Business Commons^™

Ensuring Contraceptive Security Through Effective Supply Chains, Moazzam Ali

Reproductive Health

Establishing and maintaining well-functioning supply chains that meet the needs of public and private sectors, as well as health professionals at all levels in family planning programs, will play a critical role in reducing unmet need for modern contraception in low and middle income countries. This evidence brief identifies two evidence-based solutions to address the challenges faced by these countries: increasing the visibility of product flows and user demand, and leveraging the expertise of the private and public sector to ensure a total market approach to supply-chain management. Strengthening the capacity of public and private-sector family planning providers and managers …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Herhealth Model For Improving Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights Knowledge And Access Of Female Garment Factory Workers In Bangladesh, Md. Irfan Hossain, Abdullah Al Mahmud Shohag, Ashish Bajracharya, Ubaidur Rob, Laura Reichenbach

Reproductive Health

The Population Council, under its USAID-funded Evidence Project, partnered with Bangladesh’s Business for Social Responsibility program to conduct operational research to evaluate the effectiveness of the HERhealth model for improving female factory workers’ health, and to find ways to optimize program inputs and processes to support future scale-up of the intervention. This report presents findings from a pre- and post-intervention quantitative study of female factory workers from 10 factories; a qualitative study with factory managers, service providers, and implementing partners; and self-administered retention assessments of the Peer Health Educators from six factories in Dhaka, Gazipur, and Narayanganj districts. Findings from …

Evaluation Of The Herhealth Intervention In Bangladesh: Baseline Findings From An Implementation Research Study, Md. Irfan Hossain, Abdullah Al Mahmud Shohag, Ashish Bajracharya, Ubaidur Rob, Laura Reichenbach

Reproductive Health

The Business for Social Responsibility's (BSR) HERproject is a collaborative initiative that strives to empower low-income women working in global supply chains in 14 countries worldwide. One of the HERproject’s three pillars is HERhealth, which seeks to improve the health-related knowledge and behaviors, and access to health services and products, of low-income working women. In Bangladesh, HERhealth specifically addresses reproductive health and family planning needs. BSR asked the Evidence Project/Population Council to conduct an implementation science study assessing the effectiveness of BSR’s HERhealth model in Bangladesh. This study is one of the first studies of female garment workers in Dhaka …

Garment Sector Health Interventions In Cambodia: A Comprehensive Review, Molyaneth Heng, Ashish Bajracharya

Reproductive Health

As part of the WorkerHealth project, the Evidence Project/Population Council conducted a comprehensive review of garment sector health interventions, particularly reproductive health (RH) and family planning (FP)–focused projects, in Cambodia during the last five years. The results from the review support WorkerHealth’s objective of enabling evidence-based decisionmaking and programming related to the health and well-being of female garment factory workers in Cambodia, by documenting the range of garment sector health interventions and identifying best practices and gaps in programming and evaluation. This review identified a number of priority actions for current and future garment sector health interventions to consider in …

Health Needs, Health Seeking Pathways, And Drivers Of Health Seeking Behaviors Of Female Garment Factory Workers In Cambodia: Findings From A Qualitative Study In Phnom Penh And Kandal Provinces, Population Council, The Evidence Project

Reproductive Health

Existing information on Cambodian garment factory workers’ (GFWs) barriers to health services has generally come from project implementation documents or general baseline studies of these projects, rather than independent, rigorous studies that specifically examine the health needs and health-seeking behaviors of workers. Since previous studies did not include specific indicators related to workers’ health needs and health-seeking behaviors, they cannot offer a complete picture of these important issues. To fill this critical knowledge gap, in partnership with the National Institute of Public Health, the Evidence Project/Population Council conducted a formative qualitative study under the USAID-funded WorkerHealth project to improve the …

Workplace Health And The Garment Sector In Cambodia, Bunmey Yat, Carolyn Rodehau, David Wofford, Ashish Bajracharya

Reproductive Health

In Cambodia, there has been considerable investment in improving the well-being of factory workers. Understanding the key stakeholders and their roles in improving worker health is essential for policy change and ensuring that interventions achieve sustainable, long-term impact in and around the workplace. This policy brief presents selected findings from a stakeholder and situational analysis undertaken by the Cambodia Worker Health Coalition (WorkerHealth) to understand the stakeholder landscape and policy environment for women’s health in the garment industry in Cambodia, with the objective of identifying leading stakeholders and their relationships, as well as strategies and opportunities for collaboration. Collaboration and …

The Risk-Return Characteristics And Diversification Benefits Of Fine Wine Investment, Tania Salomon

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis evaluates the risk-return characteristics and diversification benefits of fine wine investment. It compares the historical performance of wine to that of equity, fixed income, real estate, and commodities. I calculate the correlation, volatility, and expected returns of these assets to examine whether adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return. I do this through the Markowitz portfolio optimization technique. The findings suggest that wine has a low correlation with traditional assets, providing diversification benefits. My results also show that adding wine to a portfolio increases its risk-adjusted return only when there is an allocation constraint of 0 …

Size, Functional Heterogeneity, And Teamwork Quality Predict Team Creativity And Innovation, Robert L. Dipboye

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Team size, heterogeneity, and an aggregate measure of teamwork quality predicted the effectiveness of organizational problem solving teams in generating ideas and obtaining the acceptance of management for these ideas. The results of regression analyses revealed that large teams generated more total and implemented ideas than smaller teams. In addition to more total and implemented ideas, teams with higher functional heterogeneity and teamwork quality generated more total and implemented ideas per member. Team size also moderated the effects of self-reported teamwork quality such that larger teams showed a stronger positive relation of teamwork quality with total and implemented ideas than …

Quest For Quality: Logistics Management In Vietnamese Local Sme, Vanessa Cao

ECU Posters

What are the key issues and problems facing local SME logistics companies in Vietnam and their main causes? How can Vietnamese local SME firms improve their capacity to compete against their foreign counterparts operating in Vietnam. Provides a quality framework for local companies.

Mobile Banking Adoption By Senior Citizens In Australia, Madugoda Gunaratnege Senali

ECU Posters

Mobile banking is technological innovation provided by banks to its customers to do their banking activities such as, viewing account balances, paying bills, transfer of funds and checking new offers and products through their smart phones by using mobile banking application. Though mobile banking has raised high expectations in research and practice, it neither experienced broad adoption nor allows it banks to realize additional earnings yet. This research aims to investigate the factors affecting the mobile banking adoption by senior citizens in Australia by using technology acceptance models. It's important to improve the mobile banking amongst senior Australians to enhance …

How Start-Up Accelerators Facilitate Innovation, Farzaneh Eslamloo

ECU Posters

In today’s economy, innovation is the strategic driving force in getting unique opportunities and adding value to knowledge assets. Many countries, to compete and to adapt themselves to the complexity of the new world, try to be innovative and continuously upgrade their knowledge along with changes happened in the environment. Theses countries consider innovation as the key strategy in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and making continuous improvement in their structures, processes, and programs. The interesting thing about start-up accelerator centres that is the main interest of my research is that they try to respond to the demand shaped in the …

Distance To Default, Viet Dung Dinh

ECU Posters

This poster covers default risk and the significance of the Distance to Default (DD) model in predicting financial distress for 6 countries in the ASEAN region.

Impact Of Us Low Cost Carriers Entrance To The Airline Market In Colombia, South America, Carolina Anderson, Tamilla Curtis, Robert F. Moss, Maryjo O. Smith, Gerson Mey

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This study researched the impact of US low cost carriers’ entrance to the airline market in Colombia, South America. The study analyzed the overall market share between Florida and Colombia after U.S. low cost carriers entered the market and finds that the market share for the Colombian flag carrier Avianca and U.S. legacy carrier American Airlines, who used to dominate this market, has decreased; however, the total passenger demand has increased. This increase in passenger demand can be attributed in part to U.S. low cost carriers opening new city pairs and allowing passengers to fly direct to the U.S. from …

Senior Leaders Create It: A Supportive Environment, The Missing Link To Effective Leadership Development, Dartanian Warr

Student Scholarship

Senior leaders from the C-suite to directors are looking for the next generation of leaders ready to lead their organizations into the 21st century. They invest billions in the professional development of this next generation only to lament in board meetings about the dearth of talent. There is research that leadership competencies can be taught but what is learned is soon forgotten once the class or experience has ended (Day, 2001). Human resource professional put policies and procedures in place, yet the learning still seems to ebb. So, what is going on? Some have suggested that the missing element is …

Gendering Migration Determinants: A Phenomenological Analysis Of Professional Immigrant Women From India, Noreen Ohlrich

Theses and Dissertations

The economic contributions of highly qualified (HQ) labor migrants from developing countries fuel the global talent race. The problem is that little is known about the women in this sought out talent pool. This phenomenological study addressed this neglected gendered dimension by exploring how professional Asian Indian women experienced the following aspects of international migration: (a) gendering international mobility, (b) women and the race for global talent, (c) policies and the labor market, (d) cultural stigma, (e) brain drain versus diaspora networks, and (f) the Asian Indian woman paradox.

Professional Asian Indian women from greater Frankfurt am Main, Germany were …

نظرة تقويمية لجولات التراخيص النفطية, حيدر حسين عذافه

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

لقد برزت الحاجة الملحة للاستثمار في القطاع النفطي بعد عام 2003 وذلك لانخفاض معدلات الإنتاج اليومية، إذ انها لم تتجاوز في أحسن الأحوال 2.5 مليون برميل يومياً، فضلا عن كونه القطاع الوحيد الذي يرفد الموازنة بالتدفقات النقدية، التي تمثل عصب وشريان الحياة الاقتصادية في العراق. ان الإيرادات النفطية متمثلةً بعنصري الكمية المنتجة وسعرها، يعد فيها الأخير عنصراً متغيراً خارجياً لا يمكن التحكم فيه، على الرغم من وجود شبه اجماع بين المنتجين والمستهلكين للنفط، بان أسعار النفط غير مناسبة لكلا الطرفين، جعلت منه قيداً على طبيعة العقود المبرمة ضمن جولات التراخيص، التي ابرمت من اجل زيادة معدلات الإنتاج، والتي أبرزت ضرورة …

قياس دالة التكاليف لتحديد الحجم الأمثل للإنتاج (دراسة مشاريع تربية الدواجن في محافظة المثنى), مقداد جاسم عبد

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

يهدف البحث إلى دراسة واقع تكاليف إنتاج فروج اللحم وتحديد الحجم الأمثل للإنتاج لمشاريع إنتاج فروج اللحم في محافظة المثنى ,إذ مثلت نسبة عينة المجتمع الى المجتمع الكلي نحو (15%). وتعد من المشاريع الممثلة للدراسة، وأوضحت نتائج البحث ان تكلفة شراء الافراخ شكلت نسبة كبيرة من بنود التكاليف الكلية ثم تليها الأجور والمصاريف وتتبعها أجور الادوية واللقاحات بأقل نسبة وتوصي الدراسة بضرورة دعم المنتجين بتوفير الاعلاف وبأسعار مدعومة وتوجيه المنتجين من خلال إقامة الندوات والمؤتمرات لغرض السيطرة على الامراض وبالتعاون مع دائرة البيطرة في المحافظة ودعم المنتجين من خلال إعطاء القروض لغرض زيادة الإنتاج وتوفير معامل الاعلاف والمناهل وجميع المستلزمات …

اطار مقترح لتطبيق الموازنة الصفرية لتطوير الاداء المالي (دراسة تحليلية لآراء عينة من دوائر محافظة المثنى ), حيدر عباس عبد

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

سعت هذه الدراسة الى بيان مدى الاستفادة من تطبيق نظام الموازنة الصفرية كأحد أدوات الرقابة على الاداء المالي للوحدات الحكومية الخدمية التي تطبق النظام المحاسبي الحكومي في معالجة الازمات المالية التي يمر بها البلد حالياً وذلك من خلال التطبيق على عينة من دوائر محافظة المثنى (جامعة المثنى ,دائرة الصحة , ومديرية التربية). وقد هدفت الدراسة تحديد مدى توفر متطلبات تطبيق الموازنة الصفرية في الوحدات الحكومية وبيان أثر تطبيق الموازنة الصفرية في تحسين الاداء المالي في الوحدات الحكومية عينة البحث تجاه تطبيق الموازنة الصفرية واهميتها ومحاولة وضع اطار مقترح لتطبيق الموازنة الصفرية ، ولتحقيق أهداف الدراسة لقد صمم الباحث استمارة استبانة …

A Fuzzy Logic-Based Approach For Assessing The Quality Of Business Process Models, Fadwa Yahya, Khouloud Boukadi, Hanêne Ben Abdallah, Zakaria Maamar

All Works

Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved. Similar to software products, the quality of a Business Process model is vital to the success of all the phases of its lifecycle. Indeed, a high quality BP model paves the way to the successful implementation, execution and performance of the business process. In the literature, the quality of a BP model has been assessed through either the application of formal verification, or most often the evaluation of quality metrics calculated in the static and/or simulated model. Each of these assessment means addresses different quality characteristics …

Abusive Supervision Detection As Part Of Venture Capital Due Diligence Of Management, David Blum

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Abusive supervision (AS) costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars per year in lost productivity, increased absenteeism, and health care costs. To reduce these costs and to enhance the probability of a successful exist, independent venture capitalists (IVCs) need to be aware of the issue of AS among the management team during the due-diligence process. This study addresses a gap in literature related to IVCs being able to detect AS during due-diligence process of the management team. The research question was this: What tools, processes, and methods can IVCs use to detect AS during the due-diligence process of the management team? …

Strategies To Retain Millennial Employees At Full-Service Restaurants, Candace A. Ruiz, Anne Davis

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Some supervisors lack effective strategies to retain millennial-generation employees. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore effective strategies to retain culinary-educated millennial employees in a full-service restaurant. Nine millennials and three supervisors from three full-service restaurants in Denver, Colorado, consented to semistructured interviews concerning retention strategies. Herzberg’s two-factor theory served to guide the scope and the data analysis for the multicase study. Ten subcategories emerged from the three themes that aligned with Herzberg’s motivation factors, hygiene factors, and millennial values and attitudes. The 10 subcategories were developed suggesting effective strategies differ by supervisor. Among the 10 subcategories, the …

The Papal Encyclical Laudato Si’: A Focus On Sustainability Attentive To The Poor, Ann-Marie Kennedy, Nicholas J. C. Santos

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

This article seeks to reflect upon Laudato Si’, the papal encyclical on ecology and sustainable development, and uncover its apparent philosophical and practical approach to the environment. It begins with a discussion of paradigms of thought that outline the new ecological paradigm (NEP) suggested in the ecological literature, thereby helping to situate the ecosophy of Laudato Si’ within current thought. As we will show, Laudato Si’ differs from the NEP by linking the poor to our approach to sustainability and in its consideration of integral ecology. Specific principles for sustainability in business are then identified and strategic approaches are recommended, …

Mandatory Audit Firm And Audit Partner Rotation, Qianwen Rong

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Tax Transparency And Corporate Tax Avoidance, Taylor Witkiewicz

Honors Theses and Capstones

This analysis will look into the emerging global trend for increased tax transparency from large businesses and corporations. Tax transparency has been a growing topic globally and there has been some recent progress in several countries. This analysis will begin by looking into the motivation behind increasing the amount of transparency around a business’ tax affairs. After exploring some key driving factors, a few of the new major tax initiatives and the details encompassed in them will be discussed. The specific countries that will be focused on are the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Overall, this analysis is …

Making A Difference: The Impact Of Corporate Ethical Behavior On Consumers In The Beauty Industry, Paige M. Gould

Honors Theses and Capstones

Over the years, the cosmetic industry has struggled with a variety of ethical issues. This research examines the effects of these unethical practices on consumers’ perceptions and judgements. More specifically, do consumers consider ethical issues when evaluating cosmetics? Can consumers’ ethical perceptions and decision making be influenced? If so, are heuristic appeals or systematic appeals more persuasive? The results of this study indicate that unless prompted, most consumers do not consider ethical issues when purchasing cosmetics. The study also found that both heuristic and systematic appeals were effective in influencing general industry perceptions, but only the systematic appeal was successful …

Three Essays On Capital Structure And Product Market Interactions, Ying Zheng

Theses and Dissertations

Capital structure can have important consequences for firm value. High leverage increases firms’ probability of bankruptcy, and is shown to be the primary cause of financial distress. As suggested by a strand of literature on capital structure and product market interactions, high leverage is costly because financial weakness could induce unfavorable actions by product market participants such as customers and competitors. While the costs of high leverage are well documented in the extant literature, little is known on the factors that influence the costs of high leverage. This dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by examining how the costs …

Consumer Response To Increases In The State Cigarette Tax, Patrick Nolan

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In this paper I look at consumer responsiveness to the cigarette tax. Cigarette taxes are motivated by wanting to raise money for the state and wanting to deter smoking in the state’s population. Obviously reducing smoking in the population would reduce the externalities caused by smoking. We know the health effects are completely detrimental to the consumer, and detrimental to those around them. In addition to this we know that tobacco is an addictive substance, meaning than is inherently extremely inelastic.

To find on how consumers respond to tax increases I conducted a difference in difference analysis of tax revenue …

An Examination Of Nonprofit Lobbying Expenditures, Danielle Middleton

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Nonprofit organizations are characterized by both their programmatic and advocacy activity. Nonprofits are called on not only to provide essential services for many citizens, but also to advocate on the behalf of the issues impacting the populations they serve. An important advocacy activity engaged in by nonprofits is lobbying which is defined as communication directed at a legislative body with the intent to influence a legislative outcome (Raffa, 2000). Nonprofit lobbying is regulated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which ensures that lobbying does not constitute a substantial part of a nonprofit’s budget. Statistics show that few nonprofits report lobbying …

Empowering Women For Economic Growth: A Measurement Of Social And Demographic Impacts On Afghan Women In Business, Tracy Taylor

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Non-governmental organizations working in conflict-prone, resource-deprived developing countries face a very unique set of challenges. Like with other non-profits, program dollars and other resources must be allocated carefully and thoughtfully so the maximum output is achieved with the inputs allotted. Unlike other non-profits, however, the political, social, and economic environment is constantly changing in developing countries like Afghanistan. Basic human needs are not being met, leaving the path to NGO program success fraught with seemingly impossible challenges. This is the case for Peace Through Business, a training and development program serving women entrepreneurs in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Peace Through Business seeks …

Are The Fama French Factors Treated As Risk? Evidence From Ceo Compensation, Jeremy Bertomeu, Edwige Cheynel, Michelle Liu-Watts

Olin Business School Faculty Research

Asset pricing theory postulates that a risk factor correlates with individuals’ marginal utility of consumption. Hence, under plausible preferences, individuals should become more risk tolerant given favorable factor returns. We show that this wealth effect predicts a positive association be- tween performance pay and factor returns. Our results support the hypothesized relationship for the market, book-to-market and momentum factors. Factors constructed from bond prices are positively associated to incentives, incrementally to the Fama French factors, but we obtain mixed evidence for higher-order market factors, liquidity factors or factors constructed from national income accounts, including pricing kernels. This paper develops a …