Business Commons^™

Comparative Analysis Of Azo Dye Restriction In The International Textile Industry, Kayla Demark

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Azo dyes are the most used type of dye in the textile industry. Some of these dyes have the potential to be extremely toxic to both human health and the environment. While regulations of these dyes vary across the world, it is suggested that not enough is being done to protect consumers and the environment from potentially harmful azo dyes (Rawat et al., 2016). It is the responsibility of apparel companies to ensure that their products that contain azo dyes are safe for consumers.

The purpose of this study was to understand how azo dyes and their by-products are restricted …

Brave New World Reboot: Technology’S Role In Consumer Manipulation And Implications For Privacy And Transparency, Allie Mertensotto

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Most consumers are aware that our data is being obtained and collected through the use of our devices we keep in our homes or even on our person throughout the day. But, it is understated how much data is being collected. Conversations you have with your peers – in a close proximity of a device – are being used to tailor advertising. The advertisements you receive on your devices are uniquely catered to your individual person, due to the fact it consistently uses our data to produce efficient and personal ads. On the flip side, our government is also tapping …

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On Single Women, Catherine Martens

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since its formation in the 1700’s, America has been home to varying degrees of discrepancies between social classes, which include assumptions inherently held within these differences. Considering the fact that America was largely built by the hands of human slaves ruled by those with political influence often landowners, social hierarchy has been intricately woven into the fabric of America’s story from the beginning. Despite the progress that has been made to create and advance equal economic opportunity, there is still a considerable lack of social mobility available for those in lower socioeconomic statuses. More specifically, the impact of poverty is …

The Apparel Industry And The Lasting Impact Of Fast Fashion, Katelyn Collison

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Personal style is how everyone expresses their individuality and personality; there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to buy clothes to do that. The issue arrives when big corporations take advantage of this and sell products to consumers that end up hurting rather than healing. It is often forgotten how much of an impact big business has on our everyday lives; they can affect our economy, our atmosphere, or even our daily interactions. Customers are beginning to realize that there are positive and negative consequences to their purchases. On one hand, shopping is a great way to boost the economy, …

The Pandemic Intern Of Nestlé Usa, Brenna Rose Beck

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Over the summer of 2020, I had the privilege to intern with Nestlé USA (NUSA), a sector of the multinational food and beverage processing conglomerate corporation that is headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. As of 2014, Nestlé is known as the largest food and beverage company in the entire world. Over the course of ten weeks, I was able to learn from an immense number of opportunities that were available to me while working for this corporation. Nestlé was founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé, originally as the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company that was aimed towards leveraging a safe, long shelf-life …

Generational Differences & The Millennial Impact On Business, Micah Wittschen

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Business is the backbone of the United States of America. Often called The American Dream, citizens grow up with the idea that the possibilities are endless living in the land of opportunity. This dream also comes with the desire for a family, thus a good job is needed for financial support. It is often believed and proven that those that work hard can yield financial returns and benefit socially.

Generational differences trickle down to every aspect of life including the different trends and impacts each cohort has on business. Each generation has a different view of work and behaves differently …

The Importance Of Assortment Discipline In The Retail Environment, Reed Fraser

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary objective of this paper is to emphasize and explain the importance of assortment optimization while analyzing a plan to create a disciplined assortment in United States retail stores. Assortment optimization has a direct effect on consumer decisions as this paper looks at some examples of success and failure while demonstrating the use of data processing systems created to help assist with assortment optimization for companies. Finally, an independent study through the execution of an internship was conducted that completed an assortment optimization project within Walmart. All recommendations given to the company were accepted which led to increased customer …

Media’S Portrayal Of Women And Its Impact On Body Image And Self-Esteem, Hannah Bareis

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project addresses the portrayal of women in media and its damaging effects on body image and self-esteem. It raises two critical questions: What negative impact is media creating on women? What can be done to combat these destructive effects?

According to a study done by Common Sense Media, "American teens use an average of 9 hours of media daily, not including for school and homework" (Common Sense Media, 2015). This data, along with many others, shows the severity of media exposure to teens. This has brought a valuable discussion to the table. How has this impacted female body image, …

Cross Domain Iw Threats To Sof Maritime Missions: Implications For U.S. Sof, Gary C. Kessler, Diane M. Zorri

Publications

As cyber vulnerabilities proliferate with the expansion of connected devices, wherein security is often forsaken for ease of use, Special Operations Forces (SOF) cannot escape the obvious, massive risk that they are assuming by incorporating emerging technologies into their toolkits. This is especially true in the maritime sector where SOF operates nearshore in littoral zones. As SOF—in support to the U.S. Navy— increasingly operate in these contested maritime environments, they will gradually encounter more hostile actors looking to exploit digital vulnerabilities. As such, this monograph comes at a perfect time as the world becomes more interconnected but also more vulnerable.

Economic And Strategic Analysis Of Minority Entrepreneurs In Omaha, Nebraska, Lizbeth Perez Hernandez

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Few resources of published studies exist identifying the needs or motivational factors that would assist minority business owners (MBOs) in Omaha, NE wishing to open a new business venture. Although MBOs have accounted for significant growth in the United States, there is not a lot of information available about how they access capital and resources to launch and grow their businesses. Findings show that MBOs continue to experience high barriers trying to find basic resources. There is evidence that proves the persistence of low minority business ownership rates and the survival of existing minority businesses is affected by social norms, …

Mental Illness Economics In The United States: A Comparison With Foreign Countries, Christopher Odum

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

In 2018, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, claiming the lives of over forty-eight thousand people.1 Globally, eight-hundred thousand people die from suicide every year, which is twice the number from homicide.2 For years, there has been a stigma around mental illness causing it to be a taboo topic, but recently there has been more of a focus and acceptance in our society. Along with the stigma, throughout most of history there has not been a focus on innovating and curing mental health diseases. In many cases, these diseases left unchecked lead to irrational …

A Comparative Analysis Of Southern Bancorp And B Corp Community Development Banks, Jace Russ

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Southern Bancorp has helped pioneer community development banks in America. They were one of the first banks to establish themself as a Community Development Financial Institution as well as become a Certified Benefit Corporation. Their mission of serving underrepresented groups in the United States has been a key driver in decisions as well as profits. They have been very successful in pursuing their mission through providing jobs, housing, and financial resources for these groups. In doing so, they have advanced above the vast majority of banks in serving their community. They have also been able to successfully manage operations so …

Exploring Optimal Response Labels For Constructing An Interval Type 5-Point Likert Scale, Douglas Hutchinson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Performance improvement practitioners value evidence-based practices, which include data-driven decisions. Data can be obtained through survey questionnaires designed with closed-ended questions and response scales. The Likert scale (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree) is one of the most commonly used response scales. Whether the 5-point Likert scale, as a verbal descriptor scale, should be treated as an ordinal or interval scale is an on-going debate, as different types of statistical analyses are applied to ordinal and interval data. I conducted this study to examine if survey participants would perceive a 5-point Likert …

Building Foundations Of Opportunity: A Strategic Analysis Of The Stephen Center’S Permanent Supportive Housing Program, Emily Coleman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This report delves into the permanent supportive housing program provided by the Stephen Center, a local Omaha nonprofit that provides services to low-income and homeless individuals. While the Stephen Center successfully provides case management and supportive housing for hundreds of clients each year, the rate at which positive housing destinations are achieved is lower than the national average. With a longer than average length of stay in their permanent supportive housing apartments, the Stephen Center is unable to maximize their services to accommodate the needs of additional applicants. After researching industry trends and conducting an internal analysis, I have provided …

How Companies Can Overcome The Barriers To Sustainability In The Fashion Industry, Madison Perreault

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary intent of this paper is to explore existing case studies on the barriers to sustainability in the fashion industry as well as incorporate my own contributions by crafting and analyzing the results of a survey. This survey will give insight to the attitudes and behaviors of respondents towards sustainable fashion. I will also investigate government policies on this topic, or the lack thereof. Finally, I will offer my recommendation on how businesses can overcome the barriers to sustainability in the fashion industry.

The Influence Of Peer Irrigators On The Extensive And Intensive Margin Of Irrigation Techniques, Victoria Bailey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We examine how irrigation techniques in use by family and friends influence the use and share of land utilizing different irrigation techniques by Arkansas producers. A bivariate sample selection model simultaneously estimates how farm characteristics determine the use and explain the share of a farm that utilizes an irrigation technique. We find that the irrigation techniques in use by family and friends do affect the irrigation techniques a producer uses and the share of acres utilizing different irrigation techniques. A producer with a family or friend that uses end-blocking irrigation is 41% more likely to use end-blocking themselves. Having a …

Coach Bob Hurley Sr.: A Jesuit Educated Heroic Leader, Francis Petit

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to determine if Coach Bob Hurley Sr. (Coach Hurley) was a Heroic Leader. Coach Hurley was the long time Varsity Boys Basketball Coach at St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City, New Jersey which closed in 2017. Coach Hurley was also inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. The methods of this research included a historical study of the life and career of Coach Hurley as was captured within the traditional media and academic literature. In addition, the methods of this research also included one-on-one phone interviews that Francis …

The Strategic Approach To Internationalisation, Gordon Perchthold

Asian Management Insights

Asia is the global sweet spot for multinationals (MNCs) looking to generate revenue and, over the mid-term, sustained profits.

Balancing Social Impact And Business Outcomes In Turbulent Times, Jaime Augusto Zobel De Ayala, Chin Tiong Tan

Asian Management Insights

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Chairman of Ayala Corporation, talks about learning and recovering from Covid-19’s impact with Tan Chin Tiong.

Kobe Influencer Marketing: Using Social Media To Promote A Herbal Tea Brand, Patricia Lui, Lipika Bhattacharya

Asian Management Insights

In July 2019, Evangeline Leong, co-founder and CEO of Kobe, a Singapore-based start-up providing influencer marketing services, had a challenging task ahead of her.

Angling For Effective Innovation Governance In Asia: Lessons Learnt From Singapore’S Qian Hu Fish Farm, Thomas Menkhoff, Geok Chwee Ong

Asian Management Insights

Would you feed herbal medication to help fishes heal? This proposition may seem like a wild idea, but it was a calculated act of innovation by Qian Hu Corp Ltd, a Singapore-based Chinese family ornamental fish business.

Helping Organisations Excel, One Breath At A Time: A Meditation Toolkit For Business Leaders, Theodore Charles Masters-Waage, Eva K. Peters, Jochen Reb

Asian Management Insights

Interest in meditation has risen dramatically in recent years, as these practices move beyond ancient monasteries to take root in big cities as well.

Lead With Your Heart, Hyper Innovate, And Make A Difference, Steve Johanns, Singapore Management University

Asian Management Insights

Steve Johanns, founder and former Chairman of Veriown Global, is now taking smart villages into Sub-Saharan Africa through his company Villedge Solutions. He talks about his entrepreneurial journey in the world of hyper innovation and the secrets found in last mile empowerment.

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 …

The Expanding Role Of Analytics In Operations, Lauren E. Luechtefeld

Honors Theses

In the competitive business world today, every company must keep up with technological advances and, therefore, incorporate data analytics into their operations. Data analytics are a vital aspect of every department in every company. When these analytics are operationalized, or the analytics are automated and applied to the operational side, companies can increase productivity, efficiencies, and customer satisfaction. Through my thesis, I establish how utilization of operational analytics can provide a competitive advantage for a company. I walk through the history of analytics, the different platforms involved in making an analytics process operational, as well as the decisions involved. Along …

Hedge Fund Performance With The Treynor-Black Model, Gurkamal S. Pannu

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to analyze the information ratio differences between long/short hedge funds over the past two decades using the Treynor-Black model. The Treynor-Black model is a method to derive an optimal portfolio allocation across safe and risky assets, based off of expected alphas of active investments and the unsystematic volatility that can be attributed to each given security. We first developed and implemented a model to forecast information ratios on a database of long/short hedge funds. With the predicted information ratios, we calculated out-of-sample allocation weights from a Treynor-Black active portfolio model. These weights were then tested in a …

How Workplace Attire Affects Employee Perceptions And Organizational Culture, Ethan Surrett

Honors Theses

Companies invest millions of dollars into developing workplace attire policies in their organizations to control outcomes (Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993). This research focuses on seeing the impact that workplace attire plays on employees' perceptions of themselves and their organization's culture. Through Qualtrics, an online survey instrument, information was gathered from respondents in various industries and workplaces all over the United States. These employees answered questions about the attire in their workplace, the impact of attire, the organization's policies, characteristics of their organization, the management of the organization, and execution of policies. Results illustrated that most respondents felt that workplace attire …

The Exacerbation Of Gender Inequality: The Effects Of Overwork On Work Outcomes, Loribeth Fitzgerald

Honors Theses

Gender disparity in the workplace is a pervasive problem that has been widely studied, especially as to why women do not progress in their careers to the same degree as their male counterparts. Measures have been established for work-family conflict, and it has been claimed that this is the main factor that prevents women from advancing in their careers. Research into the unequal distribution of time, labor, and pay has become increasingly popular as a means to understand the forces contributing to women’s stalled advancement. This study furthers this work to determine if gender inequality is a factor in overwork, …

Beyond The Lineup: An Exploration Of Consumer Loyalty At Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Anna Richardson

Honors Theses

The rise of the Internet and the accelerated technological changes associated with the creation of the Internet have led to a restructuring of business structures in the music industry. These changes in technology coupled with changes in consumer preferences have led to a rise in the popularity and profitability of the live music sector, and specifically music festivals. The market for music festivals is becoming more saturated, and festival organizers are having to find new and distinct ways to differentiate their offerings. In order to maintain competitive positioning in a progressively saturated market, festival organizers must rely on differentiation and …

What Consumers Actually Know: The Role Of Objective Nutrition Knowledge In Processing Stop Sign And Traffic Light Front-Of-Pack Nutrition Labels, J. Craig Andrews, Richard G. Netemeyer, Scot Burton, Jeremy Kees

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Examining the effects of what consumers actually know (i.e., objective knowledge) is an important gap in front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition research. In experiments with over 2,000 primary food shoppers, we examine the moderating impact of objective nutrition knowledge on key FOP nutrition symbols (Stop Sign labels, Traffic-Light labels, and a control) for effects on nutrient perceptions, nutrition use accuracy, disease risk, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Results support the effectiveness of the Stop Sign label over the Traffic Light label for key outcome measures, with the Traffic Light label performing better on nutrition use accuracy. Importantly, those with greater objective nutrition …