This study used secondary data to analyze the Saving for Change (SfC) program of Oxfam America in Mali. SfC uses a model of microfinance that is based on education and savings-led approach and self-help methodology. The program teaches the poorest women how to form and manage a group to handle savings and credit related needs. The group learns to systematically collect savings from its members; lend the money to its members with interest and keep a record of all transactions. SfC has created an oral recordkeeping system which is helpful for groups that have mostly or all illiterate women. The SfC women also learn about other social components such as malaria through their participation in the program. This study, however, focused only on the financial activities of the women. The secondary data analyzed in this study were collected by Oxfam America in two rounds of surveys that used mixed methods instruments. Both surveys were conducted in October and November, one in 2005 and the other in 2006. Most of the data collected from the surveys were quantitative. They were collected for Oxfam America’s own purposes and only some of them were used for this study. The study used three aspects of outreach—depth, scope and worth to the user—as the framework to explore the extent to which SfC had reached the poorest women. Three overarching questions were constructed, one to explore each of these aspects of outreach. They were: Were the women served by SfC poorer than other women who were not served? Did the SfC women utilize the program benefits? Did the utilization of the program benefits vary based on the women’s economic levels? Each overarching question also had a set of main and specific questions. Some key economic indicators such as the women’s literacy and schooling at the individual level and the ratio of school age children in school, food security, assets and the ratio of income contributors at the household level, as well as select program benefits such as savings and loans were used for determining the main and specific questions. Various statistical tests including one-way ANOVA, paired samples t-tests and bivariate correlations were performed to answer those questions. Most of the results of the statistical tests did not provide a clear answer whether or not SfC reached the poorest of the poor. Out of the four indicators, three showed that the women reached by SfC were as poor as the women in the control group. The SfC women were statistically significantly better off, as measured by household assets, compared to the other women in the area. The results of the paired samples t-tests showed that the SfC women utilized the benefits offered by the program, and their utilization was higher in 2006 than in 2005. Except for a few instances, the women’s utilization of the program benefits did not appear to have been influenced by their economic levels. None of their saving activities were significantly affected by their household economic levels. Their willingness to take loans also did not appear to be influenced by the difference in their household economic levels in a meaningful way. Although mixed, these findings adequately rejected the notion that Oxfam America had failed to reach the poorest of the poor. However, the results did not show that the women reached by SfC were the poorest. Future studies and collection of additional data may provide more conclusive findings about the level of poverty of the women reached by the program and the extent to which the very poorest benefitted equally from the services. Whether or not the results were statistically significant and all women were the poorest, the experiences gained by the women and the groups from their participation in SfC spoke directly to the core purpose of the program and to the economic benefits for the clients by any international standard. When their context was taken into consideration, poor women of one of the world’s poorest countries in the villages where there are very few or no opportunities became economically active in the SfC program. The level of engagement of the women was an important step forward toward reducing poverty. Regardless of their economic levels, those poor women saved a remarkable amount of money; borrowed money from the group; repaid loans with interest; and, most importantly, managed a financial system as a group to serve their financial needs.

The purpose of the study was to explore how working professionals enrolled in MBA programs make their education relevant. This inquiry was guided by the following central research question: How do students enrolled in MBA programs make their education relevant as they cross boundaries between school and work? The central research question was supported by three subquestions: What are the objects crossing the boundary between the MBA program and students’ workplaces? How do MBA students broker learning at the boundary? At what level are interactions occurring and to what end? Grounded in social constructivist epistemology, a basic qualitative method was chosen for this study. Data were collected through 18 semi-structured interviews with 10 students and eight learning partners, 18 field notes that described the context of the interview and early insights from the data collected, and 28 documents such as course descriptions and work presentations. Study participants shared a total of 39 critical incidents of learning that crossed the boundary between school and work. Data were analyzed and synthesized to produce three overall themes, which were translated into a typology of four relevance-making types, which provided the basis for 10 participant profiles. Then, patterns of content, process, and outcomes for each type of relevance-making were analyzed and synthesized. This study found that relevance-making differed by type and depended upon students’ intentions for Innovative Climbing, Identity Switching, Introspective Exploring, or Fast Founding. In Innovative Climbing, students integrated new business concepts from school at work in order to earn promotions. In Identity Switching, students changed how they saw themselves and how others saw them in order to change where they work. In Introspective Exploring, students reflected upon their experiences in ways that informed their career goals. In Fast Founding, a student rapidly introduced business concepts from school into the workplace to sustain his business venture. It was through discovering or realizing these intentions that relevance was made.

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At present, digitalization in many industries is changing and gradually permeating in all fields of life, of which the digitalization in healthcare has gradually been recognized and entered on the stage. Covid-19 is the biggest "Black Swan Event" in recent years, disrupting the pattern of China and the world. Impacted by Industrial Digitalization Upgrade and the pandemic, the process of digital reform in the healthcare industry has been further accelerated, represented by AI + pharmaceuticals, telecare, and SaaS systems etc.. All these new digital tools and technologies have successively received large amounts of financing in the primary market, and among them, some high-quality enterprises have had successful IPO. Meanwhile, many traditional medical enterprises are also keeping pace with the times through digital transformation, which all indicate the importance of digitalization of medical enterprises. We hope to explore in this paper the factors behind the digital transformation of medical enterprises that have significantly promote the digital reform of enterprises, and whether the factors such as enterprise R&D, enterprise scale, and enterprise digitalization promotion efforts will accelerate the digitalization process. Based on this background, this paper will conduct in-depth research in this direction. First, in the chapters of Research Background and Research Significance, this paper expounds the issues studied in this paper, and points out the relative economic and social significance; and summarizes previous scholars' research in this field, including the application of digital transformation in other industries, the beneficial efforts on business development and the related factors to accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises. Then, it uses relevant theoretical analysis, such as Solow's Neoclassical Growth Model and other theories to explain the issues studied in this paper. At the same time, based on relevant theories and literature review, relevant hypotheses are being put forward. According to the current literature research, we assume that enterprise scale, enterprise R&D, and enterprise financialization level are crucial factors in promoting the process of enterprise digitization. Therefore, this paper collects relevant Annual Reports of all healthcare enterprises on the listing market which have already completed the digitalization or arecurrently undergoing digital transformation in 2020 and 2021 after this pandemic. In this paper, we use the frequency of the core word "digitalization" in the Annual Report as the Explained Variable to measure the process of digital transformation of the enterprises; concurrently, we use Enterprise R&D Level, Enterprise Scale and Enterprise Product Commercialization Level as Explanatory Variables in this paper, and complements the relevant Control Variables to construct a Panel Regression Model. Besides, the Industry Fixed-Effect and Time Fixed-Effect have been used respectively to control the relevant time trend, and the combination of both was called the "Two-Way Fixed-Effect Model". In addition, the research adopts the method of Cluster Robust Standard Error to adjust in the empirical demonstration to reduce the interference of heteroscedasticity. Finally, according to the conclusions verified by the combination of theory and empirical research in this paper, relevant policies and suggestions are included. / Business Administration/Finance

Do federal policies influence program offerings for career and technical education(CTE)? Often the implication of compliance and the expectation of connecting compliance to funding is considered a tactic to leverage expectations on a large scale. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if the CTE programs located in a singular region of Texas were compliant with federal expectations by way of evaluating the alignment of programs offered and local labor markets prior to the implementation of Perkins V. The evaluation of a variety of archival data and subsequent findings of the correlation of alignment of programs within the region along with the amount of federal Perkins's dollars spent on CTE was a confirmed as an effective policy reform measure. Additional evaluations included the combination of federal and state spending in correlation to the number of programs offered in career and technical education along with the actual CTE student enrollment of a given district. Major findings showed that through a moderation analysis for some districts the number of programs offered could be influenced by program funding and size. In addition, this study confirmed that many programs are indeed compliant, however compliance does not guarantee program opportunities when resources and enrollment are abundant. Recommendations for future studies concerning administrative decisions for programming and compliance are discussed.

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This thesis describes the profile characteristics and role of the chief business officer in colleges and universities in the northeastern United States. Part I describes the "who" dimension of the CBOs. It compares the age, sex, race, length of employment in present position, and the highest academic degree held by the CBOs. Part II of the study examines the "what" dimension of the CBOs. This part focusses on the level of responsibility CBOs actually have and the level of responsibility they think the position should have for them to function most effectively. The data collected compared the public and private institutions of higher education. The population studied consisted of chief business officers of public and private higher education institutions with enrollments of 1,000 or more. The data were gathered through a mail questionnaire. Major findings of the study are: (1) The overwhelming majority of CBOs are middle-aged, White males. (2) The majority of CBOs hold earned graduate degrees in business administration. Many CBOs hold more than one graduate degree and the previous experience in college business administration was believed to be the best background for the job. (3) Fiscal and financial management duties were judged the most important functions of the CBO. (4) Among the fiscal and financial management duties, adhering to the budgeting procedure was the single most important job function, followed by fiscal and management audits and internal control. The findings confirmed the general belief that, with increasing financial pressure, higher education has to be particularly sensitive to the fiscal and procedural accountability. (5) The majority of the CBOs would like to get more involved in institutional policy-making. This may be a major finding because it seems contrary to the common belief that CBOs do not like to get involved in institutional policy-making functions and academic administrative management. (6) There was very little difference between the role functions of CBOs in public and private institutions.

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