Business Commons^™

Consumer Attitudes Toward Selected Aspects Of Cause Related Marketing Promotions, Jean P. Machenberg

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze consumer attitudes toward selected aspects of cause related marketing. Specifically, the study will attempt to: determine the extent to which consumers are aware of cause related marketing promotions and the extent to which they knowingly participate in these promotions, explore consumer perceptions of their own social responsibility as defined by giving to charity and also explore consumer attitudes toward businesses role in support of charitable causes, measure consumer attitudes toward charities who join with corporations in CRM promotions, measure consumer approval or disapproval of CRM promotions, investigate the effect of CRM promotions …

Medication Administration By Non-Registered Nursing Personnel : A Safe And Cost Effective Way To Reduce The Shortage Of Registered Nurses, Royce A. Burruss

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of, and necessity for, assigning the technical tasks of medication administration to non-Registered Nursing (non-RN) personnel in light of the continuing Registered Nurse (RN) shortage in the acute care setting and our rapidly changing and financially unstable health care environment.

Opportunities To Develop A Strategic Competitive Advantage In The Electric Utility Industry, Tim J. Carroll

Master's Theses

Competitive forces are gaining more steam within an industry that has been characterized as a regulated monopoly. Electric Utilities must develop a strategic competitive advantage in order to survive and succeed in this new environment. This project articulates the more significant competitive issues impacting the generation, transmission and distribution of electric power. Issues are organized and focused, communicating the important connection between the macroenvironment and successful strategy development. The project explores several parameters which could provide an indication of the relative strengths or weaknesses of market participants. Specific utilities are evaluated to reveal the opportunities and challenges facing executive management. …

Fishing, Pulling, Grappling, Twanging, And Charging Around : A Study Of Spectators At Special Events Sponsored By Pinkerton Tobacco Company Brands And The Impact Of The Events Upon Market Share, Herbert W. Hausmann

Master's Theses

Given the current commitment to special events/sports marketing by The Pinkerton Tobacco Company and the anticipated increasing importance of this marketing tool, marketing management felt the establishment of a formal selection process and a procedure for evaluating current and potential events was a critical objective. As a starting point for selection criteria, the Special Events Department adopted event selection criteria utilized by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco company.

Bankers' Reactions To The New Standard Report And Consistency Reporting Requirements, Marshall A. Geiger

Accounting Faculty Publications

The auditor's report is the primary source of information for a bank loan officer concerned with the integrity of a potential client's financial statements. Recently, the auditing standards board of the American Institute of CPAs established new wording and reporting requirements in the standard report for companies that change accounting principles -- among other changes in reporting on audited financial statements. The ASB modified the long-lived standard report wording to which the U.S. financial community had grown accustomed.

One hundred and ninety-nine randomly selected bank loan officers from across the United States participated in a mail survey designed to assess …

Corporate Responses To Day-Care Needs As A Function Of Organizational Characteristics : Going Beyond The Bottom Line With Babies, Maria Legrand

Master's Theses

This paper reviews various aspects of the child care issue: demographic, economic, political and psychological. It also reviews the day-care options available to organizations. A review of organizational characteristics includes looking at the organization's goals, external environment, technology and structure. Finally, day-care options and the organizational characteristics are linked to form a set of hypotheses, the testing of which is beyond the scope of this paper.

Analyzing The Effect Of Perceived Personal Risk In A Capital Equipment Purchase Decision, Jim Follmar

Master's Theses

This study of perceived risk will look at a specific buying situation--capital equipment projects over $250,000. The main objective is to gain a better understanding of how perceived risk effects the purchase decision and what steps a selling organization can take to address risk and increase its ability to obtain capital equipment orders.

New-Product Development : The Process In Specialty And Performance Chemicals, Francis J. Hammond

Master's Theses

Effective new-product development will be one of the greatest management challenges of the 1990s. This paper explores the new-product development process and discusses the process in terms of specialty and performance chemical businesses. The focus of this paper is on understanding how structure (particularly working structure), business orientation, and the existence of strategy influences new-product development. The paper discusses the rationale for, and the measurement of, loose-tight structures in the new-product development process. An approach to measuring business orientation is suggested, tested and recommended for further study.

A Land Development Financial Model, Bruce Saunders

Master's Theses

Often the term "real estate industry" is casually used as if sufficient in accurately describing a well defined segment contributing to the GNP. In actuality, real estate is a very large complex industry, involving a variety of corporations, partnerships, trusts, and individuals with different functions and objectives. A comprehensive profile of the industry would include investors, lenders, and government regulators. These players may be involved with a vast array of projects such as undeveloped land, single family and multifamily housing, office building, shopping centers, industrial buildings, hotels and motels, mobile home parks, resorts or recreational complexes. This variety illustrates the …

Core Component Choices In Single-User Computer Systems : A Home Office User's Perspective, James W. Violette

Master's Theses

The home office is a rapidly growing segment of the business environment. The trend toward two-income families and concerns over quality of life have made the office at home increasingly attractive alternative business style. The evolution of technology during the past ten years has opened up a broad array of choices.

The introduction of the IBM personal computer in the fall of 1981 provided the technological nucleus. Other office products aimed at the individual user such as personal copiers, facsimile machines, smart typewriters, and multi-function telecommunications products have grown around it.

The evolution of personal computer technology has been accelerating …

Evaluating Direct-Mail Effectiveness In Building Sales And Attracting New Customers, Carol Beth Spivey

Master's Theses

This independent research project describes the direct-marketing efforts of Ukrop's Super Markets through its Ukrop's Valued Customer® Program, with special emphasis on the "zip code test" conducted in August, 1989. The purpose of this test was to acquire new Ukrop's Valued Customers from a population of non-Ukrop's customers.

While the test did yield a positive net present value, in evaluating the post-test shopping behavior of the two test groups and the control group, the author determined that there were no long-term benefits from these test mailings. Recommendations for improvements (if Ukrop's undertakes a similar campaign in the future) include additional …

A Retail Branch Profitability Measurement Model For The Thrift Industry, Rex L. Smith Iii

Master's Theses

Deregulation of the financial services industry has created a need for management to adapt a different approach to operations. Drastic regulatory and environmental changes have forced thrifts and banks to concentrate on increasing efficiency and core profitability from the retail branch network. Once considered to be highly bureaucratic, financial institutions are trimming back off ice review and focusing on a more decentralized leaner operation. Expensive mergers and large conglomerate financial powerhouses have created a need for increased management controls and reasonable methods of measuring the true profitability of the individual business units within a financial services company.

Trends In Solid-Waste Management And The Implications For The Aluminum Beverage Can, Phil Whitehouse

Master's Theses

The aluminum beverage can market is extremely important for Reynolds Metals Company and other aluminum producers being the single largest end-use market for aluminum in the United States. Shipments of 77.9 billion cans in 1988 accounted for 96% of total beverage can shipments, equivalent to 3.6 billion pounds of input canstock or 21% of the estimated 16.9 billion pounds of U .S. aluminum industry shipments. It is also one of the few aluminum markets that has exhibited consistent growth this decade, with canstock shipments increasing 4.6%/yr.versus 1.8% for all other products. Its success can largely be linked to its recyclability …

Are Bonuses Compatible With The Deming Philosophy?, F. Case Whittemore

Master's Theses

This paper examines the philosophy of Dr. W. Edwards Deming to determine what principles of that philosophy should apply to selecting a bonus compensation plan. All types of bonus plans, including the following incentive bonus plans individual incentive, group incentive, gain sharing, profit sharing and pay-for-knowledge are examined to determine which meet the Deming principles.

The Newsboy With Known Demand And Uncertain Replenishment: Applications To Quality Control And Container Fill, John S. Rose

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Consider a newsboy problem with known demand and random replenishment. The distribution of the replenishment quantity is determined by a location-scale parameter, (μ, σ), which can be controlled. The usual expected cost function includes a separate term associated with the choice of σ. The asymptotic behavior of the optimal parameter values, as functions of the holding and shortage costs, is examined.

Adam Smith On Competitive Religious Markets: Preaching About Preachers?, Charles G. Leathers, J. Patrick Raines

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Anderson (1988) and Rosenberg (1960) have provided substantial insights into Adam Smith's economic analysis of religious behavior. In particular, both emphasized Smith's optimistic view of competitive religious markets. As an addendum, this paper investigates more closely the theoretical basis for Smith's prediction that optimal religious doctrine and institutions would spontaneously evolve in free markets for preachers.

Cost, Price, Equity And Quality In Higher Education, Phillip A. Jones Sr., Clarence R. Jung Jr.

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

As tuition and other college expenses have continued to out pace the rate of inflation in the U.S. economy, increased attention has focused on the economics of higher education. Questions have been raised, explicitly or implicitly, as to whether the higher cost of a college education is justified and whether there are policy measures—private or public—which might be put in place to contain these costs and/or alter the nature of the product.

Financial Analysis Of Foreign Operations: The Effect Of Foreign Currency Translation, James A. Schweikart

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Financial statement analysis of multinational corporations (MNCs) is becoming increasingly complex, due to the further globalization of MNCs and the development of a world economy. MNCs are expanding their markets overseas to become globally competitive. No longer is the international dimension of their businesses only a mere portion of their total activity.

The economic organization of Western Europe and the creation of a new market in Eastern Europe are two forces augmenting the world economy. Couple with existing competition from the Far East, U.S. MNCs are entering world markets at an accelerated pace. This is both an opportunity and a …

Teaching Accounting Concepts Versus Applications: An Analysis Of Student Attitudes, Marshall A. Geiger

Accounting Faculty Publications

Accounting faculty have long debated the usefulness and appropriateness of their teaching endeavor. One of the central themes in this continuing discussion is that of teaching concepts versus teaching applications of current accounting principles. In order to empirically address this issue, students' attitudes toward the conceptual aspects and toward the practical application aspects of financial accounting were assessed. This research also reports on the development and validation of an instrument that measures attitudes of students toward these aspects of financial accounting. The instrument demonstrated high reliability with both intermediate and introductory students. Intermediate students were found to distinguish between attitudes …