Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Key Findings: 2016 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 205 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

The Identification And Exploitation Of Terrorist Financing, Jacob S. Gordon

Senior Honors Theses

Terrorism and the threat of terrorist attacks have forced the United States to place a high priority on developing a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. A crucial component of this overarching strategy focuses on targeting the finances of a terrorist organization, hoping to eliminate or stifle their sources of funding in an effort to render the organization incapable of launching successful operations due to an absence of funding. By analyzing the most common financing options that terrorist groups use, the United States can hone its ability to disrupt the funding operations for terrorist groups. Likewise, developing a method for tracking the laundering …

Shareholder Advocacy In Corporate Elections: Case Studies In Proxy Voting Websites For Retail Investors, Robin Miller

Sustainability and Social Justice

One of the key rights shareholders retain is the right to vote on issues affecting the companies in which they invest. This voting right is seen as one of the primary means of exercising diligent corporate governance (Cole 2003, Fairfax 2009). Only 28 percent of individual investors vote in corporate elections compared with 91 percent of institutional investors. Informed voting decisions at corporate elections can be very information intensive, and theories of rational apathy and the free rider problem may explain a lack of participation from individual investors.

Many shareholders cannot attend annual corporate meetings, so they …

Do Investors Value The Required Stress Tests Of Financial Holding Companies?, Brendan A. Colligan

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the value of disclosing stress test results to investors and market participants within the US financial system. Recently the Federal Reserve (“Fed”) expanded its required internal stress testing program, often referred to as the Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test (“DFAST”), to include bank holding companies (“BHCs”) with more than $10 billion in total assets. These BHCs were required to publicly disclose their results for the first time in June of 2015. Large BHCs are subject to another level of stress testing implemented by the Comprehensive Capital Analysis Review (“CCAR”). Large BHCs are defined as having more than $50 …

Financial Performance In Upstream, Downstream, And Integrated Oil Companies In Response To Oil Price Volatility, Jonathan P. Garcia

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper investigates the relation between crude oil price volatility and stock returns among oil companies using a three-part methodology, by using the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) as oil price benchmark. I asses the various indicators that set signals for oil price volatility and the interpretation of each (PMI, S&P500, DJIA, and World Crude Oil Output). This research also focuses on the relation between different types of companies in the oil industry (integrated, upstream, and downstream) and how each type of company will be assessed in a particular way to predict abnormal returns, based on market data and statistical analyses …

Profit Shifting And Manipulation, Byron Dela Rosa

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

As of late, many U.S. firms have made their way overseas in ways many feel are unethical. U.S. multinationals have taken note of the unimaginable domestic corporate income tax rate the United States has set for these U.S. corporations. Similar to an individual paycheck you may receive, you must pay a portion to the U.S. government in taxes. And even more similarly, you wish that you did not have to pay it either. U.S. multinationals have the same mindset, as they have found ways to avoid the corporate income tax through foreign activity strategies. Using scholarly research papers and well-renown …

2016 Q2 Private Capital Access Index Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Access Report

The Pepperdine Private Capital Access Index (PCA) is a quarterly indicator produced by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, and with the support of Dun & Bradstreet. The index is designed to measure the demand for, activity, and health of the private capital markets. The purpose of the PCA Index is to gauge the demand of small and medium sized businesses for financing needs, the level of accessibility of private capital, and the transparency and efficiency of private financing markets.

Annapurna’S Porters: Labor Conditions And The Factors That Shape Them, Ari Grant-Sasson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project sought to determine what the labor conditions of porters working in Annapurna are and the factors both immutable and human-influenced that shape them. To do so, I interviewed government bodies, national and regional trekking organizations, unions, agencies, guides and porters to ascertain what issues a broad term such as “labor conditions” encompasses. Participants highlighted the importance of insurance, wages, weight carried, equipment, access to employment, job training and topography as important factors. I will argue that large advocacy organizations shape these issues, and therefore the porter market, at a national level. Discrepancies in employment experiences between porters are …

Essays On The Equity Risk Premium, Mohamed Mehdi Rahoui

Finance Theses & Dissertations

The equity risk premium (ERP) is an essential component of any asset pricing model both for academics and practitioners alike. Nevertheless, the financial literature does not accord much attention to the ERP estimation issues (Damodaran, 2015). The first chapter of this dissertation gives a summary of the recent literature review on the subject of the ERP. The second chapter explores four of the most commonly cited models in literature for estimating the ERP: the Historical Mean of Realized Returns Model (HMRRM), the Dividend Discount Model (DDM), the Free Cash Flow Model (FCFM), and the Sharpe Ratio Model (SRM). The results …

Thought Leaders: Faculty Who Shape Business Theory And Practice Through Research

Business Exchange

Profiles of seven DePaul professors and the research they are conducting in areas as diverse as work-life balance and investor behavior: James D. Shilling, Real Estate Studies; R. David McLean, Investment Management; Kelly Richmond Pope, Accountancy; Andrew Gallen, Marketing; Alyssa J. Westring, Management; William Sander, Economics; and Misty Johanson, Hospitality Leadership.

The Impact Of Relationship Marketing (Rm) On Relationship Quality (Rq): Empirical Evidence From Commercial Bank Customers In Nigeria., Sunny E. Ekakitie

Bullion

The study set out to determine the impact of Relationship Marketing (RM) on relationship quality (RQ), with respect to the services Nigerian banks deliver to their clients. Three hypotheses were formulated to drive the study. Survey research design was adopted using a 48-item Likert style questionnaire to capture the opinions of valued clients. The study covered the six geo-political zones in Nigeria with 4 states drawn randomly from each zone. Extensive literature on RM and RQ were reviewed. Models/theories were lucidly discussed with the study evolving the quality/customer satisfaction model which is a modification of Zineldin's (2006) technical and functional …

External Management Reserve: Overview And Performance Of Major Asset Classes For The Period 2000-2016, Mujtaba Muhammad Farouk, Abdurrahman Abdullahi

Bullion

This paper discusses in detail, various asset classes available to both active and passive reserves managers and analyse the performance of the asset classes held mostly by central banks. Following an introduction, the paper is structured as follows: Section two reviewed literature on reserves management, including motives and what guides the decisions of the investment committee in determining asset classes. Section three analysed the various asset classes that reserves managers invest in, while section four evaluates the major central banks' asset classes' performance over the lost fifteen years covering the period before and after the 2008 global financial crisis. Section …

2016 Q1 Private Capital Access Index Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Access Report

The Pepperdine Private Capital Access Index (PCA) is a quarterly indicator produced by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, and with the support of Dun & Bradstreet. The index is designed to measure the demand for, activity, and health of the private capital markets. The purpose of the PCA Index is to gauge the demand of small and medium sized businesses for financing needs, the level of accessibility of private capital, and the transparency and efficiency of private financing markets.

A Case Study Exploration Of Blue-Collar Worker Retirement Plan Investment Decisions, Mark Griffin, Steven Tippins

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

The finances of blue-collar workers were the most acutely impacted as these workers lost their jobs during the Great Recession of 2007 through 2009. The literature revealed a minimal understanding of how blue-collar workers allocated funds for their retirement, and what their investments might be when they invested. To address this problem, the current qualitative study addressed (a) how blue-collar workers chose to invest or not invest for retirement and (b) how blue-collar workers diversified their portfolio if they chose to invest. Theoretical foundations of the study were based on regret theory and prospect theory. A nonrandom purposeful sample of …

2015-2016 Financial Summary, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Financial Summaries Archive

2015-2016 Financial Summary of Morehead State University.

Disciplining Corporate Boards And Debtholders Through Targeted Proxy Access, Michelle M. Harner

Indiana Law Journal

Corporate directors committed to a failed business strategy or unduly influenced by the company’s debtholders need a dissenting voice—they need shareholder nominees on the board. This Article examines the biases, conflicts, and external factors that impact board decisions, particularly when a company faces financial distress. It challenges the conventional wisdom that debt disciplines management, and it sug-gests that, in certain circumstances, the company would benefit from having the shareholders’ perspective more actively represented on the board. To that end, the Article proposes a bylaw that would give shareholders the ability to nominate direc-tors upon the occurrence of predefined events. Such …

Banco Solidario S.A.: The Recovery Strategy, 2000–2004, Karina Caballero, Mauricio A. Melgarejo, Enrique Ogliastri

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Five years passed since, in April, 2000, Kurt Koenigsfest took over as the Chief Executive Officer at Banco Solidario S.A. (BancoSol), in La Paz, Bolivia. BancoSol had become the top Latin American bank specializing in providing microbusiness services. Since its beginning in 1992, BancoSol achieved excellent results and became an international reference in the microcredit area. In mid-2000, external and internal factors caused its performance to deteriorate. Kurt and his management team set and implemented a strategy that led the bank to be rated as the best financial institution in the Bolivian financial system in 2004. The time had come …

Event Risk : Three Essays Exploring Nonprofit Organizations' Finances After The September 11 Attacks, Santiago Guerrero

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The three essays of this dissertation explore the experience of nonprofit organizations after the September 11 attacks to gain a better understanding of one specific type of risk nonprofit organizations face— “event risk” — which I broadly define as the risk of a negative impact on the operations of a nonprofit organization as a result of unexpected events. Essay One finds that overall nonprofit sector revenues were not reduced after the September 11 attacks and identifies characteristics of the revenue mix that make nonprofit organizations less susceptible to event risk. Essay Two identifies characteristics of nonprofit organizations’ financial conditions that …

The Effects Of Corporate Social Responsibility On Financial Performance, Marly Mentor

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Companies have taken the initiative to be socially responsible over the years. In the past, the focus for companies has been on maximizing wealth. With the growth of corporate social responsibility (CSR), there has been many debates regarding its benefits. More companies are beginning to realize the value of being socially responsible and how critical it is to business function. This paper researches past studies on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance. This relationship is then tested using a reliable source of data on corporate social responsibility performance. This study uniquely looks at the accounting and market-based …

Ceo Ownership And Firm Performance: Evidence From The 2003 Dividend Tax Cut, Hong Kim Duong

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates whether and how CEO ownership impacts firm performance by using the large tax cut on individual dividend income enacted in 2003 (The 2003 Dividend Tax Cut) as an exogenous shock. My findings suggest that CEO ownership of dividend payers significantly increased after the shock in the form of higher annual restricted stock grants and more option exercises. I document that the change in CEO ownership has an asymmetric impact on firm performance and investment efficiency. Only dividend payers with CEOs who moved closer to optimal ownership experienced improvement in investment efficiency and performance. In contrast, dividend payers …

Exploring Bank Managers' Strategies For Developing Millennials For Leadership Roles In Commercial Banks, Kenneth Morton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Understanding strategies to prepare Millennials for leadership roles in commercial banks is critical to ensure organizational stability and success and to avoid knowledge gaps and leadership deficiencies created by large numbers of retiring Baby Boomers. Guided by learning network theory and generational theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that 3 bank managers in North Carolina and South Carolina used to prepare Millennials for leadership. These 3 bank managers had a minimum of 2 years of experience leading teams of employees which included Millennials. The study included semistructured interviews to elicit detailed narratives from …

Relationship Between Working Capital Management, Policies, And Profitability Of Small Manufacturing Firms, Zelealem Tadesse Temtime

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Working capital optimization, as an act of balancing liquidity and profitability, presents significant challenges when small businesses lack managerial expertise and access to affordable capital and credit facilities. To remain successful through efficient utilization of working capital, small business leaders need to understand the association between working capital management (WCM), working capital policy (WCP), and business profitability (PFT). Anchored in the cash conversion cycle theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between WCM, WCP, and PFT. The study employed a retrospective secondary analysis of financial data from 2004 to 2013 from a random sample of …

The Credibility Of Government Budget: The Case Of Sierra Leone, Patrick Saidu Conteh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fiscal reports have, since 2010, documented weak budget credibility in Sierra Leone public financial management noting that the government budget does not constitute a dependable framework for the planning, allocation and efficient use of the nation's resources. The purpose of this study was to develop a budgetary reform agenda and the research question that guided the study related to the reasons for the high monetary variances between the approved budget and the year-end financial reports. Government budgets and financial reports were reviewed for 2010-2014 and senior government officials were interviewed regarding the main stages of the annual budgetary process. The …

Valuing Commercial Finance Companies, David Earle Coit

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Stakeholders are increasingly insistent that companies increase firm value. The problem is that stakeholders of financial services firms are unable to accurately determine firm value. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the accuracy of 4 valuation models in predicting the market value of equity of commercial finance companies. Study participating companies were 8 listed U.S. or Canadian commercial finance companies. The theoretical constructs of the study included the accuracy of valuation models, modern portfolio theory, and the correlation of book value of equity to market value of equity. Financial information on participating companies obtained from public filings …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Financial Performance Of Banks In The United States, Waidi Alani Gbadamosi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Corporate social responsibility has evolved as a business strategy, but the business worth of voluntary social conduct has not been well understood. The contradictory research findings mean that social performance is not maximized, which constrains economic growth and sustainable development. Grounded by stakeholder theory, this correlational study was aimed at examining the effect of social responsibility factors on the market-based Fama-French cost of capital. Within a sample of 71 United States banks, the publicly available ethical ratings, financial data, and stock market data were analyzed using multiple regression models. Contrary to the positive effect of social conduct on financial performance …

Multinational Corporations' Return On Investment Optimization In Nigeria's Business Environment, Funlola Francesca Fajinmi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Trade between the United States and Africa decreased 32% from US$125 billion, in 2011, to US$85 billion, in 2013; however, MNCs from other regions have continued to increase investments in Africa. Multinational corporations (MNCs) generate most of their return on investment (ROI) from the Western world. Globalization, increasing middle classes in emerging markets, and decreasing population in the Western world have lead to unsustainable ROI. Nigeria, the most populous and largest economy in Africa and the 27th largest economy in the world, offers new opportunities with an annual growth rate forecast of 6% to 8%. Utilizing the diamond theory of …

The Role Of Strategic Leadership In Banking Profitability, Joseph Ochien'g Witts

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A study on corporate leadership failure in America by Vugt and Ronay has shown that the failure rate of business leadership in meeting profitability targets is as high as 60%. Most organizations fail to attain profitability targets due to limited experience and exposure to strategic leadership. The aim of this single case study design was to explore the role of strategic leadership in banking profitability. Twelve purposively selected senior bankers and members of the board of directors with over 10 years of experience in banking and profitability and 3 years in the top management team participated in the study in …

The Role Of Corporate Governance In Preventing Bank Failures In Zimbabwe., Bernard Chidziva

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 2008-2009 global financial crisis resulting in some banks collapsing has raised questions about the corporate governance of financial institutions. Some bank managers lack an understanding of the role of corporate governance in preventing bank failures. In this multiple case study, data were collected through interviews and triangulated with annual reports to explore the strategies some bank managers need to improve their understanding of the role of corporate governance in preventing bank failures in Zimbabwe. The 7 study participants were purposefully recruited from a larger population of 19 bank managers responsible for corporate governance and compliance operating in Zimbabwe between …

Nigerian Banking Governance, Leadership Style, And Performance During The 2008-2009 Financial Crisis, Adeola Oluwayemi Agbato

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 2008-2009 global financial crisis of financial systems negatively affected about 30% of Nigerian banks, leading to profitability issues. The profitability issues led to operational challenges, downsizing, and liquidation of some banks. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between corporate governance structure, perception of leadership style, and bank performance. This study was grounded in agency theory and used survey and archival data. Survey data were collected from 11 participants employed by commercial banks located in Nigeria, using the Multifaceted Leadership Questionnaire. Corporate governance and bank performance data were collected from annual bank reports. The model …

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Servant Leadership In Banking, Curtis J. Gregory

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S.-based financial institutions have experienced significant failure rates since the mid-1980s. The problem within the U.S.-based banking industry is that the focus of leadership development has been primarily on cognitive abilities, whereas interpersonal skills, such as emotional intelligence, have been neglected. Research has focused on U.S. bank failures from a risk mitigation, economic, or legislative perspective, creating a gap in research on leadership behavior. The purpose of this correlation study was to determine whether a significant relationship exists between emotional intelligence and servant leadership among leaders in the U.S. small business banking industry. The theoretical framework compared intelligence types to …