From exploring a virtual Cuba world to examining the impact of language in advertising to bilingual Hispanics, members of the faculty of the College of Business Administration tackle research projects that help Florida International University (FIU) fulfill its mission as a public research institution. And, as part of its mission, the university’s Center for International Business Education and Research (FIU-CIBER) creates and supports projects that align with a set of Congressional mandates, including those that are interdisciplinary.
Recently, FIU-CIBER Director Mary Ann Von Glinow and Christos Koulamas, associate dean of the business school awarded grants—up to $3,000—to 11 members of the business school faculty and to Maida Watson, Department of Modern Languages, who teaches courses on language for business. The grant recipients will be known as CIBER research associates.
“In evaluating the academic quality of the proposals, I was surprised at the creativity and depth that our faculty engages in when it comes to international research,” Von Glinow said. “Each awardee’s research fits into what we call ‘mandatory activities’ authorized by Congress under our Title VI grant (CIBER). Needless to say, I am thrilled to be able to support such important research.”
The recipients and the titles of the funded proposals by department are:
Management and International Business
Aya Chacar, “Business Groups and Performance”; William Newburry, “Foreignness and Corporate Citizenship Perceptions in Latin America and Spain” and jointly, “Political Risk Performance Persistence”
Marketing
Cecilia Alvarez and Kimberly Taylor, “Language Effects in Negotiations”; Alvarez and Paul W. Miniard, “Language Effects in Advertising to Hispanic Bilinguals”; Walfried M. Lassar, “An Examination of Gray Markets: The Impact of the Internet on International Gray Market Activity” and Tiger Li, “From Sourcing Investor to Market Investor: The Impact of Emerging Customer Strategy on Competitiveness of American Firms in China”
Finance and Real Estate
John Zdanowicz, “Detecting Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering: Open Source Intelligence and Data Mining the U.S. Trade Data Base”; and Krishnan Dandapani, “Protecting Financial Architecture: Mitigating Against Cyber Terrorism”
Decision Sciences and Information Systems
Ron Lee, “Modeling Cultural Affordances Using Virtual Worlds: Virtual Cuba Project” and Weidong Xia for “An Exploratory Study of Key Challenges in Off-shoring IT Work to China: The Second Phase,” done in conjunction with Von Glinow.
