Business Commons^™

Delta Dental Of Arkansas Taking The Next Step, Larry R. Davis, Joan Brumm, R. Edward Bashaw

Faculty Publications - The LeMoyne Smith School of Business

Delta Dental of Arkansas, an affiliate of the Delta Dental Plans Association, had been a profitable provider of dental insurance since its inception in 1982 as a one - product company selling group dental policies to companies in Arkansas. With the retirement of its founding CEO in 2000 after 18 years of service, its board of directors crafted a new organizational structure, hired a new CEO from the outside, restructured the board, and redirected the focus of the organization. An external marketing firm employed by the company, following extensive research, encouraged the management of Delta Dental of Arkansas’ to develop …

The Banco Itau Business Communications Course, Cohen Summers

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In the ever changing business world, establishing a competitive advantage is essential in order to build and sustain the viability of a company. The global investment industry has developed dramatically over the past 20 years generating new opportunities for investors worldwide. One example is exhibited by the increasing global demand for Brazil securities ds well as others in various emerging markets. With this increasing demand by foreign investors in the Brazilian markets, firms are constantly attempting to identify the best, most efficient, cost-effective products and services. Because a majority of the products are relatively the same across the industry, companies …

2009 May, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for May of 2009.

Revisiting Financial (Accounting) Literacy: A Comparison Of Audit Committee Members And Business Students, Don E. Giacomino, Joseph L. Wall, Michael D. Akers

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

While financial literacy is important for an audit committee in discharging its duties there is no authoritative guidance or definition and limited empirical research as to what constitutes financial literacy of audit committees and business students. Coates et al. conducted a study that examined the financial literacy of corporate board members and MBA students at the University of Chicago using an instrument developed by Schipper and WeiL Their findings suggest that both groups lack the appropriate level of financial literacy. This paper extends that research by using the same instrument to examine the financial literacy of undergraduate accounting finance students …

Integrating Modern World Tax Issues Into The Classroom, Annette M. Nellen

Faculty Publications

The article examines the benefits of interdisciplinary and integrated coursework that brings modern world issues into a tax classroom. Among the topics suggested for possible integration into such a course are virtual worlds and climate change. It says the subjects where chosen for their currency and the advantages they offer in engaging college students and providing an opportunity for them to apply integrated learning in the course. Some resource materials relevant to tax issues are also provided.

Energy Sector Pricing: One The Role Of Neglected Nonlinearity, Anastasios G. Malliaris, Catherine Kyrtsou, Apostolos Serletis

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Modern economies have been subjected to a number of shocks during the past several years such as the burst of the Internet bubble, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals, the war in Iraq, the uncertainty about energy prices, and the recent subprime mortgage crisis. In particular, during the last few years, the energy shock has caused concerns for potential stagflation for both the United States and numerous other countries. We perform numerous univariate tests for non-linearity and chaotic structure using price data from the energy sector to resolve whether the sector's fundamentals or exogenous shocks drive these prices.

Likely Outcomes In The National Debate Over Greenhouse Gas Emissions -A Public Policy Analysis, Maureen Coyle

Senior Honors Projects

In 2005, the Convention on Climate Change took many conceptual ideas regarding greenhouse gas emissions, best practices, and national environmental policies and committed the 192 member countries to legislation known as the Kyoto Protocol. The United States signed this protocol but it was not ratified, and therefore the United States need not and has not, been bound to the protocol. However, the new administration, under President Barack Obama, promises the United States is now ready to assume leadership in tackling climate change.

In December of this year, the United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark to …

Maximizing Cash Flows In Integrated Resorts: An Exploratory Study Of The Highest And Best Use Of Available Space, Denise Négrel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Through the analysis of the available literature, this exploratory study focuses on the concepts of direct and indirect contribution of amenities to the financial results of Integrated Resorts. In addition, the paper reviews the retail definition of highest and best use and evaluates its possible applications to the hospitality industry. Even if limited in number, studies in the field show that, with the appropriate statistical models, it is possible to estimate the indirect financial contribution of specific amenities to the profitability of Integrated Resorts. Moreover, an unprofitable amenity can justify its presence in an Integrated Resort only by indirectly contributing …

Convergence Of Corporate Governance: Critical Review And Future Directions, Toru Yoshikawa, Abdul A. Rasheed

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research Question/Issue: Convergence in corporate governance across countries has been a subject of interest and controversy in a variety of disciplines. We attempt to address a number of related research questions: (1) what constitutes convergence? (2) what are the drivers that propel corporations in different nations towards convergence? (3) what are the major impediments that stand in the way of convergence? (4) what empirical evidence do we have to suggest that we are moving towards or away from convergence? and (5) what would be some productive avenues for further research on this topic? Research Findings/Results: Despite the vigorous intellectual position …

Institutional Trading Frictions, Chiraphol New Chiyachantana, Pankaj K. Jain

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose and empirically examine a comprehensive measure of institutional trading frictions to include the dimensions of price impact, quantity of execution, return dynamics, speed of execution or order splitting, and trading commissions. Our empirical analysis reveals that various hidden components of institutional trading frictions such as adverse selection and clean-up costs are persistent and could add significantly to previously measured directly observable components of transaction costs. Our simultaneous system of equations accounts for the endogeniety in institutional order aggressiveness based on potentially superior information as well as order splitting strategies in the implementation stage to reduce transaction costs. Order …

Do Direct Cash Flow Disclosures Help Predict Future Operating Cash Flows And Earnings?, Steven F. Orpurt, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Motivated by recent FASB, IASB, and CFA Institute comments, we explore the predictive value of direct method cash flow disclosures. A primary stated purpose of the direct method is to better forecast future performance. To examine this purpose, we first document that direct method line items, such as cash received from customers, are not reliably estimable using income statements and either balance sheets or indirect method statements of cash flows. When these estimation (articulation) errors are included in cash flows and earnings forecasting models, forecasting performance significantly improves. In addition, employing a future ERC (FERC) methodology, we find evidence suggesting …

An Actor-Focused Model Of Justice Rule Adherence And Violation: The Role Of Managerial Motives And Discretion., Brent A. Scott, Jason A. Colquitt, E. Layne Paddock

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research on organizational justice has focused primarily on the receivers of just and unjust treatment. Little is known about why managers adhere to or violate rules of justice in the first place. The authors introduce a model for understanding justice rule adherence and violation. They identify both cognitive motives and affective motives that explain why managers adhere to and violate justice rules. They also draw distinctions among the justice rules by specifying which rules offer managers more or less discretion in their execution. They then describe how motives and discretion interact to influence justice-relevant actions. Finally, the authors incorporate managers' …

Residual State Ownership, Policy Stability And Financial Performance Following Strategic Decisions By Privatizing Telecoms, Paul M. Vaaler, Burkhard N. Schrage

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We question previous research assuming that privatizing firm performance generally benefits from decreasing state ownership and the passage of time, both of which purportedly align principal-agent incentives promoting organizational decision-making that increases shareholder value. When state ownership shifts from majority and controlling to minority and non-controlling, the performance impact may be positive in the short run, particularly where there is instability in the local investment policy environment. Consistent with this proposition, we develop and test hypotheses derived from a minority and non-controlling or residual state ownership framework, grounded in credible privatization and institutional theory. We propose that: (1) residual state …

Charity Fraud, Ann House

All Current Publications

This publication provides tips on how to protect yourself from scams and fraud.

Are Online Auction Markets Efficient? An Empirical Study Of Market Liquidity And Abnormal Returns., Robert J. Kauffman, Trent J Spaulding, Charles A. Wood

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Technological advances have facilitated investment in collectibles through online auction markets, where information regarding product characteristics, current and historical prices, and product availability is available to millions of market participants. However, market inefficiencies may still exist, where prices do not reflect market information and where savvy speculators can profit. Using unit root and variance ratio tests, we examine 8538 rare stamp and 56,997 rare coin auctions to evaluate the efficiency of online markets. In particular, we study market liquidity, abnormal returns and weak-form efficiency. We find an inverse relationship between market efficiency and liquidity. Bidder competition intrinsic to liquidity increases …

An Agent-Based Commodity Trading Simulation, Shih-Fen Cheng, Yee Pin Lim, Chao-Chi Liu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In recent years, the study of trading in electronic markets has received significant amount of attention, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence and electronic commerce. With increasingly sophisticated technologies being applied in analyzing information and making decisions, fully autonomous software agents are expected to take up significant roles in many important fields. This trend is most obvious in the financial domain, where speed of reaction is highly valued and significant investments have been made in information and communication technologies.Despite the successes of automated trading in many important classes of financial markets, commodity trading has lagged behind, mainly because of …

The Ngo Strategic Dilemma: An Examination Of Factors Enabling Or Constraining Corporate Engagement Strategy, David Graham Hyatt

Student Scholarship

Social movements focused on sustainable development represent a significant force for change in business practices and governmental regulation. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) arise from social movements as mobilizing structures and framing mechanisms for collective action to fill governance and social needs that remain unmet by the governmental and market sectors. This study focuses on environmental NGOs and their strategies for engaging the business sector. Although cross-sector collaborations increasingly seem instrumental to effecting environmental change, NGOs face a strategic dilemma: to confront or collaborate with businesses, or both. This research explores how the NGO mission, purpose, and ideology; core competencies and repertoire …

Why They Stay: Career Longetivity Of Women In U.S. Corporate Engineering, Kathleen R. Buse

Student Scholarship

Women have a low representation in engineering as well as other science, technology, and math (STEM) fields as compared to other professions – and retention rates for males in engineering significantly exceed those for women. While previous research has identified numerous reasons why women exit STEM careers at a higher rate than men, the literature is silent about those women who stay. To better understand why women remain in corporate engineering professions despite well-researched and well-documented organizational and occupational obstacles that make it difficult for them to succeed, a qualitative study is proposed based on semi-structured interviews with both women …

Managing The Mission Through Times Of Adversity: What Leads To Highly Reliable Performance?, Kathleen Roche

Student Scholarship

During times of severe economic adversity, nonprofit managers must lead their organizations and carry out their charitable missions to ever-growing and needier constituencies despite unpredictable endowment erosion, fewer contributions, less staff, and the most severe funding cuts most of them have ever experienced, or are prepared for. We propose research to explore which leadership skills and styles are most helpful and if reliance upon traditionality is a good indicator of endurance. By capturing the experiences of nonprofit leaders as they manage under conditions of duress, we will relate these factors to research about high reliability organizations, which have been found …

Leadership Skills And Challenges In Hospitality Management Education, Valentini Kalargyrou

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Leaders in hospitality management education face diverse challenges in today's competitive and changing environment. Evolving demands from superiors, financial challenges, and faculty and students increasing demands, create a turbulent environment in which administrators must thrive. One of the keys in being effective leaders is the application of the necessary leadership skills.

The Relationship Between Benefit Satisfaction And Intent To Leave: A Study Of Finance Departments In Las Vegas, Jung-In Bae

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between benefit satisfaction and intent to leave among employees who work in finance departments in Las Vegas hotels.

Employee benefits have generally been assumed to be an effective way to attract and retain employees; in fact, 70% of 45 U.S. companies include the benefit packages in their retention strategies. That idea that competitive benefits packages can help firms to win the retention war is widely accepted.

The results of the study indicate that benefit satisfaction was significantly related to intent to leave; those who were satisfied with benefits were less likely to …

Decentralizing Police Detectives: Increasing Efficiency Of Property Crime Investigations, Jon M. Zeh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Beginning in November, 2007, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department implemented organizational changes to the Financial/Property Crimes Bureau by decentralizing all property crime detectives. Although no previous research was found on the decentralization of police detectives specifically, there is existing research on similar concepts that suggest at least two benefits of decentralizing police detectives: improved communication with patrol officers and increased efficiency of investigations. With these benefits in mind, the current study examines the following hypotheses: hypothesis 1: decentralizing property crime detectives will lead to improved quality of communication between property crime detectives and patrol officers; hypothesis 2: decentralizing property …

A Choice Model Approach To Business And Leisure Traveler's Preferences For Green Hotel Attributes, Michelle Millar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been an increase in environmental concern by travelers in the United States (U. S.). As a result, hospitality companies are taking note and have begun to incorporate environmentally friendly or green practices into their operations. What remains relatively unclear, though, is if the increase in environmental consciousness has translated into a demand for environmentally friendly tourism products, such as hotels. There are a few studies related to the demand for environmentally friendly hotel attributes, but none of them have looked at a bundle of environmentally friendly attributes and how customers would react to a hotel room incorporating not …

The Relationship Between Destination Personality, Self-Congruity, And Behavioral Intentions, Ahmet Usakli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceived destination personality of Las Vegas and to examine the relationships among destination personality, self-congruity, and tourist's behavioral intentions. A convenience sample of 382 visitors to Las Vegas was surveyed and 368 usable questionnaires were analyzed. The findings of the study indicate that tourists ascribe personality characteristics to destinations and perceived destination personality of Las Vegas is five dimensional: vibrancy, sophistication, competence, contemporary, and sincerity. These dimensions have a positive influence on intention to return and intention to recommend. The study also supports the self-congruity theory within the context of tourism …

Comparing Lodging Reits Using Dupont Analysis: Evaluating Shareholder Equity, John Richard Kane Pellika

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research paper compares lodging REITs using DuPont analysis. The study examined United States publicly traded lodging REITs’ balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements between the quarterly periods of 12/31/1997 to 12/31/2005. Lodging REITs have to adhere to the REIT status guidelines, 90 percent of their taxable income must be distributed as dividends to shareholders and at least 75 percent of their income must come from real estate. Lodging REITs do not have government requirements on how a firm must efficiently manage its operations through financial leverage. The results indicate that there is a disparity between individual lodging …

Employee Orientation: Exploring Blended Learning Strategies To Improve Learner Outcomes And Meet Organizational Goals, Paul Washington

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The problem of effective, efficient and pragmatic solutions involving employee training are compounded when geographic logistics become an issue as organizations grow. Organizations must ensure financial and human resources are allocated to develop the highest impact training strategies at the lowest cost. Training in employee orientation was chosen as a logical starting point to re-think current training models to improve learner outcomes and achieve corporate initiatives. Thus, research involved literature review of basic concepts of learning theories and the integration of theory with pedagogical methods and technological delivery media. The result was a conceptual blended learning model reducing current training …

Case Study: Feasibility Analysis Of Renewable Energy Supply Systems In A Small Grid Connected Resort, Jody Robins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper presents a case study on the feasibility of a small grid connected resort in the marine west coast climate of Canada to implement a renewable energy supply system. The current industry conditions of three renewable energy systems are explored including small and large wind energy conversion systems, solar photovoltaic cell systems, and energy cell systems. Furthermore, these three systems are evaluated using the power load, wind, and solar radiation information from a specific resort. The renewable energy source assessment and optimization software HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) is used to evaluate the costs and benefits of each …

Going Green In The Hospitality Industry, Christina Wilson Micioni

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research is to examine whether a hotel’s greening efforts are a reason why everyday guests or hospitality professionals choose a hotel. Do meeting planners and business travelers expect certain things while staying at a hotel? Do the personal greening activities of a guest affect their hotel stay? This will also include the housekeeping needs of the guests and why they choose the hotel. The objective of the research will be to discover whether there is guest data to support the need for hotels to become green establishments.

The Impact Of The 2007 Oklahoma Immigration Reform Act On Labor Costs In The Restaurant Industry, Xun Zhou

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Restaurant industry is becoming the largest employer of immigrants in the United States, immigration policies are fundamental to the success of the restaurant industry, as entrepreneurs, as customers, and as workers. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate current issues regarding the unauthorized labor force in the hospitality industry. In particular, this study will try to discover and explore the difference in labor costs in the restaurant industry before and after the newest immigration reform act enacted in Oklahoma. In addition, this paper will also provide suggestions for future researchers in this research field.

The Swedish Casino Model: A Comparative Study Of Casino Gaming Models, Daniel Sahlin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This comparative study addresses the different gaming regulations that exist around the world. The study involves seven different countries, with its center of attention on the Swedish Casino Model which is owned and operated by the Swedish Government. The study of the Casino Models that originate from each country’s gaming legislation and the influence they have worldwide, as well as how and why new Casino Gaming models are developed. Lastly, a discussion is presented on how different Casino Models can have an effect upon each other and how the Sweden Casino Model may or may not effect other nations.