Business Commons^™

Entrepreneurial Investment Evaluation Decision-Making: A Focus On Venture Capitalists, Business Angels And Early-Stage Entrepreneurs In South Africa, Boris Urban, Marco Antonio Moreno

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs) are important sources of finance for entrepreneurs in emerging markets for raising start-up and growth capital. Recognising that entrepreneurial investment evaluation decision-making is a highly complex process, and that there are limited studies focused on evaluation criteria used by both BAs and VCs’, this article undertakes an empirical investigation by identifying, classifying and statistically testing the rank importance of investment criteria in South Africa from an early-stage entrepreneurial perspective. Results indicate that the rank importance for the different investment criteria is relatively similar for VCs and BAs, and the only ranking difference observed …

Determinants Of Loan Repayment Performance Of Micro And Small Enterprises: Empirical Evidence From Somali Regional State, Ethiopia, Yitbarek Weldegerima Kiros Mr.

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) were introduced to reach a large number of active poor people who are excluded from the formal financial institutions due to rigorous collateral requirements. As an instrument of MFIs, Microfinance was introduced to address the financial need of the active poor people. To operate successfully MFIs have to unquestionable ensure that the loan expended to the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have to be repaid back so as he MFIs can have a financially sustainable and viable operation. In light of this, this research study was conducted to analyze the factors affecting loan repayment of MSEs financed …

Islamic Profit And Loss Sharing Contracting Versus Regular Equity In Entrepreneurial Finance: Risk Sharing And Managerial Incentives, Abdulali Hadizada, Peter Nippel

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

An entrepreneur shares business risk with the investors providing capital for her firm. Risk sharing is per se beneficial, but also results in an agency problem from diminished incentives for the entrepreneur. This classical trade-off depends on the financial contracting between the entrepreneur and the financier. As an alternative to debt or equity, we consider musharaka financing, an Islamic profit and loss sharing contract. First, we show that debt is inferior to equity or musharaka even though debt financing ensures first best efforts in our model. Whether financing with equity or by use of musharaka results in higher utility for …

2022 Nebraska Business

College of Business: Trade Publications

2022 Nebraska Business

How Do Consumers’ Beliefs About Product Price, Taste, And Health Affect Attention To Health-Differentiated Product-Sets?, Henriette Gitungwa, Christopher R. Gustafson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Objectives: Consumers facemyriad food products in supermarkets, obviating consideration of all options. Consumers are likely to direct scarce attention to products they believe will provide them the best outcome. However, consumers may hold inaccurate beliefs— particularly about health attributes which can lead them to omit items from consideration that they would have optimally considered We examine how consumers’ beliefs about the relative price, taste, and healthiness of food product sets affect the healthiness of the set of products they consider.

Conclusions: Believes about relative differences in nutritional quality of foods importantly influence consideration of products, potentially perpetuating misconceptions about relative …

Human Flourishing And The Self-Limiting Assumptions Of Modern Finance, Geoffrey Friesen

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Current models in Finance make strong, self-limiting assumptions about the nature of human utility, human relationships, human flourishing, and human growth. These assumptions facilitate tractable solutions to financial problems but ignore subjective determinants of human well-being and value creation within the firm. The philosophical and theological traditions of Catholic teaching, as well as evidence on human flourishing from model social science, call us beyond these models. This paper focuses on three specific areas where a “disconnect” exists between Catholic teaching and current Finance models, highlights the relevance of Catholic teaching, and sketches a framework for more fully integrating human flourishing …

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

Covid-19 And Consumer Eating Patterns: Analysis Of The Impact On The Meal Kit Industry In The United States, Dorian Bizeau

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze consumer eating patterns through the emergence of COVID-19, and explain the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Meal Kit industry. Through the utilization of qualitative and quantitative analysis, the paper will apply source material to the research question. The research question for this study is: “How did COVID-19's emergence impact the Meal Kit industry?” An overarching theme is social behaviors adaptation. Adaptations occurred as a result of COVID-19's emergence. The qualitative data suggests the behaviors correlated with the strengths and weaknesses of the Meal Kit industry. A key finding revealed in …

Trade Agreements In The Last 20 Years: Retrospect And Prospect For Agriculture / Les Accords Commerciaux Au Cours Des 20 Dernières Années : Rétrospective Et Perspectives Pour L’Agriculture / Handelsabkommen In Den Letzten 20 Jahren: Rückblick Und Ausblick Für Die Landwirtschaft, John C. Beghin, Jill O’Donnell

Yeutter Institute Publications

We provide an overview of major developments in multi-and plurilateral trade agreements over the last twenty years with a focus on the implications for agricultural and food markets. We take stock of what has been accomplished in market integration, remaining obstacles to trade, events that have changed the trade landscape, and emerging issues. Agricultural tariffs have fallen through commitments made in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and through the proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs). Nevertheless, agricultural trade remains distorted with some extremely high tariffs. RTAs have achieved progress on nontariff measures and other beyond-the- border frictions. World Trade …

Three Unique Succession Planning Stories With A Common Theme – Start Planning Now!, Carol Wittmeyer

Business Faculty/Staff Publications

Most businesses ultimately fail and many family businesses do not succeed at transitioning their businesses to the next generation. NSRA has developed its “NextGen Leadership Program” to support the transition planning process for family firm members. This article takes a look at how the process has gone for three NSRA family firms who have succeeded and were gracious enough to share their stories.

2022-2023 Operating Budget, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Operating Budgets Archive

2022-2023 Operating Budget of Morehead State University.

Perceived Inequality In The Restaurant Industry For Women, Amanda Wicelinski

Student Publications

Perceived inequality permeates the hospitality industry at large, and women chefs have to overcome many obstacles, like gender roles, on their path to success in a restaurant. As time settles into the 21^st century, the principles of equality and diversity are topics at the forefront of discussions about industries like hospitality. Many aspiring chefs entering the industry can easily name a cisgender, white, and male role model chef that they look up to while struggling to come up with a single name of a female chef as a role model. This apparent homogeneity in leaders reveals greater issues at …

Black Diners And Tipping: An Analysis Of Tipping Culture Amongst Black Restaurant Diners, Steven Mcintyre

Student Publications

Tipping began as a means to gain prompt service. Today the practice serves as a primary source of income within the service industry. Within that time, Black diners have achieved the perception of being poor tippers. Throughout this paper, the author will discuss how the Jim Crow era aided in tipping. Additionally, this research examines how the government intervened to ensure discrimination in the workplace was eliminated. Finally, the paper will discuss the correlation of tipping in the United States society, its relations to cultural norms, and social constructs. These topics will support the tie discrimination has to tipping. This …

Social Media By Providers And Patients In Healthcare, Madison K. Howell, Jirakamon Silapabanleng

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Introduction: Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have been used in various industries to create direct-to-consumer interactive opportunities. 74% of the US population were social media active users. Around 40% of adults gather their health information from Facebook, a free social networking site, which has been available on various devices and can help many organizations advertise their services as well as communicate with their patients. Social networks had a powerful influence in making health decisions because it could be used as a means to spread either positive or negative health information.

Purpose of study: The …

Comparative Performance Of Cooperative Equity Retirement Plans, Jeffrey S. Royer

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper compares the performance of revolving fund, percentage-of-all-equities, and base capital plans, and special plans for redeeming equity held by estates or based on member age. It also examines how the performance of the base capital plan is affected by changes in the base period, relaxing the equity requirements for underinvested members, and a variable cash patronage refund program. The base capital plan performs better than other systematic plans but places financial burdens on young members. Two modifications can mitigate that problem with only a slight diminution in performance. Special plans benefit cooperatives operating revolving fund plans the most.

Simulated Dataset Of Corn Response To Nitrogen Over Thousands Of Fields And Multiple Years In Illinois, German Mandrini, Sotirios V. Archontoulis, Cameron M. Pittelkow, Taro Mieno, Nicolas F. Martin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer recommendations for corn (Zea mays L.) in the US Midwest have been a puzzle for several decades, without agreement among stakeholders for which methodology is the best to balance environmental and economic outcomes. Part of the reason is the lack of long-term data of crop responses to N over multiple fields since trial data is often limited in the number of soils and years it can explore. To overcome this limitation, we designed an analytical platform based on crop simulations run over millions of farming scenarios over extensive geographies. The database was calibrated and validated using data …

Causes And Consequences Of Fake Transparency/Excess Information In Food Claims, Susweta Ray, Konstantinos Giannakas

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study develops novel multi-stage game-theoretic models of heterogeneous firms and consumers in vertically differentiated food product markets with asymmetric information to analyze the economic causes and market and welfare consequences of excess information/ fake transparency in food labeling. Analytical results indicate that the firms’ incentives to adopt the excess information strategy, the Nash equilibrium configuration of firms adopting the strategy, and the market and welfare impacts of excess information are case-specific and dependent on the consumer reaction to excess information, the quality of the firms’ products, the degree of product differentiation between the brand producing firms, and whether the …

A Review Of Registrations For Over-The-Top Dicamba Products And Liability For State Governments For Appropriating Neighbors’ Right To Exclude, Terence J. Centner

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Injuries inflicted by spray applications of dicamba herbicides on neighboring properties have raised questions about the validity of the dicamba registrations and the adequacy of protection accorded others. An evaluation of the documentation used by the Environmental Protection Agency in approving the 2020 dicamba registrations discloses a lack of evidence supporting issuance of the registrations. In the lawsuit challenging the 2020 registra- tions, the court may decide they need to be vacated. While over-the-top dicamba products for use on soybeans and cotton have been beneficial in controlling weeds, their volatility has caused major offsite injuries. Neighboring property owners have the …

Transdisciplinary Evaluation Of Telehealth Experiences Of Diabetic Participants’ And Their Coaches’ In “Stopping Diabetes In Its Tracks” (Sdit) A Descriptive Mixed- Methods Customer Experience Map Journey, Cindy Delgado

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: This study captured the experiences of diabetic patients and their coaches during the Covid- 19 transition to virtual delivery. Previous research has focused on the feasibility and effectiveness of in-person versus telehealth delivery of Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). However, few studies have merged perspectives from the field of ethnic studies, public health, and customer service research during a pandemic to understand the experience of telehealth from end-users. Methods: A mixed-methods evaluation was conducted using interviews and quantitative surveys to provide insight into personal perspectives to in-person and telehealth experience. A customer-experience journey map (CXJM) was then created of Stopping …

Silent Auction Fundraiser Dinners And Nonprofit Organizations, Kristine Chiles

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper describes and analyzes the Goldendale Pregnancy Resource Center’s annual fundraiser dinner and silent auction that was held November 4, 2021. It discusses the importance of nonprofit organizations, the difficulties encountered when planning the event, and an analysis of areas of improvement for future events. The information gathered will be used to determine the profitability of the event for the Goldendale Pregnancy Resource Center. The goal of the project is to increase revenue for the Goldendale Pregnancy Resource Center and be able to provide helpful fundraising information to other similar nonprofit organizations, although external factors, such as the COVID-19 …

Emotional Intelligence: Using Relationship Management In Leadership, Lauren Odette

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The professional world is evolving, and business leaders are required to operate in sometimes difficult situations for which they might feel unprepared. While in recent years, research on emotional intelligence has shown to be an important leadership component, it is not always translated successfully to business leadership nor contextualized to young leaders. This project aims to present a workshop to help people in leadership communicate effectively with their employees using skills stemming from increased emotional intelligence. The workshop draws on a range of literature and experiences in leadership training and emotional intelligence. Key concepts that serve as the focal points …

Blockchain-Based Digital Trust Mechanism: A Use Case Of Cloud Manufacturing Of Lds Syringes For Covid-19 Vaccination, Trupti Rane, Jingwei Huang

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Trust is essential in the digital world. It is a critical task to build digital trust for the ongoing digital engineering transformation. Aiming at developing a blockchain-based digital trust mechanism for Cloud Manufacturing or Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS), in this paper, we use the manufacturing of low dead space (LDS) medical syringes through Cloud Manufacturing as a motivating scenario to develop a basic framework. To meet the need of optimally saving COVID-19 vaccine doses to save more lives, the medical device manufacturing community needs to make a swift move to meet the surged need for LDS syringes. Cloud Manufacturing is a form …

Theorizing The Initial Response Of Countries In Bringing Covid-19 Pandemic Under Control: The Effect Of Change Readiness Of Countries, M. Mahdi Moeini Gharagozloo, Farinaz Sabz Ali Pour, Chen Chen, Mozhgan Moeini Gharagozloo

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Pandemic crises can bring the biggest and deepest shocks to countries around the world. In the first quarter of 2020, a global pandemic named “COVID-19” spread all over the world and not only took so many lives and created so much fear but also brought a tremendous financial pain as a result of shutting down economies to fight with this unknown contagious virus. This paper examines how countries’ change readiness enables them to bring the spread of an international crisis under control. We propose that higher levels of change readiness would help countries to cope with risks and uncertainties generated …

Diversity, Equity And Inclusion (And Greatness), Lance Plunkett Jd, Llm

The New York State Dental Journal

As NYSDA moves to correct deficiencies in its makeup, it also pays homage to a fallen leader.

อิทธิพลของฤดูกาลต่ออุปสงค์ของเครื่องปรับอากาศ : กรณีศึกษา บริษัท Abc, อติญา วงศ์แก้ว

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์ คือ ศึกษาผลของฤดูกาลในการขายต่อปริมาณจำหน่ายเครื่องปรับอากาศ และศึกษา และประเมินวิธีพยากรณ์ที่เหมาะสมในการพยากรณ์ความต้องการสินค้าเครื่องปรับอากาศภายใต้ผลของฤดูกาล โดยข้อมูลที่นำมาศึกษา คือ ปริมาณยอดขายสินค้าที่ร้านค้าขายให้กับผู้บริโภค (Sell-out) เนื่องจากผู้วิจัยต้องการศึกษาพฤติกรรมของผู้บริโภคที่เกิดขึ้นจริงของเครื่องปรับอากาศใน 5 รายการสินค้า ตั้งแต่เดือนมกราคม 2014 จนถึงเดือนธันวาคม 2018 โดยแบ่งเป็น 2 ชุดข้อมูล คือ ชุดข้อมูลที่ 1 ปริมาณยอดขายสินค้าย้อนหลังตั้งแต่เดือนมกราคม 2014 จนถึงเดือนธันวาคม 2017 ชุดข้อมูลที่ 2 ปริมาณยอดขายสินค้าย้อนหลังตั้งแต่เดือนมกราคมจนถึงเดือนธันวาคม 2018 เพื่อใช้ในการเลือกเทคนิคการพยากรณ์ที่เหมาะสมสำหรับแต่ละรายการ โดยเปรียบเทียบการพยากรณ์ในรูปแบบแนวโน้มฤดูกาลแบบบวก และรูปแบบแนวโน้มฤดูกาลแบบคูณ

Cybersecurity In Fintech Companies, Efstratios Zouros

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Have you recently accessed your bank account online? Have you accessed any financial instrument through your computer or your mobile device? If you are reading this, chances are you have. Every time you utilize those services, you ultimately put your trust in the financial institutions that offer them. You trust that they can securely keep your private information, while also keeping your savings safe. Ultimately, there is a certain dependability and trust in financial institutions that have been present on earth before most of us.

Understanding The Effectivity And Increased Reliance Of Credit Risk Machine Learning Models In Banking, Grishma Baruah

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Credit risk analysis and making accurate investment and lending decisions has been a challenge for the financial industry for many years, as can be seen with the 2008 financial crisis. However, with the rise of machine learning models and predictive analytics, there has been a shift to increased reliance on technology for determining credit risk. This transition to machine learning comes with both advantages, such as potentially eliminating human error and assumptions from lending decisions, and disadvantages, such as time constraints, data usage inabilities, and lack of understanding nuances in machine learning models. In this paper, I look at four …

Cyber Threat On The High Seas. A Growing Threat To Infrastructure, James Cummins

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

In a growing digital and cloud-connected world, all aspects of our lives are becoming interconnected. All these interconnections breed a possibility for ever-increasing cybersecurity threats. The oceans are not impervious to these attacks. In this research paper, we address the following questions.

What threats do commercial ships face today?

What actions are necessary to mitigate these threats?

Esg Ratings: A Blind Spot For U.S. Securities Regulation, Alexander Coley

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Providers of “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) ratings have emerged as prominent informational intermediaries in the sustainable finance ecosystem. The key players are familiar names such as Moody’s, Morningstar, MSCI and S&P. In recent years, investors, financial markets observers and academics have raised serious doubts about the value and integrity of ESG ratings, pointing to lack of reliability and comparability and risks of conflicts of interest and abuse, including the potential for “greenwashing.”

ESG ratings are now in the crosshairs of financial regulators, particularly, in Europe. However, the regulatory discourse has failed to contend with risks arising from the use …

Married To Sustainability: The Sdg Wedding Cake Framework As A Tool For Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, Jacob Aubrecht

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

If anything can be said about the future, it is that nothing is certain. In this acceleratingly dynamic reality, stability and certainty are among the greatest assets a leader can have. The opportunity to secure long term stability is something that few would pass up. Broadly speaking, corporate leaders must be acutely aware of global market forces, government regulation, and their own power in the marketplace to create cogent predictions about the future.

This paper is designed for the burgeoning corporate leader that is looking to craft their strategic position on corporate social responsibility (CSR), or the savvy one looking …