Business Commons^™

Making Sense When It Matters Most: Leadership In Extremis, Deirdre Dixon

Student Scholarship

Leading during in extremis situations when lives are in peril remains one of the least addressed areas of leadership research. In particular, although lives may depend on it, little is known about how leaders in in extremis situations make sense of their situation and communicate that sense to others. Because most of the literature on sensemaking and sensegiving in in extremis situations is theoretical, we sought empirical evidence of how it proceeds in actual practice. To address this gap in the literature, a qualitative study was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with thirty U.S. Army leaders at West Point who …

Social Responsibility, Views From Small And Medium Us Private Business Ceo/Owners, Joseph C. Thornton

Student Scholarship

Social responsibility (SR) is a topic of considerable interest to large and multinational companies--but less is known about the extent to which it is embraced by smaller organizations which constitute 99% of US firms. Most of the scant research on social responsibility and SMEs derives from Europe and demonstrates that SMEs understand and enact social responsibility differently than large companies. To address a gap in the literature about US SMEs we conducted interviews with owners/CEOs of private manufacturing firms in four regions of the US to determine how they understand and to what extent they embrace social responsibility as a …

The Affect Of Organizational And Individual Learning From Disruptive Market Events On Financial Advisor Behavior, Philipp A. Hensler

Student Scholarship

The static portfolio construction process is an efficient and rational choice to allocate clients' assets in well behaved markets. However, if markets become disruptive, like in 2008, relying on historic risk/return relationships becomes challenging and active financial advisor intervention necessary. The literature is silent about how financial advisors learn from such dislocations and how it affects their asset allocation process. Semi-structured interviews with 30 US financial advisors yielded insights into what shaped their decision making process. We identified five factors that appear to have had the strongest effect on their behavior, namely their enduring belief in recurring historic patterns, continued …

A Network Based Theory Of Foreign Market Entry Mode And Post-Entry Performance, Jing'an Tang, Ben S. Liu

WCBT Faculty Publications

Foreign market entry through equity investment has been extensively studied and various theoretical lenses have been used. Most previous research also focuses attention on either the entry mode selection decision or the topic of post-entry performance, but rarely both. We build on existing research by developing a model of foreign market entry and post-entry performance that uses network theory and organizational ecology to provide a fuller explanation of this complex and critical multinational enterprise strategic behaviour. Four pairs of total eight propositions were developed and justified based on extent literature and sound logical reasoning. By focusing on both entry mode …

Marketing Dietary Supplements: Public Relations And The Ability Of Pharmaceutical Companies To Retain And Develop Consumer Relationships, Nicole Schmidt

Journalism

Dietary supplements have grown in popularity in recent years, with multivitamins the most commonly used. As the awareness of dietary supplements continues to increase, there are more chances for consumers to misuse or misunderstand the risks of taking dietary supplements. Public relations, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies should work to educate the consumer about the uses and risks of supplements. This paper addresses the issues associated with dietary supplements, particularly in the area of weight-loss supplements. Adverse side effects are addressed, as well as how public relations can influence the outcome of pharmaceutical companies’ relationships with consumers. Public relations can help …

Is There Deadweight Loss In Holiday Rewards?, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

An interesting and provocative study was conducted by Joel Waldfogel of the University of Minnesota some 20 years ago. He wrote "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas." Waldfogel was not only discussing Christmas but noted that the ideas could apply to other holidays with gift-giving rituals. The study noted that although gift giving is generally applauded by economists since it is a way to help the macro economy, there is another side to the story. A problem with gift giving (or non-monetary rewards) is that the gift giver often does not perfectly know the preferences of the person receiving the gift. …

Hiring And Recruitment As Rhetorical Strategies: An Analysis Of The Way Businesses Approach Graduating University Students And Influence Their Choices, Sean D. Gibson

Communication Studies

To answer the question, which rhetorical strategies are most persuasive to university graduates regarding hiring and recruitment, I surveyed three classrooms with a questionnaire that gauged university graduates attraction to three different types of rhetorical strategies. The rhetoric came from three major businesses that recruit university graduates: College Works Painting, Peace Corps, and Hewlett Packard.

Each one of these businesses uses a different type of strategy to recruit university graduates. College Works Painting uses an Experience Illusion strategy based on the premise that the company will help train university graduates to become managers and leaders in business. Peace Corps’ uses …

Logistics Outsourcing In Brazil And The U.S.: An Institutional Theory Perspective, Maria Barrenechea

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

A crucial goal of manufacturers and retailers is to develop an efficient management of resources in order to ultimately achieve a strategic competitive advantage in the marketplace. Given the current global scenario, supply chain operations, such as the storage and transportation of materials from the shipper's facilities to the end customer, can become very complex and time consuming to manage in-house. Therefore, shippers are encouraged to outsource these logistics operations to third party experts known as 3PLs (third party logistics providers) that support the domestic and global transportation of goods safely, securely and cost-effectively. Moreover, as companies become more global, …

Successful Alignment Of Mba Curriculum: A Product Of Attentional Change, Laurie A. Branch

Student Scholarship

This study examines the factors influencing business schools' decision to materially change their full-time MBA curriculum. Our qualitative study is based on 29 interviews with faculty and administrators at 14 business schools and one industry expert. We identify four domains--Constituents, Context, Constraints and Genuine Identity--which business schools consider when exploring a potential curricular change. We present a Model of Successful Curricular Change that recognizes attention to these inputs, in terms of both focus and capacity, affects the type of change the organization pursues. This model also takes into account the mediating effect of faculty tolerance for the discomfort on curricular …

Entrepreneurial Illegality: Empirical Examination Of The Effects Of Bribery And Tax Evasion On Firm Performance, Nnaoke Ufere

Student Scholarship

We examined the nexus of entrepreneurial illegality and firm performance in an emerging market by investigating the extent to which antecedent conditions such as economic constraints, bureaucratic demands, institutional pressures and entrepreneurial agency increase the supply of illegal opportunities exploited by entrepreneurs for private gains. Using 2009 World Bank Enterprise Survey data of 2599 small and medium-sized entrepreneurial enterprises (SMEEs) in Nigeria, we demonstrate that illegal entrepreneurial behaviors in developing markets--specifically bribery and tax evasion--affect firm performance measured by sales and employment growth. Results show that illegal opportunities significantly increase with bureaucratic and regulatory intervention in entrepreneurial activities, suggesting current …

Renewable Energy Sources - Present Realities And Future Options, Thair Mohiuddin Izzat

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Renewable energy sources - realities of the present and future options Many of the directories indicate that the global energy system begin with a period of transition from total dependence on fossil energy sources, particularly oil, Into a new era in which renewable energy sources play an important role in meeting the growing needs of energy demand. There are many factors that will contribute to the strengthening of this trend towards transformation, which also will decide how quickly this transformation of renewable energy systems effectively in the global system of energy demand. These factors, In brief: the size of environmental …

A Multiechelon Inventory Problem With Secondary Market Sales, Alexandar Angelus

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider a finite-horizon, multiechelon inventory system in which the surplus of stock can be sold (i.e., disposed) in the secondary markets at each stage in the system. What are called nested echelon order-up-to policies are shown to be optimal for jointly managing inventory replenishments and secondary market sales. Under a general restriction on model parameters, we establish that it is optimal not to both sell off excess stock and replenish inventory. Secondary market sales complicate the structure of the system, so that the classical Clark and Scarf echelon reformulation no longer allows for the decomposition of the objective function …

World Food Crisis: Imperfect Markets Starving Development, A Decomposition Of Recent Food Price Increases, Christine Costello

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The recent decade has experienced two rather substantial food price spikes. This thesis sets out to provide an in-depth look at the recent food price increases by achieving two goals: assessing the forces driving food prices, and determining the magnitude of those forces. These goals are reached by reviewing selected rhetoric on the recent food price increases, analyzing case studies, and lastly determining our modeling capabilities in decomposing food price changes. Additionally, this thesis will serve as a tool for stakeholder's to better address critical policy issues surrounding food, agriculture, and energy policies.

Adviser: Hendrik Van Den Berg

Technical Note: Cellular Bucket Brigades, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Workers in a bucket brigade production system perform unproductive travel when they walk to get more work from their colleagues. We introduce a new design of bucket brigades to reduce unproductive travel. Under the new design, each worker works on one side of an aisle when he proceeds in one direction and works on the other side when he proceeds in the reverse direction. We propose simple rules for workers to share work under the new design and find a sufficient condition for the system to self-balance. Numerical examples suggest that the improvement in throughput by the new design can …

What Is Mission Critical In The Hotel Guest Room: Examining In-Room Guest Empowerment Technologies, Pelin Nasoz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined 18 in-room technologies and identified the ones perceived to be mission critical for the hotel guests. It also determined the differences in guest empowerment technology preferences and expectations across generations, purpose of travel, and travel frequency. Moreover, it investigated whether the quality of in-room technologies impacts guests' decision in choosing a hotel.

The data were collected through an online survey. A total of 508 people responded to the survey. An importance and performance analysis was utilized to identify the mission critical in-room technologies for the hotels. The analysis indicated that in-room movie on demand services, in-room wireless …

An Analysis Of The Dynamic Properties Of The American Depositary Receipt Cross Market Premium, Jorge Vidal

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The American Depositary Receipt (ADR) cross-market premium is studied over a 20 year period. The dynamic properties of the cross-market premium are studied for the first time in a nonlinear smooth error correction framework using a smooth transition error correction model (STECM) and compared against a linear model and two other nonlinear model specifications. The results indicate the ADR cross-market premium is more appropriately estimated when the nonlinearity, smooth transition, and cointegration properties present in the premium are estimated simultaneously with a STECM. The estimates of the STECM indicate arbitrage opportunities in the ADR market are rare and dissipate quickly. …

Use Of Preventative Health Care Services In Hispanic Workers In Manufacturing Sector In South Texas, Pooja Chopra

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study analyses the factors that determine the intensity of use of preventive health care services for a sample of Hispanic manufacturing workers in South Texas (RGV). Logistic regression is used to estimate the effect of health insurance, age, income level and education on the use of preventive health care of Hispanic workers in the manufacturing sector in South Texas (RGV). The outcome variables are vaccinations, tests and screening for women and men. The sample includes 228 manufacturing workers from the RGV. People with health insurance were more likely to use preventive care services such as vaccination for flu, hepatitis, …

Validation Of A Self-Report Instrument To Assess Social And Emotional Development, Craig R. Seal, Kenneth L. Beauchamp, Krystal Miguel, Amy N. Scott, Stefanie E. Naumann, Qingwen Dong, Suzanne Galal

Eberhardt School of Business Faculty Articles

The current study, using a factor level analysis approach, validity of the Social Emotional Development Instrument (SED education. Although there are a multitude of models and measures that borrow from the premise of emotional intelligence (EI), very few current instruments focus exclusive developmental path of social emotional competenc prior validity studies with these measures fail to include a full spectrum of potential convergent and discriminant analyses assessed at the factor level. SED-I is a reliable, robust and comprehensive measurement for assessing college students’ social emotional competency changes. Limitation discussed.

Three Essays On The Influence Of Formal Institutions On Entrepreneurship., Michael David Crum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of three essays in which I examine the influence of formal institutions on entrepreneurs and new firms. In the first essay, "The Influence of Institutions on the Likelihood of Self-Employment: A Multilevel Analysis," I examine how institutions at the country-level are related to the likelihood that individuals in those country are self-employed. Country-level measures of formal institutions are paired with individual-level data on self-employment from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Reynolds et al., 2005). Using the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World index and the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom separately as measures of institutions, …

The Valuation Of User-Generated Content: A Structural, Stylistic And Semantic Analysis Of Online Reviews, Noi Sian Koh

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The ability and ease for users to create and publish content has provided vast amount of online product reviews. However, the amount of data is overwhelmingly large and unstructured, making information difficult to quantify. This creates challenge in understanding how online reviews affect consumers’ purchase decisions. In my dissertation, I explore the structural, stylistic and semantic content of online reviews. Firstly, I present a measurement that quantifies sentiments with respect to a multi-point scale and conduct a systematic study on the impact of online reviews on product sales. Using the sentiment metrics generated, I estimate the weight that customers place …

Examining Revenue Management Practices In Las Vegas Casino Resorts, Arun Tanpanuwat

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The overall goal of this study was to examine Revenue Management (RM) practices in Las Vegas casino resorts. A great deal of research has been done on RM in the hospitality industry. The academic research has examined RM in hospitality in general, but not specifically in casino resorts, which gain their revenue from both rooms and resort amenities. Moreover, the academic literature often show high-level mathematic-based solutions or statistical applications, but not necessarily pragmatic techniques for practitioners. This qualitative study investigates the extent to which the essential fundamentals of any RM system are implemented successfully by casino RM professionals and …

A Comparative Study Of Indicator Bacteria Present In Ice And Soda From Las Vegas Food Establishments, Kimberly Jo Hertin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Microbial analysis has long been used as an indicator of water quality. Since the passing of the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, microbial standards have been strictly set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that the public health is protected from bacterial pathogens. The bacteriological quality of water generally deteriorates as it travels from water treatment facilities through the main distribution system and into private plumbing and distribution systems. For example, Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) values typically increase once the water has entered plumbing devices such as beverage vending machines. Upon reaching a private facility, the opportunity …

The Study Of The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax: Past, Present, And Reform, David E. Droessler

Honors Program Theses

The individual Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) imposed on individuals was originally created to ensure that the wealthiest Americans do not avoid paying income tax by taking advantage of certain deductions and exemptions. AMT was not indexed for inflation and when coupled with other inequities, many more Americans are now subject to AMT than ever before. By studying the past and present tax laws surrounding individual AMT, I will present a reformed approach of the AMT tax system for individuals.

The Diminishing Returns Of Incentive Pay In Executive Compensation Contracts, Gregg D. Polsky, Andrew Lund

Scholarly Works

For the past 30 years, the conventional wisdom has been that executive compensation packages should include very large proportions of incentive pay. This incentive pay orthodoxy has become so firmly entrenched that the current debates about executive compensation simply take it as a given. We argue, however, that in light of evolving corporate governance mechanisms, the marginal net benefit of incentive-laden pay packages is both smaller than appreciated and getting smaller over time. As a result, the assumption that higher proportions of incentive pay are beneficial is no longer warranted.

A number of corporate governance mechanisms have evolved to duplicate …

The Long-Term Impact Of A Loyalty Program: An Evaluation From A Las Vegas Casino Hotel, Myongjee Yoo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Loyalty programs are popular marketing strategies intended to attract, maintain, and enhance customer relationships. Despite the widespread usage of loyalty programs across various businesses, its effectiveness has not been well validated. Few empirical studies attempted to evaluate the value of loyalty programs but the findings have been conflicting with each other. Given the competitive climate of such a highly saturated competitive market of the hospitality industry, it is meaningful for hospitality marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of loyalty programs to increase customer retention and profitability. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a hospitality …

Digital Distance And Economic Development In Southeast Asia, Patricia Hornback

Faculty Publications - George Fox Digital

In the global financial system the economic strength, competency, and development of national economies and populations is significantly affected by the availability and use of Information Communication Technology (ICT). While the wealthier, industrialized nations enjoy the widest availability and use of these key technologies, the capacity and access to ICT is limited in developing nations and least developed countries (LDCs). Consequently, the lack of technology in many Southeast Asian countries may contribute significantly to their status as underdeveloped nations with impoverished economies and populations. This study explores the extent to which key social, economic, ethnolinguistic and infrastructure indicators outlined in …

Promoting Innovation In Hospitality Companies Through Human Resource Management Practices, Song Chang, Yaping Gong, Cass Shum

Hospitality Faculty Research

In this study, we investigate how hospitality companies can promote incremental and radical innovation through human resource management practices (i.e., selection and training). Data from 196 independent hotels and restaurants operating in the People’s Republic of China show that hiring multi-skilled core customer-contact employees and training core customer-contact employees for multiple skills both have a significant and positive effect on incremental and radical innovation among hotel and restaurant companies. The two human resource management practices are also found to have a negative joint impact on incremental but not radical innovation. The implications for promoting innovation in hospitality companies are discussed.

Mountain Monitor-3rd Quarter 2011, Mark Muro, Kenan Fikri

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic recovery in the Intermountain West’s major metropolitan areas edged forward in the third quarter of 2011, after idling for much of the year. Nationally, high technology and automotive-oriented metros showed the strongest signs of recovery; in the Intermountain West, manufacturing-intensive and technology-oriented metros had the strongest quarter. Employment and output grew in most metropolitan areas, and the unemployment rate fell throughout the region. At the same time, the housing market freefall came to an end—or at least paused—across most of the region, as home prices ticked upwards for the first time since the Monitor began tracking recession and recovery. …

A Case Study Of The Rhetorical Styles And Content Used In Devising And Delivering A Workplace Intimate Partner Violence Awareness Program As An Example Of A Gender-Related Power Construct In A Private Sector Workplace With A Predominantly Male Workgroup, Kimberly Campbell

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This work examines what rhetorical approaches were used in the devising and delivery of workplace training materials that address intimate partner violence and gender-related power constructs in a predominantly male workplace and why these approaches were chosen. Specifically, this study analyzes the language used throughout the discourse for the purposes of determining how language can shape the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of the participants. The data was obtained using the qualitative methods of rhetorical analysis and interviewing. The materials were analyzed and this data was synthesized with the results of interviews with the author of the discourse. Supporting research examines …

An Expectancy Violations Theory Study Of Employee Satisfaction, Melissa Cleland

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study seeks to find what drives employee satisfaction using the expectancy violations theory. An exploration of the literature including Judee Burgoon’s expectancy violations theory against leadership credibility, narcissistic communication, and use of power are fully discussed. Ethnographic research is used to study a nonprofit organization, the three employees of Nonprofit XYZ were surveyed, interviewed, and observed over a two week period. The Executive Director of Nonprofit XYZ allowed full access to her office space and employees, however, didn’t participate in the study. The results of the study showed that employee satisfaction was a direct result of specific leadership attributes …