<p> This exploratory dissertation examines governmental influences during the ongoing emergence of NewSpace, which is a community of private, entrepreneurial organizations pursuing space-related business opportunities outside of the traditional NASA-Military-Industrial complex model. </p><p> While recent research has provided significant insights into how organizations, populations and communities emerge, our understanding of the influence of government in this process has been minimal. Since government is the single most important actor in the modern economy, correcting this oversight is crucial to any modeling of community emergence. As emerging communities are lacking in traditional quantitative data, and the goals of this research are exploratory rather than theory testing, an inductive, qualitative methodology is utilized. The first step towards understanding governmental influence during the emergence of a new community is documenting exactly what the government does in this environment. Chapter IV uses grounded theory methodology to produce a Taxonomy of Governmental Roles in the Emergence of High-Technology Communities. The question of whether government facilitates the creation of new industries - or whether entrepreneurs manipulate government - is of critical importance to researchers of entrepreneurship and policy. Chapter V uses historical analysis to consider the causal role of government in the establishment of the environment in which this new community of organizations is emerging. Institutional legitimacy is crucial to the survival of entrepreneurial firms as well as to new populations and communities. Chapter VI considers the government's key role as legitimizer, and proposes a theoretical model for the process of legitimacy transfer from governmental agencies to entrepreneurial firms, populations and communities. </p><p> This dissertation makes contributions to the literatures of organizational evolution, community emergence, institutional theory, entrepreneurship and policy. It offers researchers a framework to better model governmental influence. It also provides entrepreneurs with a holistic view of governmental influence on their environments and offers governmental actors a fuller understanding of the impact that their legislation and enforcement activities have on new organizations and industries.</p>

<p> In the financial turmoil of 2008, U.S. firms reported debt-ratios that differed from the debt-ratios calculated from balance sheets. The problem is that investors bought common stock expecting initial investment return and lost money when companies delisted. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine sample securities pricing with the application of synthetic assets and debt accrued. Addressed in the research questions was whether those securities were (a) underpriced compared with return-on-assets (ROA), (b) overpriced compared with ROA, (c) a debt-ratio higher than 60% and also overpriced, (d) underpriced with a synthetic asset added, or (e) related by relative pricing to variant pricing and market capitalization. The study's base theory was Pan's efficient market hypothesis (EMH) of security price prediction of market prices versus model prices. The data from the financial statements of 16 publicly traded U.S. electric utility companies were analyzed via correlations and multiple regression analyses to determine securities pricing and suitability. The findings from the analyses of the sample's variables of market price, book value, market-to-book, and study constructed variables from those variable data were statistically significant. The alternate hypotheses were accepted for all 5 research questions since the analytical operationalization of the hypothetical constructs led to significant relationships. Results suggest that the use of more pricing determinants in securities evaluation may lead to investors losing less money and earning the expected returns for a more efficient capital market, leading to a stronger economy and macroeconomic stability.</p>

<p> Business leaders remain exposed to financial and accounting fraud as well as loss of profitability, despite the dictates of the SOX Act of 2002. The most challenging aspect of corporate management is the unexpected nature of an emerging, existing, or an inherent financial risk. Guided by the evolution of fraud theory, this exploratory case study's purpose was to identify and explore the financial management strategies that corporate financial managers need to adequately protect investors. Twenty participants from a population group of corporate auditors of Fortune 1000 corporations within 70 miles of Columbus, Ohio provided input for this study. Data from the interviews were analyzed through coding, reviewing, categorizing, and combining common statements. The research findings included themes of knowledge and types of risks; the impact of financial fraud and risks on investment; the impact of accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards; as well as financial management training to minimize audit expectations. These themes formed the focus of exploring the financial management strategies that corporate financial managers need to adequately protect investors and investments. In addition to the antifraud measures, financial managers may detect and control inherent risks in emerging opportunities for positive social change that includes enhanced knowledge in diversification of investments, an increase in economic resources, economic growth, and greater employment in the United States.</p>

<p> In this world of globalized business, corporate training programs are based on the common belief that better-trained employees will enhance business performance. Early research was focused on the impact of training on company performance in the business- to-business (B2B) environment. All of the early studies included employee opinions to measure what is called internal market orientation (IMO) as well as identification of the key constructs of trust, commitment, and relationship satisfaction, which affect performance. Later, survey-based research on external (customer) market orientation (EMO) in an international business also expanded the cultural complexity of the supplier- buyer relationships. Targeted coaching, rather than generic training programs, became appropriate. No empirical evidence in the literature provided quantitative measurement of the results of coaching programs on either EMO or company financial results. This research served to analyze the impact of an ongoing salesperson coaching program on both customer perceptions (EMO) and the financial results of the company. Two surveys of two different customer populations, with a 6-month time span between surveys, provided data to quantify any shifts in EMO. No significant shifts were found in either the domestic or the international customer populations. However, the company financial data confirmed a positive impact on profitability and a strong return on investment (ROI). Further research is needed which takes into consideration different parameters, including longer time spans between customer surveys, deeper interview-based analysis of customer perceptions and buying habits, and the different coaching strategies employed during the study.</p>

<p> Since 2010, 2,000 U. S. leaders spent $150 billion on return on investment (ROI) training, yet questions still exist on how to measure the benefits of organizational change. The purpose of this embedded single-case study was to explore how business leaders could use ROI to characterize the benefit of intervention strategies for organizational change. Stakeholder theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. A purposive sample of 20 civilian personnel managers located at a medical facility for veterans in central Texas participated in semistructured interviews. The 5 primary themes that emerged using thematic analysis were (a) training, (b) leadership, (c) communication, (d) recognition, and (e) consistency. Implications for positive social change include the possibility of organizational leaders applying these findings to develop better intervention strategies. Such interventions could improve processes for stakeholders and create an open dialogue with business leaders within the government sector.</p>

<p> The objective of the mixed-methods research project was to expand understanding of economic incentives and barriers to international expansion for small and medium sized enterprises located in the coastal counties of South Carolina. Growing global markets are linked to increased opportunities for smaller enterprises to participate in international commerce. Limited understanding of incentives that enable success and techniques effective for overcoming barriers that restrict South Carolina firms from rewarding participation in international markets was the research problem addressed in the study. The purpose of the study was to explore the international expansion experience of leaders for South Carolina small and medium-sized enterprises and examine differences in leader-perceived levels of success for Lowcountry firms because of international status. The project was a mixed methods study using an exploratory, sequential design with an initial stream employing qualitative techniques followed by a subsequent stream using quantitative tools to analyze survey data. Qualitative interview techniques were used to engage a limited number of firms to acquire data on common internationalization experiences among participants. Three internationalization incentives and three barriers were identified. Hypotheses developed from the initial strand of the project were then answered using analysis of survey data collected via a census of the available population. Triangulation of data from two phases of the mixed-methods study revealed foreign market opportunity and supply chain resources as incentives, and ample domestic-market opportunity as a significant barrier to international commerce. Leaders of internationally active firms reported larger customer bases, larger numbers of employees, higher levels of competition, and higher five-year average rates of revenue growth.</p>

<p> Green supply chain models and carbon emissions tracking have become increasingly prevalent in the supply chain management literature and in corporate strategies. In this dissertation, carbon emissions are integrated into cost-based freight transportation models that can be used to assist operations and supply chain managers in solving the "last mile problem". The models presented herein serve to provide the decision maker with choices on which strategy to implement depending on the strength of the management's desire to reduce carbon emissions. By comparing the optimal solutions that result from using different delivery strategies, this research provides a basis for evaluating an appropriate trade-off between transportation cost and carbon emissions. </p><p> This dissertation contributes to academia and the literature in several ways. The discrete supply chain models provide a method for decision makers to analyze and compare the lowest cost delivery option with the lowest carbon footprint option. The stochastic last mile framework that is introduced provides a method for researchers and practitioners to measure the expected carbon footprint and compare probabilistic costs, carbon emissions, delivery mileage, and delivery times in order to make decisions regarding the most appropriate delivery strategy. This framework is then applied to two different problem settings. The first involves optimizing a delivery fleet to produce the lowest total cost with carbon emissions integrated into the total cost equation. The second compares the carbon footprint resulting from last mile delivery (ecommerce retailing involving a central store delivering to end customers) to customer pick up (conventional shopping at a brick-and-mortar retail location); the break-even number of customers for carbon emissions equivalence provides a basis for companies to determine the environmental impact of last mile delivery and to determine the feasibility of last mile delivery based on objectives related to minimizing carbon emissions.</p>

<p> There is much debate over the efficacy of corporate governance in mitigating agency costs and improving the correlation between firm performance and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) pay. Research on this topic ranges from theories which maintain that CEO compensation in the U.S. is commensurate with CEO ability, and is therefore justified, to theories which maintain that CEOs are little more than overpaid rent extractors. </p><p> I investigate the above dichotomy in the executive compensation literature by examining the impact of corporate governance on excess CEO compensation and firm performance during recessions. Business cycle contractions are challenging times for firms, and arguably a period when stronger corporate governance and CEO ability is significant to the success of the firm. I posit that better governed firms with lower levels of excess compensation outperform their peers in subsequent challenging recessionary periods. </p><p> Stock option grants, a frequently used component of CEO pay packages, are thought to better align CEO and shareholder interests. However, with recent financial scandals there is much concern over this form of equity compensation. I examine the use of employee stock option grants in CEO compensation packages and whether such stock option compensation improves the relationship between CEO compensation and firm performance. </p><p> My research achieves several aims: it extends the literature on the impact of corporate governance on firm performance by using a recessionary period metric, it examines the effectiveness of corporate governance in mitigating agency costs, it examines excess CEO compensation and this excess compensation connection with CEO ability or CEO rent extraction during recessionary periods, and it examines the impact of stock option grants in CEO pay packages on firm performance during recessionary periods. I find support for a decrease in abnormal return associated with trading on stronger corporate governance and support for rent extraction in the CEO compensation process during the 2001 recession. </p>

<p> Healthcare spending has risen astronomically over the recent past. Some of the blame has been placed upon an inefficient healthcare system. Whether true or not, we are in the midst of burdensome financial trend in healthcare that cannot continue. Thus, private payers, government payers and taxpayers alike, are looking at ways to reduce such spending. At the same time, healthcare providers wish to remain profitable enough to continue delivering care, well into the future. One proposed answer to the conditions plaguing an inefficient and expensive health system is the new focus on collaborative care models for healthcare delivery. This paper examines collaboration, particularly the joint venture between hospitals and healthcare providers. This paper also assesses the financial viability of such organizations, and recommends areas for further exploration in collaborative design.</p>

<p> International technology diffusion reflects global R&amp;D production and collaboration that increasingly accompany other forms of international activity such as trade and foreign direct investment. This thesis studies country-level market flows of disembodied technology or intangibles trade. The main conceptual premise is that operations of MNC subsidiaries have a substantial effect on these market-based flows, consistent with public goods aspects of industrial knowledge and with theories on MNC R&amp;D strategies. Extensive previous country-level work relating FDI and technology flows focuses largely on knowledge spillovers (benefits from involuntary, uncompensated knowledge flows). Further, this study considers simultaneously two types of MNC subsidiaries (foreign owned subsidiaries and overseas subsidiaries of domestic MNCs) to acknowledge the likely role of two-way FDI (measured by MNC activities) in intangibles trade. In turn, the influence of these subsidiary groupings on intangibles trade reflects varied motives of the underlying R&amp;D investments. The predicted effects of MNC operations on intangibles trade result in hypotheses that are tested with published aggregate statistics from the U.S. balance of payments on total U.S. exports and imports in R&amp;D services as the dependent variables. </p><p> Theoretically, the thesis introduces the concept of reverse knowledge transfer from international business research to the study of bilateral intangibles trade. More generally, the thesis contributes to the literature by integrating macro and micro perspectives useful to understand the direction and nature of disembodied technology flows. In particular, the conceptual approach is consistent with macro trade models (two-way trade and two-way FDI from new trade theory), international business research, knowledge-based and transaction costs theories of MNCs (internalization of knowledge production and transfer), and innovation theory (knowledge seeking/exploiting). Consistent with these theoretical considerations, the empirical implementation considers panel countries as both exporters/importers of intangibles and host/home countries of R&amp;D-performing MNC subsidiaries. In turn, estimated equations use panel econometrics to relate observed heterogeneity in the geographic structure of bilateral trade with the geographic distribution of MNC operations for the two types or groupings of MNC subsidiaries. </p><p> The main conceptual premise of this study was supported by the empirical findings. In the aggregate, U.S. MNCs and foreign MNCs with U.S.-located subsidiaries appear to engage in knowledge seeking R&amp;D investments that influence transactions captured in balance of payment statistics. At the same time, the hypotheses regarding the effect of value added operations were not sustained statistically, failing to support knowledge exploiting as conceptualized here. </p><p> International transactions in intangibles in the form of services trade have yet to be integrated in the mainstream S&amp;T policy literature. The analysis of aggregate R&amp;D services trade pursued in this study may complement research on industrial knowledge flows based on other S&amp;T indicators (or levels of aggregation) thus potentially allowing monitoring and analysis of international technology diffusion earlier in the innovation cycle (e.g., before or apart from patenting), and suggests the potential of non-spillover flows as targets of international S&amp;T policy tools, perhaps in conjunction with trade and investment policy frameworks. The study also discusses the need for enhanced and integrated domestic and international statistics on R&amp;D and related intangibles to support future research and the design or modification of policy tools to monitor and facilitate cross-border flows of industrial knowledge.</p>