Mark Finster

ACADEMIC FIT OF STUDENT-ATHLETES: An analysis of NCAA division I-A Graduation Rates

Federal law mandates that universities reveal their graduation rates purportedly to inform policy makers and constituencies about efforts to support educational attainment for students and athletes. These rates are widely used to compare universities. Analysis of 10 years of graduation rates across all major athletic programs concludes that graduation rates alone are insufficient and misleading unless they account for the widely varying constituencies served by different universities. Constituency factors include university mission, admission restrictions, and institutional wealth. Universities with more selective admission policies graduate both students and athletes at higher rates, although their athletes graduate at lower rates, relative to their student cohorts. This research assesses: (1) athlete educational attainment, (2) the impact of athletic success and (3) the relationship between admission selectivity and educational attainment. The results provide implications for across-university policies and suggest a method for identifying universities that model the bifurcated goal of academic and athletic excellence.

Linking Industrial Ecology with Business Strategy: Creating Value for Green Product Design

As organizations practice environmental design, some discover green design positively impacts business performance. This article demonstrates how an organization can employ existing design methods and tools with the Kano technique to craft an environmental product design strategy that enhances its business strategy. These tools expand the toolbox of the industrial ecologist and enable the link between green design and business improvement. The Kano technique was developed in the 1980s to facilitate design of innovative products. We also introduce terminology and concepts such as “voices of the environment,”“environmental knowledge management,”“environmental profile,” and “environmental product attribute” in order to bridge the gap between industrial ecology and business concerns. To demonstrate how an organization can find the synergy between business value and environmental value, this article describes three activities and their corresponding tools and exhibits their use with industry examples. First, we present techniques by which designers can identify and prioritize customers and stakeholders who voice both environmental and business concerns. Second, we describe how voice‐of‐the‐customer translation techniques can be used to efficiently collect and translate data from these customers and stakeholders into critical environmental product and service attributes. Third, we discuss how the Kano technique can be used to connect green design to business strategy by making visible the variety of stakeholder and customer perceptions of these critical environmental attributes. Examples then demonstrate how those perceptions suggest appropriate approaches for integrating the critical environmental attributes into product and business strategy. Finally, we provide examples based on work done with General Electric Medical Systems (GEMS) to illustrate the design of products that improve environmental performance while adding greater perceived value for numerous customers along material‐flow value chains.

A Frequentistic Approach to Sequential Estimation in the General Linear Model

Abstract Independent observations Y 1, Y 2, … are generated via the general linear model Yi = Xi β + ∈ i , X i being either a random or a sequentially designed matrix. The parameter β is estimated sequentially using the least squares estimator subject to a loss structure that is the sum of a cost due to sampling and a loss due to estimation error. If ∈1, ∈2, … are iid N(0, σ2 I) with σ unknown, no fixed-sample procedure will minimize the risk for all 0 < σ < ∞. The sequential procedure presented here performs nearly as well as the constant risk best fixed-sample procedure when σ2 is known. Its risk and the regret in not knowing σ2 are calculated up to terms that are o(c), as the cost of one observation c → 0 (or as σ → ∞). The asymptotic moments of the stopping time are given and the normalized stopping times limiting distribution is shown to be normal. Its first two moments are calculated up to second-order terms.

Statistical theory for the ratio model of paired comparisons

Abstract This paper investigates the ratio model for paired comparisons. This model arises in Saatys (1977, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 5, 234–281) scaling method for priorities in hierarchical structures and it also arises in the constant sum paired comparison models presented by Hauser and Shugan (1980, Operations Research, 28, 278–320). This paper characterizes some experimental designs that yield an estimable ratio scale and it develops a uniformly minimum variance, unbiased estimator of the scale parameters. An estimator is developed when only a subject of all p(p−1) 2 comparisons are made and when the comparisons are correlated. Moreover an intercept version of the standard model is investigated and tests of consistency and reliability are presented.

Creating business value by linking industrial ecology with business strategy and product design

This paper introduces an approach describing how an organization can use its own improvement methods and tools to develop a customer-driven environmental strategy that enhances its business strategy. The following steps were briefly described. First, key customers who express the environmental voice of the customer are identified and prioritized. Second, this environmental voice is collected and translated into product attributes that are critical to the environment. Third, the Kano technique is used to understand the different customer perceptions of these critical environmental attributes. Fourth, those customer perceptions suggest appropriate pathways for integrating the critical The anticipated result is improved environmental products that add greater perceived value to customers. The Kano technique ties an environmental attribute and how it is perceived to a business strategy thus providing a platform for environmental issues in the product realization process.

Next‐generation quality management: multinational, multidisciplinary and performance‐focused

Outlines the origin, vision, guiding principles and strategic intents of the Multinational Alliance for the Advancement of Organizational Excellence (MAAOE). Describes how MAAOE brings together leaders from many disciplines who are bonded together by a shared desire to investigate, create, disseminate and apply the multidisciplinary and multicultural knowledge necessary to assist organizations in their quest for excellence.

A WHITE PAPER: QUALITY AT THE CROSSROADS OF ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND THE ACADEMY

A new professional organization was birthed at Colorado State University in November 1998. The Multinational Alliance for the Advancement of Organizational Excellence (MAAOE) brings together leaders from many disciplines. They are bonded by a shared d..

An analysis of five simulation methods for determining the number of replications in a complex Monte Carlo study

In this article we summarize the results of a simulation study that compares and contrasts five different methods for selecting the number of replications necessary to accurately estimate a group of parameters utilizing the simple Monte Carlo method. The five methods are: an extension to several dimensions of Steins two-stage procedure, an extension of Halls three-stage procedure, a purely-sequential procedure that continuously monitors the simulation output, a continuously-monitoring procedure with a correction term, and a maximum eigenvalue procedure due to Srivastava. This study varies three design factors: the dimension of the simulated response (two or three), the number of replications necessary to be accurate (small, moderate and large sample sizes), and the kind of accuracy sets (rectangular or spherical). The simulation methods are compared on the basis of their probability of being accurate and on the basis of their efficiency, as measured by the distribution of the number of replications needed to be accurate. Typical distributional and density estimates are presented in both table and graph form.

A TQM process for systems integration. Getting the most from COTS software

Many companies are shopping for commercial off-the-shelf software to avoid the high costs and lengthy development time associated with building their own systems. This article discusses how methods of total quality management (TQM) can be used to better integrate large-scale commercial software purchases.

A frequentistic and bayesian analysis of zellner's economic regression model under an informative prior

Vector-valued observations Y1,Y2,... arrive sequentially and satisfy the general linear model The Xis are either random or known matrices and, given β and σ2, the are iid The parameter β is estimated by the Bayes estimator under the conjugate prior and subject to a loss structure that is the sum of the cost due to sampling and a predictive loss due to estimation error. We show that the myopic rule is asymptotically nondeficient in that the difference between its Bayes risk and the Bayes risk of the optimal procedure is of smaller order of magnitude than c, the cost of a single observation, as c → 0. The myopic stopping rule is also examined frequentistically through the use of nonlinear renewal theory.