Matching Items (15)
Description
The lack of food safety in a grower's produce presents the grower with two risks; (1) that an item will need to be recalled from the market, incurring substantial costs and damaging brand equity and (2) that the entire market for the commodity becomes impaired as consumers associate all produce as being risky to eat. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the leafy green industry, where recalls are relatively frequent and there has been one massive E. coli outbreak that rocked the industry in 2006. The purpose of this thesis is to examine insurance policies that protect growers from these risks. In doing this, a discussion of current recall insurance policies is presented. Further, actuarially fair premiums for catastrophic revenue insurance policies are priced through a contingent claims framework. The results suggest that spinach industry revenue can be insured for $0.02 per carton. Given the current costs of leafy green industry food safety initiatives, growers may be willing to pay for such an insurance policy.
ContributorsPagaran, Jeremy (Author) / Manfredo, Mark R. (Thesis advisor) / Richards, Timothy J. (Thesis advisor) / Nganje, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The construction industry has accepted the uncertainty that is included with every project that is initiated. Because of the existing uncertainty, best practices with risk management are commonly recommended and educated to industry participants. However, the current status of the construction industry's ability to manage risk was found to be limited, unstructured, and inadequate. Furthermore, many barriers block organizations from implementing and improving risk management practices. A significant barrier with improving risk management methods is the lack of evidence that clearly demonstrates the need to improve risk management practices. Logical explanations of the benefits of risk management doesn't provide the necessary justification or motivation needed for many organizations to dedicate resources towards improving risk management.
Nevertheless, some organizations understand the importance of risk management practices and have begun to measure their risk maturity in order to identify weaknesses and improve risk management practices. Risk maturity measures the organization's ability and perceptions towards risk management. It is possible that many of the barriers to improving risk management would not exist if increased risk maturity was found to have a positive correlation with successful project performance.
The comprehensive hypothesis of the research is that increased risk maturity improves project performance. An exploratory study was conducted on data collected to identify measurable benefits with risk management. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected on 266 construction projects over a seven year period. Multiple statistical analyses were performed on the data and found a positive correlations between risk maturity and project performance. A positive correlations was found between customer satisfaction and contractors risk maturity. Additional findings from the recorded data included the increased ability to predict risks during construction projects within an organization. These findings provide clear reasoning for organizations to devote additional resources in which improve their risk management practices.
Nevertheless, some organizations understand the importance of risk management practices and have begun to measure their risk maturity in order to identify weaknesses and improve risk management practices. Risk maturity measures the organization's ability and perceptions towards risk management. It is possible that many of the barriers to improving risk management would not exist if increased risk maturity was found to have a positive correlation with successful project performance.
The comprehensive hypothesis of the research is that increased risk maturity improves project performance. An exploratory study was conducted on data collected to identify measurable benefits with risk management. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected on 266 construction projects over a seven year period. Multiple statistical analyses were performed on the data and found a positive correlations between risk maturity and project performance. A positive correlations was found between customer satisfaction and contractors risk maturity. Additional findings from the recorded data included the increased ability to predict risks during construction projects within an organization. These findings provide clear reasoning for organizations to devote additional resources in which improve their risk management practices.
ContributorsPerrenoud, Anthony (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth T. (Thesis advisor) / Weizel, Avi (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This thesis develops a low-investment marketing strategy that allows low-to-mid level farmers extend their commercialization reach by strategically sending containers of fresh produce items to secondary markets that present temporary arbitrage opportunities. The methodology aims at identifying time windows of opportunity in which the price differential between two markets create an arbitrage opportunity for a transaction; a transaction involves buying a fresh produce item at a base market, and then shipping and selling it at secondary market price. A decision-making tool is developed that gauges the individual arbitrage opportunities and determines the specific price differential (or threshold level) that is most beneficial to the farmer under particular market conditions. For this purpose, two approaches are developed; a pragmatic approach that uses historic price information of the products in order to find the optimal price differential that maximizes earnings, and a theoretical one, which optimizes an expected profit model of the shipments to identify this optimal threshold. This thesis also develops risk management strategies that further reduce profit variability during a particular two-market transaction. In this case, financial engineering concepts are used to determine a shipment configuration strategy that minimizes the overall variability of the profits. For this, a Markowitz model is developed to determine the weight assignation of each component for a particular shipment. Based on the results of the analysis, it is deemed possible to formulate a shipment policy that not only increases the farmer's commercialization reach, but also produces profitable operations. In general, the observed rates of return under a pragmatic and theoretical approach hovered between 0.072 and 0.616 within important two-market structures. Secondly, it is demonstrated that the level of return and risk can be manipulated by varying the strictness of the shipping policy to meet the overall objectives of the decision-maker. Finally, it was found that one can minimize the risk of a particular two-market transaction by strategically grouping the product shipments.
ContributorsFlores, Hector M (Author) / Villalobos, Rene (Thesis advisor) / Runger, George C. (Committee member) / Maltz, Arnold (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Recent studies have identified that contractors in the Saudi construction industry are not the main party that cause risks as owners and other parties have the major share of causing risks. However, with the identification that risks out of contractors’ control are a leading cause of low performance, there is a lack of efficient risk mitigation practices in Saudi to manage these risks. The main aim of this dissertation is to assess the current practices applied by contractors to minimize risk out of their control and develop a risk mitigation model to manage these risks. The main objectives of the study are: investigating the risks that are out of contractors’ control, assessing the contractors’ current risk mitigation and performance measurement practices, and finally developing and validating a risk mitigation model to minimize risks out of contractors’ control and measure performance of involved project parties. To achieve the study aim, a mixed methodological approach was adopted. Theoretical approaches were utilized to review previous research and to develop a conceptual risk mitigation framework followed by a practical approach that is considered with collecting data from contractors. The quantitative method was mainly used to meet the study objectives through distributing a survey in the form of a questionnaire. As a consolidation of the study findings, the top ranked risks that are out of contractors’ control were identified. Furthermore, the results identified that the contractors’ current risk management and performance measurement practices are not effective in minimizing projects risks caused by other parties and ineffective in measuring performance of all parties. The developed model focuses on increasing accountability of project parties through mitigating project parties’ activities and risks with measuring the deviations and identifying sources of deviations. Transparency is utilized in the model through sharing weekly updates of the activities and risks combined with updated information of performance measurements of all project parties. The study results showed that project risks can be minimized and projects’ performance can be increased if contractors shift their focus using the developed model from only managing their own activities and risks to managing all project parties’ activities and risks.
ContributorsAlgahtany, Mohammed (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to gain a more nuanced understanding of what research is currently going on in the academic realm of supply chain management. This thesis is composed of two parts. The first part contains summaries and personal takeaways from four different supply chain management seminars that were put on by professors who were visiting the ASU campus. These seminars include general topics such as RFID readability, supply chain cash conversion cycles, risk management within the healthcare supply chain, and building trust and trustworthiness in global business. The second part of the thesis will then use a literature review to expand upon the topic of risk management within the healthcare supply chain, and to explore how previous research ties into the current happenings of the industry, as well as its future implications.
ContributorsHemzacek, Noah (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Choi, Thomas (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Project management is the crucial component for managing and mitigating the inherent risks associated with changes in technology and innovation. The procedures to track the schedule, budget, and scope of various projects in the standard worlds of engineering, manufacturing, construction, etc., are essential elements to the success of the project. Cost overruns, schedule changes, and other natural risks must be managed effectively. But what happens when a project manager is tasked with delivering an attraction that needs to withstand harsh weather conditions, and millions of people enjoying it every year, for a company with arguably the highest standards for quality and guest satisfaction? This would describe the project managers at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) and the projects they oversee have tight budgets, aggressive schedules and require a bit more pixie dust than other engineering projects. However, the universal truth is that no matter the size or the scope of the endeavor, project management processes are absolutely essential to ensuring that every team member can effectively collaborate to deliver the best product.
ContributorsBaker, Molly (Author) / McCarville, Daniel R. (Thesis director) / Juarez, Joseph (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems & Operations Engineering Prgm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Chinese commercial banks have experienced a period of fast and stable development since 2007. The adoption of a comprehensive enterprise risk management (ERM) system based on the Basel Accords was a significant event for the banking supervisory authority and the commercial banks during this period. This study investigates the impact of ERM adoption on the financial performance of the commercial banks as well as the underlying mechanisms using longitudinal data of 96 commercial banks from 2007 to 2016. Results from quantitative analyses suggest the following findings. First, ERM adoption had a positive impact on commercial banks’ financial performance after controlling for the negative impacts of factors such as macro economic conditions and fiscal and monetary policies. Second, although this positive impact was partially attributed to increased risk appetite after the adoption of ERM, results show that ERM adoption also increased risk-adjusted financial performance. Lastly, ERM adoption improved commercial banks’ competence in risk management, as indicated by their sensitivity of financial returns to risk exposures. The above findings also received support from interviews and surveys of senior executives of commercial banks and officials of the banking supervisory authorities.
This study contributes to the understanding of how the adoption of ERM influences the financial performance of Chinese commercial banks, and has important practical implications. Based on the empirical findings, I recommend all commercial banks in China to adopt and implement ERM so that they can better cope with the challenges presented by macroeconomic uncertainty, marketization, and internationalization. In the process, it is critical for them to understand the mechanisms through which ERM influences their performance. Meanwhile, they shall be aware of the operational costs associated with the initial adoption of ERM, learn from the experiences of those that have already adopted ERM, and have a long-term orientation about performance effect of ERM adoption. Supervisory authorities can also play a key role in guiding commercial banks to be more effective and efficient in the adoption of ERM.
This study contributes to the understanding of how the adoption of ERM influences the financial performance of Chinese commercial banks, and has important practical implications. Based on the empirical findings, I recommend all commercial banks in China to adopt and implement ERM so that they can better cope with the challenges presented by macroeconomic uncertainty, marketization, and internationalization. In the process, it is critical for them to understand the mechanisms through which ERM influences their performance. Meanwhile, they shall be aware of the operational costs associated with the initial adoption of ERM, learn from the experiences of those that have already adopted ERM, and have a long-term orientation about performance effect of ERM adoption. Supervisory authorities can also play a key role in guiding commercial banks to be more effective and efficient in the adoption of ERM.
ContributorsJia, Guoqing (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Qian, Jun (Thesis advisor) / Cheng, Shijun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Under the background of the "new normal" of China's economy and the contraction of traditional financial sector, the development of Internet finance provides new financing channels for SMEs and individual financial needs. But with rapid development of the Internet finance, the overall risk also appears gradually as well as the platform differentiation appears more evidently. China's Internet financial industry enters the stage of standardization development. In order to effectively prevent and resolve Internet financial risks and create a good internet financial environment, we need to identify the risk factors of Internet financial industry. Through reference carding of the existing literature, this paper proposes a research hypothesis that the industrial economic background is negatively related to the operating risk of the Internet financial platform. After descriptive statistical analysis of the current situation of the Internet financial industry in China, this paper collects 600 P2P net-lending platforms data manually, and uses Probit model to test the research hypothesis. Ceteris paribus, the result show that compared with the platform without industrial economic background, the risk probability of the industrial economic background platform will be reduced by 6.5 percentage points， and there is no regional difference in this result. This paper explains the result from two layers which are the relieving information asymmetry and the platform’s reputation mechanism. The study also finds that in addition to the industrial economic background, the P2P platform's registered capital, operation time, whether the platform funds have the corresponding third-party guarantee and the information disclosure of platform executives will significantly reduce business risk probability of the platforms. The above research conclusions also passed the robust test. Finally, this paper makes a case analysis of the two Internet Financial platforms in Suning Finance and Tuniu Finance, which have different industrial economic background and mode of operation. It also summarizes the risk control system.
ContributorsSheng, Yuxin (Author) / Gu, Bin (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Anmin (Thesis advisor) / Jiang, Zhan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Previous work suggests that lower-income individuals are more likely to engage in mutual aid as a means to manage risk, giving rise to a psychology that is other-oriented, including an empathetic disposition and a proclivity to help people in need. While no study has directly investigated whether helping in times of need increases dispositional empathic concern over time, this assumption is deep-seated among social psychologists. Employing a two-year longitudinal survey of US adults (N = 915), I show that people who experience more needs report helping others when in need a greater number of times, in turn leading to a small but positive increase in their empathetic disposition. This study also identifies the types of needs that elicit empathic concern (i.e., those that arise from unpredictable sources of risk), and shows why cultivating an empathetic disposition is likely to pay off in the long run: those who provide help are more likely to receive help during future times of need. Moreover, this study identifies the types of targets for whom providing help might cultivate an empathetic disposition: those with whom people are likely to share lower interdependence. While previous theoretical frameworks posit that empathic concern selectively directs investment towards interdependent others, providing help to non-interdependent targets might allow people to build positive interdependence with prospective risk pooling partners. Cultivating an empathetic disposition and building interdependence with prospective risk pooling partners can allow people to manage needs that arise from unpredictable sources of risk.
ContributorsGuevara Beltran, Diego (Author) / Aktipis, Athena (Thesis advisor) / Hruschka, Daniel (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas (Committee member) / Shiota, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Contemporary renewable energy transitions require the extraction of critical minerals necessary to produce new green technologies. The Stibnite Gold Project located in Valley County, Idaho, is one of many proposed mine sites to supply raw materials for renewable energy infrastructure. A variety of actors including the mine operator, Perpetua Resources, use varying approaches to risk to measure the impacts of potential mine operations. A formal permitting process facilitated by US regulatory bodies assess these risks and proposals for their mitigation. This study examines the permitting process for the proposed mine, the Stibnite Gold Project, in Idaho in order to better understand what risks are considered and how they are conceptualized. Specifically, it examines public discourse from the mine operator Perpetua Resources, key regulators, key NGOs, and the Nez Perce tribal community. A critical discourse analysis reveals the development of distinct risk, economic, restorative, and decision authority narratives among each actor. These narratives shape approaches to risk. However, they also reveal settler colonialism and other intersecting systems of oppression are reinstated and/or resisted in each actors approach to risk. Drawing on existing literature as well as new empirical data from the discourse analysis, this study shows limits to prevailing approaches to risk that need to be addressed so that future efforts to advance sustainability-driven renewable energy transitions do not impose unjust costs on Indigenous peoples.
ContributorsStempel, Khampha (Author) / Calhoun, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Carralero, Pamela (Committee member) / Klinsky, Sonja (Committee member) / Nelson, Melissa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023