Business Commons^™

Supply Chain Finance: Exploring The State Of Adoption With Small Business Suppliers In U.S. Defense Procurement Contracts, James C. Phelps Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Innovative supply chain finance (SCF) practices offer alternative approaches to relief of cash flow distress for suppliers in an extended enterprise by enhancing access to and affordability of working capital. Adopting optional SCF instruments can be especially beneficial for small–medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are more acutely affected when credit conditions tighten. This explorative research described the state of buyer-led SCF adoption in defense procurement contracts used to produce highly technical weapons systems. A case study research design with embedded units across four groups of intermediaries was employed to compare the state of SCF adoption between a defense and a commercial …

Beef And Dairy Substitution Effects Associated With Carbon Labeling And An Information Intervention, Sara Gardner Hedgecock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding consumer perceptions of carbon emissions in agriculture is a critical step to help increase the sustainability of food consumption. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 14.5 percent of all global anthropogenic GHG emissions are estimated to be represented by livestock (FAO), and cattle, raised for beef and milk, are the largest animal species responsible for emissions, comprising over 60 percent of the livestock sector’s emissions. This motivates this study’s analysis of beef and dairy milk products and alternatives. To better understand how consumers may substitute meat and milk products when provided with information about …

Application Of Business Analytics Approaches To Address Climate-Change-Related Challenges, Donald J. Jenkins

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is an existential threat facing humanity, civilization, and the natural world. It poses many multi-layered challenges that call for enhanced data-driven decision support methods to help inform society of ways to address the deep uncertainty and incomplete knowledge on climate change issues. This research primarily aims to apply management, decision, information, and data science theories and techniques to propose, build, and evaluate novel data-driven methodologies to improve understanding of climate-change-related challenges. Given that we pursue this work in the College of Management, each essay applies one or more of the three distinct business analytics approaches (i.e., descriptive, prescriptive, …

Statistical Analysis And Machine Learning To Improve League Championship Series Teams, Alexander Gilles

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

One area for further study in Esports is the use of advanced analytics from a performance standpoint. This culminating experience project sought to find and implement effective performance analytics techniques, using the most popular Esport (League of Legends) as its subject. The research questions asked are (Q1) How do champions, players, and their associated in-game variables impact the results of League of Legends matches? (Q2) How can machine learning algorithms be implemented to utilize descriptive and predictive analytics for League of Legends most effectively? Additionally, while not an element of the analysis and machine learning model, it is important …

Empirical Studies On Global Product Reviews, Maneesh Reddy Ajjuguttu

All Dissertations

This dissertation comprises three interconnected essays investigating the impact of global reviews on Amazon.com and their significance for consumer behavior and decision-making. The first chapter analyzes the interplay between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and global review sharing, focusing on Nike products available on the platform. The study finds that higher levels of USA EPU negatively affect product review rates, while China EPU positively influences review rates. EPU volatility also impacts the sharing of non-English and English reviews, influencing sales and review-sharing behavior. The research also explores the effect of global reviews on customer decision-making for products at different lifecycle stages, …

Does Herding Behavior Exist In The Cryptocurrency Market?, Anis Mnif

Doctoral Dissertations (DBA)

This paper examines herd behavior in the cryptocurrency market using data of the top 15 large cryptocurrencies and the CCi30 Index as a proxy for market return. The idea that investors mimic and follow the behavior of others in the cryptocurrency market rather than conducting their own research has received attention in the finance literature. The CSAD results in the static model detected herding but given the existence of structural breakdowns and nonlinearities in the data series, we opted to conduct a rolling window analysis. The results indicate strong herding behavior that fluctuates over time. Furthermore, results from the logistic …

Do Fas Large Export Sales Reports Move Commodity Futures Markets?, William Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to determine if the Large Export Reports from the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service have any discernible market-moving impact on particular commodity futures markets. The effect of the reports on futures markets is investigated using four different methods: the average return event study approach, the multiple regression with binary variables model, the autoregressive time series model, and the event spline model. The average returns showed that the FAS's Large Export Sales Reports had no influence on the pricing of wheat futures, but did have a considerable impact on the returns from days before and after the release of …

Global Energy Consumption: An Analysis Of Variables That Shape Per Capita Usage, Or How Pump Price, Urbanization, And Fossil Fuels Imports Impact Fossil Fuels Consumption Per Capita Across Oecd Countries, Mila Demchyk Savage

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Among reasons explaining the importance of studying fossil fuel consumption are: crude oil is a subject of the international commodities market, thus, any fluctuation related to its' availability or price would impact the rest of the World; natural resources like oil, gas, and coal are limited; the extensive use of fossil fuels harms our surroundings, creating many environmental concerns; every human (on average) has been using more energy since 1971 and the trend is expected to continue. The upward trend is not consistent among individual countries. Therefore, the core question of my research is, `Why do some countries consume less …

Two Essays On Investor Sentiment, Amin Amoulashkarian

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The body of literature on investor sentiment underlines its impact on future stock returns, with general consensus that investor sentiments and future returns are negatively correlated (Baker and Wurgler, 2006; Brown and Cliff, 2004). This extends to the notion that a bullish investor would expect returns to be above average, while a bearish investor anticipates below-average returns (Brown and Cliff, 2004).

The first essay proposes a model to examine the influence of unexpected volatility of investor sentiment on the equity risk premium. Assumptions underpinning the model include risk-averse investors, homogeneous expectations regarding asset returns and price changes, and sentiment-influenced expectations …

The Emotional Intelligence And Conflict Management Relationship In Black Women Leaders, Tina Raylyn Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict management styles in Black women leaders in the United States. The lack of literature surrounding Black women leaders' emotional intelligence or conflict management styles presented an opportunity to offer quantitative data connected to these constructs. A cross-sectional survey design was used to administer three surveys the Situational Test of Emotional Management- B, the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory, and a modified version the Multidimensional Inventory of Black of Identity, that focused on Black female identity. Data from 124 participants were analyzed to learn if identity mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence …

Team Overall Relationship Quality: Examining Factor Structure And Predictive Precision Among Relationship-Based Team Emergent States, Cody Bradley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Given that work teams are defined partly in terms of relationships (e.g., members interact socially, maintain and manage boundaries, exhibit interdependencies; Kozlowski & Bell, 2013), it is not surprising that many work team constructs (e.g., team trust, team cohesion, team satisfaction, and team commitment) focus, to some extent, on capturing the “health” or “quality” of relationships among team members. While these relational team constructs reliably correlate with important outcomes such as team performance (e.g., Breuer et al., 2016; Castaño et al., 2013; Thatcher & Patel, 2011), they tend to be studied in isolation, as if they are entirely separate variables. …

Essays Examining Humanitarian Supply Chains: Investigating Operational Characteristics, Activities, And Performance, Llord Brooks

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the frequency and severity of disasters continue to increase, the need for collaboration amongst all humanitarian stakeholders in humanitarian supply chain activities during all aspects of the disaster cycle has become more critical to the success of relief operations. Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are voluntary organizations operating in highly dynamic and chaotic environments to provide aid to people in need. But as the impact of disaster increases and the funding becomes more limited and competitive, they face mounting pressures from stakeholders to improve the quality of their operations. Similarly, private organizations are also under higher levels of scrutiny to …

Live Music Venue Marketing In A Post-Covid Northwest Arkansas, Griffen Walden

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What does a medium sized music venue, nearing its centennial in a college town, do when its doors have closed for the first time since a short 2004 renovation, due to the novel Coronavirus Pandemic? George’s Majestic Lounge, the historic live music venue located in the heart of downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas, ceased operation for 134 days, its longest ever closure, and emerged into a climate massively different from what it had entered the pandemic in (Drury, et al. 2021). This venue has stood the test of time; opened in 1927 by George Pappas, it has remained in its railroad-adjacent position …

Non-Physical Abuse In Sports: Organizational Culture’S Role, Ian O'Rourke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of sport professionals who worked in organizations that tolerated non-physical abuse. This qualitative study used active interviewing and grounded-theory design to guide the data collection and coding efforts. The data identified emerging themes to generate essential theory. The research collected data through interviews with 10 sport professionals. This phenomenological study looked at sport professionals’ experiences who worked at private sport organizations and those that worked within a university athletic department. Interview responses illustrated that all participants experienced comparable treatment and felt similarly to the non-physical abuse taking place. An interesting …

Index Fund Ownership And Stock Price Efficiency: Evidence From Quarterly Earnings Seasons, Joe López Vilaró

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While prior research argues that individual investors benefit from a switch to passive investment in index funds (French 2008, Bond and García 2022), higher levels of index fund ownership of firm shares lead to competing factors that influence a firm’s price efficiency (i.e., the speed and accuracy with which a firm’s stock price reflects investor consensus on the information provided about a firm). If relative investor sophistication increases as index fund ownership increases, there is a benefit to the firm’s price efficiency. Yet, more shares held passively limit the shares available for investors to actively incorporate firm news, adversely impacting …

Sharing Economy Last Mile Delivery: Three Essays Addressing Operational Challenges, Customer Expectations, And Supply Uncertainty, Nicolò Masorgo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Last mile delivery has become a critical competitive dimension facing retail supply chains. At the same time, the emergence of sharing economy platforms has introduced unique operational challenges and benefits that enable and inhibit retailers’ last mile delivery goals. This dissertation investigates key challenges faced by crowdshipping platforms used in last mile delivery related to crowdsourced delivery drivers, driver-customer interaction, and customer expectations. We investigate the research questions of this dissertation through a multi-method design approach, complementing a rich archival dataset comprised of several million orders retrieved from a Fortune 100 retail crowdshipping platform, with scenario-based experiments. Specifically, the first …

The Role Of Platform Openness In Complementary Innovation, Jia Wei

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The two important roles in a platform ecosystem are platform owners and complementors that cooperate to create value through indirect network effects. To facilitate such cooperation, platforms implement platform openness to provide significant resources for their complementors. Granting complementors access to platform core resources through application programming interfaces enables complementors to access the platform’s core development assets such as built-in software functionalities, data, and the user base. This resource provision is the dominant way for platforms to “open” their platform to complementors. While platform openness has attracted scholarly attention, there is a gap in understanding the role of platform openness …

A Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experience And Leadership Of Project Managers In An Agile Transformation, Randall Hopkins

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

This study employed a phenomenological methodology to investigate the shared experiences of project managers of corporations in the United States during a transition to agile project management methodologies. The project managers’ transformation was noteworthy because agile introduces a change in work structures, processes, and leadership. This study sought to understand how eight project managers described their lived experience and leadership during the transition to agile methodologies. Interviews with project managers uncovered identity facets that evolved with their understanding of leadership. The traditional project managers’ common-sense approach to work served as both a barrier and enabler of a change. Project managers …

Study On Overcapacity Of Liner Shipping : On The Transpacific Routes, Yuxin Pu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Determinants Of Ordering Alternative Fueled New Vessels, Yuantao Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Research On Investment Risk And Decision Making In Dry Bulk Ships : Case Study Nijie Shipping World Limited, Mingyu Xu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Study On Container Linerroute Optimization Of Southeast Asia Route Of M Shipping Company, Lefan Liu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Attempt And Operation Of Container Sharing Platform In The Yangtze River Delta : Efficient Transfer Of Empty Containers And Resources Sharing, Yifei Wei

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Study On The Construction Of Public Information Platform For International Multimodal Transport : A Case Study Of Shanghai, Yijie Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Study On The Improvement Of Production Efficiency Of Major Container Terminals In China, Sheng Lin

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Can Investor Communications Discipline Corporate Misconduct? Evidence From A Field Experiment, Chen Xu

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Corporate misconduct encompasses deceptive or fraudulent activities carried out by company members. Such misconduct can distort the accuracy of firm valuations and mislead investors. Researchers and regulators have worked diligently to understand the factors driving corporate misconduct and devise strategies to reduce its prevalence. However, causal evidence remains limited. In this study, we conduct a field experiment to address this issue and investigate potential methods for mitigating corporate misconduct. Recent studies have emphasized the role of investor communications in governance, as they improve transparency and decrease information asymmetry between managers and investors. This study investigates the disciplinary power of two …

Losing Face-To-Face Selling In A Digital World: An Empirical Investigation Of Relationship Selling In The Independent Insurance Agency, Casey Bell

Dissertations

Over the past 20 years, our economy has transformed into a service-based economy as opposed to the previous industrial-based economy. The service industry is growing and rapidly becoming one of the primary sectors of the economy. Relationship selling is crucial to the service industry, especially the property and casualty insurance market—because it involves complex, highly intangible services. Even though consumers use the internet before reaching out to an insurance agent, this does not mean relationship selling is unnecessary. With complex products like property and casualty insurance, relationship selling is crucial to grasp what consumers truly need and understand. The purpose …

Game-Theoretic Analysis Of Financing Problems In Online Operations, Dianyao Kang

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Collaboration between banks and online platforms for financial services can help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transform their actual transaction data into E-commerce credit, o§ering innovative solutions to their financing challenges. We consider an online system involving a bank, a platform, and a retailer who serves price-sensitive customers on the platform. The retailer receives a loan from the bank and pays a loan interest which is shared by the bank and the platform according to their negotiated allocation ratio. We examine two categories of scenarios to identify the optimal decisions and profit levels for the three firms involved in the …

Using Multiobjective Optimization To Solve Multimodal Optimization And Constrained Optimization Problems, Jingyu Ji

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Evolutionary computation is interdisciplinary research which has been widely incorporated in various disciplines from different research fields. As a result, it leads to somewhat different research focuses like multimodal optimization, constrained optimization, and expensive optimization. In this dissertation, we focus on multiobjective-based differential evolution in computer science which refers to computational intelligence and artificial intelligence.

Many NP-hard optimization problems are highly constrained and multimodal. The optimizer needs to handle constraints, minimize the objective function, and locate multiple global or local optimal solutions. Meanwhile, this kind of optimization problems is difficult to have a mathematically deterministic formulation, and in some cases, …

Using Machine Learning Techniques To Model Encoder/Decoder Pair For Non-Invasive Electroencephalographic Wireless Signal Transmission, Ernst Fanfan

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

This study investigated the application and enhancement of Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces (NI-BCIs), focused on enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of this technology for individuals with severe physical limitations. The core research goal was to improve current limitations associated with wires, noise, and invasive procedures often associated with BCI technology. The key discussed solution involves developing an optimized Encoder/Decoder (E/D) pair using machine learning techniques, particularly those borrowed from Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) and other Deep Neural Networks, to minimize data transmission and ensure robustness against data degradation. The study highlighted the crucial role of machine learning in self-adjusting and isolating …