Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.

Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.

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Currently, Arizona State University's West Campus offers students a Bachelor's of Science degree in Forensics. This degree program has been at ASU's West campus for over three years now and is at its capacity of 300 students due to limitations on lab space. In order to support the growth and

Currently, Arizona State University's West Campus offers students a Bachelor's of Science degree in Forensics. This degree program has been at ASU's West campus for over three years now and is at its capacity of 300 students due to limitations on lab space. In order to support the growth and provide students with a valuable experience, the Math and Natural Sciences department seeks to create a "fee-for-service" enterprise within the Forensics division. This new lab called the Arizona State University Forensic Science Center (ASU-FSC) would serve city, county, state, and federal government agencies. The mission of the ASU-FSC is to provide robust, accurate and efficient forensic services while leading innovation in research and education in forensics for Arizona, the Southwest and the country. The School of Natural Science and Mathematics has sought help from W. P. Carey School of Business students to analyze the possibility of adding a Forensics fee-for-service lab to ASU West campus. The deliverables from this report will provide a comprehensive marketing, supply chain and financial review of all aspects of the business, and will aid in the decision making process for the creation of the Arizona State University Forensic Science Center.
ContributorsBlackburn, Amy (Co-author) / Snyder, Emily (Co-author) / Dong, Tim (Co-author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Ferry, Lara (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
The purpose of this thesis is to convince readers of the benefits of cross-functional collaboration and innovation within the W. P. Carey School of Business. Specifically, cross-functional collaboration is the "innovation" that is being discussed and will be presented. Written from the perspective of a current business student, this thesis

The purpose of this thesis is to convince readers of the benefits of cross-functional collaboration and innovation within the W. P. Carey School of Business. Specifically, cross-functional collaboration is the "innovation" that is being discussed and will be presented. Written from the perspective of a current business student, this thesis incorporates secondary research as well as personal experience to explain why this would benefit the business school at Arizona State University. The research conducted stems from online resources such as the Harvard Business Review, Kai Nexus, Forbes and other websites and explains why the author decided to pursue this topic. Cross-functional collaboration is seen in the everyday workings of the business world and are a utilized by a multitude of successful companies \u2014 Dell, Intel, Amazon, Apple and other similar companies. Therefore, it should be taken advantage of within undergraduate education in order to better prepare students for what they may experience afterwards. In addition, a majority of the paper is dedicated to recommendations for how exactly cross-functional collaboration could be incorporated, as well as examples of successful cross-functional courses and teams. These recommendations will be beneficial to business and general faculty members and can contribute to positive organizational change at the university.
ContributorsThompson, Trevor N (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
This study aims to find measurable approaches to achieve sustainable closed-loop supply chain. The proposed methodology here was initiated with my experience that was gained through InnovationSpace Program. InnovationSpace Program is a year-long multidisciplinary product-design and development program hosted by Arizona State University that aims to tackle societal problems. Inspired

This study aims to find measurable approaches to achieve sustainable closed-loop supply chain. The proposed methodology here was initiated with my experience that was gained through InnovationSpace Program. InnovationSpace Program is a year-long multidisciplinary product-design and development program hosted by Arizona State University that aims to tackle societal problems. Inspired by the Design Thinking framework, I found out that much more effort would need to be done from the beginning stage of product design in order to achieve real and cohesive improvement in industries today. Thinking about the concepts of reverse logistics within supply chain and the planned obsolescence during the product design stage, I would like to come out some more efficient and measurable long-term supply chain planning for the industries, regarding its different production lines and the properties of its products.

Through the process of writing the sustainability report for InnovationSpace program, I had gained deeper understanding about applying sustainability concept into daily business procedures. As supply chain is defined as the oversight over materials, services, information and finances flowed within and among companies and industries, the new innovative supply chain management can be better adjusted according to the concern of any sustainable impact to all the stakeholders and communities. After gathering the information from industries and listening to the suggestions from academic insights, I then finalized the proposed innovative sustainability strategy for the supply chain management nowadays and I called it as Diamond Index.

Diamond Index=Avg(Environmental Stewardship+Social Responsibility +Economic Impact)^(Innovation Index)

Economic Impact (Econ)∈ [0, 10] Social Responsibility (Soc)∈[0, 10]
Environmental Stewardship (Env) ∈ [0, 10] Innovation ∈ [0, 1]
ContributorsQiang, Rubing (Author) / Boradkar, Prasad (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description

This thesis project has been conducted in accordance with The Founder’s Lab initiative which is sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business. This program groups three students together and tasks them with creating a business idea, conducting the necessary research to bring the concept to life, and exploring

This thesis project has been conducted in accordance with The Founder’s Lab initiative which is sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business. This program groups three students together and tasks them with creating a business idea, conducting the necessary research to bring the concept to life, and exploring different aspects of business, with the end goal of gaining traction. The product we were given to work through this process with was Hot Head, an engineering capstone project concept. The Hot Head product is a sustainable and innovative solution to the water waste issue we find is very prominent in the United States. In order to bring the Hot Head idea to life, we were tasked with doing research on topics ranging from the Hot Head life cycle to finding plausible personas who may have an interest in the Hot Head product. This paper outlines the journey to gaining traction via a marketing campaign and exposure of our brand on several platforms, with a specific interest in website traffic. Our research scope comes from mainly primary sources like gathering opinions of potential buyers by sending out surveys and hosting focus groups. The paper concludes with some possible future steps that could be taken if this project were to be continued.

ContributorsLozano Porras, Mariela (Co-author) / Rote, Jennifer (Co-author) / Goodall, Melody (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Sebold, Brent (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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Description
This paper examines the fundamental problem statement of: How can the hotel & resort industry resist and overcome the new competitive challenge that the sharing economy and Airbnb have imposed on it? This wasn’t a problem up until this past decade, as hotels had long been the world’s main solution

This paper examines the fundamental problem statement of: How can the hotel & resort industry resist and overcome the new competitive challenge that the sharing economy and Airbnb have imposed on it? This wasn’t a problem up until this past decade, as hotels had long been the world’s main solution for individuals looking for a place to stay in exchange for a fee. That has changed nowadays as the rise of the sharing economy has created a new, fast-growing demand for Airbnb in the hospitality industry. We have witnessed powerful companies die as a result of not taking disruptive technology seriously, as seen with Blockbuster and Kodak; however, we have also seen impressive reactions to disruptive technology in other cases such as Walmart and Alibaba that use it to enhance the customer experience. Hotels arose from humble beginnings and progressively became more than just a place to sleep. This is evidenced by the progression from 16th century humble inns to large luxury hotels in the 19-20th century to many hotels being significant tourist attractions themselves nowadays. While some factors such as security, hygiene, and consistency currently remain on the hotel industry’s side, the main factors fueling the growth of Airbnb are closely tied to consumer preferences and Airbnb’s ability to create unique, authentic experiences. A questionnaire with 756 responses from ASU students was conducted for this project’s primary research. The results concluded that this demographic travels often, slightly prefers hotels over Airbnb, and values location, convenience, and cost the most. Results were consistent with findings discussed in literature, since the bulk of respondents said they look at Airbnb for low-cost options and hotels for high-end options. Hotels reign supreme in the high-end market and benefit from their location and convenience factors, but Airbnb might have an opportunity to leverage their attractive capabilities while also incorporating some of hotels’ best aspects. This can cause the preference of hotels over Airbnb to diminish further going forward. Hotels can combat Airbnb in multiple ways. One is for hotel chains to customize more hotels to fit the local destination like Airbnb rather than keeping a more standardized vibe and design across all locations. Another is to continue focusing on creating unmatched service experiences in the high-end market that are hard for Airbnb to replicate. A third one is to implement more competitive pricing relative to Airbnb during peak seasons across different cities. Finally, given the increased awareness on hygiene and health that the COVID-19 crisis will likely bring after the pandemic, hotels should put greater emphasis on their hygiene factor when conducting publicity efforts, since this remains in favor of hotels rather than Airbnb and can attract customers who are still reeling with fear from the pandemic. All of this can help hotels to retain their crucial competencies while leveraging Airbnb’s competencies to create an incredible customer experience that is the best of both worlds. All of it prevent the hotel industry from going down a darker path than it has gone through before.
ContributorsValenzuela Gallardo, Juan (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05