Business Commons^™

Cointegration And Statistical Arbitrage Of Precious Metals, Judge Van Horn

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

When talking about financial instruments correlation is often thrown around as a measure of the relation between two securities. An often more useful or tradeable measure is cointegration. Cointegration is the measure of two securities tendency to revert to an average price over time. In other words, cointegration ignores directionality and only cares about the distance between two securities. For a mean reversion strategy such as statistical arbitrage cointegration proves to be a far more reliable statistical measure of mean reversion, and while it is more reliable than correlation it still has its own problems. One thing to consider is …

Insider Trading As A Precursor To Modern Business Ethics, Robyn Coleman

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

There has been a recent change in business that there is more focus on the “stakeholder approach” than shareholder primacy. This can be attributed to the early actions and illegality of insider trading that expected a step beyond a solely economic approach. This attitude was then replicated to become what we see as the modern business approach. Business now includes ethical investing, environmental focus, corporate citizenship, and emphasis on multiple stakeholders that was not always there. Companies have embraced this position while others have been criticized for not doing so. As this approach develops and changes, it will be enlightening …

Evaluating Methods Of Calculating Country-Specific Market Risk Premium, Lora Taylor

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this paper I will discuss three different methods for calculating country specific market risk premium will be discussed. The methods that will be discussed are that of a historical moving average, Aswath Damodaran’s method, and the methodology and survey results from Pablo Fernandez. The weaknesses of the different methods will also be discussed. Additionally, the CAPM model of valuation will be explained as well as the three different concepts that are used interchangeably under the term market risk premium.

The Need For Police Reform, Desiree Bevineau

Emerging Writers

Law enforcement agencies are in desperate need for reform to prevent further damage to the land of the free and home of the brave. The media, newspapers and articles portray the merciless treatment of civilians by police officers. Numerous innocent individuals, specifically the ethnic community, fall prey to police violence. This article examines the history of the lack of police training and proposes solutions for how police can be trained to better serve the community.

Uri And Its Students: A Contract For The Provision Of A Safe Environment, Danielle Joan Beatrice

Senior Honors Projects

DANIELLE BEATRICE (English; Philosophy; Business) URI and Its Students: A Contract for the Provision of a Safe Environment

Sponsor: Judith Swift (Communication Studies, Coastal Institute)

When students begin to attend college, they expect to be consumed with busy schedules, heavy workloads, and an exciting social life. Students do not anticipate being in dangerous situations. However, this does not mean that such situations do not occur. Therefore, it is essential to teach students to be active participants in educating themselves and their peers regarding prevention and response to emergency situations. My Honors Project aims to increase the awareness of safety-related issues …

Women's Self Perceptions And Fashion Industry Rhetoric, Grace Cody

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Effects Of A Pandemic On Supply Chain Networks, Richard Mankavech

Senior Honors Projects

The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a colossal impact on the lives of people across the globe. Just like the lives of the people who have had to live through this pandemic, supply chains around the world have been disrupted and permanently changed as well. 94% of Fortune 1000 companies have experienced supply chain disruptions as a result of COVID-19. The effects of the pandemic on global supply chains has not gone unnoticed, as many people had to make adjustments in their shopping to account for items that are always expected to be available suddenly not being able to be …

On The Cash Holdings Of Corporate Bond Mutual Funds, Andrew Punnoose

Financial Analyst

In this research, I examine the impact of cash holdings on the risk and returns of U.S. corporate bond mutual funds. Using a sample of 1,672 corporate bond funds during 2002-2019, I find that higher cash holdings are significantly associated with lower risk-adjusted returns and lower total and idiosyncratic volatilities of corporate bond funds. Further analysis suggests that these results are mainly driven by non-crisis periods when cash holdings might adversely impact the alpha of corporate bond mutual funds while reducing risk for these funds. During the crisis periods, however, we do not document a negative relation between cash holdings …

Gender Inequality In The Workplace, Katelyn Barger

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the history of gender inequality in the workplace, the detailed nature of issues that society faces, research in today’s world, and how to aid in the removal of gender stereotypes and thus removing consequences, unbeknownst to women a lot of the time. The goal of this analysis is to broaden the view of the reader and gain perspective into a world, which may or may not be familiar to them.

Covid-19: An Optimal Strategy To Resume Life With Safety And Economic Prosperity, Skyler Tate

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world hard since the beginning of 2020, and the United States has certainly felt a negative impact. Many important aspects of life have been greatly altered by the pandemic, and this has resulted in a hindered economy. The purpose of this project was to determine if there is an optimal strategy with respect to policy and the economy that the United States could implement in order to mitigate the coronavirus. In order to determine this, I evaluated multiple aspects of the disease through a literature review. Upon review, I conducted a survey and performed …

The Evolution Of Investing, Bradyn Papke

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

A Literature Review on how investing has changed, the companies that have have pioneered this change, and the shift in investment personality to companies that spearhead Environmental Sustainability through Impact Investing.

An Exploration Of The Impact Of Economic Recessions On The S&P 500 And Its Sectors, Weston Sizemore

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is a method of predicting future stock prices based on past returns. Specific areas of CAPM analysis utilize regression analysis to accomplish this goal. Historic prices and returns for a specific stock in a company, or even whole sectors of the economy, are compared with the corresponding returns for the market. There have been several historical recessions in United States history, as well as a current, ongoing recession. These recessions, along with their causes and effects, will be discussed extensively in this paper. This paper utilizes an analysis of the Capital Asset Pricing Model …

Firm-Level Analysis Of The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act On Capital Expenditures, Mason Westphal

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates the firm-level consequences to capital expenditure levels from the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). It theorized that favorable tax provisions in the TCJA would cause firms to increase their levels of capital expenditures. To test this hypothesis, the study analyzed the capital expenditure levels of public firms from 1986-2019 controlling for factors such as national gross domestic product (GDP) growth and used a dummy variable of reporting periods after 2018 to represent the effects of the TCJA. In contrast to the original hypothesis, the results demonstrate that the TCJA had a …

A How-To Guide And What-To-Know About Nil Payments For Student Athletes, Calla Malone

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is an evaluation of a variety of aspects of the new Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) legislation (also known as the Right to Publicity); a how-to guide and what-to-know with insight from people involved. Inside, there is interviews from student athletes and those that work closely around them and information everyone affected by this new legislation should know.

Corporate Social Responsibility Takes Flight: An Exploration Of Airline Industry Csr Reporting Practices, Anna Yowell

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Corporate social responsibility reporting, or CSR, has become a way for companies to regain the trust of the public by disclosing how the firm is doing business while being mindful of the community where it operates. The value of responsibility reporting lies in the usefulness of its users; then, it is important for companies to understand how the consumers, often current or prospective shareholders, are understanding their reporting practices.

This thesis presents an overview of how corporate social responsibility disclosures to the public have evolved over a span of four years, 2016 to 2019, through a sample of commercial airlines. …

Can Small-Scale Poultry Initiatives Alleviate Food Insecurity And Increase Empowerment For Women In Economically Disadvantaged Areas?, Patrick Daniels

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the summer of 2019, I, along with 8 other students from the University of Arkansas departed the United States for the Central American country of Belize. Despite our limited knowledge of what Belize held in store for us, we were enthusiastic about the coming months. While we had different projects, we all set out with the same universal question in mind. How can we use the knowledge we have gained through education to make a positive impact on the lives of people living in an impoverished town? Some of the members of our team worked alongside local businesses to …

Effects Of Covid: Non-Essential V Essential Industries, William Shipley

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

As the year 2020 has finally come to an end and the end of Covid is in near sight, it is important for us to look back at how it has shaped the world from an economic perspective. Ever since the closure of most of the U.S. and global economy in March 2020 it has made us deem which companies we consider essential and non-essential. This major decision came as all governments across the world had to close the operations of as many companies they could to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus. This major choice of determining what …

How The Growth Of Technology Has Forced Accounting Firms To Put An Emphasis On Cybersecurity, Holden Halbach

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

The advancement of technology has brought many changes to accounting firms. Computer applications such as Microsoft Excel have made calculators and physical spreadsheets obsolete. Then with the introduction of cloud computing employees can store, access, and exchange large amounts of data instantaneously from any location. These technological innovations have increased the accuracy and efficiency of firms substantially. However, this growth in technology has shown the importance of putting an emphasis on cybersecurity throughout the accounting industry. The emphasis placed on cybersecurity throughout accounting firms is more prevalent than any other industry. This is primarily because accounting firms not only deal …

Tiny Tusks Internship: Marketing Towards Breastfeeding: How Marketing Can Either Help Or Hinder How Breastfeeding Is Perceived, Hailey Tremmel

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tiny Tusks Breastfeeding and Infant Support is a program run by faculty and students in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing program that allows for breastfeeding mothers in attendance at the University of Arkansas sporting events to have a place to pump or provide care to their infant. How marketing towards breastfeeding is portrayed has a huge impact on helping breastfeeding mothers to feel properly educated and supported about the decision to breastfeed. The purpose of this literature review is to demonstrate how marketing tactics can affect the view of breastfeeding, whether that be positive or negative. The results found …

Simulating The Cause: How Grassroots Organizations Advance Their Credibility Through The Dramaturgical Curation Of Events, Theodore A. Khoury, Yuliya Shymko, Jacob Vermeire

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

To survive, nascent grassroots organizations—and their respective causes—must earn the trust of various audiences that can impact credibility advancement. However, it can be quite difficult for grassroots organizations to access suitable settings, times, and collocated audiences. One context that can yield this type of access is an event, as it constitutes a rare opportunity for organizations to engage in practices that impact credibility advancement. We investigate how a volunteer-based grassroots organization orchestrates a high-profile event at the United Nations to promote African diaspora entrepreneurs as a valuable force in the mitigation of development challenges in their home countries. We employ …

Working With Smart Machines: Insights On The Future Of Work, Thomas H. Davenport, Steven M. Miller

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this article, we share our observations on how and why AI-based systems are being deployed. We look at how these systems have been integrated into existing and new work processes, especially the implications for the changing nature of work and how it will be conducted in future with AI-based smart machines. This will help companies that are in the earlier stages of considering, planning, or deploying these systems to know what to expect from recent developments in practice. We draw our analysis from 24 case studies that we have recently completed on AI system usage in actual operational settings.

Creating A Workforce Analytics Action Plan (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

An action plan can be a useful tool for implementing workforce analytics, especially if there are multiple people involved in the process. This resource provides some general advice on action planning, with specific examples for advancing the use of workforce analytics.

What is an Action Plan?

An action plan outlines the actions, resources, and people needed to achieve goals. It is vital to strategic planning. Action plans include the following components:

• A well-defined goal
• Tasks/steps needed to reach the goal
• Individuals or teams responsible for each task
• Task milestones and timeframes
• Resources and data needed to complete tasks
• Evidence or …

Are Small Businesses The Framework For A Successful U.S. Economy?, Carson Clevenger

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will investigate the impact of small businesses on the United States’ economy. I will be assessing several impact areas including gross domestic product, employment, and local economy contribution. This thesis will cover a study from the time periods of 1998-2014 of the gross domestic product and employment levels and will use numbers from the years of 2018- present for other impact areas. Furthermore, I will be analyzing certain sectors of the economy, comparing small businesses contribution to corporate contribution, in order to discuss if small businesses are necessary for our country’s successful economy.

The Microfinance Experiment: An Evaluation Of Programs And Effectiveness In St. Louis, Maxwell Miller

Honors Scholar Theses

Widespread poverty remains a reality for many in both developed and developing countries. Policymakers, charitable organizations, and entrepreneurs have introduced diverse strategies to provide individuals and communities opportunities to rise from poverty. One such method is microfinance, a system developed by Muhammad Yunus in the early 1970s to provide small loans and financial services to borrowers too impoverished or otherwise lacking in credibility or collateral to be considered by traditional means of credit.

Since its inception, microfinance has spread among other countries to mixed success. While many researchers claim microfinance has proven to be an effective tool to combat poverty, …

Banks Vs Shadow Banks: Evidence From The 2015 Fha Mortgage Insurance Premium Cut, Pornteera Tungtrakul Jefferson

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

My paper uses the 2015 surprise mortgage insurance premium (MIP) cut in the FHA loan market to study banks’ and shadow banks’ role in the residential mortgage market and how shadow banks increase their market share or take away the mortgage demand from traditional banks. I use the triple-differences method to study the rise of shadow banks, a MIP cut experiment. My results found that shadow banks are much more active in the FHA market and that they expand access to credit to borrowers by taking away some demand from traditional banks. I also study the impact of the MIP …

Independent Directors' Dissensions And Firm Value, Wonseok Choi, Monika K. Rabarison, Bin Wang

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

Using a novel dataset of independent directors’ voting activities on items proposed by managers of Korean firms, we investigate whether independent directors’ dissension in board meetings plays an effective role in enhancing firm value through improved corporate governance. Our results indicate that dissension improves firm value. This finding is robust to different measures of firm value and alternative model specifications including subsample, propensity score matching, and instrumental variable analyses. Overall, we contribute to the understanding of the relation between corporate governance and firm value. Specifically, we provide new evidence that the monitoring by independent directors enhances firm value.

The East Texas Housing Market In 2021 – May 2021, Manuel Reyes-Loya, Marilyn Young

Hibbs Newsletter

This issue of the Hibbs Newsletter complements the past issue of the Hibbs Brief, The Housing Market: Will It Crash or Boom in 2021?, with recent figures related to the U.S. mortgage rates and some of the most relevant housing market indicators for the East Texas area.

The Power Of Good: Micro Level Outcomes From Corporate Social Responsibility And Social Mission Orientation, Michael Darin Mcdaniel

Management Dissertations - Archive

What happens to employees on an individual level when they see their organization doing good things for society? Whether the manifestation of good be in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or social mission orientation (SMO), this paper seeks to explore the micro level outcomes from employee perceptions of these organizational attributes. Considered together, these three articles provide significant insight into the individual level outcomes from doing good as an organization, as well as the mechanisms through which those relationships flow. Specifically, CSR and SMO result in positive individual outcomes including increased organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and …

A Study On The Impact Of Social Media Marketing In The Event Industry: Executing A Marketing Plan, Adrian N. Bradley

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Marketing is a large part of growing one’s business or event. The objective of this study was to gain an understanding of how social media marketing increases brand loyalty, attendance, and engagement within current and potential guests over traditional event marketing methods. Through this study a data collection survey for the University of Arkansas’ Hospitality Management annual event Students Mastering the Art of Hospitality (SMASH) to gather information on the effectiveness of e social media marketing’s influence on their attendees. Unfortunately, due to a global pandemic SMASH was canceled and the researcher and honor’s committee thought it to be best …

Your Money, Your Way: Making Sound Financial Choices At College & Beyond, Morgan O'Sullivan

Lynn University Digital Press Books

Course: LYNN 101