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- Creators: Department of Information Systems
- Creators: Department of Supply Chain Management
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Description
As climate change and air pollution continue to plague the world today, committed citizens are doing their part to minimize their environmental impact. However, financial limitations have hindered a majority of individuals from adopting clean, renewable energy such as rooftop photovoltaic solar systems. England Sustainability Consulting plans to reverse this limitation and increase affordability for residents across Northern California to install solar panel systems for their energy needs. The purpose of this proposal is to showcase a new approach to procuring solar panel system components while offering the same products needed by each customer. We will examine market data to further prove the feasibility of this business approach while remaining profitable and spread our company's vision across all of Northern California.
ContributorsEngland, Kaysey (Author) / Dooley, Kevin (Thesis director) / Keahey, Jennifer (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The main goal of this project is to study approximations of functions on circular and spherical domains using the cubed sphere discretization. On each subdomain, the function is approximated by windowed Fourier expansions. Of particular interest is the dependence of accuracy on the different choices of windows and the size of the overlapping regions. We use Matlab to manipulate each of the variables involved in these computations as well as the overall error, thus enabling us to decide which specific values produce the most accurate results. This work is motivated by problems arising in atmospheric research.
ContributorsSopa, Megan Grace (Author) / Platte, Rodrigo (Thesis director) / Kostelich, Eric (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Financial stress is one of the main stressors that university students face. At Arizona State University, 18.8% of students reported that financial stress has a high or very high effect on their overall stress levels. Nationwide, the National Student Financial Wellness Report states that over 70% of college students feel stressed about their financial situation. To address this problem, universities across the nation have implemented financial wellness programs to educate students on financial matters. This thesis conducts a study of five of the top financial wellness programs in the country, and then uses those findings to identify best practices for creating and implementing a financial wellness program at Arizona State University. I propose the development of a peer-to-peer program formed under the Financial Aid office. It would deliver content through presentations, workshops, one-on-one meetings, and an online platform called iGrad. It would cover critical financial topics such as budgeting, loans, credit, and investments. The program's goal of increasing financial wellness should be evaluated based on perceived efficacy, satisfaction with the material, a decrease in stress levels, lower default rates, and lower borrowing rates. Implementing this program allows ASU to help break the vicious cycle of financial stress that many students face.
ContributorsWilliamson, Madeline Jean (Author) / Pizzo, Melissa (Thesis director) / Dawes, Mary (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the Big Four Sporting Leagues of US Professional Sports. In recent years, the NBA has enjoyed milestone seasons in both attendance and television ratings, resulting in steady increases to both, over the previous decade. (Morgan, 2017) This surge can be attributed in part to the integration of "cultural recognition" initiatives and the overall message of inclusivity on the part of NBA franchises, with their respective promotions and advertisements such as television, social media, radio, etc. Heritage Nights, such as "Noche Latina," among other variants in the NBA, typically feature culturally influenced changes to team logos, giveaways, and other consumer offerings. In markets where Hispanics make up a significant percentage of the fan-base, such as Phoenix, NBA franchises such as the Phoenix Suns must ascertain the financial or perceptual impacts, associated with risks of stereotyping, offending or otherwise unintentionally alienating different categories of fans. To this end, data was collected from the local NBA franchises' fanbase, specifically Phoenix Suns season-ticket holders, and was statistically checked for significant relationships between both categories of fans and several different variables. This analysis found that only $192K in revenue is being missed through the investment of Heritage Nights, and that fan perceptions of stereotypical or offensive giveaways and practices have no significant effect on game or event attendance, despite the stereotypes toward giveaways and practices still being present. Implications of this study provide possible next steps for the Suns and continue to widen the scope of demographical sports marketing both in professional basketball and beyond.
ContributorsGibbens, Patrick Alexander (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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
Throughout my experience in college, I learned many different techniques to communicate effectively. Most professors emphasized the importance of speaking clearly, and the ability to influence others. Dr. Kashiwagi piqued my interest when he explained his thoughts on how he wanted us to communicate to him. The criteria were simple, speak to him in a way that he could easily understand, without having to think. If thinking took place for him in the conversation, he determined that the person spoke too complexly and that his understanding of the student was low. After hearing this in class, I thought back to past conversations with my managers. I then wondered if I explained things clearer or simplified my wording, would things have gone better? I was also curious about simplicity in communication through writing, and how different presentations of information affected understanding. To further analyze these issues, I explored multiple research reports on verbal communication. Furthermore, I set up an experiment to test two common types of visual communication. The research concludes that Dr. Kashiwagi's theory was indeed correct, simplicity in conversation reduces miscommunication. The effectiveness of simplicity in written communication was partially proven by the survey results. The results indicated that the time required to fully understand a given topic dropped significantly if the information was depicted in a simplified format (list format). The more complex paragraph (textbook format) did have a higher level of understanding. However, the participants rated the textbook format job objectives as more complex, and stressful. After gathering the research, and running the experiment it can be concluded that by simplifying verbal communication, there are negligible differences in understanding of the topic, but the time of understanding decreases significantly.
ContributorsWilliams, Matthew Scott (Author) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Thesis director) / Abraham, Seth (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The nonprofit sector has experienced exponential growth in recent decades, thus creating a separate industry for nonprofits—an industry that requires education and training to run efficiently and successfully. As a result, Nonprofit Management Education (NME) at both graduate and undergraduate levels has steadily increased in number and demand. Recent changes in the political climate and changes in the government funding present new challenges to nonprofit professionals, thus enhancing the value of specific NME to prepare professionals for these challenges. To leverage NME and ensure that students are adequately prepared for these challenges, it is important to design curriculum that addresses the needs of the growing nonprofit industry. The Nonprofit Academic Center of Councils is the creator of the NACC Curricular Guidelines, which are currently used as a model all NME curricula should emulate. This study utilizes Arizona State University (ASU) to compare its current curriculum model to the NACC Curricular Guidelines, as well as the current challenges facing the nonprofit sector. In so doing, this study will provide an in-depth overview of NME at ASU through 1) focus groups of nonprofit leaders; 2) survey data from former students; and 3) curriculum mapping.
The comprehensive results indicated areas of opportunity for both ASU and the NACC Curricular Guidelines. According to the feedback of students, nonprofit professionals, and the current state of the ASU curriculum, ASU may wish to increase emphasis on Financial Management, Managing Staff and Volunteers, Assessment, Evaluation, and Decision Making, and Leading and Managing Nonprofit Organizations. After considering feedback from nonprofit professionals, NACC may consider amending some new competencies that reflect an emphasis on collective impact, cross sector leadership, or relationship building and the use of technology for nonprofit impact. The research team recommends accomplishing these changes through enhancing pedagogy by including case studies and an integrated curriculum into the ASU NME program. by applying the suggested changes to both the ASU curriculum and the NACC guidelines, this research prepares both ASU and NACC towards the process of accreditation and formalizing the NLM degree on a national level.
The comprehensive results indicated areas of opportunity for both ASU and the NACC Curricular Guidelines. According to the feedback of students, nonprofit professionals, and the current state of the ASU curriculum, ASU may wish to increase emphasis on Financial Management, Managing Staff and Volunteers, Assessment, Evaluation, and Decision Making, and Leading and Managing Nonprofit Organizations. After considering feedback from nonprofit professionals, NACC may consider amending some new competencies that reflect an emphasis on collective impact, cross sector leadership, or relationship building and the use of technology for nonprofit impact. The research team recommends accomplishing these changes through enhancing pedagogy by including case studies and an integrated curriculum into the ASU NME program. by applying the suggested changes to both the ASU curriculum and the NACC guidelines, this research prepares both ASU and NACC towards the process of accreditation and formalizing the NLM degree on a national level.
ContributorsFindlay, Molly Rebecca (Author) / Legg, Eric (Thesis director) / Ashcraft, Robert (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Although there are some key qualities that all good leaders employ, variations in effective leadership approaches are evident across different cultures. This project sought to compare and analyze the differences and similarities in leadership principles between Chinese and American business cultures, with emphasis on the divergence caused by the influences of history, culture and politics.
ContributorsLe Tourneur, Maxine Archondakis (Author) / McKinnon, David (Thesis director) / LePine, Marcie (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This study explores the best known practices of small businesses from different entrepreneurs' perspectives and attempts to address the question: are there consistencies between different entrepreneurs' approaches to establishing and growing a business? Ten entrepreneurs from a variety of business types (product and service) were interviewed using a consistent question template that asked questions regarding financing, business strategy (and scalability), interpersonal forces, innate qualities, partnerships, and resources. The primary overlaps between these businesses are with regard to the confluence between personal risk and business strategy, the risk of working with friends and family, the capacity to scale relative to special content knowledge or process knowledge, and partnerships
etworking.
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ContributorsCole, Chandler William (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Gilmore, Bruce (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
ASU's international student population has been growing exponentially in the last few years. Specifically, the fastest growing group has been international students from China. However, many of these students are arriving with inaccurate expectations of life at an American university. Furthermore, prospective students in China that have a desire to attend school in the U.S. are struggling to find a university that is affordable and respected. There is a huge opportunity for ASU to reach this market of students and increase their enrollment of international Chinese students. Our project aimed to create advertisements of ASU that target international Chinese students and their parents. The purpose of our project is to provide inspiration that ASU can utilize to create a professional marketing campaign to target this population of potential students.
ContributorsKagiyama, Kristen (Co-author) / Le, Alethea (Co-author) / Chien, Hsui Fen (Thesis director) / Chau, Angie (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05