The Journal of American Business

Global Disruption and E-Government

Dr. Tony Carter, University of New Haven, CT

ABSTRACT

Global issues surrounding the emergence of information and knowledge are key factors in developing and maintaining a competitive advantage for firms. This is organized around two ideas, 1) knowledge as a manageable asset, and 2) why people in organizations sometimes do not use what they know. A basic assumption here is that organizations are complex adaptive systems operating in highly competitive, information and knowledge rich environments. Progress in online service delivery continues in most countries around the world. Many countries have put in place e-government initiatives and information and communication technologies applications for the people to further enhance public sector efficiencies and streamline governance systems to support sustainable development. Among the e-government leaders, innovative technology solutions have gained special recognition as the means to revitalize lagging economic and social sectors. The overall conclusion that emerges from today’s recessionary world climate is that while it is important to continue with service delivery, governments must increasingly begin to rethink in terms of e-government and e-governance placing greater emphasis on institutional linkages between and among the tiered government structures in a bid to create synergy for inclusive sustainable development. An important aspect of this approach is to widen the scope of e-government for a transformative role of the government towards cohesive, coordinated, and integrated processes and institutions through which such sustainable development takes place (Carter, 2013) In the current recessionary world climate, in which the lives of people have become ever more interconnected, governments have been harnessing the power of information and communications technologies (ICT) for delivering much needed sustainability in social and economic services to their citizens. As part of this shift towards e-government, there has been an increasing recognition that efforts towards a holistic approach to governance for sustainable development require strategic national planning to ensure efficacy, transparency, responsiveness, participation and inclusion in the delivery of public services.

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An Analysis of Best Practices of Cooperative Education in the U.S. With The Purpose of Addressing Various

Armenian Engineering Education Problems

Sona Tadevosyan, College of Engineering and Technology, Brigham Young University, UT

Dr. Geoffrey A. Wright, College of Engineering and Technology, Brigham Young University, UT

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to define best practices of cooperative education, and make suggestions of how the best practices can be implemented in countries where cooperative education either is not practiced, or is not effectively being used, specially in the context of engineering and technology disciplines. The country of Armenia was used as the anecdote of where cooperative education is needed in these disciplines, but where it is not being used effectively. It is believed the definitions and suggestions outlined in this paper will help the field of cooperative education by providing definitions of best practice, and an example of how a country can more effectively implement cooperative education. Information Technology and engineering play very important roles in the Armenian economy (FEI, 2008, 2001). In fact, the Government of Armenia in 2000 declared development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and engineering to be one of the country’s priorities for economic development (FEI, 2008, 2014). The ICT sector, including the engineering services segment, is one of only a few competitive sectors of the country (FEI, 2008). Consequently, it is important for Armenia to do all it can to support the growth of this sector, including investing in the development of an education system capable of producing a strong technical workforce with skills adapted to the demands of the global marketplace. During the last 15 years, Armenia has made progress in developing a technical workforce by providing new training programs in areas such as software development, programming, and chip design. Less progress has been made in developing a strong engineering workforce, mainly because of continuing weaknesses in the engineering education system (AIT, 2011). These weaknesses result from reduced funding levels for R&D, a lack of support for staff and curriculum development (AEWS, 2008), and few and weak linkages between universities and industry (ITWSA, 2006). As a result of these factors, academic engineering education programs currently are not aligned very closely with the needs of the local or international marketplace and are therefore failing to prepare a workforce ready to contribute to the development of a globally competitive Armenian engineering sector (NCRA, 2010).

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Evaluating the Cost-Effectiveness of Instruction Expenditures on Kauai’s Public High School Completion

Dr. Larson Ng, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i

ABSTRACT

The following study attempted to analyze the cost-effectiveness of instruction expenditures on public high school completers on Hawai‘i’s island of Kauai. Using the high schools that comprise the Kauai District, a correlation and bivariate regression procedure were employed to determine the nature and econometric relationship between instruction expenditures and high school completion from 2000 to 2007. Although instruction expenditures had predominately increased for all high schools, increases in completion were not observed for all schools. Moreover, with the minor exception of Niihau High and Elementary School, there was no conclusive econometric evidence to substantiate the idea that more expenditure in instruction leads to higher levels of high school completion during 2000 to 2007. Instruction is a critically important factor that contributes to high school completion. Although there are many techniques to measure the productivity of instruction, assessing its effectiveness through a financial perspective remains one practical way to accomplish this task (Beard, 2009). Consequently, this study will attempt to test whether increases in instruction expenditures result in higher numbers of high school completion by analyzing the Hawai‘i's Department of Education’s (DOE) high school instruction expenditures (i.e., teacher salaries and benefits, substitutes, instructional paraprofessionals, pupil-use technology, software and instructional materials, trips, and supplies) and its econometric relationship with high school completers on Kauai (Hawai‘i Department of Education, n.d.). With this research, it is hoped that the results will provide a current snapshot of whether increased instruction funding will improve public high school completion on Kauai. The following section will go over the high school instruction expenditures, size of its graduation classes, and high school completers for the DOE’s district of Kauai as well as all of the individual high schools that comprise that district from 2000 to 2007. Based on Table A1, instruction expenditures have been consistently increasing on an average of 7.7% with a standard deviation of $2,768,393.17 per year, respectively.

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Regression and Empirical Analysis on Real Estate Pricing and Services Using Price-Quality Heuristics

Dr. Freddy Su Jin Lee, California State University at Los Angeles, CA

ABSTRACT

When gauging quality, consumers often use price, brand or other signals of quality to gauge the quality. In this paper, we test three propositions which show how the consumer uses the price-perceived quality in real estate purchases. This may be affected by the property neighborhood, brand of the brokerage and the brand of the Escrow company. Our goal in this paper is to test these propositions that can motivate empirical research pertaining to the factors that influence how consumers use the price-perceived quality heuristic to determine whether the real estate service is worth the money that they are paying for. We will also conduct a regression analysis on the likelihood of consumers selling their homes based on these parameters. The findings will point to several ways that brokerages and escrow companies can develop pricing strategies to raise consumer satisfaction and increase revenue. Primary among them are the development and articulation of whether to set a asking price based of neighborhood perceptions, brokerage brand and escrow brand. The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is a platform used in North America where consumers who are selling their properties engage a Brokerage to help them list the property in that platform. This platform is available to the general public with limited information and available to other service professionals with full information. As information is asymmetric here to all professionals and parties, this would provide the basis for our data to conduct the empirical analysis. Information in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) includes the asking price and the sold price (Hendel et al 1998). It is generally believed that the higher the asking price, the higher the quality or in this case it is proxy to the desirability of the location. Another price component that surfaces in the MLS is the commission given out to the listing broker. The seller generally allocates a certain percentage of the transacted price as commission to the listing brokerage which will split it with the cooperating brokerage. The commission is set arbitrarily at market rates in franchise branded and independent brokerages. This commission is meant to motivate the agents to sell the home at a better price and at a faster pace. The third price component that arises in a real estate transaction would be the escrow fees. Escrow is a service that ties in both the buyer and seller while completing the demands from the current mortgage lender and coordinating HOA (Home Owners Association) and the funding conditions from the buyer lender.

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Marketing Pickles as a Gourmet Condiment

Dr. David L. Ralph, Pepperdine University, CA

Dr. Stacy M. P. Schmidt, California State University, Bakersfield, CA

Dr. Donald Atwater, Pepperdine University, CA

ABSTRACT

Cucumbers and pickles are not a new product to the market but an opportunity for growth lies in the gourmet condiment segment of the market. A variety of gourmet pickles have entered the market. Consumers now expect gourmet options on a variety of food categories and this creates an opening for gourmet pickles. Gourmet pickles differ greatly by taste and texture. Gourmet pickles producers need to create a brand to establish a following and loyal consumer. The study looks at the pickle market and examines ten gourmet pickle companies operating in the United States of America. The study finds that the ten companies use different brine creating different flavors for their pickles. Gourmet pickles are either refrigerated or not refrigerated. This affects shelf life and shipping of the pickles. The companies use a variety of retail locations as well as online shops to sell their products to consumers. One of the companies has even got a chain restaurant to use their pickles as snacks on every dining table at their restaurants. The companies are able to expand their markets by creating a variety of flavors for the pickles. They create pickles with different spice levels to entice different consumers. They also use the pickling techniques to pickle a variety of other foods including eggs, sauerkraut, carrots, okra, beets, asparagus, and beans. The pickle market has been dominated by a few pickle companies but gourmet pickles have created a market for small pickle companies. These independent pickle companies can be successful in the gourmet pickle market by creating a following and having a well liked taste. This paper looks at ten of the gourmet pickle companies currently operating in the United States of America. Historically, pickles have been part of the condiment segment. Pickles now have their very own specialty category expanding their role in the condiments market. Pickles now have a space in the gourmet condiment segment.

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A System Dynamics Approach to Evaluate the Impacts of Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project on Employment,

Population Growth, Housing Demand, and Transport

Dr. Oliver F. Shyr, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Dr. Chien Hung Tu, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Dr. Chao-Yi Huang, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The aim of the project is to apply the technique of system dynamic to analyze the impacts of mega transport projects, such as Taoyuan Aerotropolis and rapid transit systems, on urban development. In the last decade, air freight transport has been the most attractive and competitive form of logistics. Hence, the gateway airports become the hubs of international enterprises including innovative firms, headquarters of financial services, conference and expo business, and new generation of manufacturing corporations. In the era for Internet of Things (IoT), Aerotropolis becomes a new city form. Appling the analytical tool of system dynamics that has been developed by our previous project “Taiwan's Comprehensive Urban Planning System: A System Dynamic Approach” (T‐CUPS) sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, we focus our tasks on the calibration of model parameters, the validation of Netlogo/Vensim modules, and the model applications to the setting of policy initiatives for sustainable urban development under the scenarios of climate change and the introduction of Taiwan’s mega transport projects. Our T‐CUPS consist of three core modules, i.e., firms and employment, population and public facilities, and housing demand. It also includes three supporting modules, i.e., transport system & land use, eco & environmental systems, and interactions between policy initiatives and urban systems. All in all, this study can help us not only to explore the interactions among urban systems and but also to reshape the analytical tools for the impact assessment of mega transport projects. Air transport has been described as a mode of transportation since the 20th century. The growth of air transportation influenced the development of the city, especially a city located in the surroundings of the airport. Furthermore, the role of the airport in the context of economic or urban development has evolved. The airport is not just becoming a bond of transportation; they have become the airport cities as well. Therefore, Kasarda (2008) has launched the concept of Aerotropolis which discussed that airport and the city is the unity that cannot be separated since “a city needs an airport and the airport involves the city”. Therefore, the development of the city in the neighborhood of airport needs to be arranged along the facilities and the influence of economic and business growth.

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Pepper Place Market: An Urban Market in the Digital Age

Jason Davis, Samford University, AL

Kyle Kirby, Samford University, AL

Jared Nelson, Samford University, AL

Dr. Charles M. Carson, Samford University, AL

ABSTRACT

Founded in 2000, the Pepper Place Market (PPM), one of the leading urban farmers markets in the United States, stood at a crossroads. Cathy Jones, founder of the market, had to decide how to broaden the appeal of the market and reach new customers. Among the options under consideration was the opening of an online general store to complement the market. If successful, the online store would further cement PPM as a leader in innovation. Taking the farmers’ market online presented several challenges, and doing it poorly would strain the organization’s already tight budget. Could a farmers’ market work in the digital space? And if so, did Cathy’s team have the resources to bring theirs into the 21^st century? In the decade since its founding, the Pepper Place Market (PPM) had grown to become one of the nation’s leading farmers markets, encompassing an entire city block of downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Cathy Jones, the market’s founder, was proud of her team’s efforts to grow the market over the years. Despite this success, Cathy was searching for ways to extend the market’s brand and take its success to the next level. Among the initiatives Cathy and her team were considering was the launch of an online store that would serve as a companion to the Saturday market. If successful, the launch would cement PPM has one of the most innovative farmers’ markets in the nation. However, the idea of an online store led to as many questions as it did possibilities. How would the online store compliment the market? What technical resources would they need? How would order fulfillment be handled? Would supporters of the Saturday market also support the online store? Cathy and her team had two key decisions to make: would an online store help the market reach new customers? And more importantly, did they have the financial resources, technical acumen, and marketing skills to take their farmers’ market online? In the early twentieth century, the City of Birmingham experienced a period of transformational growth. As the city expanded, new industrial developments spread out from the city core. The Lakeview district emerged as a light industrial area during this time. However, as the industrial age of Birmingham entered its decline and as the tumult of the civil rights movement reached a fever pitch, the Lakeview district suffered. Lakeview went largely ignored until 1986, when Cathy Jones, CEO of Sloss Real Estate, began purchasing properties, many of them old factories and other industrial sites, in the district. She envisioned the Lakeview district reborn as a center for design-focused businesses in the city.

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The Gears of Investment in Education: An Econometric Analysis on the Impact of Growth, Economic, and

Education Indicators on Public Education Expenditure in Developed and Developing Economies

Omar Cortez, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

Dr. Olga I. Murova, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

ABSTRACT

The present paper uses an econometric model to analyze how growth, economic, and education indicators affect public education expenditure in a set of sixteen countries that span Latin America, Europe, and Asia and are in either developed or developing status. Results indicate that a stronger emphasis needs to be placed on the tertiary education sector alongside health expenditure, inflation, and the real growth rate when considering how public education expenditure is to be implemented. It’s generally known that education plays an important role and offers an insight into the economies of various countries throughout the world. Since the studies of Gary Becker and Theodore Schultz opened doors to what promotes economic growth did human capital become of a particular interest to many countries, developing and developed alike. These studies were especially aimed at developing countries in order to assure them a way out of weak economic growth. By consensus, investing in education will yield returns in some form, whether by income or economic growth. Countries will invest in education differently and accordingly. Developing countries that might be investing high percentages of their GDP in education could be seeing minimal or no effect on growth. It’s a scenario that needs closer attention. Perhaps it is a question of a high percentage of population growth relative to a low per capita income growth, or how the health expenditure for the respective country could affect the public education expenditure in a particular year. These are questions that pertain to the meticulous angles from which this study can be perceived. How much such variables affect investment in education is worthy of consideration. The notion that investment in education is key for economic growth, but its effectiveness depends on a country’s other indicators that might have an impact on how their expenditure in education changes over time. If deterministic variables for education are taken into account, along with other related indicators, different countries could find their tailored target rate for public education expenditure that would allow for it to become an efficient investment, and subsequently having the better potential to positively affect economic growth; this is something various countries appear to be lacking. If it’s known that investing in education will yield long term benefits, such as growth, then there is a need to study what motivates the amount of investment in education for a respective country throughout the years.

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