Business Commons^™

Slavery Is Bad For Business: Analyzing The Impact Of Slavery On National Economies, Monti Narayan Datta, Kevin Bales

Political Science Faculty Publications

This article, using a novel dataset, demonstrates that slavery is empirically bad for business. Building upon the work of Robert Smith, the authors analysis examines the relationship between the prevalence of slavery in a country (in terms of the proportion of the population enslaved) and several economic measures (the United Nations Human Development Index, growth domestic product in terms of purchasing power parity, access to financial services, and the Gini coefficient). In each instance, controlling for alternative explanations, greater levels of slavery are associated with a decline in economic growth and human development. The findings imply that beyond the morality …

The Stage Stop Inn: A Case Study On The Impact Of Small Hotels On Communities, Christine Oschell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

The purpose of this study was to understand more about the impact of the Stage Stop Inn on the community of Choteau. Specifically, the objectives were to learn more about the characteristics of overnight guests to the Stage Stop Inn, to determine reasons why people chose to stay at the Stage Stop Inn, and to determine the spending patterns of overnight guests to the Stage Stop Inn in the community of Choteau.

Location And Competitive Strategy In Retail: The Case Of Gamestop In Michigan, Karl P. Schrantz

Masters Theses

The State of Michigan offers a unique retail environment that offers a diverse arena for firms to interact and compete in. The state has many cities of different size and a multitude of retail chains that operate within them. Over the past two decades this competition has become even stiffer with the rapid growth of big box retailers. In spite of this general notion there are often the less known stories of small retailers that have been able to compete and survive big box retailing. This research aims to assess how a smaller retail chain, GameStop in this case, is …

The Existence Of State Dependence And Switching Costs In The Transition From Myspace To Facebook, Taryn M. Ohashi

Scripps Senior Theses

In this paper, I examine the existence and roles of state dependence and switching costs in the mass transition from MySpace to Facebook during the 2007-2008 time period. Using a dataset that compiles individual browsing behavior and a discrete multinomial logit model, I find precise, yet extremely small amounts of state dependence for users of only MySpace, of only Facebook, and users of both MySpace and Facebook. Positive state dependence directly implies the existence of switching costs for each firm. While there is an abundance of literature regarding switching costs in the brick and mortar setting with tangible products and …

Pilots For Space Tourism, Robert A. Goehlich, Jay K. Anderson, Nathan N. Harrold, Joseph A. Bemis, Mike T. Nettleingham, Joshua M. Cobin, Bradley R. Zimmerman, Ben L. Avni, Michael D. Gonyea, Nicholas Y. Ilchena

Applied Aerospace Science

This article sheds light on the key player needed for any space tourism adventure: the pilot who flies the spacecraft. The paper addresses the potential benefits of including a pilot at the controls when designing a space tourism spacecraft. It examines the basic qualifications and advanced skills required of space tourism pilots and discusses key training requirements for selected pilots and space pilots’ pay and benefits. In addition, the research concludes that, just as the pioneers of passenger transport in aviation entertained and captured the interest of their passengers, the space pilot should have the skills of a tour guide.

A Simulation Approach To Airline Cost Benefit Analysis, Massoud Bazargan, David Lange, Luyen Tran, Zhiyuan Zhou

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

In this paper we conduct a cost benefit analyses using simulation for an Airline. This study pertains to using Towbarless Towing Vehicles (commonly referred to as supertugs) to transport aircraft to and from the terminal to airline’s maintenance hangar facility at their hub. This study attempts to investigate the possibility of reducing costs through saving jet fuel by adopting supertugs and identify if their high purchasing costs are justified. This study adopts simulation to analyze the annual savings by studying the numbers needed, as well as the utilization and operation cost for these supertugs. The results are very encouraging, enabling …

News - Don't Hang Up! Learn How To Better Serve Customers With Hearing Or Speech Loss With Georgia Relay Partner, Ellen Rolader, Lindsay Hebert

Georgia Library Quarterly

Georgia Relay, the free public service provided by the State of Georgia that makes communicating by telephone easy, accessible and reliable for everyone, wants to make Georgia’s libraries friendlier for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, late-deafened or who have difficulty speaking. This article provides an overview of Georgia Relay Partner, a free program that provides local businesses with online educational and training materials about Relay services so that employees will be able to easily accept and place calls to customers who have hearing loss or speech difficulties.

Formal And Informal Institutional Influences On Multinational Enterprise Social Responsibility: Two Empirical Studies, Dawn L. Keig

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

How do environmental institutional influences in a multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s) portfolio of locations affect social responsibility (and irresponsibility)? To explore this question, I engaged in two complementary empirical research studies, each exploring a particular subset of the MNE portfolio environment-social responsibility dynamic.

The first study applies the concept of institutional distance from the international business literature to examine how the differences in formal and informal institutional environments across a firm’s full portfolio of operating locations can affect its social performance. I hypothesize and find that firms with greater informal institutional distance within their locations will have lower overall levels of …

A Contemporary Examination Of The Miles And Snow Strategic Typology Through The Lenses Of Dynamic Capabilities And Ambidexterity, Marc D. Sollosy

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This study’s focuses on the examination of the Miles and Snow typology through the lenses of dynamic capabilities with a particular emphasis on ambidexterity. While each element of the typology has received varying degrees of study in both the management and marketing literature, to date, no study has examined the typology, as first proposed by Miles and Snow under the influence of either dynamic capabilities or ambidexterity. This study proposes to examine the alignment of the three elements of the typology with each other and the four strategic archetypes identified by Miles and Snow. It was Hambrick’s observation in his …

Two Essays On The Knowledge-Based View Of The Firm: The Impact Of Local Market Knowledge On Domestic Firm Performance In Both Transitional And Developed Economies, Ted B. Randall

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Are there strategies that domestic transitional economy firms (TEFs) can use in order to be successful given the increasing numbers of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in their home country markets? How do domestically focused, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed economies maintain satisfactory levels of performance when faced with the superior resources of MNEs and the resulting increased competitiveness in domestic industrial markets?

I attempt to answer these two questions in two separate papers. In the first paper, I examine TEFs by using research on the knowledge-based view of the firm (KBV) to create and test a new theory …

Two Essays On The Unintended Consequences Of Sarbanes-Oxley On Small Banks And Small Businesses, Earl C. Howell

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

These essays examine the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on small banks (Essay #1) and small businesses (Essay #2). Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), passed in 2002 by the Congress of the United States, was intended to enhance the security of the public shareholder through extensive reporting and compliance programs. As some compliance costs are fixed, the costs of SOX would logically fall disproportionately upon smaller banks, possibly producing unintended consequences. These costs if significant may impact the bank’s choice of strategy. How then can the bank respond? The expectation of a negative impact on small banks is well documented, and consistent with …

The Impact Of Social Influence Pressure On Cfo Judgments, Carol C. Bishop

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Through an experiment, this study examines the influence of social influence pressure on the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO’s) financial reporting decisions. Specifically, I evaluate the impact of inappropriate obedience and compliance pressure from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on the CFO’s propensity to make revisions to financial results in order to meet an earnings target. This study also examines how followership propensities and core self-evaluations (CSE) influence the pressure effects. This study complements and expands archival research examining why CFOs appear to participate in material accounting manipulations (Feng, Ge, Luo, & Shevlin, 2011; Ge, Matsumoto, & Zhang, 2011).

The results …

Influences On Supply Manager Behavior Toward Environmental Responsibility, James Anthony Swaim

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

As firms invest a substantial amount of time, effort, and funds to purchase goods and services, it is questionable if organizations will reach environmental sustainability objectives without supply manager active involvement. Although existing research has identified low supply manager support for environmental buying, there is little theoretical understanding and explanation relating corporate environmental policies and objectives to individual behaviors. Consequently, this dissertation seeks to provide insight into understanding and overcoming a lack of supply manager support for environmental sustainability. A research model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior used survey data from practicing supply managers to study the behavioral …

Online Social Presence (Osp) In E-Tailing: Construct Development And Testing, Russell Reams

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This research proposes and validates the Online Social Presence (OSP) scale and framework as an effective means of addressing the struggle e-tailers have encountered in attempting to create persuasive and effective online retailing experiences, which persuade customers to purchase their products and services. Online Social Presence (OSP) reexamines and extends the original social presence theory to the complex and dynamic e-tailing environment to address research that indicates that the typical online shopping experience lacks warmth and sociability.

A robust mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed to validate the Online Social Presence (OSP) as containing three reflectively measured …

The Constitution, The Roberts Court, And Business: The Significant Business Impact Of The 2011-2012 Supreme Court Term, Corey Ciocchetti

William & Mary Business Law Review

The 2011–2012 Supreme Court Term created quite the media buzz. The Affordable Care Act cases and the controversial Arizona immigration law dominated the headlines. But the Term also included other fascinating yet less sensationalized cases. The Court heard its fair share of criminal law controversies involving derelict defense attorneys and prosecutors, as well as civil procedure disputes involving qualified immunity for witnesses in grand jury proceedings and private parties assisting the government in litigation. The Justices also entertained arguments on a federal law allowing United States citizens born in Jerusalem to have “Israel” stamped as their birthplace on a passport. …

Suntrust Portfolio Recommendations: Crummer Investment Management [2013], Soumya Terala, Peter Harvey, Kevin Mayo, Bhawna Talwar, Pankaj Patil, Chris Enger

Crummer Truist Portfolios

We believe that the U.S. economy will continue growing modestly through 2013 and pick up speed in 2014. We have positioned the portfolio to take advantage of a slowly growing economy by slightly over-weighting the consumer discretionary, energy, industrials, technology, and health care sectors as these have traditionally benefited from recoveries. Accordingly, the consumer durables, financials, materials, telecommunications, and utilities sectors were under-weighted. Although the future is unusually cloudy, we reached this conclusion based on expected economic growth rates, favorable market P/E ratios and continued low interest rates.

The Moderating Effects Of Environmental Dynamism On The Relationship Between Dynamic Capabilities Strategy And New Venture Performance In An Emerging Market, Ilan Alon, Hao Jiao, Koo Chun Kwong, Yu Cui

Faculty Publications

Building from resource-based view, this study developed a model of the dynamic capabilities strategy in an emerging market, especially with a particular focus on the new ventures. We generated hypotheses based on this framework, linking them with new venture performance, with the moderation role of environmental dynamism. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of new ventures in the context of China's Yangtze River Delta Region. Empirical results showed that environmental sensing capability and changing and renewal capability had significant impacts on new venture performance. Additionally, environmental sensing capability, and changing and renewal capability both had a stronger impact on …

Rhody's Run For Dana-Farber 5k, Bryan P. Poston, Mark Albanese

Senior Honors Projects

The event itself was designed to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. In the early stages of the project, it was clear that a charity event would have the largest impact both on our experiential learning as well as the community as a whole. Dana-Farber was selected as the events beneficiary due to their impressive contributions to cancer research worldwide. While the success of the project isn't solely determined by charitable contributions we collected, it provided a form of measurement of progress throughout the semester. With the goal of simultaneously promoting student health, the event was organized …

Pay In Nonprofits, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

In the US, April 21-April 27 is National Volunteer Week, a time to recognize all those who work without pay to support important missions or causes championed by nonprofits. Many of the issues that come up when designing pay systems in for-profits (strategy, internal equity, performance, motivation, fairness, transparency, etc.) are as important to consider in nonprofits as they are in for-profits. But some of the facts and issues differ. Using a sample of data from the 2000 US Census of Population about approximately 3 million people between the ages of 16 and 65 who worked full year and full …

Oit Online Web Presence, Ali Alsahaf, Ryan Menze, Farzad Moshfegh, Jerrod Thomas

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) at Portland State University (PSU) migrated its website to a centrally provided Drupal content management system in the summer of 2012, leaving out a significant amount of content from the previous website in exchange for a quick implementation timeline based on an executive order to unify departmental branding across the division of Finance and Administration. This initial migration focused on public facing information and excluded large swaths of support articles that were broadly used by faculty, staff, students, and technology professionals. In early 2013, a new project was launched to reevaluate the design decisions …

2013-April-01-Erin Savage Of Appalachian Voices To Speak At Etsu, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Food From Foreigners: Examining Expatriate Entrepreneurship In The Food Sector Of Nepal, Melanie R. Couchman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Recognizing the large impact that entrepreneurship can have on the development of a country, this research attempts to study the process foreigners face in starting up a business, the motives for entering the Nepalese market place, and ultimately how these foreign business owners are finding success in Nepal. Focusing primarily on the food sector, this research hopes to answer the question of whether foreign entrepreneurs can successfully integrate into the Nepalese market, how foreign business might differ from native business, and how foreign presence is affecting Nepal’s development. This study takes place in Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Patan, and will use …

Your Prized Executive Is Leaving. Now What?, John R. Ledgerwood, Stephen N. Morgan

Publications

The departure of a key member of your organization can quickly throw things into turmoil if the person is tightly tied to the firm in the minds of investors. For these reasons and others, nonprofits and for-profits alike should have an established succession plan for identifying a worthy replacement. This article examines how one global nonprofit is planning proactively for the future.

Fashion Adoption Behaviors Of Women In Manhattan Related To Spring 2012 Apparel Fashion Trends, Nicole Powell

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to look at the spring trends for 2012 and then compare them that to what the women of Manhattan are actually wearing, during the same season. I wanted to understand how women were adopting the fashion trends from Spring 2012 and turning them into part of their own self-identified style. I went on a research trip to New York City from May 6th to May 12th and spent a great deal of time, on the streets, observing and taking pictures of what real Manhattan women are wearing. For this project, I focused on four …

Allowing For Low-Cost Labor In Underdeveloped And Developing Countries As A Method For Initiating Economic Industrialization, Jordon A. Wolfram

Selected Honors Theses

The topic presented here closely examines the link between low-cost labor and the affect that it has on initiating industrialization in underdeveloped and developed countries. It can ultimately create a better standard of living for a country’s general population in the future, but the initial conditions for the laborers can be harsh. The low wage labor force achieves this goal by creating a competitive labor market which has the ability to stimulate economic growth. Once the initial steps of creating manufacturing and industry are achieved, then the general standard of living has robust potential to increase in the country as …

Fifteen Percent Or More: A Content Analysis Of Geico's Commercial Advertising, Paul Davis

Masters Theses

In this media saturated world which is lived in today, the general public is bombarded by a multitude of advertisements. This thesis was conducted to examine Geico's commercial advertising looking specifically at their use of humor. The Elaboration Likelihood Model and the Humorous Message Taxonomy were used to conduct this content analysis. The research examined the route of persuasion and elaboration that were used in 60 Geico commercials from five of their most recent campaigns. The Humorous Message Taxonomy helped to establish which types of humor were being used along with the processes and relationship between elements. Three research questions …

Harnessing Charisma For Leadership Training, Meagan Roper

Masters Theses

Effective leadership develops followers toward objectives that focus a group's energy to engage in its task and accomplish its goals. The following study sought to understand charismatic leadership and its role in creating transformational change. Through a mixed methods case study using surveys and interviews, this researcher sought to explain the essence of charismatic leadership. Within the organization this study investigated, this meant first establishing organizational vision for a family atmosphere and guiding members on the path to achieving that vision, generating motivation and dedication to the task goals. The researcher discovered practical communicative strategies for incorporating charismatic leadership in …

Seattle's Seafaring Siren: A Cultural Approach To The Branding Of Starbucks, Briana Kauffman

Masters Theses

Many corporate brands tend to be built on a strong foundation of culture, but very minimal research seems to indicate a thorough analysis of the role of an organizational's culture in its entirety pertaining to large corporations. This study analyzed various facets of Starbucks Coffee Company through use of the cultural approach to organizations theory in order to determine if the founding principles of Starbucks are evident in their organizational culture. Howard Schultz' book "Onward" was analyzed and documented as the key textual artifact in which these principles originated. Along with these principles, Starbucks' Website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube page …

Attest Engagements On Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information; Statement Of Position, 13-1, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Sustainability Task Force

Exposure Drafts, Comment Letters, and Statements of Position

No abstract provided.

Capturing Creative Program Management Best Practices, Brandon Keller, Joseph R. Wirthlin

Faculty Publications

This research attempted to capture the creative aspects of government program management in three specific areas: efficiently navigating oversight, capturing the intent of regulations, and developing innovative risk management practices. Respected acquisition leaders with diverse backgrounds and experiences were interviewed with ranks ranging from 0-6 to 0-8 and GS-15 to SES. Several contractor interviews were conducted for specific purposes. The data were iteratively coded and analyzed using ATLAS.ti. The results were categorized into four themes, each with three sub-elements. Differences between respondents with program director experience and those with rapid acquisition experience are discussed. A survey was then distributed to …