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- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: W. P. Carey School of Business
Description
The coffee industry is enormous and has grown around the world. Today, 125 million people depend on coffee production for their livelihood, and coffee is consumed in every part of the globe. Arizona State University, the largest public university in the United States, gathers a large number of coffee drinkers as college students become dependent on caffeine in order to perform their best in multiple facets of their hectic lives. Researchers realized that there is still a gap that has not been filled in the Tempe retail coffee market. Thus, the objective of this project is to conduct a detailed research on the retail coffee industry, and to craft a profitable business plan for a coffee shop in the Vista del Sol community. The researchers utilized both quantitative and qualitative analysis tools. All survey results, calculations, and maps can be found in the appendices and the Excel file.
To help the readers better understand the industry, the researchers provide a detailed analysis on the retail coffee industry from both macro and micro levels. The Coffee Break House aims to be the leader of the retail coffee industry by delivering consistent, fast and superior service, providing high-quality beverages, being the most inviting store, and having the friendliest staff in a relaxing and welcoming environment. The coffee shop will be owned and operated by four equity investors. The business plan, which includes six major sections, shows investors’ vision and strategic focus.
• Market Situation Analysis
• Marketing Strategy
• Supply Chain Strategy
• Financial Strategy
• Expansion Plan
• Risks
The researchers believe that the Coffee Break House has the potential to become a successful business and provide lucrative returns to potential investors. This is due to the company’s aggressive marketing strategy, establishment of the company as a unique entity in the industry, careful development of its products, a well developed supply chain strategy, and a profitable revenue model.
To help the readers better understand the industry, the researchers provide a detailed analysis on the retail coffee industry from both macro and micro levels. The Coffee Break House aims to be the leader of the retail coffee industry by delivering consistent, fast and superior service, providing high-quality beverages, being the most inviting store, and having the friendliest staff in a relaxing and welcoming environment. The coffee shop will be owned and operated by four equity investors. The business plan, which includes six major sections, shows investors’ vision and strategic focus.
• Market Situation Analysis
• Marketing Strategy
• Supply Chain Strategy
• Financial Strategy
• Expansion Plan
• Risks
The researchers believe that the Coffee Break House has the potential to become a successful business and provide lucrative returns to potential investors. This is due to the company’s aggressive marketing strategy, establishment of the company as a unique entity in the industry, careful development of its products, a well developed supply chain strategy, and a profitable revenue model.
ContributorsJiang, Yichun (Co-author) / Yin, Jiangting (Co-author) / Oke, Adegoke (Thesis director) / O'Neill, Dan (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis serves as a business plan for an intellectual property law firm, Starr PLLC. The intellectual property law firm is intended to be started by two attorneys with 10+ years of experience. It is believed that the firm will be more profitable during the start-up phase if begun by attorneys with previous experience rather than recent law school graduates. Starr PLLC will gear its intellectual property services towards small business owners in the greater Phoenix area. Many small business owners seek intellectual property legal services from large firms where they do not to receive the service they deserve. Large law firms have several clients and often make themselves more available for larger well-known clients rather than small business owners. The needs of a small business owner often come in second to the needs of well-known clients. Additionally, small business owners are typically stuck with an inexperienced attorney handling a majority of their case when they use the services of a large law firm. Starr PLLC wants to change this by making small business owners the focus of its services and ensuring that their cases are handled by an experienced attorney. Starr PLLC would like to eventually expand to a mid-size firm with 30 \u2014 50 attorneys. Networking and marketing will be important to achieving that growth. For this thesis, current small business owners were interviewed and asked what they look for when seeking legal services. Half of the small business owners who were interviewed had sought intellectual property legal services prior to the interview and the other half had not. This allowed for insight from both types of clients. Additionally, several attorneys and the marketing director of a law firm were interviewed to gain insight regarding the operations of a pre-existing firm. The founding partner of a law firm was also interviewed and provided information on the many challenges that one must overcome to start a successful law firm. This business plan was structured around the responses received during these interviews as well as the ones previously mentioned.
ContributorsStarr, Lynnsee Irene (Author) / Dawson, Gregory (Thesis director) / Miller, Duane (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
Innovation Space is a course designed to challenge senior students to collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis while completing a thought-provoking project. Each project is designed to allow students to address real-world issues. My team, Leverage, has created a product suite for power wheelchair users. Our product suite equips a wheelchair with a backup camera, an expanding lap desk, and a headrest with integrated Bluetooth speakers and microphone. These products are designed to increase the productive potential of the disabled, particularly quadriplegics injured around the C4 vertebra level. During the course of the program, my team will create physical prototypes of our product and I will create a full business plan. The individual written portion of my thesis will consist of discussion of a branding framework developed by creative director Patrick Hanlon. In addition, I will suggest methodology for effectively branding our company.
ContributorsGaynor, Max Daniel (Author) / Peck, Sidnee (Thesis director) / Desch, Timothy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In this thesis a community-based ride sharing mobile application, Ride Devil, will be introduced and created to provide services for communities such as Arizona State University and its students, faculty, and other affiliates to find safe rides around campus because campus population problem exists. This causes increased transportation costs, decreased parking space availability, and more transportation issues. The Ride Devil application itself is based off on the ride-sharing concept of transportation as introduced, above. Students, faculty, and other university affiliates will drive their own vehicles and use the Ride Devil services in order to coordinate pick-ups with members of its community. Not only is this form of transportation more cost effective than competing transportation models, taxis, but it also promotes safety, community, and educational assistance.
ContributorsVan Hook, Ryan Leo (Author) / Lin, Elva (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This thesis will examine market research relating to consumer food trends and the business environment of Austin, Texas in order to evaluate the initial feasibility of establishing a small hydroponic produce farm. A main concern of this report is to provide a general overview of hydroponics and its potential advantages over traditional farming methods as a technique for producing food products for consumers in a local setting. To explore the potential of establishing such a venture, this report will also include a partial business plan focusing on the marketing strategy of initiating a hydroponic produce farm in Austin.
ContributorsShriver, John Andrew (Author) / Schmitz, Troy (Thesis director) / Manfredo, Mark (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)
Created2015-05
Description
Low back pain is a disorder which affects almost 80% of the American population at some time during their lifespan. Approximately, 90% of these episodes are resolved within six weeks to three months. As low back pain is usually a symptom of a medical condition; many cases cannot be given a definite diagnosis which renders the condition difficult to treat. The estimated annual cost for back pain treatment amounts to $50 billion, in the United States alone. Several devices have already been designed for low back pain assistance. However, in the majority, the main drawback appears to be the rigidity of the device, which limits flexibility and comfort. Soft pneumatic actuators have the potential to provide the appropriate applications for low back pain prior- and post-surgery rehabilitation purposes. In this work, the design and development of a soft robotic back orthotic device that has the capability to relieve back pain by assisting patients to fully achieve the upright position and stabilize the lumbosacral spine, is presented. Unlike conventional robotic assistive devices, this pneumatically actuated back orthosis provides dynamic support while being light weight, comfortable and cost affordable.
ContributorsGovin, Deven (Co-author) / Saenz, Luis (Co-author) / Polygerinos, Panagiotis (Thesis director) / Snyder, Laura (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Dressler Makes Things (DMT), as a thesis project, explores the viability of DMT as a monetized blog. DMT is a life improvement blog with a focus on cooking. Its blog niche sits between nostalgic, sensory food blogs and professional, actionable life improvement blogs. Because blogs that bridge this gap are rare, DMT aims to fill this need by making cooking easy, affordable, and attainable for anyone, but particularly females in their early twenties. This thesis explores marketing topics like brand, blog niche, unique value proposition, current viewers, and user personas, as well as information about the current blogging environment and an analysis of relevant competitors. It also develops marketing objectives for DMT, as well as positioning, conversion, referral, content promotion, and partnership strategies to reach these goals. Finally, it discusses distribution, pricing, and promotional tactics, as well as an operational plan and financial projections.
ContributorsParsons, Dressler Eileen (Author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Bitter, Gary (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This work presents the design, modeling, analysis, and experimental characterization and testing of soft wearable robotics for lower limb rehabilitation for the ankle and hip. The Soft Robotic Ankle-Foot Orthosis (SR-AFO) is a wearable soft robot designed using multiple pneumatically-powered soft actuators to assist the ankle in multiple degrees-of-freedom during standing and walking tasks. The flat fabric pneumatic artificial muscle (ff-PAM) contracts upon pressurization and assists ankle plantarflexion in the sagittal plane. The Multi-material Actuator for Variable Stiffness (MAVS) aids in supporting ankle inversion/eversion in the frontal plane. Analytical models of the ff-PAM and MAVS were created to understand how the changing of the design parameters affects tensile force generation and stiffness support, respectively. The models were validated by both finite element analysis and experimental characterization using a universal testing machine. A set of human experiments were performed with healthy participants: 1) to measure lateral ankle support during quiet standing, 2) to determine lateral ankle support during walking over compliant surfaces, and 3) to evaluate plantarflexion assistance at push-off during treadmill walking, and 4) determine if the SR-AFO could be used for gait entrainment. Group results revealed increased ankle stiffness during quiet standing with the MAVS active, reduced ankle deflection while walking over compliant surfaces with the MAVS active, and reduced muscle effort from the SOL and GAS during 40 - 60% of the gait cycle with the dual ff-PAM active. The SR-AFO shows promising results in providing lateral ankle support and plantarflexion assistance with healthy participants, and a drastically increased basin of entrainment, which suggests a capability to help restore the gait of impaired users in future trials. The ff-PAM actuators were used in an X-orientation to assist the hip in flexion and extension. The Soft Robotic Hip Exosuit (SR-HExo) was evaluated using the same set of actuators and trials with healthy participants showed reduction in muscle effort during hip flexion and extension to further enhance the study of soft fabric actuators on human gait assistance.
ContributorsThalman, Carly Megan (Author) / Lee, Hyunglae (Thesis advisor) / Artemiadis, Panagiotis (Thesis advisor) / Sugar, Thomas (Committee member) / Zhang, Wenlong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Soft robotics has garnered attention for its substantial prospective in various domains, such as manipulation and interactions with humans, by offering competitive advantages against rigid robotic systems, including inherent compliance and variable stiffness. Despite these benefits, their theoretically infinite degrees of freedom and prominent nonlinearities pose significant challenges in developing dynamic models and guiding the robots along desired paths. Additionally, soft robots may exhibit rigid behaviors and potentially collide with their surroundings during path tracking tasks, particularly when possible contact points are unknown. In this dissertation, reduced-order models are used to describe the behaviors of three different soft robot designs, including both linear parameter varying (LPV) and augmented rigid robot (ARR) models. While the reduced-order model captures the majority of the soft robot's dynamics, modeling uncertainties notably remain. Non-repeated modeling uncertainties are addressed by categorizing them as a lumped disturbance, employing two methodologies, $H_\infty$ method and nonlinear disturbance observer (NDOB) based sliding mode control, for its rejection. For repeated disturbances, an iterative learning control (ILC) with a P-type learning function is implemented to enhance trajectory tracking efficacy. Furthermore,for non-repeated disturbances, the NDOB facilitates the contact estimation, and its results are jointly used with a switching algorithm to modify the robot trajectories. The stability proof of all controllers and corresponding simulation and experimental results are provided. For a path tracking task of a soft robot with multi-segments, a robust control strategy that combines a LPV model with an innovative improved nonlinear disturbance observer-based adaptive sliding mode control (INASMC). The control framework employs a first-order LPV model for dynamic representation, leverages an improved disturbance observer for accurate disturbance forecasting, and utilizes adaptive sliding mode control to effectively counteract uncertainties. The tracking error under the proposed controller is proven to be asymptotically stable, and the controller's effectiveness is is validated with simulation and experimental results. Ultimately, this research mitigates the inherent uncertainty in soft robot modeling, thereby enhancing their functionality in contact-intensive tasks.
ContributorsQIAO, ZHI (Author) / Zhang, Wenlong (Thesis advisor) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Lee, Hyunglae (Committee member) / Berman, Spring (Committee member) / Sugar, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Robotic technology can be broadly categorized into two main approaches based on the compliance of the robot's materials and structure: hard and soft. Hard, traditional robots, with mechanisms to transmit forces, provide high degrees of freedom (DoFs) and precise manipulation, making them commonly used in industry and academic research. The field of soft robotics, on the other hand, is a new trend from the past three decades of robotics that uses soft materials such as silicone or textiles as the body or material base instead of the rigid bodies used in traditional robots. Soft robots are typically pre-programmed with specific geometries, and perform well at tasks such as human-robot interaction, locomotion in complex environments, and adaptive reconfiguration to the environment, which reduces the cost of future programming and control. However, full soft robotic systems are often less mobile due to their actuation --pneumatics, high-voltage electricity or magnetics -- even if the robot itself is at a millimeter or centimeter scale. Rigid or hard robots, on the other hand, can often carry the weight of their own power, but with a higher burden of cost for control and sensing. A middle ground is thus sought, to combine soft robotics technologies with rigid robots, by implementing mechanism design principles with soft robots to embed functionalities or utilize soft robots as the actuator on a rigid robotic system towards an affordable robotic system design. This dissertation showcases five examples of this design principle with two main research branches: locomotion and wearable robotics. In the first research case, an example of how a miniature swimming robot can navigate through a granular environment using compliant plates is presented, compared to other robots that change their shape or use high DoF mechanisms. In the second pipeline, mechanism design is implemented using soft robotics concepts in a wearable robot. An origami-inspired, soft "exo-shell", that can change its stiffness on demand, is introduced. As a follow-up to this wearable origami-inspired robot, a geometry-based, ``near" self-locking modular brake is then presented. Finally, upon combining the origami-inspired wearable robot and brake design, a concept of a modular wearable robot is showcased for the purpose of answering a series of biomechanics questions.
ContributorsLi, Dongting (Author) / Aukes, Daniel M (Thesis advisor) / Sugar, Thomas G (Committee member) / Zhang, Wenlong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023