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- All Subjects: Business
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
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Description
Virtual Reality is being widely adapted for use in the consumer market. There are adaptations of the technology for every purpose, from education, to gaming, and even medical. There are businesses being formed worldwide that incorporate the gaming utility in an arcade/internet café style. However, there are other plausible business models. There is the preexisting model that companies are currently using, another option is to add this technology to preexisting physical arcades, and to create a new business with practices decided by consumer statistics. These three models were tested in this study to determine the profitability, feasibility, and best practices for each. Each business model appears to be incredibly profitable based on the assumptions used for this study.
ContributorsDunn, John Ryan (Author) / McCarville, Daniel R. (Thesis director) / Jennings, Cheryl (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems and Operations Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This thesis seeks to evaluate whether the benefits of spinal fusion surgeries are worth their increasing costs. The paper examines the trends that contribute to these surgeries' increasing prices and then evaluates the customer impact of these surgeries in order to make a conclusion on whether the surgeries are worth it. This paper discusses the main factors that contribute to the increase in prices of these surgeries and these include the aging population, the increase in diabetes rates, and the practice of purchasing physicians owned distributorships (PODs) devices in some hospitals. The paper concluded that there is a definite correlation between the increased rate of spinal surgeries performed as a result of an increase in diabetes rates in the US population. It was argued that diabetes can lead to multiple spinal diseases which increase the demand of spinal surgeries which in turn causes the prices of these surgeries to rise. The paper also argued that current technological advances have allowed us to live longer which in turn leads to an increase in spine surgeries simply due to old age and a deteriorating spine. Lastly, it was argued that the recent surge in the POD devices being used in spinal surgeries in some hospitals can be seen as a possible influence to the increase in the cost of these surgeries. This is because the hospitals that chose to purchase surgery devices from PODs are more likely to increase the cost to perform the surgery because they are paying a lot more for those devices. Looking at the customer impact, it was apparent that spinal fusion surgeries carry certain risks because they require decortication of bone and, often, placement of implants; along with extensive dissection and longer operative time. However, based on the research conducted, there was no conclusion to be made on whether spinal fusions carried more risks than all other spinal surgeries because the data used only compared the surgery to some that are arguably less complicated like discectomies.
ContributorsDisengi Nkunzi, Jossel (Author) / Allenby, Braden (Thesis director) / Bohl, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Ford Motor Company has remained a staple U.S. auto manufacturer in both the American and worldwide markets, ranking 2nd only behind General Motors on the Fortune 500. Ford Motor Company is currently faced with an industry wide shortage of automotive technicians. Successfully addressing this issue and taking action is crucial for Ford to remain competitive in its ability to efficiently service customers' vehicles. Ford must have a comprehensive strategy to interest students in automotive service careers as well as improve their current recruiting tactics. In order to create this plan, I conducted an external analysis of the service technician market as well as internal analysis of Ford Motor Company. It is vital for Ford Motor Company to be aware of the external environmental trends in the technician market. The changing demographic of the technician workforce presents a quickly approaching hurdle for dealers to hire millennial technicians to replace their retiring master technicians. The societal education shift away from vocational training has drastically reduced the number of high school students interested technical careers but opens the opportunity for Ford to create awareness about opportunities in the industry. Ford must also modernize their current recruiting tactics to appeal to millennial candidates through social media and online job postings. This plan will focus on maximizing Ford's strengths in the market including their industry leading number of students receiving Ford TCEP training and excellent field operations teams. Ford will also have to improve current dealership recruiting standards and combat competitors offering higher starting hourly salaries for entry level technicians. My strategy will also explore opportunities for Ford to expand the number of schools with TCEP curriculum, hire a larger percentage of TCEP students at dealerships, and improve high school awareness about the benefits of pursuing a career in the automotive service industry. My technician recruiting marketing plan is intended to be utilized as an integrated effort between Ford Corporate and its network of retail dealerships.
ContributorsGrannis, Nicholas Otis (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Resnick, Dan (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This thesis presents a single source of what students may do during and soon after college to succeed in their careers. It shows what certain steps students should take to increase chances of success and to avoid unnecessary repetition of others' steps and mistakes. One's first full-time work position can be overwhelming and frightening, and navigating a wide variety of resources in addition to all the individual preparation required to begin a position can be a major time waste that increases the overwhelmed feelings. This thesis provides a trustworthy source that pools the outside information and also presents new and valuable data, enabling the avoidance repetition of others' overwhelming experiences. Although every person's experience is different and may require different actions, the information presented allows an understanding of steps and ideas one may benefit from implementing to guarantee or work toward greater success after college. The methods utilized to obtain the information presented are discussed and followed by the key points for students to understand. An appendix follows the bibliography and presents a list of the main directives to students/graduates from each section to enable easy access and understanding.
ContributorsCowsert, Kristin Mikelle (Author) / Van Fleet, David (Thesis director) / West, Mindy (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
How prepared are individuals to work in an environment with sensitive information? Do business students believe a data security course would be a valuable addition to their curriculum? This study investigates W.P. Carey's role in preparing its students for jobs in which they most likely will have to handle large amounts of important data. Roughly 500 students across varying majors and years of education in the W.P. Carey School of Business answered an assortment of questions on their computer habits, and responded to various scenarios to test their knowledge. The survey targeted three specific areas (Software Updates, Password Protection, and Phishing) which was believed to be most pertinent to the students' future roles as professionals. While a large number of those surveyed (roughly 65%) responded well to most questions, nearly a third of all the responses received indicated cause for concern or an indication of a lack of knowledge. It was suggested (and many respondents agreed) that further education be provided to students for their own well-being in addition to the wellbeing of their future employers.
ContributorsVaughan, Nathaniel D (Author) / Lin, Elva (Thesis director) / Doupé, Adam (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Almost all surfboard wax on the market today is made of paraffin wax, a product made from crude oil. Paraffin wax is not an environmentally friendly product for surfers. I believe that there is a market for and environmentally friendly surfboard wax. My thesis/creative project will be to create this business and prepare it for launch. My main deliverable will be a business plan detailing:
• An Executive Summary
• Description of the Business
• Market Analysis Summary
• Sales and Marketing Strategy
• Company Management Summary
• Funding Plan
• Financial Projections
• Appendix if Necessary
By the time I defend, the ECO-Wax (Working Title) business will be ready to launch.
• An Executive Summary
• Description of the Business
• Market Analysis Summary
• Sales and Marketing Strategy
• Company Management Summary
• Funding Plan
• Financial Projections
• Appendix if Necessary
By the time I defend, the ECO-Wax (Working Title) business will be ready to launch.
ContributorsTingey, Cameron M. (Author) / Dietrich, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
AZMagicPlayers.com is a website dedicated to the promotion of the Wizards of the Coast-trading card game Magic: the Gathering in Arizona. This paper details the business model that helps sustain the website and how that business model is designed specifically to help build the community and ultimately fulfill the mission statement of AZMagicPlayers.com.
ContributorsAbong, Jason (Co-author) / Abong, Jeffrey (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Olsen, Douglas (Committee member) / Regalado, Marco (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
In large part, the great success of eusocial insects is due to efficient division of labor (Duarte et al. 2011; Dornhaus 2008). Within ant colonies, the process of dividing labor is not clearly defined, but it may be key to understanding the productivity and success of these colonies. This study analyzed data from an experiment that was conducted with the goal of examining how finely division of labor is organized in ant colonies. The experiment considered the actions of all ants from three Temnothorax rugatulus colonies. The colonies were each carefully recorded during five distinct emigrations per colony. The experiment produced such a large quantity of data that it was challenging to analyze the results, a major obstacle for many studies of collective behavior. Therefore, I designed a computer program that successfully sorted all of the data and prepared it for an initial statistical analysis that was performed in R. The preliminary results suggest that while most of the ants perform little to no work, there is an overall pattern of elitism; it seems that division of labor in ants is not more finely divided than previously shown. Future studies should provide further analysis of the data and will be useful in forming a more complete understanding of the division of labor within the emigrations of Temnothorax rugatulus colonies.
ContributorsJones, Samantha (Author) / Pratt, Stephen (Thesis director) / Jones, Donald (Committee member) / Shaffer, Zachary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
G3Box's 2013 Marketing Plan outlines a strategic plan and short term operational strategies for the company. The document includes a discussion of the company's decision to enter the market for healthcare facilities in developing counties, and a situation assessment of the market conditions. G3Box is targeting small and large NGOs that currently provide healthcare facilities in developing countries. The market size for healthcare aid in developing countries is estimated to be $1.7 billion. The plan also analyses the customer's value chain and buying cycle by using voice of the customer data. The strategic position analysis profiles G3Box's competition and discusses the company's differential advantage versus other options for healthcare facilities in developing countries. Next the document discusses G3Box's market strategy and implementation, along with outlining a value proposition for the company. G3Box has two objectives for 2013: 1) Increase sales revenue to $1.3 million and 2) increase market presence to 25%. In order to reach these objectives, G3Box has developed a primary and secondary strategic focus for each objective. The primary strategies are relationship selling and online marketing. The secondary strategies are developing additional value-added activities and public relations.
ContributorsWalters, John (Author) / Denning, Michael (Thesis director) / Ostrom, Lonnie (Committee member) / Carroll, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
When a friend approached me and asked me to join his team and apply to the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, a student business plan competition at Arizona State University, I accepted. Not only did I find his idea interesting, but I also believed that applying to the Edson program would give me a first glimpse into being an entrepreneur. The business, called Social Artworking, proposed to create an online platform to connect businesses, who need art, with artists through a unique bidding process. Through Social Artworking, businesses indicate the maximum amount they are able to pay while artists bid what they are willing to do the job for. Then a business or individual is able to pick the best artist that can meet his quality and price needs. In addition to the exchange platform, Social Artworking would jointly launch a social networking site and an online portfolio service for artists. Social Artworking was trying to address the problem of small businesses having a hard time finding affordable and high quality artist and designers while at the same time helping students gain paid experience to increase their portfolio before graduation. In the months leading up to the Edson application, I had a hard time catching up to my partner's knowledge of the business idea and the art, web and crowdsourcing industries. On many occasions, I felt like I was depending on him as an expert to write the application. After two months of working on the application, we submitted the proposal to Edson. The idea did not advance to the final round.
ContributorsDuran, Regina (Author) / Peck, Sidnee (Thesis director) / Essig, Linda (Committee member) / Garner, Benson (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2012-12