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This paper is intended to identify a correlation between the winning percentage of sports teams in the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and the GDP per capita of their respective cities. We initially compiled fifteen years of franchise performance along with economic data from the Federal

This paper is intended to identify a correlation between the winning percentage of sports teams in the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and the GDP per capita of their respective cities. We initially compiled fifteen years of franchise performance along with economic data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to analyze this relationship. After converting the data into a language recognized by Stata, the regression tool we used, we ran multiple regressions to find relevant correlations based off of our inputs. This paper will show the value of the economic impact of strong or weak performance throughout various economic cycles through data analysis and conclusions drawn from the results of the regression analysis.
ContributorsAndl, Tyler (Co-author) / Shirk, Brandon (Co-author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
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Alternative currencies have a long and varied history, in which Bitcoin is the latest chapter. The pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin as an implementation of the concept of a cryptocurrency, or a decentralized currency based on the principles of cryptography. Since its creation in 2008, Bitcoin has had a fairly

Alternative currencies have a long and varied history, in which Bitcoin is the latest chapter. The pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin as an implementation of the concept of a cryptocurrency, or a decentralized currency based on the principles of cryptography. Since its creation in 2008, Bitcoin has had a fairly tumultuous existence that limited its adoption. Wide price fluctuations occurred as the appeal of free money by running a piece of computer software drove people to purchase expensive hardware, and high-profile scandals cast Bitcoin as an unstable currency well-suited primarily for purchasing illicit materials. Consumer confidence in the currency was extremely low, and businesses were extremely hesitant to accept a currency that could easily lose half (or more) of its value overnight. However, recent years have seen the currency begin to stabilize as businesses and mainstream investors have begun to accept and support it. Alternative cryptocurrencies, titled "altcoins," have also been created to fill market niches that Bitcoin was not addressing. Governmental intervention, a concern of many following the currency, has been surprisingly restrained and has actually contributed to its stability. The future of Bitcoin looks very bright as it carries the dream of the alternative currency forward into the 21st century.
ContributorsReardon, Brett (Co-author) / Burke, Ryan (Co-author) / Happel, Stephen (Thesis director) / Boyes, William (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States with over two million pounds seized annually and with a usage rate estimated at 19.8 million people in 2013 (SAMSHA, 2014). Currently there is a nationwide movement for the legalization of recreational marijuana via referendum at the state

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States with over two million pounds seized annually and with a usage rate estimated at 19.8 million people in 2013 (SAMSHA, 2014). Currently there is a nationwide movement for the legalization of recreational marijuana via referendum at the state level. Three states and the District of Columbia have already adopted amendments legalizing marijuana and over a dozen more currently have pending ballots. This report explores what would be the impact of legalizing marijuana in Arizona through the examination of data from Colorado and other governmental sources. Using a benefit/cost analysis the data is used to determine what the effect the legalization of marijuana would have in Arizona. I next examined the moral arguments for legalization. Finally I propose a recommendation for how the issue of the legalization of recreational marijuana should be approached in Arizona.
ContributorsDiPietro, Samuel Miles (Author) / Kalika, Dale (Thesis director) / Lynk, Myles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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This piece aims to discuss the roles of emerging geographies within the context of global supply chains, approaching the conversation with a "systems" view, emphasizing three key facets essential to a holistic and interdisciplinary environmental analysis: -The Implications of Governmental & Economic Activities -Supply Chain Enablement Activities, Risk Mitigation in

This piece aims to discuss the roles of emerging geographies within the context of global supply chains, approaching the conversation with a "systems" view, emphasizing three key facets essential to a holistic and interdisciplinary environmental analysis: -The Implications of Governmental & Economic Activities -Supply Chain Enablement Activities, Risk Mitigation in Emerging Nations -Implications Regarding Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility In the appreciation of the interdisciplinary implications that stem from participation in global supply networks, supply chain professionals can position their firms for continued success in the proactive construction of robust and resilient supply chains. Across industries, how will supply networks in emerging geographies continue to evolve? Appreciating the inherent nuances related to the political and economic climate of a region, the extent to which enablement activities must occur, and sustainability/CSR tie-ins will be key to acquire this understanding. This deliverable aims to leverage the work of philosophers, researchers and business personnel as these questions are explored. The author will also introduce a novel method of teaching (IMRS) in the undergraduate business classroom that challenges the students to integrate their prior experiences both in the classroom and in the business world as they learn to craft locally relevant solutions to solve complex global problems.
ContributorsVaney, Rachel Lee (Author) / Maltz, Arnold (Thesis director) / Kellso, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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New Venture Group, a student-run consulting organization at ASU, collaborated with representatives from Intel Corporation to determine current best supplier management practices in the area of capital equipment procurement. The New Venture Group team accomplished this goal by completing the following deliverables: (1) Research and consolidate best practices for managing

New Venture Group, a student-run consulting organization at ASU, collaborated with representatives from Intel Corporation to determine current best supplier management practices in the area of capital equipment procurement. The New Venture Group team accomplished this goal by completing the following deliverables: (1) Research and consolidate best practices for managing capital equipment suppliers. (2) Interview suppliers of capital equipment in the semiconductor industry to understand their motivators. (3) Examine top supply chain companies that utilize capital equipment manufacturers within their procurement systems. (4) Gather data and knowledge in conjunction with Intel Corporation's current practices to improve the effectiveness of the company's supplier management techniques regarding capital equipment manufacturers. The thesis report outlines the key insights and recommendations that our team extracted from the research that we performed. Our team analyzed peer-reviewed journal articles, conducted interviews with suppliers of capital equipment to semiconductor manufacturers, and surveyed buyers at top companies to reach important key insights. We then used these insights to develop the following strategies to improve Intel's capital equipment supplier management structure: All Suppliers 1. Allow high-performance suppliers to select one reward from an established portfolio of incentives. 2. Increase measurement frequency for specific metrics. 3. Use collaborative two-way measurement with a corresponding balanced scorecard. Key Suppliers of Critical Products 4. Conduct gap analysis through supplier self-assessments. 5. Implement collaborative target pricing. 6. Delegate an Ombudsman. 7. Create a value map to determine the strengths and incentivize collaboration. 8. Create comparison charts comparing supplier technological competencies versus Intel's product developments. 9. Establish a systematized product development process and strategic sourcing strategy that supports the continuation of Moore's Law.
ContributorsSantiago, Bryce (Co-author) / Chen, Jenny (Co-author) / Chang, Karen (Co-author) / Baldridge, Stephen (Co-author) / Laub, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Brooks, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
Amazon Prime Air is the innovative new service that promises automated drone delivery in thirty minutes or less. The platform has not yet been brought to market, but there is a plethora compelling data available that suggests it will be a unique and highly disruptive business segment for Amazon. The

Amazon Prime Air is the innovative new service that promises automated drone delivery in thirty minutes or less. The platform has not yet been brought to market, but there is a plethora compelling data available that suggests it will be a unique and highly disruptive business segment for Amazon. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the framework laid out by Amazon.com, Inc. for their anticipated Prime Air drone delivery platform, and offer our recommendations for what steps the e-commerce giant should take moving forward. Following a brief recap of the company's founding and a breakdown of its various business segments, we will begin our analysis by examining past strategic decisions that Amazon has made which have directly contributed to their current market position. It is our goal to construct a narrative of what events lead the company to begin developing a fleet of automated delivery vehicles. Following this history lesson, we will review and criticize the existing elements of Amazon's Prime Air platform, and explore any possible alternatives that they could have taken to optimize the development of this exciting new technology. Criticisms will touch upon elements such as cost efficiencies, brand management, and utilization of infrastructure to name but a few. These criticisms will be based upon data sourced from Amazon's available material as well as comments from market analysts and journalists. The culminating element of our analysis will be to offer our professional recommendations as to what we believe the next logical steps that Amazon should take for their Prime Air platform. These recommendations will be informed by our criticisms and our understanding of Amazon as a corporation. This chapter will be largely concerned with guiding Amazon towards a fully optimized drone delivery platform. Our recommendations will be based upon our extensive experience concerning cost and logistical efficiencies, as well as our knowledge of Amazon as a corporation. We will offer succinct suggestions for Amazon's immediate needs as well as long-term solutions to lingering obstacles that they may face.
ContributorsMcCaleb, Nicholas (Co-author) / Glynn, Reagan (Co-author) / Choi, Thomas (Thesis director) / Rogers, Dale (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
Cognitive technology has been at the forefront of the minds of many technology, government, and business leaders, because of its potential to completely revolutionize their fields. Furthermore, individuals in financial statement auditor roles are especially focused on the impact of cognitive technology because of its potential to eliminate many of

Cognitive technology has been at the forefront of the minds of many technology, government, and business leaders, because of its potential to completely revolutionize their fields. Furthermore, individuals in financial statement auditor roles are especially focused on the impact of cognitive technology because of its potential to eliminate many of the tedious, repetitive tasks involved in their profession. Adopting new technologies that can autonomously collect more data from a broader range of sources, turn the data into business intelligence, and even make decisions based on that data begs the question of whether human roles in accounting will be completely replaced. A partial answer: If the ramifications of past technological advances are any indicator, cognitive technology will replace some human audit operations and grow some new and higher order roles for humans. It will shift the focus of accounting professionals to more complex judgment and analysis.
The next question: What do these changes in the roles and responsibilities look like for the auditors of the future? Cognitive technology will assuredly present new issues for which humans will have to find solutions.
• How will humans be able to test the accuracy and completeness of the decisions derived by cognitive systems?
• If cognitive computing systems rely on supervised learning, what is the most effective way to train systems?
• How will cognitive computing fair in an industry that experiences ever-changing industry regulations?
• Will cognitive technology enhance the quality of audits?
In order to answer these questions and many more, I plan on examining how cognitive technologies evolved into their use today. Based on this historic trajectory, stakeholder interviews, and industry research, I will forecast what auditing jobs may look like in the near future taking into account rapid advances in cognitive computing.
The conclusions forecast a future in auditing that is much more accurate, timely, and pleasant. Cognitive technologies allow auditors to test entire populations of transactions, to tackle audit issues on a more continuous basis, to alleviate the overload of work that occurs after fiscal year-end, and to focus on client interaction.
ContributorsWitkop, David (Author) / Dawson, Gregory (Thesis director) / Munshi, Perseus (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
This study examines the economic impact of the opioid crisis in the United States. Primarily testing the years 2007-2018, I gathered data from the Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, and Kaiser Family Foundation in order to examine the relative impact of a one dollar increase in GDP per Capita

This study examines the economic impact of the opioid crisis in the United States. Primarily testing the years 2007-2018, I gathered data from the Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, and Kaiser Family Foundation in order to examine the relative impact of a one dollar increase in GDP per Capita on the death rates caused by opioids. By implementing a fixed-effects panel data design, I regressed deaths on GDP per Capita while holding the following constant: population, U.S. retail opioid prescriptions per 100 people, annual average unemployment rate, percent of the population that is Caucasian, and percent of the population that is male. I found that GDP per Capita and opioid related deaths are negatively correlated, meaning that with every additional person dying from opioids, GDP per capita decreases. The finding of this research is important because opioid overdose is harmful to society, as U.S. life expectancy is consistently dropping as opioid death rates rise. Increasing awareness on this topic can help prevent misuse and the overall reduction in opioid related deaths.
ContributorsRavi, Ritika Lisa (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Hill, John (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
In this paper I seek to understand how consumers value music today by investigating what consumers are willing to pay for digitally downloaded songs (such as the ones available on the iTunes or Amazon music stores) and the variety of factors that influence their willingness to pay. I conducted a

In this paper I seek to understand how consumers value music today by investigating what consumers are willing to pay for digitally downloaded songs (such as the ones available on the iTunes or Amazon music stores) and the variety of factors that influence their willingness to pay. I conducted a survey and received over 500 responses regarding willingness to pay for single-song downloads, consumer sentiment on whether music should be free, streaming service use, and other information pertaining to music consumption behavior. Through this research I found that paid-streamers are willing to pay more for songs than those who do not pay to stream, all else being equal. Further, Free-streamers are not willing to pay significantly more or less than non-streamers. This finding is additional information to other research that suggests streaming acts as a substitute for sales. I also found that most consumers are in the middle when it comes to the debate for whether music should always be free or always be purchased. Where someone aligns on the spectrum is a statistically significant contributing factor to what that person is willing to pay for a song. My findings also suggest that consumer preferences distinguish between benefit derived from music ownership and benefit derived from the ability to listen to music. This information sheds more light on the reason behind the declining digital download market.
ContributorsRodriguez, Stefan Daniel (Author) / Mandel, Naomi (Thesis director) / Veramendi, Gregory (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The main compelling question to this thesis was to determine if there is a relationship between the amount of sensitivity received in ones college experience to how easily one transitions to a full time role upon graduation. Furthermore to determine if there is measurable difference, what can educators do to

The main compelling question to this thesis was to determine if there is a relationship between the amount of sensitivity received in ones college experience to how easily one transitions to a full time role upon graduation. Furthermore to determine if there is measurable difference, what can educators do to close the gap to better serve students. The conduction of this thesis was done through a survey via Google Forms targeting three groups. The three groups were Alpha Kappa Psi at Arizona State University, Delta Sigma Pi at Penn State University and the Supply Chain Development Program at Dell in Austin, Texas. These groups allowed for a wide range of demographics in participants from all over the US and with many different business majors. There were two main sections in the survey, personal experiences with professors and personal experiences with peers. Both asked multiple different hard data questions (multiple choice, numerical rating, drop down) and short answer questions (open ended.) The goal was to gauge participant's experiences with their professors and their peers in terms of sensitivity and see if it helped or hindered their experience transitioning to a full time role. The results for the hard data indicated that there was a significant correlation between better professors being more sensitive and worse professors exercising very little sensitivity. The open ended responses indicated that students preferred professors that gave less sensitive and academic approach and more real life experiences to help them transition to their job. There were many issues to if the open-ended responses specifically addressed sensitivity versus other topics. Three other topics that were clearly alternately identified were class behavior, job relevancy, and professor influence/resistance. Overall from the research completed in this study it can be concluded that sensitivity does not significantly affect the performance in the transition from college to working in a profession environment.
ContributorsGhinos, Christina Eva (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Thorn, Taylor (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12