Matching Items (36)
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- All Subjects: Entrepreneurship
- All Subjects: Analytics
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Description
Sagebrush Coffee is a small business in Chandler, Arizona that purchases green beans, roasts them in small batches for quality, and ships fresh, gourmet roasted coffee beans across the nation. Deciding which coffee beans to buy and roast is one of the most crucial business decisions Sagebrush and other gourmet coffee roasters face. Further complicating this decision is the fact that coffee is a crop, and like all crops, has a specific growing season and the exact same product cannot usually be ordered from year to year, even if it proves to be successful. The goal of this research is to use data analytics and visualization to help Sagebrush make better purchasing decisions by identifying consumer purchasing trends and providing a recommendation for their portfolio mix. In the end, I found that Latin American coffees are popular with both returning and first-time customers, but a specific country of origin does not appear to be associated with the top coffee producing countries. Additionally, December is a critical month for Sagebrush and Sagebrush should make sure to target the states with the most sales: California, Pennsylvania, and New York. Arizona has growth potential as it is not one of the top three locations, despite the presence of a physical store. Also included in the following report is a portfolio recommendation suggesting how many of each product based on region, processing type, and roast level to carry in inventory.
ContributorsBlue, Jessica Morgan (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Davila, Eddie (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Morrison School of Agribusiness (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This project analyzes the tweets from the 2016 US Presidential Candidates' personal Twitter accounts. The goal is to define distinct patterns and differences between candidates and parties use of social media as a platform. The data spans the period of September 2015 to March 2016, which was during the primary races for the Republicans and Democrats. The overall purpose of this project is to contribute to finding new ways of driving value from social media, in particular Twitter.
ContributorsMortimer, Schuyler Kenneth (Author) / Simon, Alan (Thesis director) / Mousavi, Seyedreza (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
SparkLED designs innovative and intelligent LED products to concert attendees for the music industry (specifically, electronic dance music). Unlike other LED product distributors/manufacturers, such as emazinglights.com, orbitlightshow.com, and led-clothing.com, we offer products with higher degrees of customization, while maintaining higher quality, such as battery life and product durability. Our venture aims to solve the problem that consumers have with current LED product offerings. In most cases, consumers have a problem with the quality of their products while they are used throughout the day at a concert, club, or festival. In addition, with an over saturated market of LED product vendors that strictly utilize online channels, we hope to offer the physical channel needed to foster customer relationships and development at various events.
ContributorsYip, Indy Boyin (Author) / Trappen, Eric (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The "Dutch Dukeout" is a memorial, community engagement venture founded by Scott Fitzgerald and Sam Minton. The event was also supported and facilitated through the help of a third party member, Dylan Bryant. The "Dutch Dukeout" will continue annually, as an opportunity for Brophy College Preparatory alumni and current students to come together and connect. This venture also exists to celebrate and honor the life and legacy of Fr. Harry "Dutch" Olivier, a former, prominent faculty member of Brophy. Additionally, the "Dutch Dukeout" aims to raise money to support the Brophy Scholarship Foundation, a resource for current Brophy students to offset the financial burden it costs to attend the prominent college preparatory. Foremost, the "Dutch Dukeout" flag football tournament provides a powerful way for Brophy Alumni to reconnect with their school. By communicating and participating with graduates from various classes, alumni have an opportunity to provide valuable life lessons and share personal stories with the youth, as well as bond over their shared experience at Brophy. For a school that is able to continually develop community leaders and social activists, the "Dutch Dukeout" provides a platform for collaboration and inspiration for everyone who participates. By raising money to support the Brophy Scholarship Foundation and providing an opportunity for alumni to engage in their community, the "Dutch Dukeout" is an event that truly embodies Fr. Olivier's values and beliefs. This thesis report documents the ideas, work and efforts that were completed to launch and then ensure the success and longevity of the venture. It also serves as an example for future social entrepreneurs who aim to make a difference in communities of their own.
ContributorsFitzgerald, Scott (Co-author) / Samuel, Minton (Co-author) / Mokwa, Michael (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The goal of this project is to gain market research insight into the handcrafted goods industry and apply this knowledge towards a business plan for a small crafts business: Creations by Songbird. We accomplish this goal by conducting primary and secondary research on the crafts selling industry to see who the target customer is and what their habits are. First, we conduct a literature review looking into the background of some known crafts sales platforms. We discover several consistent trends in product differentiation, retail price calculation, and search engine optimization that we will apply to our business plan. Next, we conduct primary market research in the form of observations, customer and business owner interviews, and surveys. We learn that Instagram is a widely used marketing tool and that Etsy and crafts shows are popular sales channels. Using the results of our research we conclude that the our target customers are women ages 18-24 and 50-59 who attend crafts shows several times per year and occasionally browse Etsy. Many of these women enjoy objects that are vintage style and on average they spend less than $50 per item. Applying the industry and market knowledge gleaned from our research we create a business plan that outlines a price/cost breakdown, marketing plan, and sales plan for Creations by Songbird. We plan to utilize Instagram as our main marketing tool and will sell records via crafts shows and Etsy. Based on our estimates, we conclude that Creations by Songbird will be a profitable business.
ContributorsWood, Sara (Co-author) / Ehmann, Victoria (Co-author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Trujillo, Rhett (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The main goal of this study was to understand the awareness of small business owners regarding occupational fraud, meaning fraud committed from within an organization. A survey/questionnaire was used to gather insight into the knowledge and perceptions of small business owners, while also obtaining information about the history of fraud and the internal controls within their business. Twenty-four owners of businesses with less than 100 employees participated in the study. The results suggest that small business owners overestimate their knowledge regarding internal controls and occupational fraud, while also underestimating the risk of fraud within their own business. In fact, 92% of participants were not at all familiar with the popular Internal Control \u2014 Integrated Framework published by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The results also show that small business owners tend to overestimate the protection provided by their currently implemented controls in regard to their risk of fraud. Overall, through continued knowledge of internal controls and occupational fraud, business owners can better protect their businesses from the risk of occupational fraud by increasing their awareness of fraud.
ContributorsDennis, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Orpurt, Steven (Thesis director) / Munshi, Perseus (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Monocular is a user engagement application that offers a website owner the opportunity to track user behavior and use the data to better understand the site's strengths and weaknesses in terms of user satisfaction and motivation. This data allows the customer to make improvements to a website, resulting in a better user experience and potential for an improved bottom line.
ContributorsHooke, Wade (Co-author) / Ortiz-Monasterio, Diego (Co-author) / Clark, Joseph (Thesis director) / Prince, Linda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This paper is rooted in the field of business, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship in the fashion industry. The questions we tried to answer were the following: What are factors of success for current fashion brands? What is important to our target market when shopping? How can we deliver these attributes to our target market? How can we use our findings to create a fashion brand? First, we conducted in-depth external analysis about existing retailers including, Forever 21, Zara and Brandy Melville. After doing so, we created brand molecules and learned about other people's perceptions in relation to these existing brands. Next, using our own qualitative and quantitative research, we sought to understand the many gaps in the overall shopping experience for college students and young working professionals. Our research revealed many common themes and trends that we will integrate into our proposed business plan in efforts to fill the gaps. Through our data analysis, common trends included how our demographic learns about new fashion trends, statement pieces versus mix-and-match basics, online shopping versus in-store shopping, price sensitivity of our target market, and lastly, the quality of customer service and the store's return policy. After our extensive research and data analysis, we began to construct our brand. We propose a new business model that targets our fashion-forward consumer with a memorable shopping experience that delivers high-quality and trendiness to their wardrobe. Using the elements and trends we identified, combined with our own vision, we combined them into one brand, The Capsule Collection. ur brand will feature high-quality, reasonably priced basics ranging from everyday casual to business casual. We will have store locations in cities where there are many young working professionals, and target them through social media advertising. Our store will feature an open layout with clean and minimalistic displays, keeping everything in neutral tones and accented with plants. The goal of The Capsule Collection is to make shopping as easy and exciting as possible, and focus entirely on the customer's experience.
ContributorsMeyyappan, Rathna (Co-author) / Aggarwal, Payal (Co-author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Samper, Adriana (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The restaurant opening process for "Muse & Market" was documented and evaluated. For my creative project, I served as the Director of Business Development for "Muse & Market" and assisted in the carrying out of activities including supplier selection, functional retail assembly and other key decision making. I paralleled this experience by researching best practices in the restaurant industry. I performed research by reviewing academic literature and online sources and by interviewing marketing managers and restauranteurs in New York City and Phoenix, AZ. I compiled a list of best practices based off of the commonalities from my research and interviews. I then compared these findings to what I experienced at Muse & Market to determine which of Muse & Market's launch preparation activities aligned with which best practices. I also identified areas of improvement for Muse & Market based on this comparison. Lastly I offered my key takeaways from my experience as an aspiring entrepreneur in the restaurant industry.
ContributorsHyland, Ashley Lauren (Author) / Manfredo, Mark (Thesis director) / Davila, Eddie (Committee member) / Morrison School of Agribusiness (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Within this paper I summarize the key features, and results, of research conducted to support the development, design, and implementation of an internal control system at a startup small business. These efforts were conducted for an Honors Thesis/Creative Project for Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. The research revolved around deciding which financial policies, procedures, and safeguards could be useful in creating an internal control system for small businesses. In addition to academic research, I developed an “Internal Control Questionnaire” for use as a ‘jumping off point’ in conversations about a business’ existing accounting system. This questionnaire is applicable across many industries, covering the major topics which every small business/startup should consider.
The questionnaire was then used in conjunction with two interviews of small business owners. The interviews covered both the overall financial status of their business and their business’ pre-existing accounting system. The feedback received during these interviews was subsequently used to provide the business owners with eleven recommendations ranging from the implementation of new policies to verification of existing internal controls.
Finally, I summarize my findings, both academic and real-world, conveying that many small business owners do not implement formal internal control systems. I also discuss why the business owners, in this specific circumstance, did not yet implement the aforementioned eleven suggestions.
The questionnaire was then used in conjunction with two interviews of small business owners. The interviews covered both the overall financial status of their business and their business’ pre-existing accounting system. The feedback received during these interviews was subsequently used to provide the business owners with eleven recommendations ranging from the implementation of new policies to verification of existing internal controls.
Finally, I summarize my findings, both academic and real-world, conveying that many small business owners do not implement formal internal control systems. I also discuss why the business owners, in this specific circumstance, did not yet implement the aforementioned eleven suggestions.
ContributorsDuncan, Spencer James (Author) / Garverick, Michael (Thesis director) / Casas Arce, Pablo (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05