Business Commons^™

Quarterly Business Indicators 3rd Quarter 2013, Unl Bureau Of Business Research

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Quarterly Business Indicators for the 3rd quarter of 2013 show solid progress in the Lincoln, Nebraska economy. Improvements in the economy are broad-based.

The Lincoln MSA unemployment rate remains at year ago levels (Figure 1) but is still half of the U.S. rate (Figure 2). Lincoln is experiencing solid labor market growth. Non-farm employment grew by 1.5% in the Lincoln MSA between the 3rd quarter of 2012 and 2013, which is slightly below the 1.7% growth rate nationwide (Figure 4). However, average hours worked rose by 0.4% in the Lincoln MSA over the last year (Figure 8) versus a …

State Antitakeover Laws And Voluntary Disclosure, Yijiang Zhao, Arthur Allen, Iftekhar Hasan

School of Accountancy: Faculty Publications

We test the relationship between takeover protection and voluntary disclosure in a setting of antitakeover laws in a firm’s state of incorporation. After correcting for the endogeneity of firms’ incorporation choices, we find that firms incorporated in states with more antitakeover laws have higher levels of voluntary disclosure and stock market liquidity. Further tests do not support shareholder demands being the driving force for this association. Our findings are consistent with takeover protection and poor disclosure serving as substitute mechanisms for deterring takeovers. Therefore, as antitakeover statutes mitigate takeover threats, they enhance managers’ incentives to disclose more in order to …

The Effects Of Procedural Injustice, Rebecca B. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to test for the existence of procedural injustice (PIJ) in the audit environment and its effect on junior auditor's reporting of time and level of skeptical action. This dissertation theorizes that the conflicting forces between junior auditors' ethical beliefs, formal firm policies forbidding the underreporting of chargeable time (URT), and implicit encouragement from managers to engage in URT result in a unique aspect of the audit environment, PIJ, because entry-level auditors perceive these conflicting beliefs and messages as unfair. In this study, PIJ is defined as the inverse of procedural justice, which is the …

Investigating Virtual Worlds, Patricia D. Sobczak

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The global phenomena of online gaming engages millions of people, some playing over 45 hours a week - the equivalent of a second full-time job. Our children are logging over 10,000 hours of gaming time before they are 21 years old; the equivalent of the time children spend in formal classrooms from grades five through 12. Players in one of the most popular online games have logged over 5.3 million years of play time since 2004.

These statistics show that virtual worlds, including online games, have become an important component of modern culture, but their impact on society has yet …

Barriers To Successful Entrepreneurship For Women In Ukraine, John Johnson

2010-2016 Archived Posters

Ukraine is an Eastern European country of about 50 million people with a well-educated and skilled labor force. After Ukraine declared its independence from the former Soviet Union it made real progress in shifting towards a free-market economy and democratization. However, many critical problems still remain to be solved. Among them, women in business in Ukraine cope with stereotypes and other issues which often create insurmountable obstacles toward the success of their business endeavors.

Exploring Best Practice Skills To Predict Uncertainties In Venture Capital Investment Decision-Making, David Arthur Blum

Presidential Alumni Research Dissemination Award

Algae biodiesel is the sole sustainable and abundant transportation fuel source that can replace petrol diesel use; however, high competition and economic uncertainties exist, influencing independent venture capital decision making. Technology, market, management, and government action uncertainties influence competition and economic uncertainties in the venture capital industry. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the best practice skills at IVC firms to predict uncertainty between early and late funding stages. The basis of the study was real options theory, a framework used to evaluate and understand the economic and competition uncertainties inherent in natural resource investment and …

Crisis And Criticism: Duke University And The Failures Of The Lacrosse Case, William L. Anderson, Amit Shah

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

Duke University was roiled in the spring of 2006 with allegations that members of the university’s lacrosse team had raped a stripper hired to perform at a team party. The charges turned out to be false, and early in the process, a number of people in key positions at Duke and in the City of Durham, North Carolina, knew the charges were not true, yet the process of indictments and charges went on. This paper critically examines the conduct of the Duke administration during the crisis which ended when North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper declared he was dropping charges …

Gifts Of Interests In Family Limited Partnerships And Family Limited Liability Companies: Qualifying For The Annual Exclusion, Wayne Nix, Mark Morgan Phd

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

This article addresses IRS challenges related to gifts of interests in FBEs. The IRS may challenge the valuation of the FLP and FLLC interests based on the use of minority and lack of marketability discounts. The IRS may also attack the annual exclusion claimed for gifts of interests in FBEs. Recent tax cases (Hackl, Price andothers) provide guidance which may help donors address IRS challenges andqualify for the annual exclusion. This article concludes with a discussion of suggestions to help shield FBE gifts from attacks by the IRS. With careful planning donors can reach tax planning goals as well as …

A Look Back At The Education Tax Incentives Of 1997 And 2001 - Concerns And The Actual Impact, Teresa K. Lang, Rita C. Jones

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 provided multiple tax subsidies to help individuals afford higher education. The Senate passed six similar proposals from 1967 to 1978, but all were voted down by Congress because legislators considered the subsidies too costly, complex, and inefficient. A decade later, this study considers whether the original opposition correctly predicted the downside of the education tax subsidies.The findings are: 1) lost revenues were less than predicted and this might even be lessened over time by having a more highly educated workforce earning higher incomes …

Regional Jet Aircraft Competitiveness: Challenges And Opportunities, Tamilla Curtis, Dawna L. Rhoades, Blaise P. Waguespack Jr.

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

The regional jet aircraft is a unique market niche. Particularly suitable for providing capacity in the 30 to 90 seat range, these jets are often used to connect smaller airports to network carrier hubs, as well as to fill in during slow periods. The market is currently dominated by two manufacturers: Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. Due to the nature of the global aircraft industry, Embraer and Bombardier are largely dependent on the international sale of their aircraft for steady revenue streams. Orders and deliveries of aircraft with fewer than 100 seats have grown rapidly over the past ten years. …

Accounting For Product Substitution In The Analysis Of Food Taxes Targeting Obesity, Zhen Miao, John C. Beghin, Helen H. Jensen

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

We extend the existing literature on food taxes targeting obesity. We systematically incorporate the implicit substitution between added sugars and solid fats into a comprehensive food demand system and evaluate the effect of taxes on sugars and fats. The approach conditions how food and obesity taxes affect total calorie intake. The proposed methodology accounts for the ability of consumers to substitute leaner low-fat and low-sugar items for rich food items within the same food group. This substitution is integrated into a calibrated demand system in addition to the substitution among food groups, using recent food intake data and existing demand …

Learning About The Local Labor Market, R. Vogt, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph Cantrell

Rural Futures Institute: Publications

Several communities in took part in a community process called Marketing Hometown America. They learned how to capitalize on their strengths and tell the story of their communities.

An Evaluation Of Online Vs. Face-To-Face Instruction: An Experimental Study Using Learning Goal Assessment Measurement In An Mba Marketing Class, Santanu Borah

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

No abstract provided.

A Case Of Fraud: Phoenix House, Charles J. Russo Phd, Lasse Martins Phd, Charles L. Martin

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

This is an actual case that has been, as noted when reading the postscript, only partially resolved. Therefore the name and location of the facility as well as the names of the employees have been changed. The case has also been classroom tested in a graduate auditing class where the students found this case to be more relevant to their own situations rather than many of the cases involving large corporations. The case involves a HUD funded independent living facility for senior citizens. The facility is run by a handful of employees who report to a director who in turn …

The Year-End Effect In Money Market Yields: Beyond One Month And Beyond The Crisis, Vladimir Kotomin

Faculty Publications – Finance, Insurance, and Law

U.S. money market yields up to one month have shown changes consistent with year-end liquidity preferences. I find that three- and six-month negotiable certificate of deposit (CD), Eurodollar deposit (ED), and banker’s acceptance (BA) yields are also affected by year-end liquidity preferences. Two- and three-month financial commercial paper (CP) yield changes are less pronounced. Banks – CD, ED, and BA issuers – have increased year-end liquidity needs, unlike finance companies – predominant CP issuers. The year-end effect disappears after the 2007-2008 crisis as depositories’ cash holdings increase. CD, ED, and CP yields diverge post-crisis, suggesting that investors no longer consider …

A Comparison Of Control Charting Applications For Variable Sample Sizes In Service Processes, Alan Chow, Ameina Tressler, Kelly C. Woodford

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

Over the last several decades, quality improvement approaches and applications have expanded beyond the manufacturing floor to other areas of the operation. In more recent years, service industries have embraced the concepts of continuous improvement and six sigma as well. In applying the quality tools to service processes, challenges have developed in making the transition from factory volume production rates and the sometimes more variable activity rates of services

Survey Research Response Rates: Internet Technology Vs. Snail Mail, Patricia A. Lanier, John R. Tanner, Michael W. Totaro

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

According to Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys, the percentage of U. S. adults online has increased from 40-45% in March 2000 to 70-80% in December 2009 (see http://www.pewinternet.org). A significant percentage increase such as this suggests a concomitant increase in response rates for online survey research. The implications of increased response rates for online survey research as compared with the more traditional “snail mail” approach should lead to enhanced optimism for academic researchers in the various business disciplines, who, quite often, rely heavily on survey data for research purposes. A 1998-1999 study compared accounting academicians’ response rates of …

An Exploration Of The Associations Among Corporate Sustainability Performance, Corporate Governance, And Corporate Financial Performance, Wenxiang Lu

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance and corporate sustainability performance (CSP), the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and corporate financial performance (CFP), and whether corporate governance moderates the CSP-CFP relationship. Corporate governance plays an important role in monitoring and counselling management's decision making including strategic sustainability investing. The study analyzes a sample of over 400 of the largest U.S. companies to examine corporate sustainability performance and corporate governance jointly. Four attributes of boards of directors are examined: board size, board independence, CEO duality, and female directors. The results show that all four board attributes are positively associated with …

Hire For Personality, Train For Skill: The Relationship Between Cognitive And Non-Cognitive Human Capital, Desired Employee Behaviors, And Performance, Brian Martinson

Management Dissertations - Archive

This study proposes to examine the relationship between cognitive and noncognitive human capital and work performance as mediated by desired employee behaviors. The study will also explore the moderating effects of high performance work practices (HPWPs) on this relationship. The goal of this study is to explain the distal relationship between human capital and firm performance through the more proximal relationship of the human resources practices used to manage human capital by activating individual employee behaviors. The study uses the individual level inputs of knowledge, skills, abilities, personality, and values, combined with application of HPWPs to test a set of …

Tmt Characteristics That Position Family Firms For Success: Examining The Effects Of Human Capital, Non-Familiness, Entrepreneurial Orientation, And Transactive Memory Systems, Drake Stevenson Mullens

Management Dissertations - Archive

Entrepreneurship is critical to family firm growth, profitability, and survival (Zahra 2005); however, entrepreneurship remains understudied in the family business context (Zahra and Sharma, 2004). Limited extant research suggests family firms act less entrepreneurially than their non-family counterparts but performance enhancements result from entrepreneurial actions (Litz and Klesen, 2001). Consequently, I explored the effects of human capital and non-familiness in the top management team on the group's transactive memory system (Wegner, 1987) and the organization's entrepreneurial orientation. In my sample, human capital in the top management team was positively related to the team's transactive memory system. Similarly, human capital was …

Want To Enroll In A Mooc? No Thanks, My Professors Have Their Own Videos, Enda Mcgovern, Arne Baruca

Marketing Faculty Publications (Archived)

Purpose: The paper explores how professors, in adopting short digital video lectures as a complementary teaching platform outside the classroom, could better enhance the learning experience for digital natives, i.e. millennial students, in challenging the growth of massive open online courses (MOOC). Specifically, the use of personalized, class-specific, video content made available on YouTube, in which the professor-of-record appears, is examined as a complementary learning platform for students required to read textbook material in preparation for class discussions.

Method / Design and Sample: Students were required to view class-specific digital videos on YouTube and thereafter complete a questionnaire to examine …

The Use Of Financial Statements To Predict The Stock Market Effects Of Systemic Crises, Mohammad Yahia Almakrami

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 had divesting effects around the globe. Many financial institutions and government officials failed to see the build up of problems predicting the crisis and hence failed to take actions to keep the crisis from breaking out. Thus, it is important to see if the emerging problems could have been identified in advance in order to develop types of analysis that could help us avoid future crises. A full investigation of such possibilities will require many different studies taking different approaches. This dissertation contributes to that collective effort by investigating the extent to which balance sheet …

Appreciative Inquiry Summits And Organizational Knowledge Creation: A Social Systems Perspective, Emi Makino

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory study is to develop alternative models for analyzing the systems dynamics of a large group conference format called appreciative inquiry (AI) summits. I apply Luhmann’s social systems theory to the strategizing activities of AI summits to examine how this particular format is capable of generating organizational knowledge. An AI summit is a strategic planning conference in which hundreds of internal and external stakeholders collectively design the future of the organization through structured activities. It applies the principles of AI, a consulting method used in organizational development that attends to the positive aspects of an organization …

Annual Report 2012-2013, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Annual Reports: 1943 - Present

This file contains the Annual Report for the library from 2012-2013.

The Effect Of National Culture On Entrepreneurs’ Networks: A Comparison Of The Mena Region And Denmark, Hadia Fakhreldin, Hazbo Skoko, Maryam Cheraghi

Business Administration

This study examines the effect of cultural variables on entrepreneurs’ networks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries and Denmark. Using data collected by the GEM surveys and clustered for the purpose of this research, analysis is undertaken on the effect of cultural variables on entrepreneurs’ private networks in addition to their work, professional, market and international networks. The major cultural contrast in the empirical analysis is between Denmark and the MENA countries. Traditionalism dominates in the MENA region while secular-rationalism pervades Denmark: trust is widespread in Denmark, but more limited to family members in MENA; and …

Managing Inventory In Global Supply Chains Facing Port-Of-Entry Disruption Risks, Alan Erera, Maciek Nowak, Chelsea White

Information Systems and Operations Management: Faculty Publications & Other Works

Ports-of-entry are critical components of the modern international supply chain infrastructure, particularly container seaports and airfreight hubs. The potential operational and economic impact resulting from their temporary closure is unknown, but is widely believed to be very significant. This paper investigates one aspect of this potential impact, focusing specifically on the use of supply chain inventory as a risk mitigation strategy for a one supplier, one customer system in which goods are transported through a port-of-entry subject to temporary closures. Closure likelihood and duration are modeled using a completely observed, exogenous Markov chain. Order lead times are dependent on the …

The Role Of Human Capital In Scaling Social Entrepreneurship, Dawn Harris, Yasemin Kor

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this article, we discuss the importance of human assets in growing and scaling a social venture in order to achieve its objectives and attain financial sustainability. We focus on the three key dimensions of how a social enterprise’s human assets contribute to the effectiveness of the company’s operations and its missions: 1) human capital acquisition, 2) human capital development, and 3) human capital retention. In discussing and unpacking these three dimensions, we draw from rich insights and real- life examples from two social ventures we studied: Solar Sister of Uganda and E-Health Point of India. These inductively-generated research insights …

Skin Cancer - Education And Prevention: The Role Of Social Marketing, Tim Crowley

Theses

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland and worldwide. Skin cancer rates have been steadily rising in recent times. The high use of sunbeds in both Ireland and the UK is quite worrisome. Skin cancer is caused by over exposure to UV rays or through the use of sunbeds and as a result it is actually a highly preventable disease. It is estimated that 90-95% of all skin cancers are preventable. This thesis focuses on the use of social marketing in order to educate people on the dangers of skin cancer with the eventual aim of making recommendations …

Individual Human Capital And Performance: An Empirical Study In Thailand, Pakorn Sujchaphong

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

According to the resource-based view of the firm, human capital is a source of sustained competitive advantage of the firm (McMahan, Virick, & Wright, 1999; Wright & McMahan, 1992; Wright, McMahan, & McWilliams, 1994; Wright & McMahan, 2011). Based on micro-foundations, it is essential that one must begin with and understand the individuals that make up the organization before exploring it at the organizational level (Felin & Foss, 2005; Wright & McMahan, 2011). Hence, this study focuses on the individual level of human capital. The first research question of this study is "How does human capital affect the performance of …

Overvaluation And Stock Price Crashes: The Effects Of Earnings Management, Qunfeng Liao

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

Prior literature has shown that managers have incentives to opportunistically and selectively withhold bad news from investors because of career concerns, compensation contracts, litigation risks, earnings targets, and empire building. In their 2006 paper, Jin and Myers develop the “Bad News Hoarding” theory which suggests that when managers conceal bad news for extended periods of time, negative information is likely to get stockpiled within the firm. When managers’ incentives for hiding bad news collapse or when the accumulation of bad news reaches a critical threshold level, all of the hitherto undisclosed negative firm-specific shocks become public at once, resulting in …