Organizing the American domestic interior : 1978-2010

Over the past thirty years, organization has become one of the most popular ways to spend time and money on the home in the U.S. In part, this popularity and its attendant fixation on simplicity and stillness is a reaction to historical circumstances of the late twentieth century, in which consumption and time seem to have “sped up” as a result of the postindustrial economy. Situating home organization within the fields of American Studies, Design History, and Material Culture studies, this dissertation examines the contemporary preoccupation with organizing the domestic interior through five case studies: reality television shows about messy homes, the retail vendor The Container Store, Real Simple magazine, self-help books on de-cluttering, and interviews with professional organizers. Although its rhetoric and aesthetics seem to mimic the principles of design modernism, home organization is highly postmodern in its adoption of neoliberal values of self-improvement and its participation in an aestheticized landscape of consumer culture. Each case study in this dissertation exposes a number of tensions at the heart of the trend: home organization is a lucrative industry that relies on anxiety around overconsumption to sell products, often depending on corporate branding techniques that stress organization as an ongoing “lifestyle” of consumption; acknowledging gender inequity in domestic responsibility, home organization advice texts show women how to speed up, rather than delegate, housework, ultimately creating more work for women; de-cluttering manuals ask individuals to detach their sense of self-identity from their belongings, yet use the same principles to explain how editing objects results in the expression of one’s “true” self. Placing the discourse around clutter and order in the home within historical and cultural contexts, these case studies offer valuable insight into gender, middle-class culture, and the domestic interior at the turn of the twenty-first century.American Studie

Imagining Consumers

Winner of the Hagley Prize in Business History from The Hagley Museum and Library and the Business History ConferenceSelected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic TitleOriginally published in 1999. Imagining Consumers tells for the first time the story of American consumer society from the perspective of mass-market manufacturers and retailers. It relates the trials and tribulations of china and glassware producers in their contest for the hearts of the working- and middle-class women who made up more than eighty percent of those buying mass-manufactured goods by the 1920s. Based on extensive research in untapped corporate archives, Imagining Consumers supplies a fresh appraisal of the history of American business, culture, and consumerism. Case studies illuminate decision making in key firms—including the Homer Laughlin China Company, the Kohler Company, and Corning Glass Works—and consider the design and development of ubiquitous lines such as Fiesta tableware and Pyrex Ovenware

Creating a Carbon Capture and Storage Industry in Texas

Report on the potential for industrial development of geologic sequestration of CO₂ in the Texas Gulf Coast region. Funded in part by the IC² Institute.IC2 Institut

Crummer/Suntrust Portfolio: Analysis and Recommendations [2009]

The first consideration was determining the amount of risk that should be taken. At present, the portfolio has a defensive position, guarding against a turbulent economy. However, as the portfolio trades only once a year, the question facing the team was when the market will rebound. If we believe the market will rebound between now and May, 2010, it would be prudent to position the portfolio more aggressively than it is currently allocated. Conversely, if the market remains uncertain, continuing a defensive position is sensible. The determination of the team was to take a more aggressive position than the portfolio has in its current form, but to approach that added risk judiciously. The team still believes there is a relationship between risk and return; however, the fiduciary responsibility to provide scholarship funding dictates that the team remain conservative. The goal is to position the portfolio for success in the event of a market recovery while also guarding against significant losses in the event of a prolonged recession. To accomplish this, each company in the portfolio has been scrutinized regarding their fundamentals, cash positions, dividend policies, and overall risk of bankruptcy. Generally speaking, only companies with strong cash positions and consistent, sustainable dividend policies have been included. Additionally, a z-statistic was evaluated for the companies in the portfolio to quantify their risk of bankruptcy, and the companies we are keeping remain fundamentally sound. The portfolio will essentially be rebalanced toward market weighting. The key growth sectors in the portfolio will be healthcare and technology, with energy also being overweighted compared to the market. Financials, will potentially selling at a value, are still risky in the team’s opinion, and that sector has been cut to slightly below market weight. Finally, the team is reallocating some money from our fixed asset portfolio back into equities. The current portfolio consists of 70% equities and 30% bonds, representing roughly $580,000 for the total portfolio. The team is shifting 5 percent from bonds to equities for a 75-25 breakdown. The bond portfolio will also have a greater allocation in corporate bonds, moving away from low-yield treasuries. If the market does not begin to recover during the next year, the portfolio is still guarded against significant losses. However, if a recovery does occur, and no action is taken this year, there will be no opportunity to trade again until May, 2010, missing significant gains that may occur during that time. The suggested allocation takes sensible risks while maintaining the fiduciary responsibility needed in managing this portfolio

Winners and Losers of the 2017 Tax Cut & Jobs Act

Using data from 720 publicly traded companies, this paper looks at the impact of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act through two different studies. Firstly, the paper finds that, on average, there was a reduction in the GAAP effective tax rate (ETR) of 8.88%. However, the first study identifies key firm characteristics that determine the actual observed change in ETR for any given firm. The biggest determinant of the change in ETR is a firm’s prior ETR, with percentage foreign income, R&D expense, and firm size as other significant predictors. The second study seeks to identify whether the tax change had any impact on firms’ investment behavior, one of the noted reasons for the policy change. The results did not show that the TCJA, reduction in ETR, had any impact on firm investment behavior as measured by capital expenditures and R&D spending

Environmental Implications of the Foodservice and Food Retail Industries

The growing size and importance of service sector industries in the U.S. economy raises questions about the suitability of the current environmental management system to deal with perhaps a changing set of environmental concerns. This paper analyzes the environmental impacts associated with the activities undertaken and influenced by two service sector industries—foodservice (e.g., restaurants) and food retail (e.g., grocery stores). This paper is not a definitive analysis of the magnitude of the environmental effects of these industries, but is intended to be a comprehensive survey of the types of environmental implications—positive and negative—of these two service sectors. The foodservice and food retail industries are components of a larger industrial system, the food marketing system, that extends from the production of food to the marketing of food products to consumers. The U.S. foodservice industry comprises an estimated 831,000 individual establishments, employs an estimated 11 million people (about 8.6% of the U.S. workforce), and is expected to have total sales of $376 billion in 2000. The U.S. food retail industry encompasses approximately 126,000 grocery stores, employs approximately 3.5 million people (about 2.7$449 billion in 1998. For this analysis, we use a simple conceptual framework that segregates the environmental impacts of these industries into three categories: direct, upstream, and downstream. We conclude that, while the direct environmental impacts (e.g., energy use, solid waste generation; air and water emissions; food safety concerns; refrigerants) of these industries are important to recognize and address, opportunities also exist for these industries to address their upstream and downstream environmental impacts.

Measuring Logistics Performance - A study on Retail Sector

This thesis concentrates on shareholder value analysis in retail companies as the final link between consumers and manufacturerstherefore, retailers are a vital part of the business world. The research reviews methods for measuring shareholder value and applies SPM method to the US Discount, Variety Stores as a sample of the retail industry. Such an analysis would enable firms in this industry to know their competitive advantages and disadvantages, and provide focus on the key area of improvement of shareholder value. Six sample companies were chosen among 14 companies in U.S. retail industry. These six companies were analyzed using the Strategic Profit Model (SPM) and then recommendations were given to improve the shareholder value focusing on logistics functions and strategies. The result most common to all companies examined in this research is the direct or indirect impact of inventory and cost of sales on net profit, asset turnover, return on assets, financial leverage, and return on net worth. The results reinforce the importance of logistics and Supply Chain Management can have on firm’s financial performance. The role of logistics on inventory decision-making has been a major factor in the operational performance of the firms examined. The results of the research indicate that the financial and operational performances of firms in retail sector are heavily affected by inventory and cost of sales (COS) related issues. This investigation illustrates the direct or indirect impact of inventory on ROA, financial leverage, and RONW. Logistics decisions can influence the financing decisions through impacting the financial leverage which can affect positively or negatively the desired level of RONW (shareholder value). Finally, this thesis aims to study inventory performance. There is a large variation in inventory turnover performance of retailers across firms as well over time. This thesis aims to analyze this variation and factors affecting this variation. This thesis finds that inventory turnover increase as cost of sales and capital intensity increase. The results are useful in helping managers make inventory decisions, employing inventory turnover in performance analysis, and identifying the causes of performance differences among firms and over time.Chapter 1 Introduction = 1 11 Background and Motivation = 1 12 Outline and Summary of Contributions = 5 Chapter 2 Retailer’s Significance and Importance = 7 21 Retailers’ Role in the Supply Chain = 7 23 Retailers’ Significance in The National Economy = 10 Chapter 3 Logistics and SCM Performance Measurement = 15 31 Shareholder Value Measurement Methods = 16 311 Strategic Profit Model (SPM) = 17 312 Economic Value Added (EVA) = 22 313 Market Value Added (MVA) = 25 32 How Logistics and SCM Affect Shareholder Value = 26 23 Information Technology = 31 Chapter 4 Data and Methodology = 38 41 Data and Collection = 38 42 Methodology = 43 Chapter 5 Modeling and Applications = 46 51 Case I ― “Cost Plus, Inc” = 46 52 Case II ― “Cost-U-Less, Inc” = 48 53 Case III ― “Costco Wholesale Corporation” = 50 54 Case IV ― “Duckwall-Alco Stores, Inc” = 51 55 Case V ― “Fred’s, Inc” = 54 56 Case VI ― “PriceSmart, Inc” = 56 Chapter 6 Inventory Performance = 58 61 Significance of Inventory in Retail Industry = 58 62 Inventory turnover performance = 63 Chapter 7 Conclusion and Future Research = 67 71 Conclusion = 67 72 Directions for Future Research = 69 References = 70 Appendix 1 = 74 Appendix 2 = 75 Appendix 3 = 88 Appendix 4 = 9

\u27Improvement the Order of the Age\u27: Historic Advertising, Consumer Choice, and Identity in 19th Century Roxbury, Massachusetts

During the mid-to-late 19th century, Roxbury, Massachusetts experienced a dramatic change from a rural farming area to a vibrant, working-class, and predominantly-immigrant urban community. This new demographic bloomed during America’s industrial age, a time in which hundreds of new mass-produced goods flooded consumer markets. This thesis explores the relationship between working-class consumption patterns and historic advertising in 19th-century Roxbury, Massachusetts. It assesses the significance of advertising within households and the community by comparing advertisements from the Roxbury Gazette and South End Advertiser with archaeological material from the Tremont Street and Elmwood Court Housing sites, excavated in the late 1970s, to determine the degree of correlation between the two sources. Separately, the archaeological and advertising materials highlight different facets of daily life for the residents of this neighborhood. When combined, however, these two distinct data sets provide a more holistic snapshot of household life and consumer choice. Specifically, I examine the relationship between advertisers and consumers and how tangible goods served as a medium of communication for values, social expectations, and individual and group identities. Ultimately, this study found that there is little direct overlap between the material record from the Southwest Corridor excavations and the historic Roxbury Gazette advertisements. The most prevalent types of advertisements from an 1861-1898 Roxbury Gazette sample largely did not overlap with the highest artifact type concentrations from the Southwest Corridor excavations. This disconnect may be the result of internal factors, including lack of purchases or extended use lives for certain objects. External factors for disconnect include archaeological deposition patterns, as well as the ways in which the archaeological and advertising data is categorized for analysis. Most importantly, this study emphasizes that the lives of Tremont Street and Elmwood Court’s residents cannot be neatly summed up by the materials they discarded. Only through the consideration of material culture, documentary resources, and other historic information can we begin to understand the experiences these individuals endured