Library: Business

Remuneration may be viewed as more than merely a cost in doing business. It may be used as a motivational tool to help achieve a multitude of strategic goals. Within the global context, effective use of this tool requires addressing not only motivational factors but also cultural factors. In this thesis, factors are considered within a multinational corporate framework and within a Cultural Remuneration Model. The model defines corporate culture, professional culture, national culture and individual characteristics as factors influencing employee values associated with remuneration prefer...

Where banking is going in the future? What do banks want to see from the regulators of their particular niche of the banking industry? What do they expect customers to want from the new and exciting delivery channels that are coming into being? What major trends are going to matter during the next five and ten years? How do institutions see their own financial future?; These are main probing questions that we have been asking ourselves during the course of the research. The presentation of this work is organised to give the reader flexible means of understanding the major trends of the Global ...

Diligent application of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) approach is believed by many to provide a comprehensive system for food safety management. This belief, however, is not shared uniformly by all stakeholders. Because of the dichotomy of opinion surrounding food safety, there is a compelling need for additional dialogue and consensus on this issue. The aim of this expert survey instrument is to identify the gaps and the areas of agreement among various stakeholders. Two hundred and thirty-one survey instruments were received out of three hundred and sixty sent (64.2%...

This study examined the relationship between the education heterogeneity of top management teams and organizational performance measured as long-term total shareholder returns. The subjects were 46 publicly traded North American insurance companies that had been traded for at least five years. I employed two metrics to measure education heterogeneity. One metric assessed the education heterogeneity of top management teams based on the highest education certification and the other metric assessed education heterogeneity of the teams based on all education certifications, and therefore the under...

Accurate forecasts are crucial to a revenue management system. Poor estimates of demand lead to inadequate inventory controls and sub-optimal revenue performance. Forecasting for airline revenue management systems is inherently difficult. Competitive actions, seasonal factors, the economic environment, and constant fare changes are a few of the hurdles that must be overcome. In addition, the fact that most of the historical demand data is censored further complicates the problem. This dissertation examines the challenge of forecasting for an airline revenue management system in the presen...

TQM gurus and consultants market it as the best change initiative that provides organizations with a competitive advantage. They also say that it is a cure for all problems that companies face. This dissertation provides intellectual and factual data showing that this is not always the case. There are areas where TQM provides a needed change initiative along with others. In addition, once most companies treat improving their processes as a priority, TQM ceases to give a competitive advantage since it becomes a basic entry point into the competition. The dissertation gives examples showing th...

(Complete work in Spanish) The doctoral thesis contributes to some related Management Control areas such us Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and the informal components of Control Systems. The objective of the research was to analyse how this process of business concentration may impact on the Management Control System of the acquired firm. For this purpose an alternative theoretical model have been developed from the review of Management Control literature and M&A in Management Accounting. This model builds on contingency theoretical insights and extends it with elements of informal control. T...

This study provides a policy analysis of publicly funded school voucher programs. This research provides an analysis of voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee and of political, legal, and programmatic constraints facing voucher programs. A synopsis of student test score analyses and parental surveys provides a basis for analyzing the effect of programs on participants. A survey of 30 individuals working with the Cleveland and Milwaukee public schools or voucher programs clarifies the effect of the programs on the overall educational environment. A review of financial data from the prog...

Projects are important to industry, but project performance continually disappoints stakeholder expectations. Organizations react to this performance problem in many ways, and purchase consultancy, training, methods and tools as possible solutions. There is no published evidence that any of these solutions are consistently successful in improving project performance. This thesis answers the question, "What can be done to improve project management practices, and thus project performance?" by demonstrating that a novel form of continuous action research can contribute such evidence. Firstl...

Today's business environment requires more effective leadership than ever. In the constantly changing business environment, the leader has the central responsibility of keeping people motivated and productive. Many companies have been downsizing and laying off employees, and leaving behind employees with a wounded morale. To lift this morale, the leader needs to possess characteristics and qualities that cannot be learned from courses taken in business schools alone. These characteristics and qualities can only be learned from life itself in an individual journey of individuation. The lea...