Business Commons^™

Delta Epsilon Chi President Places 2nd In National Competition, Lindenwood University

Archived Lindenwood Press Releases

No abstract provided.

E‑Learning Success Model: An Information Systems Perspective, Anita Lee-Post

Marketing & Supply Chain Faculty Publications

This paper reports the observations made and experience gained from developing and delivering an online quantitative methods course for Business undergraduates. Inspired by issues and challenges experienced in developing the online course, a model is advanced to address the question of how to guide the design, development, and delivery of successful e‑learning initiatives based on theories of a user‑centered information systems development paradigm. The benefits of using the proposed model for e‑learning success assessment is demonstrated through four cycles of action research after two action research cycles of pilot study. Findings from our empirical study confirm the value of an …

An Elusive Search For The Holy Grail Via Japan’S Lost Decade, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Why did the Wall Street crash of October 1929 cause the global economy to decline and stagnate over a long time? Till today, macroeconomists are still trying to answer what Ben Bernanke describes as the “Holy Grail” – an enlightened understanding of what went wrong. Richard Koo, author of “The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japan’s Great Recession”, attempts an explanation with the “balance sheet recession” concept, based on his observations in Japan, where companies try to pay down their debt on time, if not earlier.

Color Rhetoric: The Social Construction Of Neutrality In Real Estate Design, April Davis

All Theses

Many interior designers believe that the key to selling a house is using conventionally labeled neutral colors. Yet, in relying solely on what convention dictates as a universal real estate rule, designers are promoting an ideology that privileges conventional standards to audience analysis, and consequently, call into question the usefulness of their own careers. Using Lloyd Bitzer's rhetorical situation principles, this thesis will analyze pictures taken from homes on the real estate market. Examining these pictures will establish the concept of neutrality as a rhetorical social construction that is shaped within historical, social, and cultural contexts. Moreover, this thesis presents …

San Diego Natural History Museum Strategic Planning Project, Stephanie Delong, Maureen Guarcello, Anna Plaster, Jim Stone

Strategic Planning

In January 2009, a team of students from the University of San Diego’s (USD) Nonprofit Leadership and Management conducted a pre-planning exercise to help prepare the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) for its 2012-2022 strategic plan. With an annual attendance last year of more than 600,000 visitors, the Museum is one of the largest cultural institutions in Balboa Park. The consulting team engaged in an extensive discovery process, including a review of the Museum’s current strategic plan1 and preliminary key informant interviews. The results of this discovery process pointed towards a number of themes from which, three key strategic …

The Psychology Of Money: Beyond Behavioral Finance, Cicily Maton, William Martin

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

Behavioral finance has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners. This article explores the roots of behavioral finance, psychology, and showns how these principles are actually used in practice.

Oracle E-Business Suite In The Enterprise Systems Course At The Raj Soin College Of Business, Anand Jeyaraj

Management Information Systems Faculty Publications

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, or simply enterprise systems, are enterprise-wide information systems that enable core activities underlying business processes in organizations. Enterprise systems incorporate several standalone information systems ranging from marketing, purchasing, sales, distribution, scheduling, human resources, customer relationship, financials and decision support through a single integrated central database that captures data relating to the various activities and business processes in organizations.

Campus Consignment, Krista Deangelo

Senior Honors Projects

As environmental awareness and sustainability have become more widely promoted, it has resulted in an increase in the importance of recycling. A consignment store, by definition, is a second-hand store that offers previously owned goods, both used and unused, for a lower price than that of new products. Consignment stores provide consumers with an outlet through which they can recycle items, by selling those that they no longer use and purchasing products that have been previously owned. Along with their environmental benefits, these businesses present creative designers with the chance to sell their original work. My experience working at a …

Investigating The Persistence Of Hedge Fund Returns Over The Period Of 1998 To 2005, John Conway

Financial Analyst

No abstract provided.

Case Studies: Employment Data Systems: Florida's Agency For Persons With Disabilities, Allison Cohen Hall, Jean Winsor, John Butterworth

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The increasing emphasis on government accountability at the state and federal levels has increased interest in and use of outcome data. Moreover, research has found that high performing states in integrated employment generally have a clear and visible data collection system that provides individual outcome data (Hall et al, 2007). But what are the most important elements in designing and using a system? Stakeholders have raised questions regarding creating effective data collection systems, identifying variables with the most utility for influencing policy, and using data as a strategic planning tool. This series is intended to shed light on the successes …

Issues In Developing A Common Framework On Informal Employment, Françoise Carré, James Heintz

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper has been written to stimulate discussion on the definition and measurement of informal employment in developed economies. Much has been written on the definitions of informal employment and the informal sector in the context of developing countries, and these definitions have been applied in collecting and analyzing data from labor force, multi-purpose household, and enterprise surveys. It is less common that the recommendations and techniques for measuring informal employment and informal sector have been applied in developed countries.

In high-income economies, it is more common to speak of ‘nonstandard’ or ‘atypical’ employment. The two concepts of ‘informal employment’ …

Controlling The Cost Of Municipal Health Insurance: Lessons From Springfield, Robert L. Carey

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

The study finds that, by joining the Group Insurance Commission (GIC), Springfield cut increases in its health care costs an estimated $14 million to $18 million over two years. It saved an additional $5 million per year by requiring eligible municipal retirees to enroll in Medicare Part B as a precondition of receiving supplemental health coverage from the City. These two actions, together, reduced increases in the City’s health care costs an estimated 15-19% annually, on average, with savings growth each year due to compounding. Furthermore, the study estimates that if the GIC continues its past pattern of keeping its …

Targeted Killing: Self-Defense, Preemption, And The War On Terrorism, Thomas Byron Hunter

Journal of Strategic Security

This paper assesses the parameters and utility of “targeted killing” in combating terrorism and its role within the norm of state self-defense in the international community. The author’s thesis is that, while targeted killing provides states with a method of combating terrorism, and while it is “effective” on a number of levels, it is inherently limited and not a panacea. The adoption and execution of such a program brings with it, among other potential pitfalls, political repercussions. Targeted killing is defined herein as the premeditated, preemptive, and intentional killing of an individual or individuals known or believed to represent a …

Al-Qaeda In The Lands Of The Islamic Maghreb, Gregory A. Smith

Journal of Strategic Security

This paper is organized into four chapters that focus on the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The four chapters examine different facets of the collective environment that have allowed AQIM to succeed and even thrive at times. The first chapter begins with Algeria’s war of independence with the French. The second chapter focuses on the nomadic Tuareg people. It seeks to show how the Tuaregs were deprived by French occupiers and how European colonization cost the Tuaregs access to vital trade routes used for centuries. The third chapter will very briefly examine Algeria’s …

Fragility: The Next Wave In Critical Infrastructure Protection, Allan Mcdougall

Journal of Strategic Security

In North America today, we are about to embark on a significant effort to repair, or even upgrade, many aspects of our infrastructure. Many of these efforts are linked to economic recovery packages. Others are based on sheer need. The challenge for decision makers and planners involves ensuring that scarce economic resources are put to their best use. Understanding the concept of fragility plays a pivotal part in reaching that understanding.Fragility, like many other systems—particularly Information Technology (IT ) systems—works on the concept of subjects and objects. Subjects are those entities that seek to exploit the services (or capacity) offered …

Book Reviews, Edward J. Hagerty, Ed Urie

Journal of Strategic Security

Afghanistan: Transition Under Threat. By Geoffrey Hayes and Mark Sedra, editors.

Enemies of Intelligence: Knowledge & Power in American National Security. By Richard K. Betts.

Leader And Employee Influence On The Development Of Organizational Climate In The Long-Term Care Sector, Alice A. Obermiller

Student Scholarship

The long-term care sector is challenged with retention issues that impact the quality of elder care. Annual turnover rates in excess of 50% at some staff levels combined with a growing senior population illuminates an issue where worker supply may not meet demand. Despite empirical evidence that staffing is a critical factor in the provision of high quality care and that facilities with higher staff to resident ratios have better quality ratings and more positive resident outcomes, twenty years of research underscores a persistent retention dilemma. Previous research has substantiated a correlation between retention and the work environment and called …

The Evolution Of Outsourcing, Michael L. Videira

Senior Honors Projects

The purpose of this project is to evaluate different criteria taken into consideration when making outsourcing decisions and to investigate which countries can best accommodate various outsourcing projects. First, we examine the reasons for outsourcing and whether companies are outsourcing for the right desired outcomes. Then, we evaluate why and how China has become the country of choice for companies offshoring portions of their business activities. Lastly, we use the measures we develop to evaluate and predict the economic potential of several developing countries as destinations for outsourced business activities

Sustainable Supply Chain Packaging Increasing Density For High Cube Low Weight Textiles, Caryn Espy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This thesis explores techniques for efficient, sustainable packaging of high cube, low weight products. It is based on a project initiated at Macy’s Merchandising Group, a product development division of Macy’s Inc. The company challenged its interns to create an environmentally conscious business proposal that would also reduce expenses. This thesis is an extension of the original proposal.

As part of the production of soft goods at Macy’s, samples of each item are sent air freight from overseas manufacturers to theNew York Cityheadquarters. Sample shipping amounts to a significant expense because products are sent via air freight.

In the process …

The Changes In The Portrayal Of Women In Cosmetic Advertisements Throughout The 20th Century, Paulina Han

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Women today have become desensitized to the massive clutter of cosmetic advertisements. In order to compete in the overly saturated market, cosmetic marketers need to start taking a different approach in making cosmetic advertisements appeal to women. The method used for this thesis project was secondary research; past experiments and case studies on women and advertising were examined and analyzed. Many of these were done by psychologists in the field of advertising and organizations and published in places such as the Journal of Advertising Research. Advertising and creative briefs from advertising agencies were also examined, in part, with other work. …

The Impact Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act On Regional Firms, Hyejoon Yoon

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

There have been major audit failures involving the largest companies such as Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. As a result of these audit failures, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in 2002 to establish enhanced standards for oversight of accounting professionals including U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms. After the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed, there has been increased attention on major public accounting firms regarding audit quality, audit pricing, independence, risk assessment, and legal liabilities. In order to maintain the independence, three of the four major accounting firms sold their consulting practice, even though consulting practices are again growing …

The Effectiveness Of The Dove Campaign For Real Beauty In Terms Of Society And The Brand, Lindsey Morel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The following thesis aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The problem is that of measuring the effectiveness of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty in a form deeper than numbers. As the campaign held a secondary goal of changing women’s perceptions of beauty, so should the evaluation. Thus, two measures will be employed.

First, the following thesis evaluates the campaigns effect on society by examining how the issue of beauty at large was and is communicated. Data was collected on beauty by drawing from experience, researching eating disorders, and exploring a feminist approach to …

Swaps, Michael Rizzolo

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Swaps are versatile financial derivatives that create contracts to exchange future cash flows. Throughout the last several decades the uses and importance of swaps have grown substantially. This document examines swaps from a historical perspective and includes a discussion on issues such as economic justification, industry standardization, market participation, and day-count conventions. Four main classifications of swaps are discussed: interest rate swaps, currency swaps, equity swaps, and commodity swaps. Interest rate swaps are by far the most common; however, each classification offers unique traits that demonstrate the versatility and efficacy of swaps as an asset class. Each class of swap …

Comm.Unity And The Role Of Public Relations In Nonprofit Community Organizations, Carissa Matthews

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Nonprofit community organizations need solid public relations strategies and communications skills to accomplish an array of objectives, ranging from fundraising to increasing awareness to changing public opinion. Not only do many students attending Syracuse University possess these skills, but these individuals are also ready and willing to help nonprofit organizations because they would like to make a difference in the community, as well as add real-life work experience to their resumes and portfolios. Because of these facts, Communications for the Community (comm.UNITY) was created in October 2007 with the mission of connecting students with nonprofit organizations to help them create …

The Effectiveness Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act In Constraining Earnings Management, Liwin Troy Lee

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Widespread concern about earnings management, the management of financial information to mislead investors, was one of the key factors leading to the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). In this study, I investigate whether SOX is effective in limiting earnings management. Earnings management is a concern because misrepresentation of a company’s financial position and the results of its performance can mislead investors into making poor investment decisions. This study examines earnings changes before and after the passage of SOX to see whether small positive earnings changes were less likely in the post-SOX period, supporting the effectiveness of SOX …

Deliberation, Dialogue And Deliberative Democracy In Social Work Education And Practice, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Ideas of public talk were central in various aspects of the history of social work and professional education. Social work has never just been a consumer of deliberative ideas. Several fundamental ideas associated with deliberative democracy theory arose directly out of social work education and practice and continue to function in different forms within contemporary social work theory and practice.

Ecotourism In Dominica: Studying The Potential For Economic Development, Environmental Protection And Cultural Conservation, Vanessa Slinger-Friedman

Faculty Articles

Over the last 20 years, the government of the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica has pursued the development of ecotourism on the island. The hope is that this industry will promote dispersed economic development while providing environmental protection and cultural conservation. However, not enough has been done to determine whether or not the industry is achieving the desired results. To this end, this study explores the growth of the tourism industry on Dominica and shows that, while not perfect, ecotourism is providing some definite benefits to the island in this regard.

Exploring Social And Group Identity Theories In The Profitability Of Online Communities Targeted Towards Older Adolescents, Daniel V. Giaccio

Honors College Theses

Qualitative research of in depth interviews and picture tests performed on older adolescents was the backbone of my study. A questionnaire was created that explored how older adolescents create and maintain identities on online communities.

My study found that older adolescents are using the internet to maintain their positive self identity yet explore group identities in order to find out where they fit in the world. It used these findings to create innovative implications and recommendations for marketers on how to create a successful online community business model targeting the older adolescent. The answer was simple. Since older adolescents are …

Understanding Gender Differences In Online Experience And Internet Advertising, Seema Harryginsingh

Honors College Theses

The purposes of this article is to first review the literature on gender differences in advertising then explore areas that are important in today’s online environment including differences in the various areas of online experience and behavior such as shopping, privacy issues, internet usage, use of website, and new media and user generated content considerations. I will also look at online advertising particularly, online video ads and banner ads. I will attempt to show through research that there are differences that exist among the genders, which also translate to the online environment and specifically in the various areas of experience …

The Global Financial Meltdown: Is It A Recipe For Disaster To Employee Engagement?, Glen Weaver

Student Scholarship

The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 was particularly devastating to the financial services industry. Poor performance, mergers/acquisitions, and massive layoffs were characteristics of the crisis. For example, Citigroup lost almost $19 billion in 2008 and market capitalization for the top three U.S. banks for the period January 1, 2007 through January 15, 2009 fell $514 billion or 75%. It was reported that since the beginning of the financial crisis in July 2007, banks had shed over 186,000 positions and thousands more remained tenuously employed as banks struggled to sustain themselves in an increasingly volatile environment. Studies during this period reflected …