Business Commons^™

Fuzzy Inference Systems For Risk Appraisal In Military Operational Planning, Curtis B. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in computing and mathematical techniques have given rise to increasingly complex models employed in the management of risk across numerous disciplines. While current military doctrine embraces sound practices for identifying, communicating, and mitigating risk, the complex nature of modern operational environments prevents the enumeration of risk factors and consequences necessary to leverage anything beyond rudimentary risk models. Efforts to model military operational risk in quantitative terms are stymied by the interaction of incomplete, inadequate, and unreliable knowledge. Specifically, it is evident that joint and inter-Service literature on risk are inconsistent, ill-defined, and prescribe imprecise approaches to codifying risk. Notably, …

Predicting Failures Of The Brazilian Air Force Tucano Fleet Using Survival Analysis, Luciana Mesquita Monteiro

Theses and Dissertations

During the life of an aircraft, several failures may occur causing unplanned maintenance and costs of parts, labor, transportation, lost opportunities, and operations, among others. The prediction of these events becomes especially difficult for new airframes, since they do not have many flight hours or enough data to observe failures. This study analyzes and model the time between failures (TBF) of the Brazilian Air Force T-27 Tucano fleet by applying various non-parametric, semi-parametric, and parametric statistical models, to the TBF, such as the descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier estimators, Cox proportional hazards models, with or without frailty, and survival regression models, with …

Using Simulation To Model Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Flow, Marydell V. Westman

Theses and Dissertations

The Army Cadet Command oversees the Army Reserve Officer Training. It receives mission goals every year along with a budget. It is their responsibility to recruit enough cadets to fulfill mission goal and remain under budget, while ensuring the recruited cadets have the correct percentages of race, gender, and majors. This research provides a tool that can change the numbers and percentages of incoming cadets, what year of school they enter, as well as their gender, race, and STEM or non-STEM parameters, in order to explore the composition of graduated commissioned cadets. This study finds that changing the percentage of …

An Analysis Of Estimate Variance In Program Office Estimates, Benjamin J. Bonenfant

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that predicting the cost growth within DoD systems is an important topic. Total program cost growth and predictors of program cost growth have been studied. Kozlak (2017) studied cost growth at four major reviews: Critical Design Review, First Flight, Development Test and Evaluation End, and Initial Operating Capability. This research attempts to assess cost growth and cost variance at similar points in a program life cycle. In the past the majority of studies have been done identifying programs as either: Acquisition Category (ACAT) I and non-ACAT I programs, or Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) and non-MDAP …

Simulating Maritime Chokepoint Disruption In The Global Food Supply, Ryan B. Walton

Theses and Dissertations

The three food crops of wheat, maize, and rice make up almost two-thirds of the world's dietary energy needs. Of these three, just six countries provide 70% of the global supply. Furthermore, soybeans account for three-quarters of global livestock feed, and only three countries provide 80% of the global supply. Considering over half of the world's exported supply of these four commodities are exported via maritime means, the free ow of marine traffic becomes paramount. Current models lack the ability to capture the inherent variance displayed in the maritime transport system, which can lead to inaccurate assumptions about how the …

An Analysis Of Profit Margin In Relation To The Better Buying Power Initiative, Jerry (Trey) L. Baker Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Recent Better Buying Power (BBP) initiatives have sought to better contractually align contractor profit with performance. Profit should incentivize efficiency in cost and schedule and only be awarded when earned. The current research seeks evidence that BBP has been effective in improving performance. The first part of the research examines the trends of profit margin and cost growth both before and after the implementation of the first BBP initiative. BBP recommended the use of incentive type contracts over award fee contracts, where appropriate. This research found an increased use of incentive type contracts and a reduced use of award fee …

Investigating Schedule Length Of Space And Missile Systems Center Contracts, Loyd A. Bradley Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Acquisition reform has long been the goal of the Department of Defense to save, recover and redistribute funds in an efficient manner. The Space and Missile Systems Center Program Management and Integration Directorate (SMC/PI) and Acquisitions Center of Excellence (ACE) have shared the same effort and have made strides to better their acquisition processes. Many different angles have been examined to try to discover cost and schedule growth however, little research has been done to find the drivers of schedule length. This research is aimed at finding contributing factors to the length of schedule of the pre-acquisition process. By using …

Estimating Total Cost Of Ownership For United States Air Force Chiller Assets, William C. Berner

Theses and Dissertations

In order to make the most cost-effective choice when purchasing high-value assets, organizations must be able to quantify and compare the costs associated with acquiring, maintaining and disposing the alternatives. Currently, the United States Air Force (USAF) Civil Engineer (CE) enterprise has no standardized model to accurately and efficiently predict the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the acquisition of new assets. As such, acquisition efforts throughout the enterprise are disjointed and performed without leveraging the considerable buying power wielded by an organization as large as the USAF. This research developed a TCO model using a standard, dollar-based approach that …

A Case Study Of Epa Clauses As They Apply To Fixed Price Contracts, Trevor A. Enos

Theses and Dissertations

Adjusting fixed price contract prices over long periods of performance is vital to protect both the government and contractor from market price fluctuations. This is accomplished via an Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) clause which currently utilize forecasts of producer price indexes (PPI) as a baseline. There is currently a lack of research on if the use of these forecasts as a baseline for calculating EPAs is the best alternative. This research involves determining the validity of using Global Insight (GI) forecasts for the purpose of calculating EPAs in fixed price contracts. Two EPA clauses are examined as a case study …

Comparing Estimated To Actual Development Budgets For Air Force Space Programs, Christopher J. Elworth

Theses and Dissertations

The accuracy of budget estimates is vital in ensuring cost efficiency and decreasing the possibility of budget and schedule growth. The goal of this study was to determine when budget estimates increase and what may cause those increases. Percent schedule and linear interpolation was used to analyze the budget changes. Space program budget growth does not increase at a constant rate between Milestone B (MS B) and Initial Operational Capability (IOC). When an exponential curve was fit to the deviations in budget growth, the mean and median R2 for the programs in this study were .83 and .91, respectively. Many …

Examining The Critical Success Factors Of Rapid Acquisition: A Human Capital Perspective, Christine J. Jestice

Theses and Dissertations

Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition programs continue to encounter schedule delays and cost overruns despite past reforms. Global threat uncertainties and high-velocity technological advances are also prevailing. Given the current rate at which program offices are fielding weapon systems, the United States (US) may be fighting with obsolete weapons and technology. Gaining superiority demands a new approach – to expedite the rate of capability delivery through rapid acquisition programs who have demonstrated success in delivering capabilities with speed. This research examines whether the attributes in the people dimension of an expedited framework contribute to success of rapid defense acquisition programs. …

Analysis Of Cross-Cultural Training Efforts, Competencies And Implications, And How Cross-Cultural Competency Affects The Success Of Construction Projects On Air Force Installations Overseas, Katie L. Macgregor

Theses and Dissertations

US Air Force (AF) Civil Engineer (CE) Officers stationed at overseas bases lead and manage construction and engineering efforts for projects totaling billions of dollars annually. Budget overruns in the Department of Defense (DoD) and specifically the AF, have been under stringent investigation by government officials in recent years. 92% of CE Officers overseas work with local nationals (LN) and the host nation weekly or daily, but most receive less than 2 hours of formal cross-cultural training prior to arrival overseas. Host nation partners include foreign military, local contractors, LN workforce and local government agencies. Based on a previous Delphi …

Commercialization Analysis Of Sbir Funded Technologies, Theodore A. Rask

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program invests $2.2 billion annually into domestic innovation stimulation. The Department of Defense (DoD) contributes almost $1 billion of that investment; of which the Air Force accounts for 25%. Commercialization, either the transfer to programs of record or further industrial investment, is the program’s objective. Data from this research indicates that Air Force programs have a 7.6% commercialization rate; representing an opportunity to improve. Leveraging best practices from industry; this research provides a method to align investments with needed capabilities. This method exploits established user need taxonomies, the DoD Joint Capability Area …

An Assessment Of The Air Force’S Return On Investment For Product Support Business Case Analysis Processes, Robert E. Tyson Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

There have been many fiscal challenges over the years facing the Department of Defense (DOD). With these challenges, cost savings initiatives have become commonplace. To meet these fiscal challenges head-on, new policies to improve estimating and control costs have been implemented. Senior leaders within the cost analysis community are tasked with managing these changes while continuing to provide timely and accurate cost estimates. The purpose of this research is to focus on one of the more important cost savings initiatives -- Product Support Business Case Analyses (PS-BCA). Our research questions explore the current cost and impact of this DoD cost …

Operations Research Methods For Multi-Domain Campaign Phase Planning, John A. Schlicht

Theses and Dissertations

In "Antiaccess Warfare as Strategy," Tangredi posits the question and need to consider multiple domains and governmental and warfighting functions in various phases of campaign execution. Multi-domain integration within and across various phases of the joint campaign presents a host of non-linear factors that are compounded and amplified by uncertainties. Colonel Blotto is a simple game that is suited to compare traditional force-on-force military engagements where mass wins the day, but have had limited application to more complex military planning. This thesis explores the formulation schema, data-driven parameters, methods of calculation, and scenarios applicable to a generalized Colonel Blotto (General …

The Moderating Effect Of Employee Bottom-Line Mentality On The Relation Between Personality And Unethical Pro-Organizational Behaviors, Jordan Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) refers to unethical actions that employees engage in to benefit the company they work for. The issue of employees engaging in UPB has been high-lighted in various high-profile scandals, such as the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The current study examined the interaction between employees’ personality traits, perceptions of bottom-line mentality (BLM), and UPB. The results suggested that when employees who are low on trait conscientiousness and honesty-humility are placed in an environment in which they perceive to have high levels of BLM, they are more likely to engage in UPB than those individuals who had higher levels …

Leading With Trust: A Phenomenological Study Of The Strategies Leaders In Certified B Corporations Use To Build Trust With Their Employees, Victoria Wodarczyk

Dissertations

Purpose:The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how senior management leaders of certified B Corporations (B Corps) build trust with employees, using the 5 domains of connection, concern, candor, competence, and consistency.

Methodology:Aqualitative phenomenological approach was used in this study to explore how senior leaders of certified B Corps build trust with their employees using The Values Institute (TVI; Weisman, 2016) trust framework and the accompanying domains of connection, concern, candor, competence, and consistency. Participants were purposely chosen based on study criteria of a senior management leader in a certified B Corp including leadership for at …

Effective Tax Rates For Multinational And Domestic Corporations: A Closer Examination, Allen Lee Ryan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the differences in effective tax rates between U.S. multinational corporations and U.S. domestic corporations during the past 30 years. In a recent article published in the Journal of Financial Economics, Dyreng et al. (2017) found that cash effective tax rates for U.S. multinational and U.S. domestic corporations have been declining since 1988. The authors also found that multinational corporations show a higher cash effective tax rate when compared to domestic corporations. Using federal and state effective tax rates, I first examine the difference between these tax rates for multinational and domestic corporations. I find mixed results …

Essays On The Role Of Systematic And Idiosyncratic Volatility In Pricing Individual Equity Options, Mobina Shafaati

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It is widely accepted that the value of an option is an increasing function of the underlying volatility. The positive relation between volatility and option price is intuitive only if we keep all other determinants of the option value constant, including the stock price. The notion that an asset price is completely unaffected by the volatility of the asset is virtually unacceptable in asset pricing theory and holds only in a stylized one-factor world in which the volatility change is completely diversifiable. In Chapter 1, I examine the role of the non-zero correlation of the underlying asset return and its …

Essays On Cloud Computing Analytics, Vivek Kumar Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation research focuses on two key aspects of cloud computing research – pricing and security using data-driven techniques such as deep learning and econometrics. The first dissertation essay (Chapter 1) examines the adoption of spot market in cloud computing and builds IT investment estimation models for organizations adopting cloud spot market. The second dissertation essay (Chapter 2 and 3) studies proactive threat detection and prediction in cloud computing. The final dissertation essay (Chapter 4) develops a secured cloud files system which protects organizations using cloud computing in accidental data leaks.

Are Transfer Pricing Disclosures Related To Tax Reporting Transparency? The Impact Of Auditor-Provided Transfer Pricing Services, Stephanie Y. Walton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study I investigate whether managers’ voluntary disclosure of transfer pricing information in the 10-K is related to firms’ tax reporting transparency. Transfer pricing disclosures could be used to convey managers’ private information about risks and uncertainties underlying firms’ transfer pricing activities or alternatively be used to discount or disclaim these risks. Using several common proxies for tax reporting transparency, I find evidence that transfer pricing disclosures are generally associated with lower tax transparency, suggesting that these disclosures may be primarily opportunistic. However, when firms use their auditor for transfer pricing services, I find that these transfer pricing disclosures …

Meaning Makers: A Mixed-Method Case Study Of Exemplary Small Business Owner Leaders And The Strategies They Use To Create Personal And Organizational Meaning, Margaret S. Ohlhaver

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this replication of a thematic, mixed-method case study was to identify and describe the behaviors that small business owner leaders use to create personal and organizational meaning for themselves and their followers through character, vision, relationships, wisdom, and inspiration.

Methodology. Qualitative interviews with exemplary small business owners were conducted to capture their insights on how they used behaviors associated with character, vision, relationships, wisdom, and inspiration to create personal and organizational meaning. In a quantitative survey, followers of each small business owner leader participants were asked to assess how important each of the variable behaviors were …

Tourism And The Developing World: A Comparative Analysis On Socio-Economic Development Between The Dominican Republic And Haiti, Megan Elise Reissig

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

The tourism industry has been growing exponentially throughout the world, both in developed and underdeveloped countries. The industry is normally considered means of economic growth for a destination, however there is much controversy as to whether the social effects are positive or negative. The purpose of this study was to compare strategies of socio-economic development through tourism in select developing countries. In the cases of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, tourism has contributed greatly to economic development, and both countries should continue focussing efforts on tourism for means of economic development. However, they should focus on educating their citizens so …

The Impact Of Maryland’S Global Reimbursement System On Patient Satisfaction: A One-Way Analysis Of Variance, Richard Blanco-Topping

Faculty Dissertations

Abstract The quality and cost of health care services have been of significant concern for many years for policymakers and healthcare leaders. New payment models such as the global payment model and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey instrument were introduced to assess and improve the national healthcare system. However, the impact of the global payment model on patient satisfaction of care remains limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate if Maryland Global Payment Model impacts patient ratings of hospital care during and after the implementation of the model. The primary research question …

Marketing The Arts: A Comparative Analysis Of The Social Media Practices Of Select Performing Arts Centers, Lindsey Morin

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

Performing arts centers (PACs) provide a cultural hub that aids in increasing civic engagement and social capital within a community. Attendance in the performing arts has been on the decline, which threatens the cultural richness of communities across the country. The purpose of this study was to examine the social media marketing practices of select California performing arts centers. The PAC, San Luis Obispo, San Diego Symphony and Segerstrom Center for the Arts were selected to be examined in this study. This was done by strategically analyzing the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts for each of the three PACs utilizing …

Financial Market Implications Of Marketing Actions And The Disclosure Of Marketing Information, Sungkyun Moon

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation contributes to marketing literature by examining the effects of marketing actions and the disclosure of marketing information through the financial market perspective that has high managerial relevance and policy implications. Specifically, the first essay provides the first empirical examination of the effects of the disclosure of advertising spending on investors’ and analysts’ uncertainty. It is responsive to calls by Marketing Science Institute and Marketing Accountability Standard Board to examine the consequences of disclosure of marketing metrics. The second essay examines the effect of advertising spending on firm value and explores firm and market level contingency effects. By doing …

Strategjite E Marketingut Të Përdorura Nga Prodhuesit E Pijeve Energjike, Genc Emini

Theses and Dissertations

Ky punim synon që t’u japë përgjigje ndërmarjeve të Kosovës, dhe tema ime i referohet strategjisë të cilën e ka përdour kompania e pijeve RC COLA me seli në fshatin Velekincë të Gjilanit. Gjithashtu synon t’u japë përgjigje disa pyetjeve kërkimore të cilat lidhen me strategjitë e marketingut e që zbatohen sot në Kosovë.

Qëllimi kryesor i këtij punimi është analiza e gjendjes ekzistuese, e njohjes dhe e zbatimit në praktikë të strategjive të marketingut dhe dhënia e rekomandimeve për përmirësime në hartim dhe zbatim të strategjive të marketingut nga ana e kësaj kompanie.

Për të realizuar këtë punim, më …

Ndikimi I Hulumtimit Dhe Zhvillimit Në Sektorin E Edukimit Të Lartë Dhe Atë Industrial: Rasti I Kosovës, Blertë Gara

Theses and Dissertations

Ky studim ka për qëllim të tregoj rëndësinë e investimeve në fushën e Hulumtimit dhe Zhvillimit. Në shumë vende në zhvillim, po ashtu edhe në Kosovë, nuk dihet saktë ku dhe sa investohet për Hulumtim dhe Zhvillim. Unë kam bërë këtë hulumtim që të qartësoj shkallën e investimeve që bënë Kosova në H & Zh në Institucionet e Arsimit të Lartë dhe në sektorin Industrial. Hulumtimi dhe Zhvillimi është një term i cili përdoret zakonisht për të përshkruar aktivitetet e ndërmarra nga kompanitë dhe subjektet e tjera industriale dhe biznesore që merren me krijimin e produkteve dhe shërbimeve të reja, …

The 2019 Communication Studies Career Symposium, Emily Beth Bernstein

Communication Studies

The Communication Studies Career Symposium is the annual networking and professional development event for the Communication Studies Department. This year, the goal was to inspire attendees toward career paths, provide internship and job opportunities, and further their professional development.

Gender, Emotional Displays And Negotiation Outcomes, Horacio Arruda Falcao Filho

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper examined whether positive and negative emotional displays influenced negotiation outcomes (value creation and claiming) differentially for female and male negotiators. Also considered was how negotiation dyad gender composition might affect value creation and claiming. I examined recordings from a negotiation exercise (N = 194). Results revealed that when females expressed negative emotions significantly reduced value claiming on the part of those female negotiators. However, the effects of expressing positive emotions on negotiation outcomes did not vary by negotiator gender. The findings suggest that female negotiators do not need to be positive but only need not be negative to …