Business Commons^™

Business Computing And Quantitative Analysis Bus 113, Andree Rathemacher

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Between Developed And Emerging Markets: Globalization Of Large Consumer Good Enterprises, Christine Savino Ms.

Honors Scholar Theses

A few years ago, The Economist promulgated that “the only way that companies can prosper in [emerging] markets is to cut costs relentlessly and accept profit margins close to zero” (The Economist, 2010). Likewise, according to the World Bank’s 2018 Ease of Doing Business Index[1], the least ranked countries (#94 and under out of 190 countries) are solely undeveloped and developing, while the top 20 countries are solely developed economies (World Bank, 2018). It has been long held that emerging markets[2][3] are non-strategic investments for multinational expansion, and that business giants from …

Open Source Foundations For Spatial Decision Support Systems, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) were a hot topic in the 1990s, when researchers tried to imbue GIS with additional decision support features. Successful practical developments such as HAZUS or CommunityViz have since been built, based on commercial desktop software and without much heed for theory other than what underlies their process models. Others, like UrbanSim, have been completely overhauled twice but without much external scrutiny. Both the practical and the theoretical foundations of decision support systems have developed considerably over the past 20 years. This article presents an overview of these developments and then looks at what corresponding tools …

Simulations Illustrate Flaw In Inflation Models, Peter L. D'Antonio Ph.D.

Faculty Works: Business (1973-2022)

This study questions the basic assumption of standard inflation models that there are only two forces driving price changes - underlying inflation and short-term noise. Specifically, the paper analyzes the distributions of individual price changes to shed light on an apparent contradiction: individual price changes are extremely dispersed, while measured inflation, the aggregate of individual price changes, remains relatively steady. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the standard inflation model is inconsistent with this observation. The author reintroduces a new inflation model that explicitly accounts for the possibility of a third price-change driver - long-term sector-specific forces. Simulations show that the …

Cost Performance Index Stability: Insights From Environmental Remediation Projects, Denis S. Clayson, Edward D. White, Alfred E. Thal Jr.

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of the cost performance index (CPI) for environmental remediation projects as the topic is not addressed in the literature. CPI is defined as the earned value of work performed divided by the actual cost of the work, and CPI stability represents the point in time in a project after which the CPI varies by less than 20 percent (measured in different ways).

Gender Difference In Equity Crowdfunding: An Exploratory Analysis, Ross Malaga, Stanislav Mamonov, Janet Rosenblum

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: Title II of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act aims to make it easier for new ventures to raise funds from accredited investors via equity crowdfunding. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether Title II equity crowdfunding represents an opportunity for women-owned companies (those that have one or more female owners/founders) to raise capital at rates similar to companies owned by men. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conduct an exploratory analysis using a data set containing 6,234 Title II equity crowdfunded offerings aggregated across 17 crowdfunding platforms between September 2013 and December 2015. Findings: The authors find that women-owned …

Evaluating Event Effectiveness Across Alternate Platforms, Kristin Malek, Sarah Tanford, Seyhmus Baloglu

Hospitality Faculty Research

Organizations are rapidly adopting new technologies and have justified their return on investment by examining new attendee rates, “click throughs” on links, and company-specific metrics. Despite advances in technology and growing consumer dependence on electronics, the meeting and events industry has been slow to adopt IT advances for fear of cannibalization. The purpose of this study was to gather foundational knowledge of how various event platforms, such as face to face and online, can affect overall event effectiveness. Variables examined include attendee satisfaction, loyalty, and content retention. This research used a multimethod approach in which one experimental study and one …

Financial Evaluation For A Brazilian Airline To Conduct Aeronautical Components Repair In Brazil, Ana Moreno Sandoval, Enzo Canavesi Luizetto, Joao Paulo Panssiera, Klaus Goulart Brum

Graduate Student Works

The current economic world volatility, as well as the increasing cost of fuel and security procedures established by the worldwide authorities, force the air carriers to search for alternatives to reduce their operational costs. The maintenance costs are a significant subject for the air carriers, therefore, any cost reduction obtained without maintenance service disruption, may provide an opportunity to enhance the airline competitiveness (Fritzsche, 2014).

The purpose of this research is to evaluate and compare the technical and financial aspects of performing aircraft components repair in house for a Brazilian airline versus outsourcing the servicing to a homologated company outside …

Open Skies Agreement Between Brazil And The United States: Regulations, Alliances, Economic Impacts And A General Long Term Projection, Diego Alvim, Jose Simi, Mathias Gitahy, Rebecca Meadows

Graduate Student Works

This research has been developed based on the new United States and Brazil open skies agreement signed in 2018 with the goal to analyze regulations, alliances, economic impacts and a general long term projection. As a result, the model proposed indicates 14 potential new routes, 6 coming from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and 8 from other cities. The new routes create a new axis of air transport, with new direct flights programmed for the northeast, center-west and south regions. These new weekly frequencies allow an increase of 151 weekly frequencies between the two countries, going from the current …

The Impact Of The Miles Trade Business In The Brazilian Airline Industry, Daniela De Araujo Pereira, Evandro Magno Vianna Goncalves, Fabricio Benato Jeronimo, Renato Luiz Furquim De Mendonca Bellomo

Graduate Student Works

This study analyzes the impact of the Miles Trade business in the Brazilian airline industry. This is linked some factors: economy recession, cultural traces, legal flaws and new technologies that led to the creation and growth of the Miles Trade business in Brazil. The impacts over airlines are related to loyalty weakening between customers and airlines and revenue dilution due to the lower prices of air tickets sold in miles. This project analyzes the qualitative impacts using the SWOT analysis, Porter’s 5 forces, Cause and Effect Diagram and the quantitative impacts comparing public available information about the Miles Trade business …

Effects Of Mismanaged Condensed Project Life Cycles In The U.S. Consumer Ready Meat Industry, John E. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Projects have been undertaken by the United States (U.S.) consumer ready meat industry to advance strategic objectives and provide consumers with desired food products. The management of the projects’ industry life cycles was impacted by diverse consumer groups’ continual demands for new and varied products. The problem addressed was the inefficient management of projects’ costs, scopes, and deliverables because of the shortened projects’ life cycles for consumer ready processing lines in the U.S. meat industry. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects inefficient management of condensed project life cycles had on stakeholders and deliverables. This study used …

Assessing The Determinants Of Cross-Border Traveler Flows Between Canada And The United States, Tanja Armenski, Sean Clarke

TTRA Canada 2018 Conference

Canada and the US border accommodate the greatest portion of international cross-border traffic. Given its magnitude, the cross-border traffic is important for the national economies of both countries. There are, however, a number of factors that determine the volume of cross-border traffic.

This paper examines a number of economic, socioeconomic, and geopolitical determinants and their impact on the Canada-US car traffic between 2000 and 2017. Data are drawn from Frontier Counts. This is a database built by Statistics Canada from an extraction of administrative files comprising same-day and overnight car trips collected by Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA).

To explain …

How Might Servant Leadership Principles Impact Employee Turnover At A Solid Waste Management Firm?, Clifton Thacker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study analyzed the impact servant leadership had on employee turnover at an SWM firm. Many authors were reviewed with literature pertaining to leadership, servant leadership, and SWM. Multiple interviews were conducted with current personnel at an SWM firm that utilizes servant leadership in order to gain a better understanding of the experiences of these employees. The results of the study indicate that servant leadership has a profoundly positive impact on employee satisfaction and, consequently, decreased turnover. The researcher developed many themes based on data analysis, which included culture, accountability, support, and commitment.

The Rationale For Taxpayer Support For Primary Industry Research And Innovation In Western Australia, Ross Kingwell

Research Reports

During the 2000s a common view in government circles was that governments were over-investing in primary industry research and innovation. In agreement with this view, the Western Australian (WA) government lessened its support for primary industry research and innovation over the last decade. The impacts of this reduced support are seen clearly in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). In 2008–09 its agricultural staff count was 1518, yet by the end of 2017–18 this will be under 800, with remaining staff working mostly in regulation, biosecurity and corporate services rather than research. So great has been the …

Contextual Affordances Of Social Media, Clinical Prosess Changes And Health Service Outcomes, Haoran Zheng

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Never had consumers been empowered by information technologies such as social media-enabled portals that permit them to access and conduct all aspects of life and work activities through a mobile phone at any time from anywhere. WeChat, with over 963 million active monthly users, represents such a revolutionary platform. In healthcare, patients can use WeChat to make doctor appointments, access health and lab results, consult with doctors, and check on the queuing status and parking conditions in the health clinics and hospitals. Such social-media-enabled systems have transformed the relationships between consumers and businesses into a new paradigm in which the …

Strategic Signaling And New Technologically Superior Product Introduction: A Game-Theoretic Model With Simulation, Madjid Tavana, Debora Di Caprio, Francisco J. Santos-Arteaga

Business Systems and Analytics Faculty Work

User acceptance of technology is essential to determine its success. The current paper incorporates the main properties of the technology acceptance models (TAMs) developed by management scholars into a pre-commitment signaling duopolistic framework, where two competing firms must decide the level of technological improvement of the products being introduced. As a result, the corresponding equilibria of the duopolistic technological games will be determined by demand-based factors, providing a novel approach and complementing the current supply-based economic and operational research models developed in the literature. The proposed model will be simulated numerically to illustrate the strategic optimality of the update process …

Telling Your Story: Using Metrics To Display Your Value (H2), Wendy E. Moore, Thomas J. Striepe, Steve Lastres, Joy Shoemaker

Presentations

The American Bar Association, academic institutions, law firms, and governments are demanding more and more outcome-based performance. However, displaying these outcomes is difficult for law libraries. Law libraries possess an abundance of data, but determining which metrics will showcase your law library’s value and performance is difficult. Speakers from a law school, law firm, and court library will explain the different metrics they use to display their value to their stakeholders. After these short presentations, a “fishbowl” discussion will provide participants the chance to share and learn about different metrics and tools law libraries are using to best tell their …

Disposition Effect And Multi-Asset Market Dynamics, Heba M. Ezzat Dr.

Business Administration

Purpose – Asset pricing dynamics in a multi-asset framework when investors’ trading exhibits the disposition effect is studied. The purpose of this paper is to explore asset pricing dynamics and the switching behavior among multiple assets. Design/methodology/approach – The dynamics of complex financial markets can be best explored by following agent-based modeling approach. The artificial financial market is populated with traders following two heterogeneous trading strategies: the technical and the fundamental trading rules. By simulation, the switching behavior among multiple assets is investigated. Findings – The proposed framework can explain important stylized facts in financial time series, such as random …

The Effects Of It-Related Attributional Style In Voluntary Technology Training, Stanislav Mamonov, Marios Koufaris

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

IT training is firmly established as a key condition that influences successful technology adoption, yet little is known about factors that can affect voluntary training participation. We evaluate the predictive value of IT-related attributional style in relation to the intention to participate in voluntary training in the context of a mandatory enterprise resource planning system rollout. We find that individual IT-related attributional style is highly predictive of the intention to participate.

Understanding Crude Oil Spot And Futures Prices Dynamics During Major Crises, Miroslava Zavadska

Doctoral

This thesis examines crude oil, the dominant energy resource worldwide, its historical behaviour and the resulting implications for world economies. It analyses the role of spot and futures oil prices and their dynamics during periods of market uncertainty. The focus of attention is the understanding of the lead-lag relationship of crude oil spot and futures prices during major crises periods (the first Gulf War in 1990/91, the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98, the US terrorist attack in 2001 and the global financial crisis in 2008/9), and its implications for investors and policy-makers. The mix of applied econometric models gives strength …

Project Management And The Temporary Relocation Of The Decoupling Point: Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study, Christopher Hicks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigates, understands, and describes the value of engaging a project manager to support a customer-driven project that creates a random supply chain demand event. Specifically such an event would require the temporary re-positioning of the decoupling point between the supply push and demand pull within the supply chain. In response to the challenges of this type of event, this study will focus on two specific project manager roles. First, the project manager would act as an extension of a customer-driven project and serve as a conduit for the voice of the customer (VOC) into the supply chain. Secondly, …

Investigating The Impact Of Internationally Acquired Qualifications On Labour Market Performance: The Case Of Brazil, Charles Alves De Castro

Articles

The aim of this study is to examine the labour market performance of Brazilian students who have acquired international qualifications in the areas of engineering and science. A comprehensive analysis of the literature review demonstrates the importance of international qualifications covering both their benefits and challenges. The gaps found in the literature review are also discussed, as well as the need for a more concrete theoretical framework about the subject. The data used in this research was gathered by semi-structured one-to-one interviews conducted in both person and through telephone. The participants consisted of Brazilian students who have acquired international qualifications …

Framing Second Generation Gender Bias: Implications For Women's Entrepreneurship, Ethne Swartz, Frances Amatucci

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The effect of second generation gender bias or 'implicit bias' on women's careers is receiving greater attention. Recent research has linked second generation gender bias to the entrepreneurial process - in particular, term sheet negotiations and female entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship researchers have not integrated the labor economics literature on the gender wage gap - a structural impediment that shapes the options that women have in terms of careers and entrepreneurship, including negotiation. This paper proposes an interdisciplinary analytical framework for understanding second generation gender bias female entrepreneurs encounter as a barrier to success.

The Impact Of Information Security Threat Awareness On Privacy-Protective Behaviors, Stanislav Mamonov, Raquel Benbunan-Fich

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In this study, we examine how to motivate computer users to protect themselves from potential security and privacy threats. We draw on the Information Processing framework which posits that threat mitigation commonly occurs before full cognitive threat assessment and we conduct an empirical study to evaluate the effects of an exposure to general information security threats on the strength of passwords and the disclosure of personal information. Through an online experiment, we compare immediate computer user reactions to potential non-individually specific security and privacy threats in an extra-organizational context. We find evidence consistent with automatic security and privacy protective actions …

An Exploration Of Internal Controls And Their Impact On Employee Fraud In Small Businesses, Kent Lachney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain greater understanding of the current practices of the internal control systems of small businesses and to explore the effectiveness of their systems in comparison with anti-fraud activities recommended by forensic accountants. The researcher selected five small businesses that were members of the Central Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce and had fewer than 100 employees. The researcher interviewed the owners and/or managers of the businesses, reviewed and analyzed company documentation, interpreted data, made observations, and offered recommendations. The researcher asked each participant to respond to questions related to the five elements of …

Determining Theme Park Attraction Attributes: An Analysis Of Factors That Impact Theme Park Attraction Popularity And Success, Danica Dvorachek

Senior Honors Theses

Theme parks have some attractions that are more popular than others, referred to as main ticket attractions (MTA). The purpose of this thesis is to create a model which can successfully predict whether or not theme park attractions are considered MTA. Data from leading USA theme park attractions has been recorded and analyzed for this thesis. A neural network model has been created using Matlab that categorizes attractions with up to 85% accuracy. However, some of the inputs are considered unstable once run through SAS JMP. To create a comparative study, a decision tree has been created in Matlab with …

Analyzing Operating And Support Costs For Air Force Aircraft, Scott C. Hewitson, Jonathan D. Ritschel, Edward D. White, Gregory Brown

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Recent legislation resulted in an elevation of operating and support (O&S) costs’ relative importance for decision-making in Department of Defense programs. However, a lack of research in O&S hinders a cost analyst’s abilities to provide accurate sustainment estimates. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate when Air Force aircraft O&S costs stabilize and to what degree. Next, a parametric O&S model is developed to predict median O&S costs for use as a new tool for cost analyst practitioners.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Utilizing the Air Force total ownership cost database, 44 programs consisting of 765 observations from 1996 to 2016 …

A Novel Three-Stage Distance-Based Consensus Ranking Method, Nazila Aghayi, Madjid Tavana

Business Systems and Analytics Faculty Work

In this study, we propose a three-stage weighted sum method for identifying the group ranks of alternatives. In the first stage, a rank matrix, similar to the cross-efficiency matrix, is obtained by computing the individual rank position of each alternative based on importance weights. In the second stage, a secondary goal is defined to limit the vector of weights since the vector of weights obtained in the first stage is not unique. Finally, in the third stage, the group rank position of alternatives is obtained based on a distance of individual rank positions. The third stage determines a consensus solution …

Subjectivity Of Diamond Prices In Online Retail: Insights From A Data Mining Study, Stanislav Mamonov, Tamilla Triantoro

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Diamonds belong to a unique product category whose perceived value is largely dependent on socially constructed beliefs. To explore the degree to which the physical properties of a diamond can be used to predict the diamond price, we perform data mining on a large dataset of loose diamonds scraped from an online diamond retailer. We find that diamond weight, color and clarity are the key characteristics that influence diamond prices. The data mining results also suggest a high degree of subjectivity in diamond pricing that may reflect price obfuscation strategies employed by diamond retailers.

Subjectivity Of Diamond Prices In Online Retail: Insights From A Data Mining Study, Stanislav Mamonov, Tamilla Triantoro

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Diamonds belong to a unique product category whose perceived value is largely dependent on socially constructed beliefs. To explore the degree to which the physical properties of a diamond can be used to predict the diamond price, we perform data mining on a large dataset of loose diamonds scraped from an online diamond retailer. We find that diamond weight, color and clarity are the key characteristics that influence diamond prices. The data mining results also suggest a high degree of subjectivity in diamond pricing that may reflect price obfuscation strategies employed by diamond retailers.