Theses and Dissertations

From exploring coffee plantations with an old Irishman in the mountains of Colombia to watching the sun set over the Strait of Gibraltar from the terrace of an ancient Moroccan cafe, this thesis sent Charles and Zane on an elaborate cafe-crawl across ten countries, with stops at a few of the world’s most interesting coffee houses. Some of these cafes, such as the world-renowned Caffé Florian (opened in 1720) and Caffé Greco (1760), are built on long-standing traditions. Others are led by innovators championing high-quality boutique shops, challenging mass production chains such as Starbucks and Tim Hortons. These newer cafes fuel a movement classified as the “Third Wave”. With a foundation gained from specialized courses with Patrick O’Malley, North America’s leading voice in coffee, Zane and Charles conducted first-hand research into the unique coffee preferences of multiple cultures, the emergence and impact of the Third Wave in these countries, and what the future may hold for coffee lovers.

The purpose of this thesis is to outline the importance of setting an inclusive organizational culture within a professional baseball franchise, with a network of teams ranging from Rookie Leagues to Major League Baseball. In addition, the purpose of this research is to assess the current state of culture throughout Major League Baseball organizations to determine the most appropriate approach to culture for an MLB franchise, showing evidence for culture as a competitive advantage. Through qualitative research through the form of interviews (n=8), former players at the MiLB and MLB levels (n=3), player development staff (n=3), and directors of international scouting (n=2) provided insight into professional baseball culture in the United States (U.S.), its successes, and its shortcomings.

The movie industry is an uncertain business, and films often fail to make money, so the movie promotions and marketing decisions studios make are vital in determining success. With movie promotions, people from different cultures can perceive films and their advertising efforts differently because of their backgrounds, so movie marketers must recognize these differences to be able to succeed in international markets. This thesis is intended to help provide information for filmmakers and their respective film advertisers on how different cultures may perceive promotional movie poster factors, and how they can be more successful in their pursuit. Specifically, we are focusing on the influence of stars and review sources featured on such posters and how they might play into someone’s response to a film. To do so, we will be comparing viewers relative to their Hofstede cultural dimensions (of individualism and collectivism and power distance) to understand what factors might influence a society more and why. We first dive into our preliminary research, then make predictions and test them through a 2x2 study to determine what movie promotion elements are most influential to different viewers. Next we will conclude with the managerial implications and limitations and future research of our study. Overall, our research and data findings offer insights to filmmakers on how they might enhance and tailor their movie promotions when marketing to different cultures.