophistication with their patient and financial outcomes. From the model emerge hypotheses that are tested using the structural equation modeling approach, taking into account differences in outcomes across small, medium, and large hospitals. Our testing and comparisons give insight into the dynamics of health information technology and provide specific direction for practitioners and future …

The Effect Of Leadership Style On Cio Effectiveness, Kishen Parthasarathy Iyengar

Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations - Archive

While IS researchers have often opined that leadership is important, a theoretical examination of leadership in the CIO context is lacking. We examine Leadership style in the light of the transformational leadership theory and its impact on organizational level variables such as CIO Role Effectiveness and IT ambidexterity, and individual level variables such as Leader-Member Exchange Relationship and the subordinate's general job satisfaction. Results indicate that contingent rewarding style impacted CIO role effectiveness, which in turn predicted IT ambidexterity. Transformational leadership was the strongest predictor of Leader-Member Exchange relationship, which in turn impacted job satisfaction.

A Comparison Of Traditional And Active Learning Methods: An Empirical Investigation Utilizing A Linear Mixed Model, David Weltman

Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations - Archive

This research aims to understand what types of learners (business school students) benefit most and what type of learners may not benefit at all from active learning methods. It is hypothesized that different types of students will achieve different levels of proficiency based on the teaching method. Several types of student characteristics are analyzed: grade point average, learning style, age, gender, and ethnicity. Three topics (in the introductory business statistics course) and five instructors covering seven class sections are used with three different experimental teaching methods. Method topic combinations are randomly assigned to class sections so that each student in …

An Adaptive Reputation-Based Trust Model For Intelligent Agents In E-Marketplace, Liangjun You

Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations - Archive

In the emerging Electronic Marketplace, intelligent agents that are reactive, proactive and social will become the major players. These intelligent agents will search for good deals, evaluate trading partners and eventually provide advice on or even make decisions on transactions for their principals. To this end, it is vitally important for the agents to be able to precisely estimate the trust of the business partners to make successful deals. This dissertation proposes an adaptive reputation-based trust model which can be utilized by intelligent agents in an open Electronic Marketplace, where the seller agents and buyer agents can enter and leave …

Effective Marketing Strategies And Implementation Into Homer G. Phillips Apartment Complex Campaign, Jessica Kindred

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Effects Of Similarity-Dissimilarity, Team Cohesion, And Hospital Cross-Functional Team Effectiveness On Organizational Performance, Zulfikar Dennis Kalam

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Healthcare organizations in the United States are faced with internal operating pressures as well as external regulatory and political pressures. Coupled with competitive forces and competition for healthcare dollars, improving hospital efficiency and maintaining quality patient outcomes are critical mandates for hospital administrators. To meet the increased demands of a highly complex service delivery model, hospital administrators can capitalize on hospital teams to deliver patient care in a more effective and efficient manner.

The purpose of this exploratory (comparative) and explanatory (correlational) online survey research was to test a hypothesized model about actual and perceived similarity-dissimilarity, openness to diversity, team …

Perceived Random Leader Selection In Work Groups, Daniel Marsh

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Different methods of selecting a leader for work groups have been shown to have significant effects on the group's overall performance (Henningsen, et al., 2004). It has been suggested that systematic selection of leadership is detrimental to a group's performance and cohesiveness in certain cases (Haslam et al., 1998). This has been supported by many studies (Haslam et al., 1998; Henningsen et. al., 2004). In such cases it may be more beneficial to pick a leader in a random fashion instead of picking one due to leadership abilities. It was hypothesized that it is even more beneficial in these cases …

Essays On Asset Pricing And Growth Effect, Wikrom Prombutr

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation comprises two essays on growth effects and opportunities experienced by companies and their implications for asset pricing models. In the first essay, I develop and test a model to explain the empirically observed value-growth stock return effect using real options theory. I simulate results from a real options model for two firm types. One type, the "value" firm, has a single growth opportunity. The other type, the "growth" firm, has infinitely repeated growth opportunities. Growth firms: (1) invest sooner, (2) pursue less lumpy investment paths, (3) have lower book-to-market ratios, and (4) generate lower rates of return than …

Institutional Distance And Foreign Ipo Performance: The Moderating Effects Of Governance And Organizational Capabilities, Robert Greg Bell

Management Dissertations - Archive

To date scholars have examined a wide range of factors which impact the ability of firms to raise optimum levels of equity capital in their domestic markets. However, little attention has been paid to the growing number of new listings of foreign firms in Western markets. When firms attempt to raise capital in foreign markets through an IPO, firm characteristics alone fail to provide a complete explanation for the success or failure of a new issue. This study investigates how the institutional profile and legal framework of a country can interact with certain firm-level governance and organizational capabilities to enable …

The Military Decision Making Process, Kadri Berisha

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Antecedents Of Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Contingency Approach, Laurent Stephane Josien

Doctoral Dissertations

This research was created in order to offer a better understanding of the entrepreneurial orientation construct. Based on the literature review several antecedents of the entrepreneurial orientation construct were identified: risk, achievement, innovation, locus of control, self-esteem, opportunity, autonomy, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness. Relying on the contingency theory developed by Burns and Stalker (1961), it was decided to use the Carland's trichotomy of entrepreneurs as a moderator variable between the antecedents and the entrepreneurial orientation construct. As a result, three main areas of research were identified. The first area deals with determining which dimensions are underpinning the entrepreneurial orientation construct, …

Incentive Program For The Cherokee Nation Enterprise Floor Staff, Justin Teel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many promotions at Cherokee Casino Resort are mass marketed and are not designed for a specific guest. Often guest are unaware of the promotions that are taking place while they are visiting the resort. The Floor staff is not making the effort to promote products that Cherokee Casino Resort invests in. Floor staff can increase the amount of participants with their day-to-day contact with the guest. The purpose of this paper is to create an outline, structure, and implementation timeline for an incentive program that can be effect in motivating the staff as well as increase revenue for the casino. …

Measuring Gaps In Customer Service At Spas: Are We Offering Our Customers What They Want?, Patricia Mittelstadt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Currently, there is no academic standard or format that spas use to rate themselves against other spas, not is there one for spas to rate themselves on improvements based on previous surveys. This paper will offer a format for each individual spa and groups of spas, to find what the clientele’s expectations are. It will also determine if the spa is meeting or exceeding these expectations, and will create a format for all spas to use, based on the SERQUAL analysis developed by Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991). This tool will allow spas to survey their customers to see if …

A Review Of The Hotsos Implementation At The Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino, Sarita Noyola

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this professional paper is to develop a case that analyzes the implementation of a guest service response system at a full service hotel resort. The term implementation will refer to the following: the start to completion process and steps utilized to install a new method into hotel operations. The definition of system, for the purposes of this report is a technological solution that utilizes limited manual processes and relies upon computers, mobile devices and computer programming. For the purposes of this report the term full service hotel resort will refer to a casino resort and hotel that …