Although researchers have determined that immigrants are valuable to our society and produced several studies that seek to explain immigrant benefits, little has been done to study whether or not immigrant-founded firms outperform native firms. This report determines whether or not immigrant entrepreneurs are good investments from societal, financial and market perspectives. It analyzes the impact of immigrant founders on 2017 Fortune 500 company performance from a societal, investment and market perspectives. To compile the data set, it utilizes immigration classification from the Center for American Entrepreneurship’s report on 2017 Fortune 500 company founders as a means of categorizing firm immigration status. In order to be included in the sample, there were several requirements: firms had to have a publicly listed security with a Capital IQ identification ID. These criteria resulted in 463 firms. Financial performance and innovation data were gathered through Capital IQ. The analysis seeks to prove or disprove immigrant impact on performance in three categories. The first category, social impact, determined whether or not immigrant-founded firms are good societal investments. The second category, financial impact, determined whether or not immigrant-founded firms are good financial investments. The final category, market stability, determined whether or not immigrant-founded firms are good for overall market stability. There were no statistically significant results for the dependent variables that were regressed. The was a range of R Values, regressions we run with both robust precision adjustments, and Winsor control methods were tested to no avail. This leads to the conclusion that immigrant-founded firms are not better investments than native founded firms at the Fortune 500 level. This held true in all models for each of the 3 theses compiled.

Climate change affects the health of people and the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published research that explains the danger of greenhouse gas emissions on humans, wildlife, and the planet. Initiatives and policies are enacted every day to counter the harm that is done to the environment. Many companies now publish environmental impact reports or Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSR) to promote industry transparency. Participating in environmental and social initiatives is also a competitive advantage for these Fortune 500 companies. Customers can support a company based on their environmental friendliness or social responsibility. Companies are then encouraged to promote social issues like workplace diversity, women in management, and community development; and environmental issues like habitat conservation, green building, and energy reduction. The general merchandising sector companies scored from highest to lowest in the following order: Walmart, Nordstrom, Sears Holdings, Macy’s, PPR, Target, Kohl’s, JC Penney, Dollar General, Belk, Neiman Marcus, Shopko Stores, Follett, Family Dollar, Dillards, Newegg.com, Michael’s Stores, and Fry’s Electronics. These companies represent the most successful companies based on their strategies to reduce their environmental impact. Extended Producer Responsibility, green building, and community initiatives are three categories that are imperative to discuss when addressing environmental and social reporting.

In this dissertation, I develop frameworks and models capturing the effects of marketing capital and R and D capital on firm growth and sustained membership in the Fortune 500 cohort. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and industrial organization theories, in the first essay, I develop hypotheses on the relationships among a firm's marketing capital, R and D capital, key firm-specific and industry-specific factors and survival as a Fortune 500 firm. I test these hypotheses using a proportional hazard model on a uniquely compiled large panel data set of manufacturing Fortune 500 firms over a 25-year period. The results show that while both marketing and R and D capitals have significant and direct positive associations with survival as a Fortune 500 firm, the moderating effects of industry growth on the relationships between marketing capital and survival as a Fortune 500 firm and between R and D capital and survival as a Fortune 500 firm is asymmetric. It is positive for marketing capital but negative for R and D capital. Thus, to retain firms‘ position on the Fortune 500 list, managers may want to consider investing more in marketing (R and D) when industry growth is high (low). In the second essay, I examine the effect of advertising capital and R and D capital, their complementarities, and their interactions with the environmental contingency factors of dynamism, munificence, and complexity on sales growth, profit growth, and market value growth. Using dynamic panel data analysis of 185 firms over an eight year period (2000-2007), I uncover a nuanced understanding of how advertising and R and D capital affect these performance measures. My results show that both R and D capital and advertising capital directly affect sales growth, but neither has a direct impact on profit growth. Furthermore, R and D capital has a direct impact on market value growth. I also find that while the interaction of advertising capital and R and D capital does not directly affect sales growth or market value growth, it has a positive direct impact on profit growth. Finally, I find that environmental contingencies matter. For instance, environmental dynamism negatively (positively) moderates the relationship between R and D (advertising) capital and sales growth.

This content analysis examined presence of 47 public relations community support variables on a systematic random sample of 166 Fortune 500 corporate web pages. Three hypotheses and two research questions guided the analysis. Hypotheses predicted (1) the increased implementation of community support gateway links on corporate web sites since 2000, (2) that corporate industry type influences the Web presence of community support, and (3) that corporate rank influences the Web presence of community support. Research questions analyzed one-way and two-way tool presence as well as community support presence at local, national, and global community levels. Results supported corporate rank as an indicator of community support on corporate web pages; however, results did not support corporate industry as an indicator of community support or the increase of community support presence on corporate web sites. Analysis includes discussion regarding reasons for lack of community support and two-way communication tool presence on corporate web sites. The thesis concludes with recommendations for implementation of two-way public relations community support tools in order to facilitate mutual understanding, trust, and dialogue between a corporation and its local, national, and global communities. / Master of Arts

Mission statement is important to companies, especially as a strategic communication tool with stakeholders. Innovation is also important to companies and has its implications on performance. This study examines the relationship between financial performance and explicitly communicating innovation in mission statement. The study uses a quantitative approach with logistic regression to test empirical hypotheses related to revenues, profits, change in assets and market value, and their relationship with explicitly communicating innovation in mission statements. The conclusion is that among all the financial performance indicators considered, only market value represents a strong and significant result, indicating a positive relationship with explicitly communicating innovation.

The long-term effects of participation in high school sports were the focus of this study. Ten top-level managers in Fortune 500 companies were asked about participation in high school sports and the enduring effects of that participation. Five men (one black) and five women (one Asian) participated in the study. Interviewing, observing offices, and reviewing high school yearbooks were the methods of data collection. The data were analyzed using the constant-comparative method of Maykut and Morehouse (1994). Based on the literature and the development of a sports participation theory, data were collected on the organizational and personal variables affecting participation in high school sports, and the sports participation variables affecting later life. Long-term effects of sports participation in high school were identified in 13 areas: (1) being competitive, (2) being goal oriented, (3) being physically active, (4) making friends, (5) developing leadership skills, (6) enhancing self-esteem, (7) displaying sports paraphernalia, (8) practicing sports philosophy, (9) working as a team, (10) acquiring skills not taught in a classroom, (11) managing time, (12) volunteering, and (13) working with diverse groups. These findings may be helpful to school administrators and policy makers as they evaluate the benefits and liabilities of their sports programs. / Ph. D.

Despite ample research in the fields of organizational behavior and human resource management regarding employee decisions to voluntarily opt out of corporate leadership positions, there is little research exploring the personal experiences of black women in U.S. companies contemplating leaving executive positions. This research leverages a qualitative interpretative phenomenological study to explore why Black women corporate leaders in the United States are leaving corporate America before reaching the C-Suite. Two studies were conducted to understand the lived experiences of Black women executives in U.S. Fortune 500 companies; moreover, study two further explored and detangled some of the themes from Study One to understand the experiences of the black women leaders in the pipeline for senior management more deeply. The findings identify several environmental factors, explored in depth in this dissertation, that impact executives’ decision to leave corporate America. The findings provide a foundation to understand further the impact of the corporate environment resulting in the loss of top diverse talent in this understudied demographic. These findings also provide critical information for the Black woman executive currently working in corporate America as well as those who have opted to leave early and would like to better digest their experiences. / Business Administration/Human Resource Management

This study examined the job competencies, career paths, and educational backgrounds of training directors and also compared the responses of male and female training directors in an attempt to identify possible sources of justification for reported male/female salary differences. Data for the study were gathered through the use of two questionnaires. The first was based on a part of the American Society for Training and Development's (ASTD) 1987-1989 Competency and Standards Study. Additionally, a demographic questionnaire dealing with biographical, educational, and professional characteristics was self-developed. Both were mailed to training directors in all Fortune 500 companies. Major findings include: (1) all of the ASTD competencies received at least a moderately useful rating; (2) many of the training directors had worked in the field of training or in a related business field prior to becoming a training director and over one-fifth had worked in the field of education; (3) a number of undergraduate majors were represented among the training directors, but business was the most popular master's major and education was the most popular doctoral major; (4) 95.8% of the training directors had completed a bachelor's degree, over 70% had some graduate education, 40.6% had completed a master's degree, and 15.2% had completed a doctorate; and (5) statistically significant gender differences were found in the rating of two competencies (intellectual versatility and project management skill), in age, in salaries, in years in training and development, and in years as a training director. Several recommendations were made. The preparation, selection, and assessment of trainers should be guided by the competencies identified in the survey. Career paths should focus on lower level training positions, human resources development, and education. Students should focus their studies on business, education, and related majors. Trainers should strongly consider pursuing graduate education. Women should be encouraged that gender differences related to job competencies, career paths, and educational backgrounds are slight.

While the number of African American women filling executive level positions in Fortune 500 companies in America has improved, there is still a need for significant improvements in increasing their access to corporate chief executive officer (CEO) positions. African American women occupy only 11.7% of the board seats, and their representation as CEOs has steadily declined. Throughout the history of Fortune 500 companies, there have been only 14 African American men with CEO titles. As of January 2017, there are no African American women CEOs. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences and perceptions of 15 African American women who aspire to be chief executive officers in corporate America. The experiences and perceptions of these women were examined to understand why there is a limited number of African American women CEOs despite their increase in executive level roles. The responses from 15 African American revealed that the increased numbers of these women in the executive leadership level resulted from diversity initiatives that made it possible for these women to return to school, and provided a context in which organizational leaders could recognize their talent. The organizations' use of diversity initiatives contributed to practices that legally allow them to minimize the number of minorities they hire at the executive level. The theoretical framework included elements from critical theory, critical race theory, and black feminist theory. The increased representation of these women at the executive level contributes to positive social change because the information adds to the existing literature on the lack of African American women CEOs in corporate America and may provide knowledge that will guide other women pursuing this role.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether publicly disclosed violations by U.S corporations, resulting in convictions or settlements, erode shareholder investment in the offending organizations. This study was designed to assess whether or not the shareholders' reactions to corporations' violations were related to a decline in organizations' stock valuations across sectors. In addition, this study attempted to assess whether or not shareholder support, expressed by stock prices, declined more after a corporation was prosecuted or reached a settlement for violations, as compared to corporations that disclosed earnings disappointments. Also, this study investigated the stock prices of violating corporations compared to the non-offending corporations from within the same business sector, as well as considered the percentage decline for repeat offenders for violation two compared to violation one. Opposite to hypothesis, results showed that stock prices for the violating companies were significantly greater 12 months after the violation compared to the other months and no significant differences in percent decline between the eight sectors on any of the five decline measures. There were also no differences between violating companies and their matched companies. Companies with a violation had significantly greater stock prices overall than those without a violation.