Business Commons^™

Marketing And Microbusiness, Joran Premo-Hurt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Marketing plays an influential role in small business survival. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the mechanisms used by microbusiness retail store owners for collecting, monitoring, and transforming market data into operational marketing activities. Marketing orientation (MO) provided the conceptual framework for this study. Guided by an abridged interview protocol, 4 retail microbusiness owners from Delaware participated in audio-recorded, semistructured interviews. Saturation of data occurred after 3 interviews, confirmed when the 4th interview produced no new information. After transcribing the interviews, member checking occurred, as each participant received a summary of the interview, along with thematic …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Financial Literacy At The University Of Mississippi, Paul Jackson Gunn

Honors Theses

This thesis examines why financial literacy is important and what factors can influence students' financial literacy at the University of Mississippi. Financial literacy is important and can affect many aspects of life, whether it is political, financial, educational or personal. Students enrolled in EDHE 105 participated in the multiple-choice survey, which included socioeconomic, demographic and financial literacy questions. Participants' answers were analyzed using four statistical models: ordinary least squares regression, univariate analysis or means by differences analysis, interactions and probit analysis. The study found that the average score, 2.02 out of five, to the financial literacy quiz for all participants …

Strategies For Improving First-Line Supervisor Problem-Solving Abilities In The Retail Supermarket Industry, John E. Jarvis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

First-line supervisors in U.S. retail organizations are unable to resolve nearly 34% of typical daily customer problems for their organizations. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies retail supermarket managers have used to improve 1st line supervisor problem solving abilities within a retail supermarket company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The conceptual framework for this study was the skills-based leadership model. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 4 retail store manager participants with a successful record of improving first-line supervisor problem solving abilities. Additionally, the review of company documents including training guides, training checklists, job …

Exploring Leader-Initiated Change Management For Adopting Cloud Services, Nancy Marie Landreville

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cloud technology requires a virtualized ubiquitous and scalable environment with shared resources. The general problem in cloud adoption is the absence of standardization across organizations. A standardized approach remained elusive since the inception of the Cloud First mandate. The purpose of this study was to explore leader-initiated change management (LICM) practices in cloud adoption within organizations. The theoretical framework included the classical theories of Kurt Lewin's organization change management, leader-member exchange, intentional change, and appreciative inquiry. A multiple case study design approach facilitated the exploration of LICM-value added practices to identify standardization in cloud adoption practices. Data collection included semistructured …

Strategies For Managing An Age-Diverse Workforce In Curaçao, Yamil Walid Lasten

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some business leaders find it challenging to manage individuals from different age groups; this is an issue, as organizations in many developed countries become more age-diverse. The purpose of this single case study was to provide business leaders with information about strategies top-level business executives and team leaders at a large company in Curaçao (a developed island nation in the Caribbean) use for enhancing productivity of an age-diverse workforce. The conceptual framework of this study consisted of generational theory of Mannheim. A key tenet of the generational theory includes that belonging to the same generational unit, generational location, and generational …

Strategies For Growing And Sustaining Successful Small Businesses, Patrick Modilim Modilim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business manufacturing enterprises represent viable means of creating employment, stimulating economic growth, and accelerating development. Many newly formed small business enterprises do not continue beyond 5 years after formation. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies used by small business manufacturing leaders in Lagos, Nigeria to sustain their businesses, using general systems theory as the conceptual framework. The sample comprised 3 small business leaders who have sustained their business enterprises beyond 5 years after formation in Lagos, Nigeria. The data collections were through semistructured, in-person interviews and the review of business feasibility and planning …

Financial Distress In The Health Care Business, Firas Fathi Musmar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sixty-four United States hospitals closed for poor organizational performance during 2010 through 2016. Because of hospital closures, community members experienced delays in obtaining needed care, reduced access to specialty care, and increased travel distances. Based on the balanced scorecard model theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that 10 health care leaders used at a healthcare organization in central Texas to prevent financial distress. Semistructured interviews were conducted and archival organizational accounting records were reviewed, including company surveys with employees and patients. Data were thematically analyzed and triangulated to ensure the trustworthiness of interpretations. …

Exploring Small Business Strategies To Comply With The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, John Palmer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S. aerospace companies are estimated to lose more than $25 billion in international contracts per year due to bribery. These losses create Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance strategy challenges for U.S. aerospace companies' management. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that U.S. aerospace small business leaders use to comply with the FCPA. The conceptual framework for this study was the regulatory compliance conceptual model, which suggests that small business leaders must gain deeper insight into how corporate compliance policies address the FCPA requirements. The target population for this study was leaders of a small …

Balancing Business Owners' Corporate Social Responsibility And Stakeholder Profitability, Andrew O. Arumemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some business owners lack experience balancing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and shareholder profitability. Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore business owners' experiences regarding balancing corporate social responsibility of hiring ex-inmates and shareholder profitability. The target population included 20 business owners in Newark, New Jersey who integrated CSR as part of their firms' formal business plans, were committed to hiring ex-inmates, and feared the consequential loss of profit such engagement might incur. Data were collected using in-depth semistructured interviews and analyzed using the modified van Kaam method. Three prominent themes included social perceptions of …

Strategies To Reduce Supply Chain Disruptions In Ghana, Carl Kwaku Dey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Supply chain disruptions are more prevalent in Ghana as businesses develop and become more complex. While business leaders recognize the importance of reducing the exposure to disruptions, 83 % of companies still suffer a form of disruption. Using the systems theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies supply chain managers in Ghana use to reduce disruptions in the supply chain. The data collection was through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews from 12 supply chain managers who gave tape-recorded interview responses to 8 questions. Transcript evaluation, member checking, and methodological triangulation ensured reliability and …

Strategies To Mitigate Nurse Turnover In Eastern And Northern Virginia, Fred E. Echoles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Registered nurses leaving the workplace are estimated to cost healthcare organizations and society between $1.4 and $2.1 billion annually. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what strategies leaders of healthcare organizations from the Eastern and Northern regions of Virginia can use to mitigate the effects of nurse turnover and its cost to the organization. The target population consisted of 8 RNs who experienced turnover during their nursing careers. The conceptual framework for this study was Herzberg's dual-factor theory. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted and publically available documents were garnered. Thematic reduction of participants' interviews, coupled with …

The Value Of Customer Relationship Management In The Service Industry In Egypt, Rasha Ahmed Negm

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have demonstrated that customer centricity strategies, including customer relationship management (CRM), contribute to 33% of the formula for organizational success. Relationship management theory was used to frame this single case study focused on the factors contributing to successful CRM strategies used by business leaders in a multinational organization in the service industry in Egypt. This company was chosen for its successful implementation of CRM strategies, as shown by online reviews, the company website, and market reputation on its effective campaing results. The population consisted of managers working in the marketing department for more than 5 years. Data collection included …

Extending Two-Dimensional Knowledge Management System Theory With Organizational Activity Systems' Workflow Dynamics, Dana Forrest Ladd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Between 2005 and 2010 and across 48 countries, including the United States, an increasing positive correlation emerged between national intellectual capital and gross domestic product per capita. The problem remains organizations operating with increasingly complex knowledge networks often lose intellectual capital resulting from ineffective knowledge management practices. The purpose of this study was to provide management opportunities to reduce intellectual capital loss. The first research question addressed how an enhanced intelligent, complex, and adaptive system (ICAS) model could clarify management's understanding of organizational knowledge transfer. The second research question addressed how interdisciplinary theory could become more meaningfully infused to enhance …

Event Program: 2016 Sapphire Symposium And Awards: Health Transformation: The Power Of Engagement, Florida Blue Foundation

Florida Blue Archives Printed Materials

No abstract provided.

Features Affecting The Quality Of Sustainability Reporting Within An Egyptian Context: An Empirical Study And Evaluation, Noha Abdelrahman

Business Administration

Despite of the general agreement among academics and practitioners on the massive importance of sustainability reporting, the quality level of sustainability reporting is unsustainable. There is an obvious increase in the number of sustainability reports that is not associated with a parallel or even acceptable increase in their quality. This research aims at contributing knowledge within sustainability reporting in the context of Egypt. This aim will be achieved by providing insights in the knowledge and reporting of sustainability through testing certain features for their impact on the quality of sustainability reporting. Data will be collected for the Global 100 companies, …

A Sustainability-Based Project Selection Algorithm: Socio-Technical-Economic Project Selection (Steps) Algorithm, Bharathi Bhattu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Multi-dimensional aspects play a vital role in the task of project-decision making. Environmental effects are to be considered in addition to other technical and non-technical aspects in order to avoid undue environmental damage. This current work introduces a new decision-making algorithm (Socio-Technical-Economic Project Selection or STEPS) that is demonstrated with the use of RCA (recycled concrete aggregate) as riprap for slope stabilization and erosion control which leaches chemical arsenic when in contact with water. Arsenic has long been recognized for its lethal properties. The main intention of introducing this new algorithm is to use sustainability concepts of social, technical, and …

Personas: A Strategy For More Inclusive And Usable Reproductive Health Tracking Technologies, Anna R. Paul

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this report, I argue for the inclusion of personas in the development process of technologies that are designed to allow users to collect and track their health information. Personas provide a profile of a user and their needs, goals, and contexts. This tool can help designers to better understand their users, in order to create better, more usable end products. I examine one particular self-tracking technology, smartphone applications that allow users to record information about their menstrual cycles. Many of the most popular period tracking applications available today only meet the needs of a narrow user group, resulting in …

An Empirical Examination Of An Agile Contingent Project/Method Fit Model, Diana K. Young, N. L. Beebe, G. Dietrich, C. Z. Liu

School of Business Faculty Research

While research has demonstrated positive productivity and quality gains from using agile software development methods (SDMs), some experts argue that no single SDM suits every project context. We lack empirical evidence about the project contextual factors that influence when one should use these methods. Research suggests several factors to explain agile method appropriateness; however, generalizable empirical evidence supporting these suggestions is weak. To address this need, we used contingency theory and the information processing model to develop the agile contingent project/method fit model. Subsequently, we used the model to analyze the influence of project contextual factors and agile practices on …

A Review Of Data Mining Techniques For Research In Online Shopping Behaviour Through Frequent Navigation Paths, Wing Lok Yeung

Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies Working Paper Series

Knowing how consumers navigate online shopping web sites enables retailers to not only better design their sites for navigation but also place buying recommendations at strategic points and personalise the flow of content. Frequent navigation paths can be derived from browsing histories or clickstreams with sequence-oriented data mining techniques. In this working paper, we highlight, with examples, the relevance of frequent navigation paths to online shopping behaviour research and review some relevant data mining techniques.

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast, Volume 19, Number 1, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Adam G. Walke

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Abet Accreditation Of Is And It Programs In 2013, Ronald J. Mackinnon, Kevin Lee Elder, John N. Dyer

Information Systems & Analytics: Faculty Publications

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has been accrediting engineering and computer science for many years. In recent years ABET has been accrediting Information Systems and Information Technology programs. ABET first accredited IS in 2000 and IT in 2003. ABET appears to have become the standard accreditation for IT and in the spring of 2014 there are 25 IT programs accredited by ABET. There are 38 IS programs accredited by ABET since 2000. This paper looks at the IS and IT ABET accredited programs and examines the common features and differences of these related accredited programs.

The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective: An Ongoing Experiment In Musical Self-Governance, Julian D. Bryson

Theses and Dissertations--Music

C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective and Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective are the first choirs to explore collectivity as a method of ensemble organization. While more traditional ensembles have a single artistic director, C4 and Triad share and rotate leadership responsibilities among the full membership. Artistic and logistical decisions develop through conversation, consensus, and/or voting.

This monograph draws primarily on interviews with thirteen current and former members of the two ensembles as well as the author’s personal experiences with Triad’s inaugural concert cycle to present a narrative description of member characteristics, governance, and operational processes. Interview responses are compared to relevant …

The Corporate Security Stratum Of Work: Identifying Levels Of Work In The Domain, Codee Roy Ludbey

Theses : Honours

Corporate security is a practicing domain and developing academic discipline that provides for the protection of people, information and assets, as well as the self-protection of organisations. Fayol (1949) articulated such an activity within organisations to be a core business function of significant importance; embedding security operations within all aspects of organisational work. This embedded nature of security within organisations has led to difficulty in the literature delineating roles and responsibilities of security practitioners; consequently leading to a nebulous understanding of security as a whole. Therefore, an investigation of the corporate security stratum of work has been undertaken to address …

Improving Collaborative Convergence Through Distributed And Parallel Sorting, Christopher B. R. Diller, Joel H. Helquist, John Kruse

Management Faculty Publications

This paper examines a convergence process of organizing ideas that are generated during collaborative idea generation activities. The method presented reduces the impact of organizing brainstorming ideas on individual participants by dividing the convergence activity into smaller, discrete tasks that can be completed individually, and in parallel, by the participants. The entire pool of brainstorming ideas is subdivided into smaller pools and each participant is then tasked with organizing one of the subsets of ideas. The results show that by dividing up the overall activity into subtasks, the subjects experienced a more favorable environment. Furthermore, the subjects were able to …

Using Voicethread As An Ice Breaker Assignment, Curtis Izen

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Cross-Cultural Management In International Business: China And The United States, Natalie (Tilly) Barnett

Scripps Senior Theses

Attention to cross-cultural management in today’s globalized workplace and marketplace is paramount to professional success. In this exploration I examine the nuances of Chinese business practices and organizational culture as well as their likely points of divergence from American traditions. The variance between organizational culture across national borders is often significant and, as demonstrated by the cases herein, can prove to be either an opportunity to succeed beyond expectation or fail to the same extent.

Adding Up The Arts: The Great Recession And The Public-Private Debate In The Funding Of America's Art And Art Museums, Jasmine Kusumowidagdo

Scripps Senior Theses

The Great Recession dramatically reframed the debate on funding for the arts from a social one to a fiscal one. Instead of social ideology, economics came to the forefront; and fiscal conservatives replaced social conservatives as the loudest voice criticizing government funding for the arts. Under the shadow of an expanding government and staggering national debt, both supporters and critics argue in terms of the economic costs and benefits that the arts impose. These arguments against public funding for the arts are multi-tiered. Critics contend that the government arts agencies are ineffective, that federal arts funding is inefficient, and that …

Modelling The Impact Of Fiscal Policy On Non‑Oil Gdp In A Resource Rich Country: Evidence From Azerbaijan, Khatai Aliyev, Bruce Dehning, Orkhan Nadirov

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

This paper analyses the impact of public expenditures and tax revenues on non‑oil economic growth in Azerbaijan for the period of 2000Q1‑2015Q2 by employing OLS, ARDL, FMOLS, DOLS, CCR and Granger Causality techniques. Different cointegration methods result in consistent results. In this study, there is strong evidence of significant long‑run positive contributions from public expenditures to non‑oil sector output. Results also show that tax revenues significantly slow down non‑oil economic growth in the long run. Granger Causality analysis finds the existence of a bidirectional short‑run association between non‑oil GDP and public expenditures, while tax revenues Granger Cause both variables. The …

Electric Vehicles In Ireland: The Past, The Present And The Future?, Emma Sadleir

Theses

This research is undertaken as part of the researcher’s efforts to achieve a Masters Degree in Business from Cork Institute of Technology. The research topic of Electric Vehicles in Ireland and the concentration on those vehicles exclusively or primarily powered by battery was prompted by interest and curiosity, but with a significant undertone of concern for the environment, all of which led to the research question: Electric Vehicles in Ireland: the past, the present, and the future?

It was not possible to start with a complete void and therefore initially assumptions were made, particularly that serious environmental damage arises from …

Food Tourism In Ireland: An Exploration Of The Role Of Food Tourism In Cultural Sustainability, Lisa O'Riordan

Theses

Previous research proposes that food tourism is a medium through which traditions can be maintained, as well as a conduit through which authentic culture can be experienced (Fox, 2007; Henderson, 2014; Okumus et al, 2007). Food tourism is also advocated as a sustainable means of environmental, economic and sociocultural development (Everett and Aitchison, 2008; Montanari and Staniscia, 2009). The unique focus of this research study is the role food tourism plays in cultural sustainability in Ireland, specifically, in Kinsale, the English Market and Dingle. In particular, this study draws on the viewpoints of thirty three food tourism representatives on the …