<p> In the past twenty years, globalization has had both observable and intangible impacts on business and labor markets at the local level, that are of critical importance to communities and the people who inhabit them. While impacts of global economic change on local labor markets have been anticipated, there is little insight in the research literature into the empirical dynamics of the interrelationship between global economic change and local labor markets. This study examined the impacts of globalization on local labor markets through three lenses: (1) quantitative analysis of employment change in the Denver Metropolitan Region local labor market, (2) quantitative comparison of six other metropolitan regional labor markets across different geographies, and (3) a qualitative analysis of explicit reports by participants in the Denver Metropolitan local labor market (people in business, consulting, the public sector, and education). The main hypothesis of this study is that, in metropolitan areas where the forces of global economic change are at work, two proxy measures for globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI) and export trade, have a statistically significant relationship to changes in industry employment in local labor markets. Quantitative analysis used multiple regression to identify correlation between industry employment and FDI and export trade. Results indicate that there is a correlation in selected industries where the geographic factors of location provided an explanatory basis for the results. Qualitative analysis revealed that respondents have cautious optimism regarding the economic promise of globalization and still acknowledge the challenges that globalization brings into focus for the region's business, education and government stakeholders. It also demonstrated the differences in perspectives of the respondents from different roles: business owner, enterprise employee, educator, and government official. The study concludes that the data support the hypothesis in select industries where there are geographic advantages, but they do not support the generalization of the hypothesis to all cases where FDI or international export trade affect industry employment. The study further finds that each of the metros examined have unique regional economic development entities that partner to attract FDI and encourage international export trade.</p>

<p> Local retail jewelry leaders of Saudi Arabian (S.A.) small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have struggled to survive through declining profits and increasing business foreclosures, thus threatening the sustainability of the Saudi retail sector and the Saudi economy. A globalization strategy to enhance profitability for jewelry retail SMEs in S.A. is needed, given the limited options for improving profitability. Despite this acknowledged need, leaders in S.A. have refrained from such a strategy because they lack knowledge of economic attraction features to target in the globalization process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study using discriminant analysis was to examine specific countries' economic attraction features in the historical globalization strategy of a leading U.S. global jewelry company that could facilitate the implementation of a successful globalization strategy for a local Saudi jewelry SME retail company. The study addressed the effects of 6 independent predictor variables of 25 target countries' economic attractions on the dependent grouping variable, which distinguished among 3 order-of-entry groups according to the U.S. company's date of entry in each country between 1972 and 2009. Results indicated that except for the Hofstede index, no other variable had a significant role in the classification of the target countries. Because there was a scarcity of research on this topic, the study is beneficial for its theoretical and academic value, and may be practical for the derivative benefits of catalyzing business growth by empowering leaders of local, successful luxury brands in S.A. to implement their own globalization expansion process and increase employment in the Middle East.</p>

<p> This study examined the relationship between innovation strategy, as represented by assignee patents, and the financial performance of firms traded on stock exchanges in the United States. Building upon previous industry-specific research, this study broadens these investigations to relationships across multiple industries with respect to innovation and value creation. As a basis for examining the aforementioned relationships, this study was based on a framework shaped by Schumpeter's (1934) economic value of innovation theory. This study seeks to answer three research questions: (a) To what degree does innovation and a company's financial performance correlate across different industries, (b) To what degree does innovation strategy for publicly traded mid-capitalized firms and a company's financial performance correlate across different industries, and (c) To what degree does innovation strategy for publicly traded large-capitalized firms and a company's financial performance correlate across different industries? In addressing these questions, the study analyzed secondary data from the United States Patent and Trade Office and company financial data from the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) online system. Regression analysis was conducted to analyze the relationship between company financial data and innovation as a function of patent awards. While no significant relationship was found to exist across a range of financial measures, significance was found for selected measures of mid-capitalized firms over a seven-year period. Recommendations for future research was provided in the conclusions to the study.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 12, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3253. Adviser: Rick Harbaugh.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1910. Adviser: Joost M. E. Pennings. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-135) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 3062. Adviser: Randall E. Westgren. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2008. / Adviser: Shin-Yi Chou.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4405. Advisers: Joseph Mahoney; Paul Vaaler. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-154) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Texas Woman's University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3295477. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-12, Section: A, page: 5141. Adviser: Deborah D. Young.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4257. Adviser: Anju Seth. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-192) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.