Doctor of Business Administration, Cleveland State University, 2019, Monte Ahuja College of Business

For decades, research has shown the importance of ethics in the business environment. With the increased internationalization of corporations, the need for a focus on international business ethics has also increased. To date, research has predominantly focused on business ethics in large firms and the factors that affect the ethical decision-making processes of the managers and executives in these firms. What appears to be limited in literature is ethics and ethical decision-making as it relates to small businesses. With the economic importance of small businesses, this area of research needs to be explored especially from a cross-cultural basis. This dissertation helps to fill that gap. Building on existing research, this study seeks to explore the factors that contribute to and influence the ethical decisions of small business owners and managers in an emerging market, specifically India. The methodology and tests used in this study will provide a foundation to better understand how these ethical factors affect the ethical decisions of small business owners and managers in emerging markets.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2019, English

The fast growth of globalization and internationalization of businesses have necessitated developing intercultural business communication. Professionals in today's global job market, particularly those working in multilingual environments, need to be able to communicate with people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In this global, technological network, English language competency is for many at the forefront of communication skills needed because of a need for a common lingua franca for international communication. In order to better facilitate communication among native English speakers (NES) and non-native English speakers (NNES), we need to recognize and prepare to help students and professionals work in global multicultural and multilingual contexts. In this dissertation, I argue that we need to look in depth at oral and written professional communication in global contexts. I use frame of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and I seek to answer how NNES and NES professionals communicate in multilingual, multicultural workplace environment using English as a lingua franca. Focusing on companies in the Gulf States, I conducted 27 interviews with NES and NNES professionals from a wide variety of companies and positions, and I received survey responses from more than 120 NES and NNES professionals. The results show first-person accounts of the challenges faced and opportunities created in the multilingual, multicultural workplace context and detail when and why English or Arabic is used for what purpose. From these accounts, I draw detailed recommendations for business communication pedagogy and curriculum to aid all professionals (both NES and NNES). Some of the recommendations for corporate workplace training and for professional communication education in native-English and non-native English countries include: the importance of self-awareness in language usage for both NES and NNES professionals, the need for cultural intelligenc (open full item for complete abstract)

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

Small businesses have generally been considered an engine of job creation and economic growth in the United States since the 1970s. This can be attributed to two factors. First, economic restructuring—characterized by the transformation from a manufacturing into a service-oriented economic base—left many formerly prosperous communities fragmented by corporate downsizing and industrial departure. Second, groundbreaking research published by David L. Birch of MIT during this era showed that job creation was being driven primarily by enterprises of twenty or fewer employees; a trend postulated to continue indefinitely. Small-business development efforts arose in this context as a strategy to overcome unemployment and to stimulate potential growth industries. Also known as entrepreneur-led economic development, many state and local governments made small-business assistance a policy priority. It is an empirical fact, however, that despite their role in job creation and economic development, small businesses have very high failure rates and their attrition occurs within a narrow timeframe. Therefore, efforts to help small-businesses start needed to be compounded with efforts to help them survive and grow in order to realize their economic benefit. Becoming mainstream in the 1980s, the business incubator is one policy innovation designed specifically to accomplish this task. There is no single definition for business incubation or a business incubator. Conceptually, business incubators nurture the development of entrepreneurial companies, helping them survive and grow during the start-up period, when they are most vulnerable. Client companies are co-located within a single incubator facility and each benefits from flexible reduced rents, business support services and resources tailored to young firms such as networking assistance. Business incubators can public, private or nonprofit entities or sponsored by an educational institution, although many are developed collabor (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2008, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1946, Graduate School

Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, 2023, Honors Theses

In January of 2020, the Center for Disease Control and Protection (CDC ) reported its first case of a new virus that quickly spread through the United States, as well as all other countries around the world. It caused a massive slowdown of our economy and the whole country. It made businesses adapt to strict rules and standards just to be able to operate. Because of that, Congress passed The CARES Act. In that relief program was a subset called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. It aimed to help restaurants navigate the pandemic by providing financial assistance. To help answer the research question, “Is there a link between the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and restaurant survival?” a meta-analysis was used. In doing so, eight different research studies were examined to come up with three trends to help answer the research question. The three themes were the impact of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund on restaurant sales and employment, the effectiveness of the RRF in supporting restaurants, and the unique challenges faced by the restaurant industry. The findings suggest a link between the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and restaurant survival.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Literacy and Second Language Studies

Corpus linguists have long been interested in how words co-occur with each other for the past three decades. Formulaic sequences identified through a corpus-driven approach are considered the essential components of fluent linguistic production and effective communication. In addition, they also help language users create a professionally acceptable persona in the target discourse community. This three-paper dissertation study investigated three types of formulaic sequences (i.e., lexical bundles, phrase frames, and bigrams) in business and academic writing by English language learners. The goal was to improve the understanding of English learners' formulaic language use in different registers. The first paper examined the structural and functional differences of lexical bundles (i.e., a sequence of four words that co-occur frequently in a particular register) used in English business emails written by learners of business English and working professionals. The findings showed that the learners and working professionals tended to compose business emails differently as suggested by the various structural and functional use of lexical bundles. The second paper focused on the use of phrase frames (or p-frames, i.e., a multi-word sequence with one word variable within the sequence) in business emails by learners of business English, compared to that of working professionals. The p-frames were examined in terms of the structural characteristics, functional characteristics, and variability. Results indicated that p-frames could serve as a means to express politeness and formality in email communication and that p-frames can facilitate business English learning. The last paper presents the findings of bigrams (i.e., directly adjacent word pairs) of eleven collocational patterns (e.g., adjective-noun, verb-preposition) in the argumentative writing of English language learners from basic to intermediate proficiency levels. Previous studies mainly focused on the use of col (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Political Science

In discussing the intersection between business and politics, Robert Dahl claimed that there is "no dearth of important and even urgent questions." This dissertation tackles one such question: How do economic firm intervention in the development of the state influence modern outcomes? I argue that when institutions are in transition, firms and state actors both face uncertainty, and as a result, they enter an arrangement in which the state actor consistently provides the firm with public resources in return for patronage. I define this as state capture. Across my three papers, I find that when we focus on the role of firms in political development, there are widespread and long-term consequences for the state and local populations when the state is captured. Across all three of these papers, I explore these ramifications in Appalachia Kentucky. State capture is not a novel concept, but its usage is uneven and unclear, and there is no cohesive intellectual conversation. The first paper ameliorates this by taking this literature and synthesizing a concept from which we can derive clearer implications. I use Kentucky and the Appalachian coal region to explore this concept. I collect archival data to test one observable implication of the concept---lack of democratic commitment and non-competitive elections. I find the inverse of what I expect to observe, elections in Appalachia Kentucky, for the locally elected sheriff and tax commissioner are more competitive than my theory predicts. I discuss this finding considering my concept and argue that this represents a need for understanding how economic firms can influence political outcomes. The second paper applies the conceptualization of state capture more deeply to the case of Appalachia Kentucky, to create a model to better understand the region's persistent economic underdevelopment. I argue that compared to previous Appalachian development models, understanding the region's local politics as captured is empiric (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2021, Business Administration

The purpose of this study is to understand differences in factors in selecting a college major for students studying business and non-business majors by gender. A survey was distributed to students at four-year undergraduate institutions in the United States. Ultimately, it was observed that significantly more business students were influenced by earning potential and college professor(s) in the selection of their major. Significantly more female business students were influenced by their father in their choice of major than were female non-business students. Some factors that influenced female non-business majors more than female business majors included teachers and exposure to major throughout high school. When examining how to increase female enrollment in business colleges, factors seen as more influential by non-business majors should be considered for recruiting women to business.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Management

The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that only 1% of Black companies generate over a million dollars in sales yet they are responsible for 61% of all jobs created by minority-owned firms. How can more Black businesses be positioned to contribute? This research seeks to better understand Black business growth by employing an exploratory sequential mixed methods design approach beginning with a qualitative study followed by two quantitative studies. This three-part research project unfolds by first exploring barriers that high performing African American and non-minority firms are confronted with when trying to grow their businesses. Findings revealed that African American firms are faced with a number of different forms of racial discrimination. Gender bias is found to be a barrier for women-owned firms and access to capital is still found to be an obstacle to growth for African American firms. These barriers were overcome by leveraging numerous types of relationships, utilizing preferential procurement programs and relying on faith and prayer. The findings from the first study informed measures for a quantitative phase to determine to what extent leadership attributes such as emotional and social intelligence and faith/prayer reliance correlate with small business growth attitudes among minority entrepreneurs. Findings suggest that the sense of God at work has a positive relationship with small business attitudes, specifically the importance of sales and employment growth. Additionally, perceived shared vision fully mediates the effect of emotional and social competency inventory (ESCI) Leadership traits on the importance of sales and employment growth. It is the integration of these two studies that prompt a deeper look at Black business growth. The third study measures discriminatory business practices and its association with business growth as well as other factors that may contribute to growth. The following factors were measured: faith, entrepreneurial (open full item for complete abstract)

MFA, Kent State University, 2017, College of Communication and Information / School of Visual Communication Design

This thesis is an investigation into sustainable business models and the different evaluation methods utilized in social innovation design. Over the last twenty years, there has been an increase in awareness and desire within the design industry to utilize design as a way to help solve some of the large, systemic social problems facing people all over the world. To make this work financially and sustainably, designers are utilizing a variety of for-profit and nonprofit business models. However, these business models are potentially hindering social innovation designers' access to the resources needed to measure the impact of their work. Social innovation designers are co-designing and developing services, programs, systems, and products with nonprofits and communities that are dealing with these social problems. Social change work of this nature requires designers and their partners to be engaged in measuring the long-term impact of their work in order to truly make lasting change. This has led social innovation designers to turn to evaluation methods used in the parallel fields of social work, community organizing, education, and public health, in order to track the impacts of their work. These evaluation methods also play a key role in helping social innovation designers better communicate the value they bring to their clients and partners. By utilizing and integrating these evaluation methods into their design processes, social innovation designers are leading the way for this field to gain broader acceptance and support.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1985, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1977, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1972, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1966, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1965, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1953, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1961, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1953, Graduate School

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2016, Physics

An athlete's quality of training has impacts on their long-term performance. Suboptimal training then prevents and athlete from achieving their full potential. The scope of the work focuses on the feasibility of a technology based on a wearable and wireless electromyography sensor to detect the onset of muscle fatigue in elite athletes. The work analyzes the biophysics of electromyography, techniques to measure muscle fatigue, and the business opportunities available. The analysis found that successfully measuring fatigue using electromyography sensors provide a difficult challenge and building a business around the technology may cause poor returns on investment. The innovation is better served when championed by a company that has the resources to develop the technology, not a startup.