An Analysis Of The 2002 U.S. News And World Report's Ratings - America's Best Colleges: Undergraduate Business Specialties, George H. Messer Jr.

The Coastal Business Journal

This paper provides an analysis of the U.S. News and World Report 2002 ratings of America's best colleges in the area of undergraduate business specialties. The U.S. News ranking procedures are described and then a detailed comparison of actual programs and courses is accomplished for the top-ranked schools. This study looked at the specific area of undergraduate business specialties: supply chain management/logistics. Based on analysis of data collected, it is likely that there are misperceptions in the U.S. News survey in the category of undergraduate business specialties.

Experiences And Challenges In Taking A Print Journal On-Line, Robert D. Nale, Robert B. Burney

The Coastal Business Journal

For a number of years, an annual publication of the Wall College of Business at Coastal Carolina University (The Coastal Business Review and later, Journal) was produced in standard print form. Because of increasing budgetary concerns experienced by the University and the State of South Carolina, the cost of printing the journal in the traditional fashion became increasingly prohibitive. When publishing deadlines were missed, several avenues were explored regarding how the College could deal with the problem. While unique for an institution of this size, the creation of a totally on-line journal began to assert itself as a viable option. …

Job Satisfaction As Related To Safety Performance: A Case For A Manufacturing Firm, Chong W. Kim, Marjorie L. Mcinerney, Robert P. Alexander

The Coastal Business Journal

Many companies have made significant improvements in safety records, but have eventually reached a plateau. This article examines employee safety performance in regards to their job satisfaction and its implications to managers for improving employees safety performance through job redesign.

Benchmarking: Understanding The Basics, William M. Lankford

The Coastal Business Journal

It is often stated that those who benchmark do not have to reinvent the wheel (Parker, 1996). By following others one can make improvements and not focus on stale ideas. Benchmarking at first glance may be mistaken for a copycat form of developing strategic plans and for making improvements within an organization. This is not true. Benchmarking is a process that allows organizations to improve upon existing ideas. In order to eliminate myths and misconceptions about benchmarking it is important to know exactly what benchmarking is, the different types of benchmarking, the criticisms of benchmarking, and the ethical practices concerning …

Does Aacsb Accreditation Impact Enrollment?, Robert P. Alexander, David Hatfield

The Coastal Business Journal

The study sought to determine if the newly received AACSB accreditation impacted enrollment of the Lewis College of Business, Marshall University. A questionnaire was used to survey all new or transfer students and a 27.5% response was received.

Growth, Bullfrogs, And Small Businesses, Leanne C. Mcgrath

The Coastal Business Journal

Small business owners are always striving to grow the business in pursuit of success. The question of how to make that happen is the paramount issue. Spotlighting key areas related to sustained, rapid growth and its consequences, both good and bad, is especially essential for small businesses who rarely have much of a financial cushion. Do all small business owners want to have extended, high growth periods? If so, what problems are associated with such accelerated growth?How can small business owners grow successfully, guarding against many common pitfalls?

The Economics Of Corruption In Developing Countries, Ramchandra Akkihal, Harlan M. Smith Ii, Roger Adkins

The Coastal Business Journal

Official corruption, unfortunately, is endemic in the developing world. One factor in the spread of this illegal activity has been the propensity of developing-country governments to intervene heavily in their economies, often in the attempt to guide, direct, and control economic activity in order to promote the desired pace and style of economic development. Such regulatory efforts, though now on the wane in much of the developing world, continue to generate opportunities in many countries for bureaucrats in control of scarce resources to allocate them on a non-market basis, to further their own economic, political, and social prospects.

The Impact Of Attractions Demand On Lodging Demand, L. Taylor Damonte, Darla J. Domke-Damonte

The Coastal Business Journal

This three-year study of the relationship between attractions demand and lodging demand indicate that increasing attendance at recreation and entertainment-related attractions is associated with heightened lodging demand. However, it is also clear that the relationship between attractions attendance and lodging demand may vary from destination to destination.

Casinos, Lotteries, And Markets, Ramchandra Akkihal, Suneel Maheshwari, Roger Adkins

The Coastal Business Journal

Gambling activities of casinos, lotteries and other forms are becoming increasingly acceptable to society. Also, the media and the public are increasingly referring to economically essential market-risk management activities like trading in derivatives as gambling. This paper attempts to distinguish between these two types of activities and maintains that unlike gambling in casinos and lotteries, the market-risk management activities add value to the economy and are essential to the efficient working of production and distribution functions of the economy.

Utilization Of Golf Course Facilities By Residents Of Golf Course Communities In Myrtle Beach, Jordan N. Roberts, Darla J. Domke-Damonte

The Coastal Business Journal

The number of golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area is constantly changing. So too, are the number of new residents who decide to buy or build homes or condominiums near these golf courses. This thesis explores the utilization of golf courses by residents of the particular golf course community. Primary research is performed and analyzed concerning four Myrtle Beach area golf course communities. The study shows that primary home ownership, retirement, membership of the golf course, and prestige of the golf course are all positively associated with usage of the golf course. The results of the study may be …

The Effect Of Golf Course Location On Housing Value, Jeffrey J. Pompe, James R. Rinehart

The Coastal Business Journal

Structural and locational characteristics are known to affect housing prices, and numerous studies have explored many of these characteristics. However very little empirical information was available on the effect of golf course location for improved property. Two recent studies find that building on a golf course adds 7 to 8 percent to the value of property. However, we find that for a private development on a barrier island, building a villa or single family home on a golf course does not have any significant impact on price. Specific locational factors may explain this unexpected result.

Research Note: Assessing The Impact Of K-Pop On The Sales Of Korean Brands: A Case Of Automobile In The U.S. Market, Yayu Yuan, Janghyuk Lee

Asia Marketing Journal

The aim of this paper is to expand upon previous research into the country of origin effect through the use of empirical data by formulating an analysis method which allows the measurement of the extent of country of origin effect by the proxy of K-pop musicians associated with country of origin image and to propose an alternative framework which provides an explanation as to the discrepancies between empirical data and prior research. Our analysis results reveal that the impact of country of origin associated with ‘PSY’ and ‘BTS’ on the automobile sales of ‘Hyundai Sonata’ was significant in the U.S. …

What Improves Customer Satisfaction In Mobile Banking Apps? An Application Of Text Mining Analysis, Yun Kyung Oh, Jung-Min Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

Consumer-generated reviews reflect consumers’ experiences and perceptions toward a product or service. In this context, we propose a text mining approach to identify factors that improve customer satisfaction in the mobile banking app service. To do so, we collect 96,140 mobile app reviews for four U.S. banks: Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, and Wells Fargo. Using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model, we first derive the critical quality dimensions such as ease of use, convenience, security, and customer support. Analysis of weekly panel data shows that positive responses to the security and convenience of mobile banking apps improve …

Donation Levels In Cause-Related Marketing (Crm): The Impact Of Donation Levels, Consumer Support And Self-Expressive Cues On Perceived Benefits And Perceived Monetary Sacrifice, Tae Hee Park, Dongho Yoo

Asia Marketing Journal

In this study, we examine the extent to which donation level is perceived as a concept of benefit and monetary sacrifice to consumers, as well as that the extent to which it is moderated by consumer support for cause domains. In addition, we investigate the influence of self-expressive cues as a means of increasing consumers’ intention of participating in cause-related marketing (CRM) by lowering perceived monetary sacrifice. As a result of Study 1, consumers with high-level cause support perceived the donation level as a benefit, resulting in a positive effect on their intentions to participate in CRM. Conversely, consumers with …

The Safety Paradox Of Self-Driving Cars, Yeh Jun Lee, Jongwon Park

Asia Marketing Journal

Self-driving cars are undergoing extensive road tests and should enter the market within the decade, but consumers continue to worry about the safety of autonomous vehicles—even though most traffic accidents are caused by human errors that are avoidable with automation technology. Four experiments investigated how a vehicle’s automation level affects its perceived safety, why excessive safety concerns prevail, and how they can be mitigated. In all experiments, participants read descriptions of full-automation (Level 5) and high-automation (Level 4) self-driving cars: Participants consistently perceived Level 5 (vs. Level 4) vehicles as less safe. The effect persisted when objective safety information was …

Collecting Samples From Online Services: How To Use Screeners To Improve Data Quality, Aaron D. Arndt, John B. Ford, Barry J. Babin, Vinh Luong

Marketing Faculty Publications

Increasingly, marketing and consumer researchers rely on online data collection services. While actively-managed data collection services directly assist with the sampling process, minimally-managed data collection services, such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), leave researchers solely responsible for recruiting, screening, cleaning, and evaluating responses. The research reported here proposes a 2 × 2 framework based on sampling goal and methodology for screening and evaluating the quality of online samples. By sampling goals, screeners can be categorized as selection, which involves matching the sample with the targeted population; or as accuracy, which involves ensuring that participants are appropriately attentive. By …

Goodwill Going Green: How Green Branding Can Generate $1m In Revenue, Elia Meltzer, Esha S. Vartak, William M. Crone, Ryan T. Richards

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Goodwill Industries is a nonprofit organization. Not only do they specialize in charity work, but they also have a chain of stores that focus on thrift shopping. Additionally, Goodwill provides other services, such as recycling clothing, electronics, and other goods. Recently, Goodwill of Akron, Ohio received a grant of five million dollars, where the money for the grant would have to be utilized in five years. The main objective of this project was to find a way for Goodwill to use grant money efficiently, to generate revenue for a new transportation initiative.

Our team has recommended utilizing the most popular …

The Impact Of Verified (Unverified) Online Product Consumer Reviews On Consumer Product Attitudes, Kathryn Cort Dr., Roland Leak Dr.

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Customer product reviews are an integral component for companies conducting e-commerce, enabling them to stay connected and engaged with their consumers. However, more important these reviews are being utilized and incorporated into the marketing plans of companies. Companies can use a mixture of verified and unverified purchase badges in their displayed product reviews. This study finds that as customers are provided with this additional information to help form impressions about the products they are reviewing, customers' need for cognition ultimately determines how they utilize the presence or absence of these badges.

What's In A Name? Public Perceptions Of Multi-Level Marketing, Robert A. Peterson, Jeffrey A. Peterson

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of the American public’s general familiarity with, and perceptions of, multi-level marketing, direct selling, and social selling. Survey respondents were most familiar with direct selling; there was no substantive difference in familiarity with multi-level marketing and social selling. Respondents familiar with the three terms possessed perceptions of them that were significantly more positive than were the perceptions of respondents reporting not being familiar with the terms. Across all terms, male respondents reported being more familiar with, and more positively disposed toward, them than did female respondents. Respondents 55 years of age …

User Reviews And Their Relationship To The Online Sale Of Used Dvds, Dan Baugher, Chris Ramos

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Except for books, research on factors impacting the sale of low-priced used products is uncommon. This study examines the relationship between Netflix user reviews of DVDs and their sale on Amazon as used products. An Amazon account was created by the authors, and a broad mix of 121 used DVDs were sold between 10/15/2012 and 11/20/2015. Using a low-price strategy, all sold within 57 days of posting on the site with 17.4% selling on the first day. DVDs with lower user ratings (valence) (p < .001) and lower rating volume (p < .05) took longer to sell. Valence and volume were not correlated (p > .05). In an OLS regression that included valence, volume, price, and release date, …

Social Word Of Mouth Valence And Role Of Moderators: An Integrated Model Of Consumer Decision Making, Angshuman Ghosh Dr, Sanjeev Varshney Dr, Shabbirhusain R.V. Dr

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The study aimed at coming up with an integrated model of consumer decision making that captures the impact of social media word of mouth (SWOM) on consumers’ decision influencing variables including perceived risk, its impact on attitude towards the brand, and eventually on intention to purchase. The integrated model incorporates the impact of SWOM message valence along with moderating role played by various source and receiver level characteristics on the variables mentioned above. Two experiments with between-subject factorial designs were conducted for testing the hypotheses. The first study had 128 participants divided into eight groups and their responses were collected …

The Pandemic Changed The Face Of Retail. Here’S How Center City, Philadelphia — The State’S Leading Job Market — Is Faring On The Road To Recovery, Francisco O. Velasquez-Turcios

Capstones

The pandemic changed the face of retail. Here’s how Center City, Philadelphia — the state’s leading job market — is faring on the road to recovery.

Link to capstone project: https://franvela033.github.io/Capstone/

Small Farmers’ Use Of Social Media And Other Channels For Marketing Their Agricultural Products, Carlos Alberto Moreno-Ortiz, Donna J. Peterson Dr., Alba J. Collart, Laura Downey, Susan Seal, Roberto Gallardo

Journal of Extension

We examined small farmers’ use of and preference for different channels for marketing agricultural products and explored differences by gender, age group, and education level. Farmers markets and social media were preferred channels, with participants under age 55 being more likely than those 55 and over to prefer and use social media and agree that social media would be useful for promoting products and increasing sales. While selling via social media could provide a larger market, one challenge is that the average age of Mississippi farm operators is 59. Therefore, Extension must consider multiple approaches for delivering training on marketing.

Social Influence, Xenocentrism And Status Consumption On Purchase Intention: In The Case Of Women’S Imported Handbags, Munkhbayasgalan Ganbold, Urandelger Gantulga

Asia Marketing Journal

The Mongolian market has got filled with imported products that pose a great challenge to domestic businesses. However, on the other hand, exported products give opportunities to understand product quality standards for domestic business owners. Therefore, it becomes meaningful to understand how the consumers distinguish between domestic and imported products. The study examines the relationship between social influence, xenocentrism, status consumption, and imported product’s purchase intention. To achieve the purpose of the research, a survey was conducted on consumers who experienced the purchase of imported products. The data were examined using SPSS and SmartPLS 3.3 after a total of 426 …

The Aggregate Impact Of Consumer Reviews On Market Outcome In Differentiated Products Market, Jun B. Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

We investigate the aggregate impact of consumer reviews on market outcome in a differentiated product category. We model consumers as Bayesian learners who use online consumer reviews to learn and update their beliefs on product quality before their choice. For our empirical analysis, we use aggregate-level, longitudinal data from Amazon.com in the digital camcorder category and estimate the demand parameters. Using model estimates, we conduct two simulation studies and quantify the impact of consumer reviews on the market outcome. We report that the products experience heterogenous market share changes: the standard deviation of market share changes across products and time …

Luxury Back In Vogue, Erwan Rambourg

Asian Management Insights

The luxury rebound following the Covid-19 pandemic has been more impressive than most would have thought. Scale continues to play an important role, physical stores are back, and while there are some clouds on the horizon, the outlook for the luxury sector remains incredibly positive for the long term. My optimistic outlook for the long term is predicated on the power of three consumer segments that will move the needle for the luxury sector–women, Chinese shoppers, and youth. In addition, the rapid speed of scaling-up and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) should provide a great boost to a post-Covid luxury world.

Beauty During A Pandemic: The Impact Of Covid-19 On The Cosmetic Industry, Katelyn Gardner, Diane R. Edmondson, Lucy Matthews

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The cosmetic industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has taken a financial hit in 2020 due to COVID-19. The drop in cosmetic usage leaves the industry in question for future consumer intention and behavior. Survey responses from 1,715 female students at a southeastern U.S. public university was obtained using Qualtrics. Results indicate significant differences in cosmetic usage; however, post-COVID predicted usage indicates that cosmetic usage will revert back to pre-COVID levels for eye, lip, and skin cosmetics. For face cosmetics, usage will still be slightly below pre-COVID levels. The most important cosmetic category was skincare, which had the highest levels …

The Customer Value Model And Mobile Banking: Evaluation Of Technology-Based Self Service (Tbss) Gaps, Justin A. Moist, Ismet Anitsal, Melek Meral Anitsal

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Mobile banking has become a prevalent part of everyday banking, and almost all banks have adopted its use. This form of self-service has seen wide adoption because of its ease of use, performance, reliability, and enjoyment of use. These attributes of technology-based self-service options help both customers and businesses determine the value of the service. The proposed customer value model aims to conceptually represent how companies and customers perceive the value of a product or service and pinpoint gaps between these values. This paper presents the customer value model in the context of mobile banking. This new context is part …

The Faculty Recruitment-Retention Connection: A Strategic Linkage Approach, Mary Mobley, Richard Easley

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is clear about the worsening shortage of doctoral qualified faculty. It is the proposition of this paper that business schools should consider evaluating and perhaps reinvigorating recruitment strategies in both the short- and intermediate-term, as well as developing marketing management strategies that will help alleviate business faculty shortages in the long-term. Strategic marketing guidance is set forth in this paper with a focus on the development and institutionalization of managerial linkages between recruitment-retention connections. Our major premise is that leadership robustness is needed relative to the construction and implementation of strategic …

B Corps’ Social Media Communications During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Through The Lens Of The Triple Bottom Line, Manveer Mann, Sang-Eun Byun, Whitney Ginder

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The COVID-19 pandemic and rising demand for transparency has heightened the importance of sustainability communications on social media to generate deeper stakeholder engagement. Although B Corporations (B Corps), businesses committed to the triple bottom line (TBL), could serve as a catalyst for sustainable development, little is known about how they communicate on social media during a crisis. Therefore, we examined social media communications of B Corps to (1) identify salient topics and themes, (2) analyze how these themes align with the TBL, and (3) evaluate social media performance against industry benchmarks. We focused on the apparel, footwear, and accessories (AFA) …