Business Commons^™

Postexpansion Planning Considerations For New Multioutlet Retailers, Larry N. Bitner, Judith D. Powell

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Successful small retailers invariably are tempted to test the adage "more is better." While the expansion allure is more than many can resist, it must be tempered by the realization that many hidden challenges await the unsuspecting entrepreneur.

Success of the new organization will require not only more but a different kind of effort than used in managing the single store. First, successful operation will now depend on delegating operating decisions to professional managers. The autonomy given these managers is a complex decision and may be placed anywhere within a three dimensional continuum depending on the desired image, supervision, and …

The Assessment And Application Of Patient Satisfaction Variables In Marketing A Psychiatric Practice, Donald E. Christensen, Thomas D. Giese

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

As the health care industry becomes increasingly more competitive, marketing functions will take on increasingly more importance. At the core of the marketing concept is the pursuit of customer satisfaction, or, for medical services, patient satisfaction. This study reports on the administration of a 33-item patient satisfaction questionnaire to the consumers of services in four outpatient offices of a large, group private psychiatric practice. Data are analyzed descriptively and recommendations are made for improvements of service delivery based on the findings of the survey.

A Behavioral Model Of The Medical Offset Effect, John L. Fiedler, Jonathan B. Wight

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Persons who suffer from mental illness consume a disproportionate—and some maintain an inappropriate—amount of general (somatic) health services. Many mental health care providers assert that the timely treatment of mental illness will generate a subsequent reduction in the use of non-mental health care. Although this alleged phenomenon—termed the medical offset effect—has been intensively studied for two decades, these efforts have not produced anything approaching a consensus concerning the very existence of the effect. Different definitions and measures of the concept, different experimental designs, different research agendas, methodologies, and statistical techniques have contributed to researchers more often than not "talking past" …

A Study Of Nonferrous Casting Surface Finish Using Statistical Theory And Computer Technology, D. C. Ekey

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

This research is based on statistical research methodology to evaluate variation in casting surface finish in nonferrous production operations.

The Data Base of 82 cast surface finish measurements were produced in three U.S. foundries. The data base is comprised of two sub-groups. One data sub-group has a sample size of 58 aluminum cast surfaces. The second data sub-group consists of 24 cast bronze surface finishes.

The research is a continuation of preceding research with Gray Iron Castings. A macro operational level, rather than a micro laboratory level is used. The results substantiate the primary objective to help improve casting quality …

Instant Business Professors: The Case Against Retooling, Clifford J. Elliott, James C. Goodwin Jr.

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

After a period of exploding growth, business schools are now experiencing a slowdown in the pace of enrollment. This may be the "pause that refreshes" for many schools that have been coping with crowded classes, insufficient equipment and reliance on part-time faculty. It is generally accepted that any school is only as strong as its faculty, and this key requirement is the subject of this article. In recent years, in attempts to remedy an alleged shortage of faculty, we have experienced the phenomenon of "retooling," a process whereby faculty are recruited from the liberal arts and sciences, or education, and …

Inferential Operations Research On Surface Finish Of Castings, D. C. Ekey

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

This paper reports the result of an experiment using statistical research methodology to evaluate previous findings, identify new effects and focus on potential future research efforts to improve the control of casting surface roughness.

The objective of developing a functional equation to predict casting surface roughness was achieved. A reliable and valid methodology for obtaining operational "surface imprints" of casting surface roughness was developed.

Gray iron castings within a weight range of 1 to 7000 pounds were studied. The population of 142 surface roughness measurements came from five foundries in the northeast regions of Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. The …

Estimating Earning Impacts Of The Vocational Rehabilitation Program, David H. Dean, Robert C. Dolan

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

This paper estimates earnings impacts of services provided by a state agency of the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program. To appreciate the significance of this effort requires some historical perspective on evaluation of the VR program as well as familiarity with more recent developments within the manpower training literature in general.

Today VR is a $1 billion dollar program, and it certainly appears that this level of public funding is well founded on a long history of demonstrated cost-effectiveness. In fact, however, considerable skepticism exists with regard to the data and methods that have generated impressive benefit-cost ratios in the past. …

The Textbook Selection Process: An Empirical Study Of Faculty Choice Criteria, Judith D. Powell, D. Layne Rich

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Textbooks have been largely ignored in recent examinations of the marketing of higher education. This study finds that the faculty member are largely satisfied with the current textbook offerings. Of interest is an examination of the process of textbook selection and the choice criteria used. Overwhelmingly, author generated characteristics were found to be used by faculty members in the selection of textbooks.

Combining The Learning Curve Concept With Economic Lot Sizing, James C. Goodwin Jr., Jack S. Goodwin

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Simple concepts familiar to most operations management students are frequently not integrated as a result of the complexity generated by their combination. This expository note demonstrates a method for combining the economic lot size concept with the learning curve and using a simple computer algorithm for solution purposes. It avoids the traditional trade-off of reality and accuracy for expediency.

Indexing Reference Holdings Using D-Base Iii, Littleton M. Maxwell

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

One of the dilemmas I have faced in providing information to the faculty and students of the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond is the lack of subject approach to the annual and special proceedings of conferences. These conference papers often contain information on topics right at the cutting edge of knowledge in a field. My frustration level at having to thumb through the contents pages of proceedings compilations came to a pinnacle when the "Management Contents" online database dropped coverage of the proceedings of the American and Southern Marketing Associations conferences. There were printed …

Are Electronic Data Bases A Viable Audit Research Tool? Practitioners' Perceptions And Recommendations, Gail B. Wright, Raymond L. Slaughter

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

An exciting new service for the practicing audit professional is the creation of financial data bases usable for electronic research. Over the past ten years, service companies have compiled data bases of financial data and other information. Service companies make their products available through subscription to clients who want easy and instant access to data which be helpful in the decision making process. All of the "Big 8" accounting firms are now subscribers to one of more of these services. They, in turn, provide access to their local offices where telephone communication facilities permit.

In an attempt to determine what …

Issues And Implications Of Implementing Surcharges To Improve The U.S. Balance Of Trade, J. Patrick Raines, Lewis A. Litteral

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, increasing positive balances on the services account provided a substantial offset to negative balances in merchandise trade, and, consequently, the cumulative current balance was a positive $3.8 billion for the period 1970-80. Since 1981, the progressively smaller balances in services have been insufficient to offset the increasingly negative merchandise trade balances. Table 1-1 shows the deterioration in U.S. international accounts during this period.

The Neglected Institutionalism Of Schumpeter's And Knight's Views Of Rationality, J. Patrick Raines, Clarence R. Jung Jr.

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

The concept of rationality is both the origination point and the Achilles' heel of the study of human behavior in economics. The rationalist view of human nature is arguably the most pressing issue facing contemporary economics. Fields of knowledge other than economics have developed alternative theories of human activity to the neoclassical's pure economic man. They include Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Kenneth Boulding's "grants economy," and John Rawls' original position doctrine. Within economics, the Institutionalists have been the leading critics of the assumption that behavior in the economic sphere is rationally directed.

A consensus view of rationality does not …