Communiversities: A Unique Outreach Opportunity for Business Schools

Communiversities are a growing phenomenon in communities where public and private partnerships are formed to provide local economic growth and educational advancement. This research presents several case studies of communiversities in the United States and Canada. The individual communiversities are unique with respect to how they address the needs of local communities and the commitment of members of the partnership to serve the needs of the community. The term communiversity is derived from the partnership of educational institutions and local business and government entities to meet the unique needs of the city or area that they serve. The objective of the research was to determine the feasibility of starting a communiversity in a southeast city. Interviews with local community leaders and existing communiversities were combined with onsite visits to determine how the needs of local communities were being met by these partnerships. In each partnership there were varied combinations of involvement by local colleges and universities, technical schools, businesses, potential investors, government entities and grant opportunities. The traditional university led model of organized outreach and paternalism is replaced by organic structured models that though partnered with, they are not necessarily a university or college entity. The commonality to the organizations is their role in organizing local partners (universities, colleges, technical schools, public schools, businesses, citizens, and governmental agencies,…) to provide training, consulting, education and, where appropriate and feasible, facilities, to help foster entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship has had steady growth for over a decade, communiversities provide a gateway for citizens across a community to find the resources and assistance they need to explore and launch a business. Business schools can play a valuable role as partners in communiversities. Communiversities are not necessarily embedded in a college or university. The range of communiversity programs varied from youth outreach through masters level degree programs; self-help/self-enrichment to full laboratories and workshops for production of finished goods. The variation of programs matched the needs of the community and the inputs of the partners. In each case there was significant opportunities for schools of business to guide efforts in developing new revenue streams and service to the local community

Editors’ Comments for JAMT Volume 2, Number 2

We welcome you to the current issue of the Journal of Applied Marketing. The objective of Journal of Applied Marketing Theory is to provide a forum for academic research that advances marketing knowledge as well as present insight for marketing managers. The focus of the journal is the publication of academic research that offers a link from theory to practice. The journal seeks to publish articles that expand our understanding of marketing issues while also providing value to marketing practitioners. In support of this philosophy, we have emphasized that manuscripts published in the journal provide summaries that present clear transitions from research conclusions to implementation approaches for marketing professionals. In the current issue we are pleased to present five manuscripts that offer unique insights into a number of diverse topics. Each article received praise from our review team and we are happy to have the opportunity to present them to you in this edition of JAMT. Merz has found an interesting and state of the art research solution for newspaper management using Partial Least Squares to incorporate both reflective and formative constructs. The manuscript includes an extensive section on implications for managers that develops payoff matrices to assist in managing marketing strategy. McGrath, an experienced practitioner in advertising, presents a contribution to Integrated Marketing Communications. His background in the industry allows him to offer a unique perspective. He suggests a methodology for practitioners to measure the results of programs in an effective and cost efficient experimental design. The manuscript also proposes a model for future academic research. Mak and Cheung conduct a study that examines the sport consumer. Specifically their study used CFA to examine the theoretical constructs of a five-factor consumer behavior model for intercollegiate football ticket consumption. Given the increasing prominence of collegiate sports as a business enterprise this is valuable insight. One of the original goals of JAMT was to close the gap between practice and theory. The article by Schwartz and Branch fit very well with our mission as it explores ways in which the divide between academics and practitioners can be closed. In particular, their contribution highlights how social media may be used as a vehicle to allow for a greater collaboration between academics and practitioners in the realm of sports. The last article featured in this edition may be considered a tribute to “Friday Night Lights.” In his article, Byon presents an interesting study that examined high school football. The tradition of attending a high school football game is a well ingrained part of American culture. The author takes a closer look at football game attendees and develops a scale to measure event quality for a game at this level. An upcoming issue will focus on Services Marketing. It will also include some great thoughts from our service marketing authors. We will continue to make the Journal of Applied Marketing Theory available to readers at no cost. Please see our Q&A area to answer frequent questions. We continue to meet AACSB requirements for acceptable journals. We are publically available and readable. Questions and comments may be directed to us at our journal email addresses. Thanks for your interest in JAMT

Drivers of the Value of the Firm: Profitability, Growth, and Capital Intensity

Value-based management systems focus on wealth and the wealth creation process and promote the generation of value for the shareholders. A valuation model for the firm is extended analytically to focus explicitly on profitability, growth, and capital intensity as drivers of the value of the firm. The extended model provides information about the sensitivities of the value of the firm to changes in the firm\u27s profitability, growth, and capital intensity. These sensitivities are presented in terms of changes per dollar of sales and actual dollar changes. The changes per dollar of sales show the relative sensitivities of the changes in the value of the firm resulting from changes in the measures for profitability, growth, and capital intensity. Each dollar amount shows the total dollar changes in the value of the firm resulting from changes in the profitability, growth, and capital intensity measures. These sensitivities show the impact of changes in the profitability, growth, and capital intensity measures on the value of the firm. This information is valuable in helping managers determine a desired course of action to improve the wealth generating ability of the firm by managing these value drivers more effectively

Estimates of the Sensitivities of the Value of the Firm to Profitability, Growth, and Capital Intensity

Value-based management systems concentrate on actions that generate value for the shareholders in the wealth creation process (Fisher 1995; Lieber 1996; Walbert 1994). This study focuses explicitly on profitability, growth, and capital intensity as drivers of the value of the firm by extending a free cash flow valuation model for the firm. The extended model is used to provide information about the sensitivities of the value of the firm to changes in the firm\u27s profitability, growth, and capital intensity. These sensitivities are presented in terms of partial derivatives and dollar changes. The partial derivatives show the changes in the value of the firm resulting from a small change in the measures for profitability, growth, or capital intensity. Each dollar amount shows the dollar changes in the value of the firm resulting from a small change in the profitability, growth, or capital intensity measures. These sensitivities show the impact of changes in the profitability, growth, and capital intensity measures on the value of the firm. This information is valuable in helping managers predict the results of actions to improve the wealth generating ability of the firm by managing these value drivers more effectivel

Bridging the Journal Gap: How Increased AQ Demands have Pushed Marketing Publications to Capacity

As more Universities begin to stress academic publication as a way to conform to current Marketing Department and Business School standards of accreditation the need for additional outlets for scholarship has become a pressing concern for faculty. This paper examines the changes that have taken place in the environment and proposes some changes that need to occur to make the current model for academic success achievable. The reality in the market is that growth in journal outlets for academic publications has not kept pace with either the increased number of marketing faculty nor with the increased emphasis on research publication, particularly at the refereed journal level. Therefore academicians are faced with an increased need for publication and increased competition for the relatively limited slots available

Tomorrow’s Champions Of Sustainability: How Everyday Leaders Can Harness Grass Roots Momentum to Advance Adoption of Ecologically Sound Practices in Sport and Event Management

For more than a decade, we have appealed to corporations to consider sustainability. Leading companies have enjoyed positive media attention, improved bottom line profits and enhanced competitiveness through environmental management and social initiatives. Sustainability in the broader sense has become everyone’s job, and the momentum crosses age groups and economic strata. This paper focuses on the event organizer as ordinary leader, inspiring an engaged, accessible audience toward sustainability, and offers rationale for promoting socially and environmentally responsible event management. With a captive audience, ordinary leaders have an opportunity to model socially and environmentally responsible practices through effective education, communication, metrics and follow-up

Predictors of Enrolling in Online Courses: An Exploratory Study of Students in Undergraduate Marketing Courses

An exploratory study of undergraduate students enrolled in marketing courses at a Southeastern regional university was conducted to determine the motivations and characteristics of marketing students who plan to be online learners and examined for differences between those who have taken and those who have not taken online classes. An online survey of Likert scales, openended questions and demographic questions was sent via class learning management websites. A total of 165 students of the 438 invited to participate completed the survey. A structural model was developed using SMART-PLS to estimate the relationships of constructs that predict taking online courses. Results of the study showed differences in predictors of those that have taken online courses compared to those who plan on taking online courses. A significant predictor of those planning on taking online courses is quality of learning while a significant predictor of those who have taken online courses is scheduling and timing. The results can be used to examine ways to improve/enhance the student’s educational experience, as well as an institution’s effectiveness in attracting the growing body of online learners

Christianity as Public Religion::A Justification for using a Christian Sociological Approach for Studying the Social Scientific Aspects of Sport

The vast majority of social scientific studies of sport have been secular in nature and/or have tended to ignore the importance of studying the religious aspects of sport. In light of this, Shilling and Mellor (2014) have sought to encourage sociologists of sport not to divorce the ‘religious’ and the ‘sacred’ from their studies. In response to this call, the goal of the current essay is to explore how the conception of Christianity as ‘public religion’ can be utilised to help justify the use of a Christian sociological approach for studying the social scientific aspects of sport. After making a case for Christianity as public religion, we conclude that many of the sociological issues inherent in modern sport are an indirect result of its increasing secularisation and argue that this justifies the need for a Christian sociological approach. We encourage researchers to use the Bible, the tools of Christian theology and sociological concepts together, so to inform analyses of modern sport from a Christian perspective

Characteristics of Adults in the Hepatitis B Research Network in North America Reflect Their Country of Origin and Hepatitis B Virus Genotype

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide; populations that migrate to the US and Canada might be disproportionately affected. The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is a cooperative network of investigators from the United States and Canada, created to facilitate clinical, therapeutic, and translational research in adults and children with hepatitis B. We describe the structure of the network and baseline characteristics of adults with hepatitis B enrolled in the network

Editors\u27 Comments for JAMT Issue 1 Volume 1

The Role of Refund Policy and Complaint Response Time in Determining Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intent Audrey Guskey, Ryan Luchs, and Xiaomei Min Organization Structure and Service Capabilities as Predictors of Supply Chain Performance: B2B Seller’s Perspective Harash J. Sachdev and G. Russell Merz Human Collaboration: A Key Component to Supply Chain Performance Kenneth Saban and John Mawhinney Lifestyle Bundles: A Between-Category Product Evaluation Study of Affluent Consumer Behavior Michael Levens The Buzz Factor: Comparing Web Sites and Publicity Marsha D. Loda, Barbara C. Coleman, William C. Norman and Marie Esposito How Arrogant are Sales and Marketing Professionals: Perceptions of Business Students Art Weinstein, Margaret Britt, Joseph Balloun, Perry Haan Bridging the Journal Gap: How Increased AQ Demands have Pushed Marketing Publications to Capacity Joe Schwartz, Rick Mathisen, Renee Fontenot and Mike Musant