Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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Description
The objective of this dissertation is to empirically analyze the results of the retail location decision making process and how chain networks evolve given their value platform. It employs one of the largest cross-sectional databases of retailers ever assembled, including 50 US retail chains and over 70,000 store locations. Three closely related articles, which develop new theory explaining location deployment and behaviors of retailers, are presented. The first article, "Regionalism in US Retailing," presents a comprehensive spatial analysis of the domestic patterns of retailers. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistics examine the degree to which the chains are deployed regionally versus nationally. Regional bias is found to be associated with store counts, small market deployment, and the location of the founding store, but not the age of the chain. Chains that started in smaller markets deploy more stores in other small markets and vice versa for chains that started in larger markets. The second article, "The Location Types of US Retailers," is an inductive analysis of the types of locations chosen by the retailers. Retail locations are classified into types using cluster analysis on situational and trade area data at the geographical scale of the individual stores. A total of twelve distinct location types were identified. A second cluster analysis groups together the chains with the most similar location profiles. Retailers within the same retail business often chose similar types of locations and were placed in the same clusters. Retailers generally restrict their deployment to one of three overall strategies including metropolitan, large retail areas, or market size variety. The third article, "Modeling Retail Chain Expansion and Maturity through Wave Analysis: Theory and Application to Walmart and Target," presents a theory of retail chain expansion and maturity whereby retailers expand in waves with alternating periods of faster and slower growth. Walmart diffused gradually from Arkansas and Target grew from the coasts inward. They were similar, however, in that after expanding into an area they reached a point of saturation and opened fewer stores, then moved on to other areas, only to revisit the earlier areas for new stores.
ContributorsJoseph, Lawrence (Author) / Kuby, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Matthews, Richard (Committee member) / Ó Huallacháin, Breandán (Committee member) / Kumar, Ajith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation is an exploratory study that examined the differences in perceptions about supply chain management strategy, topics, tools, and techniques between procurement professionals in public and private sector organizations. This was accomplished through a survey of procurement professionals in a Fortune 500 company and a municipality in Arizona. The data were analyzed to understand how perceptions of supply chain management differed within this sample and whether the differences in perceptions were associated with formal education levels. Key findings indicate that for this or similar samples, public procurement respondents viewed their organizations' approach to supply chain management as a narrow function within purchasing while private sector respondents viewed their organization's approach to supply chain management as a strategic purchasing perspective that requires the coordination of cross functional areas. Second, public procurement respondents reported consistent and statistically significant lower levels of formal education than private sector respondents. Third, the supply chain management topics, tools, and techniques seem to be more important to private sector respondents than the public sector respondents. Finally, Respondents in both sectors recognize the importance of ethics and ethical behavior as an essential part of supply chain management.
ContributorsHeller, Jacob (Author) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Lan, Gerald (Committee member) / Eden, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Purpose: Exercise interventions often result in less than predicted weight loss or even weight gain in some individuals, with over half of the weight that is lost often being regained within one year. The current study hypothesized that one year following a 12-week supervised exercise intervention, women who continued to exercise regularly but initially gained weight would lose the weight gained, reverting back to baseline with no restoration of set-point, or continue to lose weight if weight was initially lost. Conversely, those who discontinued purposeful exercise at the conclusion of the study were expected to continue to gain or regain weight. Methods: 24 women who completed the initial 12-week exercise intervention (90min/week of supervised treadmill walking at 70%VO2peak) participated in a follow-up study one year after the conclusion of the exercise intervention. Subjects underwent Dual-energy X-Ray Absorptiometry at baseline, 12-weeks, and 15 months, and filled out physical activity questionnaires at 15 months. Results: A considerable amount of heterogeneity was observed in body weight and fat mass changes among subjects, but there was no significant overall change in weight or fat mass from baseline to follow-up. 15 women were categorized as compensators and as a group gained weight (+ 0.94±3.26kg) and fat mass (+0.22±3.25kg) compared to the 9 non-compensators who lost body weight (-0.26±3.59kg) and had essentially no change in fat mass (+0.01±2.61kg) from 12-weeks to follow-up. There was a significant between group difference (p=.003) in change in fat mass from 12-weeks to follow-up between subjects who continued to regularly vigorously exercise (-2.205±3.070kg), and those who did not (+1.320±2.156kg). Additionally, energy compensation from baseline to 12-weeks and early body weight and composition changes during the intervention were moderate predictors of body weight and composition changes from baseline to follow-up. Conclusion: The main finding of this study is that following a 12-week supervised exercise intervention, women displayed a net loss of fat mass during the follow-up period if regular vigorous exercise was continued, regardless of whether they were classified as compensators or non-compensators during the initial intervention.
ContributorsCabbage, Clarissa Marie (Author) / Gaesser, Glenn (Thesis advisor) / Chisum, Jack (Committee member) / Campbell, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
There have been multiple calls for research on consumers' responses to social issues, regulatory changes, and corporate behavior. Thus, this dissertation proposes and tests a conceptual framework of parents' responses to government regulations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) that address juvenile obesity. This research builds on Attribution Theory to examine the impact of government regulations and CSR on consumers' attitudes and their subsequent behavior. Three pilot studies and three main experiments were conducted; a between-subjects and randomized experimental design being used to capture the effects of regulations and corporate actions on product satisfaction, company evaluations, and behavioral intentions, while examining the mediating role of attributions of responsibility for a negative product outcome. This research has implications for policy makers and marketing practitioners and scholars. This is the first study to offer a new perspective, based on attributions of blame, to explain the mechanism that drives consumers' responses to government regulations. Considering numerous calls for government actions that address childhood obesity, it is important to understand how and why consumers respond to such regulations. The results illustrated that certain policies may have unintended consequences due to unexpected attributions of blame for unhealthy products. Only recently have researchers tried to address the psychological mechanism through which CSR has an impact on consumers' attitudes and behavior. To date, few studies have investigated attributions as a mediating variable in the transfer of CSR associations on consumer responses. Nonetheless, this is the first study that concentrates on attributions of responsibility, per se, to explain the impact of CSR on company evaluations. This dissertation extends previous research, where locus, stability, and controllability mediated the relationship between CSR and attributions of blame; the degree of blame being consequential to brand evaluations. The current results suggest that attributions of responsibility, per se, mediate the impact of CSR on company evaluations. Additionally, attributions of blame are measured as the degree to which consumers take personal responsibility for a negative product outcome. This highlights a new role of the CSR construct, as a moderator of consumers' self-serving bias, a fundamental psychological response that has been neglected in the marketing literature.
ContributorsDumitrescu, Claudia (Author) / Shaw Hughner, Renée (Thesis advisor) / Schmitz, Troy G. (Committee member) / Seperich, George (Committee member) / Shultz, Ii, Clifford J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
INTRODUCTION: Exercise performed at moderate to vigorous intensities has been shown to generate a post exercise hypotensive response. Whether this response is observed with very low exercise intensities is unclear. PURPOSE: To compare post physical activity ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) response to a single worksite walking day and a normal sedentary work day in pre-hypertensive adults. METHODS: Participants were 7 pre-hypertensive (127 + 8 mmHg / 83 + 8 mmHg) adults (3 male, 4 female, age = 42 + 12 yr) who participated in a randomized, cross-over study that included a control and a walking treatment. Only those who indicated regularly sitting at least 8 hours/day and no structured physical activity were enrolled. Treatment days were randomly assigned and were performed one week apart. Walking treatment consisted of periodically increasing walk time up to 2.5 hours over the course of an 8 hour work day on a walking workstation (Steelcase Company, Grand Rapids, MI). Walk speed was set at 1 mph. Participants wore an ambulatory blood pressure cuff (Oscar 2, SunTech Medical, Morrisville, NC) for 24-hours on both treatment days. Participants maintained normal daily activities on the control day. ABP data collected from 9:00 am until 10:00 pm of the same day were included in statistical analyses. Linear mixed models were used to detect differences in systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by treatment condition over the whole day and post workday for the time periods between 4 -10 pm when participants were no longer at work. RESULTS:BP was significantly lower in response to the walking treatment compared to the control day (Mean SBP 126 +7 mmHg vs.124 +7 mmHg, p=.043; DBP 80 + 3 mmHg vs. 77 + 3 mmHg, p = 0.001 respectively). Post workday (4:00 to 10:00 pm) SBP decreased 3 mmHg (p=.017) and DBP decreased 4 mmHg (p<.001) following walking. CONCLUSION: Even low intensity exercise such as walking on a walking workstation is effective for significantly reducing acute BP when compared to a normal work day.
ContributorsZeigler, Zachary (Author) / Swan, Pamela (Thesis advisor) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Gaesser, Glenn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Dietary protein is known to increase postprandial thermogenesis more so than carbohydrates or fats, probably related to the fact that amino acids have no immediate form of storage in the body and can become toxic if not readily incorporated into body tissues or excreted. It is also well documented that subjects report greater satiety on high- versus low-protein diets and that subject compliance tends to be greater on high-protein diets, thus contributing to their popularity. What is not as well known is how a high-protein diet affects resting metabolic rate over time, and what is even less well known is if resting metabolic rate changes significantly when a person consuming an omnivorous diet suddenly adopts a vegetarian one. This pilot study sought to determine whether subjects adopting a vegetarian diet would report decreased satiety or demonstrate a decreased metabolic rate due to a change in protein intake and possible increase in carbohydrates. Further, this study sought to validate a new device called the SenseWear Armband (SWA) to determine if it might be sensitive enough to detect subtle changes in metabolic rate related to diet. Subjects were tested twice on all variables, at baseline and post-test. Independent and related samples tests revealed no significant differences between or within groups for any variable at any time point in the study. The SWA had a strong positive correlation to the Oxycon Mobile metabolic cart but due to a lack of change in metabolic rate, its sensitivity was undetermined. These data do not support the theory that adopting a vegetarian diet results in a long-term change in metabolic rate.
ContributorsMoore, Amy (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Appel, Christy (Thesis advisor) / Gaesser, Glenn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death in the United States and type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity lead to cardiovascular disease. Obese adults are more susceptible to CVD compared to their non-obese counterparts. Exercise training leads to large reductions in the risk of CVD and T2D. Recent evidence suggests high-intensity interval training (HIT) may yield similar or superior benefits in a shorter amount of time compared to traditional continuous exercise training. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of HIT to continuous (CONT) exercise training for the improvement of endothelial function, glucose control, and visceral adipose tissue. Seventeen obese men (N=9) and women (N=8) were randomized to eight weeks of either HIT (N=9, age=34 years, BMI=37.6 kg/m2) or CONT (N=8, age=34 years, BMI=34.6 kg/m2) exercise 3 days/week for 8 weeks. Endothelial function was assessed via flow-mediated dilation (FMD), glucose control was assessed via continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), and visceral adipose tissue and body composition was measured with an iDXA. Incremental exercise testing was performed at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks. There were no changes in weight, fat mass, or visceral adipose tissue measured by the iDXA, but there was a significant reduction in body fat that did not differ by group (46±6.3 to 45.4±6.6%, P=0.025). HIT led to a significantly greater improvement in FMD compared to CONT exercise (HIT: 5.1 to 9.0%; CONT: 5.0 to 2.6%, P=0.006). Average 24-hour glucose was not improved over the whole group and there were no group x time interactions for CGM data (HIT: 103.9 to 98.2 mg/dl; CONT: 99.9 to 100.2 mg/dl, P>0.05). When statistical analysis included only the subjects who started with an average glucose at baseline > 100 mg/dl, there was a significant improvement in glucose control overall, but no group x time interaction (107.8 to 94.2 mg/dl, P=0.027). Eight weeks of HIT led to superior improvements in endothelial function and similar improvements in glucose control in obese subjects at risk for T2D and CVD. HIT was shown to have comparable or superior health benefits in this obese sample with a 36% lower total exercise time commitment.
ContributorsSawyer, Brandon J (Author) / Gaesser, Glenn A (Thesis advisor) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Committee member) / Lee, Chong (Committee member) / Swan, Pamela (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Forrest Research estimated that revenues derived from mobile devices will grow at an annual rate of 39% to reach $31 billion by 2016. With the tremendous market growth, mobile banking, mobile marketing, and mobile retailing have been recently introduced to satisfy customer needs. Academic and practical articles have widely discussed unique features of m-commerce. For instance, hardware constraints such as small screens have led to the discussion of tradeoff between usability and mobility. Needs for personalization and entertainment foster the development of new mobile data services. Given distinct features of mobile data services, existing empirical literature on m-commerce is mostly from the consumer side and focuses on consumer perceptions toward these features and their adoption intentions. From the supply side, limited data availability in early years explains the lack of firm-level studies on m-commerce. Prior studies have shown that unclear market demand is a major reason that hinders firms' adoption of m-commerce. Given the advances of smart phones, especially the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, firms recently have started to incorporate various mobile information systems in their business operations. The study uses mobile retailing as the context and empirically assesses firms' migration to this new sales venue with a unique cross-sectional dataset. Despite the distinct features of m-commerce, m-Retailing is essentially an extended arm of e-Retailing. Thus, a dependency perspective is used to explore the link between a firm's e-Retail characteristics and the migration to m-Retailing. Rooted in the innovation diffusion theory, the first stage of my study assesses the decision of adoption that indicates whether a firm moves to m-Retailing and the extent of adoption that shows a firm's commitment to m-Retailing in terms of system implementation choices. In this first stage, I take a dependency perspective to examine the impacts of e-Retail characteristics on m-Retailing adoption. The second stage of my study analyzes conditions that affect business value of the m-Retail channel. I examine the association between system implementation choices and m-Retail performance while analyzing the effects of e-Retail characteristics on value realization. The two-stage analysis provides an exploratory assessment of firm's migration from e-Retailing to m-Retailing.
ContributorsChou, Yen-Chun (Author) / Shao, Benjamin (Thesis advisor) / St. Louis, Robert (Committee member) / Goul, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In 2002, a scientifically derived food guide pyramid for vegetarians, the Modified Food Guide for Lacto-ovo-vegetarians and Vegans was published and well received. Now that 10 years have passed, new scientific literature regarding the bioavailability of the nutrients of key concern in vegetarian diets has been published, and the graphical format of the nation's food guide has evolved from a pyramid shape into a circular plate. The objective of this research was to examine the post-2002 literature regarding the bioavailability of key nutrients in vegetarian diets; to use this information to update the recommendations made in the 2002 Modified Food Guide Pyramid for Lacto-ovo-vegetarians and Vegans; and to adapt this revised food plan to the new USDA MyPlate format. This process involved reviewing the scientific literature to determine if the DRIs for the nutrients of key concern in vegetarian diets are adequate for the vegetarian population and using this information to develop new recommendations for vegetarians if necessary, analyzing the nutrient content of representative foods in different food groups, reconfiguring the food groups so that foods with like nutrient components were grouped together, determining the number of servings of each food group required to meet vegetarians' nutrient requirements at three caloric levels, and developing sample menus. A circular plate graphic, the Vegetarian Plate, was designed to illustrate the recommendations of this updated food guide. This updated, scientifically derived food guide provides a sound base for diet planning for lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans. Further research is needed to assess the Vegetarian Plate's adequacy for children, pregnant and lactating women, athletes, and individuals with medical conditions or chronic diseases.
ContributorsFladell, Lauren (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Vaughan, Linda (Committee member) / Shepard, Christina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In order to cope with the decreasing availability of symphony jobs and collegiate faculty positions, many musicians are starting to pursue less traditional career paths. Also, to combat declining audiences, musicians are exploring ways to cultivate new and enthusiastic listeners through relevant and engaging performances. Due to these challenges, many community-based chamber music ensembles have been formed throughout the United States. These groups not only focus on performing classical music, but serve the needs of their communities as well. The problem, however, is that many musicians have not learned the business skills necessary to create these career opportunities. In this document I discuss the steps ensembles must take to develop sustainable careers. I first analyze how groups build a strong foundation through getting to know their communities and creating core values. I then discuss branding and marketing so ensembles can develop a public image and learn how to publicize themselves. This is followed by an investigation of how ensembles make and organize their money. I then examine the ways groups ensure long-lasting relationships with their communities and within the ensemble. I end by presenting three case studies of professional ensembles to show how groups create and maintain successful careers. Ensembles must develop entrepreneurship skills in addition to cultivating their artistry. These business concepts are crucial to the longevity of chamber groups. Through interviews of successful ensemble members and my own personal experiences in the Tetra String Quartet, I provide a guide for musicians to use when creating a community-based ensemble.
ContributorsDalbey, Jenna (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Spring, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013