Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Implementation Variables Of Corporate Social Responsibility In The Financial Services Industry, Gregoire Kokomo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Seventy percent of small and medium-sized U.S. companies experience negative performance because of leaders' lack of knowledge of corporate social responsibility (CSR) program implementation. CSR implementation is complex and requires organizational resources such as expertise, personnel, time, and money. Implementing CSR programs is challenging for many leaders. Research on CSR implementation in the U.S. financial services industry is scarce, and leaders of financial services firms do not have a clear understanding of how to make CSR implementation successful. The purpose of this study was to explore optimal strategies for making corporate social responsibility program implementation effective. The central research …

Effective Strategies For Transformational Teams In The Danish Retail Banking Sector, Dorthe Hã¥Hr Dupont

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Successful transformation projects in the retail banking industry focusing on improving customer experiences have yielded a verified increase in earnings per employee. The purpose of this single case study was to reveal the strategies used by transformational team managers to ensure improved customer experiences. The stakeholder theory was used as the theoretical framework to analyze the interplay between the project team and the base organization during the process of improving customer experiences. The population consisted of 6 managers of transformational teams in the Danish retail banking sector who were successfully delivering on assigned goals of improving customer services. The data …

Offshore Outsourcing Of The United States Semiconductor Manufacturing: Management Approaches And Strategies, Oscar Mostofi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States manufacturing employment decreased 33% from 1985 to 2014. During the same period, the United States semiconductor manufacturing, accounting for 1.7% of the total of the United States manufacturing workforce, lost 35% of its employees. The decline in semiconductor manufacturing jobs began in 1985 when semiconductor firms began offshoring product manufacturing overseas because of low cost of qualified labor force and facilities. This qualitative case study explored the analytical approaches and strategies business leaders of semiconductor firms that offshore manufacturing use in making informed strategic outsourcing and offshoring decisions conducive to sustainability and profitability of operations. The location …

Understanding Financial Value Of Cloud-Based Business Applications: A Phenomenological Study, Victor Arthur Arthur

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An understanding of opportunities and challenges in cloud computing is needed to better manage technology costs and create financial value. The purposes of this transcendental phenomenological study were to understand the lived experiences of minority business owners who operated business applications in the cloud and to explore how these experiences created financial value for businesses despite security challenges. Historically, minority business owners have experienced high rates of business failures and could benefit from information to help them manage business costs in order to position their businesses to grow and succeed. Modigliani-Miller's theorem on capital structure and Brealey and Young's concept …

Risks Management Application In Helping The Poor Through Microfinancing, Edmond Njombe Lyonga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poverty alleviation in Buea, Cameroon, has been a problem of concern for decades. The study is vital because managers who control the funds given to the government of Cameroon to help reduce poverty are politicians and do not equitably distribute the funds to all on the pretext that the default rate is high. The purpose of this study was to find better ways to make additional capital available to the microbusiness owners of Buea to open or improve businesses. This qualitative case study design was consistent with the aim of understanding the importance of risk management within the microfinance industry …

Abusive Supervision Detection As Part Of Venture Capital Due Diligence Of Management, David Blum

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Abusive supervision (AS) costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars per year in lost productivity, increased absenteeism, and health care costs. To reduce these costs and to enhance the probability of a successful exist, independent venture capitalists (IVCs) need to be aware of the issue of AS among the management team during the due-diligence process. This study addresses a gap in literature related to IVCs being able to detect AS during due-diligence process of the management team. The research question was this: What tools, processes, and methods can IVCs use to detect AS during the due-diligence process of the management team? …

African American Graduates' Experiences Of Managing College Debt, Christal Blalock

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Higher education is a means to improve professional status and economic mobility; however, mounting college debt has become a hindrance to college graduates, primarily African Americans. A disproportionate number of these graduates incur significant debt while attending college. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of African American college graduates who were managing debt incurred to pay for their education. Human capital theory and critical race theory provided the conceptual framework. Two research questions motivated this study: How do African American college graduates living in the state of Georgia manage their college debt? What …

Sources Of Financing For Small And Medium Enterprises In Nigeria, Dije Umaru Watse

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for 96% of businesses in Nigeria are often forced to close because they lack access to funds. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the sources of funds available for the development and growth of SMEs in Nigeria. The conceptual framework guiding this study was the pecking order theory. Data were gathered from company documents and through semistructured interviews of a target population of 3 leaders of 3 SMEs from the oil and gas industry in Abuja, Kano, and Lagos in Nigeria, with a capitalization of between N5 million to …

Leadership Adaptation To Changes In Public Funding Of Community Colleges, James Hightower Simpson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although growth in U.S. community colleges has been exponential, a major challenge accompanying that growth has been the source of funding, which has consisted of shifting proportions of tuition, local taxes, and state aid. The shift away from state aid toward fundraising, profit-oriented research, sophisticated financing, and higher tuition presents challenges and unintended consequences. This shift could threaten the community college access mission and contribute to a perception of higher education as a private good rather than a public good. With a framework of academic capitalism and resource dependency theories, the purpose of this basic qualitative interview study with 7 …

The Impact Of Socially Conscious Initiative Announcements On Coffee Company Stock Values, Glenn Thomas Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Stockholders invest billions of dollars in the purchase of new corporate coffee stock while producers of these commodities exist in poverty of developing nations. Corporate managers may miss the opportunities for offering humanitarian aid if potential stockholders do not know of corporate social change initiatives. Little research in the influence of socially conscious initiatives exists in the coffee sector and none concentrating on socially conscious initiative announcements. If a relationship exists between socially conscious initiative announcements and stock investments, then managers could justify funding social change initiatives. This quantitative study used a 5 day pre and post event study methodology …

A Case Study Of Financial Literacy And Debt Of Immigrants In Lloydminster, Canada, Oludamola Olalere Durodola

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The high debt-to-income ratios and the low financial literacy levels among Canadian immigrants are hindering public welfare, macroeconomic policies, and economic growth. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore why immigrants to Lloydminster, Canada possess high debt-to-income ratios in their financial portfolios by examining pertinent themes and patterns between their debt profiles and their financial literacy levels. The life cycle hypothesis, rational choice theory, and bounded rationality theory grounded the study. Data collection from the purposeful sample included semistructured face-to-face interviews with 13 adult immigrants and a focus group discussion with 6 adult immigrants, all of …

The Determinants Of Traffic Citation Revenues On Florida's Clerks Of Court And Comptrollers, Corey A. Hamilton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the wake of budgetary restraints, many local government organizations are examining existing sources of revenue to exhaust available streams without increasing constituents' financial burden. Some of these revenue streams include nontraditional sources, such as traffic citations, yet little research has explored the implications of revenue generated from fines from traffic citations. Using the theory of resource dependence as the foundation, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the estimated population of the county, the unemployment rate of the county, and the personal income per capita against the number of traffic citations issued and the Florida …

Strategies For Recruiting Cybersecurity Professionals In The Financial Service Industry, Iva Walters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cybersecurity market is the fastest growing market in the United States; as such, leaders in financial institutions recognize their businesses are vulnerable, as money is accessible within computerized banking systems. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what strategies financial service leaders- use to recruit cybersecurity professionals. The conceptual framework for this study was the hierarchy of needs and stakeholder management theory. Data collection involved company archival documents and semistructured, open-ended interviews with 5 financial service leaders in the Midlands area of South Carolina who recruited skilled cybersecurity professionals to support long-term business sustainability. Coding, clustering, …

Relationship Between Mutual Fund Type, Portfolio Turnover, Longevity, Management Turnover, And Performance, Medhanie G. Mekonnen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mutual fund portfolio managers do not always meet risk-adjusted performance expectations, resulting in loss of capital reserves. Out of 3,612 U.S. based open-ended mutual funds, the risk-adjusted performance of 2,890 (80%) failed to meet or beat the S&P 500 (index fund) performance between the year 2006 to 2016. Grounded in Markowitz's modern portfolio theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between mutual fund class type, portfolio turnover, fund longevity, management turnover, and annual fund risk-adjusted performance. Archival data were collected from 88 U.S. based equity mutual funds companies. The results of the multiple regression analysis …

Exploring Student Loan Personal Financial Management Decisions Using A Behavioral Economics Lens, Michael J. Wermuth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a student loan debt problem in the United States. Seven million student borrowers are in default and another 14 million are delinquent on their loans. A high level of college loan debt leaves students with insurmountable payments and holds them back from starting a family, buying a home, or saving for retirement. The problem is that financial managers may not understand the student loan decision process well enough to help students make a loan decision that prevents an unmanageable level of debt. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the student's loan decision process using …

Successful Strategies Used By Small Business Owners For Company Sustainability, Robert Oppong

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, African Americans are the fastest growing entrepreneurial minority group in the United States. However, they suffer the highest business failure rates. The research design for this study was a multiple case study to explore the strategies small business owners used to succeed in business beyond 5 years. The conceptual framework for this study was the systems theory. The population was small business owners in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis, Texas. Data collection sources included semistructured interviews, company documents, company websites, and site visit observations. The data analysis process included data cleaning, uploading transcribed interviews …

Examining Poverty, Entrepreneurship, And Multinational Corporation Participation In South Africa, Stephanie Furlough-Morris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Economic development is seen as the best means of accomplishing the goal of eradicating extreme poverty, and at the heart of this development are for-profit companies, especially multinational corporations. The specific problem examined in this study was whether levels of poverty in South Africa had been significantly impacted by the activities of multinational corporations and the level of entrepreneurship in its 9 provinces. To build upon empirical research on the sources of poverty alleviation and the impact of large global enterprises, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of entrepreneurship and multinational corporation presence on the change …

Strategies For Maximizing Revenue Collection In Public Water Utility Companies, Nicholas Gracious Namaliya

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Africa has a high rate of revenue under-collection in public water utility companies. This rate currently averages 20-50%, and the rate is 18% for Malawi alone. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore credible business strategies senior managers of water utilities use to address inefficiencies in collecting water fee revenues. The conceptual framework for this study was revenue management, which includes strategic constructs for increasing amounts of revenue collection. The target population for this study was 5 senior managers of a public water utility in Malawi, which is located in the southeastern part of Africa. Data collection included …

Internal Controls: Identifying Control Elements And Implementation Dynamics Facing Retail Companies., Ike Chima Iwejor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retail company managers face challenges that include how to protect their companies from theft, embezzlement, and fraud. Retail companies lose up to 5% of their revenue to frauds annually. However, in most cases, managers' understanding, design, and implementation of strong internal control systems could minimize the problem. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies managers used to strengthen internal control. The purposive sample included 5 experienced company managers from large and medium-size retail companies in Virginia. The conceptual framework consisted of the treadway committee of sponsoring organizations model and the criteria of control. Participant interviews, document reviews, …

Crowdfunding As A Financing Resource For Small Businesses, Melissa Cohen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although small businesses borrowed $1 trillion in 2013 from traditional lenders, 35% of small business owners were unable to obtain adequate financing and subsequently sought alternative sources such as crowdfunding. Guided by the pecking order theory, the purpose of this exploratory case study was to explore how 6 small business owners in Tennessee successfully used crowdfunding to start, grow, or sustain their businesses. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and a review of crowdfunding project data on the internet platform including the project description, target goal, amount achieved, number of backers, and locations of the funders. Data were inductively analyzed, …

Credit Strategies For Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises Within A Changing Environment, James Edward Wilkinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Access to credit in the changing environment is the primary challenge to survival for many small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners. The purpose of this multicase study was to understand how seasoned small business leaders in wholesaling and manufacturing in Northwest Arkansas strategically adapted to obtaining access to credit in an environment of bank mergers and acquisitions, disruptive information technology, federal and state regulations, and globalization. The conceptual framework that grounded this study was adaptive leadership and change management. Although, small business leaders prefer to obtain credit from community banks through relationship financing, leaders of SMEs can adapt to the …

Financial Strategies Of Small Businesses To Gain Access To Capital, Atta Boateng Owusu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, total small business outstanding loans declined by 2.5 % in 2013, compared to a 10.4% increase in 2012. Scholars and business practitioners have indicated that small business entrepreneurs experience constraints in accessing capital to grow their businesses. Many small firm owners lack the financial strategies for gaining access to capital to sustain their businesses. Building on system functionality theory, the purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the financial strategies among 3 purposefully-selected small business owners in Washington DC metro area who successfully overcame the financial constraints. Six themes emerged from the thematic …

Strategies And Processes For Implementing Financial Analysis For Business Success, Dawn Theona Alexander-Joseph

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The early failure of startup businesses is a concern for many local communities, including the Virgin Islands, with about half of startups failing within the first 5 years of their life cycle. Besides the social and economic impact on communities, these failures have a personal effect on small business owners. Grounded in decision-making theory and the theory of financial management, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies and processes Virgin Islands retail business managers use to implement financial analysis for decision making to help sustain their operations. Data were collected using company records and semistructured interviews …

A Comparison Between Administrative Leadership In Higher Education And Change-Oriented Leadership In Banks, Glenn King Jr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational environments continually change. Organizations that do not meet the demands for change do not survive. The required changes differ for banks versus universities, suggesting that leaders in each type of organization need to use unique styles to adapt to their unique environments. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to test a contingency theory of leadership that leaders of banks are change-oriented, whereas leaders of higher educational institutions are administrative in their style. The research questions dealt with differences in the uncertainty of internal operations and the external environment of banks versus universities, and the leadership style most …

Multigenerational Financial Values: Differences Between Leaders In The Workplace, Terrence S. Ransom

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Company leaders in the workplace represent all generations with diverse values, and those values influence their financial decisions in the workplace. The problem is that multigenerational company leaders and their employees possess different values from one another, which in turn creates different financial priorities for the company. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of how the financial values of company leaders from different generations are developed, and how those values influence their financial decisions in the workplace. The key research question for this qualitative study examined how the financial values and decisions of company …

Strategies For Effective Financial Management In Vincentian Small Businesses, Kishore Nalin Shallow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The lack of strategies for effective financial management has been an impediment to the survival and growth of many small businesses in Saint Vincent (St. Vincent), an island in the Caribbean. Inadequate adoption of strategies by small business owners is a prime contributing factor to small business failure. The purpose of this research was to identify strategies that small business owners use for effective financial management. Institutional theory served as the conceptual framework for this multiple case study. Participants consisted of 4 St. Vincent small business owners who had demonstrated effective financial management strategies in the operation of their businesses. …

Effective Leadership Practices Of Bank Leaders In Nigeria, Olatunji Joseph Ajiboye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Nigerian banking industry has recently witnessed a major scandal resulting from financial impropriety of some corporate leaders in the industry. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) invested the sum of N620 billion ($4.1 billion) as part of a direct bailout package to 8 banks, and removed top executives of those banks for gross leadership ineptitude. The leadership ineptitude is an indication of the need to better understand effective leadership practices in the Nigerian banking industry. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore bank leaders' effective leadership practices used to sustain bank …

The Effectiveness Of Funding Sources On Agricultural Projects In Yobe State, Nigeria, Umaru Galadima Tela

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined the effectiveness of the Fadama III, National Program for Food Security and International Fund for Agricultural Development programs in reducing poverty and income inequality in Yobe State, Nigeria. Agricultural funding in the state has increased by 670.7% between 2004 and 2013. Despite this trajectory, the state ranks among the worst in Nigeria in terms of poverty and income inequality according to UNDP report, reinforcing the need to investigate the impact of agricultural funding on the state's welfare. Previous studies in this area have been on a country-wide basis and have not disaggregated the funding sources. This study …

Competitive Strategies Of Microfinance Owners In Ghana, Eric Kojo Asante

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ghanaian microfinance banks (MFB) experience a high collapse rate, with more than 100 MFBs failing between 2015 and 2016. Grounded on Porter's competitive strategy theory, the purpose of this case study was to explore successful strategies used by selected participants to achieve business sustainability. Fourteen participants from 6 successful MFBs in the Greater Accra Region, including managers and MFB owners with more than 5 years of professional and industry experience, participated in semistructured interviews. Observations and company documents served as a secondary source of data collection. Through thematic analysis, 5 themes emerged: cash and liquidity management, capacity building, monitoring, compliance, …

Effect Of 2007-2009 Economic Crisis And Dodd-Frank Legislation On The U.S. Banking Industry, Steven D. Simpson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This correlation research study was used to investigate the impact of the Dodd-Frank legislation on the U.S. bank industry. The economic crisis of 2007-2009 had a global and significant financial impact, some of which still reverberates. In the United States, the reaction was The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which took effect July 21, 2010. This act has recently been the subject of academic research and remains debated in congress, with discussion focused on its repeal. The publicly available, secondary data set from banks' quarterly filed regulatory reporting provided the data used in this study. Every FDIC …