Matching Items (33)
Description
In recent years, companies have been expanding their business efforts on a global scale. This project explores this expansion of American-based multinational corporations (MNCs) in Ireland, and the comparison of how their culture motivation in the workplace. We did a cultural study using Hofstede and Trompenaars' cultural dimensions of the two countries then used McClelland's Needs Theory, Equity Theory, and Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory in order to create three research questions. (1) How does the manager define success for the firm as a whole and for their employees, (2) How is the definition of success reflected in the company's corporate culture (i.e. values, norms and practices), along with how cultural values, norms and practices affect the company, and (3) How do external forces (i.e. governmental factors, workplace technology, etc.) affect the workplace environment and motivation for employees? With these we hypothesized that for research question 1, we hypothesized that from our study of Hofstede's and Trompenaars' cultural frameworks, Irish employees will show a greater tendency to favor affiliation, nAff, as opposed to a need for achievement, nAch, in American employees, according to McClelland's Needs Theory. For research question 2, we predicted that motivation would be administered through style of feedback to employees and office norms, such as autonomy, flexible hours, and work-life balance. For research question 3, we hypothesized that Ireland would have an impact from external factors such as government and technology, whereas the U.S. employees would face no clear impact. We conducted eight, qualitative interviews using a questionnaire, either in person or via video conference. The interviewees were all managers in some facet and have all had some international experience. Through the analysis of the interviews, we found that the Irish employees focused on how employees are able to help or contribute to a group (nAff), instead of looking at how the contribution of a group can be used to meet individual goals (nAch). The American companies reflected Trompenaars' definition of individualism in which employees focus on collaborating in teams, as long as individual goals are met, and benchmarked collaboration as a performance measure, tying in the need for achievement, for research question one. For the second research question, we found that employees in Ireland had a focus on teamwork in the workplace and much higher respect for work-life balance. American firms, in contrast, had a greater focus on making sure employees were contributing, meeting their goals, and getting their work done. While American firms did acknowledge work-life balance and its importance, there was a priority for coming in early and/or staying late to make sure a job got done. Findings for our third question showed that government factors did impact Ireland more, due to labor laws such as required vacation days in Ireland, and that technology had less of an impact than expected, for both countries. More importantly was our finding that the companies in Ireland were greatly impacted by the decisions made by the business executives in the United States.
ContributorsSong, Jenny Jungwon (Co-author) / Brown, William (Co-author) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Thesis director) / Moore, James (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
E-commerce has rapidly become a mainstay in today's economy, and many websites have built themselves around providing a platform for independent sellers. Sites such as Etsy, Storenvy, Redbubble, and Society6 are increasingly popular options for anyone looking to open their own online store. With this project, I attempted to examine the effects of four different marketing techniques on sales in an online store. I opened a shop on Etsy and tracked sales in connection with promotion through social media, selling products in-person at a convention, holding a holiday tie-in sale, and using price anchoring. Social media accounts were opened on Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram to promote the shop over the course of the project period, and Etsy's web analytics were used to track which sites directed the most traffic to the shop. I attended a convention in mid-January 2016 where I sold my products and distributed business cards with a discount code to track sales resulting from being at the convention. A holiday sale was held in conjunction with Valentine's Day to look at whether holidays influenced purchases. Lastly, a significantly more expensive product was temporarily put in the shop to see whether it produced a price anchoring effect \u2014 that is, encouraged sales of the less expensive products by making them seem affordable in comparison. While the volume of sales data was too small to draw statistically significant conclusions, the project was a highly instructive experience in the process of opening a small online store. The decision-making steps outlined may be helpful to other students looking to open their own online shop.
ContributorsChen, Candice Elizabeth (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Sanford, Adriana (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Business students are trained to be professional problem solver. In order to improve students' ability to solve real-life problem, more and more business schools are encouraging students to attend case competitions and do internships before graduation. In curriculum, students are required to work on business cases and projects in team. However, due to the limited exposure to real-life business scenarios, most undergraduate students feel unprepared when faced with business problems in course projects, case competitions, and internships. Therefore, the goal of this Honors Creative Project is to provide students with an interactive resource to succeed in course projects, case competitions, and even internship projects. By introducing resources that focused on analysis approach and project management, students can learn from some successful experience and become more competitive in job market. After competing at four case competitions with talents all over the nation, we accumulated precious experience in case analysis and teamwork development within a high-pressure environment. In addition, the experiences with internships, consulting and course projects have also aided the participants' development in professionalism and quantitative analytics. Reflecting on what we have learned from our experiences, we strongly believe that the insights gained from the past are not only a treasure for us individually, but also a great resource for our colleagues. We hope to transfer our knowledge to others for their own success where "best practices" can be learned.
ContributorsXiahou, Xiaonan (Co-author) / Thoi, Kenson (Co-author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Once enrolled in a university setting, a student's learning style begins to emerge. As time progress, students begin their search for career prospects and as an extension, the workplace culture as well. After immersing themselves into a company's environment, students may realize their learning styles may or may not are in conflict in their line of work. As a result, this research will explore the relationship between learning styles and majors. With a sample size of 552 students enrolled at W. P. Carey School of Business within Arizona State University, learning style preferences will be calculated for each business major; other influences, such as ethnicity and age, will also be taken into consideration.
ContributorsOsofsky, Michelle (Co-author) / Nguyen, Christine (Co-author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Sanford, Adriana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis seeks to explore the contrast between the performance of mergers and acquisitions and the propensity of CEOs to enter into these deals. M&A are common means by which firms achieve inorganic growth, but they often perform poorly and fail to accrue expected returns. This apparent contrast between deal popularity and performance prompts further examination and an application of theoretical concepts from the field of strategic management. Following a review of M&A theory, this thesis explores agency theory and managerial hubris and applies these concepts to executive decision-making in M&A. Four hypotheses are presented, evaluating the effects of compensation structure and overconfidence on the M&A decision-making behavior of executives.
ContributorsQuinty, Nicole Anne (Author) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Thesis director) / Nahrgang, Jennifer (Committee member) / Nemanich, Louise (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This study aims to identify the potential irrationality in the personal investment decision-making habits of university students, as influenced by the framing effect, loss aversion, and related heuristics. Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of 114 students (n = 102). Participants responded to a survey regarding their willingness to invest in certain hypothetical investment scenarios. Outcome was measured primarily using Likert scales and yes
o binomial options regarding the participant’s willingness to participate in a specific deal. The study was broken into three blocks, the first of which dealt with the framing effect and the subsequent two considered loss aversion. Of the data collected, there were multiple significant results found to support the framing effect and loss aversion. There was a significant difference between responses that were positively and negatively framed, and between varying upside potential in equivalent-risk scenarios. For block one, those participants who received the positive framing condition were more likely to invest in the master’s program than those who received the negative framing condition. For blocks two and three, the majority of participants exhibited loss averse behavior more extreme than the predicted amounts; closer to 4x the upside was required (rather than the predicted 2x) for the participants to participate in the deal. Although the results did replicate the framing effect and loss aversion, college students were more loss averse than was predicted.
o binomial options regarding the participant’s willingness to participate in a specific deal. The study was broken into three blocks, the first of which dealt with the framing effect and the subsequent two considered loss aversion. Of the data collected, there were multiple significant results found to support the framing effect and loss aversion. There was a significant difference between responses that were positively and negatively framed, and between varying upside potential in equivalent-risk scenarios. For block one, those participants who received the positive framing condition were more likely to invest in the master’s program than those who received the negative framing condition. For blocks two and three, the majority of participants exhibited loss averse behavior more extreme than the predicted amounts; closer to 4x the upside was required (rather than the predicted 2x) for the participants to participate in the deal. Although the results did replicate the framing effect and loss aversion, college students were more loss averse than was predicted.
ContributorsKlemish, Colby (Author) / Radway, Debra (Thesis director) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Committee member) / Goldinger, Stephen (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Abstract The United States continues to face problems in the workplace in regards to happiness, satisfaction, and engagement. In comparison, Denmark consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. This paper serves to describe the norms and cultural aspects that may explain why each country has its respective outcomes in regards to the employee experience. The paper concludes with possible recommendations that organizations can adopt to help improve the employee experience in the United States.
ContributorsFisher, Makenna Leigh (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / LePore, Paul (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Through this thesis we studied and interviewed 6 international business managers that oversee employees in countless countries, and the continents of where they work include: Europe, The Americas, Asia, and Africa. These six managers include: David Kuehn and Ann Marie Griffith from the United States; Bogdan Maliszewski from Poland; Denisa Madarova from the Czech Republic; Gert Schmidts from Germany; and Fer Amkreutz from the Netherlands. Per our interview questions, we discussed how these international managers view their company and culture, the external environment, the cultures they work with and oversee, and the future of international management in regards to a universal value system for business. Our questions were constructed using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions so that we could better understand how Hofstede's Dimensions have changed due to the technological era, in regards to International Management Styles. In the end, we discovered that there is an undeniable change in how international managers are leading their teams. Throughout the business world, cultural dimensions are changing and are becoming more inclusive of other cultures. This allows managers to lead international teams more effectively and efficiently.
ContributorsGriffith, Henry Donovan (Co-author) / Kuehn, Amanda (Co-author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Lisjak, Monika (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
General Motors is a well-established American company within the automotive industry. However, the industry is always evolving as new technologies, such as self-driving cars are introduced. This technology is predicted to have an impact on the current industry and change the way the world views transportation. General Motors cannot sit by as the technology is implemented if it wishes to continue to do well. Companies like Kodak made this mistake as the industry switched from film to digital photography. Kodak was too slow to react to the change and continued to develop and sell film-based products long after the technology became obsolete, which resulted in the eventual breakdown of the company. General Motors has already taken several steps in the right direction by purchasing Cruise Automation and allowing them to operate independently from the corporate brand. Overall, general public perception of this new technology is cautious, and most probably aren't ready for the high price that these self-driving vehicles will bring. Ride-sharing companies are the first adopters of this technology since they are able to pay the premium prices and can handle the testing of the vehicles. Private consumers cannot buy fully autonomous vehicles but can currently purchase vehicles with semi-autonomous capabilities, such as the Tesla Model S. These semi-autonomous vehicles come with a price that most consumers cannot afford resulting in low adoption rates. However, General Motors can resolve this slow adoption rate among private consumers by developing a new brand within its corporate portfolio under the name, Cruise, to develop, market, and sell self-driving vehicles to ride-sharing companies and commercial shipping companies. This brand will start out by exclusively selling to commercial entities before eventually expanding into the private consumer segment as costs become less prohibitive and adoption rates accelerate. This solution is designed to cement General Motors' position within the automotive industry and establish it as the go-to company for every self-driving need. This relationship developed between the company and the consumer will limit competitors and create a long, financially successful life for General Motors.
ContributorsKalmbach, Albert Christian (Author) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to study the happiest countries in the world and see what factors, laws, and values they have in common. I will be focusing on the Scandinavian countries, as they rank highest according to the World Happiness Report. First, I will research these countries to learn more about their political, economic, educational, legal, and social landscapes. Then I will interview individuals from these countries on their views as well as values and thoughts on their country. Finally, I will compare and analyze this information to come to a conclusion to see if there are similar factors that allow these countries to be ranked so highly in the department of happiness. After reading this the reader can take away ideas of how to improve their happiness as well as new perspectives on other countries.
ContributorsFrasure, Laura S. (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Siroky, David (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05