University of Michigan - Flint

Faculty:  Gregory DeYong

Project Description:

Global intellectual property theft (counterfeiting and piracy) is estimated by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to exceed $500 billion per year. In addition to the monetary impact, counterfeit products are often unsafe as well. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 700,000 people die each year due to substandard pharmaceuticals used to treat malaria and tuberculosis.

Although the counterfeit product market is shadowy and fragmented, some aspects are more visible. The US Customs and Border Patrol maintains detailed records on each seizure of suspected counterfeit products at US Ports of Entry. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, I have obtained these records for 2009 and am interested in using this data to develop several lines of research.

• Analyzing the effectiveness of company strategies designed to combat counterfeiting
• Analyzing the impact of company outsourcing decisions on product counterfeiting
• Using similar data from prior years to identify trends in the type and quantity of seized products

Description of the work the SOM Assistant will perform:

This project, in large part, is dependent upon the management and analysis of large amounts of data (the 2009 data alone is made up of over 30,000 seizures). Although the data is generally in very usable condition, there is a considerable amount of work left to do in order to categorize the seizure records (on the basis of brand, product type, etc.) and to allow cross-referencing of data from different years.

The SOM Assistant will need to possess excellent data management skills and be proficient in the use of Microsoft Excel and Access. Strong written communications skills are also necessary. Using these skills, the SOM Assistant will identify key words or phrases within the dataset and use data management tools (Access Queries or Excel text functions) to populate descriptive fields within the database.

The SOM Assistant will also have the opportunity to search publicly available information (press releases, annual reports, company websites, etc.) to identify relevant company and government information for the study.

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Faculty:  Jacob Peng

Project Description:

This program provides an opportunity for students (both graduate and undergraduate) to learn about business and culture of two Pacific Basin countries in an intense and affordable study abroad course. The program assistant is needed to help with program planning, recruiting, marketing, and other administrative tasks.

Description of the work the SOM Assistant will perform:

1. This position starts in October 2010 and ends in May 2011 (instead of from September 2010
   to April 2011).
2. Assist program recruiting.
3. Assist with program marketing initiatives.
4. Assist with program communications (with students and with sposors).
5. Assist with organizing program events.
6. Assist with program administrative duties.
7. Some local (in Michigan) travel will be needed.

Preference:

1. Strong computing skills (web site, blogs, software skills, etc.)
2. Strong marketing skills (graphics, design, poster, etc.)

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Faculty:  Jacob Peng

Project Description:

More and more technologies are developed to help companies save money and resources to process expense reports. However, the effect of less-human information systems on expense reporting behaviors has not been considered either in research or in practice. This research will investigate both psychological effect and practical information system effect on expense reporting behaviors. A lab experiment will be used to test whether social presence induced by different communication medium and employee mood at the time when expense report is filed affect the employee's choice to engage in undesirable expense reporting behavior.

Description of the work the SOM Assistant will perform:

1. Assist in designing the web-based experiment instrument.
2. Assist in literature review and organization.
3. Help with experiment implementation.
4. Help with data analysis.

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Faculty:  Clement Chen

Project Description:

Auditing textbooks typically discuss three factors that increase the risk of fraud: motivation, opportunity, and rationalization (e.g. Louwers, et al. 2005). Motivation results from the presence of some pressure in an individual's life, such as gambling debts, college tuition, or a large hospital bill, that creates a motive to steal. Opportunity exists when one in a position of trust sees an opening in a company's internal controls that would allow him/her to embezzle money or take something else of value. Rationalization occurs when there is some lapse in integrity that leads a person to believe that it is actually acceptable to commit an act that might otherwise be thought of as unethical. For instance, a manager may have been passed over for a promotion and perceive that there was an injustice, or may convince himself/herself that anyone else would do the same thing in similar circumstances, and that no one is really being hurt.

Some empirical research has been conducted on motivation and opportunity; however, there appears to be a dearth of research that has examined the third part of this "fraud triangle": rationalization. Some argue that, when one or two of the three factors are present, a person is more likely to commit a fraud. The proposed study will examine the role of rationalizations in carrying out an unethical act. We will examine whether rationalization is a necessary condition for carrying out a fraud, or if high levels of motive and opportunity are sufficient without rationalization. We will also examine whether one's own moral compass (or lack thereof) affects the tendency to rationalize. Assistance is needed in order to identify the relevant material that will be necessary to formulate our expectations and to assess the extent to which the proposed study will contribute to the literature.

Description of the work the SOM Assistant will perform:

The SOM Assistant will search the relevant literature and summarize the findings from the prior literature in Fall 2010 and Winter semester 2011. Another task will involve data entry after surveys are collected.

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Faculty:  Peeth Kartha

Project Description:

ISO9000 Quality Standard is a series of internationally accepted guidelines as to how companies should set up their quality assurance systems. Focusing on procedures, controls and documentation, the standard is designed to help a company identify mistakes, streamline its operations and be able to guarantee a constant level of quality. Certification to this quality standard is rapidly becoming to be a de facto requirement for doing business globally. The certification process requires a significant investment of both human as well as financial resources of the organization. Even though obtaining certification is largely a voluntary decision, according to the latest statistics released by the ISO, 161 countries accounted for over eight hundred thousand certifications and the number is growing at the rate of about fifty thousand every year.

The process of obtaining ISO certification can be long and expensive and depends on the quality improvement efforts that exist in an organization. The cost of initial certification could be anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000. A recent survey reported that the average total cost associated with registration was $187,000. However, a majority of organizations make this decision partly because many customers require certification as a pre-condition to do business with them. There have been questions raised as to the worthiness of making such investments by organizations for obtaining certification. This research investigates this question by comparing the effects of ISO certification on organizational effectiveness. A questionnaire is developed to compare the effect of certification on a number of factors such as profitability, productivity and customer satisfaction. A survey will be conducted and results compared for companies with and without ISO certification. A sample of approximately 500 companies is to be taken to help guarantee representation of manufacturing and service organizations as well as organizations with and without certification. The study will be conducted in Italy as part of a larger international comparative study involving US, Asia and Europe. A similar study was conducted in India and is currently in the data analysis stage. The customized survey instrument for the US is in the final stage.

There is a growing body of literature that deal with quality assurance and quality management. While the nature and scope of ISO9000 is well understood, there has been considerable debate in the literature as to whether or not ISO 9000 has a positive impact. A selected list of references is given below. Generally they fall under three categories. The first category deals with the specific requirements mandated by the standard and what organizations need to do for compliance The second category involves implementation issues They provide specific steps for implementation including how to develop individual procedures to satisfy specific requirements by the standard. There is a third category that focuses on the financial rewards of certification to ISO9000 standard. With a few exceptions, generally the literature supports increased financial rewards for organizations with certification as a result of implementing quality procedures required by the ISO standard. These studies typically compare financial outcomes before and after implementation of the ISO standard. However, there is lack of sufficient research in the area of direct comparisons of financial outcomes of companies with and without certification. The current study attempts to fill that gap.

While the desirability for having ISO certification is well understood and well researched, the question of its worthiness in relation to the financial and other organizational outcomes such as profitability, quality and customer satisfaction, remains not sufficiently addressed. After a significant initial investment of close to two hundred thousand dollars for getting the certification, the organization still has to spend several thousand dollars annually to maintain its certification status. The results of this investigation will help to establish guidelines and strategies that could be used to make an educated fact-based decision as to whether or not an organization should seek and maintain ISO certification.

The objective of the study is to empirically estimate the impact of certification on the performance of factors that measure organizational efficiency such as customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability and to use that information as a tool for making a decision on whether or not to seek certification.

Since the problem discussed in this study is applicable to more than one specific country and is truly international, a comparative study on the impact of ISO certification was originally planned involving the US, European Union (EU) and Asia. The US study is completed. For EU, I used Italy and I am currently in the process of analyzing the data I received from that survey. The current study is to extend the investigation to include China. China was chosen partly because of the strength in its industrial base. Eventually I will be able to make a comparative study internationally.

Description of the work the SOM Assistant will perform:

Help with implementing the e-survey as well as help with data analysis using SPSS. I have data from two surveys and part of the analysis is completed for one of them but needs further analysis for both.

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