Business Commons^™

A Cost Benefit Analysis Of Utilizing Solar Panels On Bates Nut Farm, Brandon Walter Ness

Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Reverse Mortgage Clients At The Utah State University Family Life Center Housing And Financial Counseling Services, Cindy R. Stokes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purposes of this study were to describe and categorize the types of clients seeking reverse mortgage counseling, and to document the growth in demand for reverse mortgage counseling from one counseling center: The USU Family Life Center - Housing and Financial Counseling Services (FLC HFC). A second purpose was to gain a better understanding of the reasons why more senior Americans are seeking reverse mortgages. A third purpose was to gain a better understanding of the retirement preparedness of current seniors seeking reverse mortgages, which could lead to improved counseling services, early retirement intervention awareness, and encourage increased pre-retirement …

Attitudes Toward Immediate Annuities, Devon K. Robb

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Retirement security for Americans is one of the most critical public policy and personal financial issues and will be for decades in the future. Individuals that retire today can live an additional 30 or even 40 years with less secure income as corporations shift to defined contribution plans to fund retirement. Based on the life cycle savings hypothesis, immediate annuities should be appealing to retirees because they insure against the risks of outliving retirement assets by converting funds into a lifelong stream of income. However, research has found that retirees are reluctant to annuitize their wealth. This study examined the …

Credit Default Swaps - Essays On Model And Market Efficiency, Muhammad F. Farooqi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Essay 1 tests the ability of a commercial structural credit default swap pricing model to predict market spreads. Consistent with several previous studies testing other models, we find our model unable to price credit risk precisely and observe an illiquidity premium reflecting a credit risk component which should be incorporated into future pricing models. We also identify macroeconomic and stock market factors that help explain movements in CDS spreads beyond the levels suggested by the model.

Essay 2 looks at bid and ask spreads to find evidence of quote shading where dealers manipulate their quotes in order to attract sell …

Three Essays In Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Post Bankruptcy Performance, Bankrupt Stock Performance, And Relationship With Hedge Funds And Other Vulture Investors, Min Xu

Open Access Dissertations

Firms that emerged from Chapter 11 as public companies have tons of characteristics. The first essay analyzes their post bankruptcy performance, duration effect, and the quality of their projection information. While the sample's post bankruptcy performance does show improvement, their projections tend to be optimistic. Firms with shorter durations in Chapter 11generally achieve better performance than those with longer durations, in terms of Z-scores, but not in excess returns. Compared to firms that did not provide (complete) projection information, the sample firms generally exhibit better improvement, as measured by Z-scores and short term excess returns. The second essay tracks the …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Determinants Of Project Finance: Cash Flow Volatility And Correlation, Zinat S. Alam

Finance Dissertations

This paper investigates the effect of correlation and volatilities of firm and project cash flows on the choice of project finance. I use a pure-play approach to measure unobservable project cash flows for a sample of 440 US and non-US firms that invested in 577 projects from 1990 to 2008 and find evidence that the probability of project finance is increasing in cash flow volatility difference between firm and project cash flows. The likelihood of the project finance is greater when volatilities are different and the correlation between firm and project cash flows is high. I also find that firms …

Is All Goodwill Created Equal? An Analysis Of The Association Between Agency Conflicts, Board Monitoring, And Goodwill In U.S. Mergers And Acquisitions, Matthew L. Hoag

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this study is to examine the association between goodwill and governance structures – specifically, potential agency conflicts and internal and external board monitoring mechanisms – over a four-year period (2004-2007). To do this, I perform two distinct analyses to test (1) whether governance structures appear to be determinants of aggregate goodwill, and (2) whether governance structures appear to moderate investors’ perceptions of aggregate goodwill. I then extend these tests to a sample of U.S. merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions where I calculate a more refined measure of residual goodwill and re-perform the tests using this alternative goodwill …

Recommending A Productivity Model For Singapore Hotels: A Critical Review Of Productivity Models Adopted By Researchers And Hotel Operators, Hwee Noi Goh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The business challenges and intensely competitive environment in today’s economy make productivity a key factor for organizational survival. This paper examines what productivity means to the services industry, in particular, to the hotel industry. This is underpinned by an investigation of the fundamental differences between goods and services and the implications on productivity measurement and control in the manufacturing and services industries.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review productivity measurement and control methods used by researchers and hotel operators in order to find a model suitable for the hotel industry in Singapore, taking into consideration the local …

The Temple Recommend: A Solution To The Free-Rider Problem, Austin Bowles

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Temple worship and geographical boundaries are unique features of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Our research uses economic theory to understand how the organizational benefits of the temple recommend system and the geographical ward boundaries may solve the market failures associated with religious organizations. These features of the LDS Church will be used to create a framework for understanding how the church limits free-riding and sub-optimal participation, which would result in increased efficiency and production of large religious benefits. Because the market failures faced by the church are the same as those faced by other …

An Analysis Of The Equity Of Utah’S Public School Funding System, Garrick Peterson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has not been an equity study of the public school funding allocation system, in the state of Utah, since 1990. The purpose of the study was to conduct an analysis of the equity of the Utah state funding allocation system for K-12 education including a trend analysis for the decade 2000-2009. The conceptual framework for the analysis applies four broad concepts of equity framed by Kern Alexander; (1) communitative equity, (2) distributive equity, (3) restitutive equity, and (4) positivism. The analysis of the Utah State funding system used Berne and Stiefel's methodology and included commonly used statistical measures of …

Two Essays On The Impact Of Rational And Irrational Investor Sentiments On Equity Market Return And Volatility: Evidence From The U.S. And Brazil, Pablo Javier Calafiore

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation consists of two essays on how investor sentiments affect the returns and volatility of the Brazilian stock market. Both essays share a similar methodological approach. The first one analyzes the effect of investor sentiments on the returns and volatility of the Brazilian stock market using a model that accounts for fundamentals (rational) and noise components (irrational) of investor sentiments on the Sao Paulo leading index Bovespa. This research finds a statistically significant positive (negative) impact of rational (irrational) sentiments on market returns. Moreover, there are statistically significant impacts of irrational components of the sentiment indexes on Bovespa volatility …

Two Essays On Investor Sentiment And The Profitability Of Contrarian And Momentum Strategies, Changmei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation, by employing different trading strategies, addresses the trading profitability issue in a broad scope of different markets.

In the equity market, I construct a group of BUY-SELL portfolios based on prior stock returns, and find that contrarian and momentum strategies are both significantly profitable. Investor sentiment, in addition to firm-specific risks, provides behavioral explanations to the profitability. Three popular sentiment measures are used for the purpose of study: two reduced-formed sentiment indexes that are constructed by Baker and Wurgler (2006) and the survey-based University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. Several interesting findings are revealed: (1) extreme sentiment levels …

A Re-Examination Of Stock Repurchase In Usa, Hua Yang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Since the adoption of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 10b-18 Safe Harbor for Issuer Repurchases in 1982, stock repurchases have been growing explosively. Extant literature has shed some light on the motivation behind companies' repurchase activities. The most popular beliefs include signaling undervaluation (Dann 1981, Vermaele 1981, Comment and Jarrell 1991), reducing free cash flow (Guay and Harford 2000, Jagannathan, Stephens and Weisbach 2000, Grullon and Michaely 2004), raising leverage ratio (Hovakimian, Opler and Titman 2001) and increasing earnings (Bens, Nagar, Skinner and Wong 2003).

Motivated by Stephens and Weisbach's (1998) research which found that companies on average …

Study Questions For Actuarial Exam 2/Fm, Aaron Hardiek

Statistics

No abstract provided.

A Feasibility Study On Replacing A Hay Operation With An Equestrian Boarding Facility, Virginia Vouri

Agribusiness

The purpose of this project was to determine whether it would be feasible for Brians Dairy to convert their dairy farm into an equestrian boarding facility.

There are two major costs involved in this project, the development of the facility and the operation of the business. Once all of the costs were determined, they were entered into an Excel spreadsheet using the format of an Enterprise Budget. From the Enterprise Budget, revenues and expenses were used to develop an Investment Analysis, where a positive Net Present Value and a 30% Internal Rate of Return were discovered.

Using figures from the …

A Comparison Of Costs And Returns For Organic And Conventional Cabernet Sauvignon Grape Production In San Luis Obispo County, Amanda N. Johansen

Agribusiness

This study examined the differences in costs and profitability for established conventional and organic Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in the Edna Valley region of San Luis Obispo County, California. The study used a partial budgeting approach to compare cost and profitability for established vineyards for 2009, and thus ignored transition costs. Data were obtained from UC Davis cost studies for organic and conventional grape production in other regions of California in previous years. Adjustments made to these costs to account for changes in input use, input costs and grape prices in San Luis Obispo County during the 2009 growing season.

The …

Trial And Budget Analysis Of Two Synchronized Artificial Insemination Breeding Programs For Beef First Calf Heifers, John Nino

Agribusiness

This study was designed to compare the benefits and costs of two different synchronized artificial insemination programs on two groups of beef first calf heifers. A financial budget was developed that would include cost of synchronized insemination per animal and the added value of a bred heifer compared to an open one.

The two synchronized programs were called controlled internal drug release (CIDR) and Ovsynch. They used a specific timeline and drugs to complete the synchronization process. A single low birth weight high calving ease bull was used for both groups to enforce conformity between the groups. Costs of all …

The Impact Of Rebranding On Guest Satisfaction And Financial Performance: A Case Study Of Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre, Pingshan Huang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Existing literature has shown that effective branding/ re-branding can positively impact customer purchase preferences and intentions, satisfaction and loyalty and a firm’s financial performance. Building on these links, this paper investigated if there was a significant improvement in the Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre’s guest satisfaction (OSAT) and financial performance after its rebranding. Paired-samples analyses were conducted on the hotel’s pre- and post-rebranding guest satisfaction, occupancy, average daily rates (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), revenue and net operating profit (NOP). Overall, the results revealed that after the rebranding, HISOCC’s occupancy and RevPAR increased significantly; ADR and OSAT reflected …

Orange Value Fund Research Reports And Valuations, Aaron Glick

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Academic finance courses teach the underlying principles of portfolio management. Diversify your portfolio to eliminate idiosyncratic risk, match your portfolio beta to the risk appetite of your investors, invest in companies exhibiting earnings per share growth, and your fund will beat the market. More or less, this is the mindset of the herd, but following the herd never gets you ahead. Warren Buffet “attempts to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” True investors ignore the movements in the market, and focus their energies on discovering unrecognized intrinsic value. As such, value …

Investing In Green Mutual Funds: Determining The Environmental Screens Applied In Actively Managed Funds, Brian V. Kelly

Ed.D. Dissertations

Managers of environmentally focused mutual funds hold a leadership position with investors, and have an ethical responsibility to explain the environmental screens. The public filings of environmentally focused, actively managed funds were reviewed to determine what non-financial screening information was made public. Content analysis was conducted on the screening verbiage for environmental key words as a means of identifying screen passages within the prospectus. Quantitative analysis was conducted to determine the commonality of the holdings for environmentally focused funds. The results identified few patterns or search terms that could be effectively used on the textual content. The holdings had little …

Local Financial Services Innovation: Local Management, Strategy And Change; A Field Investigation, Ann Catherine Nave

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Financial Management Practices And Conflict Management Styles Of Couples In Great Marriages, Amanda Marie Horrocks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study presents findings on the financial management practices and degrees of conflict of couples in great marriages. Qualitative data from a national sample of couples in great marriages were collected using a 31-page questionnaire. Of the 81 couples who responded, 40 fit the criteria for this study in that they discussed their level of agreement about financial issues in marriage. Their responses were coded to discover which financial topics are pervasive and whether or not couples agreed over these topics. Responses about conflict were also analyzed to determine the degree of agreement between spouses in different categories. Findings from …

Three Essays On Cross-Listing, Liu Wang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation examines the role of cross-listing in shaping corporate earnings quality, stock price informativeness, and firm valuation, as well as its impact on a listing firm's home country information asymmetry and stock misvaluation.

The first essay addresses the information asymmetry between Chinese local A-share and foreign B-share markets and its impact on the B-share discount puzzle. In contrast with the widespread belief that domestic investors are better informed than foreign investors, this study indicates that foreign investors actually possess more value-relevant, firm-specific information in an emerging market such as China, where information transparency and investor protection are relatively weak. …

Cal Poly Organic Farm Business Plan, Eric Ryan Mccarthy

Agribusiness

This study was undertaken to determine which strategies would allow the Cal Poly Organic Farm to operate as a profitable business without compromising educational and agricultural objectives. Three strategies were analyzed to determine the most profitable approach. The first strategy, expanding CSA sales, emphasizes marketing efforts to increase products and services awareness. This should increase CSA, CPOF, merchandise, and farmers’ markets sales. The second strategy implements new CSA produce boxes that cater to specific groups. Existing produce boxes will remain available to CSA members. Expanding produce boxes can be done with the produce on hand or expanding crop selection. The …

Essays On Corporate Governance, Tih Koon Tan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is composed by two essays that explore corporate governance issues in S&P firms. The first essay examines changes in corporate governance after a firm gets added to the S&P 500 index? Using firms added from 1994 to 2007, this paper examines how governance mechanisms change for these firms. Specifically, I look at both the overall governance and details on how each mechanism changes. I find that governance improves after being added to the index. Controlling for firm size, leverage, prior firm performance, and growth opportunities, the market reacts positively to governance improvements as a whole. In addition, changes …

Two Essays On Bidding In Multi-Unit Common Value Auctions, Minjie Shao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays on the topic of bidding in multi-unit common value auction. Essay one examines the role of capacity constraint on the auction results and bidding behavior. We consider a general case where bidders are unconstrained, and a second setting where bidders are capacity constrained. We document downward sloping demand curves for individual bidders. Bidders shade their bids by submitting quantity-price pairs and spreading their bids. The winner's curse is strong in the unconstrained treatment, but we find no evidence of the winner's curse when bidding constraints are imposed. Unconstrained bidders shade bids significantly more and …

A Study Of The Effects Of Budget-Balancing Practices And Fiscal Policies On State Fiscal Health, Candice Schultheis

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

During times of economic recessions, many states throughout the U.S. may experience budget pressures that impact their overall fiscal health. Kentucky, in particular, has been faced with structural budget imbalances, declining revenue receipts, and spending reductions. Although economic conditions greatly affect states’ abilities to maintain balanced budgets, other factors may contribute to the variation among states’ financial conditions. This study assesses the effect that budget-balancing strategies, processes, and policies have on states’ fiscal health, as measured by state fiscal peril scores reported by the Pew Center on the States and year-end budget balances as a percentage of expenditures estimated by …

The Debt And Dividend Decisions For Non-Stock Cooperatives: Pecking Order Vs. Trade-Off, David P. Smiy

Theses & Honors Papers

This study tests the trade-off and pecking order theories about the debt and dividend capital decisions for non-stock electric cooperatives. Decisions to finance investments with debt or equity are important because they determine the firm's capital structure. With the trade-off theory there is an optimal balance of debt and equity, and the firm uses debt until it is more expensive than issuing equity thus reaching the firm's optimal capital structure. Meanwhile, the pecking order theorem contends the firm should use internal funds first, then debt, and equity as a last resort. Both theories have the same …

The Premium, Breakeven, And Discount Exchange Rates Of The Mexican Peso In The El Paso Retail Sector, Raul Anton Munoz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This paper studies the exchange rates at which Mexican pesos are accepted by different retail sectors in El Paso, Texas. A random sample of 1,155 firms was surveyed to examine two aspects of reverse dollarization in the El Paso/Juarez border region. The first is to determine the percentage of retail businesses in El Paso that accept foreign currency in the form of Mexican pesos. The second is to calculate the effective exchange rate at which firms accept Mexican pesos. Out of 1,155 retail firms surveyed, 586 responses were obtained. The results of this investigation suggest that less than 14 percent …

Comparative Analysis Of The Financial Performance Of Nonprofit Organizations: Focusing On The Franklin County Senior Activity Center, Shinwoo Lee

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Franklin County Senior Activity Center is a nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to provide services to help older residents lead independent lives. Cooperating with twelve board members, a staff of 24 people operates the Center and makes huge efforts to accomplish its mission. The mission of the Center is to contribute to and empower the quality of life of the aging citizens in Frankfort and Franklin County, Kentucky. The Center delivers various public services to them including opportunities for socialization, health promotion, benefit counseling, transportation service, home care service, recreation and exercise programs, adult day care, caregiver support, and …