Business and Financial Affairs

location_on Location: Burlington B

(Links to papers / posters are embargoed until 4/7)

All times in Eastern Time Zone

• assignment_ind Daniels, A. “ Digital Marketing Proposal for Jitters Coffeehouse ”
  This project utilizes concepts learned in an “Introduction to Digital Marketing” class that were put to practical use. In this project, I worked with Jitters Coffeehouse, a coffeehouse in one of the residence halls at UW-Whitewater that is run entirely by student volunteers. I constructed a marketing proposal, created more than forty social media posts and graphics, remodeled their website, and implemented strategies to improve brand awareness and overall engagement across their digital platforms. I then monitored the impact of my work through the use of event attendance, Instagram insights, and other digital metrics. The development of this proposal allowed me to connect to a topic that I’m deeply passionate about, which is using my talents for good by helping small businesses. In addition, this project allowed me to begin building a portfolio of my skills because I intend to pursue a career in digital marketing, which will require me to create and implement proposals and presentations akin to this.
• assignment_ind Singleton, J. “ An Analysis of the Normal Distribution Applied to Stock Prices ”
  Financial analysts have used traditional financial tools for years as a way to measure and predict risk in the markets and its effect on returns. However, when catastrophic economic events occur more often than assumed and predicted, this begs the question of the accuracy and effectiveness of these financial tools and models. Throughout the past 75 years, economists such as Benoit Mandelbrot and Nassim Nicholas Taleb have made it their goal to report on the inaccuracy of these models and the devastating effects caused by the belief in and the utilization of said models. Analysis of stock performance over time proves the key traditional finance component, the normal distribution curve, to be an inappropriate model for use in an area as volatile and emotionally driven as a financial market. Returns assumed by the curve to occur once every 741 days are occurring 6 to 7 times than the amount predicted. This paper discusses and analyzes current traditional finance tools and their inability to accurately measure risk in financial markets, as well as how the behavior of 50 S\&P 500 stocks cannot accurately be modeled by the normal distribution curve.
• assignment_ind Weir, C., Brown, J. & Warnaar, T. “ An Investigation into the Efficiency and Potential Realized Value of International Declarations: A Company X Study ”
  Company X, a consumer retail company specializing in home goods, has grown immensely since its creation; however, it has recently experienced decreasing profit margins year over year and has fallen behind competitors in automation rates. Company X is seeking a strategy that will efficiently and effectively grow and strengthen their business, both overall and within individual processes. Our team was provided with Company X’s international declaration dataset, with the task of modifying and developing a strategy to strengthen and optimize the international declaration process.Through further examination, we discovered that company X follows a standard approval process for international declarations but has not updated its procedures to account for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to properly deduce this by use of data process mining in partnership with Celonis, the premier data process mining corporation. Throughout the duration of our investigation, by using the raw data, the tools that Celonis provided for us, and external research, we noticed several areas of improvement within the process that, when modified, have the potential to increase value within company X’s business. Specifically, our team has identified three key areas of improvement that can be updated to increase company X’s value and efficiency.