Business Commons^™

Exploring Financial Management Practices Of Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In Nigeria, Alero Theodora Obazee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Most owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria are inadequately prepared to perform the financial management tasks required for business sustainability. This case study, guided by institutional theory, was conducted to explore how SME owners can be prepared to implement financial management effectively for business sustainability in Edo state, Nigeria. The research question addressed the understanding of experienced SME owners regarding how they can develop necessary financial management skills for sustaining a business in Edo state. Data were collected using semistructured interview, and field notes from 15 SME owners in Edo state who had prior knowledge of, experience …

Sustainable Supply Chain Management In The Nigerian Consumer Goods Manufacturing Sector, Ekpen Theophilus Owie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Supply chain practitioners in developing economies, like Nigeria, experience challenges in implementing sustainable supply chain management practices. Poor sustainability implementation engenders the negative effects of supply chain operations on people, the environment, and business continuity. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore and describe the experiences of supply chain practitioners in the consumer goods manufacturing industry in Nigeria about sustainable supply chain management based on the theoretical foundations of stakeholder and general systems theories. The focus of the research question was to examine the experiences of supply chain practitioners to understand the challenges in implementing sustainable …

Exploring Information Technology Return On Investment Reports For Planning, Budgeting, And Implementation, Constantine Bitwayiki

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The failure rate of new government information technology (IT) projects in developing countries is high, with 35% classified as total failures and approximately 50% as partial failures. The population for this study was 10 senior managers of a public sector organization in Uganda selected because of high IT project successes achieved through leveraging IT return on investment (ROI) reports. The purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to explore the strategies Ugandan senior public sector officials used to leverage IT ROI reports during planning, budgeting, and implementation of IT projects to reduce failure rates. The conceptual frameworks were the strategic …

Exploring Leadership Skills For The Sustainability Of Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Yvette Julianne Peters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute to the stability and growth of economies by creating employment in rural and urban areas. More than 60% of SMEs do not survive for longer than 5 years; a lack of leadership skills is among the key problems. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the leadership skills owners-managers used to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. Research participants were 4 owners-managers of SMEs from the manufacturing industry in Trinidad and Tobago that sustained their businesses for at least 5 years. The contingency leadership model and the skill-based leadership …

Factors Leading Corporations To Continue To Engage In Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives, Radu-Marius Gavrila

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Accountability for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its societal challenges is undetermined, and it is unclear whether business or society should carry these responsibilities. Despite severe criticism from some, many organizations continue to invest in and promote CSR. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to increase the understanding of the phenomenon from the perspective of a purposeful sample of participants who contribute to CSR execution and who were representatives of the 10 organizations identified as active promoters. The participant corporations (case studies), in Europe and North America, were mainly in the telecommunications industry. Study data came from 11 face-to-face, …

Searching: On The Cultural And Sociopolitical Implication Of Social Media, Siamak Javadi

Finance Faculty Publications

This is a review of the film Searching (2018), a multilayered thriller co-written and directed by Aneesh Chaganty. This film is a cinematic reflection of the profound impact of social media networks on our lives. The movies continuously navigates between the pros and cons of social media platforms. In this review, I focus on cultural and sociopolitical implications of social media platforms in relation to the film.

Empirical Asset Pricing With Equity Tail Risk, Jingrui Li

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation comprises three separate chapters on both risk-neutral and physical probability spaced equity tail risk for both the market index and in the cross-section of individual stocks.

The first chapter is titled “Does VIX Truly Measure Return Volatility?” This chapter studies the bias of the VIX index as a volatility measure. Particularly, VIX undervalues (overvalues) volatility when market return is expected to be negatively (positively) skewed. Alternatively, we develop a model-free generalized volatility index (GVIX). This chapter further derives the risk-neutral tail risk estimated from the VIX index.

The second chapter is titled “Decomposing the VIX: Implications for the …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Public Sector Interventions In Entrepreneurship Development In Nigeria, Michael Kalu Mba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Entrepreneurship is significant to the production process for economic growth and development. The Nigerian government supports entrepreneurial development by providing business training for entrepreneurs across the country; however, the impact of such programs in current entrepreneurship in Nigeria has not been researched. This study was designed to examine the impact of the training on entrepreneurial outcomes such as profitability, revenue, and access to finance using the social construction framework and the theory of external control of organizations. Based on a quantitative quasi-experimental design involving a posttest comparison group, the impact of government support on randomly selected beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries with …

Small Business Sustainability Strategies In The Tanzanian Construction Materials Industry, Seraphia Robert Mgembe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners in the construction materials industry play a significant role in economic development through gross domestic product and employment. However, like other small business owners, many owners of small businesses in the construction materials industry close their businesses within 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study grounded in the resource-based theory was to explore the strategies that owners of small businesses in the construction materials industry operating in Tanzania used to sustain business for longer than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 4 purposefully selected owners of small businesses in the construction materials …

Dark Sky Tourism: Economic Impacts On The Colorado Plateau Economy, Usa, David M. Mitchell, Terrel A. Gallaway

College of Humanities and Public Affairs

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the economic impact from dark-sky tourism in national parks in the USA on the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is a region encompassing parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah that is known for its dark, star-filled night skies. Tourists in national parks are increasingly interested in observing this natural recreational amenity – especially considering that it is an ecological amenity that is quickly disappearing from the planet. Using a 10-year forecast of visitors to the national parks and using standard input-output modeling, it is observed that, for the first time anywhere, …

Millennial Research On Fleek: Suggestions For Improving Generational Research Design, W. I. Mackenzie Jr., Robert F. Scherer

School of Business Faculty Research

This special issue will examine and embrace the uniqueness of millennials. We look at a number of issues related to this generational cohort, examining what makes them unique, challenging and even assets to those they come into contact with in their lives. In our opening article we discuss the unique attributes of millennials, provide researchers a framework for generational research best practices, and provide an overview of the articles featured in this special issue.

Refining Technology Threat Avoidance Theory, D. Carpenter, Diana K. Young, P. Barrett, A. J. Mcleod

School of Business Faculty Research

Understanding individual threat avoidance motivation and behavior is a critical component in designing effective cyber security solutions for both users and organizations. Technology threat avoidance theory (TTAT) asserts that individuals’ perceptions regarding their susceptibility to and the resulting severity of technology threats influence their awareness of the threats, which, in turn, influences their motivation and behavior to avoid them. While TTAT provides cogently and logically explains individuals’ technology threat motivations and behaviors, empirical tests have produced equivocal results particularly in terms of the influence of susceptibility and severity on threat perceptions. Due to these inconsistencies in the threat calculus involving …

Millennials' National And Global Identities As Drivers Of Materialism And Consumer Ethnocentrism, Mario V. González Fuentes

School of Business Faculty Research

A major effect of globalization is one that occurs on the self-concept. This is especially the case for young consumers, and particularly for millennials. Despite this cohort’s idiosyncrasies, little attention has been paid to the study of their consumer identities, an important aspect of self-concept. The current research addresses this gap by examining the way millennial consumers’ global and national identities help explain two attitudinal outcomes associated with globalization: materialism and consumer ethnocentrism. Data were collected from millennials in two distinct socio-cultural contexts. A key finding suggests that distinct contexts (i.e., collectivist and ethnically homogeneous vs. individualistic and ethnically diverse) …

Investors Trading And Return Patterns After Earnings Announcements||รูปแบบการซื้อขายของนักลงทุน และพฤติกรรมของผลตอบแทนภายหลังการประกาศผลประกอบการ, Teerawat Vaccharasiritham

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study examines the difference in trading behaviors around earnings announcement period across three types of investors in Thailand stock market; Individual, institutional and foreign investors, and also the relationship between their trading behaviors and the stock return patterns before and after announcement periods. The results using trading data of stocks in SET100 during 2013-2017 show that there is persistence of stock price after earnings announcements in the same direction of earnings surprise. In term of trading behavior, before earnings announcement, we find that there is no trading pattern for all investor types and the pre-announcement trading flows has no …

Do Repurchasing Firms Shave Capital Expenditures When Signaling?, Bishal Bc, Yatin N. Bhagwat, Marinus De Bruine

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

This paper studies the extent of firm level over- and under-investment in capital projects among firms with excess cash flows. Whereas most prior research looks for either the signaling or free cash flow hypothesis, we find that the motives for share repurchases differ depending on the firm’s concurrent investments in capital projects. Our initial sample contains 3,417 firm-year observations from 1998 through 2014 where we match share repurchasing firm-year observations with non-repurchasing counterparts by 8-digit GICS industry code, by fiscal year, and by size. Using two sample t-tests, we find evidence that consistent with free cash flow explanations over-investment is …

The Eu’S Struggles With Collective Action For Securities Fraud: An American Perspective, Dan Morrissey

Texas A&M Law Review

Notwithstanding the apparent exit of the United Kingdom, the European Union (“EU”) has grown in membership and power since its modest beginnings after World War II, now rivaling the U.S. in economic strength. With the goal of promoting the security and prosperity of all the citizens of the countries that belong to it, the EU is pressing ahead to adopt laws that will promote their political and financial integration. Along those lines, it has also recently acknowledged a deficiency in the legal systems of its member states when it comes to allowing collective actions for victims of various types of …

Employee Awareness Of Organizational Cultural And Climate Expectations, Venita M. Govan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational culture statements are established to pronounce and promote core values for employees to live while performing roles and responsibilities. It is essential for employees to be knowledgeable of cultural expectations. When considering organizational alignment, research has indicated there is deficient linkage when analyzing applied strategies versus envisioned strategies focusing on employees’ actual lived experiences. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to survey whether the corporate health care employees’ lived experiences mirrored the stated cultural values associated with the theoretical framework concerning artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. Through an online survey, this phenomenological study analyzed cultural experiences of …

Leadership: A New Title, Ethan William Chandler Goffigon

Whittier Scholars Program

Through a method of digital storytelling and a modern day literature review, this project attempts to look at the notion of leadership and the effective versus non-effective personality and behavior traits associated with it. Through this evaluation of leadership, I will be utilizing my own experiences and reflecting on them to add an additional voice to each point addressed. Starting from when I was a child falling in love with superheroes to a young man who continues to learn from his every day life and his time in the past.

Small Service Business Strategies To Win Open Federal Competitive Contracts, Mark Anthony Mitchell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite policies for U.S. federal agencies to use open competitive procedures that increase small business participation in federal contracting, some small businesses do not win open competitive federal contracts. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies some leaders of small businesses in the service industry have used to win open competitive U.S. federal contracts. The conceptual framework for this study was agency theory. The participants in this study were 6 leaders of small businesses in the state of Washington who successfully implemented strategies to win open competitive U.S. federal contracts. Data were collected through face-to-face, …

Reducing Reliance On Government Funding In The Nonprofit Sector, Bryan K. Kieler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations are challenged by limited and declining financial resources from government grants, while being asked by funders and their constituent base to provide better quality services to a larger population. Nonprofit leaders are exploring strategies to reduce their reliance on government grants by diversifying and growing alternative funding sources. The purpose of this single case study was to explore, through the conceptual lens of the balanced scorecard theory, strategies used by 4 leaders of a nonprofit organization in southern California who have experience managing and growing alternative revenue sources by creating a social enterprise. Semistructured interviews …

An Approach To Determining Customer Satisfaction In Traditional Serbian Restaurants, Florentin Smarandache, Dragisa Stanujkic, Darjan Karabasevic, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, F. Cavallaro

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The aim of this paper is to make a proposal for an easy–to–use approach to the evaluation of customer satisfaction in restaurants. In order to provide a reliable way to collect respondents’ real attitudes, an approach based on the use of smaller number of evaluation criteria and interactive questionnaire created in a spreadsheet file is proposed in this paper, whereby an easy-to-understand and simple-touse procedure is proposed for determining weights of criteria. In addition to the said, the proposed approach applies the simplified SERVQUAL-based approach, for which reason a simplified version of the Weighted Sum Method based on the decision …

An Analysis Of Kentucky School Activity Fund Requirements For Internal Controls And Segregation Of Duties Compared With National Standards And Requirements In Surrounding States, Marla J. Carnes

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Across the United States, K-12 school systems receive and disburse a significant amount of funds at the school level. These funds are classified as school activity funds and may be broken into two distinct categories: 1) student activity funds and 2) district activity funds. Student activity funds are generally derived from fundraising activities of students to support a particular student group or organization such as the Y-Club, senior class, or student council. District activity funds are generated in the normal course of school business and may include funds such as locker fees, parking permit fees, school picture sales, or vending …

Analyzing The Presence Of State-Run Retirement Plans For Private Sector Employees, Ruthann Froberg

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

State-run retirement plans for non-covered private sector employees are a rapidly growing area of state policy. Since 2010, the majority of states in the U.S. have moved to either examine, enact, or implement these plans. This policy intends to increase private savings in an effort to reduce future reliance on public assistance and Social Security. Despite the current public policy interest, there is a lack of research evaluating the impact of plans or common state characteristics that are associated movement in this policy area. This capstone focuses on answering the latter question. Using state-level demographic, pension, welfare, and policy data, …

The Effect Of State-Level Constitutional Debt Limitations On The Costs Of Capital, Micah Johnson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Forty-five states have adopted some form of constitutional limitation on their own legislature’s ability to issue debt and raise capital. Eleven states have more than one such limitation. It seems intuitive to assume that constitutional strictures on a state’s ability to manage its fiscal policy would affect that state’s standing in the market, and it seems equally safe to assume that different combinations of the various forms of debt limitation would lead to varying effects in the market from state to state. However, the specific effects arising from the various constitutional provisions have proven to be difficult to measure. This …

Procure-To-Pay Software In The Digital Age: An Exploration And Analysis Of Efficiency Gains And Cybersecurity Risks In Modern Procurement Systems, Drew Lane

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Procure-to-Pay (P2P) softwares are an integral part of the payment and procurement processing functions at large-scale governmental institutions. These softwares house all of the financial functions related to procurement, accounts payable, and often human resources, helping to facilitate and automate the process from initiation of a payment or purchase, to the actual disbursal of funds. Often, these softwares contain budgeting and financial reporting tools as part of the offering. As such an integral part of the financial process, these softwares obviously come at an immense cost from a set of reputable vendors. In the case of government, these vendors mainly …

Storytelling In The Accounting Classroom, Michelle Freeman, Gary Burkette

ETSU Faculty Works

Under what conditions and in what situations is the telling of personal history and other stories an effective teaching tool?

Storytelling has been used by many of the greatest teachers throughout history. Plato, Jesus and Gandi, used stories, parables and personal histories to educate students (Zabel 1991). In fact, storytelling has been referred to as the foundation of the teaching profession (Abrahamson 1998). In recent years, the use of storytelling has received attention from academic researchers and has been studied in several academic disciplines. It has been suggested that the use of storytelling in higher education settings increases student performance …

The Local Government Financial Response To Natural Disasters In Kentucky, Lucas Taulbee

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study seeks to estimate the effect of disasters on the total receipts and total spending of county governments in Kentucky. In addition to estimating the effects of disasters on total receipts and total spending, this study also seeks to estimate the effects of disasters on specific categories of revenue (taxes, intergovernmental, etc.) and spending (transportation, recreation, general government, etc.). These effects are estimated using data on county budgets for 2007 through 2017 from the Kentucky Department for Local Government (DLG) and data on disaster declarations and public assistance grants from FEMA.

The principle findings of this study suggest that: …

Women's Golf Has A Virtual Opportunity, Kelly Price-Rhea

ETSU Faculty Works

Dr. Kelly Price looks at the ways new technology like augmented and virtual reality can help boost the coverage and popularity of women's golf.

Does Golf Have A Pink Problem?, Kelly Price-Rhea

ETSU Faculty Works

I love my pink glove. My last bag was pink. I am glad I had the pink option when I purchased these items. But the question remains, why must golf continue to place such deep division within many of its product lines which continues to fuel the gendering (and arguably sexism) of golf?

Bigger Than Golf – Lpga Branding And The ‘Drive On’ Marketing Strategy, Kelly Price-Rhea

ETSU Faculty Works

With the LPGA's 'Drive On' campaign, Dr. Kelly Price says "the brand of the LPGA is alive and well"... but it hasn't always been that way.