Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Building Information Modeling: Risks, Benefits, And Trends In Construction, Tanner Duron

Marriott Student Review

Welcome to the information age. Building Information Technology (BIM) offers the construction industry a way to manage everything, from sourcing to construction to maintenance. BIM has significant risks, but also boasts enough benefits to make every firm in the AEC industry ready to start integrating its use. As digital natives, it is up to the rising generation of workers to spearhead the wide-spread use of BIM.

Interior Design In The Workplace, Bryce Cindrich

Marriott Student Review

While people generally spend much of their time in their home, time spent in the workplace is usually a close second. Why should people care less about how their office is set up than their home? A well-designed interior at the workplace can help promote employee productivity and support their well-being, build a sense of community, improve team collaboration, and attract and retain talent.

Editor's Letter: Expectations

Marriott Student Review

This issue of Marriott Student Review (MSR) is all about developing greater expectations for the future, finding new ways of accomplishing our dreams, and fostering relationships, even in the digital world of Zoom and Team meetings. Even though our expectations have been unexpectedly altered, in the end, the shape of our lives may be ultimately better.

What Are Total Export Commitments Telling Us About Beef’S Potential In 2020: Positive Signs?, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

Overarching Market Conditions

The recent cattle on feed report suggests that cattle feedlots are coming closer to sorting through much of the backlog associated with plant closures and shutdowns as a result of plant workers testing positive for COVID-19 and plants implementing CDC and OSHA worker health recommendations. For example, the number of cattle on feed over 90 days has dipped below 2019 levels for the first time since April. However, cattle on feed over 120 days is still about 10% higher than 2019. The result of cattle being on feed longer is sustained record level dressed weights for both …

Institutional Logics And The Double Bottom Line: A Study Of Chikum Microfinance Bank Limited, Daniel Anyanwu

Dissertations

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) serve a social mission, while also having to focus on financial sustainability. Microfinance emerged as an alternative to traditional aid to the poor and aims to help alleviate poverty through providing them with financial services. MFIs can be self-sustainable and even profitable through income generating activities. This twin goal of commercial viability and social mission has generated much scholarly interest in the competition between two seemingly incompatible logics of action. Assumptions about the incompatibility of profit and mission motives have dominated the literature and led to a neglect of how some MFIs may be successful in integrating …

Mindfulness: A Promising Practice To Reduce Accountant Stress, Abigail Anderson

Marriott Student Review

This article considers the practice of mindfulness as an approach to reduce stress within the lives of accountants. Mindfulness has existed for centuries as a Buddhist tradition and has only recently become popular in the Western world as a stress-reduction technique that can lead to improved mental and emotional well-being. This article also examines the prevalence of mindfulness within the Top 10 accounting firms in the United States and some results regarding employee performance. As more and more firms begin to utilize mindfulness as a low-cost method to better employee performance and well-being, university accounting programs should consider incorporating the …

Make Amazon Your Servant, Not Your Master, Lisa Takabori

Marriott Student Review

This article explains how consumers can make better purchasing decisions by recognizing how benefits of local brick-and-mortar stores, such as Target, surpass the perceived benefits of e-commerce giant, Amazon.

A Place To Grow: Social Media And The Small Business, Lilli Vehikite

Marriott Student Review

E-commerce has revolutionaized the way we shop-- yet many small businesses have yet to embrace the growth that can come through harnessing the power of social media.

The Problem With Government Bailouts, Nathan Scott

Marriott Student Review

Americans are told to have 6 months of expenses saved for difficult times, but businesses are told not to worry; the government will take care of them. Past bailouts have set a nasty precedent that must change; government bailouts need reform if they are to continue in the future.

The Slow Death Of The Nonprofit Sector And How To Stop It In Three Steps, Taylor S. Mcpheeters

Marriott Student Review

What is happening to the nonprofit sector?

Taylor McPheeters explores the nonprofit Starvation Cycle—the eventual downfall of the nonprofit sector—and what you can do to end the cycle before it's too late.

Values Create Values, Chase M. Geertsen

Marriott Student Review

The days of companies focusing solely on maximizing shareholder value are over. In today's world, profitable companies create value by meeting the needs of their stakeholders.

Drought Decisions: Profit Maximizing Decisions During And After Drought Conditions, Robert Tigner, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

In summary, using available price risk management tools can effectively reduce some of the market price risk variability that is inherent in agricultural production that are caused by either production or price risk.

More Specific Than “Small”: Identifying Key Factors To Account For The Heterogeneity In Stress Findings Among Small Businesses, Alice M. Brawley Newlin

Management Faculty Publications

Small businesses are dominant in most economies and their owners likely experience high levels of distress. However, we have not fully explored how these common businesses meaningfully differ with respect to the stress process. Understanding the meaningful variations or subgroups (i.e., heterogeneity) in the small business population will advance occupational health psychology, both in research and practice (e.g., Schonfeld, 2017; Stephan, 2018). To systematize these efforts, the author identifies five commonly appearing “heterogeneity factors” from the literature as modifiers of stressors or the stress process among small business owners. These five heterogeneity factors include: owner centrality, individual differences, gender differences, …

Brave New World - The Rise Of Cities Globally: Urbanizationmeets Technological Innovation And Digitization, Rhonda S. Binda

Open Educational Resources

The trifecta of globalization, urbanization and digitization have created new opportunities and challenges across our nation, cities, boroughs and urban centers. Cities are in a unique position at the center of commerce and technology becoming hubs for innovation and practical application of emerging technology. In this rapidly changing 24/7 digitized world, city governments worldwide are leveraging innovation and technology to become more effective, efficient, transparent and to be able to better plan for and anticipate the needs of its citizens, businesses and community organizations. This class will provide the framework for how cities and communities can become smarter and more …

Internships Shape Students' Future Career, Maria F. Arrayan

Marriott Student Review

Finding an internship has been more difficult than before due to COVID-19. For many, the search for an internship may be frustrating or pointless during this difficult time. Students need to empower themselves with the right tools to find an internship. Maria Fernanda Arrayan talks about the benefits of an internship and four ways to find one. Read this article to find motivation in your search for an internship and try a new way to find your next internship!

Go Green: Make Green, Sam Montague

Marriott Student Review

While cost might seem like an obstacle to some, adopting sustainable practices can turn out to be profitable for most companies. Recent research find positive correlation between business efforts and the consumer response, showcase direct benefits to the business, and provide suggestions to put the findings into practice.

The Value Of Visual Marketing As A Tool To Gain Consumer Interest, Shivani Venkatraman '21

2020 Intern Reports

This year, I interned for the company SWAMR HR, their parent company being ThoughtWave Software and Solutions. SWARM HR is a company in the IT Industry, and I worked in the Marketing and Sales Department as an Inside Sales Intern. SWARM HR’s product, SWARM HR, is a workforce automation software. It helps businesses migrate to managing their employees full-time electronically, with modules for HR, ATS, and Accounting/Payroll. The business area I researched for my project was Visual Marketing. This area was one I got to explore in my internship, as I helped come up with newsletter content, infographics, and types …

An In Depth Look Of Marketing At Xenwork, Amanda Chen

2020 Intern Reports

Xenwork is an Information Technology service company that offers an array of solutions for its business clients. Emphasis is placed on its one of a kind software development as well as algorithms to help improve the technological side of its clients. With the ever growing market in technology, Xenwork is constantly looking to improve in any way it can.

Xenwork places a high value on customer service and marketing. Therefore, it takes an extra step to reach out to potential customers with personalized scripted messages. In addition to reaching out to potential clients, Xenwork also makes sure to be updated …

Iba Newsletter [August 2020], Communications Department, Office Of The Registrar

IBA News

No abstract provided.

Multi-Phenomena Internship With Coursestars, Joanna Menendie

2020 Intern Reports

CourseStars is an online tutoring company that caters to students from kindergarten all the way to college. The company has been focusing on community outreach, among several other things. They wanted to focus on some other aspects of their business more and needed more perspectives and hands in the company to do so. This summer, I was able to be one of those people for CourseStars and focus on many categories. Originally being taken on as a Marketing intern, it was my main focus. This included helping improve their branding, social media image, and overall outside appearance. A major part …

Social Media Marketing, Christo Ekimov '22

2020 Intern Reports

Hespr is a mental health startup that believes that mental health is both a personal journey as well as a community one. Hespr is building an application that incorporates this idea using a guided journal, which facilitates the personal journey and a social platform to foster the community journey. It has a strong back-end which uses a variety of algorithms to calculate the emotions of the user. It combines all this with a sleek and functional UI. They focus on creating positive change in the world along with reimagining the way mental health is perceived and treated. As a marketing …

Website And Communications / Development With Iagc, Nathan Joseph '21

2020 Intern Reports

This summer, I completed a summer IMSA Internship with the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC), a non-profit aimed to provide quality education to students across the state. During this internship, I worked independently and remotely due to COVID-19 with some assistance via email or Zoom from my business mentor to complete a variety of tasks for the IAGC. Some of the endeavors that I took part in were creating website pages. Particularly, I worked on a page promoting social and emotional support for students, a page promoting and acknowledging the excellence gap, and a page answering commonly asked questions …

Safestart Medical: An Innovative Hit Solution To Never Events (Wspe), Shikhar Gupta '22

2020 Intern Reports

SafeStart Medical is a health information technology company offering a healthcare system, or electronic health record, that reduces dangerous handoff and communication errors, reduces delays and cancellations in the operating room, and empowers the patient as an active member of their care team. SafeStart is an automated and digitized revenue cycle management tool that improves perioperative patient safety, quality of care, and patient throughput. They specifically aim to prevent the occurrence of Never Events, preventable and serious medical errors that occur at an alarming rate. As an intern at SafeStart, I performed research on clinical topics such as Never Events …

Graphic Design Internship, Jonathan Gao '21

2020 Intern Reports

I have always been my own boss. From self-learning graphic design, starting in third grade, to practicing graphic design for clubs and organizations under my digression. I have been lucky enough to work for mainly myself and, when working for others, have had to cater to exclusively my taste—my experience in doing graphic design for teams has in the past been limited to making a design I like, requesting approval with little to no necessary revisions, and finally sending the design to its final destination.

Working with the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce this summer was my first time practicing graphic …

Marketing Experience: Analysis Of Competitors, Kaylee Zhou '22

2020 Intern Reports

Hespr is a start-up that focuses on promoting mental health by providing an app for the community. While the app is still in its early access program, Hespr's development team has been working diligently to improve various aspects and features. Throughout my internship, many tasks and projects were completed, such as user outreach, graphic design, written reports, and research. The objectives of this business project involved gathering information on how to analyze competitors and their marketing strategies efficiently and how to identify competitors' strengths and weaknesses effectively. My internship has provided me with valuable findings, leading me to conclude that …

Understanding Covid-19s Effect On Commerce Through Machine Learning, Madhav Parthasarathy '21

2020 Intern Reports

During these trying times, the novel virus has taken its toll on the economy. As a result, there must be a method to prevent any further loss in revenue for grocers especially. I started this project off, by researching the topic and its previous applications. As the virus is quite new, I was made to improvise a solution using machine learning. After finding a certain amount of data, I was able to utilize machine learning in order to predict the sales through certain periods of time. Due to Covid-19, there had been an extreme disparity in the sales of grocery …

Marketing & Website Visual Development To Enhance Communication For Iagc, Makayla Zheng '22

2020 Intern Reports

In the Business Context portion, the general description of the industry and organization are detailed. I interned for the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC), a nonprofit organization that works in the field of education, helping to promote the development of gifted and talented children across Illinois.

In the Business Project Description section, the work I contributed to IAGC is exhibited.During this internship, I largely partook in the marketing aspects for IAGC. I mainly worked with improving the IAGC website to increase organization and visual enhancement allowing for easier accessibility for users. The Exhibits portion consists of visuals from my …

Internship With Coursestars, Aakash Kumar '21

2020 Intern Reports

The plan of the company was to rework some parts of their website to automate submissions by employees and to attract more clients. The company I was interning with was CourseStars, a company that prides itself on finding excelled tutors to serve students. However, the project had a lot of complicated parts due to privacy issues and company policies.

First, the company needed to ensure that there was an easier way for them to give out tutor applications and publish tutors’ information on their website. The second issue was to drive tutor’s to work with CourseStars and make it easier …

Marketing And Design Applications In Website Development, Amanda Chen

2020 Intern Reports

Are there universal guidelines that ensure the efficacy of a business website’s design and marketing appeal to consumers? Through the field studies of competitor businesses of private tutoring company CourseStars, LLC. as well as research journals confirming the significance of behavioral economics working hand in hand with user experience website design, we determined that the best course of action was to rebrand the CourseStars website to reflect a personal connection its tutors can make with their students. The general principles to make a “good website” are ease of use, trust, transaction security, and behaviorally, using consumers’ cost-benefit analysis and their …

Analyzing Pricing Models In The Context Of Mental Health Markets, Edward Zhang '22

2020 Intern Reports

In today’s world, mental health is becoming an increasingly important issue. To address, this the crossroads between technology and healthcare has become more and more apparent, with many mental heath apps seeking to help consumers on this issue and reduce stigma.Hespr is one of these companies, and although in early stages of development, has a large potential to make a lasting impact.By researching pricing models and business models in the mental health software industry, this report hopes to provide insight on how these business practices can impact business finances, and ultimately have greater implications for decisions at Hespr. By using …