Products with lower customer survey scores in a segment will have
Products with lower customer survey scores in a segment will have: Select One A.Lower awareness B.Lower demand C.Lower accessibility D.Lower stock prices
Which of the following is a question likely to be addressed by a segment manager
Which of the following is a question likely to be addressed by a segment manager? Select One A.Does the product have sufficient capacity to meet current and future demand? B.Is there enough capacity to supply demand in this market? C.What will the other companies do with their product lines next year? In two years? D.None of the above
Which group of tactics would be most commonly used to maximize ROA
Which group of tactics would be most commonly used to maximize ROA? Select One A.Decrease ROS, decrease Asset Turnover, & decrease Sales B.Decrease ROS, increase Asset Turnover, & increase Sales C.Increase ROS, decrease Asset Turnover, & decrease Sales D.Increase ROS, increase Asset Turnover, & increase Sales
Why would your company want to reduce its accounts receivable policy
Why would your company want to reduce its accounts receivable policy? Select One A.Reducing their receivables will increase their available cash B.Reducing their receivables will slightly increase demand C.Reducing their receivables will anger their suppliers D.None of the above
Besides using a life cycle strategy, select which group of characteristics would be most commonly used by a differentiation strategy with a product life cycle focus. Select One A.Heavily increase automation ratings, average marketing expenditures, & allow products to transition from one segment to another as the perceptual map continues to evolve B.Slightly increase automation ratings, minimal marketing expenditures, & allow products to transition from one segment to another as the perceptual map continues to evolve C.Slightly increase automation ratings, invest heavily into marketing, & reposition products into desired target segments D.Slightly increase automation ratings, minimal marketing expenditures, & reposition products into desired target segments where they will remain
Which of the following would have a negative effect on the balanced scorecard score
Which of the following would have a negative effect on the balanced scorecard score? Select One A.Low inventory B.High plant utilization C.High stock price D.Low accessibility
When products are left unsold, what impact does this NOT have on the company
When products are left unsold, what impact does this NOT have on the company? Select One A.Increases variable costs B.Increases stock-out costs C.Decreases plant utilization D.Both B and C
The contribution margin seen by the production department is different from the one on the income statement because it does NOT account for which of the following? Select One A.Inventory carrying costs B.Total Unit Cost C.Workforce complement D.All of the above
As a Finance manager, how can you increase net profit
As a Finance manager, how can you increase net profit? Select One A.Lower MTBF B.Increase price C.Increase automation D.Reduce debt
[solved] You are working on a team with members from across the company.
You are working on a team with members from across the company. The team’s first task is to draft an internal memo to be delivered to all employees that describes what is meant by the term “sustainability” in business contexts. The team wants an opening statement that clearly and simply describes sustainability before getting into the details about the company’s specific initiatives. Which of the following opening statements would be most consistent with the concept of sustainability?Select : 1Save Answer Sustainability is about how our company’s actions impact the natural environment. Sustainability is about our company’s relationship to society. Sustainability is about how our company ensures financial stability and responsible resource allocation. Sustainability is about how our company meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability is about the effectiveness of our company’s philanthropic efforts and its compliance with laws and regulations.
Your company wants to revise its resource management process to promote more sustainable practices.
Your company wants to revise its resource management process to promote more sustainable practices. The goal is to create closed-loop systems, where products or materials can be reused, remanufactured, or regenerated. Which of the following sustainability concepts is most aligned with this approach?Select : 1Save Answer Biomimicry Circular economy Triple bottom line Shared values framework Sustainable innovation
Your company wants to revise its resource management process to promote more sustainable practices. The goal is to create closed-loop systems, where products or materials can be reused, remanufactured, or regenerated. Which of the following sustainability concepts is most aligned with this approach?Select : 1Save Answer Biomimicry Circular economy Triple bottom line Shared values framework Sustainable innovation
Hubro Marketing simulation Tips 2024
When we started hubro simulation, it was confusing. However, after reading the guide, we had the confidence to start making decisions for quarter 1. However, making the decisions itself was challenging since we were not sure what worked and what did not. After carefully reviewing the Hubro Business simulation strategy market segments, we settled for organic moms and billenials. Our choice for these two segments was informed by the fact that commuters were a segment that was highly priced and the families’ largest. Therefore, most teams would likely choose those. With many companies in commuters and families, the competition would likely be high and thus profits low. Ignoring families and commuters was one of our main weaknesses since the best-performing company selected families as their basic segment and they did well. One weakness of billenials is that it is a segment of confused customers who are hard to please and also they cannot pay premiums. Therefore, the best way that we would have taken was to select any other market segment besides billenials since it had so many shortcomings. Besides poor segment selection, we took an additional 4 other quarters to introduce our next new product “jerry”. Clearly, the market was already long bored by our flagship product “tom”. Based on the game, introducing new products would help to increase sales and profit However, after introducing the new product, our company struggled and the profit earned dwindled. The company earned the highest revenue of 357120 in Q2Y2. However, just after introducing Jerry in Q3Y2, The revenue dropped to 147420. The main issue here seems to be a promotional problem, the company did not increase the promotion budget greatly after introducing a new product, and that lead to a loss of awareness. It is evident that the company should always identify the best promotion and distribution tactics that resonate well with a given segment to get the best awareness out of it. For Hubro, the best result seems to favor those that understand clearly what the market needs and deliver exactly that. Delivering the products is not enough by itself but also ensuring that customers are aware of the product, they have a variety and these varieties are well positioned. If we had made sure that we meet all these requirements, no doubt, our income would not have dropped but rather we would have ended up with many profitable sales.how to win hubro business simulationBesides the decision-making problem, we had other issues. For instance, we mostly met online. There were always issues with meeting scheduling since every person had different needs and they assigned their daily hours differently. Despite that, we always agreed on meeting times, and most of each member showed up when required. We also agreed to make decisions on consensus. It was tiring especially since we had to agree on each decision entry. However, this made us learn so much about the game. It also assisted helped the group avoid self-doubt and blame games. Although we did not get the first position, we learned so much and thus in the future, if we are put in the same situation, we would most likely review all material provided to come up with better decisions. One thing we did not agree on is about purchasing market research marketer services because we felt like it was quite expensive. However, over the game, we have realized that this research is very important since it assists to show where we should be spending our money when it comes to promotion and distribution. With accurate promotion and distribution targeting, we would mostly get the best values for our money in terms of awareness and marketing mix.
edmundo business simulation game personal reflective report
To be used for all types of assessment and provided to students at the start of the module. Information provided should be compatible with the detail contained in the approved module specification although may contain more information for clarity. Module title Strategic Management CRN 39297 Level 6 Assessment title Assignment 2 - Reflective Journal Weighting within module This assessment is worth 50% of the overall module mark. Module Leader/Assessment set by Tracy Dixon T.L.Dixon@salford.ac.uk Submission deadline date and time 3 rd May 2023 by 4pm For coursework assessments only: students with a Reasonable Adjustment Plan (RAP) or Carer Support Plan should check your plan to see if an extension to this submission date has been agreed. How to submit You should submit your assessment electronically via Turnitin on Blackboard. Assessment task details and instructions All generic questions about the assessment should be asked on the Padlet provided on blackboard – generic questions sent to tutors’ email will be directed to put these on the message boards. You are to write a reflective journal based on your 8 weeks experience on the simulation exercise. The simulation runs from Week 3 to week 10 inclusive. This is an individual assessment. Your journal should be a reflection on each of the weeks. You reflection should: i) discuss your team’s strategy for the business as decided in week 3 and if any changes were made to it over the 8 weeks ii) look at the 3 key decisions made, how they were formed, the results of those decisions and how you used this information to make any changes for the future Assessment Information/Brief 2 iii) discuss any strategic tools that you used to form your decisions iv) reflect on where your team came in the final ranking and how it could be improved v) reflect on how you worked as a team. Information on the simulation will be given in week 3’s lecture and there will be a folder on blackboard containing all information on the exercise. Time will be given in each seminar for the group to work on the simulation however you are not limited to only this time, you can access the simulation at any point during the week prior to the 5pm Friday cut off (first week will end 3/2/2023). Results for the performance of the simulation will be available after 5pm each Friday. Guide to reflective writing LINK video on reflective writing LINK Assessment Criteria Task Marks available Word count i) Discussion of team’s strategy 15 270 ii) Reflection on 3 key decisions made 30 540 iii) Use of strategic tools 15 270 iv) Reflection on final position and improvements that could be made 20 360 v) Discussion of teamwork 10 180 vi) Presentation, demonstrates critical analysis, wider reading and range of academic sources, referencing 10 180 Sub total: 100 marks 1800 words Percentage Mark Level of Performance (based on mark awarded): 90-100 Outstanding 80-89 Excellent 70-79 Very Good 60-69 Good 50-59 Fair 40-49 Adequate 30-39 Unsatisfactory 20-29 Poor 10-19 Very Poor 0-9 Extremely Poor Assessment Information/Brief 3 Also refer to the detailed Level 6 grade descriptors available on the module’s Blackboard and the rubric. Knowledge and Understanding Practical, Professional or Subject Specific Skills Assessed intended learning outcomes On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to: 1. Demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge and understanding of strategic management within a global and sustainable context. 3. Identify strategic problems and issues facing a range of organizational types and situations 5. Engage in debate about strategy and communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions effectively from a theoretical and a 6. Research, analyse and interpret qualitative and quantitative data from a wide range of sources. 7. Consolidate cognitive skills in critical analysis and evaluation Employability Skills developed / demonstrated Communication YES Critical Thinking and Problem Solving YES Data Literacy NO Digital Literacy YES Industry Awareness YES Innovation and Creativity YES Proactive Leadership YES Reflection and Life-Long Learning YES Self-management and Organisation YES Team Working YES Word count/ duration (if applicable) Your assessment should be…... 1800 words +/- 10% in length, penalties may be applied for exceeding the word count. Your word count does not include any charts, diagrams, images or the bibliography. Feedback arrangements You can expect to receive feedback within 15 working days of submission. Assessment drafts cannot be looked at by lecturers, students have use of Smarthinking. Academic Integrity and Referencing Students are expected to learn and demonstrate skills associated with good academic conduct (academic integrity). Good academic conduct includes the use of clear and correct referencing of source materials. Here is a link to where you can find out more about the skills which students need: Assessment Information/Brief 4 Academic integrity & referencing Referencing Academic Misconduct is an action which may give you an unfair advantage in your academic work. This includes plagiarism, asking someone else to write your assessment for you or taking notes into an exam. The University takes all forms of academic misconduct seriously. Assessment Information and Support Support for this Assessment You can obtain support for this assessment using the Padlet link in the assessment folder. All questions on the assessment will be answered here so everyone can benefit, as well as it being consistent. Smarthinking can be used for help with academic writing. Office hours are available see blackboard for details. You can find more information about understanding your assessment brief and assessment tips for success here. Assessment Rules and Processes You can find information about assessment rules and processes in Blackboard in the Assessment Support module. Develop your Academic and Digital Skills Find resources to help you develop your skills here. Concerns about Studies or Progress If you have any concerns about your studies, contact your Academic Progress Review Tutor/Personal Tutor or your Student Progression Administrator (SPA). askUS Services The University offers a range of support services for students through askUS including Disability and Learner Support, Wellbeing and Counselling Services. Personal Mitigating Circumstances (PMCs) If personal mitigating circumstances (e.g. illness or other personal circumstances) may have affected your ability to complete this assessment, you can find more information about the Personal Mitigating Circumstances Procedure here. Independent advice is available from the Students’ Union Advice Centre about this process. Click here for an appointment to speak to an adviser or email advicecentre-ussu@salford.ac.uk. In Year Retrieval Scheme Your assessment is not eligible for in year retrieval. If you are eligible for this scheme, you will be contacted shortly after the feedback deadline. Assessment Information/Brief 5 You can find more information about this scheme in Blackboard in the Assessment Support module. Reassessment If you fail your assessment, and are eligible for reassessment, you will need to resubmit on or before TBC. For students with accepted personal mitigating circumstances for absence/non submission, this will be your replacement assessment attempt. The assessment will be changed for the reassessment. We know that having to undergo a reassessment can be challenging however support is available. Have a look at all the sources of support outlined earlier in this brief and refer to the Personal Effectiveness resources
As a Marketing manager, how can you increase net profit?
As a Marketing manager, how can you increase net profit? Select One A.Lower MTBF B.Increase price C.Increase automation D.Reduce debt
Which group of financing activities will all increase your company’s leverage?
Which group of financing activities will all increase your company’s leverage? Select One A.Paying off current debt, retiring long term debt, and issuing stock B.Paying off current debt, issuing long term debt, & retiring stock C.Issuing current debt, issuing long term debt, paying a dividend, & retiring stock D.Issuing current debt, retiring long term debt, paying a dividend & issuing stock
An increase in the Accounts Receivables policy:
An increase in the Accounts Receivables policy: Select One A.Gives customers less time to pay you B.Gives you more time to pay suppliers C.Gives you less time to pay suppliers D.Gives customers more time to pay you
How does the Balanced Scorecard measure how effectively your company is working its assets?
How does the Balanced Scorecard measure how effectively your company is working its assets? Select One A.Days of Working Capital B.Inventory Carrying Costs C.Product Count D.Plant Utilization
Besides focusing on higher technology segments, select which group of characteristics would be most commonly used by a niche differentiation strategy. Select One A.Heavily increase automation ratings, minimize marketing expenses early, & offer multiple product lines in each target segment B.Heavily increase automation ratings, invest heavily into marketing, & offer one product line in each target segment C.Slightly increase automation ratings, invest heavily in marketing, & offer multiple product lines in each target segment D.Slightly increase automation ratings, minimize marketing expenses early, & offer one product line in each target segment
What effect does decreasing automation have on a company?
What effect does decreasing automation have on a company? Select One A.Decreases variable costs by increasing the amount of production capacity B.Decreases variable costs by decreasing the amount of workers needed C.Decreases variable costs by increasing plant utilization D.Both B and C E.None of the above
What metrics are used to calculate a product’s contribution margin?
What metrics are used to calculate a product’s contribution margin? Select One A.Sales, total costs B.Profit, variable costs C.Sales, variable costs D.Profit, total costs
When the Marketing Department works with the R&D Department, which of the following would be determined? Select One A.Ensuring manufacturing runs are in line with market growth projections. B.Ensuring product line meets customer expectations, and projecting revenues. C.Ensuring assembly lines are purchased for new products, and the impact of automation increases on revision dates. D.Ensuring R&D costs per product and properly funded.
Which action would increase the customer survey score?
Which action would increase the customer survey score? Select One A.Increase price B.Increase MTBF C.Increase automation D.Decrease debt
Given the following data from a Comparative Competitive Efforts page in the CIR:
WHOLESALE SEGMENTYourCompanyIndustryAverageYour Companyvs. Ind. Avg.Wholesale Price ($ per pair)$74.50$53.83+38.4%S/Q Rating (1 to 10 stars)9.96.3+57.1%Model Availability50300-83.3%Brand Advertising ($000s)16,50014,350+15.0%Rebate Offer ($ per pair)0.003.40-100.0%Delivery Time (weeks)1 wks2.8 wks-64.3%Retailer Support ($ per outlet)5,0004,675+7.0%Retail Outlets3,2821,538+113.4%Celebrity Appeal345111+210.8%Brand Reputation (prior-year average)9476+23.7%Pairs Demanded2,0242,413-16.1%Gained/Lost (due to stockouts)00 Pairs Sold (000s)2,0242,413-16.1%Market Share (%)8.4%10.0%-1.6 ptsBased on the above data for your company, which of the following statements is false? Your company’s percentage competitive advantages and disadvantages on the 10 competitive factors affecting Wholesale sales and market share resulted in a net overall competitive disadvantage of a size that resulted in a below-average 8.4% market share for your company.Your company’s branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment were negatively impacted by your company’s competitive effort in model availability and the lack of a rebate offer. Your company's sizable negative percentage competitive disadvantage in delivery time had a negative competitive impact on your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment .Your company’s biggest percentage competitive advantage in the Wholesale Segment related to celebrity appeal. Your company’s branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment were positively impacted by your company’s brand reputation, S/Q rating, and number of retail outlets.
Your company's distribution and warehouse costs per pair sold are less than 20% below the industry average in the Asia-Pacific regionYour company's operating profit margin in the Wholesale segment of the North America region is below the industry averageYour company's operating profit per pair sold in the Wholesale segment of the Asia-Pacific region is below the operating profit margin in the Internet segment of the Asia-Pacific regionYour company's marketing expenses per pair sold in both the Internet and Wholesale branded footwear segments in the Europe-Africa region are about 10% above the industry averageYour company's operating profit per branded pair sold in the Wholesale segment in the North America region is equal to the industry low
only have value to the managers of companies whose costs are below the industry averages.are sometimes historically interesting but are of little or no value to managers when it comes to making decisions in the upcoming decision round.are worth careful scrutiny by the managers of all companies because they help managers determine the degree to which their company's costs for the benchmarked cost categories are competitive with those of rival companies.are of little value to company managers in making decisions to improve company performance in the upcoming decision round, unless a company is losing money and its managers do not understand why.are of considerable value to the managers of companies considering building additional facility space and/or adding more footwear-making equipment to boost production capabilities.
Spend an amount on brand advertising that exceeds the industry average for Latin AmericaCharge an average retail price that is below the industry average for Latin AmericaOffer online shoppers a number of models/styles that exceeds the industry average for Latin AmericaProduce and market branded footwear with an S/Q rating that exceeds the industry average for Latin AmericaOffer a higher mail-in rebate than most all other rivals competing in the Internet segment in the Latin America region
Given the following Year 12 balance sheet data for a footwear company:
Balance Sheet DataCash on Hand$ 15,000Total Current Assets130,000Total Fixed Assets290,000Total Assets$420,000Accounts Payable$ 20,000Overdraft Loan Payable01-Year Bank Loan Payable5,000Current Portion of Long-Term Bank Loans22,000Total Current Liabilities47,000Long-Term Bank Loans Outstanding153,000Total Liabilities200,000Shareholder Equity:Year 11BalanceYear 12Change Common Stock20,000020,000Additional Capital120,0000120,000Retained Earnings60,00020,00080,000Total Shareholder Equity200,000+20,000220,000Total Liabilities and Shareholder Equity$420,000Based on the above figures and the definition of the debt-assets ratio presented in the Help section for p. 5 of the Footwear Industry Report, the company’s debt-assets ratio (rounded to 2 decimal places) is0.45.0.46.0.40.0.48.0.42.
pursue a strategy of selling footwear to retailers in Europe-Africa at a wholesale price of $39 per pair or less--no import tariffs have to be paid on branded pairs shipped to footwear retailers in Europe-Africa when the wholesale price is below $40 per pair.pursue a strategy of selling fewer pairs in Europe-Africa than rival companies--this has the advantage of keeping the company's costs for import tariffs in Europe-Africa lower than those of rivals.build a production facility in Europe-Africa and then expand it as may be needed so that the company has sufficient capacity to supply all (or at least most) of the branded and private-label pairs the company intends to try to sell in that geographic region.raise the company's selling price of footwear in Europe-Africa by the full amount of the tariff and pass all tariff costs along to the purchasers of the company's footwear--this strategy has the advantage of completely eliminating the company's exposure to import tariffs in Europe-Africa.stop selling footwear in Europe-Africa and close down all company operations in that region.
Assume a company's Income Statement for Year 12 is as follows:
Income Statement DataYear 12(in 000s)Net Revenues from Footwear Sales$ 580,000Cost of Pairs Sold350,000Warehouse Expenses45,000Marketing Expenses90,000Administrative Expenses15,000Operating Profit (Loss)80,000Interest Income (Expense)(20,000)Pre-tax Profit (Loss)60,000Income Taxes18,000Net Profit (Loss)$ 42,000Based on the above income statement data and the formula for calculating the interest coverage ratio presented in the Help section for p. 5 of the Footwear Industry Report, the company’s interest coverage ratio is4.00.2.10.29.0.3.00.2.20.
Assume a company's Income Statement for Year 12 is as follows:
Income Statement DataYear 12(in 000s)Net Revenues from Footwear Sales$ 530,000Cost of Pairs Sold340,000Warehouse Expenses40,000Marketing Expenses80,000Administrative Expenses15,000Operating Profit (Loss)55,000Interest Income (Expense)(10,000)Pre-tax Profit (Loss)45,000Income Taxes13,500Net Profit (Loss)$ 31,500Based on the above income statement data and assuming the company has 20 million shares of common stock outstanding, the company's operating profit margin and EPS wereCopyright © by Glo-Bus Software, Inc. Copying, distributing, or 3rd party website posting isexpressly prohibited and constitutes copyright violation.10.4% and $2.75.10.38% and $1.58.8.49% and $2.25.5.94% and $1.55.6.67% and $1.84.
the production cost benchmarking data on p. 6 of each issue of the Footwear Industry Report to help determine whether it should make maximum use of overtime at each of the company's production facilities to help lower total production costs per pair.the benchmarking data on p. 7 of the FIR to determine whether it has achieved the lowest possible total branded costs per pair sold in each geographic region.page 4 of the FIR to help determine whether to (1) invest in one or more production improvement options, (2) bid more aggressively to win private-label contracts to help lower total production costs, or (3) sell some of the new or refurbished equipment at one or more production facilities.the production cost benchmarking data on p. 6 of each issue of the Footwear Industry Report to determine whether it should close down whichever production facility that has the highest total production costs per branded pair.the production cost benchmarking data on p. 6 of each issue of the Footwear Industry Report to see if its efforts to achieve low total production costs per branded pair have been more/less successful than other companies pursuing much the same outcome.
When the company has the ability to manufacture private-label footwear at a production cost per pair that is at least $2 per pair below its per pair production cost of branded footwearWhen the data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that one or more rival firms were able to secure contracts at offer prices above $25 per pairWhen the data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that all winners of contracts for private-label footwear in a geographic region in the past year had offer prices above $40 per pairWhen the demand of chain retailers for private-label footwear is rising faster than buyer demand for branded footwearWhen managers determine that all of the company's available production capacity will not be needed to produce branded footwear and that the total amount of idle production capacity at its production facilities will be sufficient to meet or exceed the 100,000-pair minimum-delivery requirement of chain retailers in each region.
10% or $1,440,000.8% or $1,150,000.4% or $575,000.2.5% or $360,000.5% or $720,000.
The easiest way for a company to achieve low labor costs per pair produced is make sure that all of its production facilities are equipped with new footwear-making equipment rather than refurbished equipment.The most effective way for a company to achieve labor costs per pair produced that are below the industry average is to give workers large increases in base pay (above 10%) annually and to keep incentive pay below $0.75 per non-defective pair produced.As long as labor productivity at a company's production facility is in the range of 3,400 to 3,600 pairs produced per worker, then labor costs per pair produced at that facility will closely match the labor costs per pair produced of other companies having production facilities in that same region.Companies producing branded footwear with a 7-star or higher S/Q rating are very unlikely to achieve labor costs per pair produced that are below the industry average in a given region whereas companies producing branded footwear with an S/Q rating no higher than 4-stars or less in that same geographic region are virtually assured of having labor costs per pair that are below the region's industry average.Company managers each year should seek to search out a combination of base pay increases, incentive pay per non-defective pair produced, total compensation, and expenditures for best practices training at each production facility that is projected to yield the lowest feasible labor cost per pair produced.
Increasing the base wage paid to production workers by at least 3% annuallyIncreasing total employee compensation by 4% and realizing a 6% increase in production worker productivityIncreasing total expenditures for best practices training by 10% annuallyIncreasing spending for TQM/Six Sigma quality control from $3 per pair to $5 per pairReducing the S/Q rating of branded pairs produced for 4.6 stars to 4.1 stars
One of the benefits of pursuing a strategy of social responsibility and corporate citizenship is
higher sales of branded footwear at the company's Web sites (because customers are pleased with the company's commitment to being a good corporate citizen).an enhanced image rating, provided company spending for socially responsible activities is meaningful and is sustained over a multi-year period.the boost such a strategy gives to increasing the company's global sales volume and global market share of branded footwear when the company's advertising is devoted to explaining all of the socially responsible activities it is undertaking.the boost such a strategy gives to the company's EPS and ROE.the positive impact that such a strategy has on worker job satisfaction and productivity.
concentrating all production of 500 models at a production facility in Latin America.instituting production improvement option A at each production location producing 500 models, so as to conserve on expenditures for TQM/Six Sigma programs.instituting production improvement option B at all production locations where 500 models are going to be produced.boosting the use of superior materials to 70% or more at all production locations where 500 models are to be produced to help also boost the company's S/Q rating on the branded pairs being produced.building production facilities in Latin America and Europe-Africa to produce 500 models/styles and installing either production improvement options C or D at both of these locations.
Given the following data from a recent Comparative Competitive Efforts page in the CIR:
INTERNET SEGMENTYourCompanyIndustryAverageYour Companyvs. Ind. Avg.Retail Price ($ per pair)$63.00$76.28-17.4%Search Engine Advertising ($000s)5,0006,225-19.7%Free ShippingNoNoneSameS/Q Rating4.36.3-31.7%Model Availability400300+33.3%Brand Advertising12,00014,350-16.4%Celebrity Appeal0111-100.0%Brand Reputation8076+5.3%Online Orders (000s)598538+11.2%Pairs Sold (000s)598538+11.2%Market Share (%)11.1%10.0%+11.2%Based on the above data for your company, which of the following statements is false?Your company’s percentage competitive advantages and disadvantages on the 8 competitive factors affecting Internet sales and market share resulted in a net overall competitive advantage of a size sufficient to produce an 11.1% market share for your company, which was above the 10.0% average market share for the region.Your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Internet segment were negatively impacted by your company's competitive effort in search engine advertising and brand advertising.Your company's most powerful competitive disadvantage in Internet segment related to the fact that your company's retail price was 17.4% below the industry average.Your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Internet segment were positively impacted by your company's brand reputation.Your company's biggest percentage competitive advantage in the Internet Segment related to model availability.
Managerial efforts to boost a company's stock price should entail such actions as
raising the company's dividend each year(by at least $0.10 and preferably $0.25 or more for the increase to have much impact on the stock price) and repurchasing shares of common stock.spending amounts on corporate citizenship and social responsibility that are above the industry average, boosting the company's dividend payout ratio to more than 100%, and paying off all long-term debt within 2 years.increasing the company's dividends each year (by at least $0.10 and preferably $0.25 or more for the increase to have much impact on the stock price), keeping the company's credit rating at A (or above), spending sufficient money on corporate citizenship and social responsibility to earn an Award for Exemplary Corporate Citizenship, and issuing a sufficient number of shares of common stock to pay off all long-term debt within 1-2 years.charging a price for branded footwear that is below the industry average in all geographic regions, spending amounts on corporate citizenship and social responsibility that are below the industry average, keeping the company's image rating above 70, paying a dividend each year that equals projected EPS, and repurchasing shares of common stock.paying off all long-term debt as rapidly as possible, keeping the company's dividend payout ratio between 25% and 50%, spending additional money on corporate citizenship and social responsibility, and maintaining a credit rating that is no less than B+.
the gross profit a seller receives on each pair of private-label footwear sold.how much the company received from each pair of private-label footwear sold over and above the cost of pairs sold -- these dollars are automatically deposited in a seller's retained earnings account and help boost the seller's credit rating.cash that can be used to pay bank loans or increase dividend payments or be deposited in the company's retained earnings (to strengthen the company's balance sheet and credit rating).how much sellers of private-label footwear received over and above the costs per pair sold; these margins, if positive, serve to improve a seller's operating profit in the designated region (negative margins over direct cost act to reduce a seller's operating profits in the region). the net profit sellers earn (or lose--in the case of negative numbers) on each pair of private-label footwear supplied to a given region's chain retailers.
Increasing the incentive pay for production workers, and thereby reduce reject rates on pairs producedIncreasing expenditures for enhanced styling/featuresIncreasing efforts to improve the productivity of production workersAvoiding bidding for contracts to supply private-label footwear to chain retailers, which damages the company's image as a producer of top quality footwearMaximizing the use of overtime at each production location
the Comparative Competitive Efforts section of the Competitive Intelligence Report for each geographic region.the information displayed on p. 8 of the FIR.the Demand Forecast data on p. 4 of the FIR.the facility space and production equipment data at the bottom of p. 4 of the FIR.the financial data on p. 5 of the FIR.
Your boss has just reviewed a report
Your boss has just reviewed a report you wrote for a new client. She comments that the report has all the important details, but just isn't convincing enough. She is likely referring to which of the following areas of effective communication?
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The format of your report.
The length of the report.
The accuracy of the report.
The writing style in the report.
You just delivered a "mock" presentation to
You just delivered a "mock" presentation to your team to practice your communication skills. The team gave very positive feedback on the format, length, and content of your presentation. What should you focus on most to improve your presentation skills?
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Adding more images and graphics to the presentation.
Increasing the amount of details you provide.
Varying your tone during the presentation.
Decreasing the time it take to deliver the presentation.
You are a Director in the Andrews
You are a Director in the Andrews Company. Your boss called you to inform you that there is a proposed layoff in your department, which would affect three of six of your employees if it takes place. Given the sensitivity of the issue, your boss asks you to keep this information absolutely confidential. Later that day, one of your employees (Shelia) who would be affected stops you in the hallway and says she’s heard rumors about a layoff, remarking, "I’m not going to be fired am I?" Which of the following people best represent the stakeholders for whom you are primarily obligated?
Select : 1
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Your boss and Shelia
Yourself, Shelia and your other employees
Your boss, Shelia and yourself
Your boss, Shelia, and Sheila’s family and yourself
You’ve just received a complaint from your
You’ve just received a complaint from your best customer that her set of 50 new sensors is overheating and she wants her money back or a significant reduction in the cost. You showed her email to your boss who remarked, "Well, that’s not covered under the service-agreement, and she’s beyond 90 days for returns. We can’t be responsible for customers who abuse the products without regard for proper use as stated clearly in the manual." How would you best characterize this situation?
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This is an ethical dilemma because both the customer and the company have legitimate concerns.
This is not an ethical dilemma because both proper use and return policies are clearly stated.
This is an ethical dilemma because it’s quite possible the customer will sue the company over this issue.
This is not an ethical dilemma because the customer has free will and was under no obligation to buy from this particular company.
You are a consultant on a project
You are a consultant on a project team that has been hired by the Andrews Company to design and administer an employee survey. The survey contains information about employee job satisfaction, engagement, and issues concerning pay and promotion fairness perceptions. The project is generating over $450,000 in consulting fees. The night before your presentation to the client, a Sr. Vice President of Marketing at Andrews calls you and asks you to send her the survey data for the Marketing department so she isn’t "surprised by any of the report’s findings." You respond by saying that "the information is confidential" to which she says, "Of course! I’m not going to share it with anyone else." Which of the following issues should most concern you in considering a response?
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Providing high quality service to the client.
Giving the client feedback about her aggressive behavior.
Protecting the identity of individual survey respondents.
Ensuring accurate data analysis.
One of your employees just told you
One of your employees just told you that she is being sexually harassed at work by an employee outside your work group. Which of the following would be the most effective action to take?
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Review the policies and procedures in your organization for dealing with a claim of sexual harassment.
Call the police to report the incident.
Ask the employee to give you a full report of the details and circumstances.
Ask the employee to write up a report to submit to the human resources department.
One of your employees has performed well
One of your employees has performed well this year. At performance appraisal time, she asks you about how raise and bonus amounts will be determined. In this situation, she is most likely to be concerned about which of the following methods for fair distribution of resources?
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Loyalty
Equality
Need
Equity
As part of a leadership development program
As part of a leadership development program at your company, you are about to be assigned to a global cross-functional project team. The team has members from 6 different countries that you haven't visited before and don't know of any colleagues that have worked in these countries. The opportunity is exciting and will increase your exposure to the executive team, which means it's a big deal to you chances for promotion. Which of the following actions would be the LEAST helpful in building your cultural competence ?
The Andrews Company has just purchased $50,944,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. Suppose at the end of 15 years this plant and equipment can be salvaged for $5,094,400 (1/10th of its original cost). What will be the book value of this purchase (excluding all other Plant and Equipment) after its first year of use? Use generally accepted (FASB) accounting principles.
The Andrews Company has just purchased $50,944,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. Suppose at the end of 15 years this plant and equipment can be salvaged for $5,094,400 (1/10th of its original cost). What will be the book value of this purchase (excluding all other Plant and Equipment) after its first year of use? Use generally accepted (FASB) accounting principles.
The Andrews Company has just purchased $50,944,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. Suppose at the end of 15 years this plant and equipment can be salvaged for $5,094,400 (1/10th of its original cost). What will be the book value of this purchase (excluding all other Plant and Equipment) after its first year of use? Use generally accepted (FASB) accounting principles
The Andrews Company has just purchased $50,944,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. Suppose at the end of 15 years this plant and equipment can be salvaged for $5,094,400 (1/10th of its original cost). What will be the book value of this purchase (excluding all other Plant and Equipment) after its first year of use? Use generally accepted (FASB) accounting principles
[solved] A company's strategy needs to be ethical because
a strategy that is unethical in whole or in part is morally incorrect and "the wrong thing to do"; pursuit of an unethical strategy reflects badly on the character of the company personnel involved.
there are very high risks that the executives of companies employing unethical strategies will face criminal prosecution by governmental authorities and sentenced to lengthy terms in prison.
it is embarrassing to top executives when their company's unethical behavior is publicly exposed.
unethical strategies raise a company's costs per unit sold and thus lower company profitability.
unethical strategies weaken the corporate culture.
Actions to create a work environment that enhances the quality of life for employees and makes the company a great place to work
Actions to build a workforce that is diverse with respect to gender, race, national origin, and perhaps other aspects that different people bring to the workplace
Actions to protect or enhance the environment and, in particular, to minimize or eliminate any adverse impact on the environment stemming from the company's own business activities
Making charitable contributions, supporting worthy organizational causes, participating in community service activities, helping to make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged, and trying to better the quality of life in society at large
Actions to keep the prices the company charges for its products/services low enough to prevent the company's profits from being viewed by the general public as obscenely high or exorbitant
[solved] According to the data in Table 9.1,
the Corruption Perception Index score for the United States is higher than for Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) scores in such countries as Denmark, Sweden, and Canada are higher (indicating lower perceived levels of corruption) than in such countries as the United States, France, Ireland, and Japan.
there is no reason to be concerned about the lack of high ethical standards in most of the world's countries (based on the Corruption Perception Index scores in the table).
only a small number of countries have a Corruption Perception Index score below 80 and most of these are countries with small populations located in geographically remote parts of the world.
the perception of corruption in the United States is the lowest in the world, indicating that ethical conduct in business transactions involving U.S. companies is very likely the highest in the world.
[solved] Business ethics concerns
the application of general ethical principles and standards to the actions and decisions of businesses and the conduct of their personnel.
adhering to and enforcing the consensus ethical principles that companies worldwide have agreed are appropriate for all businesses and their personnel to observe.
a set of behavioral standards, usually established by governmental authorities or organizations such as the United Nations, that businesses worldwide are expected to observe in conducting their activities.
the socially responsible actions and behaviors that a company and its personnel are expected to display in conducting business activities.
the special set of ethical standards and behaviors that are applicable only to business situations and the conduct of business-related matters.
[solved] An immoral manager is one who
operates within the bounds of what is considered ethical most of the time but who is perfectly willing to engage in unethical behavior when there's low risk of discovery and the action or decision has a sizable positive effect on company profitability.
believes any action or behavior that qualifies as legal can in no way ever be considered unethical.
believes in ethical relativism but not in ethical universalism.
is ethically unprincipled but nonetheless usually complies with the company's code of ethics for fear of getting caught and fired.
has no regard for so-called ethical standards in business and pays no attention to ethical principles in making decisions and conducting the company's business.
if the payment of bribes/kickbacks is legal in a particular country, then it is ethical for a company to pay them.
it is ethically acceptable for a company to pay them so long as such payments are allowed in the company's written code of ethics.
it is very difficult (and logically inconsistent) for a multinational company to ethically justify such payments in countries where bribes and kickbacks are common practice when it does business in countries where such payments are illegal and/or when the company's code of ethics forbids such payments.
the ethical relativism school of thought is correct in asserting each businessperson has the freedom to set his/her own standards for deciding whether the payment of bribes/kickbacks is ethically acceptable or not.
if the payment of bribes/kickbacks is normal and customary in a particular culture/society/country, then--according to both integrative social contracts theory and the school of ethical universalism--it is ethically acceptable for a company to pay them in conducting its business activities in that culture/society/country.
[solved] The categories of managerial morality include:
always ethical managers, usually ethical managers, and often unethical managers.
moral managers, immoral managers, and amoral managers.
managers with lots of integrity, managers with some integrity, and managers with no integrity.
managers committed to ethical behavior all of the time, managers who behave ethically most of the time, and managers who do whatever it is in their own self-interest and are indifferent to whether their behavior is ethical or unethical.
managers who are "true believers" in high ethical standards, managers who claim to believe in high ethical standards but who nonetheless engage in unethical behavior whenever they deem it in their best self-interest to do so, and managers who are skeptical about so-called ethical standards and do whatever they think is best.
[solved] According to integrative social contracts theory,
the Code of Expected Ethical Conduct developed by the United Nations represents a pragmatic and effective compromise of the best parts of the ethical standards advocated by the school of ethical universalism and the ethical standards advocated by the school of ethical relativism.
a company's first duty and responsibility is to be respectful of and responsive to the ethical standards and norms of the each of the countries in which it operates.
each country's ethical norms and customs form a "social contract" that all individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses in that country have a duty to observe; this contract draws a clear and bright the line between actions and behaviors that are ethically permissible and those that are not and must be strictly observed in all circumstances in that particular country.
universal ethical principles or norms based on the collective views of multiple cultures and societies combine to form a "social contract" that is binding on all individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses; however, within the bounds defined by universal ethical principles, there is legitimate room (or "moral free space") for local cultures or groups to specify what other actions may or may not be ethically permissible.
the slippery slope of ethical universalism should be rejected and the principles of ethical relativism should be embraced.
[solved] According to the ethical relativism school of thought,
whether the use of underage labor is ethically acceptable or not hinges upon the ethical standards that each industry establishes for its member businesses.
it is very clear and well-established that the use of underage labor is ethically impermissible, even in those countries and situations where it is the local custom to utilize child labor.
if the use of underage labor is acceptable in a particular culture/society/country, then it is ethical for a company to use underage labor in conducting its business activities in that culture/society/country.
if the use of underage labor is legal in a particular country, then it is ethical for a company to use underage labor in conducting its business activities in that country, no matter what the legality of using underage labor happens to be in other countries.
it is up to each business to set its own standards for deciding whether the use of underage labor is ethically acceptable or not.
[solved] The notion of social responsibility as it applies to businesses concerns
a company's duty to put the public interest and the well-being of society ahead of shareholder interests.
the responsibility that all businesses have to operate in a manner that promotes environmental sustainability and the overall best long-term interest of society.
societal expectations that a company will charge fair prices and pay fair wages.
a company's duty to operate in an honorable manner, provide good working conditions for employees, be a good steward of the environment, and actively work to better the quality of life in the local communities where it operates and in society at large.
a company's duty to observe high ethical standards and conduct its business in a manner that benefits society at large.
[solved] The term "triple bottom line" refers to
the three most frequently used measures of profitability--gross profit, operating profit, and net profit.
the practice among some companies to measure their performance in the social responsibility arena by setting formal performance targets in three areas: "profit, people, and planet"--this set of performance targets is often referred to as the company's "triple bottom line" or TBL.
the three outcomes that underlie good corporate citizenship: conducting business according to high ethical standards, demonstration of an exemplary environmental sustainability strategy, and significant ongoing contributions to the better of society as a whole.
the three performance measures that a company considers to be most important.
the three types of bottom line results society should rightfully expect of all businesses: delivering value to shareholders, delivering value to customers, and delivering value to society as a whole.
[solved] The central thesis of the school of ethical universalism is that
what actions and behaviors are ethically right and wrong are absolute and thus are entirely appropriate for judging the "ethical correctness" of the behavior of all people and organizations in all countries and in all circumstances.
the best and most legitimate basis for judging the "ethical correctness" of the actions and behavior of businesspeople is the Code of Ethical and Moral Behavior adopted and advocated by the United Nations.
concepts of right and wrong are universal within countries but not across countries and cultures.
common moral agreement about right and wrong actions and behaviors across multiple cultures and countries form the basis for universal ethical standards applicable to the members of all societies, all companies, and all businesspeople.
only those ethical principles that are widely recognized and agreed-upon worldwide can be used to put valid ethical boundaries on how business activities are conducted.
[solved] Which of the following are major drivers of unethical strategies and business behavior?
A lack on the part of many companies to implement and strongly enforce codes of ethical conduct, the excessively strong profit motive that pervades the business community, and the obscenely high bonuses and stock options paid to top executives that motivate/cause these overpaid executives to violate ethical standards
Fierce competitive pressures that inflict losses on companies and may even force some to file for bankruptcy, lax government enforcement of ethical standards and ethical business conduct, and the ease with which businesspeople who engage in unethical behavior can bribe corrupt public officials not to prosecute them or their companies
The drive among most businesses to maximize profits and return on capital investment, the ethically corrupt nature of most businesspeople, and a lack on the part of many companies to implement and strongly enforce codes of ethical conduct
A company culture that puts profitability and good business performance ahead of ethical behavior; lax oversight by company boards of directors that enables unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain, wealth, and other selfish interests; and heavy pressures on company managers to meet or beat short-term performance targets
The excessively strong profit motive that pervades the business community, the excessive bonuses and stock options that top executives can earn if company profits are excellent, and a widespread belief in the business community that ethical behavior is not necessary or even relevant
[solved] According to the school of ethical relativism,
concepts of right and wrong as applied to business situations are always a function of each company's own set of values, beliefs, and ethical convictions (as stated in the company's code of ethical conduct).
differing religious beliefs, historic traditions and customs, core values and beliefs, and behavioral norms across countries and cultures give rise to multiple sets of standards concerning what is ethically right or wrong.
what constitutes ethical business behavior and what constitutes unethical business behavior is governed by what is legal in a given country.
what constitutes ethical business behavior and what constitutes unethical business behavior is always relative to some ideal standard that is subject to different interpretation in different countries.
a "one-size-fits-all" template should always be used to determine the ethical appropriateness of business actions and the behaviors of company personnel.
ignore the underlying principles of the school of ethical universalism. the school of ethical relativism, and integrative social contracts theory and do whatever it takes to avoid impairing the company's financial performance and competitive standing.
follow the principles of the school of ethical relativism in deciding whether to engage in paying bribes or kickbacks.
reject the underlying principles of both the school of ethical universalism and the school of ethical relativism and adopt the principles of integrative social contracts theory.
avoid the payment of bribes and kickbacks in all countries and in all circumstances if the payment of bribes and kickbacks is forbidden in its code of ethical conduct and if top management is serious about enforcing this prohibition.
take the position that it ethically permissible for its personnel to pay bribes and kickbacks in countries where such payments are customary but ethically impermissible for its personnel to make such payments elsewhere.
Because rapidly changing conditions (either favorable or unfavorable) in one or more of a company's core businesses make it desirable to expand into other industries
Because the company has an imbalance of cash cow and cash hog businesses
Because there is attractive potential for transferring a portion of its portfolio of competitively potent resources and capabilities to other related or complementary businesses
Because the company's growth is sluggish and it needs the sales and profit boost that a new business can provide
Because it is desirable to make new acquisitions in order to complement and strengthen the market position and competitive capabilities of one or more of its present businesses
When it can leverage existing resources and capabilities by expanding into businesses where these same resources and capabilities are key success factors and valuable competitive assets
When diversifying into closely related businesses opens new avenues for reducing costs
When it has a powerful and well-known brand name that can be transferred to the products of other businesses and help drive the sales and profits of such businesses to higher levels
When it is facing strong competitive pressures from rival companies
When it spots opportunities to expand into industries whose technologies and/or products complement its present business
determining each industry's key success factors, weighting the importance of each industry KSF, using a scale of 1 to 10 to rate the company's ability to be successful in coping with each industry KSF in each industry, multiplying the company's rating on each industry KSF by the respective KSF importance weights to obtain a weighted rating on each KSF, adding the weighted KSF ratings to obtain an overall KSF score for each industry, and using the overall KSF scores to evaluate in which industries it is easiest/hardest for the company to be highly profitable and competitively successful.
selecting a set of industry attractiveness measures, weighting the importance of each measure, rating each industry on each attractiveness measure, multiplying the industry ratings by the assigned weight to obtain a weighted rating, adding the weighted ratings for each industry to obtain an overall industry attractiveness score, and using the overall industry attractiveness scores to evaluate the attractiveness of all the industries, both individually and as a group.
rating the attractiveness of each industry's strategic and resource fits, summing the attractiveness scores, and determining whether the overall scores for the industries, both individually and as a group, do or do not have attractive strategic and resource fits.
identifying each industry's likely growth potential, rating the difficulty of actually achieving this growth potential, and deciding whether the company's growth prospects are attractive or unattractive, industry-by-industry.
determining the biggest determinants of profitability in each industry, rating the ability of the company to be successful on each of the profit-determining factors, and obtaining overall measures of the firm's ability to achieve profitability in each of the industries where it operates.
Choosing which one of the five generic competitive strategies that each of the company's different businesses will pursue
Specifying the type of competitive advantage that each different company business should pursue
Picking new industries to enter and deciding on the means of entry
Choosing the most appropriate value chain for each of the company's different businesses to implement and employ
Deciding whether to combine and merge all of the company's businesses into a single unified operation or to operate them as separate stand-alone divisions
is a reliable indicator of the extent to which a business unit enjoys strong product differentiation vis-a-vis rivals (signaled by a relative market share above 1.0) or suffers from weak product differentiation vis-a-vis rivals (signaled by a relative market share below 0.50).
is a better indicator of competitive strength than is a simple percentage measure of market share--for instance, a company with a 20% market share is in a much stronger competitive position if its largest rival has a market share of 10% (which means its relative market share is 2.0) than it is if its largest rival has a 30% market share (in which case the company's relative market share is only 0.67).
is a reliable indicator of the extent to which a business unit enjoys a strong brand image and reputation with buyers (signaled by a relative market share above 0.75) or a weak brand image and reputation with buyers (signaled by a relative market share below 0.30).
is a more reliable indicator of a business unit's revenue growth and profit potential.
is a reliable indicator of the extent to which a business unit enjoys competitive advantage (signaled by a relative market share above 1.0) or suffers from competitive disadvantage (signaled by a relative market share below 0.25).
is essential if a diversified company is to pass the value chain test, accelerate its growth in revenues and earnings, and build long-term value for shareholders.
is the key to realizing the highest possible economies of scope and realizing a significantly higher return on capital investment.
puts sister businesses in position to perform better financially as part of the same company than they could have performed as independent enterprises, thus providing a clear avenue for boosting shareholder value.
enhances a company's ability to build a bigger portfolio of distinctive competencies.
gives a company a clear path to global market leadership in those industries where it has related businesses.
is essential if a diversified company is to pass the value chain test, accelerate its growth in revenues and earnings, and build long-term value for shareholders.
is the key to realizing the highest possible economies of scope and realizing a significantly higher return on capital investment.
puts sister businesses in position to perform better financially as part of the same company than they could have performed as independent enterprises, thus providing a clear avenue for boosting shareholder value.
enhances a company's ability to build a bigger portfolio of distinctive competencies.
gives a company a clear path to global market leadership in those industries where it has related businesses.
is useful for identifying which business units have the biggest/smallest economies of scale and which have the biggest/smallest economies of scope.
provides valuable guidance in deploying corporate resources to the various business units--in general, a diversified company's prospects for good overall performance are enhanced by concentrating corporate resources and strategic attention on those business units positioned in the three cells in the upper left portion of the attractiveness-strength matrix.
is useful for ranking a company's different business units from best to worst based on how much resource fit each unit has with its sister businesses.
is useful for ranking a company's different business units from best to worst based on how much strategic fit each unit has with its sister businesses.
pinpoints which of a diversified company's business units are cash cows (those in the three diagonal cells) and which ones are cash hogs (those in the three cells in the lower-right corner of the matrix).
are the single biggest benefit of pursuing unrelated diversification.
are present whenever diversification satisfies the industry attractiveness test and the cost-of-entry test.
are cost reductions that flow from operating in multiple businesses.
stem from cost-saving efficiencies that arise when sister business operate over a wider geographic area.
arise mainly from scale economy efficiencies in the production and distribution portions of the value chains of unrelated businesses.
Determining whether much competitive value can potentially be gained from cross-business transfer of technology, skills, or know-how to correct the resource deficiencies of certain businesses and boost their bottom lines?
Determining the extent to which sister business units have value chain matchups that present opportunities for cross-business sharing of a corporate parent's umbrella brand name or corporate reputation?
Determining the extent to which sister business units have value chain matchups that present sizable opportunities to reduce costs by combining the performance of certain value chain activities and thereby capture economies of scope.
Determining whether there is sizable potential for sister business to engage in cross-business collaboration to create new competitive capabilities and thereby realize significant gains in performance.
Determining whether the diversified company has enough cash cow business units to cover the negative cash flows of its cash hog business units.
[solved] The two biggest drawbacks of pursuing unrelated diversification strategies are
(1) weak ability to capture cross-business resource fits and (2) conflicts/incompatibility among the competitive strategies of the company's different businesses.
(1) the likelihood of overspending on efforts to capture economies of scope and (2) difficulty in passing the industry attractiveness test when making new acquisitions.
(1) increased likelihood that the company's financial resources will be spread thinly over too many distinctly different lines of business and (2) the high risks of conflicts and/or incompatibility among the strategies of the businesses it has diversified into.
(1) no potential for competitive advantage beyond any benefits of corporate parenting and what each individual business can generate on its own and (2) demanding managerial requirements.
(1) demanding managerial requirements and (2) falling into the trap of diversifying into too many cash cow businesses.
for combining their related value chain activities into a single operation to achieve lower costs and/or cross-business collaboration to create new or stronger competitively valuable resources and capabilities that will be mutually beneficial.
to accelerate revenue growth, streamline the value chains of each of the businesses, and lower capital investment requirements.
to increase the number of core competencies a company has, lower business risk, and reduce vulnerability to competitive pressures.
to increase resource fit, brand name fit, and industry attractiveness fit.
to reduce diseconomies of scale and diseconomies of scope.
for combining their related value chain activities into a single operation to achieve lower costs and/or cross-business collaboration to create new or stronger competitively valuable resources and capabilities that will be mutually beneficial.
to accelerate revenue growth, streamline the value chains of each of the businesses, and lower capital investment requirements.
to increase the number of core competencies a company has, lower business risk, and reduce vulnerability to competitive pressures.
to increase resource fit, brand name fit, and industry attractiveness fit.
to reduce diseconomies of scale and diseconomies of scope.
the technological proficiencies and labor skill requirements of each of the firm's businesses and the competitive strategy each business is employing.
whether the company is focusing on "milking its cash cows" or "feeding its cash hogs" and whether it is pursuing the same or different competitive strategies in each of its business units.
each business's competitive approach (low-cost provider, broad differentiation, best-cost, focused differentiation, or focused low-cost), whether its products are sold under the same brand or different brands, and whether its businesses are mostly cash cows or mostly cash hogs or a balanced mixture of both.
the recent moves it has made to divest weak businesses, build positions in new industries, and strengthen the positions of its existing businesses and whether the company's diversification is based narrowly in a few industries or broadly in many industries.
the actions top management is taking to capture economies of scale and economies of scope and the company's recent moves to divest its cash hogs.
Focus on acquiring businesses that offer the best opportunities for achieving rapid market growth and that have a big competitive advantage over rivals (thereby satisfying the industry attractiveness and competitive strength tests)
Do an astute job of allocating financial resources across the company's businesses
Do such a superior job of overseeing, guiding, and otherwise parenting the firm’s business subsidiaries that the subsidiaries perform at a higher level than they would otherwise be able to do as a standalone enterprise (thus satisfying the better-off test)
Utilize the business acumen of certain corporate executives in identifying undervalued or underperforming companies and then further rely on the skills and expertise of these or other corporate executives in pinpointing achievable ways that the operations of such companies can be overhauled and streamlined to produce dramatic increases in profitability
Employ strong bargaining skills to successfully negotiate a low price and other favorable terms in acquiring any new business the corporate parent decides to enter (thereby helping satisfy the cost-of-entry test)
[solved] Businesses are said to be "related" when
they have common suppliers and common customers.
they possess the same competitively valuable resources and capabilities and thus can pursue the same market opportunities.
they possess industry attractiveness fit, risk avoidance fit, and ability-to-compete fit.
their products exhibit strategic fit, resource fit, and industry attractiveness fit.
they possess competitively valuable cross-business value-chain matchups.
[solved] Different businesses are said to be "unrelated" when
the products of the different businesses are highly dissimilar.
they have dissimilar value chains containing no competitively useful cross-business relationships or strategic fits.
the businesses utilize different types of production technologies and production processes.
they are in different industries.
the products of the different businesses satisfy very different buyer needs.
[solved] Which of the following is the best example of unrelated diversification?
A producer of toothpaste acquiring a maker of shampoos and hair care products.
A maker of garden hoses acquiring a producer of lawn fertilizers.
A maker of bedroom furniture buying a maker of patio furniture.
A newspaper chain acquiring a publisher of magazines.
A maker of camera-equipped copter drones acquiring a maker of athletic footwear.
Divesting cash hog businesses and using the proceeds to fund capital investments in promising cash cow businesses
Paying down existing debt, increasing dividend payments to shareholders, or repurchasing shares of the company's common stock
Investing in ways to strengthen or grow existing businesses
Making acquisitions to establish positions in new businesses or to complement existing businesses
Funding long-range R&D ventures aimed at opening market opportunities in new or existing businesses
Assessing the competitive strength of the company’s business units and drawing a nine-cell matrix to simultaneously portray the industry attractiveness and competitive strength of each of the business units
Checking whether the company has sufficient corporate parenting capabilities to cope with resource fit conflicts and strategic fit incompatibilities among the businesses the company has diversified into
Assessing the attractiveness of the industries the company has diversified into, both individually and as a group
Ranking the performance prospects of the various businesses from best to worst and determining what the corporate parent’s priorities should be in allocating resources to its different businesses
Evaluating the competitive value of cross-business strategic fits along the value chains of the company’s various business units and checking whether the firm’s resources fit the requirements of its present business lineup
[solved] A "cash hog" type of business
is one that is losing money and requires cash infusions from its corporate parent to continue operations.
is one that has substantially more current liabilities than current assets.
generates negative cash flows from internal operations and thus requires cash infusions from its corporate parent to report a profit.
is a business that faces a liquidity crisis due to declining sales revenues and profits.
generates cash flows that are too small to fully fund its operations and growth--such businesses require periodic cash infusions by the corporate parent to provide additional working capital and finance new capital investment.
When a company has little knowledge of the strategies local rivals are employing
When adding new production capacity will not adversely impact the supply-demand balance in the local market
When a startup subsidiary can quickly be infused with the resources and capabilities needed to achieve the cost structure and competitive strength to battle local rivals
When a company already operates in a number of countries and has experience in getting new subsidiaries up and running and overseeing their operations
When acquiring a local business may be the quickest, least risky, and most cost-efficient means of hurdling entry barriers
[solved] A "think local, act local" multicountry type of strategy
has the distinct disadvantage of increasing a company's exposure to fluctuating exchange rates and the propensity of foreign governments to impose tariffs on imported goods.
can defeat a global strategy if the "think local, act local" multicountry strategist concentrates on competing only in those foreign countries where the company has profit sanctuaries.
becomes more appealing the bigger the country-to-country differences in buyer tastes and preferences, market conditions, and competitive circumstances.
is generally an inferior strategy unless a company is lucky enough to have well-protected profit sanctuaries in each of the country markets where it operates.
can usually be defeated by a well-conceived "think global, act global" type of strategy.
Maintaining a national (one-country) production base and exporting goods to foreign markets
Rely upon acquisitions or internal startup ventures to gain entry into foreign markets
Using the creation of profit sanctuaries as the primary vehicle for entering foreign markets
License foreign firms to use the company's technology or to produce and distribute the company's products.
Employ a franchising strategy
the imperatives of crafting a different strategy for each different country in which a company competes.
the imperatives of using different advertising and promotional techniques in each country where a company competes.
sizable cross-country differences in wage rates, worker productivity, inflation rates, energy supplies and costs, tax rates, and other factors that impact a company's costs and profit prospects.
the difficulties of turning the world market into one big profit sanctuary.
the need to customize a company's product offering in each different country market where it competes in order to compete successfully against local rivals and thus be profitable.
Utilizing the same competitive capabilities, distribution channels, and marketing approaches worldwide
Having relatively small plants in many countries, with each plant producing product versions for local area markets
Using the same fundamental competitive approach worldwide, although the company's strategy or product offering may be adapted in very minor ways to accommodate specific situations in a few host countries
Requiring local managers in host countries to stick close to the chosen global strategy
Minimal responsiveness to buyer tastes, cultural traditions, and market conditions in each country market
Be quick to transfer important new technological know-how, core competencies, best practices, and/or ways of improving/strengthening certain capabilities that have been recently discovered or successfully implemented at the company's operations in one country to its operations in other countries
Be quick to transfer personnel with competitively valuable expertise from operations in one country to operations in other parts of the world (the cost of transferring already-developed resources and capabilities across country borders is low in comparison to the time and considerable expense it takes for a country subsidiary to build matching resources and capabilities solely on its own initiative)
Concentrate a big majority of the company's most competitively powerful resources and capabilities on building a dominant market share in those country markets where it has sizable and well-protected profit sanctuaries and use any surplus cash flows from the operations in countries where it is competitively weaker to gradually strengthen the competitiveness of these weaker-performing operations
Pursue opportunities to extend use of a competitively potent brand name developed in one country (often its home-country market) to its operations in other parts of the world
Be alert for opportunities to transfer some of its competitively powerful resources and capabilities from countries where it has established competitively strong market positions to countries where it is competitively weaker
[solved] The advantages of using a licensing strategy to participate in foreign markets include
being especially well-suited to an act global, think local strategy.
being able to generate revenues and income from a company's technical know-how or a unique patented product without committing significant additional resources to country markets that are unfamiliar, politically volatile, economically unstable, or otherwise risky.
increased ability to achieve higher product quality and better product performance as compared to what could be achieved via either an export strategy or a franchising strategy.
enabling a company to achieve first-mover advantages quickly and easily.
increased ability to achieve a low-cost advantage over foreign-based rivals.
using an export strategy to circumvent the risks of adverse exchange rate fluctuations.
employing a multicountry strategy instead of a global strategy.
locating certain facilities and value chain activities in whatever nations prove most advantageous.
doing whatever it takes to build multiple profit sanctuaries in foreign markets.
avoiding the use of costly offensive strategies.
Whether to employ essentially the same basic competitive strategy in all countries or modify the strategy country by country to better match local market and competitive conditions
What type of offensive strategy to employ in gaining a strong and profitable foothold in each of the foreign country markets it chooses to enter
Where to locate the company's production facilities, distribution centers, and customer service operations so as to realize the greatest location-related advantages
Whether to customize the company's offerings in each different country market to match the tastes and preferences of local buyers or to offer a mostly standardized product worldwide
When and how to efficiently transfer some of the company's competitively powerful resources and capabilities from certain countries to other countries in order to aid the entry into new country markets and/or to more effectively battle local rivals for sales and market share
a company is unlikely to be profitable in each and every country market where it operates.
it is hard for a company to create a big and well-protected profit sanctuary in every country in which it operates
company managers must resolve the tension between the market pressures to localize the firm's product offerings country-by-country to match the tastes and preferences of local buyers and the competitive pressures to lower costs by offering mostly standardized products in all countries where a company competes.
it is hard for a company to compete successfully and profitably in more than 15 different country markets.
it is nearly always necessary for a company to offer buyers a wide selection of models, styles, and product versions in order to accommodate varying buyer tastes from country to country.
[solved] Which of the following account for why companies decide to enter foreign markets?
To gain more experience in employing effective offensive and defensive strategies
To establish an even bigger competitive advantage over the company's closest domestic rivals
To build a bigger and more diverse portfolio of competitively valuable resources and capabilities
To further exploit the company's competitively valuable resources and capabilities and to spread business risk across a wider market area
To grow and strengthen the profit sanctuary the company has in its domestic market
Launching a think global, act global competitive strategy
Launching a think local, act local competitive strategy
Attacking the profit sanctuaries of rival companies
Deliberately operating at a loss in some country markets in order to help grow the size of a company's profit sanctuary in a competitively crucial country market
Shifting company resources from one profit sanctuary to another
Coordinate major strategic decisions worldwide, but give local managers leeway to make minor adjustments to the global strategy
Use the best suppliers from anywhere in the world
Design manufacturing plants to cost-effectively produce many different product versions
Strive to achieve the same type of competitive advantage over rivals in every country where the company competes
Sell the same products under the same brand names worldwide.
[solved] Which of the following statements regarding multicountry competition is false?
With multicountry competition, rivals battle for national championships and winning in one country market does not necessarily signal the ability to fare well in other countries.
With multicountry competition, the competitive arena among rival companies involves several neighboring countries rather than either a single country or the world market as a whole.
One of the features of multicountry competition is that buyers in different countries are attracted to different product attributes.
One of the features of multicountry competition is that industry conditions and competitive forces in each national market differ in important respects.
With multicountry competition, any competitive advantage a company secures in one country is largely confined to that country; the spillover effects to other countries are minimal to nonexistent.
is largely unaffected by fluctuating exchange rates; it would, however, be affected if its plants were in foreign countries.
becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar gains in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
has no interest in whether the dollar grows stronger or weaker versus foreign currencies unless it is competing only against companies located in foreign countries.
becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
is competitively disadvantaged when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
is largely unaffected by fluctuating exchange rates; it would, however, be affected if its plants were in foreign countries.
becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar gains in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
has no interest in whether the dollar grows stronger or weaker versus foreign currencies unless it is competing only against companies located in foreign countries.
becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
is competitively disadvantaged when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
is largely unaffected by fluctuating exchange rates; it would, however, be affected if its plants were in foreign countries.
becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar gains in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
has no interest in whether the dollar grows stronger or weaker versus foreign currencies unless it is competing only against companies located in foreign countries.
becomes more cost competitive in selling its exported goods in foreign markets when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
is competitively disadvantaged when the U.S. dollar declines in value against the currencies of the countries to which it is exporting.
When the company has more production capacity than it needs to fill the projected orders for branded footwear and when its analysis and projections reveal the company stands a good chance of winning a contract at a profit-enhancing offer price
When the company has the capability to produce private-label footwear at a production cost per pair that is at least $5 below its per pair production cost for branded footwear
When the data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that one or more rival firms successfully won contracts to supply private-label footwear at offer prices that were attractively profitable
When no seller of private-label footwear in the prior year captured as much as a 20% share of the private-label pairs supplied in any given region
When the data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that some of the companies competing to supply for private-label footwear were able to win contracts at offer prices above $25 per pair
have the greatest value to those company managers who are desperately searching for ideas on what they can do to improve their company's EPS and ROE.
are of little value to company managers in making decisions to improve company performance in the upcoming decision round, although they may certainly be of interest to those managers who are curious about how their company fared on the various reported benchmarks.
are especially valuable to the managers of companies whose branded footwear has an S/Q rating below 4 stars or above 7 stars.
aid managers in assessing whether their company's costs and/or operating profits for the benchmarked items are adequately competitive--when such is not the case, the company's managers are well-advised to promptly address how best to correct the high-cost or low-profit problem(s) in the upcoming decision round.
are particularly valuable to the managers of companies looking for ways to increase their company's market share of branded footwear sales in one or more geographic regions.
cutting the percentage use of superior materials to help cover some (preferably all) of the costs of the $15 million in annual production run setup costs at each production facility producing 500 models/styles.
producing no more than 200 models at the company's production facilities in other regions.
investing in production improvement option B at those production facility locations producing 500 models.
instituting production improvement options A and C at each production facility where 500 models are being produced.
doubling its expenditures for enhanced styling/features to also increase the S/Q ratings of its footwear brand.
The comparative financial data on p. 5 of the FIR
The benchmarking data on pp. 6 and 7 of the FIR
The facility space and production equipment data at the bottom of page 4 of the FIR
The data on materials prices at the top of p. 4 of the FIR
The celebrity endorsement data and the 4 graphs showing branded prices and S/Q rating trends in each of the four geographic regions on p. 8 of the FIR.
Maximizing the use of overtime at each production location
Increasing the incentive pay for production workers, and thereby reduce reject rates on pairs produced
Increasing expenditures for enhanced styling/features
Avoiding bidding for contracts to supply private-label footwear to chain retailers, which damages the company's image as a producer of top quality footwear
Increasing efforts to improve the productivity of production workers
Your company's marketing expenses per pair sold in both the Internet and Wholesale segments in one or more regions are the highest in the industry
Your company's distribution and warehouse costs per pair available for sale in one or more regions are 20% or more above the industry-average number
The cost of branded pairs sold in one or more regions is very near or at the industry high value
Your company's operating profit margin per branded pair sold is at or very near the industry low in one or more geographic regions
Your company's operating profits per pair sold in all 4 geographic regions of the wholesale segment for branded footwear are below the industry-high values
only sell the company's branded footwear at its Internet site for Latin America; no import tariffs have to be paid on Internet sales--import tariffs only have to be paid on footwear shipped from the company's Latin America warehouse to footwear retailers in Latin America.
simply stop selling branded and private-label footwear in Latin America.
build a production facility in Latin America and then expand its capacity as may be needed so that the production facility has the capability to supply all (or at least most) of the branded and private-label pairs the company intends to try to sell in Latin America.
pursue a strategy of only selling footwear with an S/Q rating of just 1 star or 2 stars in Latin America--no tariffs have to be paid on imported branded footwear having an S/Q rating of 2-stars or below.
pursue a strategy of selling fewer pairs in Latin America than rival companies, which will then keep the company's costs for import tariffs in Latin America lower than those of rivals and give the company a low tariff cost advantage on its sales in Latin America.
[solved] Given the following Year 12 balance sheet data for a footwear company:
Given the following Year 12 balance sheet data for a footwear company:
Balance Sheet Data
Cash on Hand$ 10,000
Total Current Assets100,000
Total Fixed Assets250,000
Total Assets$350,000
Accounts Payable$ 20,000
Overdraft Loan Payable0
1-Year Bank Loan Payable5,000
Current Portion of Long-Term Bank Loans17,000
Total Current Liabilities42,000
Long-Term Bank Loans Outstanding98,000
Total Liabilities140,000
Shareholder Equity:Year 11
BalanceYear 12
Change
Common Stock20,000020,000
Additional Capital110,0000110,000
Retained Earnings60,00020,00080,000
Total Shareholder Equity190,000+20,000210,000
Total Liabilities and Shareholder Equity$350,000
Based on the above figures and the definition of the debt-assets ratio presented in the Help section for p. 5 of the Footwear Industry Report, the company’s debt-assets ratio (rounded to 2 decimal places) is
0.57.
0.32.
0.38.
0.43.
0.40.
Increasing total employee compensation by 4% and realizing a 6% increase in production worker productivity
Increasing total expenditures for best practices training by 10% annually
Increasing the base wage paid to production workers by at least 3% annually
Reducing the S/Q rating of branded pairs produced for 4.6 stars to 4.1 stars
Increasing spending for TQM/Six Sigma quality control from $3 per pair to $5 per pair
pay a steady dividend of $1.00 per year, avoid the use of short-term loans, boost total stockholders' equity by 5% to 10% annually, and maintain a credit rating of at least an A.
repurchase shares of common stock, increase earnings per share annually by amounts that meet or beat investor expectations, and raise the company's dividend payments to shareholders (by at least $0.10 and preferably $0.25 or more for the increase to have much impact on the stock price).
increase the S/Q rating on the company branded footwear, spend additional money on corporate citizenship and social responsibility, pay a dividend each year that equals projected EPS, and keep the company's image rating above 75.
quickly pay off all long-term debt, keep the company's dividend payout ratio below 50%, and issue no more than 5,000 shares of common stock in any given year.
boost the company's dividend payout ratio to more than 100%, increase the company's retained earnings, and issue sufficient shares of common stock to raise the funds to pay off all long-term debt within 2 years.
[solved] Given the following data from a Comparative Competitive Efforts page in the CIR:
WHOLESALE SEGMENTYour
CompanyIndustry
AverageYour Company
vs. Ind. Avg.
Wholesale Price ($ per pair)$74.50$53.83+38.4%
S/Q Rating (1 to 10 stars)9.96.3+57.1%
Model Availability50300-83.3%
Brand Advertising ($000s)16,50014,350+15.0%
Rebate Offer ($ per pair)0.003.40-100.0%
Delivery Time (weeks)1 wks2.8 wks-64.3%
Retailer Support ($ per outlet)5,0004,675+7.0%
Retail Outlets3,2821,538+113.4%
Celebrity Appeal345111+210.8%
Brand Reputation (prior-year average)9476+23.7%
Pairs Demanded2,0242,413-16.1%
Gained/Lost (due to stockouts)00
Pairs Sold (000s)2,0242,413-16.1%
Market Share (%)8.4%10.0%-1.6 pts
Based on the above data for your company, which of the following statements is false?
Copyright © by Glo-Bus Software, Inc. Copying, distributing, or 3rd party website posting isexpressly prohibited and constitutes copyright violation.
Your company's sizable negative percentage competitive disadvantage in delivery time had a negative competitive impact on your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment .
Your company’s branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment were negatively impacted by your company’s competitive effort in model availability and the lack of a rebate offer.
Your company’s branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment were positively impacted by your company’s brand reputation, S/Q rating, and number of retail outlets.
Your company’s biggest percentage competitive advantage in the Wholesale Segment related to celebrity appeal.
Your company’s percentage competitive advantages and disadvantages on the 10 competitive factors affecting Wholesale sales and market share resulted in a net overall competitive disadvantage of a size that resulted in a below-average 8.4% market share for your company.
the net profit earned (or lost -- in the case of a negative number) on each pair of private-label footwear supplied to a given region's chain retailers.
the seller's net revenue gain (or loss -- in the case of a negative number) on each pair of private-label footwear sold to a given region's chain retailers.
how much per private-label pair sold in each region was available to (1) help cover any of a seller's branded expenses in the region not covered by branded revenues and (2) increase the seller's operating profits in the region.
the amount per pair of private-label footwear sold that flowed into a company's retained earnings account (or the amount deducted in the case of a negative number).
the gross profit earned (or lost--in the case of a negative number) on each pair of private-label footwear sold in the various regions.
Offering a number of models/styles in the North America region that exceeds the all-company average in North America
Marketing branded footwear with an S/Q rating that is above the industry average in North America
Signing enough celebrities to endorsement contracts to earn celebrity appeal ratings in North America that exceed the North American industry average
Providing free shipping to online buyers in North America
Charging an average wholesale price to North American footwear retailers that is higher than the all-company average in North America
[solved] Assume a company's Income Statement for Year 12 is as follows:
Income Statement DataYear 12
(in 000s)
Net Revenues from Footwear Sales$ 580,000
Cost of Pairs Sold370,000
Warehouse Expenses40,000
Marketing Expenses75,000
Administrative Expenses15,000
Operating Profit (Loss)90,000
Interest Income (Expense)(15,000)
Pre-tax Profit (Loss)75,000
Income Taxes22,500
Net Profit (Loss)$ 52,500
Based on the above income statement data and the formula for calculating the interest coverage ratio presented on the Help section for p. 5 of the Footwear Industry Report, the company’s interest coverage ratio is
[solved] Assume a company's Income Statement for Year 12 is as follows:
Income Statement DataYear 12
(in 000s)
Net Revenues from Footwear Sales$ 560,000
Cost of Pairs Sold340,000
Warehouse Expenses45,000
Marketing Expenses85,000
Administrative Expenses15,000
Operating Profit (Loss)75,000
Interest Income (Expense)(25,000)
Pre-tax Profit (Loss)50,000
Income Taxes15,000
Net Profit (Loss)$ 35,000
Based on the above income statement data and assuming the company has 20 million shares of common stock outstanding, the company's operating profit margin and EPS were
[solved] Given the following data from a recent Comparative Competitive Efforts page in the CIR:
INTERNET SEGMENTYour
CompanyIndustry
AverageYour Company
vs. Ind. Avg.
Retail Price ($ per pair)$83.50$76.28+9.5%
Search Engine Advertising ($000s)6,2506,225+0.4%
Free ShippingNoNoneSame
S/Q Rating8.66.3+36.5%
Model Availability499300+66.5%
Brand Advertising16,50014,350+15.0%
Celebrity Appeal140111+26.1%
Brand Reputation8776+14.5%
Online Orders (000s)709538+31.8%
Pairs Sold (000s)709538+31.8%
Market Share (%)13.2%10.0%13.2%
Based on the above data for your company, which of the following statements is false?
Your company's two biggest competitive advantages in the Internet Segment related to S/Q rating and model availability.
Your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Internet segment was positively impacted by your company's brand reputation.
Your company had a competitive advantage on each one of the eight competitive factors affecting Internet sales and market share.
Your company’s percentage competitive advantages and disadvantages on the 8 competitive factors affecting Internet sales and market share resulted in a net overall competitive advantage of a size sufficient to produce an above-average 13.2% market share.
Your company had a tiny competitive advantage in search engine advertising.
compensate production workers at levels that are close to the highest in the industry in each geographic region where its production facilities are located--this is because companies with the highest total annual compensation packages attract highly-motivated workers with the skills needed to achieve the highest levels of labor productivity.
achieve the highest possible worker productivity (pairs produced per worker per year).
achieve labor costs per pair produced that are at worst below the industry average and at best are very close to (or even equal to) the industry-low in each region where the company has production facilities.
make sure its annual total compensation of production workers remains below the average annual total compensation paid by all companies in the regions where it has production facilities.
pay an incentive per non-defective pair that results in the lowest feasible reject rate for branded pairs produced.
4% or $800,000.
15% or $3,000,000.
10% or $2,000,000.
5% or $1,000,000.
8% or $1,600,000.
discover which particular rival companies are overspending on production-related activities to differentiate their branded footwear.
learn how much manufacturing costs per pair produced can be lowered by investing in one or more equipment upgrade options.
learn whether its TQM/Six-Sigma expenditures, reject rates, and total compensation packages for labor are comparable to other rival companies also pursuing a differentiation strategy.
discern whether the company can boost profits by lowering the Internet and wholesale prices being charged for branded footwear.
determine whether immediate actions need to be taken to reduce one or more production cost components at a particular facility--because the facility's manufacturing costs per pair produced are unacceptably high relative to those at the facilities of rival companies.
the boost such a strategy gives to increasing the company's global sales volume and global market share of branded footwear when the company's advertising is devoted to explaining all of the socially responsible activities it is undertaking.
an enhanced image rating, provided company spending for socially responsible activities is meaningful and is sustained over a multi-year period.
the boost such a strategy gives to the company's EPS and ROE.
the positive impact that such a strategy has on worker job satisfaction and productivity.
higher sales of branded footwear at the company's Web sites (because customers are pleased with the company's commitment to being a good corporate citizen).
When a first-mover's actions are protected by patents, copyrights, or other forms of property rights, thus thwarting a response by would-be followers
When pioneering helps build a firm's image and reputation with buyers and creates strong brand loyalty
When, for various reasons, an early lead helps a company gain an absolute cost advantage over later-moving rivals
When first-time customers face significant costs in later switching to the product offerings of later entrants
When a pioneer is using a broad differentiation strategy and is striving to achieve strong differentiation keyed to three or more value drivers
get into critical country markets more quickly and gain inside knowledge from local partners about unfamiliar markets and cultures.
master new technologies and build valuable expertise and capabilities faster than would be possible through internal efforts alone
employ a low-cost provider strategy in those country markets where buyers are extremely price sensitive.
quickly achieve strong brand name recognition in those new country markets that are "top-priority" because of the large size of their populations.
access the financial resources needed to launch powerful offensive strategies in important country markets.
that partners will not fully cooperate or share all they know, preferring instead to guard their most valuable information and protect their more valuable know-how.
the added time and extra expenses associated with engaging in collaborative efforts.
becoming dependent on other companies for essential expertise and capabilities.
having to compromise the company's own priorities and strategies in reaching agreements with partners.
that the collaborative arrangements seldom live up to expectations and, therefore, turn out to be a waste of time and money.
[solved] A good example of vertical integration is
a large steak and seafood restaurant chain opening a retail store specializing in fresh seafood.
a large global bank acquiring a small local or regional bank.
a fast food chain acquiring a chain of casual dining restaurants.
a hospital opening up a wellness and fitness center.
a company that refines crude oil into gasoline purchasing a firm engaged in drilling and exploring for oil.
Entering into strategic alliances or partnerships with other enterprises
What type of website strategy to employ
Using merger and acquisition strategies to strengthen the company's competitiveness
Exerting additional efforts to achieve strong product differentiation
Employing defensive moves to protect the company's market position
[solved] Which one of the following statements about offensive strategies is false?
Among the best behaviors and principles to employ in an offensive strategy is employing the element of surprise as opposed to doing what rivals expect and are prepared for.
One of the most potent strategic offensives is to grant volume discounts or better financing terms to dealers and distributors to discourage them from experimenting with the products of rival firms, particularly those products of close competitors.
A strategic offensive spearheaded by relatively weak company resources and capabilities has dim prospects for success.
The best offensives use a company’s most potent resources and capabilities to attack rivals where they are competitively weakest.
It takes successful offensive strategies to build competitive advantage, widen an existing advantage, or narrow the advantage held by a strong competitor.
To reduce the risk of disruptions in the delivery of the company's products to end-users
To be able to establish personal relationships with consumers who purchase the company's products/services
To increase the volume and profitability of selling direct to customers at the company's website
To raise the overall caliber of customer service the company provides to buyers
To gain better access to end users, improve market visibility, and enhance brand name awareness
Introducing new features, adding new models, and/or broadening the product line to close off gaps and vacant niches to opportunity-seeking challengers
Granting volume discounts or better financing terms to dealers and distributors to discourage them from experimenting with other suppliers
Trying to convince dealers/distributors to handle the company's product line exclusively (which, if successful, forces competitors to use other distribution outlets)
Pursuing continuous product innovation to draw sales and market share away from rivals with comparatively weak product innovation capabilities
Thwarting the efforts of rivals to attack with a lower price by maintaining a lineup of product selections that includes economy-priced options for price-sensitive buyers
Streamlining company operations in ways that improve organizational flexibility or speed the time it takes to get new products to market
Helping the company assemble diverse kinds of expertise speedily and efficiently
Allowing a company to concentrate on its core business, leverage its key resources, and do even better what it already does best
Reducing a company's risk exposure to changing technology or shifting buyer preferences
Facilitating stronger product differentiation and the achievement of a differentiation-based competitive advantage
[solved] A blue ocean strategy
seeks to gain a dramatic and durable competitive advantage by abandoning efforts to beat out competitors in existing markets and, instead, moving to a "blue ocean" market space where the industry does not really exist yet, is untainted by competition, and offers wide open opportunity for profitable and rapid growth.
involves a preemptive strike to secure an advantageous position in a fast-growing market segment.
involves attacking strong rivals by offering buyers an equally good or better product at a lower price.
is a defensive strategy that can be used by a market leader to protect against rivals' efforts to steal its customers.
works best when a company has numerous resource strengths and capabilities and wishes to go on the offensive to become the global market share leader.
[solved] The difference between a merger and an acquisition is that
in a merger the companies retain their original names whereas in an acquisition the name of the company being acquired is changed to be the name of the acquiring company.
a merger is a combination of three or more companies whereas an acquisition is combination of just two companies
a merger is the combining of two or more companies into a newly created company that usually takes on a different name, whereas an acquisition is a combination in which one company, the acquirer, purchases and absorbs the operations of another company, the acquired.
a merger involves one company purchasing the assets of another company with cash, whereas an acquisition involves a company acquiring another company by buying all of the shares of its common stock.
a merger involves combining the strategies of the merged companies into a single new strategy whereas an acquisition involves both the acquiring company and the acquired company continuing to pursue their respective strategies.
[solved] When an alliance among two or more enterprises involves formal ownership ties, it is called
a merger.
a collaborative ownership arrangement.
a joint venture.
a partnership.
a multi-owner, mutually-beneficial enterprise.
When customer loyalty to the pioneer is low and a first-mover's skills, know-how, and actions are easily copied or even surpassed
When technological change is rapid and follower firms (and maybe even cautious late-movers) find it easy to leapfrog a first-mover with more attractive next-version products
The lack of any barriers to entering into an alliance or merging with another firm
When pioneering leadership is more costly than imitating followership
When buyers are skeptical about the benefits of a new technology or product being pioneered by a first-mover
improve the effectiveness of defensive actions to protect the company's market position and/or enable the company to be a leader in product innovation.
achieve a higher degree of product differentiation and/or shorten the time it takes to get new and improved products into the marketplace.
strengthen the company's competitive position and/or boost its profitability.
gain internal control over a bigger portion of the industry value chain and/or facilitate a company's efforts to expand into foreign geographic markets.
reduce operating costs and/or gain a first mover advantage over rivals in introducing next-generation products.
Creating as much channel conflict as possible so as to quickly learn whether all customer-related transactions should be conducted at the company's website or whether the company needs to continue selling through traditional wholesalers, distributors, and retailers
Employing a brick-and-click strategy to sell direct to consumers at the company's website while at the same time utilizing traditional wholesalers/distributors and retail outlets to access customers
Using sales at the company's website as the exclusive channel for making sales to customers
Using online sales at the company's website as a relatively minor distribution channel for achieving incremental sales
Operating a website that provides existing and potential customers with extensive product information but that relies on click-throughs to distribution channel partners to handle orders and sales transactions
[SOLVED] Experience indicates that strategic alliances
stand a reasonable chance of helping a company reduce competitive disadvantage but rarely boost the competitive power of its resources and capabilities by enough to gain a competitive advantage.
are generally successful.
are rarely useful in helping a company reduce costs but may well help a company open up attractive new market opportunities.
work well when the purpose is to collaborate in developing new technologies but seldom work well in helping the partners gain better access to attractive new market opportunities.
work best when two companies that are fierce competitors decide to join forces and collaborate rather continue their warfare and ruin their chances for good profitability.
The lack of any barriers to entering into an alliance or merging with another firm
When buyers are skeptical about the benefits of a new technology or product being pioneered by a first-mover
When technological change is rapid and follower firms (and maybe even cautious late-movers) find it easy to leapfrog a first-mover with more attractive next-version products
When customer loyalty to the pioneer is low and a first-mover's skills, know-how, and actions are easily copied or even surpassed
When pioneering leadership is more costly than imitating followership
[SOLVED] A strategic alliance or partnership
has the advantage of being the cheapest means of developing new technologies and getting new products to market quickly.
is a formal agreement between two or more separate companies in which there is strategically relevant collaboration of some sort, joint contribution of resources, shared risk, shared control, and mutual dependence.
has the distinct disadvantage of preventing a company from being totally independent and self-sufficient with regard to each and every skill, resource, and capability it may need.
typically helps insulate a firm from the adverse impacts of both competitive pressures and industry driving forces, especially if the alliance is with suppliers.
is an important cross-business arrangement that allows rivals firms to operate their businesses in a more collaborative and cooperative fashion rather than resorting to competitive warfare that erodes their respective profitability.
[SOLVED] Mergers and acquisitions typically aim at achieving such objectives as
putting a company in better position to deliver superior value to buyers, increasing company revenues, having a bigger and more experienced work force, and becoming a global market leader.
facilitating company efforts to pursue a blue ocean strategy, create more core competencies, and expand the number of cost driver opportunities.
transforming an important core competence into a distinctive competence and better defending against external threats to the company's continued profitability.
expanding a company's geographic coverage, creating a more cost-efficient operation out of the combined companies, and/or extending the company's business into new product categories.
speeding product innovation, improving supply chain efficiency, and boosting product quality.
[SOLVED] Which of the following is not a potential advantage of backward vertical integration?
Sparing a company the uncertainty of being dependent on suppliers for crucial components or support services
Reduced business risk because of controlling a bigger portion of the overall industry value chain
Adding to a company's differentiation capabilities in those circumstances when, by performing certain activities internally that were formerly outsourced to suppliers, the company ends up with a better-quality or better-performing product, improved customer service capabilities, or in other ways is able to deliver added value to customers.
Reduced exposure to supplier price increases
Opportunities to improve a company's cost position and competitiveness by performing a broader range of value chain activities internally rather than having some of these activities performed by outside suppliers
Small local and regional firms with limited capabilities
Runner-up firms with weaknesses in areas where the challenger is strong
Market leaders that are vulnerable
Struggling enterprises that are on the verge of going under
Companies with proven capabilities as a low-cost provider or as a best-cost provider and that also have a sizable war chest of cash and marketable securities
reduce operating costs and/or gain a first mover advantage over rivals in introducing next-generation products.
achieve a higher degree of product differentiation and/or shorten the time it takes to get new and improved products into the marketplace.
improve the effectiveness of defensive actions to protect the company's market position and/or enable the company to be a leader in product innovation.
strengthen the company's competitive position and/or boost its profitability.
gain internal control over a bigger portion of the industry value chain and/or facilitate a company's efforts to expand into foreign geographic markets.
[SOLVED] In which of the following instances is being a first-mover not particularly advantageous?
When first-time customers do not remain strongly loyal to pioneering firms in making repeat purchases
When the first-mover is pioneering a new technology rather than a new product
When a pioneer is already the industry's low-cost provider or best-cost provider
When the first-mover is employing a blue ocean strategy
When the first-mover already has a sizable global market share
[SOLVED] Which of the following is not a potential defensive move to ward off challenger firms?
Granting volume discounts or better financing terms to dealers/distributors to discourage them from experimenting with other suppliers/brands and/or trying to convince them to handle its product exclusively and force competitors to use other distribution outlets
Maintaining a war chest of cash and marketable securities
Making an occasional strong counter-response to the moves of weak competitors to enhance the firm's image as a tough defender
Using a blue ocean strategy to maneuver around competitors and concentrate on capturing unoccupied or less contested market territory
Lengthening warranties, offering free or low-cost training and support services, and providing coupons and sample giveaways to buyers most prone to experiment with using rival brands
[SOLVED] Which one of the following is an example of an offensive strategy?
Pursuing disruptive product innovation to create new markets
Signaling challengers that retaliation is likely
Blocking the avenues open to challengers
Introducing new features or models to fill vacant niches in its overall product offering and better match the product offerings of key rivals
Maintaining a war chest of cash and marketable securities
To overcome deficits in their own expertise and capabilities and/or bring together the personnel and expertise needed to create desirable new skill sets and capabilities
To expedite the development of promising new technologies or products
To avoid the need to employ outsourcing strategies or risk impairing their ability to strongly differentiate their products or services from the offerings of industry rivals
To improve supply chain efficiency
To acquire or improve market access through joint marketing agreements
To overcome deficits in their own expertise and capabilities and/or bring together the personnel and expertise needed to create desirable new skill sets and capabilities
To expedite the development of promising new technologies or products
To avoid the need to employ outsourcing strategies or risk impairing their ability to strongly differentiate their products or services from the offerings of industry rivals
To improve supply chain efficiency
To acquire or improve market access through joint marketing agreements
[SOLVED] The strategic impetus for forward vertical integration is to
gain greater ability to control the retail price at which its products are sold.
achieve the same scale economies as wholesale distributors and/or retail dealers.
develop greater expertise in sales and marketing activities.
bypass distributors-dealers and sell direct to consumers at the company's website.
gain better access to end users, improve the company's market visibility, and enhance brand name awareness.
Whether to outsource selected value chain activities
Initiating actions to compete globally instead of nationally
Initiating offensive and/or defensive strategic moves
Employing backward or forward vertical integration strategies
Entering into strategic alliances or partnerships
Creating as much channel conflict as possible so as to quickly learn whether all customer-related transactions should be conducted at the company's website or whether the company needs to continue selling through traditional wholesalers, distributors, and retailers
Using sales at the company's website as the exclusive channel for making sales to customers
Using online sales at the company's website as a relatively minor distribution channel for achieving incremental sales
Operating a website that provides existing and potential customers with extensive product information but that relies on click-throughs to distribution channel partners to handle orders and sales transactions
Employing a brick-and-click strategy to sell direct to consumers at the company's website while at the same time utilizing traditional wholesalers/distributors and retail outlets to access customers
[solved] The big danger of outsourcing value chain activities is
increasing the firm's risk exposure to supply chain management failures and the price increases of suppliers.
making it harder and more costly for the company to control the quality of its product offering, thus impairing the value it delivers to its customers.
curtailing the company's ability to achieve strong differentiation of its products or services.
farming out too many or the wrong types of activities, thereby narrowing the scope of its capabilities in ways that unwittingly reduce or degrade its long-term competitiveness and prevent it from being a master of its own destiny.
impairing a company's distribution capability and weakening its ability to access customers directly.
Efforts to expand or narrow the company's geographic coverage and the initiatives being made to build competitive advantage
Management's planned, proactive moves to attract customers and outcompete rivals
The number and type of core competencies a company has and the kinds of activities that comprise its value chain
The company's actions to respond and react to changing conditions in the macro-environment or in industry and competitive conditions
The key functional strategies (R&D, supply chain management, production, sales and marketing, information technology, HR, and finance) a company is employing
[solved] Which of the following most accurately qualify as valuable company resources?
Big profit margins, more than 2 core competencies, and more global distribution centers than key rivals
More distinctive competencies than core competencies, an above-average market share, national geographic coverage, and having more personnel assigned to customer service activities than close rivals
State-of-the-art manufacturing plants and/or equipment and/or distribution facilities; the cumulative learning and know-how of key personnel and work groups; cash and marketable securities; a strong balance sheet and credit rating; and a strong network of distributors and/or retail dealers
A large volume of unit sales, modern production plants, and a large number of newly-introduced products
More primary value chain activities than close rivals, more plants than any other company in the industry, and a bigger work force than key rivals
[solved] The external market opportunities most relevant to a company are those that
help defend against the external threats to its well-being and future profitability.
will help the company increase its market share.
allow it to build a distinctive competence.
can be pursued with its competitively strong resources and capabilities, offer the best prospects of growth and profitability, and present the most potential for achieving competitive advantage.
allow it to operate at 100% of production capacity (so as to avoid incurring the added cost burdens of having too much unutilized plant capacity).
is a tool for gauging how well a company's strategy is matched to industry key success factors and for benchmarking the cost-effectiveness of its value chain.
is a potent analytical tool for identifying the reasons why a company's strategy is or is not working very well and whether it has dynamic and competitively valuable capabilities.
is a reliable way to identify the drivers of a company's profitability.
is a simple and powerful tool for assessing a company's overall situation--specifically, its competitively important internal strengths and weaknesses, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.
reveals whether a company has competitively stronger resources and capabilities than its closest rivals.
[solved] The value of doing a weighted competitive strength assessment is to
learn how the company ranks relative to rivals on each of the important factors that determine market success and ascertain whether the company has a net competitive advantage or disadvantage versus its closest rivals.
determine whether a company's resources and capabilities are potent enough to allow it to capture a bigger market share than its closest rivals.
learn whether a company has enough resource and capabilities to be profitable.
determine how competitively powerful the company's core competencies are.
learn if the company has a more cost-efficient value chain than rivals.
Vulnerability to unfavorable industry driving forces; unfavorable trade policies and tariffs
Adverse demographic changes that threaten to curtail demand for the industry's product
Growing bargaining power of buyers and/or suppliers
Having too few resources and capabilities that are well-matched to the company's available market opportunities
Costly new regulatory requirements; rising prices for energy or other key inputs
is in excellent position to strongly differentiate its product offering from the offerings of rival firms and thus achieve a differentiation-based competitive advantage.
may be able to achieve competitive advantage either by performing its certain differentiation-enhancing value chain activities more proficiently than rivals (thus gaining a differentiation-based competitive advantage keyed to delivering what customers perceive as a superior product offering) or by performing certain value chain activities more cheaply than rivals (thus achieving a cost-based competitive advantage).
stands a good chance of being the industry leader in using best practices to perform its primary value chain activities and thereby gaining a competitive advantage based on dedicated use of best practices.
is likely to have more cost-saving distinctive competencies than rivals and thus possess good ability to gain a competitive advantage over rivals based on performing value chain activities very cost-efficiently.
is likely to have a greater number of competitively potent resources and capabilities than rivals and thus greater ability to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
industry key success factors and other telling measures of competitive strength or weakness.
those factors that are the biggest determinants of a company's revenues and sales volume.
those factors that are the biggest determinants of company profitability.
those factors that are the biggest determinants of whether industry members have above-average, close to average, or below-average market shares.
those factors and product attributes that buyers will find most appealing.
competitive strength analysis and SWOT analysis.
SWOT analysis and key success factor analysis.
SWOT analysis and activity-based costing analysis.
competitive position assessment and activity-based costing.
value chain analysis and benchmarking.
Whether a company's costs are competitive with those of its close rivals depends on how the costs of its internally-performed value chain activities compare with the costs of the internally-performed value chain activities of its close rivals.
The combined costs of all the various primary and support activities comprising a company's value chain define the company's internal cost structure.
Evaluating a company's cost-competitiveness involves using what accountants call activity-based costing to determine the costs of performing each value chain activity.
A company's cost-competitiveness depends not only on the costs of internally performed activities (its own value chain) but also on costs in the value chains of its suppliers and distribution channel allies.
A company's own internal costs are insufficient to assess whether its product offering and customer value proposition are competitive with those of rivals.
a distinctive competence in performing that activity.
a core competence in performing that activity.
a sustainable competitive advantage over rivals based on dynamic capabilities.
a competitive capability.
a competitively valuable resource strength.
Whether the resource or capability represents a technological asset or a marketing asset
How much it helps a company improve its customer value proposition, its role in the company's profit proposition, and the degree to which it enables the company to compete effectively against rivals
Whether many or most rivals have much the same resource or capability
How easily it can be trumped by substitute resources and capabilities of rivals
How hard it is for competitors to copy
A weaker dealer network than key rivals and/or weak global distribution capability
No distinctive competence in producing a high-quality product
Weaker product quality, R&D, and/or technological know-how than key rivals
Too much underutilized plant capacity and/or short on financial resources to grow the business and pursue promising initiatives
In an overcrowded strategic group; plagued with internal operating problems or obsolete facilities
[solved] The three steps of SWOT analysis are
determining whether the company has more internal strengths than internal weaknesses, determining whether the company has good market opportunities, and evaluating the seriousness of the threats to the company's future well-being.
identifying the company's competitive assets, determining whether it enjoys a competitive advantage, and deciding how best to correct the company's competitive deficiencies.
identifying the company's competitively important strengths and weaknesses and its opportunities and threats, drawing conclusions about the company's overall business situation, and translating the conclusions into strategic actions and an overall strategy that is well-matched to the company's overall situation.
determining if the company has more resource strengths than close rivals, identifying the company's market opportunities and the external threats it faces, and determining the company's potential for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.
matching the company's strategy to its competitive strengths, correcting the company's two to three biggest competitive weaknesses, and identifying the company's best market opportunities.
The higher a company's overall competitive strength score/rating the stronger is its competitiveness and ability to compete successfully against rival industry members; low scores signal weak competitiveness and probable competitive disadvantage compared to rivals with higher scores.
The company with the highest score/rating is excellently positioned to be the most profitable company in the industry while the company with the lowest score is likely to be the least profitable company in the industry.
The company with the highest score/rating has the greatest number of competitively valuable resources and capabilities while the company with the lowest score has the smallest number of competitively valuable resources and capabilities.
The company with the highest score/rating is excellently positioned to have the biggest market share in the industry while the company with the lowest score is likely to have the lowest market share in the industry.
High scores/ratings indicate which rivals are most vulnerable to competitive attack and low scores indicate companies with strong defenses against competitive attack.
How the combined costs of a company's internally performed activities, the activities performed by its suppliers, and the activities performed by its forward channel allies compare against the costs of the supplier-performed, internally-performed, and forward channel ally-performed value chain systems employed by rival firms
How the costs of the company's production and marketing activities compare against the costs of the production and marketing activities of rival companies
How the costs of the company's primary value chain activities compare against the costs of the primary value chain activities of rival companies
How the costs of the company's internally performed activities compare against the costs of the internally-performed activities of rival companies
How the value chain costs of a company's suppliers and forward channel allies compare against the value chain costs of rival companies' suppliers and forward channel allies
Pinpointing what strategic issues and problems top management need to address in crafting a strategy to fit the company's situation
Evaluating whether the company is competitively stronger or weaker than key rivals
Identifying the company's important resources and capabilities, and evaluating whether they have the competitive power to produce a competitive advantage over rival companies?
Scanning the external environment to determine which company strengths offer the best prospects for achieving sustainable competitive advantage
Assessing whether the company's costs and prices are competitive with those of key rivals, and whether it has an appealing customer value proposition
the "worry list" serves as an agenda of items that need to be addressed in crafting a set of strategic actions that fit the company's overall external and internal situation.
without a precise fix on what problems/roadblocks a company confronts, managers are less clear about which value chain activities to benchmark and what resources and capabilities are needed to be competitively successful.
the worry list identifies the specific issues and problems that company managers must address and resolve in order to wisely chart a strategic path for the company to take and decide upon an appropriate strategic intent.
the "worry list" helps company managers determine how best to modify the company's value chain, what type of competitive advantage to try to create, and how best to maximize profitability.
without a clear fix on what problems/issues a company confronts, managers cannot know what the industry's driving forces and key success factors are.
[solved] Which of the following is not one of the objectives of benchmarking?
To take action to emulate the "best practice" of another company whenever benchmarking reveals that the company's own costs and results of performing an activity are not on a par with what one or more other companies have achieved
To identify the best means of performing an activity that is being benchmarked
To develop cross-company comparisons of the costs of performing specific value chain activities
To learn which company in an industry is using the greatest number of best practices in performing its value chain activities and thus very likely has the industry's lowest cost value chain
To learn how other companies have actually achieved lower costs or better results in performing benchmarked activities
Outsourcing certain high-cost activities being performed internally to outside vendors or contractors who can perform them more cheaply than they can be performed in-house
Implementing the use of best practices throughout the company, but most particularly for those activities where costs are higher than those of some or many rivals
Implementing an activity-based cost accounting system that identifies high-cost activities and then eliminating those activities with the highest costs from the company's value chain
Ceasing to perform activities of minimal value to customers
Relocating high-cost activities (such as manufacturing) to geographic areas like Southeast Asia or Latin America or Eastern Europe where they can be performed more cheaply
[solved] The term "triple bottom line" refers to
the three most frequently used measures of profitability--gross profit, operating profit, and net profit.
the three outcomes that underlie good corporate citizenship: conducting business according to high ethical standards, demonstration of an exemplary environmental sustainability strategy, and significant ongoing contributions to the better of society as a whole.
the three performance measures that a company considers to be most important.
the three types of bottom line results society should rightfully expect of all businesses: delivering value to shareholders, delivering value to customers, and delivering value to society as a whole.
the practice among some companies to measure their performance in the social responsibility arena by setting formal performance targets in three areas: "profit, people, and planet"--this set of performance targets is often referred to as the company's "triple bottom line" or TBL.
[solved] Multinational companies
are well advised to rely upon the principle of ethical relativism for guidance in how to conduct their activities because it is far more sensible for a multinational company to take the position that it is ethically okay for company personnel to pay bribes and kickbacks in countries where such payments are customary but that it is not ethically permissible for company personnel to pay bribes and kickbacks in those countries where bribes and kickbacks are considered unethical or illegal.
operating in countries where ethical standards vary considerably from country to country quickly find themselves on a slippery slope with no locally credible guiding moral authority if they insist on having a single companywide code of ethical standards that applies to all company personnel in all countries where the company operates.
that wish to be respectful of local customs and ethical standards should give company personnel sufficient wiggle room to pay bribes and kickbacks in those countries where the payment of bribes and kickbacks are customary and to forbid the payment of bribes and kickbacks in those countries where they are considered unethical or illegal.
face a real dilemma in basing their standards of what is ethical and what is unethical on the principle of ethical universalism because it is much better and easier for them to operate with multiple sets of ethical standards (sometimes one for each country, so as to be respectful and accommodative of local customs and traditions).
that forbid the payment of bribes and kickbacks in their codes of ethical conduct and that are serious about enforcing this prohibition are acting in accord with the principles of the school of ethical universalism and are rejecting the principles underlying the school of ethical relativism.
[solved] According to ongoing research by Berlin-based Transparency International,
corruption in business transactions is relatively low across the world but corruption among public officials in a majority of the world's countries is a serious problem.
corruption among public officials and in business transactions is widespread across the world.
corruption in business occurs in roughly 30% of business transactions across the world and the percentage has been steady for the past 5 years.
businesspeople are more corrupt on average than public officials.
corruption in business transactions is a problem in fewer than 15% of the countries of the world, but the percentage is increasing.
[solved] A company's environmental sustainability strategy concerns
its deliberate actions to protect the environment, provide for the longevity of natural resources, maintain ecological support systems for future generations, and guard against ultimate endangerment of the planet.
its action plan for reducing global warming.
its action plan for reducing energy consumption and shifting to renewable energy sources.
its plans for promoting organic farming and increased public consumption of organic foods.
the time and money it plans to spend in collaborating with other businesses to prevent climate change.
[solved] Ethical principles in business
are universal and do not vary significantly from country to country.
concern the company-specified values and behaviors that senior executives expect all personnel to observe and display in the course of doing their jobs.
are generally less permissive than the ethical principles for society at large.
are generally more permissive than the ethical principles for society at large.
are not materially different from ethical principles in general because business actions must be judged in the context of society's standards of what is ethically right and wrong, not by a special set of rules that apply just to business conduct.
[solved] According to the ethical relativism school of thought,
if the payment of bribes/kickbacks is legal in a particular country, then it is ethical for a company to pay bribes/kickbacks in conducting its business activities in that country, no matter what the legality of paying bribes/kickbacks happens to be in other countries.
whether the payment of bribes/kickbacks is ethically acceptable or not hinges upon the ethical standards that each industry establishes for its member businesses.
it is very clear that the payment of bribes and kickbacks is ethically impermissible even in those countries and situations where it is the local custom to engage in such payments.
because local ethical standards take precedence over ethical standards elsewhere, then if the payment of bribes/kickbacks is acceptable in a particular country, it is ethically acceptable for a company to pay bribes/kickbacks in conducting its business activities in that country.
businesses have the flexibility to set their own standards for deciding whether the payment of bribes/kickbacks is ethically acceptable or not.
[solved] Which of the following are major drivers of unethical strategies and business behavior?
A company culture that puts profitability and good business performance ahead of ethical behavior; lax oversight by company boards of directors that enables unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain, wealth, and other selfish interests; and heavy pressures on company managers to meet or beat short-term performance targets
The drive among most businesses to maximize profits and return on capital investment, the ethically corrupt nature of most businesspeople, and a lack on the part of many companies to implement and strongly enforce codes of ethical conduct
Fierce competitive pressures that inflict losses on companies and may even force some to file for bankruptcy, lax government enforcement of ethical standards and ethical business conduct, and the ease with which businesspeople who engage in unethical behavior can bribe corrupt public officials not to prosecute them or their companies
A lack on the part of many companies to implement and strongly enforce codes of ethical conduct, the excessively strong profit motive that pervades the business community, and the obscenely high bonuses and stock options paid to top executives that motivate/cause these overpaid executives to violate ethical standards
The excessively strong profit motive that pervades the business community, the excessive bonuses and stock options that top executives can earn if company profits are excellent, and a widespread belief in the business community that ethical behavior is not necessary or even relevant
are ethically-principled as long as they see such behavior being in their own self-interest.
try to stay within ethical bounds for fear of being caught doing something unethical and having their careers ruined.
are sometimes skeptical about certain ethical standards but they feel strongly obligated to observe the company's code of ethics and ethical standards in general.
see themselves as stewards of ethical behavior, are ethically principled, and believe it is important to pursue success in business within the confines of both the letter and spirit of what is ethical and legal.
view what is legal as also ethical.
[solved] According to the school of ethical universalism,
it is up to each business to set its own standards for deciding whether the use of underage labor is ethically acceptable or not.
if the use of underage labor is acceptable in a particular culture/society/country, then it is ethical for a company to use underage labor in conducting its business activities in that culture/society/country.
if the use of underage labor is legal in a particular country, then it is ethical for a company to use underage labor in conducting its business activities in that country, no matter what the legality of using underage labor happens to be in other countries.
there are ample grounds for rejecting the principle of ethical relativism that the use of underage labor is ethically permissible in those countries, societies, and situations where the use of child labor is normal and customary (and also legal).
whether the use of underage labor is ethically acceptable or not hinges upon the ethical standards that each country government establishes for businesses located within its boundaries.
Companies that engage in shady behavior usually suffer big drops in sales revenues and are unlikely to be profitable for as many as 5 to 10 years after their unethical conduct is exposed in the media
An unethical strategy and/or unethical conduct on the part of company personnel can badly damage a company's reputation and also damage the reputations and job security of the personnel involved
The costs of ethical misconduct can easily run into the hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars, especially if they provoke widespread public outrage and many people were harmed
Buyers shun companies caught up in highly publicized ethical scandals and companies with tarnished reputations have difficulty in recruiting and retaining talented employees because many people consider a company's ethical reputation when deciding whether to accept a job offer
A company's unethical behavior can do considerable damage to shareholders in the form of lost revenues, higher costs, lower profits, lower stock prices, and a diminished business reputation
Actions to protect or enhance the environment and, in particular, to minimize or eliminate any adverse impact on the environment stemming from the company's own business activities
Actions to build a workforce that is diverse with respect to gender, race, national origin, and perhaps other aspects that different people bring to the workplace
Actions to keep the prices the company charges for its products/services low enough to prevent the company's profits from being viewed by the general public as obscenely high or exorbitant
Actions to create a work environment that enhances the quality of life for employees and makes the company a great place to work
Making charitable contributions, supporting worthy organizational causes, participating in community service activities, helping to make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged, and trying to better the quality of life in society at large
[solved] The categories of managerial morality include:
managers with lots of integrity, managers with some integrity, and managers with no integrity.
mostly ethical managers, somewhat ethical managers, and totally unethical managers.
managers who behave ethically virtually all of the time, managers who behave ethically most of the time, and managers who behave ethically when it is in their best interest to do so and unethically when it is in their best interest to do so.
moral managers, immoral managers, and amoral managers.
managers who are "true believers" in high ethical standards, managers who claim to believe in high ethical standards but who nonetheless engage in unethical behavior whenever they deem it in their best economic interest to do so, and if-it-is-legal-then-it-is-ethical managers.
[solved] According to integrative social contracts theory,
a company's first duty and responsibility is to be respectful of and responsive to the ethical standards and norms of the each of the countries in which it operates.
the slippery slope of ethical universalism should be rejected and the principles of ethical relativism should be embraced.
the Code of Expected Ethical Conduct developed by the United Nations represents a pragmatic and effective compromise of the best parts of the ethical standards advocated by the school of ethical universalism and the ethical standards advocated by the school of ethical relativism.
each country's ethical norms and customs form a "social contract" that all individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses in that country have a duty to observe; this contract draws a clear and bright the line between actions and behaviors that are ethically permissible and those that are not and must be strictly observed in all circumstances in that particular country.
universal ethical principles or norms based on the collective views of multiple cultures and societies combine to form a "social contract" that is binding on all individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses; however, within the bounds defined by universal ethical principles, there is legitimate room (or "moral free space") for local cultures or groups to specify what other actions may or may not be ethically permissible.
the school of ethical relativism.
integrative social contracts theory.
the Code of Ethical and Moral Behavior adopted by the United Nations and ratified by a majority of member nations.
the widely used and authoritative Statement of Universal Ethical Principles developed by the Global Center for Universal Ethical Standards in Brussels, Belgium.
the school of ethical universalism.
[solved] According to the school of ethical relativism,
it is generally best to avoid use of a "one-size-fits-all" template for judging the ethical appropriateness of business actions and the behaviors of company personnel because any standard of ethically right and wrong behavior is subject to varying interpretation.
what constitutes ethical or unethical conduct varies according to the religious convictions of each society or each culture within a country.
differing religious beliefs, historic traditions and customs, core values and beliefs, and behavioral norms across countries and cultures give rise to multiple sets of standards concerning what is ethically right or wrong; these different standards translate into differences about what is considered ethical or unethical in the conduct of business activities,
there can be no single standard for judging ethically right and wrong behavior because each culture and each country should always have complete freedom to determine its own standards of what is and is not ethically permissible.
it is appropriate for ethical standards as they apply to business behavior to vary from business situation to business situation because of the varying circumstances that accompany different business situations.
Unit sales volumes per company of private-label footwear in Years 11-13 are projected to be higher in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions than in the North America and Europe-Africa regions.
The unit sales volumes of private-label footwear per company in the Asia-Pacific region in Years 11-13 are projected to be the same as in Latin America.
The unit sales volumes of private-label footwear per company in the Europe-Africa region in Years 11-13 are projected to be the same as in North America.
The projected unit sales volumes of private-label footwear per company in Europe-Africa in Years 11-13 are higher than in North America.
The unit sales volumes per company in North America in Year 12 are projected to be 2,640,000 pairs of branded footwear and 246,000 pairs of private-label footwear.
[solved] The projected percentage growth in buyer demand for private-label athletic footwear is
10-12% annually in North America region during the Year 16-Year 20 period and 12-14% annually in Europe-Africa region during the Year 16-Year 20 period.
higher than the projected growth for branded footwear in the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions in both the Year 11-15 and Year 16-20 periods.
10-12% annually in Latin America during the Year 11-Year 15 period, declining to 8-10% annually during the Year 16-Year 20 period.
5-7% annually worldwide, during the Year 11-Year 15 period, increasing to 7-9% annually during the Year 16-Year 20 period.
12-14% annually in the Europe-Africa region during Years 11-15 and 10-12% annually in Latin America during Years 11-15.
Cozy's product manager continues to perform well
Cozy's product manager continues to perform well in the market. However, a competing product is coming on strong and is looking to take over as the market share leader in the segment. Without sacrificing contribution margin, what can the Cozy product manager do in order to improve upon the buying criteria, and thus potentially increase demand?
Cozy's product manager continues to perform well
Cozy's product manager continues to perform well in the market. However, a competing product is coming on strong and is looking to take over as the market share leader in the segment. Without sacrificing contribution margin, what can the Cozy product manager do in order to improve upon the buying criteria, and thus potentially increase demand?
[solved] Which of the following are most unlikely to qualify as driving forces?
Changes in an industry's long-term growth rate, the entry or exit of major firms, and changes in cost and efficiency
Emerging new Internet technology applications, reductions in uncertainty and business risk, regulatory influences, and government policy changes
Mounting competition from substitutes, increasing efforts on the part of industry members to collaborate with suppliers, and the speed with which the number of industry key success factors is either rising or falling
Product innovation and changes in who buys the industry's product and how they use it
Increasing globalization of the industry and marketing innovation
whether entry barriers are high or low and the pool of likely entry candidates is big or small.
the price sensitivity of buyers, whether buyer switching costs are high or low, and how well-informed buyers are about the product offerings of industry members.
whether the profit margins of sellers are relatively high or low.
whether buyer demand is local, regional, national, or global.
whether the overall quality of the products/services of industry members is rising or falling
[solved] The bargaining leverage of suppliers is stronger when
suppliers provide an item that accounts for a sizable fraction of the costs of the industry's product.
there are no good substitutes for the items being furnished by the suppliers and when there are only a few "preferred" suppliers of a particular input.
industry members purchase in large quantities and thus are important customers of the suppliers.
the products of suppliers are weakly differentiated and the supplier industry is composed of more than five suppliers.
industry members are a threat to integrate backward into the business of suppliers and to self-manufacture their own requirements.
[solved] Which of the following is generally not considered as a barrier to entry?
Weak brand preferences and low degrees of customer loyalty to existing brands
High capital requirements
The ability and willingness of industry incumbents to launch strong defensive maneuvers to maintain their positions and make it harder for a newcomer to build a clientele
The cost advantages enjoyed by industry members due to scale economies (in production, distribution, or other activities), favorable locations, and/or low fixed costs
The difficulties of building a network of distributors-retailers and securing adequate space on retailers' shelves
whether potential entrants have ample cash on hand to fund the capital requirements to enter the industry.
how formidable the entry barriers are for each type of potential entrant and whether most companies already in the industry are making money or losing money.
whether existing industry members have sufficient capacity to supply the expected growth in buyer demand.
whether industry incumbents will or will not have a cost advantage over new entrants.
whether the industry's growth and profit prospects are strongly attractive to potential entry candidates.
Strongly differentiated products among rival sellers
Industry conditions that tempt rivals to use price cuts or other competitive weapons to boost unit sales
A situation where a few large sellers have the majority of sales and dominant market shares
Rapid growth in buyer demand
High buyer switching costs
the producers of substitutes have strong product innovation capabilities.
industry members face strong bargaining power from their most influential customers.
the readily available substitute products have comparable or better performance features and are attractively priced.
industry members make purchases frequently or infrequently.
there are fewer than five online sellers of substitute products with widespread brand name recognition.
[solved] The term strategic group refers to
those members of an industry that confront the same types of competitive pressures and are combating the same kinds of driving forces.
those industry rivals that are charging about the same prices for their products/services.
a cluster of industry rivals that employ similar competitive approaches, have product offerings that appeal to similar types of buyers, and thus occupy similar market positions.
those industry rivals whose products are of very similar quality.
a cluster of industry rivals that have differentiated their product offerings in essentially identical ways.
[solved] As a rule, the stronger the collective impact of the five competitive forces,
the fewer the number of industry key success factors.
the larger the number of competitive advantage opportunities for industry members.
the lower the combined profitability of industry participants.
the stronger are the industry's driving forces.
the fewer the number of industry members that can earn a profit by charging premium prices for highly differentiated products.
[solved] The competitive threat that outsiders will enter a market is weaker when
existing industry members are looking to expand their market reach by entering product segments or geographic areas where they currently do not have a presence.
it takes new entrants longer than 6 months to secure attractive amounts of space on retailers' shelves and build a well-recognized brand name.
entry barriers are high, the pool of entry candidates is small, and buyer demand is growing slowly or is stagnant.
more than three of the existing industry members have lost money during the past 5 years.
buyers have little loyalty to the brands and product offerings of existing industry members.
[solved] Competitive pressures stemming from the threat of entry are stronger when
the industry outlook is risky or uncertain.
industry incumbents have competitive arsenals that are formidable enough to put obstacles in a newcomer's path and potentially defeat its strategic efforts to become a successful and profitable competitor.
there are fewer than 20 potential entry candidates and more than 10 firms are already in the industry.
incumbent firms have cost advantages that are difficult for a newcomer to replicate.
the pool of entry candidates is large and some have adequate resources to overcome entry barriers and combat defensive actions of existing industry.
[solved] What makes the marketplace a competitive battlefield is
the ongoing jockeying and maneuvering among rivals to cut costs, charge the lowest price in the industry, steal customers away from rivals, and drive their weakest rivals out of business.
the constant jockeying of industry members to deploy whatever means in their business arsenals they believe will attract and retain buyers, enhance their competitive strength vis-a-vis rivals, and yield the best profitability.
the ongoing race among rival sellers to add new and improved product features so as to have the highest quality product in the industry.
the race among industry members to see who can employ the most powerful strategic offensive, take sales and market share away from rivals, and drive one or more rivals out of business.
the ongoing efforts of industry members to introduce innovative next-generation products/services at a faster rate than their rivals.
[solved] The "driving forces" in an industry
are usually triggered by changing technology, the entry of important new competitors, or the exit of several important industry members.
are usually triggered by shifting buyer needs and expectations or by the appearance of new substitute products.
usually are spawned by growing demand for the product, the outbreak of price-cutting, and unexpectedly large reductions in entry barriers.
become more numerous and grow in intensity when the industry begins to mature and the rate of growth in buyer demand slows.
are the major underlying causes of changing industry and competitive conditions and have the biggest influence on how the industry landscape will be altered.
Whether the company's strategy incorporates at least 5 of the industry's key success factors
Whether a company has the resources and competitive capabilities to capture the industry's most appealing market opportunities
How many industry members are currently making money and how many are losing money
Whether and to what degree industry profitability will be favorably or unfavorably affected by the industry's driving forces
How many industry members are pursuing offensive strategies to gain sales and market share and how many are pursuing defensive strategies to protect their present sales levels and market shares
When he industry's product entails low inventory storage costs
When there are so many rivals that any one company's actions have little direct impact on the businesses of rivals
When one or more rivals are dissatisfied with their business performance and are making aggressive moves to attract more customers
When the loyalty of buyers to their preferred brand is high
When buyer switching costs are high and competing sellers seldom make fresh moves to improve their market standing and business performance
enabling company managers to determine which successful strategy elements of rival companies need to be quickly incorporated into the company's own strategy.
helping company managers determine which rivals in other strategic groups need to be monitored very closely.
enabling managers to prepare effective countermoves (perhaps to even beat a rival to the punch) and to take rivals' probable actions into account in crafting their own best course of action.
allowing company managers to accurately predict which rival companies are destined to gain market share and which ones are destined to lose market share over the next 3-5 years.
enabling a company to successfully underprice rival companies and steal away some of their sales and market share.
Competitive pressures created by shifting industry key success factors
The attempts of companies in other industries to win buyers over to their own substitute products
The threat of new entrants into the market
The exercise of supplier bargaining power
The market maneuvering and jockeying for buyer patronage among rival sellers in the industry
To what extent are competitive forces influenced by societal values and lifestyles?
Is the industry considered to be a fiercely competitive high-tech industry or a moderately competitive low-tech industry?
What impact do buyer demographics and purchasing power have on the industry's outlook for good profitability?
What forces are driving changes in the industry, and what impact will these changes have on competitive intensity and industry profitability?
How extensively and tightly is the industry regulated?
Charging whatever price the industry leader is charging
Providing quicker or cheaper delivery
Building a bigger/better dealer network
Offering coupons and/or improving warranties
Improving selection of models/styles
[solved] Strategic group mapping is a technique for determining
industry key success factors.
whether the collective impact of the five competitive forces is strong, moderate, or weak and which companies are best shielded from the most powerful competitive forces.
how many rivals are profitable, who the industry leader is, and how big a competitive advantage the industry leader has.
the different market positions that rival firms occupy in an industry and which companies are close competitors and which are distant competitors.
what strategic moves key rivals are likely to make next.
[solved] The concept of strategic groups is relevant to industry and competitive analysis because
strategic group maps help identify which industry members are close rivals and which are distant rivals.
a company's profit potential depends on which strategic group it is in.
competition grows in intensity as the number and diversity of the strategic groups in an industry increases.
firms in the same strategic groups are rarely close competitors--a firm's closest competitors are usually in distant strategic groups.
competitive pressures tend to be weaker within strategic groups than across strategic groups.
The ever-changing competitive maneuvering among industry rivals produces a continually evolving competitive landscape where the market battle ebbs and flows, sometimes takes unpredictable twists and turns, and produces winners and losers.
Each competing company endeavors to deploy whatever means in its business arsenal it believes will attract and retain buyers, enhance its competitive strength vis-a-vis rivals, and yield good profits.
When one industry competitor makes a new strategic move or boosts its competitive efforts in ways that yield good results, its rivals typically respond with offensive or defensive countermoves of their own.
The ongoing jockeying of rivals leads to some companies gaining or losing momentum in the marketplace based on the success or failure of their latest competitive efforts and maneuvering in the marketplace.
A market is a competitive battlefield where the winners are usually companies with a large market share of industry sales and the losers are companies with a small market share.Â
[solved] The best test of whether potential entry is a strong or weak competitive force is whether
the industry's growth and profit prospects are strongly attractive to potential entry candidates.
capital requirements for new entrants are high or low.
a majority of the existing industry members have earned a profit for 3 consecutive years.
buyer loyalty to existing brands is high or low.
the number of entry barriers.
[solved] Which of the following are most unlikely to qualify as driving forces?
Changes in an industry's long-term growth rate, the entry or exit of major firms, and changes in cost and efficiency
Increasing globalization of the industry and marketing innovation
Product innovation and changes in who buys the industry's product and how they use it
Emerging new Internet technology applications, reductions in uncertainty and business risk, regulatory influences, and government policy changes
Mounting competition from substitutes, increasing efforts on the part of industry members to collaborate with suppliers, and the speed with which the number of industry key success factors is either rising or falling
how much bargaining power industry members face from both their suppliers and their most influential customers.
buyers make purchases frequently or infrequently and whether the producers of substitutes have idle production capacity.
the producers of substitutes provide high levels of customer service and their product offerings are strongly differentiated from one another.
there are at least five well-known and highly regarded sellers of substitute products.
substitutes are attractively priced and have comparable or better performance features.
[solved] Driving forces analysis entails
learning what the drivers of industry success are and which industry key success factor is the most important determinant of company profitability.
identifying what the driving forces are, assessing whether the drivers of change are, on the whole, acting to make the industry more or less attractive, and determining what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the impacts of the driving forces.
determining which of the five competitive forces is the biggest driver of industry change and deciding what changes a company needs to make to best protect itself from the adverse impacts of the very strong competitive force that is driving industry change.
identifying all of the potential causes of changing industry conditions.
predicting whether future market conditions are likely to be attractive or unattractive, predicting how the industry's driving forces will alter the factors for future competitive success, and then crafting a strategy that will shield the firm from as many of the different adverse driving forces as possible.
avoids the mistake of flying blind into competitive battle without having some inkling of what actions rivals may take, thereby reducing the risk of being caught napping and suffering a damaging loss of sales and profits.
makes it easy to predict which rivals are likely to gain market share in the upcoming years and which ones are likely to lose market share.
helps clarify which rivals are the firm's closest competitors and how to capitalize on their strategy flaws or mistakes.
helps company managers identify which rival has the best strategy and must be watched most closely.
is important because it enables company managers to identify which rivals are in the best and worst strategic groups.
Whether it is difficult or costly for industry members to switch their purchases from one supplier to another or to switch to attractive substitute inputs.
Whether there are greater or fewer than ten suppliers of the item being purchased from suppliers
Whether industry members have sound business reasons to integrate backward into the business of suppliers and self-manufacture items they have been buying from suppliers
Whether suppliers provide an item that accounts for a sizable fraction of the costs of the industry's product
Whether the item being supplied is a commodity readily available from a host of suppliers or whether certain suppliers provide a differentiated input that enhances the performance or quality of the industry's product
[solved] Which of the following generally do not qualify as a barrier to entry?
Rapid market growth and low degrees of customer loyalty to existing brands
The ability and willingness of industry incumbents to launch strong defensive maneuvers to maintain their positions and make it harder for a newcomer to compete successfully and profitably
High capital requirements and the cost advantages enjoyed by existing industry members
Tariffs and other burdensome international trade restrictions
The difficulties of building a network of distributors-retailers and securing adequate space on retailers' shelves
lacks powerful driving forces and is thus likely to be relatively slow-changing and cause industry members to have low profit margins.
typically results in a "buyers' market" where industry members are forced to reduce prices.
is conducive to industry members earning attractive profits.
gives each industry competitor the best potential for growing rapidly and strongly differentiating its product.
requires that industry members have low costs in order to be competitively successful.
[solved] Which of the following is not a factor that causes buyer bargaining power to be stronger?
Buyers are well-informed and have compared the product offerings of industry members regarding prices, product features, quality, buyer reviews, and other pertinent factors.
The supply side of the marketplace is composed of a few large sellers and the demand side of the marketplace consists of numerous buyers that purchase in fairly small quantities
The costs incurred by buyers in switching to competing brands or to substitute products are relatively low
Some buyers are a threat to integrate backward into the business of sellers and become an important competitor
Buyers have considerable discretion over whether and when they purchase the product
[solved] Rivalry among competing sellers grows in intensity when
buyer demand is growing rapidly.
a few large sellers have the majority of sales and dominant market shares.
the products of rival sellers are essentially identical or else weakly differentiated, resulting in little or no buyer brand loyalty.
the products/services of rival sellers are becoming more strongly differentiated.
rivals' products/services are sold at widely varying prices.
Industry conditions that tempt rivals to use price cuts or other competitive weapons to boost unit sales
Strongly differentiated products among rival sellers
Rapid growth in buyer demand
A situation where a few large sellers have the majority of sales and dominant market shares
High buyer switching costs
[solved] The competitive threat that outsiders will enter a market is weaker when
buyers have little loyalty to the brands and product offerings of existing industry members.
it takes new entrants longer than 6 months to secure attractive amounts of space on retailers' shelves and build a well-recognized brand name.
existing industry members are looking to expand their market reach by entering product segments or geographic areas where they currently do not have a presence.
entry barriers are high, the pool of entry candidates is small, and buyer demand is growing slowly or is stagnant.
more than three of the existing industry members have lost money during the past 5 years.
[solved] The five-forces model of competition (as shown in Figure 3.3) does not include
competitive pressures stemming from the exercise of supplier bargaining power.
competitive pressures triggered by the unexpected appearance of new and powerful driving forces.
competitive pressures from companies in other industries selling substitute products
competitive pressures stemming from the threat of new entrants into the market.
competitive pressures stemming from the exercise of buyer (or customer) bargaining power.
[solved] Competitive pressures stemming from the threat of entry are stronger when
there are fewer than 20 potential entry candidates and more than 10 firms are already in the industry.
incumbent firms have cost advantages that are difficult for a newcomer to replicate.
industry incumbents have competitive arsenals that are formidable enough to put obstacles in a newcomer's path and potentially defeat its strategic efforts to become a successful and profitable competitor.
the pool of entry candidates is large and some have adequate resources to overcome entry barriers and combat defensive actions of existing industry.
the industry outlook is risky or uncertain.
On what basis do buyers of the industry's product or service choose between the competing brands of sellers?
What shortcomings are almost certain to put a company at a significant competitive disadvantage?
Which one of the five competitive forces must any company in the industry absolutely be able to cope with and defend against successfully in order to survive and have a reasonable chance at earning a profit?
Given the nature of competitive rivalry and the competitive forces prevailing in the marketplace, what resources and competitive capabilities must a company have to be competitively successful?
Is the long-term growth rate in buyer demand for the industry's product/service expected to decrease, remain about the same, or increase?
Technological factors
Sociocultural forces
Environmental factors and economic conditions
Political factors and legal/regulatory factors
The industry's profit outlook
Reducing price; granting discounts to win the business of particular buyers
Improving customer service
Running ads to inform buyers of new or special features and/or to strengthen brand awareness and brand image
Introducing more or different features
Winning a bigger market share
is chiefly determined by how favorably the company is impacted by factors in the outer ring of its macro-environment.
depends almost entirely on whether a company has the resources and competitive capabilities to capture the industry's most appealing market opportunities.
involves (a) using a strategic group map to determine which strategic groups are likely to enjoy good profits in the future and which ones are likely to experience weak profitability and (b) determining if a company's strategy incorporates at least 5 of the industry's key success factors.
hinges in part on such considerations as the industry's growth potential, the anticipated strength of competitive forces, whether the company is strongly or weakly positioned on the industry's strategic group map, and whether and to what degree industry profitability will be favorably or unfavorably affected by the industry's driving forces.
is best gauged by how many industry members are currently making money and how many are losing money and whether the average profitability of industry members has risen or fallen over the past five years.
is chiefly determined by how favorably the company is impacted by factors in the outer ring of its macro-environment.
depends almost entirely on whether a company has the resources and competitive capabilities to capture the industry's most appealing market opportunities.
involves (a) using a strategic group map to determine which strategic groups are likely to enjoy good profits in the future and which ones are likely to experience weak profitability and (b) determining if a company's strategy incorporates at least 5 of the industry's key success factors.
hinges in part on such considerations as the industry's growth potential, the anticipated strength of competitive forces, whether the company is strongly or weakly positioned on the industry's strategic group map, and whether and to what degree industry profitability will be favorably or unfavorably affected by the industry's driving forces.
is best gauged by how many industry members are currently making money and how many are losing money and whether the average profitability of industry members has risen or fallen over the past five years.
When buyer switching costs are high and competing sellers seldom make fresh moves to improve their market standing and business performance
When he industry's product entails low inventory storage costs
When the loyalty of buyers to their preferred brand is high
When there are so many rivals that any one company's actions have little direct impact on the businesses of rivals
When one or more rivals are dissatisfied with their business performance and are making aggressive moves to attract more customers
[solved] Competitive jockeying and market maneuvering among industry rivals
is usually an industry's strongest driving force and acts to weaken customer loyalty.
is generally weak when both buyers and suppliers have strong bargaining power, there are few industry key success factors, and industry driving forces are weak.
is ever-changing as competing sellers initiate round after round of offensive and defensive moves, emphasizing first one mix of competitive weapons and then another in efforts to improve their market positions and profitability.
determines whether companies positioned in the upper right quadrant of the industry's strategic group map will have a strong or weak competitive advantage over industry members positioned in other parts of the map.
is usually one of the two or three weakest competitive forces when the outlook for the industry as a whole is not conducive to good profitability.
Charging whatever price the industry leader is charging
Offering coupons and/or improving warranties
Providing quicker or cheaper delivery
Building a bigger/better dealer network
Improving selection of models/styles
[solved] The key success factors in an industry
concern those industry-related factors that play a major role in whether a company is able to gain a sustainable competitive advantage and/or will make it easier to overcome competitive pressures and industry driving forces.
are those competitive factors that most affect industry members' abilities to prosper in the marketplace--the particular strategy elements, product attributes, resource strengths, competitive capabilities, and market achievements that spell the difference between being a strong competitor and a weak competitor (and sometimes the difference between profit and loss).
relate to the kinds of business models and strategies that a company must employ in order to be profitable, win a competitive edge, and give the company a chance at being the global market leader.
concern the specific resource strengths and competitive capabilities that a company must always incorporate in its strategy in order to be profitable.
are determined by the industry's driving forces, by the number of different strategic groups in the industry, and by the number of different competitive strategies that industry members are employing.
[solved] The bargaining leverage of suppliers is stronger when
industry members make frequent purchases in small quantities.
industry members are a threat to integrate backward into the business of suppliers and to self-manufacture their own requirements.
suppliers provide an item that accounts for a small fraction of the costs of the industry's product and when a needed input is in short supply.
the products of suppliers are strongly differentiated, which reduces the costs industry members incur in switching to alternative suppliers.
good substitutes exist for the items being furnished by the suppliers.
[solved] The "driving forces" in an industry
are usually triggered by changing technology, the entry of important new competitors, or the exit of several important industry members.
are usually triggered by shifting buyer needs and expectations or by the appearance of new substitute products.
usually are spawned by growing demand for the product, the outbreak of price-cutting, and unexpectedly large reductions in entry barriers.
become more numerous and grow in intensity when the industry begins to mature and the rate of growth in buyer demand slows.
are the major underlying causes of changing industry and competitive conditions and have the biggest influence on how the industry landscape will be altered.
allowing company managers to accurately predict which rival companies are destined to gain market share and which ones are destined to lose market share over the next 3-5 years.
enabling managers to prepare effective countermoves (perhaps to even beat a rival to the punch) and to take rivals' probable actions into account in crafting their own best course of action.
helping company managers determine which rivals in other strategic groups need to be monitored very closely.
enabling company managers to determine which successful strategy elements of rival companies need to be quickly incorporated into the company's own strategy.
enabling a company to successfully underprice rival companies and steal away some of their sales and market share.
[solved] The concept of strategic groups is relevant to industry and competitive analysis because
strategic group maps help identify which industry members are close rivals and which are distant rivals.
firms in the same strategic groups are rarely close competitors--a firm's closest competitors are usually in distant strategic groups.
a company's profit potential depends on which strategic group it is in.
competitive pressures tend to be weaker within strategic groups than across strategic groups.
competition grows in intensity as the number and diversity of the strategic groups in an industry increases.
[solved] The competitive pressures from substitute products tend to be weaker when
there are fewer than 5 sellers of substitute products with idle production capacity.
substitutes have been on the market and available for purchase for fewer than three years.
buyers have high costs in switching to substitutes.
the prices of substitutes are less than 10% higher than the prices being charged by sellers in the industry.
the substitute products that are currently available are weakly differentiated from one another.
[solved] Which of the following generally do not qualify as a barrier to entry?
Tariffs and other burdensome international trade restrictions
The difficulties of building a network of distributors-retailers and securing adequate space on retailers' shelves
The ability and willingness of industry incumbents to launch strong defensive maneuvers to maintain their positions and make it harder for a newcomer to compete successfully and profitably
High capital requirements and the cost advantages enjoyed by existing industry members
Rapid market growth and low degrees of customer loyalty to existing brands
[solved] The five-forces model of competition (as shown in Figure 3.3) does not include
competitive pressures from companies in other industries selling substitute products
competitive pressures stemming from the exercise of supplier bargaining power.
competitive pressures stemming from the exercise of buyer (or customer) bargaining power.
competitive pressures triggered by the unexpected appearance of new and powerful driving forces.
competitive pressures stemming from the threat of new entrants into the market.
[solved] A company's macro-environment concerns
the buying habits of consumers, the overall business climate in which the company operates, and the balance between global supply and global demand for the industry's product/service.
political factors, economic conditions, sociocultural forces, technological factors, environmental forces, legal/regulatory factors and, closer to home, the immediate industry and competitive arena in which the company operates--as shown in Figure 3.2.
the rates of change in consumer purchasing power and the stability of consumer tastes, preferences, and buying habits.
the fresh competitive efforts and market maneuvers that rival companies are likely to initiate in the near future.
such factors as industry growth, competitive pressures, industry driving forces, the company's current profitability, and the pressures that company shareholders are putting on top management for better company performance.
[solved] The best test of whether potential entry is a strong or weak competitive force is whether
capital requirements for new entrants are high or low.
a majority of the existing industry members have earned a profit for 3 consecutive years.
the industry's growth and profit prospects are strongly attractive to potential entry candidates.
the number of entry barriers.
buyer loyalty to existing brands is high or low.
[solved] Which of the following is not a factor that causes buyer bargaining power to be stronger?
The costs incurred by buyers in switching to competing brands or to substitute products are relatively low
The supply side of the marketplace is composed of a few large sellers and the demand side of the marketplace consists of numerous buyers that purchase in fairly small quantities
Buyers have considerable discretion over whether and when they purchase the product
Buyers are well-informed and have compared the product offerings of industry members regarding prices, product features, quality, buyer reviews, and other pertinent factors.
Some buyers are a threat to integrate backward into the business of sellers and become an important competitor
[solved] Competitive pressures stemming from the threat of entry are stronger when
there are fewer than 10 entry candidates with the potential to hurdle the industry's barriers to entry.
buyers have strong brand preferences and high degrees of loyalty to their preferred brand and when it takes new entrants less than 5 years to secure attractive amounts of space on retailers' shelves and build a well-recognized brand name.
the industry's outlook is uncertain or highly risky, entry barriers are low, and very few existing industry members are looking to expand their market reach by entering product segments or geographic areas where they currently do not have a presence.
entry barriers are low, the pool of entry candidates is large, and existing industry members are earning good profits.
it is difficult or costly for a customer to switch to a new brand, the total dollar investment needed to enter the market successfully exceeds $5 million, and existing governmental regulations impose significant cost and compliance burdens on industry members.
results in an unattractive strategic group map where all industry members are crowded into the top right corner of the map and forced into competing on the basis of rapid product innovation.
tends to mean that the industry will have fewer than 3 key success factors.
greatly strengthens the number of driving forces and the power of their impact on industry members.
typically results in a "sellers' market" where industry members can raise prices and earn large profit margins.
makes it hard for industry members to earn attractive profits.
[solved] Factors that weaken the rivalry among competing sellers include
rapid growth in buyer demand, high buyer switching costs, small inventories, and/or little idle production capacity.
low buyer switching costs, slow growth in buyer demand, and rival sellers that are relatively equal in size and capability.
low barriers to entry, weakly differentiated products among rival sellers, and low inventory storage costs.
slow growth in buyer demand, low degrees of customer loyalty, and sellers' products are costly to hold in inventory, seasonal or perishable.
low buyer switching costs, weakly differentiated products among rival sellers, and conditions where one or more rivals are dissatisfied with their business performance and are making aggressive moves to attract more customers.
The degrees of risk and uncertainty in the industry’s future
Whether the industry and the company are being favorably or unfavorably impacted by macro-environmental factors
Whether statistical analysis indicates that long-term industry profitability is trending up or down
Whether and to what degree industry profitability will be favorably or unfavorably affected by the industry's driving forces
The industry’s growth potential
[solved] Which of the following are most unlikely to qualify as driving forces?
Emerging new Internet technology applications, reductions in uncertainty and business risk, regulatory influences, and government policy changes
Changes in an industry's long-term growth rate, the entry or exit of major firms, and changes in cost and efficiency
Mounting competition from substitutes, increasing efforts on the part of industry members to collaborate with suppliers, and the speed with which the number of industry key success factors is either rising or falling
Increasing globalization of the industry and marketing innovation
Product innovation and changes in who buys the industry's product and how they use it
[solved] Potential entrants are more likely to be deterred from actually entering an industry when
the products of incumbent firms are strongly differentiated.
the relative cost positions of incumbent firms are about the same, such that no one incumbent has a meaningful cost advantage.
the industry already contains a dozen or more rivals and the capital requirements to enter the market successfully are greater than $1 million.
the products of industry members are weakly differentiated and the pool of entry candidates is large.
industry incumbents are willing and able to launch strong defensive maneuvers to maintain their positions and make it harder for a newcomer to compete successfully and profitably.
Well-stated objectives should be quantitative or measurable.
Well-stated objectives should contain a deadline for achievement.
Well-stated objectives should be challenging.
Well-stated objectives should be specific.
Well-stated objectives should contain sufficient wiggle room to allow for the occurrence of unexpected circumstances that block achievement of the objective.
[solved] In most corporations, strategy-making is
first and foremost the function and responsibility of a company's chief strategy officer (who usually reports directly to the chief executive officer and also coordinates closely with members of the company's board of directors).
more of a collaborative group effort that involves executives and managers at many organizational levels, as opposed to being the function and sole responsibility of a few high-ranking executives.
primarily the joint responsibility of a company's senior executives and board of directors.
first and foremost the function of a company's chief executive officer - who formulates strategic initiatives and submits them to the board of directors for approval.
first and foremost the function and responsibility of a company's board of directors.
critically appraising the company's direction, strategy, and business approaches and evaluating the caliber of senior executives' strategy-making and strategy-executing skills.
developing the company's business model and advising the CEO as to how best to implement and execute the business model.
determining whether the CEO and other senior executives have established an appropriate set of financial and strategic objectives.
playing the lead role in developing the company's strategy and supervising the efforts of the CEO and other top executives in implementing and executing the strategy.
making sure the company has a sound and up-to-date 5-year strategic plan, determining the company's dividend policy, and hiring and firing (if need be) all senior management executives.
[solved] Developing a strategic vision for a company entails
describing the company's business model and explaining the kind of value that it is trying to deliver to customers.
describing the company's customer value proposition and the revenue-cost-profit formula management will use to deliver value to shareholders.
prescribing a route for the company to take in developing and strengthening its business--a strategic vision lays out the company's strategic course in preparing for the future.
coming up with a 5-year strategic plan for outcompeting rivals and achieving a competitive advantage.
describing the company's strategic intent in some detail and how management plans to respond to shifting economic and market conditions.
[solved] A company's mission statement typically addresses which of the following questions?
"Where are we headed and what should our strategy be?"
"Who are we, what do we do, and why are we here?"
"What types of customers are we trying to attract and what do we intend to do for them in order to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction?"
"How will we get to where we are going?"
"What products will we market in order to deliver attractive value to our customers?"
[solved] Business strategy, as distinct from corporate strategy, concerns
choosing what customer value proposition to employ.
selecting which new businesses to enter, which existing businesses to get out of, and which existing businesses to remain in.
the actions, approaches, and practices to be employed in managing particular functions or business processes or key activities within a given line of business.
the actions and approaches being employed to produce successful performance in one specific line of business.
choosing the most appropriate strategic intent for a specific line of business.
Communicating the company's mission statement to employees, shareholders, and suppliers and developing a balanced scorecard to track organizational performance
Setting objectives for measuring the company's performance and tracking its progress in moving in the intended long-term direction and pursuing the strategic vision and mission
Deciding on a customer value proposition, identifying the three most appealing strategy alternatives, and determining what kinds of resources to employ in the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage
Developing a proven business model and identifying profitable strategy alternatives.
Deciding on the company's strategic intent and what strategic plan to pursue in accomplishing the chosen strategic intent
Challenging, totally ethical, and highly focused on achieving competitive advantage
Innovative, inspiring, and highly unique
Memorable, forward-looking and directional, and focused
Balanced, rational, unique, and inspirational
Imaginative, customer-focused, and no longer than 10 words
[solved] Strategic intent refers to a situation where a company
is strongly committed to achieving the targeted outcomes in its balanced scorecard.
relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective, concentrating the full force of its resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective.
decides to shift from one competitive approach to a different competitive approach.
has an unshakable commitment to a particular strategy.
adopts a new or different strategic vision.
Does the company have attractively strong resources and competitive capabilities to grow revenues and profits in the years ahead?
Does the company have the resource strengths and competitive capabilities to become the dominant market leader in every country the company competes in?
What, if any, new customer groups and/or geographic markets should the company get in position to serve?
Are there good reasons why the company should begin to deemphasize or eventually abandon any of the markets or customer groups it is currently serving?
What resource strengths and competitive capabilities offer good potential for creating competitive advantage?
[solved] Effectively communicating the strategic vision to company personnel is important because
the more a vision evokes positive support and excitement among company personnel, the greater its impact in terms of arousing a committed organizational effort and getting company personnel to move in a common direction.
a good understanding of the vision boosts employee confidence in the profitability of the company's business model.
company personnel cannot be highly productive and happy with their jobs unless they have a clear understanding of management's strategic plan for being competitively successful and profitable over the long term.
a good understanding of the vision boosts employee support for company initiatives to win a sustainable competitive advantage over rivals.
when company personnel understand what the company needs to do to be profitable and successful, the company's chances of achieving its financial and strategic objectives are typically greater than 90%.
[solved] A company's strategic plan consists of
its strategic intent and the strategy it will employ to achieve this intent and win a sustainable competitive advantage.
a company's strategic vision, strategic objectives, strategic intent, and strategy.
a strategic vision, a strategy to earn appealingly high profits, and a strategic intent to achieve a particular type of competitive advantage over rivals.
the actions and approaches to be used in achieving a competitive edge over rival firms.
a vision of where it is headed, a set of performance targets, and a strategy to achieve them.
help managers track an organization's progress in achieving high levels of customer satisfaction.
are more difficult to achieve and harder to measure than financial objectives.
are actions a company must take to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
are generally less important than financial objectives.
relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive vitality, and future business prospects.
help managers track an organization's progress in achieving high levels of customer satisfaction.
are more difficult to achieve and harder to measure than financial objectives.
are actions a company must take to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
are generally less important than financial objectives.
relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive vitality, and future business prospects.
Good strategy execution requires diligent pursuit of operating excellence.
Managing the implementation and execution of strategy is easily the most demanding and time-consuming part of the strategy management process.
Management's handling of the strategy implementation and execution process can be considered successful if the company's net profits are higher after the process is completed than they were before the process began.
Managing the implementation and execution of strategy is an operations-oriented make-things-happen activity aimed at performing core business activities in a strategy-supportive manner.
Initiatives to put the strategy in place and execute it proficiently must be launched and managed on many organizational fronts.
[solved] The task of stitching together a strategy
is mainly an exercise in staying flexible, so as to enable quick response to changing market conditions and competitive circumstances, rapid pursuit of emerging growth opportunities, and early adoption of newly emerging technologies.
entails addressing a series of hows: how to attract and please customers, how to compete against rivals, how to position the company in the marketplace vis-a-vis rivals, how best to pursue attractive opportunities to grow the business, how best to respond to changing economic and market conditions, how to manage each functional piece of the business, and how to achieve the company's strategic and financial objectives.
is mainly an exercise in piecing together and unifying several "dare-to-be different" ways to attract customers and build a high degree of customer loyalty.
entails trying to copy the strategies of the most successful companies in the industry as closely as possible.
chiefly entails deciding which of several freshly-emerging market opportunities to pursue but can also include planned actions to capitalize on attractive growth opportunities in other businesses, internal actions aimed at achieving financial and strategic objectives more quickly than planned, and how to manage each functional piece of the business.
[solved] The task of stitching together a strategy
is mainly an exercise in staying flexible, so as to enable quick response to changing market conditions and competitive circumstances, rapid pursuit of emerging growth opportunities, and early adoption of newly emerging technologies.
entails addressing a series of hows: how to attract and please customers, how to compete against rivals, how to position the company in the marketplace vis-a-vis rivals, how best to pursue attractive opportunities to grow the business, how best to respond to changing economic and market conditions, how to manage each functional piece of the business, and how to achieve the company's strategic and financial objectives.
is mainly an exercise in piecing together and unifying several "dare-to-be different" ways to attract customers and build a high degree of customer loyalty.
entails trying to copy the strategies of the most successful companies in the industry as closely as possible.
chiefly entails deciding which of several freshly-emerging market opportunities to pursue but can also include planned actions to capitalize on attractive growth opportunities in other businesses, internal actions aimed at achieving financial and strategic objectives more quickly than planned, and how to manage each functional piece of the business.
[solved] A "balanced scorecard" that includes both strategic and financial performance targets
requires managers to set an equal number of financial and strategic objectives and devote roughly equivalent energy and resources to achieving both types of performance targets.
is a tool for helping managers measure the degree to which the company is both outcompeting rivals in the marketplace and pleasing shareholders.
assists managers in putting roughly equal emphasis on achieving short-term and long-term performance targets.
helps managers avoid the mistake of focusing only on financial performance measures and overlooking the fact that pursuing and achieving strategic outcomes that boost its competitiveness and strength in the marketplace vis-a-vis rivals is better able to improve its future financial performance.
forces managers to put equal emphasis on pursuing the achievement of both financial and strategic outcomes.
[solved] A set of "stretch" financial and strategic objectives
helps convert a company's strategic intent into meaningful performance targets.
helps a company avoid ho-hum results.
helps top executives determine how close the company is to true maximization of both revenues and profits.
helps lower-level managers and employees gain a clearer understanding of the company's strategic vision, strategic intent, and strategy.
is one of the best managerial tools for motivating company personnel to execute the strategy with greater proficiency and at lower overall cost.
[solved] Functional area strategies
are normally crafted by the head of the business, in close consultation with the managers of key operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic divisions).
concern the relatively narrow strategic initiatives and approaches for managing specific operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units) and operating activities with strategic significance for the company as a whole.
are normally crafted by operating-level managers who head key functional units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units).
concern the actions and approaches managers plan to take to unify the firm's several different operating strategies into a cohesive and well-functioning whole.
concern the actions, approaches, and practices to be employed in managing particular functions or business processes or key activities within a business.
[solved] Which of the following is the best example of a well-stated financial objective?
Within 24 months, boost the company's profit margin per unit sold to an amount bigger than any other competitor in the industry
Increase total after-tax profits from the current level of $2 million annually to $4 million annually no later than the end of 2022.
Boost the company's dividend payments to shareholders every year
Gradually boost the annual percentage increase in total revenues
Maximize the company's annual return on shareholders' equity invest
business strategy, divisional strategies, and departmental strategies.
business strategy and departmental strategy.
managerial strategy, business strategy, and divisional strategies.
corporate strategy, divisional strategies, and departmental strategies.
business strategy, functional area strategies, and operating strategies.
[solved] A company's values relate to such things as
fair treatment, honor and integrity, ethical behavior, innovativeness, teamwork, accountability, a passion for top-notch quality or superior customer service, social responsibility, and community citizenship.
the preferred business approaches and operating practices that help company personnel balance efforts to achieve short-term performance targets with their efforts to achieve long-range performance targets.
the beliefs, principles, and ethical standards that are incorporated into the company's strategy.
whether it will emphasize high ethical standards or engage in shady business practices, whether it will pursue high market share or high profitability, and whether it will put more emphasis on pleasing customers or on pleasing shareholders.
how it will balance its pursuit of financial objectives against the pursuit of its strategic objectives--creating a "balanced scorecard" approach to measuring performance is a strong plus.
[solved] The strategy-making, strategy-executing process
includes the tasks of developing a strategic vision, mission and core values; setting objectives; crafting a strategy to achieve the performance objectives and move the company along the chosen path; implementing and executing the strategy; and monitoring developments, evaluating performance, and initiating corrective adjustments.
is handled by key members of a company's board of directors so as not to infringe on the time of busy executives.
is principally concerned with sizing up an organization's internal and external situation, so as to be prepared for the challenge of developing a sound business model.
includes establishing a company's mission, developing a business model aimed at making the company an industry leader, and crafting a strategy to implement and execute the business model.
entails developing a viable business model, deciding on the company's strategic intent, creating a balanced scorecard to monitor performance, and crafting a 5-year strategic plan.
are more difficult to achieve and harder to measure than financial objectives.
are generally less important than financial objectives.
relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive vitality, and future business prospects.
are actions a company must take to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
help managers track an organization's progress in achieving high levels of customer satisfaction.
[solved] Strategic intent refers to a situation where a company
has an unshakable commitment to a particular strategy.
adopts a new or different strategic vision.
decides to shift from one competitive approach to a different competitive approach.
is strongly committed to achieving the targeted outcomes in its balanced scorecard.
relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective, concentrating the full force of its resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective.
Managing the implementation and execution of strategy is easily the most demanding and time-consuming part of the strategy management process.
Managing the implementation and execution of strategy is an operations-oriented make-things-happen activity aimed at performing core business activities in a strategy-supportive manner.
Initiatives to put the strategy in place and execute it proficiently must be launched and managed on many organizational fronts.
Management's handling of the strategy implementation and execution process can be considered successful if the company's net profits are higher after the process is completed than they were before the process began.
Good strategy execution requires diligent pursuit of operating excellence.
[solved] Corporate strategy for a diversified or multi-business enterprise
chiefly concerns the development of a strategic vision, a set of objectives, a strategy for each business the company is in, and also the functional area and operating strategies that each of the company's different businesses need to employ.
concerns developing the strategic initiatives and approaches that are to be used in managing key operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units) and specific operating activities with strategic significance for the company as a whole.
is orchestrated by the company's CEO and other top executives and consists of a collection of business strategies--one for each business the company has diversified into.
concerns strategy initiatives to establish business positions in different industries, whether to hold or divest existing businesses, strategic actions to boost the combined performance of the set of businesses the company has diversified into, and how to capture cross-business synergies and turn them into a competitive advantage.
is orchestrated by the general managers of each of the company's different lines of business, often with advice and input from the heads of functional area activities within each business and other key people.
A large enterprise's overall strategy is really a collection of strategic initiatives and actions devised by managers (and sometimes key employees) up and down the whole organizational hierarchy.
Ultimate responsibility for leading the strategy-making task rests with the chief executive officer.
It is flawed thinking to view crafting and executing strategy as something only high-level executives do.
Most strategy-making is done by top-ranking executives and the members of a company's board of directors, with board members generally taking the lead role.
The larger and more diverse the operations of an enterprise, the more points of strategic initiative it has and the more levels of management that have a significant strategy-making role.
coming up with compelling strategy proposals of their own to debate against those put forward by top management.
overseeing the company's financial accounting and financial reporting practices and instituting a compensation plan for top executives.
replacing the CEO when the company fails to earn a profit or pay a satisfactory dividend.
reviewing and approving the company's operating strategies and functional-area strategies and approving the appointment of all people to executive-level positions.
taking the lead in developing a strategic vision for the company.
[solved] A "balanced scorecard" that includes both strategic and financial performance targets
assists managers in putting roughly equal emphasis on achieving short-term and long-term performance targets.
helps managers avoid the mistake of focusing only on financial performance measures and overlooking the fact that pursuing and achieving strategic outcomes that boost its competitiveness and strength in the marketplace vis-a-vis rivals is better able to improve its future financial performance.
is a tool for helping managers measure the degree to which the company is both outcompeting rivals in the marketplace and pleasing shareholders.
forces managers to put equal emphasis on pursuing the achievement of both financial and strategic outcomes.
requires managers to set an equal number of financial and strategic objectives and devote roughly equivalent energy and resources to achieving both types of performance targets.
[solved] The primary role of functional area strategies is to
create compatible degrees of strategic intent among a company's different business functions.
set forth the performance targets to be pursued in such functional departments as R&D, production, sales and marketing, human resources, customer service, and finance.
unify the company's various operating-level strategies.
specify how to build and strengthen the skills, expertise, and competencies needed to execute operating-level strategies successfully.
add relevant details to the hows of a company's overall business strategy by specifying what actions, approaches, and practices will be employed in managing particular functions within a business.
How well is the company faring vis-a-vis key competitors; is the company gaining ground or losing ground, and why?
Does sticking with the company's present strategic course present attractive opportunities for growth and profitability?
Which emerging market opportunities should the company pursue and which ones should not be pursued?
Is the company competing in too many markets or product categories where profits are skimpy or nonexistent?
Does the company have sufficient resource strengths and competitive capabilities to capture the leading market share in every geographic market the company competes in--and, if not, should it abandon those markets where it is not the leader?
[solved] A company's strategic plan
lays out its future direction, business purpose, performance targets, and strategy--in other words, a strategic vision + mission + a set of objectives + a strategy = a strategic plan.
consists of its corporate strategy, a set of business strategies, its functional strategies for each business, and its operating strategies for each business.
consists of a strategic vision, a set of strategic objectives, the company's declaration of strategic intent, its overall strategy, and whatever functional and operating strategies are needed.
consists of its business strategy, its functional strategies, and its operating strategies.
includes a strategic vision, the type of competitive advantage the company hopes to earn, and the strategy that management intends to employ in pursuing the intended competitive advantage and strategic vision.
corporate strategy, business strategies, and operating strategies
functional area strategies, departmental strategies, and operating strategies.
business strategy, functional area strategies, and operating strategies.
executive-level strategies, middle management strategies, and front-line manager strategies.
corporate strategy, divisional strategies, and departmental strategies.
[solved] Which of the following is the best example of a well-stated financial objective?
Maximize earnings per share
Achieve bigger profit margins than any other industry competitor
Boost the company's dividend payments to shareholders every year
Increase total profits by 10% annually
Gradually boost annual revenue growth to 15% over the next several years
making internal enforcement of the company's values the centerpiece of the company's strategy.
making it clear that company personnel who do not observe company values and behavioral norms will be dismissed.
(1) being careful to craft a vision, mission, strategy, and set of operating practices that match established values and (2) repeatedly emphasizing how the values-based behavioral norms contribute to the company's business success.
making achievement of the values a prominent part of the company's strategic objectives.
using a values-based balanced scorecard to measure the company's progress in achieving the vision/mission.
[solved] A company's mission statement typically addresses which of the following questions?
"What business model should we employ to successfully achieve our shareholder value proposition?"
"How fast do we plan to introduce new products?"
"Who are we, what do we do, and why are we here?"
"What are our high-priority objectives and what should our strategy be to achieve them?"
"What products/services are we providing to customers in order to be successful in achieving our customer proposition?"
Customer-driven, hard to copy, short (no longer than 2 sentences), and realistic
Unique, inspiring, achievable within 5 years, and completely ethical
Flexible, ethical, not overly narrow, and appealing to investors
Feasible, memorable, makes good business sense, and has some wiggle room
Imaginative, market-driven, totally ethical, and globally-oriented
[solved] Masterful strategies come from
avoiding unconventional and "dare-to-be different" ways to attract customers and, instead, sticking to making solid improvements in proven ways to deliver good customer service and build market share.
being quick to recognize and adopt a sound strategic vision and business model.
doing things differently from competitors where it counts--out-innovating them, being more efficient, being more imaginative, adapting faster--rather than running with the herd.
crafting a strategy that mimics the best parts of the strategies of the industry's most profitable companies.
doing a very thorough job of assessing the strategies of competitors and a talent for spotting ways to improve on the strategy of whatever rival company is deemed to have the best strategy in the industry.
holding meetings of all company personnel at least twice a year to explain the latest strategic vision and to allow lower-level managers and employees to ask questions about the company's long-term direction, strategic intent, and strategy.
stating the strategic vision in a single sentence.
capturing the essence of the vision in an easily remembered phrase or catchy slogan and then using the phrase/slogan repeatedly as a reminder of "where we are going and why."
combining the strategic vision and the mission statement into a single paragraph-long statement that describes where we are going, how we intend to get there, and when we expect to arrive.
combining the strategic vision and the company's values statement into a single document, posting the document on the company's website, and sending all company personnel monthly e-mails containing a link to the latest monthly update of the strategic vision.
[SOLVED]A company's strategic plan consists of
a vision of where it is headed, a set of performance targets, and a strategy to achieve them.
a strategic vision, a strategy to earn appealingly high profits, and a strategic intent to achieve a particular type of competitive advantage over rivals.
a company's strategic vision, strategic objectives, strategic intent, and strategy.
its strategic intent and the strategy it will employ to achieve this intent and win a sustainable competitive advantage.
the actions and approaches to be used in achieving a competitive edge over rival firms.
holding meetings of all company personnel at least twice a year to explain the latest strategic vision and to allow lower-level managers and employees to ask questions about the company's long-term direction, strategic intent, and strategy.
combining the strategic vision and the company's values statement into a single document, posting the document on the company's website, and sending all company personnel monthly e-mails containing a link to the latest monthly update of the strategic vision.
capturing the essence of the vision in an easily remembered phrase or catchy slogan and then using the phrase/slogan repeatedly as a reminder of "where we are going and why."
stating the strategic vision in a single sentence.
combining the strategic vision and the mission statement into a single paragraph-long statement that describes where we are going, how we intend to get there, and when we expect to arrive.
[solved] A company's strategy-making hierarchy
consists of a strategic vision, a set of strategic objectives, a declared strategic intent, and the actions and approaches a company intends to take in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.
consists of a group of functional and operating strategies.
consists of two managerial levels: (1) executives who make major strategic decisions and (2) managers of specific units who make minor strategic decisions (as shown in Figure 2.2).
varies from company to company, according to whether a company's strategic intent is proactive or reactive, risky or conservative, offensive or defensive.
typically involves three organizational levels in single-business companies and four organizational levels in multi-business or diversified companies (as shown in Figure 2.2).
Exerting the internal leadership needed to drive implementation forward and keep improving on how the strategy is being executed
Allocating ample resources to those activities critical to strategic success
Installing information and operating systems that enable company personnel to better perform daily operating activities and otherwise execute their part of the strategy
Pushing employees to work hard, do their very best, and meet or beat the established performance targets---employees that fall short on these criteria must be quickly weeded out
Ensuring that policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede effective execution
[solved] Setting and achieving strategic objectives is critically important because
the aggressiveness with which a company pursues strategic objectives is the most important determinant of long-term customer satisfaction.
achieving targeted strategic outcomes is more important in determining a company's credit rating and financial well-being than whether the company is meeting shareholder expectations for good short-term financial performance.
this is what prevents management's drive for achieving good financial performance from overwhelming the pursuit of higher levels of customer satisfaction.
a company's strategic performance is the biggest single factor that determines how fast a company will be able to increase dividends to shareholders and boost the company's stock price.
a stronger market standing with buyers and improved competitive strength to combat rivals' vitality--especially when these result in a bigger competitive advantage--is what enables and empowers a company to improve its financial performance in upcoming periods.
[solved] Developing a strategic vision for a company entails
describing the company's business model and explaining the kind of value that it is trying to deliver to customers.
describing the company's strategic intent in some detail and how management plans to respond to shifting economic and market conditions.
prescribing a route for the company to take in developing and strengthening its business--a strategic vision lays out the company's strategic course in preparing for the future.
coming up with a 5-year strategic plan for outcompeting rivals and achieving a competitive advantage.
describing the company's customer value proposition and the revenue-cost-profit formula management will use to deliver value to shareholders.
[solved] The primary role of functional area strategies is to
specify how to build and strengthen the skills, expertise, and competencies needed to execute operating-level strategies successfully.
create compatible degrees of strategic intent among a company's different business functions.
set forth the performance targets to be pursued in such functional departments as R&D, production, sales and marketing, human resources, customer service, and finance.
unify the company's various operating-level strategies.
add relevant details to the hows of a company's overall business strategy by specifying what actions, approaches, and practices will be employed in managing particular functions within a business.
[solved] A set of "stretch" financial and strategic objectives
helps top executives determine how close the company is to true maximization of both revenues and profits.
helps lower-level managers and employees gain a clearer understanding of the company's strategic vision, strategic intent, and strategy.
helps a company avoid ho-hum results.
is one of the best managerial tools for motivating company personnel to execute the strategy with greater proficiency and at lower overall cost.
helps convert a company's strategic intent into meaningful performance targets
Overseeing the company's financial accounting and financial reporting practices
Evaluating the caliber of senior executives' strategy-making and strategy-executing skills
Supervising enforcement of high ethical standards and stepping in to take the lead role in promptly revising and improving the company's strategy whenever the company's financial performance is unsatisfactory
Critically appraising the company's direction, strategy, and business approaches
Instituting a compensation plan for top executives that rewards them for actions and results that serve stakeholders' interests, and most especially those of shareholders
[solved] Strategic intent refers to a situation where a company
adopts a new or different strategic vision.
decides to shift from one competitive approach to a different competitive approach.
is strongly committed to achieving the targeted outcomes in its balanced scorecard.
relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective, concentrating the full force of its resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective.
has an unshakable commitment to a particular strategy.
[solved] The task of stitching together a strategy
entails addressing a series of hows: how to attract and please customers, how to compete against rivals, how to position the company in the marketplace vis-a-vis rivals, how best to pursue attractive opportunities to grow the business, how best to respond to changing economic and market conditions, how to manage each functional piece of the business, and how to achieve the company's strategic and financial objectives.
chiefly entails deciding which of several freshly-emerging market opportunities to pursue but can also include planned actions to capitalize on attractive growth opportunities in other businesses, internal actions aimed at achieving financial and strategic objectives more quickly than planned, and how to manage each functional piece of the business.
entails trying to copy the strategies of the most successful companies in the industry as closely as possible.
is mainly an exercise in piecing together and unifying several "dare-to-be different" ways to attract customers and build a high degree of customer loyalty.
is mainly an exercise in staying flexible, so as to enable quick response to changing market conditions and competitive circumstances, rapid pursuit of emerging growth opportunities, and early adoption of newly emerging technologies.
[solved] A company's values relate to such things as
how it will balance its pursuit of financial objectives against the pursuit of its strategic objectives--creating a "balanced scorecard" approach to measuring performance is a strong plus.
the beliefs, principles, and ethical standards that are incorporated into the company's strategy.
the preferred business approaches and operating practices that help company personnel balance efforts to achieve short-term performance targets with their efforts to achieve long-range performance targets.
whether it will emphasize high ethical standards or engage in shady business practices, whether it will pursue high market share or high profitability, and whether it will put more emphasis on pleasing customers or on pleasing shareholders.
fair treatment, honor and integrity, ethical behavior, innovativeness, teamwork, accountability, a passion for top-notch quality or superior customer service, social responsibility, and community citizenship.
Implementing and executing the chosen strategy efficiently and effectively
Crafting a strategy to achieve the performance objectives and move the company along the path management has charted
Setting objectives and using them as yardsticks for measuring the company's performance and tracking its progress in moving in the intended long-term direction and pursuing the strategic vision and mission
Developing a profitable business model
Developing a strategic vision that charts the company's long-term direction, a mission statement that describes the purpose of the company's business, and a set of core values to guide the pursuit of the strategic vision and mission
[SOLVED] A company that pursues and achieves strategic objectives
is likely to be a below-average financial performer because diverting resources to the pursuit of strategic objectives takes away from the achievement of financial performance targets.
is frequently better able to improve its future financial performance (because of the stronger market standing and greater ability to compete successfully against rivals that result from setting and achieving aggressive strategic objectives).
is likely to earn lower profits than a company that focuses it full attention on achieving higher profitability.
is unlikely to satisfy shareholder expectations because senior executives are not totally focused on the only valid purpose of a business: making the largest possible profit for shareholders.
believes that pleasing customers is the single biggest driver of good long-term financial performance.
Innovative, inspiring, and highly unique
Memorable, forward-looking and directional, and focused
Balanced, rational, unique, and inspirational
Challenging, totally ethical, and highly focused on achieving competitive advantage
Imaginative, customer-focused, and no longer than 10 words
[solved] Business strategy, as distinct from corporate strategy, concerns
selecting which new businesses to enter, which existing businesses to get out of, and which existing businesses to remain in.
the actions, approaches, and practices to be employed in managing particular functions or business processes or key activities within a given line of business.
choosing what customer value proposition to employ.
the actions and approaches being employed to produce successful performance in one specific line of business.
choosing the most appropriate strategic intent for a specific line of business.
What actions should the company take to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in every market the company competes in?
Are the winds of change—most especially those affecting the market and competitive arenas in which the company competes—acting to enhance or weaken the company’s prospects?
Does sticking with the company's present strategic course present attractive opportunities for growth and profitability?
Does the company have attractively strong resources and competitive capabilities to grow revenues and profits in the years ahead?
Is the company at risk because of specific resource weaknesses or deficient competitive capabilities or threats of technological obsolescence?
[SOLVED] Which one of the following approaches to objective-setting should definitely be avoided?
Setting objectives for each of the organization's separate businesses, product lines, functional departments, and individual work units
Setting both strategic and financial objectives
Setting both short-term and long-term objectives
Setting stretch objectives
Setting unspecific targets like maximize profits, reduce costs, become more efficient, or increase revenues
[SOLVED] A company's mission statement typically addresses which of the following questions? quizlet
"What are our high-priority objectives and what should our strategy be to achieve them?"
"What products/services are we providing to customers in order to be successful in achieving our customer proposition?"
"How fast do we plan to introduce new products?"
"Who are we, what do we do, and why are we here?"
"What business model should we employ to successfully achieve our shareholder value proposition?"
[SOLVED] In most corporations, strategy-making is quizlet
first and foremost the function of a company's chief executive officer - who formulates strategic initiatives and submits them to the board of directors for approval.
primarily the joint responsibility of a company's senior executives and board of directors.
first and foremost the function and responsibility of a company's chief strategy officer (who usually reports directly to the chief executive officer and also coordinates closely with members of the company's board of directors).
more of a collaborative group effort that involves executives and managers at many organizational levels, as opposed to being the function and sole responsibility of a few high-ranking executives.
first and foremost the function and responsibility of a company's board of directors.
[solved] Opportunities to differentiate a company's product offering quizlet
are most reliably found in either the product R&D or supply chain portions of its value chain.
can exist in activities all along an industry's value chain and usually entail deliberate efforts to perform value chain activities in ways that create value-adding differentiating attributes for customers.
are typically located in the sales and marketing portion of the value chain.
are most frequently related to a company's R&D expertise, manufacturing capabilities, and/or customer service activities.
are usually tied to product quality and customer service.
[solved] The generic types of competitive strategies include quizlet
best-cost provider strategies, low-cost provider strategies, focused low-cost strategies, broad differentiation strategies, and focused differentiation strategies.
best-value strategies, best-cost strategies, best-performance strategies, first-mover strategies, offensive strategies, and defensive strategies.
offensive strategies, defensive strategies, customer-focused strategies, market-focused strategies, and brand image strategies.
high differentiation strategies, low differentiation strategies, first-mover strategies, late-mover strategies, best-value strategies, low-price strategies, customer-focused strategies.
low-cost strategies, best-price strategies, differentiation strategies, best-value strategies, offensive strategies, defensive strategies, and market focused strategies.
[solved] Which one of the following statements about cost drivers is true?
Effective management of a company's cost drivers is essential for a company to be successful in eliminating or bypassing some cost-producing activities.
The two cost drivers with the biggest cost-saving potential are product design and supply chain efficiency.
The more cost drivers that a company has, the better are its chances of becoming the industry's low-cost leader.
The three most important cost drivers are economies of scale, labor efficiency and pay scales, and capacity utilization.
The term cost drivers refers to a set of factors that have a strong effect on a company's costs and can be used as levers to lower costs.
When buyers are not strongly brand loyal and have low costs in switching brands
When it is costly or difficult for multi-segment competitors to put capabilities in place to meet the specialized needs of the target market niche and at the same time satisfy the expectations of their mainstream customers
When the target market niche is big enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential
When the target market niche is not overcrowded with a number of other rivals attempting to focus on the same niche
When the focuser has a reservoir of customer goodwill and loyalty that it can draw upon to help stave off any ambitious challengers looking to horn in on its business.
the company is well-advised to employ either a low-cost provider strategy or a best-cost provider strategy--differentiation strategies rarely work well because of the ease with which competitors are usually able to quickly copy most or all of the appealing product attributes a company comes up with.
it must be underpinned by resources and capabilities that enable the company to execute its strategy with a high degree of proficiency.
the company must typically employ a value chain with more cost drivers and more value drivers than any other rival company in the industry.
it must possess the resources and capabilities to achieve best-cost status and thereby put itself in strong position to become a dominating market leader by outcompeting firms employing low-cost provider, broad differentiation, and focused strategies.
the strategy must be aimed squarely at achieving a cost-based competitive advantage--this is because, given sufficient time, competitors can clone most any product feature that buyers find quite appealing and thus defeat a strategy keyed to product differentiation.
[SOLVED] Which one of the following is not among the cost drivers shown in Figure 5.2? quizlet
Economies of scale and learning and experience effects
Outsourcing and vertical integration
Raw materials and components, capacity utilization, and product design and production technology
Advertising and administrative activities
Bargaining power with suppliers and supply chain efficiency
[solved] Which one of the following is not among the cost drivers shown in Figure 5.2? quizlet
Economies of scale and learning and experience effects
Outsourcing and vertical integration
Raw materials and components, capacity utilization, and product design and production technology
Advertising and administrative activities
Bargaining power with suppliers and supply chain efficiency
[solved] To achieve a cost advantage over rivals, a company
must either do a better job of performing value chain activities more cost-effectively than rivals and/or else cut costs by revamping its overall value chain to eliminate or bypass some cost-producing activities.
must either use the company's bargaining power vis-a-vis suppliers to gain cost-saving concessions or else sell direct to consumers in order to cut out the activities and costs of distributors and dealers.
minimize the use of cost drivers in performing value chain activities.
offer a limited selection of models and styles (as opposed to a wide selection), pursue efforts to boost sales volumes and thus spread such costs as R&D, advertising, and selling and administrative costs out over more units, and pursue either a low-cost provider strategy or a focused low-cost strategy.
must succeed in substituting the use of low-cost for high-cost raw materials and component parts and/or strip frills and features from its product offering that are not highly valued by price sensitive or bargain-hunting buyers.
[solved] A company's competitive strategy deals with quizlet
which weapons it plans to use in outmaneuvering rivals and achieving bigger sales volumes.
the specifics of management's game plan for competing successfully - how it intends to please customers, offensive and defensive moves to counter the maneuvers of rivals, responses to shifting market conditions, and initiatives to strengthen the company's market position and achieve a particular kind of competitive advantage.
what business, functional area, and operating-level strategies it will employ to execute its customer service proposition and profit proposition.
the operating strategies it will employ to defend against the five competitive forces.
what actions, if any, the company is taking to change its position on the industry's strategic group map.
[solved] When a company adopts a low-cost provider strategy, quizlet
its foremost strategic objective becomes one of earning higher profit margins than rivals with higher costs.
it must strive to attract, please, and retain bargain-hunting buyers.
its strategic intent is one of charging an absolutely rock-bottom price and thereby attract more price sensitive buyers than all other rival companies combined.
its success in the marketplace hinges on producing and marketing a frills-free product and pursuing cost-saving approaches and/or having cost-reducing capabilities that enable it to achieve the lowest possible costs per unit sold.
it needs to find ways to drive costs out of its business such that it is able to achieve meaningfully lower costs than rivals while taking care to incorporate features and attributes into its product offering that buyers consider essential.
When buyer needs and preferences are too diverse to be fully satisfied by a standardized product
When technological change is fast-paced and competition revolves around rapidly evolving product features and attributes.
When the products of rivals are weakly differentiated and price competition among rival firms is vigorous
When there are many ways to differentiate the product or service that have value to buyers
When few rivals are pursuing a differentiation approach that is similar to the one a company is pursuing
striving to capture all available economies of scale and thereby having the most efficient value chain in the industry.
charging everyday low prices for its products/services in order to gain the biggest (and thus most profitable) market share in the industry.
using its lower-cost edge to underprice competitors and attract price-sensitive buyers in great enough numbers to increase total profits.
using its ability to drive costs out of the business to achieve the absolute lowest possible costs and the absolute highest profit margins.
aggressively pursuing manufacturing innovation so as to keep lowering its manufacturing costs and increasing its after-tax profit margins.
[solved] Which of the following statements about a best-cost provider strategy is false? quizlet
Unless a company has the resources and capabilities to incorporate upscale product or service attributes at a lower cost than rivals, adopting a best-cost strategy is ill-advised because the company lacks the ability to execute it.
The target market for a best-cost provider is value-conscious buyers--buyers looking for appealing extras and functionality at an appealingly low price.
The competitive advantage of a best-cost provider is lower costs than rivals in incorporating upscale attributes, thus putting the company in a position to underprice rivals whose products have similar upscale attributes.
A best-cost provider strategy aims at attracting buyers on the basis of having the industry's overall best-performing product and charging a price that is slightly below the industry-average price.
Being a best-cost provider is different from being a low-cost provider.
[SOLVED] Which of the following is not one of the pitfalls of a low-cost provider strategy? quizlet
Getting carried away with overly aggressive price-cutting to win sales and market share away from rival firms--higher unit sales and market shares do not automatically translate into higher total profits
Not being alert to the risks that an innovative rival may discover an even lower lower-cost value chain approach or that the firm's cost advantage can be undermined by cost-saving technological breakthroughs
Failing to emphasize avenues of cost advantage that can be kept proprietary or that are very costly and/or time-consuming for rivals to copy
Pursuing low costs so zealously that a company's product offering ends up being too features-poor to generate buyer appeal
Failing to slash price far enough below what rivals are charging to achieve dramatically large gains in sales volumes and market share
the degree to which the product offering is frills free--a low-cost provider strategy is aimed at cutting frills and features throughout the entire value chain whereas a focused low-cost strategy concentrates on achieving cost-savings by cutting a select number of frills and features.
the number of areas in the value chain where efforts are being made to achieve cost-savings--a low-cost provider strategy is aimed at achieving cost-savings throughout the entire value chain whereas a focused low-cost strategy concentrates on achieving cost-savings in a few carefully-selected value chain activities.
the degree to which a company uses the appeal of a lower price to attract buyers--a low-cost provider strategy entails deeper price discounting than a focused low-cost strategy.
the size of the buyer group that a company is trying to appeal to.
the approach a company uses to achieve a low-cost advantage--a low-cost provider strategy is aimed at performing value chain activities more cost effectively than rivals whereas a focused low-cost strategy concentrates on utilizing innovative ways to eliminate or bypass the costs of certain non-essential value chain activities.
the degree to which the product offering is frills free--a low-cost provider strategy is aimed at cutting frills and features throughout the entire value chain whereas a focused low-cost strategy concentrates on achieving cost-savings by cutting a select number of frills and features.
the number of areas in the value chain where efforts are being made to achieve cost-savings--a low-cost provider strategy is aimed at achieving cost-savings throughout the entire value chain whereas a focused low-cost strategy concentrates on achieving cost-savings in a few carefully-selected value chain activities.
the degree to which a company uses the appeal of a lower price to attract buyers--a low-cost provider strategy entails deeper price discounting than a focused low-cost strategy.
the size of the buyer group that a company is trying to appeal to.
the approach a company uses to achieve a low-cost advantage--a low-cost provider strategy is aimed at performing value chain activities more cost effectively than rivals whereas a focused low-cost strategy concentrates on utilizing innovative ways to eliminate or bypass the costs of certain non-essential value chain activities.
focusing its differentiation efforts on those product features and attributes that are costly to incorporate (because expensive attributes are perceived by buyers as more valuable and worth paying more for).
underpricing rivals who also have differentiated products.
incorporating product attributes and user features that enhance buyer satisfaction in intangible ways.
incorporating features that enable it to compete in multiple market segments.
deliberately designing and employing a value chain that utilizes more "value drivers" than any other firm in the industry.
Automation and robotics technology that enhance labor productivity
Product features and performance
New product R&D and product innovation
Customer service and product quality and reliability
Production R&D and breakthrough production techniques
[solved] A company achieves best-cost provider status by quizlet
concentrating its full attention on attracting value-conscious buyers looking for the best price for the best product produced at the best cost.
providing buyers with the best features and attributes, thereby enabling it to charge the best price and deliver the best value to its customers.
having the best cost (as compared to rivals) for each activity in the industry's value chain.
using the best operating practices and incorporating the best features and attributes.
developing the capability to incorporate attractive upscale attributes at a lower cost than those rivals with comparable upscale product offerings.
concentrated attention on a narrow piece of the overall market--the target segment or market niche can be defined by geographic uniqueness, by specialized requirements in using the product, or by special product attributes that appeal only to those buyers who comprise the market niche.
concentrated effort to become the industry's overall market share leader by totally dominating sales in one particular market niche.
strong focus on using a single value driver to provide buyers with a few well-defined product features and attributes.
their suitability for market situations where most industry rivals have weakly differentiated products.
concentrated attention on providing buyers with top-notch product performance and superior product quality.
[SOLVED] The pitfalls of a differentiation strategy include quizlet
not spending enough on advertising and promotional campaigns.
charging too low a price premium for the differentiating features.
trying to focus simultaneously on most all of the available value drivers to set the company's product offering apart from those of rivals.
not pursuing the same approach to differentiation as other rivals employing a differentiation strategy.
differentiating on the basis of attributes that produce an unenthusiastic response on the part of buyers (because they do not perceive the differentiating features as valuable or worth paying for).
[solved] A company's strategy is most accurately defined as
the choices management has made in trying to execute its customer value proposition and its profit proposition.
the competitive maneuvers and business approaches that a company is using to maximize its profitability and increase the wealth of its shareholders.
management's commitment to pursue a particular set of actions in attracting and pleasing customers, competing successfully, growing the business, responding to changing market conditions, conducting operations, and achieving the targeted financial and market performance.
management's game plan for being highly profitable and having the biggest market share of any company in the industry.
the combination of competitive business approaches management is employing to increase revenues, reduce costs, and earn attractive profits.
[solved] There are many routes to competitive advantage, but they all involve quizlet
selling at a price that is lower than the prices charged by other rival firms.
achieving the largest market share of any company in the industry.
providing a distinctive buyer segment with what segment members perceive as superior value compared to the offerings of rival sellers.
providing buyers with a very high quality product at an attractive price.
having lower production costs than any other rival company in the industry.
Is the company's strategy ethical and does it put enough emphasis on good product quality and good customer service?
Is the strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and is it resulting in good company performance?
Does the strategy strike a good balance between maximizing shareholder wealth and maximizing customer satisfaction?
Is the company putting too little emphasis on growth and profitability and too much emphasis on behaving in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner?
Is the strategy resulting in declining costs per unit produced and sold?
represents managerial commitment to undertake one set of actions rather than another in an effort to compete successfully and achieve good performance outcomes.
sets forth the long-term direction that management intends for the company to pursue.
concerns management's plans for delivering value to customers and being profitable in the company's chosen line of business.
concerns the market segments it plans to target, the means of executing its business model, and how it will implement and execute its customer value proposition and shareholder value proposition.
consists of the actions the company is pursuing to increase its sales revenues, become the market share leader, and boost its stock price.
[solved] which of the following is not something to look for in identifying a company's strategy?
Actions to compete more successfully and profitably by offering buyers more or better performance features, more appealing design, higher quality, better customer service, wider product selection, or other such attributes that enhance buyer appeal
Actions to boost the company's earnings per share and stock price
Actions to enter new product segments or geographic markets or to exit existing ones
Actions and approaches used in managing R&D, production, sales and marketing, finance, and other key activities
Actions to strengthen marketing standing and competitiveness via mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, or collaborative partnerships
[solved] A company's strategy evolves from one version to the next
because of ongoing turnover in the managerial and executive ranks (new managers often decide to shift to a different strategy).
because an ongoing tide of new and stricter government regulations forces managers to make strategy changes in order for the company to remain in compliance with shifting regulatory requirements.
because of shifting managerial conclusions about which strategy alternative is actually best.
because ongoing pressures from shareholders for higher profits and bigger dividends force top management to institute new and bold strategic initiatives of varying kinds to produce better overall company performance.
as managers abandon obsolete or ineffective strategy elements, settle upon a set of proactive strategy elements, and then--as new circumstances unfold--make adaptive strategic adjustments, all of which result in an assortment of reactive strategy elements.
[solved] The profit proposition or profit formula portion of a company's business model concerns
its business approach to generating sufficiently large revenues and controlling the costs of its customer value proposition, such that the company will simultaneously be able to deliver the intended value to customers and deliver appealing profits to shareholders.
how the company will generate revenues big enough to cover all operating costs, keep prices as low as possible, and achieve 100% customer satisfaction.
the operating profit margin the company earns over and above the costs of all the resources and business processes the company utilizes in delivering value to the company's shareholders.
whether the value the company provides to customers will be high enough to enable the company to outcompete rivals and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
the ways and means by which it will control the costs of delivering value to customers.
[solved] The difference between a company's strategy and a company's business model is that
the strategy concerns how to compete successfully and the business model concerns how to operate cost-efficiently.
a company's strategy concerns how to differentiate its product offering from the offerings of rival companies while its business model concerns how to operate cost-efficiently and profitably.
a company's strategy concerns how it intends to deliver value to customers whereas a company's business model concerns how to deliver value to the owners of the business.
a company's strategy is its game plan for achieving operating efficiency while its business model is management's game plan for satisfying shareholder expectations for attractive revenue growth and excellent long-term profitability.
its strategy is defined by the specific market positioning, competitive moves, and business approaches management employs to try to produce good business results while its business model relates to management's blueprint for delivering a valuable product or service to customers in a manner that will generate revenues sufficient to cover costs and yield an attractive profit.
Striving to be the industry's low-cost provider, thereby aiming for a cost-based competitive advantage over rivals that can become the basis for charging lower prices and/or earning higher profits
Focusing on a narrow market niche and winning a competitive edge by doing a better job than rivals of serving the special needs and tastes of buyers that compose the niche
Developing competitively valuable resources and capabilities that rivals can't easily imitate or trump with resources or capabilities of their own
Outcompeting rivals by having the most unique and economically-priced product offering of any firm in the industry
Competing successfully and profitably against rivals based on such differentiating features as higher quality, wider product selection, added performance, value-added services, more attractive styling, technological superiority, or some other attributes that set a company's product offering apart from those of rivals
[solved] The two crucial elements of a company's business model are
its proposition for achieving an attractive return on investment and its action plan for maximizing customer satisfaction.
its profit proposition or "profit formula" and its customer value proposition.
its pricing formula and the set of actions and approaches that it will employ to achieve market leadership.
its revenue growth proposition and its formula for delivering value to customers at a price that yields attractive profits for shareholders.
its proposition for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage and the pricing formula it will employ to attract and please customers.
The deliberately planned efforts of company managers to make frequent strategy adjustments that will surprise rivals and keep them busily engaged in defending against its latest moves in the marketplace.
The need to respond to important technological breakthroughs and/or the fresh moves of competitors
When the present strategy is clearly failing, perhaps because market conditions or buyer preferences suddenly change dramatically
Ongoing management efforts to fine-tune this or that piece of the strategy and to adjust certain strategy elements in response to new learning and unfolding events
The need to keep strategy in step with changing market conditions, advancing technology, and/or newly emerging market opportunities
is typically of no concern to customers since they are unaffected.
is normally quite minimal so long as company officials quickly make a public apology for the wrongdoing.
is usually very short-run in nature; typically, companies can overcome the adverse effects of ethical improprieties within several months.
is seldom big enough to be of much concern to its shareholders.
is substantial; consequently, there are good business reasons for a company and its personnel to avoid unethical strategic actions and behaviors.
their ability to operate the company in a manner that both pleases customers and results in above-average profitability.
the degree to which the company is able to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
the ability of top management to develop a superior business model and to execute the company's strategy in the most cost-effective manner.
top management's success in executing both the company's customer value proposition and profit proposition.
how well its management team charts the company's direction, develops competitively effective strategic moves and business approaches, and pursues what needs to be done internally to produce good day-in/day-out strategy execution and operating excellence.
[SOLVED] A company's strategy can be considered "ethical"
if it does not entail actions or behaviors that cross the moral line from "can do" to "should not do."
if each element of its strategy is "legal" and does not injure the business of rival firms or the well-being of customers or the environment.
so long as the company's strategic actions fall within the bounds of what is legal and help the company achieve the purpose and intent of both its customer value proposition and profit proposition.
if its actions and behaviors fall within the bounds of "fair competition."
so long as the appropriate governmental authorities find nothing "morally wrong" in the company's actions and issue the company a certificate of ethical compliance.
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[solved] Which of the following statements about a company's strategy is true? quizlet
A company's strategy is developed mostly on the fly because of ongoing managerial actions to experiment with innovative ways to keep the company's product offering fresh and appealing to buyers.
A company's strategy is typically planned well in advance and usually deviates little from the planned set of actions and business approaches.
A company's strategy is typically a blend of proactive and reactive strategy elements.
A company's strategy generally changes very little over time unless a newly-appointed CEO decides to take the company in a new direction with a new strategy.
Mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals--with either copycat product offerings or maneuvers to stake out the same market position--is one of the most reliable and time efficient ways to craft a profitable strategy.
Striving to be more profitable than rivals and aiming for a competitive edge based on bigger profit margins
Striving to be the industry's low-cost provider, thereby aiming for a cost-based competitive advantage over rivals that can become the basis for charging lower prices and/or earning higher profits
Focusing on a narrow market niche and winning a competitive edge by doing a better job than rivals of satisfying the special needs and tastes of buyers comprising the niche
Developing competitively valuable resources and capabilities that rivals can't easily imitate or trump with resources or capabilities of their own
Competing successfully and profitably against rivals on the basis of such differentiating features as higher quality, wider product selection, added performance, value-added services, more attractive styling, technological superiority, or some other attributes that set a company's product offering apart from those of rivals
[SOLVED] A company's business model
sets forth how its strategy and operating approaches will create value for customers while at the same time generating revenues sufficient to cover costs and realize a profit.
describes the actions that will be taken to satisfy the three tests of a winning strategy.
concerns the strategy and business approaches that will be used to attract customers, become the market share leader, and earn appealing profits.
deals with how it can simultaneously maximize profits and deliver good value to customers.
concerns what strategic initiatives and business approaches will be employed to simultaneously produce a sustainable competitive advantage, grow revenues and profits, and deliver good value to customers.
[SOLVED] A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when
it gains a sufficiently large market share to become and remain the biggest company in the industry.
it has the highest sales revenues of any company in the industry.
its after-tax profits are larger than any other company in the industry.
an attractive number of buyers are drawn to purchase its products or services rather than those of competitors and when the basis for this preference is durable, despite the efforts of competitors to nullify or overcome the appeal of its product offering.
it is consistently able to charge a higher price than rivals and thereby maximize its profits.
[solved] The difference between a company's strategy and a company's business model is that
the strategy concerns how to compete successfully and the business model concerns how to deliver value to customers in the most cost-efficient manner.
a company's strategy concerns how to outcompete rivals while its business model concerns how to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.
a company's strategy is management's game plan for delivering value to customers while its business model is management's game plan for meeting the conditions of its profit formula or profit proposition and delivering value to shareholders.
strategy relates broadly to a company's competitive moves and business approaches (which may or may not lead to profitability) while its business model relates to whether the company can execute its customer value proposition profitably.
a company's strategy is management's game plan for delivering value to customers whereas a company's business model is the game plan for delivering value to shareholders.
Is the company's strategy ethical and does it put enough emphasis on good product quality and good customer service?
Is the strategy resulting in declining costs per unit produced and sold?
Is the strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and is it resulting in good company performance?
Is the company putting too little emphasis on growth and profitability and too much emphasis on behaving in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner?
Does the strategy strike a good balance between maximizing shareholder wealth and maximizing customer satisfaction?
[SOLVED] A company's strategy is a "work in progress" and evolves over time because of
the need to react and respond to changing market and competitive conditions and ongoing management efforts to improve this or that piece of the strategy.
the importance of developing a fresh strategy at least once a year.
the importance of copying the latest strategic moves of the industry leader.
an ongoing need to make periodic adjustments in the company's business model.
an ongoing need to experiment with new and/or different ways to outmaneuver rivals, gain market share, and boost the company's stock price.
[SOLVED] Which of the following is not something a company's strategy is concerned with?
Management's choices about how to position the company in the marketplace vis-a-vis rivals and capitalize on opportunities to grow the business
Management's choices and decisions about how to manage each functional piece of the business and achieve the company's performance targets
Management's choice of which of several alternative business models to employ in delivering value to customers and to shareholders
Management's choices about how to compete against rival companies
Management's choices about how to attract and please customers and respond to changing economic and market conditions
[SOLVED] Which of the following statements about a company's strategy is true? quizlet
Mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals--with either copycat product offerings or maneuvers to stake out the same market position--is one of the most reliable and time efficient ways to craft a profitable strategy.
A company's strategy generally changes very little over time unless a newly-appointed CEO decides to take the company in a new direction with a new strategy.
A company's strategy is developed mostly on the fly because of ongoing managerial actions to experiment with innovative ways to keep the company's product offering fresh and appealing to buyers.
A company's strategy is typically a blend of proactive and reactive strategy elements.
A company's strategy is typically planned well in advance and usually deviates little from the planned set of actions and business approaches.
[solved] Typically, a company's strategy is quizlet
kept relatively unchanged for a year or more; frequent strategy changes confuse customers and cannot be executed with any degree of competence.
a close imitation of the market leader's strategy.
a blend of (1) proactive actions to improve the company's financial performance and secure a competitive edge and (2) as-needed reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh market conditions.
100 percent differentiated from the strategies of rival companies; any and all copycat strategy elements must be avoided for a company's strategy to be competitively and financially successful.
fine-tuned monthly (occasionally, more often) in order to be as innovative as possible in trying to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage over rivals.
[SOLVED] In choosing among strategy alternatives, company managers quizlet
should be aware that governmental authorities are the final arbiter of whether a company's strategic actions are "morally right" or "morally wrong."
are well-advised to embrace strategic actions that can pass the test of moral scrutiny--it is not enough to just stay within the bounds of what is legal and is in compliance with prevailing government regulations.
should recognize that all strategic actions that are legal are entirely permissible and comply with ethical standards.
are duty-bound to craft a strategy that maximizes the wealth of the company's shareholders.
have no reason to be concerned about pursuing any strategic actions that are both legal and in full compliance with prevailing governmental regulations.
Actions to strengthen public image and reputation via corporate social responsibility initiatives and environmental efforts to protect the planet
Actions to diversify the company’s revenues and earnings by entering new businesses
Actions to compete more successfully and profitably by offering buyers more or better performance features, more appealing design, higher quality, better customer service, wider product selection, or other attributes that enhance buyer appeal
Actions to enter new product segments or geographic markets or to exit existing ones
Actions to improve the company's image and stock price
[SOLVED] The two crucial elements of a company's business model are
management's blueprint for operating in accord with high ethical standards and management's plan for achieving high levels of customer satisfaction.
how the strategy will result in achieving the targeted return on investment and what the company will do to please its customers.
how it intends to achieve high profit margins and its approach to satisfying customers.
its customer value proposition (the company's approach to satisfying buyer needs and requirements at a price they will consider a good value) and its "profit formula" (its business approach to generating sufficiently large revenues and controlling the costs of its value proposition, such that the company will be appealingly profitable in delivering the intended value to customers).
the action plan for achieving market leadership and the action plan for achieving 100 percent customer satisfaction.
[SOLVED] A company's strategy is defined by
the competitive moves and business approaches that managers decide to employ to attract and please customers, compete successfully, grow the business, respond to changing market conditions, conduct operations, and achieve the targeted financial and market performance.
the actions its managers plan to take to capitalize on the company's best growth opportunities.
the actions management plans to take to attract and please customers.
the choices and decisions the company managers make about how to manage each functional piece of the company's business (such as R&D, supply chain activities, production, sales and marketing, distribution, finance, and human resources).
the actions management plans to take to respond to changing economic and market conditions.
the caliber of the company's business model and the managerial capabilities of top executives.
the caliber of its strategy and the proficiency with which the strategy is executed.
the profitability of its business model.
its operating efficiency, the caliber of its customer value proposition, and the caliber of its shareholder value proposition.
whether it enjoys a low-cost advantage over rivals and whether its product offering is strongly or weakly differentiated from the offerings of its rivals.
the caliber of the company's business model and the managerial capabilities of top executives.
the caliber of its strategy and the proficiency with which the strategy is executed.
the profitability of its business model.
its operating efficiency, the caliber of its customer value proposition, and the caliber of its shareholder value proposition.
whether it enjoys a low-cost advantage over rivals and whether its product offering is strongly or weakly differentiated from the offerings of its rivals.
[SOLVED] The pitfalls of a differentiation strategy include quizlet
The pitfalls of a differentiation strategy include
not spending enough on advertising and promotional campaigns.
charging too low a price premium for the differentiating features.
trying to focus simultaneously on most all of the available value drivers to set the company's product offering apart from those of rivals.
not pursuing the same approach to differentiation as other rivals employing a differentiation strategy.
differentiating on the basis of attributes that produce an unenthusiastic response on the part of buyers (because they do not perceive the differentiating features as valuable or worth paying for).
There is no one more technically savvy
There is no one more technically savvy than James Westover. Indeed, he has built two amazing cloud-based applications and started his own application development company, all within two years of graduating from college. Because of his success, James caught the attention of Cheryl Stevens, a venture capitalist who funds technology start-ups. Cheryl asked James to send her his best idea for a new application remarking, “if it’s anything like your previous two, you can count me in.” James is worried about sending the idea without being able to clarify the very technical nature of his idea. Which of the following actions would you recommend James do at this stage in order to be most effective in communicating with Cheryl?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Send Cheryl a recorded video presentation with the information she requested and tell her you’d be happy to answer any follow-up questions.
Provide Cheryl with a brief proposal describing the idea and ask for a follow-up meeting.
Send a non-technical summary of the idea and ask Cheryl for a follow-up meeting.
Ask Cheryl if she has a technical advisory team that you could send the information to because it’s highly technical in nature.
There is no one more technically savvy
There is no one more technically savvy than James Westover. Indeed, he has built two amazing cloud-based applications and started his own application development company, all within two years of graduating from college. Because of his success, James caught the attention of Cheryl Stevens, a venture capitalist who funds technology start-ups. Cheryl asked James to send her his best idea for a new application remarking, “if it’s anything like your previous two, you can count me in.” James is worried about sending the idea without being able to clarify the very technical nature of his idea. Which of the following actions would you recommend James do at this stage in order to be most effective in communicating with Cheryl?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Send Cheryl a recorded video presentation with the information she requested and tell her you’d be happy to answer any follow-up questions.
Provide Cheryl with a brief proposal describing the idea and ask for a follow-up meeting.
Send a non-technical summary of the idea and ask Cheryl for a follow-up meeting.
Ask Cheryl if she has a technical advisory team that you could send the information to because it’s highly technical in nature.
Your team is struggling with who does
Your team is struggling with who does what task as well as how to combine everyone’s individual efforts to meet the team’s overall project goals. Which of the following actions would be most likely to help your teammates work together more effectively?
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Clarify the roles and the responsibilities of each team member.
Rotate assignments among team members so everyone can do new things.
Hold each team member accountable for his or her individual assignments.
Appoint a team member to oversee the coordination of individual assignments.
[solved] ou have been working on a new entrepreneurial venture with a few friends for the past year.
You have been working on a new entrepreneurial venture with a few friends for the past year. Everyone’s efforts are really starting to come together and you have even developed a proof-of-concept to show folks in order to obtain feedback and advice. The process has been going so well that you have been invited to pitch your idea to a panel of successful entrepreneurs that might be interested in investing. You have been told the pitch is limited to 15 minutes. Which of the following areas of communication effectiveness should you focus on the most when designing your pitch?
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Save Answer
Creating a memorable introduction to the pitch.
Researching the background of the potential investors on the panel.
Practicing your tone to clearly show your enthusiasm and confidence.
Determining a few key ideas and how to best sequence them.
What if last year the Andrews Corporation
What if last year the Andrews Corporation issued 206,800 shares at $124.00 per share. The effect on the balance sheet would have been:
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Common Stock increased $25,643,200; Retained Earnings decreased $25,643,200.
Cash increased $25,643,200; Common Stock decreased $25,643,200.
Cash increased $25,643,200 Common Stock increased $25,643,200.
Retained Earnings increased $25,643,200; Cash increased $25,643,200.
How many Days of Working Capital does
How many Days of Working Capital does Digby have?
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92
26
71
0
Product Attic is being produced on both
Product Attic is being produced on both first and second shifts by company Andrews. Compare the incremental cost of purchasing an additional unit of first shift capacity with the additional labor costs of producing that unit on second shift. It costs $2.42/unit in labor to produce Attic on first shift, second shift labor costs are 50% higher. At the current automation level of 9.0 it costs $42.00/unit of first shift capacity. Assume the only fixed costs of purchasing first shift capacity will be Depreciation on a 15 year straight line. Ignore material costs and SG&A expenses which are the same on both shifts. Which of the following statements are true?
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Producing units on first shift is always more profitable than second shift because second shift labor rates are higher.
At the current automation level it would be less profitable to pay second shift rates than to buy more capacity.
At the current automation level it would be more profitable to pay second shift rates than to buy more capacity.
It is always more profitable to produce on second shift rather than buying more capacity.
A business is concerned with many day-to-day
A business is concerned with many day-to-day activities. Some of the most important are the planning and conception of the product or service, its pricing policy, and the distribution strategy. These activities are all a part of:
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A control system.
Marketing.
Accounting.
Production.
Human Resources.
As part of your competitive analysis, you
As part of your competitive analysis, you notice that at Chester Corporation the Promo and Sales budgets of the Creak product are pretty low. You wonder how doubling Creak's Sales and Promo budget next year will increase demand--and aversely affect your sales. Examine the profitability of this scenario to Chester. For simplicity, assume the following: - Price remains unchanged at $15.00. - Variable costs reported on the Production Analysis Report remain constant: material stays at $5.93/unit and labor at $1.21/unit. - Promo and Sales budgets double from $1,200,000 and $1,000,000 respectively. - No inventory carry costs. - All other period costs are the same as reported on last year's Annual Report. Estimate how many units of Creak would have to be sold to reach break even.
Select : 1
Save Answer
1,068 thousand units
559 thousand units
788 thousand units
413 thousand units
Review the Globe to determine Baldwin's current
Review the Globe to determine Baldwin's current strategy. How will they seek a competitive advantage? From the following list, select the top five sources of competitive advantage that Baldwin would be most likely to pursue.
Tailor products to specific global regions.
Seek the lowest price in their target market while maintaining a competitive contribution margin.
Offer attractive credit terms.
Accept lower plant utilization and higher plant capacity to ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet demand.
Outsource units to meet additional demand.
Seek high automation levels.
Seek high plant utilization, even if it risks occasional small stock outs.
Reduce cost of goods by reducing product specifications and quality.
Andrews Company currently has the following balances
Andrews Company currently has the following balances in their liability and equity accounts:
Total Liabilities: $97,506,198
Common Stock: $48,308,000
Retained Earnings: $70,835,600
Suppose next year the Andrews Company generates $36,500,000 in Net Profit, pays $15,000,000 in dividends, and total liabilities and common stock remain unchanged. What must their total assets be next year?
$268,149,798
$216,649,798
$238,149,798
$70,835,600
It is January 2nd. Senior management of
It is January 2nd. Senior management of Digby meets to determine their investment plan for the year. They decide to fully fund a plant and equipment purchase by issuing 50,000 shares of stock plus a new bond issue. The CFO happily notes this will raise their Leverage (Assets/Equity) to a new target of 2.45. Assume the stock can be issued at yesterday's stock price $12.77. Which of the following statements are true? (Select 2 answers)
Digby bond issue will be $47,876
Total investment for Digby will be $1,561,854
Digby will issue stock totaling $638,297
Long term debt will increase from $34,253,638 to $34,891,935
Total Assets will rise to $131,267,730
Digby working capital will be unchanged at $12,181,751
Cake is a product of the Chester
Cake is a product of the Chester Company. Chester's sales forecast for Cake is 1,137 in the Americas region. Chester wants to have an extra 10% on hand above their forecasted units in case sales are better than expected. (They would risk the possibility of excess inventory carrying charges rather than risk lost profits on a stock out.) Taking current inventory into account, what will Cake's Fulfillment After Adjustment have to be in order to have a 10% reserve of units available for sale? All numbers in thousands (000).
1,251 units
1,137 units
910 units
1,023 units
Baldwin plant has a capacity of 4,000,000
Baldwin plant has a capacity of 4,000,000 and an automation level of 4.5. Last year they produced 1,584,257 units of Baker - producing 1,584,257 and outsourcing 0 units.
Which of the following would help Baldwin minimize capital spending this year?
Outsource 500,000 units of capacity
Raise Automation to 7.0
Purchase 1,000,000 units of capacity
Purchase 500,000 units of capacity
Review the Globe to determine Baldwin's current
Review the Globe to determine Baldwin's current strategy. How will they seek a competitive advantage? From the following list, select the top five sources of competitive advantage that Baldwin would be most likely to pursue.
Tailor products to specific global regions.
Seek the lowest price in their target market while maintaining a competitive contribution margin.
Offer attractive credit terms.
Accept lower plant utilization and higher plant capacity to ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet demand.
Outsource units to meet additional demand.
Seek high automation levels.
Seek high plant utilization, even if it risks occasional small stock outs.
Reduce cost of goods by reducing product specifications and quality.
Seek excellent product designs, high awareness, and high accessibility.
Based on the strategies of Baldwin and
Based on the strategies of Baldwin and Digby, which of the following statements are true? (Select 4)
Baldwin has higher plant automation than Digby.
Digby has lower average product costs than Baldwin.
Baldwin should raise automation levels to 10.0 to expand on their current strategy.
Digby focuses on reaching customers in all regions.
Digby can expand on their current strategy by repositioning their products to the Performance segment.
Baldwin must rely on consistent investments in R&D to continue developing and updating their product line.
Baldwin focuses on reaching customers in all regions.
Baldwin positions their products in the Performance segment to maximize their strategy.
In order to sell a product at a profit, the product must be priced higher than the total cost to build the unit, plus period expenses and overhead.
At the end of last year, Digby had their product Daze aimed at the Americas Budget segment. Use the Globe's Product Analysis to find Daze's production cost (labor + materials) in the Americas region. Exclude possible inventory carrying costs. Assume period expenses and overhead total 50% of their production cost.
What is the minimum price the product could have been sold for in the American region to cover the unit cost, period expenses, and overhead?
$23.00
$11.35
$17.02
$5.67
Which description best fits Chester in your
Which description best fits Chester in your industry? For clarity:
- A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility.
- A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers.
- A broad player competes in all parts of the market.
- A niche player competes in selected parts of the market.
Which of these four statements best describes this competitor?
Chester is a local broad cost leader.
Chester is a global broad differentiator.
Chester is a global niche cost leader.
Chester is a global niche differentiator.
What is the Profit Margin of Baldwin
What is the Profit Margin of Baldwin in Europe?
34.9 %
1.8 %
0.1 %
9.3 %
Suppose that Baldwin will increase its automation
Suppose that Baldwin will increase its automation to 6.5 this year. Each new unit of automation costs $4 per unit of capacity. An additional $4 per point of automation applies to any new capacity. How much will this investment in automation cost?
$24,500,000
$28,000,000
$49,000,000
$56,000,000
[SOLVED] Baldwin earned revenue of $100,881,315 and had expenses of $103,856,776.
Baldwin earned revenue of $100,881,315 and had expenses of $103,856,776. This will cause which of the following changes in equity?
Equity will increase -$2,975,461
Equity will decrease $103,856,776
Equity will decrease -$2,975,461
Equity will increase $100,881,315
[SOLVED] Cake is a product of the Chester company which is primarily
Cake is a product of the Chester company which is primarily sold in the Americas Budget segment. Chester starts to create their sales forecast by assuming all policies (R&D, Marketing, and Production) for all competitors are equal this year over last. For this question assume that all 983,259 units of Cake in the Americas region are sold in the Americas Budget segment. If the competitive environment remains unchanged what will be the Cake's demand next year?
1,499,470
1,032,422
983,259
2,064,843
[SOLVED] Andrews Corporation earned a profit of $35.496mil last year
Andrews Corporation earned a profit of $35.496mil last year. Andrews' profit would be placed in which category on the cash flow statement?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Nowhere. Profits are not cash
Cash flow from operations
Cash flow from investing activities
Cash flow from financing activities
Chester Corporation’s cash flow statement shows an
Chester Corporation’s cash flow statement shows an increase in cash of -$656,733. Which of the following transactions contributed to the cash increase?
Select : 1
Save Answer
A decrease in accounts payable of $1,264,781
A decrease in accounts receivable of $595,114
A decrease in long term bonds of $410,458
An increase in inventory of $759,885
On the Income Statement, which of the
On the Income Statement, which of the following would be classified as a fixed cost?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Income Tax
Labor Cost
Material cost
Promotion Expense
As a low cost leader with a low tech focus, which of the following programs should be considered more important?
Select : 2
Save Answer
Concurrent Engineering
Six Sigma
Quality Deployment Effort
Benchmarking
Vendor/JIT
CPI
All of the above.
[solved]Given Baldwin Corporation’s Q2 balance sheet, compute the missing balance sheet amounts:
Given Baldwin Corporation’s Q2 balance sheet, compute the missing balance sheet amounts: Cash $23,142,000 Accounts Receivable $7,655,000 Inventory $10,493,000 Plant & Equipment $152,883,000 Accumulated Depreciation ($51,209,000) Accounts Payable $5,834,000 Current Debt $29,719,000 Long Term Debt $59,518,000 Common Stock $26,626,000 Retained Earnings $21,268,000 Market Cap $48,893,000 Current Assets -?- Current Liabilities -?- Total Equity -?- Total Assets -?-
Select : 1
Save Answer
Current Assets $63,523,000 Current Liabilities $54,696,000 Total Equity $73,683,000 Total Assets $219,945,000
Current Assets $41,290,000 Current Liabilities $84,446,000 Total Equity $96,787,000 Total Assets $142,964,000
Current Assets $33,635,000 Current Liabilities $35,553,000 Total Equity $47,894,000 Total Assets $101,674,000
Current Assets $41,290,000 Current Liabilities $35,553,000 Total Equity $47,894,000 Total Assets $142,964,000
[solved] The product manager for Chester's Elite product
The product manager for Chester's Elite product, City, is comparing his product to Digby's Elite product, Dino, in terms of reliability costs between the two. If it costs $0.30 per 1000 hours of MTBF, what is the difference in reliability cost per unit?
Select : 1
Save Answer
$1.50
$1.82
$2.00
$1.25
[solved]Digby has a leverage of 1.81 This means that
Digby has a leverage of 1.81 This means that: (Assume leverage is calculated as Assets/Equity)
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Save Answer
$1.81 of assets is funded with $1.00 of equity and $0.81 of debt.
$1.81 of assets is funded with $1.00 of debt and $0.81 of equity.
Assets are funded with 81% debt.
Assets are funded with 81% equity.
[solved] Baldwin has a productivity index of 110.8%.
Baldwin has a productivity index of 110.8%. What does this mean?
Select : 1
Save Answer
The company needs 9.7% more people to do the same amount of work.
The company needs 9.7% less people to do the same amount of work.
The Workforce Complement increased by 9.7% last year.
9.7% of the company’s workforce is working overtime.
[solved] Rank the following companies from high to low cumulative profit,
Rank the following companies from high to low cumulative profit, (in descending order, 1=highest, 4=lowest).
Select : 4
Save Answer
Baldwin
Andrews
Digby
Chester
[solved] urrently Digby is charged $6,664,000 Depreciation on the Income Statment
Currently Digby is charged $6,664,000 Depreciation on the Income Statment. Digby is planning for an increase in this depreciation. What will this do on Digby 's financial statements?
Have no impact on the Net Cash from Operations as Depreciation appears in both the Cash Flow Statement and the Income Statement
Just impact the Balance Sheet Statement
Decrease Net Cash from Operations on the Cash Flow Statment
Increase Net Cash From Operations on the Cash Flow Statment
Suppose you were hired as a consultant for a company that wants to penetrate the Comp-XM market. This company wants to pursue a Global Niche Differentiation strategy. From last year’s reports, which company would be the strongest competitor?
Andrews
Digby
Baldwin
Chester
Your Competitive Intelligence team is predicting that Chester will drastically invest in adding capacity to their plant this year. Assume Chester's product Cake uses 50% of the current production capacity, and the remainder of the company's production and outsourcing capacity is split among the other products. If Chester adds 20% to their current capacity this year, how many units of Cake will they be capable of producing? Ignore current inventories. Figures in thousands (000).
3,350
2,010
4,020
1,675
[solved] Chester's Balance Sheet has $58,893,838 in equity.
Chester's Balance Sheet has $58,893,838 in equity. Further, the company is expecting $3,000,000 in net income next year.
Assuming no dividends are paid and no stock is issued, what would their Book Value be next year?
$22.99
$43.67
$21.88
$15.60
[solved] Assume Digby expands operations in Asia Pacific in the coming year
Assume Digby expands operations in Asia Pacific in the coming year. In doing so, they have added capacity to fill all demand in-house and have increased automation to reduce labor cost by 10%.
For clarity, assume the following are true:
What will Daze's contribution margin be in Asia Pacific for the coming year?
25.4%
35.8%
28.2%
33.1%
[solved] Demand is created through meeting customer buying criteria
Demand is created through meeting customer buying criteria, credit terms, awareness (promotion), and accessibility (distribution). According to the Americas Budget segment's customers, which of these products was the most competitive at the end of last year?
Baker
Acre
Able
Cake
[solved] Suppose Baldwin invested in plant and equipment last year.
Suppose Baldwin invested in plant and equipment last year. The plant investment was funded with bonds at a face value of $8,000,000 at 12.5% interest and equity of $4,200,000. Depreciation is 15 years straight line. For this transaction alone, which of the following statements are true (select 3 answers)?
Cash was pulled from Retained Earnings to cover the $4,200,000 difference between plant purchase and bond issue.
Cash went up when the bond was issued by $8,000,000.
On the Balance Sheet, Long Term Debt changed by $8,000,000.
Cash went down by the amount of the plant purchase.
Depreciation increased by $813,333.
Buying the plant had no net effect on the Cash account because the plant was paid for by the bond plus Retained Earnings.
Since the new plant was funded with debt and equity, on the Balance Sheet, Retained Earnings decreased by $4,200,000, the difference between the investment and the bond issue.
[solved] Choose the statement that is true in the year 2030.
Choose the statement that is true in the year 2030.
The Asia Pacific Performance segment will demand 2,530,255 units
The American Performance segment will demand 4,192,000 units
The European Budget segment will demand 5,779,633 units
The European Performance segment will demand 2,724,244 units
[solved] Local Broad Cost Leader - Low priced products for the local region
Local Broad Cost Leader - Low priced products for the local region: our brands offer solid value. Our primary stakeholders are bondholders, customers, stockholders, and management.
Global Broad Differentiator - Premium products for the industry across the globe: our brands withstand the test of time. Our primary stakeholders are customers, stockholders, management, and employees.
Global Niche Cost Leader - Reliable products for low technology customers across the globe: our brands offer value. Our primary stakeholders are bondholders, stockholders, customers, and management.
Global Niche Differentiator - Premium, tailored products for technology-oriented customers across the globe: our brands define the cutting edge. Our primary stakeholders are customers, stockholders, management, and employees.
Which mission statement best represents the Baldwin Company?
Providing value to our customers is why we get up in the morning. We accomplish this by offering products at a low price our domestic customers can afford across a wide variety of market segments.
Innovation meets revolution. We create value of our customers around the world through breakthrough designs that lead to unique high-performance products.
Lasting innovation is our motivation. We build premium products that are elegantly designed to meet the needs of a variety of market segments around the world.
Consistency and affordability are our goals. Our central mission is to offer dependable, low-price products that our customers around the world can count on.
Assume that your R&D team has a new design for their product Able next round that can reduce their material cost of producing units from $8.59 to $7.73. They pass on half of all cost savings by cutting the current price to customers. For simplicity:
Determine how many units (000's) of product Able would need to be sold in Asia Pacific alone next round to break even on the product.
297 units
357 units
371 units
386 units
Your teammates, Sara and Juan, are having
Your teammates, Sara and Juan, are having difficulty cooperating with one another even though their individual assignments are highly related. Which of the following actions is least likely to improve their cooperation?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Have them do a few of each other’s assigned tasks so that they better understand each other’s workload.
As a team, discuss expectations for timely communication and information sharing.
Reassign their tasks so that they are working on very different aspects of the team’s project.
Encourage them to identify responsibilities where they can back up each other when someone is absent.
One of your employees just told you
One of your employees just told you that she is being sexually harassed at work by an employee outside your work group. Which of the following would be the most effective action to take?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Review the policies and procedures in your organization for dealing with a claim of sexual harassment.
Call the police to report the incident.
Ask the employee to give you a full report of the details and circumstances.
Ask the employee to write up a report to submit to the human resources department.
Your team is working hard to develop
Your team is working hard to develop a strategy to serve a new client. Which of the following actions is most important to ensuring an effective strategy is chosen?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Ask the team member with the most industry-related experience to lead the process.
Suggest that each proposed strategy be evaluated against a set of key objectives.
Invite the client into a meeting to shape the strategy.
Conduct a benchmarking survey of similar clients to determine best strategy.
Your company's CEO just informed you that
Your company's CEO just informed you that your team's budget will be unexpectedly reduced by 20% this quarter. This will create significant disruptions on several projects that your team has already begun, and it may mean that you have to drop one or two projects altogether. Which of the following communication channels would be LEAST effective in communicating this situation to your team?
Select : 1
Save Answer
An email message sent to the entire team.
Individual calls with each team member.
An online meeting with the entire team.
An in-person meeting with the entire team.
Shara is a new addition to your
Shara is a new addition to your team and your boss has asked you to help with her initial training and orientation to the team. She has not previously worked in your country and so you want to help make her adjustment go as smoothly as possible. Which of the following would be LEAST effective in helping build Shara's cultural competence?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Teach Shara about how decisions are made and communicated.
Schedule weekly check-ins with Shara to make sure she is adjusting properly.
Ask Shara to run team meetings in order to get to know people more quickly.
Make sure Shara knows that you are always available if she needs advice or help.
Larry is in charge of collecting customer
Larry is in charge of collecting customer service and satisfaction data for his company. He’s not sure which key groups in the company would be the most appropriate audience to communicate the recent customer satisfaction results, including call center employees, senior management, and company-wide. As Larry begins to develop his communication plan, which of the following questions would most help him strategize a plan for targeting a specific audience?
Select : 1
Save Answer
What does each group know and not know about the customer satisfaction data?
What groups have been informed of customer satisfaction results in the past?
What way can the results be communicated so that they are acceptable to all groups?
What are the consequences of communicating the information to everyone?
You are a member of a newly formed team that has been tasked with designing a new product. None of the team’s members have worked together previously and thus confidence is low. Which of the following tactics would be most effective in promoting the team’s confidence in its capability to function successfully?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Jump right into a challenging task in order to figure out your team’s capability.
Discuss the team’s overall mission and goals.
Have each team member discuss his or her background.
Determine the major tasks to be done & complete some of the less difficult ones first.
One of your employees just told you
One of your employees just told you that she is being sexually harassed at work by an employee outside your work group. Which of the following would be the most effective action to take?
Select : 1
Save Answer
Review the policies and procedures in your organization for dealing with a claim of sexual harassment.
Call the police to report the incident.
Ask the employee to give you a full report of the details and circumstances.
Ask the employee to write up a report to submit to the human resources department.
Executive SummaryAn Executive Summary is a
Executive Summary
An Executive Summary is a separate document from the main body of your document and must
stand alone on its merits. It may be the only page from your report that gets read by top
management -- so it must be able to "make the case" for your recommendation or proposal. The
Executive Summary:
1. Summarizes the main points of a longer document (e.g., a business plan or proposal) and
presents the essential issues in the paper: main points, analysis and recommendations. It is NOT
an introduction, which would tell what you intend to analyze, not what you found from your
analysis. If you are writing “this paper will....," then you are writing an introduction and not an
executive summary!
2. Establishes the need or states the problem; recommends the solution and explains the value of
the solution (why the reader should care); provides logical substantiation (your analysis!) for
how you arrived at your recommendation.
3. Is written in text, not a bullet-point outline (quality of analyses cannot be shown through bullet
points, which lack integrative logical connections among the bullet pointed ideas or data)
4. Should be one page or at most two pages for longer documents. No cut-and-pasting from the
main document. Write from scratch so you are not tempted to provide unnecessary details.
Always proofread the executive summary -- Ask people who haven't read the main document to
read the summary and comment on it -- does it present the idea? Does it show the value? Does it
"make the case" for your recommendation or proposal through clear logic based on sound data?
If you wish to explore further, this link is a sample of best resources for how to write a top-notch
Executive summary:
http://www.csun.edu/~vcecn006/summary.html
[solved] Develop a balanced scorecard to measure the critical factor
assignment Overview: Develop a balanced scorecard to measure the critical factors in successful implementation of your strategy recommendations (3% of course grade). The scorecard will be incorporated into this final draft of the business plan.
Assignment Objectives: The first objective is to develop a scorecard that will measure the critical components of your business strategy--those items that must be monitored to ensure successful implementation of your proposed strategy. The second objective is to develop a comprehensive, fully edited draft of the business plan for your client company to enter into and market its product/service within the selected country.
Assignment Requirements: Read, edit, and trim your draft Business Plan, covering all sections 1-18 into a smoothly flowing final draft. The Balanced Scorecard (section 18 ) should flow logically from, and reflect the key components of, your business plan strategy. The BSC will be an appendix to the plan, but must be explained in text.
Incorporate all previous feedback into the draft and aim for a document of approximately 40 pages, to be further trimmed in the final version next week. Keep all support tables and charts in appendices. The Scorecard only will be graded this week, but faculty will try to provide as much feedback as possible on the entire draft, in time for the team to incorporate into your final version next week.
One member is to post the Scorecard and draft of your Business Plan, in the Group Assignment folder by the end of Week 11 and title it "Strategy Implementation Scorecard and Draft Business Plan".
[solved] Week 10 Group Financial valuation - Revenue Forecasts
One member is to post the Team Work Planfor next Week 11 in the group assignment folder
by Thursday of this week.
W10 Group financial valuation with draft Business Plan
Due November 19 at 11:59 PM
Strategy Project: Financial Valuation (6% of course grade)
Resources:
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Week 1: September 11 -
17
Week 2: September 18 -
24
Week 3: September 25 -
October 1
Week 4: October 2 - 8
Week 5: October 9 - 15
Week 6: October 16 -
22
Week 7: October 23 -
29
Week 8: October 30-
November 5
Week 9: November 6 -
12
Week 10: November 13
- 19
week 11: November 20
- 26
Week 12: November 27
- December 3
Course Resources
Course Evaluation
Income statement tutorial: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/statements/
Guidelines for Income Statement
Calculating cost of goods sold:http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bth&AN=26758860&site=eds-live&scope=site
Assignment overview: The team will produce a simple income statement for just one year of
operation, showing projected income and expenses for your proposed business plan.. The above
Guidelines for Income Statement shows a sample template with a single column for one year of
operation .However, the team is expected to develop an income statement forecast for this Business
Plan, with two columns: one for START UP COSTS (show as year 0, with no revenue and can be for
any length of time required for market entry up to first sale) and one column for REVENUE and
OPERATING COSTS for the company's first year of operation (first year of operation begins with
first sale). The projected income statement should be only to the level of EBIT (Earnings Before
Interest and Taxes).
The team will submit the current draft of your business plan, up to and including the financials in
section 16. Submitting the full draft of the business plan will allow faculty to check that costs of
implementing all requirements of the strategy are captured in the financial plan.
Assignment Objectives
Your draft Business Plan to date has already identified the major cost drivers for the recommended
entry strategy, except for Cost of Goods Sold, which will be developed for this financial plan.. The
major costs already identified are costs of the organizational structure (people costs in section 14), and
of the the marketing plan (Section 15). This is the time to review the plan to consider other
expenditures that might be necessary to implement your proposed entry strategy.
The team has developed its revenue projections, citing all assumptions underlying the team’s
estimations.
A balance sheet is not required, but the team will separately identify any capital investments required
in your proposed strategy (e.g., equipment, purchased real estate, expanded plant facilities).
Assignment Requirements/format.
Introduction. After the statement of purpose, the Introduction to this paper is the draft business
plan, up to section 16 (which you will develop in the body of this paper).
The income statement should be developed in Step One, showing the revenue and categories of
expense. In Step Two, the Income statement items and capital expenses are to be described/explained in
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text:
Step One: Create the income statement.
Show start up costs as first column: These are all costs that must be expended in order to start up the
business (before the first sale is completed) and should already be identified in your business plan.
These are people costs from the organization chart in Section 14, including any contracted expenses,
such as legal and translator support; and from your marketing plan these would be new marketing
materials, prototypes or product modifications (Section 15); as well as any other expenses, such as
travel, that must also be incurred before revenue is generated.. Show these in a year 0 column on
your income statement.
Show Year of Operations as Second Column:
Costs of good sold (COGS) line item. Estimate these per unit production costs for the product or
service you are selling. These are variable costs, with the total line item based upon the number
of units produced and sold.
If it is a professional service, or a product or project that requires professional services to
design or deliver to the customer, those people costs would be Costs of Goods sold.
Manufacturing costs belong here if it is a product. .
Explain total dollar amount as per unit cost x the number of units to be sold
If the units are not to be sold, but must be produced for marketing purposes (e.g., for
showrooms, marketing give- away's), they belong in the line item for marketing expenses;
not as COGS (and can either be start-up expenses or operational expenses, depending on
when they were to be incurred, as noted in your Marketing Plan (Section 15)
Operational Expense line items: These line items reflect the annual costs of running the business
after the start up period is completed. These are on-going expenses that start with the first sale,
but are likely to be incurred whether or not any additional units are actually sold. They cover
people costs for all the business functions (e.g., strategic oversight, marketing, sales, human
resources, legal, finance, technical support), as reflected in your organizational chart in Section
14; and marketing expenses (including materials, distribution, sales incentives/rewards), as
reflected in your marketing plan..
Consider other administrative/office expenses, such as telecommunications, rent, supplies
and equipment (non-capital),
Specify all assumptions made in developing these line item estimates, and label them so it
is clear which expenses are in each line item. .
You will need to include any expenses associated with monitoring the progress of your strategic
plan, which you will specify in your Balanced Scorecard (BSC) (e.g., any surveys,focus groups,
employee training, employee benefits/rewards). Leave a space for those expenses in your income
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statement until you have identified them fully in your Balanced Scorecard (next week's
assignment).
If you have already identified the people costs of monitoring or employee training by
showing those responsibilities in some positions in your organization chart, you don't need
to include them as a separate line item on your income statement; however, your BSC
should specify where you have accounted for those costs (how much and which headcount,
as reflected in which line item).
The team will separately identify capital investments required in your proposal (e.g., equipment,
purchased real estate, expanded plant facilities). The costs of this capital should be identified, but the
interest paid on capital investment need not be included in your income statement, and you need not
consider depreciation of the capital goods in your income statement. Please enter a footnote at the
bottom of the income statement that shows capital costs, as these balance sheet items would not be part
of the calculation of earnings (EBIT).
Include revenue forecasts, based on the market share estimates and recommended pricing shown
in the Section 15 marketing plan. Show both projected units sold and unit price on the income
statement.
Total costs of the plan will be compared to the potential revenue, to develop an income statement
showing EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes).
Step Two: Write the formal paper.
Introduction: Submit the complete Draft Business Plan through section 15.
The body of this financial analysis should be approximately 5-10 pages, including the income
statement.
Structure the body of this analysis as:
1. REVENUE Forecast and assumptions (e.g., market share x proposed unit price)
2. COST forecasts and assumptions (e.g., how COGS has been developed; as well as any
administrative/ operational expenses not previously identified in the organizational chart or marketing
plan)
3. FINANCIAL results
4. Conclusions
In your concluding paragraphs, specify whether this is a financially viable entry strategy; under
what assumptions the team might consider this project to be financially viable.
Where are the major risk factors in your projections and assumptions? Which factors must be
monitored most closely in the Balanced Scorecard in order to limit risk? (and be sure those
critical risk factors are included in next week's BSC)
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5. Include
Title page with name of every contributing member
Approximately a 3 page Executive Summary that summarizes the entire paper
Table of contents
*The body of the paper should have page numbers, starting with page one.
Reference list, including proper APA format for all in-text citations.
One member is to post this assignment in group assignment folder by the end of Week 10 and title it
“Business Plan and Financial Projections.”
For now: You have completed your business plan, except for the Balanced Scorecard that will track
the success of the strategic actions you have recommended in your plan.
Looking forward: You will develop the Balanced Scorecard for your client to use in tracking the
most critical components of this strategy, and add any monitoring costs into your income statement
projections if they are not already there (in people costs)..
[solved] Week 9 Group Marketing Plan
Strategy Project: Work Plan for Week 10
One member is to post the team work plan for next Week 10 into your group assignment folder by Thursday night .
Assignment
Due November 12 at 11:59 PM
.Strategy project: Marketing Plan (6% of course grade)
Resources:
Assignment overview: Marketing Management is the process of analyzing, planning, implementing, coordinating and controlling programs involved with the 4 P's of Product conception, Pricing, Promotion and Placement (distribution) of products, services, and ideas. The purpose of the marketing strategy is to gain access to target markets and win market share.. In this assignment, you will develop a marketing plan to reach your client 's target Buyer and win market share. Marketing is the function that generates revenue, so this is where you will estimate the Revenue projections for your income statement. .
Assignment Requirements/format.
I. The Introduction to this paper (same as week 8) should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of the company and its industry, (c) the product/service that will be entered in the new country; (d) description of the target country and why it was recommended as better opportunity than the other country; the target Buyer and the size and growth of the target market
II. The body of this paper (approximately 10 -15 pages,double spaced) will:
III. Include
One member is to post the assignment in the Group Assignment folder by the end of week 9 and title it “Marketing Plan.”
For now: You have a corporate level entry strategy, business level competitive strategy, and functional marketing plan. You have estimated the market share (revenue) expected from this marketing strategy and the headcount and marketing costs of this plan.
With the completion of this assignment, you have the information needed to abstract section 15 of the Business Plan Template. Add section 15 to your Draft Business Plan, along with all feedback on previous assignments that has not yet been incorporated into your draft. Post the updated draft in your group locker. Next week, you will submit the full business plan with your week 10 financial assignment.
Looking ahead: You will next estimate the remaining costs to implement your plan, including any upfront capital investments and other administrative/ operational expenses. Next week's financial evaluation will tell the company whether the strategy you recommended is worth the costs!
[solved] Week 7 Individual SWOT and Strategic Objectives paper
SWOT to TOWS assigned readings
Assignment Overview: This week, each individual will use the group's SWOT matrix to generate strategies for
overcoming business risks and exploiting business opportunity in the recommended country. You have already
developed a competitor strategy, so the focus this week is on other business risks and opportunities and how your
client might use its strengths and weaknesses to gain strategic advantage (corresponds to Section 8iii of Business
Plan Template).
When the SWOT matrix is used for strategy generation, a TOWs matrix is initially generated to organize the SWOT
data into an expanded matrix (TOWs matrix) . The TOWs is an organizing tool to ensure that the strategies developed
will effectively utilize the client's strengths to mitigate the most critical risks and exploit the most important
opportunities. The TOWS matrix is merely an expanded SWOT matrix with quadrants to be used for strategy idea
generation, as described in this link:
http://www.driveyoursuccess.com/2011/09/strategic-business-planning-use-tows-to-move-swot-to-an-action-
plan.html
You can see an example of strategy formulation from TOWS in this link: http://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/the-tows-
matrix-putting-a-swot-analysis-into-action/
.
Assignment Objectives: The objectives are to use the SWOT data to propose specific business strategies (TOWS
strategies) that will (1) mitigate the identified risks (threats and weaknesses) for your client company’s entry into the
selected country; and (2) exploit the identified external opportunities.
Step One: Preparation: This is your idea generation step and reflects your primary analysis. Develop the TOWS
matrix, specifying the risk mitigating strategies and the opportunity exploiting strategies needed in each of the TOWS
quadrants.
For example, if your previous analysis identified political ties as necessary to compete in this country (external
Threat), but your client does not have those ties (internal Weakness), consider WT mitigation strategies (TOWS
quadrant WT). Perhaps a specific type of partner (politically connected/experienced) or some specific activity (like
political lobbying) might mitigate this risk for your client.
Similarly, for the primary external opportunity support factors for this country, specify a strategy that might leverage
your firm’s Strengths (quadrant OS strategies). For example, if your PESTEL analysis found an opportunity support
factor in the country's positive attitudes toward U.S. companies, consider how an OS strategy might leverage the U.S.
identity of your firm (its Strength) in order to exploit that opportunity (e.g., perhaps by sponsoring an athletic event
and/or by using product packaging that highlights U.S. origins or culture)
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For each of the TOWS quadrants, identify potential strategies that will help your firm to operate successfully in this
external environment of specific O’s and T’s. Limit the potential strategies to no more than 3 in each quadrant of
the TOWS matrix, focusing on the most important threats to be mitigated and opportunity factors to be realized. This
summary matrix should be included as an appendix to the formal paper.
Step Two: Write a formal paper explaining your strategy recommendations and referring to the TOWS data on which
those recommendations are based.
Paper Assignment Requirements/format:
1. Introduction. After the statement of purpose, the Introduction to this paper should be the same as in your
team's week 6 paper (updated with any feedback), PLUS a very brief description of the target Buyer and the
size and growth of the target market (from your team's week 6 paper).
2. The Body of the paper (10-12 pages) is solely your own writing:
List those external Opportunity and Threat factors that you consider the most important and therefore will
address with recommended strategies.
Recommend your strategies, explaining the rationale for each and why you consider the recommended
strategies the most critical/important.
The TOWs matrix should be in an appendix, and you can refer to it, but your text should stand
alone with sufficient written explanation for your strategy ideas and recommendations.
Propose mitigating strategies for country and industry Threats;
Propose exploiting strategies for Opportunity and Opportunity Support factors.
Write a Conclusion to your analysis that summarizes all the strategic actions you are recommending to
mitigate risk and exploit opportunity, including the competitor strategy previously agreed upon by the group
(this summary statement of competitive strategy will be the same for all group members, taken from what the
group has already developed).
3. Include :
Title page with your name
Approximately a 2 page Executive Summary that summarizes the entire paper (including the introduction
materials)
Table of contents
*The body of the paper should have page numbers, starting with page one.
Reference list, including proper APA format for all in-text citations.
The SWOT/Tows matrix as an appendix.
Post the assignment in your individual assignment folder AND in the group locker by the end of the week and
title it “SWOT and TOWS Strategies.” The team will proceed with next week's assignment, using all individual
members' analyses, without waiting for faculty feedback/grading.
Where you are now: With the completion of this assignment, you have addressed all risks and opportunity and
opportunity support factors. Each team member has now recommended specific risk mitigation and opportunity
exploitation strategies that will help your firm optimally operate in country, and the team has previously agreed
upon a competitive strategy for operating in country. The Team must now agree on which strategies to recommend
from these individual member analyses. Once the team has agreed on the strategies that must be implemented, the
team should update the draft business plan with these recommended strategies (constituting sections 11 and 12 of
the business plan template).
Looking ahead: Next week, the team will develop and compare two alternative entry strategies (business structure
and organizational structure) that will help your firm to realize the desired business strategies you have developed in
this TOWS analysis., . A corporate level entry strategy consists of both a business structure (the entry vehicle) and an
organizational structure for how your firm will operate in country. You will want to design an entry strategy that will
be best at implementing the desired risk mitigation and opportunity exploitation strategies..
Note: Some of the risk mitigation strategies that individual members have developed here may lead directly to a
type of entry vehicle ; e.g., if the country requires a joint venture with a local firm, that entry barrier has to be
10/18/2017 Individual SWOT and Strategic Objectives paper - DMBA 630 9047 Marketing and Strategy Management in the Global Marketplace (2178)
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Due October 29 at 11:59 PM
mitigated with a specific vehicle (joint venture is the business structure that is required, and you would identify
the type of partner and define the partner responsibilities in an organizational structure).
Other mitigation strategies may lead less directly to an entry vehicle. For example, if team member(s) have
determined that a local presence will mitigate some political risk and/or mitigate a competitor's in-country
advantage, the team may consider what type of business structure (entry vehicle) could best provide that local
presence (e.g., an alliance with a local firm, a contract with a local distributor, hiring locals to staff a branch
sales office).
.Strategy project: Marketing Plan (6% of course grade)
Resources:
The Marketing Mix http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/mix/
Marketing Segmentation http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/market-segmentation/
Marketing Strategy http://www.quickmba.com/MarketingStrat.shtml
Market share http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/market-share/
Assignment overview: Marketing Management is the process of analyzing, planning, implementing, coordinating and controlling programs involved with the 4
P's of Product conception, Pricing, Promotion and Placement (distribution) of products, services, and ideas. The purpose of the marketing strategy is to gain
access to target markets and win market share.. In this assignment, you will develop a marketing plan to reach your client 's target Buyer and win market share.
Marketing is the function that generates revenue, so this is where you will estimate the Revenue projections for your income statement. .
Assignment Requirements/format.
I. The Introduction to this paper (same as week 8) should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of the company and its industry, (c)
the product/service that will be entered in the new country; (d) description of the target country and why it was recommended as better
opportunity than the other country; the target Buyer and the size and growth of the target market
II. The body of this paper (approximately 10 -15 pages,double spaced) will:
Describe the market size of each target buyer segment in quantifiable units (number of buyers and/or dollars)
Identify any further segmentation that may be needed to reach the best target or set of targets for your client's product/service offering.
specify projected market growth of each segment over 3-5 years
Estimate your expected market share as a percent of each target segment
explain the rationale for your estimates, considering the competitors and their market share, and your client's competitive position;
specify all assumptions you used in your estimation (e.g., about price, competitors' market share, new entrant threat),
show all your calculations so they can be readily verified
Pricing: Describe the pricing strategy (low price leader? High priced luxury leader? Value pricing?) How will the pricing strategy support market entry?
Competitive positioning? (You may have addressed pricing specifically in your competitive strategy in Week 6)
. Specify the recommended sales price.
SUMMARIZE EXPECTED REVENUE in a table showing
Sales price,
Market share in units or expected sales
Projected growth in Revenue over 3 5 years
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Projected growth in Revenue over 3-5 years
ESTIMATE THE ANNUAL COSTS of each component of your marketing plan ( product modifications; promotion costs, distribution costs).
You have already identified the marketing/sales headcount in your organizational chart, but you still must show in each marketing component who
will do these marketing functions. When you summarize your marketing cost in the required table below, note the headcount dollars that are
already in the organizational chart so that you don't double count those dollars when the marketing costs are put into the income statement.
Note: The dollars for marketing headcount should be reflected on the organizational chart you developed last week. If you identify any new
headcount in this plan, go back and add it to your organization chart, so the people costs of your strategy will be clear and all in one
organization chart..
For costs in each component, show dollars separately for start -up costs, needed to prepare for market entry (e.g., establishing showrooms,
designing websites, modifying the product, developing prototypes or samples) and for on-going operational costs to support the marketing
function once revenue begins to flow ( e.g., continuing sales efforts; distribution of your product/service).
Product: Are there any modifications needed to reach the buyers in this market segment(s)? This could be based on your previous country and
competitor analyses, if certain Buyer preferences or competitive opportunities or threats were identified (e.g, language modifications to the software you
sell; size preferences for the cell phones you sell) .SUMMARIZE PRODUCT COSTS, including headcount and any other expenses. (note: product
modifications will likely be all start up costs)
Promotion: State your recommended Promotion/Positioning with the target markets/segments, which you initially addressed in your Week 6 competitive
strategy assignment. State what the promotional message will be to position your product/service within each market segment, what kinds of promotional
materials will be needed?.SUMMARIZE PROMOTION COSTS, including headcount and any other expenses.
Placement (distribution): How will the buyers be reached? Will you need a direct sales force? Online sales support? For a sales force, what kinds of
incentives might you propose? For online sales, what kinds of back-office support would be needed for getting your product/service to the buyer?
Consider both physical distribution/geographic spread and distribution of the message that must reach your target markets. What will be the promotional
channel? The media used? SUMMARIZE DISTRIBUTION COSTS, including headcount and any other expenses.
SUMMARIZE ALL MARKETING COSTS in a a table that aggregates all of the above components, with all costs identified as either start up or
operational costs
Product modifications
Promotional materials
Distribution/Advertising costs
Headcount costs for all categories should note that these are already included in your organizational chart dollars.
III. Include
Title page with name of every contributing member
Approximately a 2-3 page Executive Summary that summarizes the entire paper
Table of contents
*The body of the paper should have page numbers, starting with page one.
Reference list, including proper APA format for all in-text citations.
One member is to post the assignment in the Group Assignment folder by the end of week 9 and title it “Marketing Plan.”
For now: You have a corporate level entry strategy, business level competitive strategy, and functional marketing plan. You have estimated the market share
(revenue) expected from this marketing strategy and the headcount and marketing costs of this plan.
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With the completion of this assignment, you have the information needed to abstract section 15 of the Business Plan Template. Add section 15 to
your Draft Business Plan, along with all feedback on previous assignments that has not yet been incorporated into your draft. Post the updated draft
in your group locker. Next week, you will submit the full business plan with your week 10 financial assignment.
Looking ahead: You will next estimate the remaining costs to implement your plan, including any upfront capital investments and other
administrative/ operational expenses. Next week's financial evaluation will tell the company whether the strategy you recommended is worth the costs!
[solved]W8 Group entry strategy paper - Submit Files
Instructions
Strategy project assignment: Entry Strategy and Structure (7% of course grade)
Resources:
Executing Strategy Through Organizational Design: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s13-executing-strategy-through-org.html
Assignment Overview: In this assignment, the team will recommend an entry strategy, consisting of a business structure (entry vehicle) and organizational structure for your client company to enter and operate in the selected country. The business and competitive strategies developed in Weeks 6 and 7 are the strategic objectives you will want to accomplish through the entry strategy you develop this week. The team will (a) write a formal paper proposing and comparing two potential entry vehicles (the legal structures) that will allow the client company to accomplish the strategic objectives and (b) design the organizational structure showing who will implement the strategic objectives.
Assignment Objectives (1) The team will propose and compare two different business structures and recommend the one that is better able to realize the team's recommended risk mitigation and opportunity exploitation strategies and is consistent with the client's rationale for expansion (which you identified in your company profile).
(2) For the one recommended business structure, the team will create a supporting organizational structure, and will specify the roles and responsibilities that will ensure that the strategic recommendations will be implemented. The organizational chart will show the costs of each person required to implement your proposed strategic activities..
(3) Because most international expansions require some form of alliance with a local organization, any such alliance will be described in both the business structure and the organizational structure.
Note 1: Business structures have inherent advantages and disadvantages; but your responsibility is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the potential business structures specifically in terms of how effectively they meet your client's strategic objectives. (e.g., an inherent disadvantage of contracted manufacturing as a business structure is that it risks loss of intellectual property; but if your company is manufacturing a commodity item, it has no intellectual property at risk, so that is not a disadvantage for your company).
Note 2: You will develop a marketing plan next week, but include in your organization structure who will be responsible for marketing and sales. You may modify the organizational chart next week if you determine that your marketing plan will need more or different roles. But you need at least a functional place holder to start.
Assignment Requirements and Format of the paper:
I. The Introduction to this paper should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of the company and its industry, (c) the product/service that will be entered in the new country; (d) description of the target country and why it was recommended as better opportunity than the other country (use the summary information from your week 4 country selection paper); the target Buyer and the size and growth of the target market.
II. The body of this paper (approximately 20 pages,double spaced) will:
A. Summarize
B, Propose 2 potential entry (business) structures that could meet the recommended strategic objectives and are consistent with the company's expansion goals. For each proposed lbusiness structure:
C. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of each businessstructure, specifically how well each will help to realize the strategic objectives you have identified . and recommend one as the better entry vehicle. (Paula)
D. For the recommended entry vehicle (business structure):
III. Include
One Member is to post the written report in the Group assignment folder and title it “Entry Strategy and Structure,” by the end of week 8.
Where you are: You have now recommended the structure for getting into the country and for organizing operations in country. You have therefore completed all; you will need to incorporate into your draft Business Plan, (Sections 13- 14 of the business plan template)
Next you will develop a functional strategy for how to market your client's product/service in country.
[solved] W6 Group Competitive Strategy and Market Sizing Assignment - Submit Files
W6 Group Competitive Strategy and Market Sizing Assignment
Group Category
Semester long teams
Group Name
Group 3
Instructions
W6 Group Competitive Strategy and Market Sizing Assignment (6% of course grade):
Resources (from week 5 assignments):
Executive Summary
Porter's Generic Strategies (from week 5)
Sources of Competitive advantage (from week 5)
Market Segmentation
Market sizing
Assignment Overview: The purpose of this assignment is to identify your client's competitive position in the entry country;
create a competitive strategy that includes a description of the target Buyer; develop a positioning message for that Buyer
segment; size the target market in quantifiable units (dollars and/or number of buyers) and forecast the target market
growth over the next 3 - 5 years.
Assignment Objectives:
1. The team will consolidate individual members’ competitor analyses from week 5 into one summary table of
competitors, their competitive advantage and your client’s competitive advantages. This summary table will be in the
appendix of your paper, but described in text.
2. The team will recommend, and explain a competitive strategy (e.g., specify source of cost advantage for price
competition; rationale for market focus/selection; basis for unique product/service differentiation).
3. The team will identify your client's target market and size it in quantifiable Units (Buyers and/or Dollars) and
estimate the expected growth rate for this target segment.
Note that market sizing is as much an art as a science. The assigned readings will guide your thinking, but
your specific market sizing estimates will depend upon how effectively you use available data. You will have
Paula Pal-Kheav
DMBA 630 9047 Marketi...
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to make assumptions to move from available data to the kind of market size data you need. The assumptions
you make and the logic you use will determine the validity of your market size and growth estimations.
For example, if you selected this country because of large number of passenger car sales and growth
projections (good total market for your auto maker client), but your client sells compact cars (or electric cars,
or some other specific type), then you need to estimate how much of that total car market is your target
market (buyers of compact cars). If you have data that compact car buyers are primarily singles and small
families (and/or that your client wants to target those buyers) and you have data from our country that
singles/small families represent 25% of the country population, then you might ASSUME that 25% of the new
car buyers will be singles/small families (assuming same representation among car buyers as among the
general population).
4. Update your Draft Business Plan to include Section 9 of the Business Plan Template, reflecting this target market
estimate. Note: this is the size of your target market, not your share of that market, since there are also competitors
targeting that same segment and potential substitute products/services.
5. Include a positioning focus (the message that will appeal to your client’s targeted buyers), which will become a part
of your Marketing Plan in Week 9.
6. Update your SWOT with competitive strengths and weaknesses.,
Assignment Requirements/format:
Step one: The Introduction to this paper should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of the company and its
industry, (c) the product/service that will be entered in the new country; (d) description of the target country and why it was
recommended as better opportunity than the other country (use the summary information from your week 4 country
selection paper).
Step two: The body of the analysis should be about 10-15 pages, double spaced, to cover::
Competitive risk assessment for all competitors in this market;
Recommended competitive strategy with supporting rationale;
Market segmentation, recommended target buyer and rationale for targeting this segment;
Estimated target market size/growth (in Buyer and/or dollar units), with:
clear statement of starting data and its relevance to your market;
detailed explanation of the estimating process for your target market segment (showing all calculations
made);
statement of all assumptions made in the estimating process;
rationale for all assumptions made (why they are reasonable assumptions to make)
Positioning message and how it relates to your client’s competitive advantages and to your buyer segment;
Summary of conclusions/recommendations
Include :
Title page with names of contributing members;
Approximately a 2 page Executive Summary that summarizes the entire paper (including the introduction materials)
Table of contents
*The body of the paper should have page numbers, starting with page one.
Reference list, including proper APA format for all in-text citations.
Appendix with the team's summary table of competitors, competitor advantages and client competitive advantages
One member should post the assignment in the group assignment folder by the end of the week, titled “Competitor Strategy
and Market Size for [name of your client company].
Where you are. You have now identified an overall business strategy for how to compete in country, and you have identified
and sized a specific target market and its potential growth, which constitute sections 9, 10 and the first bullet of section 11
of the Business Plan Template. You will update those sections in your draft Business Plan by the end of this week and post
the draft per the separate assignment requirements for this week.
Next week, using the final SWOT matrix completed in this week's assignment, individual members will develop a set of
business/operational strategies to mitigate industry and country level risks and take advantage of opportunity support
W5 Individual Competitor Analysis and Strategy - Submit Files
W5 Individual Competitor Analysis and Strategy - Submit Files
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Submission Folder
W5 Individual Competitor Analysis and Strategy
Instructions
Week 5: Individual assignment: Competitor Analysis and Competitive Strategy (14% of course grade)
Resources:
Executive summary
Porter's Generic Strategies
Sources of Competitive Advantage
Assignment overview: Individuals will conduct a competitor analysis and develop a competitive strategy for how the client
company can win customers in the recommended entry country. Grading rubric for Competitor assignment is here and
posted in the module ‘Grading Guidelines and Rubrics.’
Assignment Objectives: (1) Each individual team member will identify and research 2—3 competitors in the recommended
country, including at least one global competitor and one local competitor.
(2) Each individual will determine the competitive strengths and competitive weaknesses of the client company by comparing
client strengths and weaknesses with competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Note that not all your client's Strengths are competitive advantages, since competitors may have similar strengths. You are
looking for those very few competitive strengths (in people, product/service, processes, or other resources) that will give
your company a differentiator or cost advantage.
Similarly, competitor weaknesses that your client company does not suffer may give your client company a relative
competitive advantage, even if you have not previously identified this characteristic as a particular strength of your client
company. It need only be better than the competitors in order for you to consider it as a competitive advantage (e.g.,more
efficient processes than a competitor's high cost production may mean your client can offer lower prices to customers than
the competitor can).
(3) Applying Porter's Generic Strategies, you will then recommend and explain a competitive strategy that will attract new
customers by leveraging the client firm’s competitive strengths (e.g., a more technologically advanced product with higher
buyer value) and/or mitigate its competitive weaknesses (e.g., mitigating a relatively low brand recognition by saturating a
niche market with a focused differentiator message: "we serve small businesses with software designed for small business") ).
Assignment Requirements/format:
Step one: Using the summary information from your group's week 4 country selection paper, the Introduction to this paper
should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of the company and its industry, (c) the product/service that will
DMBA 630 9047 Marketi... Paula Pal-Kheav
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be entered in the new country; (d) description of the target country and why it was recommended as better opportunity
than the other country.
Step two: The body of the paper (approximately 8-10 pages double spaced) will:
1. Assess each competitor's strengths and weaknesses
include in your assessment a competitors' ability to mitigate the country level threats you identified in Week4.
Competitors that are more adept at risk mitigation (e.g., via a process or asset advantage) will be more of a
competitive threat. For example, in a politically unstable country (threat) , a competitor with a wide network of
associations (asset) may be better able to weather political change (thus the network is a risk mitigating advantage)..
2. Compare Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses to your client's Strengths and Weaknesses
3. Determine the two or three areas in which your client has a competitive advantage relative to competitors. Explain how
the advantage(s) represent a differentiation or cost advantage. Be sure the data support this determination.
4. Recommend a competitive strategy and explain why you have recommended the strategy. Will this be effective against
all or only some of the competitors? Will you need a combined strategy or a tiered strategy (implemented over time) in order
to compete for the long term?
Write a 1-2 page Executive summary for the entire paper (i.e., name the company and its industry; describe the
country opportunity; the competition and how your client can compete. Be specific about where cost advantage is or
what differentiates your client).
Include a Title page (with your name!) and a Table of Contents, to be placed just after the Executive summary. After
the Executive summary, include page numbers on the body of the paper, starting with page one.
Include a Reference list, using proper APA format for all references and in-text citations.
Post the assignment in your Individual Assignment folder AND in the Group Locker by the due date.
The posted individual papers in the Group Locker will be for the team’s use in week 6 competitor research summary and
competitive strategy recommendation .
Looking ahead: In Week 6, your team will agree upon a business level competitive strategy, based on these individual
member inputs, analyses, and recommendations. The team will identify specific buyers to target, estimate the dollar value of
that target market, and will develop a positioning statement to appeal to the targeted market segment. The team will
submit its current draft business plan (sections 2-11) and finalize its SWOT in preparation for developing your corporate
level strategy in weeks 7 and 8.
EEK 5 Individual Assignment – South Korea/Brazil
EEK 5 Individual Assignment – South Korea/Brazil
Domestic – GM KOREA
Foreign - BMW
Assignment overview: Individuals will conduct a competitor analysis and develop a competitive strategy for how the client company can win customers in the recommended entry country. Grading rubric for Competitor assignment is here and posted in the module ‘Grading Guidelines and Rubrics.’
Assignment Objectives: (1) Each individual team member will identify and research 2—3 competitors in the recommended country, including at least one global competitor and one local competitor.
(2) Each individual will determine the competitive strengths and competitive weaknesses of the client company by comparing client strengths and weaknesses with competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Note that not all your client's Strengths are competitive advantages, since competitors may have similar strengths. You are looking for those very few competitive strengths (in people, product/service, processes, or other resources) that will give your company a differentiator or cost advantage.
Similarly, competitor weaknesses that your client company does not suffer may give your client company a relative competitive advantage, even if you have not previously identified this characteristic as a particular strength of your client company. It need only be better than the competitors in order for you to consider it as a competitive advantage (e.g., more efficient processes than a competitor's high cost production may mean your client can offer lower prices to customers than the competitor can).
(3) Applying Porter's Generic Strategies, you will then recommend and explain a competitive strategy that will attract new customers by leveraging the client firm’s competitive strengths (e.g., a more technologically advanced product with higher buyer value) and/or mitigate its competitive weaknesses (e.g., mitigating a relatively low brand recognition by saturating a niche market with a focused differentiator message: "we serve small businesses with software designed for small business") ).
Assignment Requirements/format:
Step one: Using the summary information from your group's week 4 country selection paper, the Introduction to this paper should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of the company and its industry, (c) the product/service that will be entered in the new country; (d) description of the target country and why it was recommended as better opportunity than the other country.
Step two: The body of the paper (approximately 8-10 pages double spaced) will:
1. Assess each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses
Include in your assessment a competitors' ability to mitigate the country level threats you identified in Week4. Competitors that are more adept at risk mitigation (e.g., via a process or asset advantage) will be more of a competitive threat. For example, in a politically unstable country (threat) , a competitor with a wide network of associations (asset) may be better able to weather political change (thus the network is a risk mitigating advantage)..
2. Compare Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses to your client's Strengths and Weaknesses
3. Determine the two or three areas in which your client has a competitive advantage relative to competitors. Explain how the advantage(s) represent a differentiation or cost advantage. Be sure the data support this determination.
4. Recommend a competitive strategy and explain why you have recommended the strategy. Will this be effective against all or only some of the competitors? Will you need a combined strategy or a tiered strategy (implemented over time) in order to compete for the long term?
Write a 1-2 page Executive summary for the entire paper (i.e., name the company and its industry; describe the country opportunity; the competition and how your client can compete. Be specific about where cost advantage is or what differentiates your client).
Include a Title page (with your name!) and a Table of Contents, to be placed just after the Executive summary. After the Executive summary, include page numbers on the body of the paper, starting with page one.
Include a Reference list, using proper APA format for all references and in-text citations.
Post the assignment in your Individual Assignment folder AND in the Group Locker by the due date.
The posted individual papers in the Group Locker will be for the team’s use in week 6 competitor research summary and competitive strategy recommendation.
Looking ahead: In Week 6, your team will agree upon a business level competitive strategy, based on these individual member inputs, analyses, and recommendations. The team will identify specific buyers to target, estimate the dollar value of that target market, and will develop a positioning statement to appeal to the targeted market segment. The team will submit its current draft business plan (sections 2-11) and finalize its SWOT in preparation for developing your corporate level strategy in weeks 7 and 8.
[solved] Week 4 Group country analysis and recommendation
Instructions
Week 4 Group country analysis and recommendation (6% of course grade)
Assignment Overview. There are two parts to this assignment. In Part One, the team will select two of the most promising country markets from its individual members’ week 3 analyses. In Part Two, the team will conduct a more detailed comparison of those two countries, with emphasis on the Opportunity for your client's particular product/service (market size and operational support) and the level of competitive Threat (competitors for your client's product/service).
Resources
Same as week 3,
Plus: Anticipating the size of your market: http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3405000012&v=2.1&u=umd_umuc&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=15d50079221a05905ec616b5b5da6ade
Assignment Part One Objectives: Each team will assess and compare the PESTEL data that was developed for each of the countries analyzed by the individual team members in their week 3 assignment (number of countries = number of members x 2). Create a comparison table to assist in this team discussion and to ensure that comparable data are used for all countries analyzed. If necessary, gather any missing data to make valid comparisons. Based on this comparison, the team will select two countries as the better potential opportunities and deserving of further analysis.
State briefly, in two or three paragraphs, the criteria you used to compare them and the rationale for your selection of the two most favorable countries (which criteria were most important and why). This table and text is to be posted in the Group Locker. Only the summary statement for why these two countries were selected will be included in the Part Two written paper.
Assignment Part Two Objectives. The objectives are to further analyze Opportunity and Threat in the two countries and recommend one country for your client's market entry. The team will expand the PESTEL analyses already done by (1) estimating the Economic Opportunity for your client's specific product/service; i.e., the potential market size for your client's particular product/service (2) evaluating the general level of competitive Threat (e.g., number and size of competitors); and (3) determining how well your client's operational needs can be met.
Assignment Part Two requirements/format:
The introduction to this paper should consist of (a) statement of purpose (b) description of your client company and industry; (b) the product/service it will be taking into the new country; (c) the selection process and rationale for why these two countries were selected as the more favorable potential markets from all the countries your team members evaluated (This is the summary rationale from Part One of this assignment).
The body of the paper (approximately 10-15 pages, double spaced), should compare the two country markets on:
Opportunity factors and trends – Paula
Economic: What is the market size and growth forecast FOR YOUR COMPANY’S PRODUCT/SERVICE. Be specific about who your buyer is, then find measures that will help you determine how many buyers are in each country market. For example, you might use something like the number of passenger car registrations to size the automobile market if your client is an auto maker.
Opportunity Support factors for your product/service. (PESTEL)
Opportunity (capability) to support the operational needs of your product/service (needs you identified in your company profile; e.g., suppliers for your company product/service; or supporting transportation infrastructure for distributing your product; or appropriate workforce).
Threat factors and trends – Abram
The key industry factors and trends that will likely affect the general level of competition for this product/service (Use Porter’s 5 +2 forces)
To Porter, competition or “rivalry” in an industry can be fierce, moderate, or limited, depending on the strength of the other forces; e.g., fewer buyers increases the intensity of competition among industry firms, as does the threat of new entrants or the cost for a company to exit a market. What is your assessment of the general level of competition in these two countries, given how these industry factors operate in each country?
The specific key competitors (both multinational and local) for your company’s product/service
Threats to client's operational needs (e.g., lack of needed supplies, infrastructure, workforce)
Other Threat factors for your product/service (PESTEL) (e.g., political regulations, cultural animosity toward western brands or toward your client's type of product/service)
3. Recommend one country for entry, based upon your analyses, and supported by appropriate data from your research.
For your recommended country, specifically acknowledge the country level Threats that will require risk mitigation strategies.
Recommend potential mitigation strategies for these threats
4. Conclude with a succinct summary for why you have recommended the one country for your client's new market entry, starting (always) with the quantified opportunity (in dollars or buyers), listing the threats and the mitigation strategies that will be needed to create market success.
5. Write an Executive Summary of approximately 2 pages (summarizing the entire paper, including company and industry descriptions).
6. Include a Title Page, with names of all contributing members, and a Table of Contents that should be placed after the Executive Summary. After the Executive Summary and Table of Contents,, number all pages of the body of the paper, starting with page one.
7. Include Reference list, using proper APA format for all references and in-text citations.
One member is to post the group's Assignment in your Group Assignment folder by the end of the week, titled “Country Entry Recommendation for [name of your client company]”.
UPDATE DRAFT BUSINESS PLAN IN YOUR LOCKER: With the completion of this assignment, you have have the data to complete Sections 6,7, and 8, of your developing Business Plan. Please update these sections in your draft, which will be submitted as an assignment in week 6, after completing your competitor analysis.
UPDATE SWOT MATRIX IN YOUR LOCKER. Now that you have completed your country analysis, update the draft SWOT matrix in your group locker to include country level Opportunities and Threats.The final SWOT will be submitted as an assignment in week 6, after completing your competitor analysis (client Strengths and Weaknesses).
Looking ahead: This week you determined a general level of competition in your recommended country, and you identified specific competitors.. Next week you will evaluate the threat from these specific competitors and develop a general strategic approach that will best enable your client to compete against those companies.
[solved] Week 3 individual assignment country analysis - Two Countries (Vietnam and Indonesia)
Week 3 individual assignment country analysis - Two Countries (Vietnam and Indonesia)
Assignment Overview:
You have already identified industry opportunity (buyer size and growth trends) and industry threats for your client. Now you will turn to country level analyses to find countries with positive opportunity and trends and threats that will need to be mitigated.
Each individual on a team will use the PESTEL framework to analyze the POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND LEGAL opportunity and threat factors and trends in the external environments of two countries agreed to and assigned by the team in its week 3 work plan.
The grading rubric is here and posted in the Grading Guidelines and Rubrics module in course content.
Resources:
· PESTEL and SWOT articles in Required Readings
· How to write an Executive Summary.
· Research Databases listed in Required Readings:
Assignment Objectives: Your objective is to compare PESTEL Opportunity and Threat in two country markets; specify trends in those Opportunity and Threat factors that are likely to affect the country's business and economic environment over the next 3-5 years; and recommend one country as the better new market for your client.
Notes on Data analysis:
Be sure you compare the same Opportunity and Threat factors/trends for each of the countries and ensure that any ratings, rankings or aggregate measures you use are measuring the same underlying factors in both countries.
2. Whenever you use a country rating from a source, include a brief summary of the main country conditions (PESTEL factors) that contribute to the ratings. For example:
. "Business Environment" may be rated more favorable in one country. But what specifically is being measured: the POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, and/or LEGAL indicators are more informative and may be more relevant to your client than the summary measure would indicate.
Similarly, if you use a “Risk” Rating, a higher risk rating may not be as important as the types of risk that are being aggregated into a summary ranking.
For example, if "Business Environment" or "Risk" is rated better in one country primarily because of legal protections for IP (which shape the overall better rating), but your client has no IP to protect in its expansion, then the more favorable ranking in one country is not relevant to your client, and both countries might be considered equally attractive IN SPITE of the better overall ranking of one..
Assignment format and requirements:
The Introduction to this paper should consists of (a) your statement of purpose; and (b) a description of your Client Company and industry (from your team's W2 analyses).
The body of the paper (approximately 10-15 pages double spaced) should be organized around Opportunity factors and trends first, and then Threat factors and trends:
I. Opportunity factors and Trends.
A. Economic Market Opportunity and potential growth: ALWAYS START WITH THE $'S WORTH OF OPPORTUNITY!
As an initial comparison, you can start with macro level measures from Five Year Economic Forecast, including GDP and Personal Disposable Income (PDI) as indicators of ECONOMIC opportunity—the Buyers’ potential ability to purchase your company's product/service. However, you should try to get as close as possible to indicators of opportunity for your client's particular product/service;: For example, if you are selling software to hospitals, look for health care spending; if your client is selling cybersecurity services, look for cybersecurity spending to compare across the two countries. But remember that you must have the same information for both countries in order to compare them!
B. Opportunity support factors are those PESTEL factors and trends that support the Economic market opportunity; e.g..,
1. Political support may consist of existing or pending trade agreements or positive trade relations with the client’s home country; government policy that supports funding/advancement of your industry
2. Economic support may consist of tax benefits, low or trending lower tariffs;
3. Social support may consist of favorable attitudes towards U.S. companies or growing interest in your client's type of product (e.g., green technology)
4. Etc…. for Technological, Environmental, and Legal support factors and trends
5. Include the opportunity to support your client's operational needs (the needs that your team identified in your company profile)
II. Threat factors and trends
Country PESTEL Threats and trends should be ranked by degree of threat, along with an explanation for your assessment/ ranking; e.g., if you consider political instability to be a greater threat in the country than currency fluctuation (Economic threat), explain why.
III. The Opportunity and Threat factors/trends can be shown in a summary table, but the text should explain how you weighted the factors/trends in order to compare Opportunity and Threat in the two countries.
Include under the appropriate PESTEL the Threats to your client's operational needs. For example, if a technologically sophisticated workforce is required for your client to operate successfully in country, a country that lacks such social (education) support will be a significant risk for your client's operational success.
IV. Conclude with a summary recommendation for one country as the better entry option.
VI. Write an Executive Summary for the entire paper (include company and industry description). Aim for approximately 2 pages, double spaced.
VII. Include a Title Page (with your name!) and a Table of Contents placed just after the Executive Summary. Pages should be numbered, starting with page one as the Body of the paper (your statement of purpose), The Executive Summary can be unnumbered or numbered as i, ii...but it is not a part of the body of the paper.
VIII. Include a Reference list, using proper APA format for references and all in-text citations.
This week you have three assignments: to select your client company and industry; to analyze the
industry opportunity and threats; and to describe your company and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
You are introduced to a standard MBA tool for industry analysis: Porter’s Five forces. Porter provides a
framework for ensuring that you consider all areas of the industry structure in assessing poten
al threats or
opportuni
es for your client. And you are introduced to two analy
cal frameworks for assessing areas of
poten
al company Strengths or Weaknesses: Value Chain process and Resource evalua
on. When you focus
on company processes (Value Chain), you want to understand how its internal processes may make it more
efficient or effec
ve than compe
tors. And when you focus on company assets (Resource View) , you want to
understand how its assets may give the company compe
ve advantage.
Types of Resources: In addi
on to unique characteris
cs of the company’s product/service, other Assets or
Resources that may provide compe
ve advantage can be human (competencies), financial (e.g., parent
company with deep pockets), geographic (e.g., many loca
ons that can offer more cost effec
ve supplier or
distribu
on support), contractual (e.g., supplier agreements or long term sales agreements), poli
cal (e.g.,
government contracts, tax advantages, favorable reputa
on with foreign governments); proprietary
intellectual property (trade marks, patents). You want to understand your client’s resources and processes so
you can later determine whether they are be
er than compe
tors in these areas.
One of the cri
ques of Porter’s FIVE forces is that it excludes two important industry forces that may affect the
profitability (opportunity or threat) in an en
re industry: government regula
on of the industry (e.g.,
requirements for long FDA approval of pharmaceu
cal products; automobile emissions standards set by
government); and technology trends in the industry (e.g., as e-commerce is affec
ng brick and mortar retailers
and mobile phone applica
ons are affec
ng cable television companies) . You will want to include these two
addi
onal forces when you use the Porter’s Five forces analy
cal tool—make it seven forces!
Next week you begin country level analysis--by assessing poten
al opportuni
es and threats to your client in
different countries. Keep in mind, for all three levels of analysis (industry, company, country), that you are
building your SWOT framework that you will use for developing corporate level strategy for your client. Next
week you will create the SWOT template to collect and organize the industry Opportunity and Threat factors
and company Strengths and Weaknesses you iden
fied this week. In Week 4, you will add country level O and
T; and in Week 6 you will refine and finalize your SWOT matrix. In weeks 7 % 8, you will use the SWOT to
develop corporate level strategy for your client's country expansion.
This week's reading includes an ar
cle on interna
onal strategy and how it intersects with both Corporate and
Business level strategy. You will see that when you select a country market and a product to take into that new
country, your entry strategy is a corporate level strategy. When you determine how to compete in the new
country market, your compe
ve strategy is a business level strategy; and when you develop a marke
ng plan
Week Two: Industry Analysis and Company profile
Required Readings and Multimedia resources:(Note if a link does not connect directly, copy paste the url
into a new browser or new window).
Evaluating the External Environment: Porter's five forces(industry level)
(1) https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s07-evaluating-the-external-
enviro.html OR
(2) http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n178.xm
Internal analysis (company level)
(1). Resource based view of the firm: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-
management/s08-managing-firm-resources.html
(2) Value Chains in company assessment:
http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n551.xml
Strategy at Corporate, Business and Operational/functional levels
Why go global:strategic
choices: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-
opportunities-in-international-business/s12-01-global-strategic-choices.html
Business and Corporate level
strategy: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-
opportunities-in-international-business/s14-01-business-and-corporate-strateg.html
Market segmenting and positioning:https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-marketing-
v2.0/s08-market-segmenting-targeting-an.html
This week you will get to know your client company: the important features of the industry in which it
operates and the important features of your client that will help it to operate successfully within its
industry and in a new country market. Your industry analysis will assess how industry features and trends
can represent either opportunity or threat to your client. Your company analysis will assess your client’s
internal strengths that can give it an advantage over its compe
tors, and its internal weaknesses that may
put it at risk in the market. The analy
cal tools you will use are Porter’s Five Forces for industry analysis;
and Value Chain Analysis and Resource analysis for exploring where your client may have par
cular
Strengths and Weaknesses . Next week you begin country level analysis—to assess poten
al opportuni
es
and threats for your client in different countries.
Download Send to Binder
Week two: Overview and Introduction to Analytical Tools
Week two reading assignments and resources
Group client company selection
Due September 18 at 11:59 PM
Assignment: Client Company Selection
Based on the recommendations and analyses done by your team members, each Team will select its “client” company.
Your goal is to select a company in an industry with long-term growth potential and a company that is not already
operating in many of the BRICS+11 countries (which would leave you with little room for international expansion).
By Monday midnight, ONE Member should Post your client company name and industry in your Group Assignment
folder and title it CLIENT COMPANY AND INDUSTRY Explain why the team has selected this company as the client for
the strategy project, using both industry and company data to support your choice.
Team Work Plan for week 3 assignments
Due September 21 at 11:59 PM
Week 3 Work Plan will assign two countries for each individual member to analyze. Ensure that all
members of a team identify different countries and that each member analyzes one of the BRICS countries.
For a team of five members, there should be 10 different countries analyzed, including allfive BRICS.
Since the team will not be able to cover all 16 countries, first eliminate those in which your client company is
already doing business; If further narrowing is needed, use the industry data sources in week 2 to select the
countries that appear to have the most opportunity in your company's industry (EIU has country reports
within industries, but only for some countries).
Post the team work plan in this group assignment folder by Thursday of this week.
Group industry Overview: risk and opportunity
Due September 24 at 11:59 PM
Team Assignment: Industry Overview (3% of course grade)
Resources: Evaluating the External Environment: Porter's five forces:
(1) https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s07-evaluating-the-external-enviro.html
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week 11: November 20
- 26
Week 12: November 27
- December 3
Course Resources
Course Evaluation
Accessing Tutoring
(2) http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n178.xm
Using Porter's Five Forces (plus two additional forces: technology trends and government influences) to organize your
analysis, each team will summarize the key industry opportunity and threat factors and trends affecting your client as a
result of its position in its industry. Start with a description of your client's position in the industry: who are its buyers,
what are are its supplier inputs, who are its competitors.
Specify the economic opportunity for your client in this industry (lots of Buyers?). What is the size and projected growth
of Buyers in this industry?
What threats exist for your client from buyer/supplier trends, potential new entrants, substitutes, level of competition?
Then comment on the strategy implications for your client of both opportunity and threat factors.
Recommend strategies for your client to mitigate global risk (threat factors). You will need to incorporate these strategy
recommendations into your entry strategy in week 8.
Format: The title page should show all members who contributed to the assignment; include a table of contents with
topic headings matched to the paper contents, and a reference list in APA format (See Course Resources module for
review of APA citations). The industry assessment should be approximately 5-7 pages, double spaced, excluding title
page, table of contents, and references. (All page estimations are guidelines only).
No executive summary is required, but do provide a good conclusion that summarizes the strategic implications of the
Opportunities and Threats identified in your industry analysis and the strategies you client will need to consider tn
response to both threats and opportunities.
ONE MEMBER is to post this assignment in your group assignment folder, titled “{name of} Industry Assessment,” by the
end of the week.. Only one submission is allowed.
Group Profile of client company
Due September 24 at 11:59 PM
Company profile. (4% of course grade)
Assignment overview: The team will research the client company and write a descriptive profile with title page showing
all members who contributed to the assignment, a table of contents with topic headings matched to the profile
contents, and a reference list in APA format (See Course Resources module for review of APA citations). The profile
body, excluding title page, table of contents, and references, should be approximately 10 pages, double spaced. (All
page estimations are guidelines only). No executive summary is required, but do provide a good conclusion that
summarizes the strategic implications of company strengths and weaknesses.
Resources:
Use this week's readings on both the value chain and resource based views of company advantages to assess your client
company's strengths and weaknesses.
Use "Why Go global" reading to infer company expansion rationale for your client company. This will be your own best
assessment of the forces that are likely driving expansion efforts of your company.'
n needed for this assignment from public sources. It will require multiple sources, including what competitors and
business analysts may be saying about the company. The depth of analysis you can perform for this assignment will
depend upon the availability of information. A great deal of information is available about these companies through
various sources included in our online library system.
Databases:
Company Web sites; annual reports
EDGAR (SEC filings)
Hoovers Online (company basic facts; news)
Yahoo: Finance
Hoovers
EIU databases (in ABI/Inform in UMUC library)
Factiva (news items from Dow Jones and Reuters)
The Wall Street Journal
Assignment objectives: To understand your client company's Strengths and Weaknesses in order to assess how
successfully it might be able to compete in a new international market. .
Note: The company research is intended to be completed based only on secondary sources of information since you will
not have time to do primary research. However, for some of the information, you may want to contact the company itself
(e.g, for product/service information, special competencies), as long as it is not considered sensitive or proprietary
information. If you decide to do some primary research, be sure to capture the list of people interviewed along with their
complete particulars (name, job title, organization, address, phone number, email address, as well as the date the
information was obtained) for including proper citations in your business plan.
Assignment requirements: This company profile will describe:
I. The company,
1. A short description of the type of business and the industry in which it operates (from the
above industry analysis)
2. The specific product/service that will be the focus of your market expansion.
3. The Buying proposition. What are the selling features? Why do buyers buy? What does this
product/service do for the buyers or Users? How does your client company create value, and what
is the specific value created?
4. The company’s rationale for international expansion. Based on your understanding of the
company position in its external environment (e.g., Opportunity and Threat), why do you believe
it should be looking for new international markets? You will most likely need to infer this goal
dimension(s) for the company (e.g, financial gain, market share, volume efficiencies, brand
building)
Consider not just “pullfactors” based on potential international opportunity.
Consider also what is happening in the home country market that may be “pushing “ the company into
international markets (e.g., competition, regulation)
II. The Buyer (target market) for the product/service (in the client’s current markets)
1. Are the Buyers the USERS of the product?
2. If USERS are not Buyers, who buys and how do buyers get the product/service to the users?
3. How can you characterize your Buyers so you can home in on a specific segment of the market?
In a B2C (business to consumer) model, the following demographic characteristics may be relevant to describing
your target buyer: age, gender, income, family status, home ownership, education level.
In marketing we often divide consumer groups into different psychographic and lifestyle groups.
A familiar example would be "early adopters," consumers who are eager to be the first to use a
new type of technology. Another example would be “green consumers” who value
environmentally protective products or company policies.
In a B2B (business to business) model, other types ofsegmentation will be relevant, such as:retail
or wholesale; size of the business (number of employees/ revenue); type of business structure (e.g.,
pharmacies, big box stores); geographic spread or locations
Note: You may have a primary and a secondary target BUYER. For example, you may sell your items retail
to consumers (business to consumer or B2C) and you may also wholesale your product to retail outlets
(business to business or B2B). In that case, you'll need to select one as primary once you know more about
the country market size and growth opportunities (weeks 3 and 4).
III. The resources your client will need in order to create or maintain its value in a new country: What will
it need to manufacture, distribute, service/maintain/repair and/or market the product/service in a new country
environment? For example, some factors that may be relevant for your company's operational processes:
In country workforce-- why needed--to do what tasks? With what skill levels, expertise?
Infrastructure requirements, for delivery of the product/service (e.g., internet facilities, shipping
ports, airports, postalfacilities)
In country facilities (e.g., for manufacturing, servicing, marketing)
Access to in country suppliers—of what inputs?
Note: Once you identify what the company needs in a country, then you can determine whether a particular
country can meet those needs! So be sure to carry these country screening factors over into your two-
country comparisons in weeks 3-4.
IV. . Competition: Specify the likely key competitors in its current markets and in new global markets. ,
V. Company STRENGTHS relative to competitors
1. Product features that are unique, or can set it apart from the identified competition
2. Company Resources, particularly global Resources that may strengthen the company’s
competitive advantage (e.g., consider human competencies, particularly global experience; financial,
geographic, contractual, political assets; any proprietary, patented or trademarked intellectual
property)
3. Company processes that may give it an advantage over its competitors in any new international
markets. What does it DO better? Does it have processes that set it apart (more efficient, less
expensive, more flexible/adaptable)? Does it have excess capacity that may give it a cost advantage in a
new market?
VI. Company WEAKNESSES. relative to the competition
1 What do you see as potential competitive disadvantages for your client?
2. How are competitors portraying your client’s weaknesses?
As with all group assignments, ONE member should post the assignment in your Group
Assignment folder by the end of week 2, titled “Company Profile.”
You have now created the data needed to populate Items 2-5 of the draft business plan. Abstract the
data from this analysis and add those relevant items to your draft business plan template. Incorporate only the
necessary information required in these business plan sections --not the whole analyses!
And you have determined the industry level Opportunities and Threats and company level Strengths and
Weaknesses to populate a SWOT matrix. Next week you will create and populate your SWOT matrix with
these assessments. Country level O and T will be added to your SWOT matrix in Week 4.
week 2 Peer Evaluation
Due September 25 at 11:59 PM
Assignment : Peer Evaluation. Each Team will discuss its effectiveness, based on the items on the Peer
Evaluation form; Each Individual will post a confidential Peer Evaluation in his/her Individual Assignment Folder by the
end of Week 2.
II. Team Work Plan
(The team projects in this seminar require you to work together throughout the semester. One of the most significant factors in effective team performance is effective time management. Teams that have been most successful in the MBA program have allocated time each week to work on their projects. They have completed drafts sufficiently in advance of the due dates to allow editing to produce a cohesive quality document written in a single voice.)
Team work plans help team members to more effectively plan their time and avoids unnecessary duplication of effort. In addition, if everyone knows what they have to do, what they can expect others to do, and when they must deliver their contribution or can expect to receive the contribution of another study group member, the possibility of a conflict over who should have done what and when can be minimized.
Work plans are to be posted in the study group's assignment and locker in the week preceding each team assignment. Faculty expect each member to make a meaningful contribution to the weekly assignments and to follow the process outlined in the work plan. All of the contributions of each study group member to the assignments must be posted in the study group's locker. Usually all the team members receive the same grade for the team project, however, an individual’s grade may be reduced if the individual did not contribute in a meaningful way to the team assignment. This determination will be made by evaluating the member's individual contributions posted in the study group locker and comparing them to the work plan.
Business Plan Template
Your job as hired strategists is to analyze the market data, organize it logically, and usefully communicate that analysis in a way that will achieve your objective: buy-in and funding for your proposed entry strategy. Use this template to integrate the research and analyses (course assignments) into your proposed business plan.
Effective communication consists of a short executive summary of the Business Plan, followed by a supporting document in which each section is organized in a way that will best support the analysis and recommendations. As you begin your executive summary (after completing the business plan), please use this first template sentence, representing the outcome of your analysis, to keep your executive summary focused on support for that recommendation.
"It is recommended that (selected client company) enter the_(named country) with its (specified product/service) through a _(specify the type of legal structure) with (selected company partner or acquisition)."
CONTENTS OF FINAL BUSINESS PLAN
Title Page
State the client company, country and size of its market for the client’s product/service, recommended legal structure, and alliance partner: for example:
Business Plan for [NAME OF COMPANY] to enter [COUNTRY’s] $(SIZE OF MARKET IN DOLLARS) market for [PRODUCT/SERVICE] through a [type of legal structure] with [NAMED ALLIANCE PARTNER]
Date and contributing team member names
Table of Contents
Page numbers for each major section
Executive Summary
These 1-2 pages summarize the results of your analysis and how you arrived at the recommendation.
It is NOT an introduction, so you would not use words like “this paper will..” The exec summary is all about what the paper DID do (not will do) and therefore parallels the conclusion, not the introduction.
It is a separate stand-alone summary, not a part of the paper body.
Belongs on a separate page from the introduction to the paper.
Introduction (first paragraph of paper body)
State the purpose of the paper
Tell what the paper will do
Name the industry, country and company
Company Description (Week 2 company profile)
Company type of business and industry
Company product/service
Targeted buyer and buying proposition (what needs/desires the product meets for the targeted Buyer –and User if different from Buyer)
Rationale for international expansion
Goals and objectives for international expansion
Company supports needed to be successful in country (e.g., will it need an in-country workforce? Transportation infrastructure? Internet access? Facilities?)
Company Strengths (Week 2)
Describe special features of the product or service
Identify company competencies (competencies reside in people)
Identify company assets that may strengthen the company’s competitive position (e.g., human, financial, geographic, contractual, political assets)
Identify company processes that may be a competitive advantage (e.g., manufacturing efficiencies, vertical or horizontal integration)
Company weaknesses (Week 2) - ABRAM
These are the flip side of the strengths; e.g., undifferentiated product, lack of human resources/skills; limited financial assets, no unique processes that set it apart from competition
Global Industry Description (Week 2)
Global Industry Opportunities and Threats
Global industry trends (e.g., technology change, growth forecasts)
Country Selection Rationale (Week 4)
Explain the process for selecting the two countries you compare in this plan (how you pared down from 16 to 2 countries)
Macro-level comparison of countries (opportunities/threats)
Countries that are new to the Company
Selection criteria/rationale for the two countries selected for analysis
Ability to meet company support needs in country (section 2 above)
Country Comparison (Week 4)
Opportunity comparison across the two analyzed countries
Market size, growth
Business climate
Industry structural advantages (e.g., access to suppliers; ease of entry; government support; limited internal competition…)
Other opportunities from PESTEL and Industry factors
Risk comparison across the two analyzed countries (Week 4) -
This is the flip side of opportunity; focus only on risks relevant for your company;
Identify general level of competition in the countries (intensity, number of competitors and potential new entrants/availability of substitutes)
Other risks from PESTEL and Industry factors
Summary rationale for country selection (Week 4)
Summarize opportunities and threats for both countries
Explain major reasons for recommending the country of entry
Total Country market size and growth reflects the Opportunity
Opportunity support factors
Threats (to be mitigated, but not significant enough to override opportunity)
Target Market size (Week 6)
Estimate Target Market(s) in dollars or units or buyers
Estimate growth of Target Market over 3-5 years
Competitive risk/advantage in the selected country of entry (Weeks 6,7)
Identify key multinational and local competitors and their competitive threat
Identify client company’s competitive weaknesses
Relative to specific competitors
Relative to other country threats (identified in 8. iii)
Identify the competitive advantages of your company (based on strengths in Section 3 above, relative to competitors)
Risk Mitigation Strategies for the selected country of entry (Weeks 2, 6,7) -
Recommend strategy to mitigate competitive threat identified in section 10 above (e.g., cost, differentiation, and/or focus strategies)
Recommend mitigating strategies that would be needed for each of the industry threats identified in 5 above (Week 2)
Recommended mitigating strategies that would be needed for each of the other country threats identified in 8. iii above (e.g., local partner/agent to mitigate cultural and/or regulatory threats)
Opportunity Exploitation Strategies for the selected country of entry (Weeks 2, 7)-
Recommend Strategies to exploit Opportunity and Opportunity support factors (identified in 5,and 8i and 8ii above)
Entry Strategy Legal Structure (week 8)
Develop 2 potential Entry Structures (legal) that will:
Mitigate specific risks
Realize specific market opportunity
Describe any alliance partner or in-country relationship
i. Specify how the in-country relationship supports and makes possible the entry strategy and/or the risk mitigation strategy (these are benefits to your client company)
ii. Will the partner/alliance help with competing, with overcoming country threats?
Justify the strategic “fit” with the partner /alliance organization.
How will the alliance with your client benefit the partner?
What are the “costs” to the partner (what will the partner contribute)?
Compare the advantages/disadvantages of the two structures
Summarize selection rationale and recommend one entry structure
Entry Strategy Organizational Structure for the recommended legal structure (Week 8)
Create organization chart showing :
your client’s salaries/costs for each position
your client’s relationship to outside/alliance organizations (dotted lines)
Describe responsibilities for each position in the organization chart
Estimate capital/cost requirements for the structure (facilities, equipment)
In-country marketing plan and costs (week 9)
Product modifications if needed and estimated costs to modify
Pricing strategy and Price recommendation
Promotional message
Channels and methods for communicating product value to the target market and estimated costs of materials and channels
Estimated market share: What percent of the target market (9i) your client is likely to gain
Financial Value of the entry strategy (create projected Income statement) (week 10)
Estimate Revenue for first year of operation (Price x market share in units)
Cost estimates for year zero and year one
Year zero: Start up costs before revenue is generated (e.g., negotiation time, build-outs of facilities, importing of inventory)
Year one: Operational cost estimates
Headcount dollars from organization chart
Promotional expenses from marketing plan,
Equipment and facilities expenses (e.g., office supplies, rent)
EBIT: Potential profitability (Revenue less expenses)
Separately identify Capital investment (e.g., in plants, depreciated equipment), but balance sheet is not required.
Balanced Scorecard (week 11);Specify the major factors to be tracked for your strategy to be successful
Conclusion: Two-three brief paragraphs summarizing the strategy and its expected strategic and financial benefits,
Some Final Advice: Format & Integration
The final team project paper should be approximately 30 pages, exclusive of cover page, appendices and references. References should be in proper APA format.
topic Two: Course reflections
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Reflect on the course as a whole. What is the major take-away for you from the course?
topic three: program reflections
topic three: program reflections
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Reflect on the program as a whole. What will you be able to use most in the future?
[solved]Topic One: project reflections
Topic One: project reflections
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Do you think your "client" company would benefit from the business plan your team developed? Why or why not?
Topic two Company perspective
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Using financial performance information at the company level for your selected Industry in topic one, discuss your
views on the following questions. Use and refer to the assigned readings to support your views.
1. How is it that, even among the best performing industries, only some companies do well? How can some
companies in poorly performing industries still do well?
2. Generally speaking, for companies in the same industry, what factors would explain differences in company
performance over the long term?
3. Which company in your selected industry would you recommend for your team's strategy project? Explain why,
using data to support your recommendation. Remember that you will want to select a company that is not already
operating in too many of the BRICS+ Next 11 countries, as that would leave you with little room for international
expansion.
Topic one industry perspective
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Using information from the ABI Inform and GlobalEdge Databases of Industry Performance, select data on the
following subset of industries:
automobile
healthcare
financial services
consumer goods
telecoms and technology
Based on the data you find, discuss your views on the following questions.
1. What kinds of industries tend to be better performers in the medium to long term? Why? What kinds of industries
tend to do poorly in the medium to long term? Why? Refer to the readings to support your views.
2. Can you make the claim that some industries are inherently more profitable than others? Provide arguments and
examples to justify your response.
3. Which of these industries would you recommend for your team's strategy project? Justify your recommendation.
[solved] Week 12 - Executive Summary
Week 12 - Executive Summary
An Executive Summary is a separate document from the main body of your document and must
stand alone on its merits. It may be the only page from your report that gets read by top
management -- so it must be able to "make the case" for your recommendation or proposal. The
Executive Summary:
1. Summarizes the main points of a longer document (e.g., a business plan or proposal) and
presents the essential issues in the paper: main points, analysis and recommendations.It is NOT
an introduction, which would tell what you intend to analyze, not what you found from your
analysis. If you are writing " this paper will....," then you are writing an introduction and not an
executive summary!
2. Establishes the need or states the problem; recommends the solution and explains the value of
the solution (why the reader should care); provides logical substantiation (your analysis!) for
how you arrived at your recommendation.
3. Is written in text, not a bullet-point outline (quality of analyses cannot be shown through bullet
points, which lack integrative logical connections among the bullet pointed ideas or data)
4. Should be one page or at most two pages for longer documents. No cut-and-pasting from the
main document. Write from scratch so you are not tempted to provide unnecessary details.
Always proofread the executive summary -- Ask people who haven't read the main document to
read the summary and comment on it -- does it present the idea? Does it show the value? Does it
"make the case" for your recommendation or proposal through clear logic based on sound data?
If you wish to explore further, this link is a sample of best resources for how to write a top-notch
Executive summary:
http://www.csun.edu/~vcecn006/summary.html
[solved]Week 12 - Integrating End-of-Seminar Project
Individual Assignment (End-of-Seminar Project) (8%)
Each student is to
Identify an important managerial challenge facing his or her work or other organization.
Develop a plan that integrates effective financial and operational decision making to successfully meet this challenge and improve organizational
performance, in a succinct report that includes an executive summary.
More Information:
What is a succinct report? Could it be 10 pages or less? One reads that IBM decision papers are limited to that length, and we all recall the single-sheet Ringo
Sho approach to important decisions at Toyota.
As to overall plan format, I-B-C (http://polaris.umuc.edu/~jstewart/StewartWebSite/writingt.htm) is, recommended for your consideration.
A results-filled executive summary (ES) should lead off the plan. This link is to "How to Write an Executive Summary" in Course Resources. You may also
benefit from a review of the files in Course Resources specific to Writing Guidelines and the files showing proper APA citations.
Your individual paper must be posted in your assignment folder by the due date. Remember that there are NO EXTENSIONS of this final due date.
Writing Tips
http://polaris.umuc.edu/~jstewart/StewartWebSite/writingt.htm 1/2
Tips for Effective Business Writing
Here are some basic suggestions that I hope will increase the effectiveness of your writing in business and other
management environments
First, decide the purpose of your writing. It is usually either to inform or to convince (persuade)
You should almost always follow the time-tested "formula" of Introduction, Body, Conclusion
Use the Introduction to clearly state your purpose or position, and to give a "roadmap" (outline) to the rest of your paper
In the Body, give your pieces of information or arguments one by one, setting them off from one another with meaning-
filled (think use of verbs) section headings if this helps comprehension - and such headings almost always do
Provide some concrete (specific) examples to support your arguments
It is usually better to develop a few good examples - explaining them as necessary - than simply to list some large number
of examples only by name
Summarize what you've said in the Conclusion, avoiding putting new material there which should have gone into the Body
In the Conclusion, leave your reader with something to remember, perhaps a "lesson learned", a "takeaway" or a concrete
recommendation for action
If you use an Executive Summary, remember to place it at the beginning of the paper and to include all key results in it
Don't forget to spell- and grammar-check! (Not only your computer software, but also a friend or spouse's review should
be helpful here)
Week 11 Discussion
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Assignment: Discussion Activity (8%)
Each student is to critically assess the 1) mission, 2) goals, and 3) importance of information
systems and their management (ISM) in the firm, 4) using their own work organization as an
example.
Clarification:
The single most important point made in these materials is that information systems, and their supporting
information technology plus included telecommunications technology, are not drivers in well-managed
organizations; instead, they are when properly used, supporters of the business mission and strategy.
That is true of UMUC, where the mission is educate with the major marketing strategy to be online. It is also true of
Amazon.com, where the mission is to make a profit selling a wide number of products, and the major marketing
strategy is again, online.
The second most important point, stressed by Professor McFarlan and epitomized by Amazon.com, Apple and Google,
is that properly-designed and -implemented information systems can convey a strategic competitive advantage to
their enterprises.
Example: Here is a start on contributing to this week's discussions, with an example using UMUC as the firm.
The mission of information systems management at University of Maryland University College is
to support the teaching and administrative processes of the university in an efficient and effective
(!, recall operations management) way
The goals of UMUC ISM include:
Being at the state of the art in course delivery at a distance. That's why we have used Webex,
google- and pdf format and audio/video materials
Providing 24x7 reliability in the Learning environment, in PeopleSoft and other essential
information systems. 360 Support is on call via message and telephone at all hours, for instance.
Conserving State and student (ie, tuition) resources in accomplishing the foregoing, which
Maryland taxpayers and the state legislature expect.
The importance of ISM at UMUC is extremely high, given
First, that the University has strategically decided to be the open university of Maryland and the
United States, providing learning services to a growing student body mostly* at a distance, thus
using information systems heavily.
Second, there are a plethora of state and federal regulations, plus community standards, that
govern the management of information at UMUC and thus provide continuing, importance-raising
challenges.**
*Currently, about 82% of UMUC Adelphi students study exclusively online, and another 10% learn through a
"hybrid" online/F2F program.
**One example is the accommodation requirements of the federal ADA - Americans with Disabilities - Act. These
require that information be delivered at UMUC in ways that accommodate, for instance, visually- and hearing-
impaired students. This means, for one example, that we must prepare - and pay for - transcripts of audio
materials for hearing-impaired students (and some professors too).
Let the discussion begin. You must first post your contribution, then respond to at least two of your classmates'
contributions with a thorough analytical critique. Agreement or disagreement is not the point; the point is to air
different perspectives so they can be compared, distinguished, and evaluated.
[solved] Critical Assessment of the Toyota Production System (TPS)
Exercise 1 - Critical Assessment of the Toyota Production System (TPS)
a. Demonstrate your team's basic understanding of the TPS by 1) defining in your team's
own words any eight of the terms found at http://www.toyotageorgetown.com/terms.asp and
2) applying them to one or more of your team's own companies or other organizations.
b. Describe the TPS as a total entity. What are its purposes? Its advantages? It's
limitations? How is it now evolving? Is it getting better – or not? Has it been successfully
copied by other motor vehicle manufacturers? Why or why not?
Exercise 2 - Grid Analysis
a) List of the key main factors considered by Schrodinger Team for the Toyota Motor
Manufacturing; North America Plan location decision.
Exercise 3 - Production Capacity Needed at Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Canada
(TMMC)
a) To maximize profit earned during this period, which production capacity should TMMC
in 2000 decide to build - 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, or 30,000 cars? Justify your choice.
b. What are the weaknesses or limitations in this analysis? How might they be corrected or
at least reduced?
c. It is now late 2016. How well has the RX-330/350 actually done in the North American
market? Is its quality rated as high as if it were made in Japan?
Exercise 4 - Assessment of Toyota’s Current Regional Production Strategy
[solved] Determining Production Capacity Needed at Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Canada (TMMC)
Exercise 3: Determining Production Capacity Needed at Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Canada
(TMMC)
Decision trees are another important if challenging world-class operations management method which
operations managers should understand and with which other managers should be familiar.
This exercise illustrates how using a decision tree, determination of an "optimal" production capacity
option can be made from among several possible capacity options based on the provided probable
market demand and expected costs/payoffs of events that influence the options.
It is spring 2000, and TMMC has indeed just been chosen to produce the new Lexus RX 330 line, with the
first units deliverable in 2003. Toyota must now determine the amount of annual production capacity it
should build at TMMC.
Toyota's goal is to maximize the profit from the RX 330 line over the five years from 2003-2007. These
vehicles will sell for an average of $37,000 and incur a mean unit production cost of $28,000 (here, $ =
the Canadian dollar).
10,000 units of annual production capacity can be built for $50M (M=million) with additional blocks of
5,000 units of annual capacity each costing $15M. Each block of 5,000 units of capacity will also cost
$5M per year to maintain, even if the capacity is unused.
Assume that the number of units actually sold each year will be the lesser of the demand and the
production capacity.
Marketing has provided three vehicle estimated demand scenarios with associated probabilities as
follows:
Demand 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Probability
Low 10,000 10,500 11,000 11,500 12,000 0.25
Moderate 15,000 16,000 17,000 18,000 19,000 0.50
High 20,000 24,000 26,000 28,000 30,000 0.25
a. To maximize profit earned during this period, which production capacity should TMMC in 2000
decide to build - 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, or 30,000 cars? Justify your choice.
You may use the following decision tree developed by Toyota operations analysts in Toyota City, Japan -
or your group may choose to vary it in some way based, perhaps, on its presumed better local market
knowledge.
b. What are the weaknesses or limitations in this analysis? How might they be corrected or at
least reduced?
c. It is now late 2016. How well has the RX-330/350 actually done in the North American market?
Is its quality rated as high as if it were made in Japan?
Do some online research; it's part of improving your attainment of Information Literacy, one of
the UMUC MBA Competencies. Here see the Content/Week 10 references on Grid
Analysis and Decision Trees
After studying The Orion Shield Project, each
After studying The Orion Shield Project, each student is to address the following questions in a succinct and thoughtful report on
'Project Management Principles in the Orion Shield Case."
NOTE: IN CASE YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THIS LINK TO THE ORION SHIELD PROJECT, it is also posted as a separate file in this week's module), and a link to the
transcript of the video is in the "Overview and Readings" file.
1. Applying the readings from Week 7, what Project Management principles, if any, were violated in this case:
By Project Manager Gary Allison,
By Henry Larsen, Director of Engineering
By Elliott Grey, Director of Program Management
By Paula Arnold, Project Engineer
2. What structural and cultural characteristics of SEC allowed each of these individuals to behave as they did? Be specific in defining the behavior you feel
was a violation or failure, and the organizational characteristic(s ) that supported that behavior.
How does the Project Management Body Knowledge address the effects of organizational structure and culture on successful project management?
What principles of project and general management can a project manager rely upon to positively influence these organizational characteristics?
DMBA 620 9044 Effectiv... Paula Pal-Kheav
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7/11/2017 Week 8 Orion Shield Project assignment - Submit Files - DMBA 620 9044 Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making (2175) - UMUC Learning Management System
https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/lms/dropbox/user/folder_submit_files.d2l?db=488712&grpid=0&isprv=0&bp=0&ou=271026 2/3
Add a File Record Audio
3. What guidance do project management principles give for creating effective communication, and what do you think Gary would have done differently if he
had been well versed in those principles?
4. Henry Larsen gave Gary three requirements for good project management. How do those compare with the project management body of knowledge?
Should Gary have been given different advice?
If so, what would have been better advice?
If this was good advice, how did Gary fall short on those three criteria?
5. How many departments were involved in this project, and what guidance do project management principles give for coordinating functional departments?
Citing relevant principles, explain what Gary could have done differently to avoid Larsen’s perception that Gary had failed as a project manager.
6. Finally, did Gary fail? If SEC was awarded a sole source contract for production of the new material, why was his project perceived as a failure?
Do you agree or disagree? Explain your rationale, citing relevant project management literature for how success is defined for a project.
Remember to include a meaningful, results-filled executive summary at the beginning of your report.
Planning Production for Toyota North America
Assignment Taskings
Address the following four exercises:
Exercise 1: Making a Critical Assessment of the Toyota Production System (TPS) Today
a. Demonstrate your team's basic understanding of the TPS by 1) defining in your team's own
words any eight of the terms found athttp://www.toyotageorgetown.com/terms.asp, and
2) applying them to one or more of your team's own companies or other organizations.
For example, Pokayoke can be defined as an approach to create mistake proofing through use of
devices that detect or prevent production errors. At a software development firm, pokayoke might be
applied through use of a modular development process that includes extensive software module
testing before proceeding to module integration and total system testing.
b. Describe the TPS as a total entity. What are its purposes? Its advantages? Its limitations? How is it
now evolving? Is it getting better – or not? Has it been successfully copied by other motor vehicle
manufacturers? Why or why not?
Exercise 2: Use of a Grid Analysis (Weighted Scoring Model) to Help Make the North American Plant
Location Decision for the RX 330
This exercise illustrates how when deciding among two or more competing plant location options,
various decision factors (which can typically be characterized as exogenous - in a company’s external
environment - or endogenous - internal to the company) can be qualitatively identified, and how
these factors can then be weighted to obtain an overall score for each competing location option.
a. List the factors your team considers key to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC): The
Lexus RX 330 Line North American plant location decision, identifying these factors as either
exogenous or endogenous, weighting them using your team's best judgment (stating any relevant
assumptions or constraints), and assigning two scores to each factor: one for production of the Lexus
RX 330 at TMMC, and one for production at a Toyota factory in the USA.
b. Using the scores from your team's weighted scoring model and working with regard to Ringo Sho
and Nemawashi, make and support your recommendation for the RX 330 North American plant
location - TMMC or a factory in the USA.
Exercise 3: Determining Production Capacity Needed at Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Canada
(TMMC)
Decision trees are another important if challenging world-class operations management method
which operations managers should understand and with which other managers should be familiar.
This exercise illustrates how using a decision tree, determination of an "optimal" production capacity
option can be made from among several possible capacity options based on the provided probable
market demand and expected costs/payoffs of events that influence the options.
It is spring 2000, and TMMC has indeed just been chosen to produce the new Lexus RX 330 line, with
the first units deliverable in 2003. Toyota must now determine the amount of annual production
capacity it should build at TMMC.
Toyota's goal is to maximize the profit from the RX 330 line over the five years from 2003-2007. These
vehicles will sell for an average of $37,000 and incur a mean unit production cost of $28,000 (here, $ =
the Canadian dollar).
10,000 units of annual production capacity can be built for $50M (M=million) with additional blocks of
5,000 units of annual capacity each costing $15M. Each block of 5,000 units of capacity will also cost
$5M per year to maintain, even if the capacity is unused.
Assume that the number of units actually sold each year will be the lesser of the demand and the
production capacity.
Marketing has provided three vehicle estimated demand scenarios with associated probabilities as
follows:
Demand 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Probability
Low 10,000 10,500 11,000 11,500 12,000 0.25
Moderate 15,000 16,000 17,000 18,000 19,000 0.50
High 20,000 24,000 26,000 28,000 30,000 0.25
a. To maximize profit earned during this period, which production capacity should TMMC in 2000
decide to build - 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, or 30,000 cars? Justify your choice.
You may use the following decision tree developed by Toyota operations analysts in Toyota City,
Japan - or your group may choose to vary it in some way based, perhaps, on its presumed better local
market knowledge.
b. What are the weaknesses or limitations in this analysis? How might they be corrected or at least
reduced?
c. It is now late 2016. How well has the RX-330/350 actually done in the North American market? Is
its quality rated as high as if it were made in Japan?
Do some online research; it's part of improving your attainment of Information Literacy, one of
the UMUC MBA Competencies. Here see the Content/Week 10 references on Grid
Analysis and Decision Trees
Exercise 4: Assessment of Toyota’s Current Regional Production Strategy
North America
Source:www.worldatlas.com/<wbr><wbr>webimage/countrys/na.htm,
a. After doing necessary research online or otherwise, document and evaluate the current distribution
of Toyota production in North America. Here be sure to include Mexico.
b. Why does the team believe Toyota has chosen to produce its cars in the current manner? Has
Toyota been wise, or not?
In effect, this exercise provides the team an opportunity to think ahead to the politico-socio-economic-
technological considerations that will be quite important in DMBA 630.
Assignment: Group Assignment (10%)? Each group completes the tasks
Assignment: Group Assignment (10%)
? Each group completes the tasks to be found in the Week 10 Assignment, deciding where and
how Toyota should produce a particular Lexus model in North America, by the end of this week,
in a succinct report that includes an executive summary. The group product should be submitted
in the Group Assignment Folder by the end of the week
? Peer evaluations must be completed and submitted in each individual's assignment folder by
the end of the week
Assignment Clarification:
To properly complete this assignment, it will be important for each team to consider the following
points:
? Assignment Proper. Key to solving the assignment proper, possibly with supporting files, is
to tackle its various parts one by one, fully answering each requirement. In this regard, don't
get hung up on one exercise; move on to the next one. Do refer back to prior seminars or other
courses (properly cited of course) if they included any of the quantitative techniques required
here
? To remain motivated, remember that the overall learning goal here is to familiarize each team
member with the OM techniques and concepts involved, not to make you a Toyota production
planner
? Thus remember to explain the team's answers in succinct but good English, particularly if the
team wishes to obtain an above-task grade
? Be sure to study all the assignment help materials that are posted here.
? Please mark your answers clearly in your assignment submission, so they can be easily found
and identified.
? Post the team final paper in the Group Assignment Folder, clearly marked as the final
submission.
? After the team assignment is completed and submitted for grading, each team member is to
complete Peer Evaluation Assignment and submit the form in his/her own individual assignment
folder. NOTE: until a completed peer evaluation form is submitted, the individual member
concerned will not be assigned a grade for the team project.
Welcome to Week 7 and happy 4th of
Welcome to Week 7 and happy 4th of July. It’s our Independence Day celebration and that means two things. Firstly it should mean that we take time to reflect on our country’s past, our present and our future. We are in an interesting period of history right now. Around the world we can see that democracy is actually receding. Take a look at Turkey for example. Turkey was a modern democracy seeking entrance into the European Union. It’s now moving firmly in the opposite direction of a dictatorship. They are not alone. The Economist Intelligence Unit which is associated with the Economist Magazine – one of the best and most balanced news magazines available – has actually downgraded the US to a “flawed” democracy because trust in our government has degraded so much. Whether you like our current elected officials or not you have to admit that trust has seriously eroded. It’s important to think about global politics and put things into perspective and ask yourself what you can do to make the world a better place.
But as interesting as that is, it’s off topic for our class. Back to class, the second thing July 4th means is vacations. I certainly understand if you are traveling this summer and may need an extension. Please prioritize the team work and be sure you get that completed on time but for your individual work if you need more time don’t hesitate to contact me. Remember though, the work stacks up so be sure you’re not falling behind.
Moving on, this week we leave spreadsheets and the Balanced Scorecard and we start with Project Management. That may sound a little strange but the reason we structure this class in this way is because when you are making and implementing decisions in organizations you’ll need to start with your finances. Can you afford to make the changes you are thinking about? Or do you need to raise money either from an investment or perhaps a donation? Then think about how the plans fit into your long-term operations. That’s where the Balanced Scorecard fits in. Here you’re evaluating what’s happened over the last year and what you would like to see happen in the next year from multiple perspectives. Then if you still think the changes are a good idea then you launch a project. Then once the project is completed you go back into normal operations.
For instance, I am the president of a charity in Midcoast Maine. We decided that major renovations to our building were required. First we looked at our financial position and asked ourselves whether we could afford the renovation and also whether we had enough cash for contingency if something went wrong. We then looked at how the proposed renovation would fit in with our day-to-day operations and whether it would make things easier or harder. We didn’t use a Balanced Scorecard but we did examine the proposal from many different perspectives and viewpoints. Now, we’re raising the money needed and we’ll launch a project in October (after tourist season is over) and the for four weeks the building will be torn apart and we’ll have to meet elsewhere. Then after the project is completed we’ll get used to working in the new environment and we’ll be back into normal operations – where continuous process improvement takes over.
That’s a simple example but you get the idea. A project is meant to be a temporary endeavor where something new and unique is designed and built. Then it’s tested and the users are trained. Then you cut back into normal operations. During the project resources are dedicated to the project. This is kay because it means that people, hardware, software, money, office space and more are allocated to the project instead of people doing it in their spare time, for instance.
Also, you can think of a project like this: if you are making a major change you need to launch a project. If you are making a minor change then you’re in normal operations management. Let’s look at a different example for a moment to drive this point home. A while ago, a friend of mine was overseeing work on an assembly line. They were making shingles. One day, the marketing folks go together with the research and development folks and decided they should be making solar shingles. So my colleague launched a project to develop a brand new assembly line to make solar shingles. After the assembly line was designed they built a test unit and brought in workers to test it out. They made updates and then when it was working properly they declared success, ended the project and then the assembly line became part of their normal operations. Then continuous process improvement took over.
You’ll have a chance to talk about that at length this week in your Discussion Activity. The timing is perfect because it’s a holiday week and DA’s don’t generally take nearly as long as regular assignment. Do however, look ahead because next week’s assignment is a little longer. That’s a great assignment because it is about as real life as you can get and it walks through all of the phases and knowledge areas of a project – for better and worse. You’ll see what I mean next week.
Week 7 Discussion AssignmentLocked after Sunday,
Week 7 Discussion Assignment
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Assignment: Discussion Activity (8%)
The section is to collectively decide the criteria that, taken as a whole at week end, define a "project."
The section will discuss sound project and portfolio selection criteria.
Each student will also succinctly describe an example of a project in which he or she has participated and
indicate how this project exhibits his or her criteria for a project.You may find that the examples in Schwalbe
(2015) serve to recall projects to you.
Next, you should address whether DMBA 620 is a project for you.
FYI: Here is the definition of a project taken from the Project Management Institute's1 Guide to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) (5th Edition, 2013) PMBOK is posted as an eReserve:
"A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result."
So, by this definition, is your DMBA 620 an example of a project?
What opportunity costs must be considered in project selection?
What other criteria would be important in project selection?
The seminar certainly is a temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end. But is it creating something
unique? You might answer these questions as you define what a project means to you -- and thereafter comment
constructively on others' definitions/project criteria.
You might also think about, and discuss, why it matters whether something is a project, or not.
Please provide at least one example of a project from your own work or other life experience.
You should also discuss project and portfolio selection criteria.
Week 7 - The Role of Project Management
This week we start our study of effective operational decision making. Again the course diagram (under Syllabus and reproduced in this
module) shows you where we are in DMBA 620.
In the next five weeks, we will take up three important business functional management areas associated with operational decision
making:
Project management
Operations management
Information systems management
Everyone holding an MBA degree should have knowledge n these areas.
There is one discussion assignment this week, to introduce the role of project management.
In the assigned discussion, you are to gain or sharpen your understanding of what is, and what is not, a project in a business context.
Not everything is a project -- but in today's fast-changing business world, projects are increasingly encountered.
The importance of being able to recognize a project lies in the consequent application of the specialized techniques of project
management.
Your attention is particularly invited to the video introducing project management by Professor Versace. Professor
The Balanced ScorecardTraditional financial performance metrics provide
The Balanced Scorecard
Traditional financial performance metrics provide information about a firm's past
results, but are not wellsuited for predicting future performance or for
implementing and controlling the firm's strategic plan. By analyzing perspectives
other than the financial one, managers can better translate the organization's
strategy into actionable objectives and better measure how well the strategic plan is
executing.
The Balanced Scorecard is a management system that maps an organization's
strategic objectives into performance metrics in four perspectives: financial,
internal processes, customers, and learning and growth. These perspectives provide
relevant feedback as to how well the strategic plan is executing so that adjustments
can be made as necessary. The Balance Scorecard framework can be depicted as
follows:
The Balanced Scorecard Framework
Financial
Performance
Objectives
Measures
Targets
Initiatives
Customers
Objectives
Measures
Strategy
Internal
Processes
Objectives
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 2/8
Targets
Initiatives
Measures
Targets
Initiatives
Learning
& Growth
Objectives
Measures
Targets
Initiatives
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was published in 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David
Norton. In addition to measuring current performance in financial terms, the
Balanced Scorecard evaluates the firm's efforts for future improvement using
process, customer, and learning and growth metrics. The term "scorecard" signifies
quantified performance measures and "balanced" signifies that the system is
balanced between:
shortterm objectives and longterm objectives
financial measures and nonfinancial measures
lagging indicators and leading indicators
internal performance and external performance perspectives
Financial Measures Are Insufficient
While financial accounting is suited to the tracking of physical assets such as
manufacturing equipment and inventory, it is less capable of providing useful
reports in environments with a large intangible asset base. As intangible assets
constitute an everincreasing proportion of a company's market value, there is an
increase in the need for measures that better report such assets as loyal customers,
proprietary processes, and highlyskilled staff.
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al measures are needed for such intangibles. Scorecard Measures are Limited in Number The Balanced Scorecard is more than a collection of measures used to identify problems. It is a system that integrates a firm's strategy with a purposely limit
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ult in hundreds of measures and would create information overload. To avoid this problem, the Balanced Scorecard focuses on four major areas of performance and a limited number of metrics within those areas. The objectives within the four perspectives are carefully selected and are firm specific. To avoid information overload, the total number of measures should be limited to somewhere between 15 and 20, or three to four measures for each of the four perspectives. These measures are selected as the ones deemed to be critical in achieving breakthrough competitive performance; they essentially define what is meant by "performance". A Chain of CauseandEffect Relationships Before the Balanced Scorecard, some companies already used a collection of both financial and nonfinancial measures of critical performance indicators. However, a welldesigned Balanced Scorecard is different from such a system in that the four BSC perspectives form a chain of causeandeffect relationships. For example, learning and growth lead to better business processes that result in higher customer loyalty and thus a higher return on capital employed (ROCE). Effectively, the causeandeffect relationships illustrate the hypothesis behind the organization's strategy. The measures reflect a chain of performance drivers that determine the effectiveness of the strategy implementation. Objectives, Measures, Targets, and Initiatives Within each of the Balanced Scorecard financial, customer, internal process, and learning perspectives, the firm must define the following: Strategic objectives what the strategy is to achieve in that perspective.
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 4/8
Measures how progress for that particular objective will be measured.
Targets the target value sought for each measure.
Initiatives what will be done to facilitate the reaching of the target.
The following sections provide examples of some objectives and measures for the
four perspectives.
Financial Perspective
The financial perspective addresses the question of how shareholders view the firm
and which financial goals are desired from the shareholder's perspective. The
specific goals depend on the company's stage in the business life cycle.
For example:
Growth stage goal is growth, such as revenue growth rate
Sustain stage goal is profitability, such ROE, ROCE, and EVA
Harvest stage goal is cash flow and reduction in capital requirements
The following table outlines some examples of financial metrics:
Objective Specific Measure
Growth Revenue growth
Profitability Return on equity
Cost leadership Unit cost
Customer Perspective
The customer perspective addresses the question of how the firm is viewed by its
customers and how well the firm is serving its targeted customers in order to meet
the financial objectives. Generally, customers view the firm in terms of time,
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 5/8
quality, performance, and cost. Most customer objectives fall into one of those four
categories. The following table outlines some examples of specific customer
objectives and measures:
Objective Specific Measure
New products % of sales from new products
Responsive supply Ontime delivery
To be preferred supplier Share of key accounts
Customer partnerships Number of cooperative efforts
Internal Process Perspective
Internal business process objectives address the question of which processes are
most critical for satisfying customers and shareholders. These are the processes in
which the firm must concentrate its efforts to excel. The following table outlines
some examples of process objectives and measures:
Objective Specific Measure
Manufacturing excellence Cycle time, yield
Increase design productivity Engineering efficiency
Reduce product launch delays Actual launch date vs. plan
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 6/8
Learning and Growth Perspective
Learning and growth metrics address the question of how the firm must learn,
improve, and innovate in order to meet its objectives. Much of this perspective is
employeecentered. The following table outlines some examples of learning and
growth measures:
Objective Specific Measure
Manufacturing learning Time to new process maturity
Product focus % of products representing 80% of sales
Time to market Time compared to that of competitors
Achieving Strategic Alignment throughout the Organization
Whereas strategy is articulated in terms meaningful to top management, to be
implemented it must be translated into objectives and measures that are actionable
at lower levels in the organization. The Balanced Scorecard can be cascaded to
make the translation of strategy possible.
While top level objectives may be expressed in terms of growth and profitability,
these goals get translated into more concrete terms as they progress down the
organization and each manager at the next lower level develops objectives and
measures that support the next higher level. For example, increased profitability
might get translated into lower unit cost, which then gets translated into better
calibration of the equipment by the workers on the shop floor. Ultimately,
achievement of scorecard objectives would be rewarded by the employee
compensation system. The Balanced Scorecard can be cascaded in this manner to
align the strategy thoughout the organization.
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 7/8
The Process of Building a Balanced Scorecard
While there are many ways to develop a Balanced Scorecard, Kaplan and Norton
defined a fourstep process that has been used across a wide range of
organizations.
1. Define the measurement architecture When a company initially
introduces the Balanced Scorecard, it is more manageable to apply it on the
strategic business unit level rather than the corporate level. However,
interactions must be considered in order to avoid optimizing the results of one
business unit at the expense of others.
2. Specify strategic objectives The top three or four objectives for each
perspective are agreed upon. Potential measures are identified for each
objective.
3. Choose strategic measures Measures that are closely related to the actual
performance drivers are selected for evaluating the progress made toward
achieving the objectives.
4. Develop the implementation plan Target values are assigned to the
measures. An information system is developed to link the top level metrics to
lowerlevel operational measures. The scorecard is integrated into the
management system.
Balanced Scorecard Benefits
Some of the benefits of the Balanced Scorecard system include:
Translation of strategy into measurable parameters.
Communication of the strategy to everybody in the firm.
Alignment of individual goals with the firm's strategic objectives the BSC
recognizes that the selected measures influence the behavior of employees.
Feedback of implementation results to the strategic planning process.
Since its beginnings as a peformance measurement system, the Balanced Scorecard
has evolved into a strategy implementation system that not only measures
performance but also describes, communicates, and aligns the strategy throughout
the organization.
Potential Pitfalls
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 8/8
The following are potential pitfalls that should be avoided when implementing the
Balanced Scorecard:
Lack of a welldefined strategy: The Balanced Scorecard relies on a well-
defined strategy and an understanding of the linkages between strategic
objectives and the metrics. Without this foundation, the implementation of the
Balanced Scorecard is unlikely to be successful.
Using only lagging measures: Many managers believe that they will reap the
benefits of the Balanced Scorecard by using a wide range of nonfinancial
measures. However, care should be taken to identify not only lagging
measures that describe past performance, but also leading measures that can
be used to plan for future performance.
Use of generic metrics: It usually is not sufficient simply to adopt the metrics
used by other successful firms. Each firm should put forth the effort to
identify the measures that are appropriate for its own strategy and
competitive position.
The balanced scorecard translates the organization's strategy
The balanced scorecard translates the organization's strategy into four
perspectives, with a balance between the following:
between internal and external measures
between objective measures and subjective measures
between performance results and the drivers of future results
Beyond the Financial Perspective
In the industrial age, most of the assets of a firm were in property, plant, and
equipment, and the financial accounting system performed an adequate job of
valuing those assets. In the information age, much of the value of the firm is
embedded in innovative processes, customer relationships, and human resources.
The financial accounting system is not so good at valuing such assets.
The Balanced Scorecard goes beyond standard financial measures to include the
following additional perspectives: the customer perspective, the internal process
perspective, and the learning and growth perspective.
Financial perspective includes measures such as operating income, return
on capital employed, and economic value added.
Customer perspective includes measures such as customer satisfaction,
customer retention, and market share in target segments.
Business process perspective includes measures such as cost,
throughput, and quality. These are for business processes such as
procurement, production, and order fulfillment.
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.quickmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 3/5
Learning & growth perspective includes measures such as employee
satisfaction, employee retention, skill sets, etc.
These four realms are not simply a collection of independent perspectives. Rather,
there is a logical connection between them learning and growth lead to better
business processes, which in turn lead to increased value to the customer, which
finally leads to improved financial performance.
Objectives, Measures, Targets, and Initiatives
Each perspective of the Balanced Scorecard includes objectives, measures of those
objectives, target values of those measures, and initiatives, defined as follows:
Objectives major objectives to be achieved, for example, profitable growth.
Measures the observable parameters that will be used to measure progress
toward reaching the objective. For example, the objective of profitable growth
might be measured by growth in net margin.
Targets the specific target values for the measures, for example, +2%
growth in net margin.
Initiatives action programs to be initiated in order to meet the objective.
These can be organized for each perspective in a table as shown below.
Objectives Measures Targets Initiatives
Financial
Customer
Process
Learning
Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System
6/22/2017 Balanced Scorecard
http://www.quickmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balancedscorecard/ 4/5
The Balanced Scorecard originally was conceived as an improved performance
measurement system. However, it soon became evident that it could be used as a
management system to implement strategy at all levels of the organization by
facilitating the following functions:
1. Clarifying strategy the translation of strategic objectives into quantifiable
measures clarifies the management team's understanding of the strategy and
helps to develop a coherent consensus.
2. Communicating strategic objectives the Balanced Scorecard can serve to
translate high level objectives into operational objectives and communicate the
strategy effectively throughout the organization.
3. Planning, setting targets, and aligning strategic initiatives ambitious but
achievable targets are set for each perspective and initiatives are developed
to align efforts to reach the targets.
4. Strategic feedback and learning executives receive feedback on whether
the strategy implementation is proceeding according to plan and on whether
the strategy itself is successful ("doubleloop learning").
These functions have made the Balanced Scorecard an effective management
system for the implementation of strategy. The Balanced Scorecard has been
applied successfully to private sector companies, nonprofit organizations, and
government agencies.
Recommended Reading
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, The Balanced Scorecard : Translating Strategy into Action
In The Balanced Scorecard, the original architects of the system introduce the framework assuming no
prior knowledge by the reader. Kaplan and Norton discuss the need for the Balanced Scorecard,
provide examples of metrics in the four perspectives, and explain how the system can be used to
implement and manage business strategy.
QuickMBA / Accounting / Balanced Scorecard
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Balanced ScorecardLike Dashboard Instruments, We NeedSeveral
Balanced Scorecard
Like Dashboard Instruments, We Need
Several Indicators of Strategy Success:
Financial
Customer
Employee / Learning and Growth
Internal Business Process
Balanced Score Card Features
Emphasizes what is important
Focuses on Business Drivers
Stresses Cause & Effect Relationships
Unites the Company
Uses Leading & Lagging Indicators
Implements Business Strategy
Uses metrics for Targets & Performance Evaluation
Financial Perspective
Link to Strategy
Time Horizon: Short, Medium and Long
Can Include:
Cash Flow
Reported Earnings
Risk Management
Cost Control and Revenue Growth
Pricing: Discounts vs. Value /
Convenience
Financial Perspective
Find drivers for revenues, costs,
cash flows & net income
Can tie to an incentive system
Can use any type of incentive
Problem: valuable, but focuses on
the past rather than the future – it
is a lagging indicator.
Leading Indicators
In order to predict financial results the BSC
uses 3 leading indicators. These are:
The Customer Perspective
The Employee / Learning and Growth
Perspective
The Internal Business Process Perspective
Customer Perspective
Value to Customers
Customer Satisfaction is not enough.
Not all customers are keepers:
80 / 20 “rule”
Retain Old vs. Attract new Customers
Growth, Market Share, Segmentation
More on Customer
Time
Convenience
Ease of Use
Quality
After Sale Service
Cost
Performance
The Box
Unprofitable Customers
Attracted to products
Unprofitable Customers
Not Attracted to
products
Profitable Customers
Attracted to products
Profitable Customers
Not Attracted to
products
Employee / Internal Business
Ease of tasks
Innovation
Productivity
Where must we be EXCELLENT?
Where can we be good enough?
The Operations Process
Customer Life Cycle
More Internal Processes
Cycle Time
Quality
Employee Training and Skills
Productivity
Customer Perspective
Innovation and Learning
Pace of Industry Change
Continuous Improvement
Percent of income from New Products
Dot Com Bomb
Think outside the Box vs. inside
Think Critically
LISTEN
Listen and Learn
No one of us is as smart as all of us.
Welcome diverse views and people.
Get honest feedback from present
customers, potential customers,
employees, suppliers, others
Use benchmarking
Get connected with industry information
Balance for the Score Card
Financial
Customer
Learning and Growth
Internal Business Processes
Balanced Scorecard
Most organizations devise good strategies
But the real problem is successful implementation of
strategy
Experts will say a B strategy with A implementation
easily beats an A strategy with B implementation
The BSC is the most successful method for dependable
implementation of strategy
But success will only be achieved with careful and
thorough attention to installation of BSC
Balanced Scorecard
Why is the BSC so effective in strategy implementation?
Because it involves every organization unit in the design
and implementation of strategy
It does so by finding the right drivers of performance for
each organization unit
Then it determines the right metrics for the right drivers
Next it selects the right target values for the right
metrics
Finally it links everyday activities of each unit with the
metrics representing the drivers of performance
Balanced Scorecard
Performance of each organization unit is
regularly measured by comparing actual
metrics with target metrics
Deviations from target metrics are early
warnings to get strategy back on track
That requires correct metrics for the right
drivers of performance
Balanced Scorecard
Making sure that metrics are right means
that leading indicators are valid predictors
of the lagging finance measure
So regular testing of the predictive power
of leading indicators is required
So the BSC is effective, but only to the
extent that it is kept tuned and accurate
Balanced Score Card Summary
Emphasizes what is important
Focuses on Business Drivers
Stresses Cause & Effect Relationships
Unites the Company
Uses Leading & Lagging Indicators
Implements Business Strategy
Uses valid metrics for Targets &
Performance Evaluation
DMBA 620 9044 Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making
Required Reading:
http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balanced-scorecard/
http://www.quickmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balanced-scorecard/
This Power Point presentation also explains the balanced scorecard
Read the lecture material "Required Information on Metrics" posted in this week's module.
Assignment (6%): Part I. Create Balanced Scorecard
1. Build a Balanced Scorecard for the unit of the organization for which you work, or have worked. Unless you are in senior
management, focus on the unit with which you are most familiar rather than the organization as a whole. Identify the
strategic objectives of the entire organization and the secondary objectives for the unit. Develop three specific objectives
within each of the four perspectives for the unit. Each objective should have at least one quantified target metric associated
with it.
It is essential to understand what metrics are. Be sure to study the lecture material on "More Information on metrics" In this
assignment, the specific information needed to calculate each metric should be explained. For each metric state the
appropriate target value and the actions that need to be taken to achieve the target. The paper should be no more than 15
pages, including the reference list, and be formatted in accordance with the APA guidelines as modified for the MBA program
(http://info.umuc.edu/mba/public/MBA-apa.html). Please format your paper in Microsoft Word as a XXX.doc or XXX.rtf file,
and place the paper in your assignment folder.
Metrics
Develop three specific objectives within each of the four perspectives for the unit. Each objective should have at least one
quantified target metric associated with it. So your table should contain 4 perspectives, each with 3 specific objectives, and a
target value of the metric for each objective.
The Perkins Cove Yacht Company CasePerkins Cove
The Perkins Cove Yacht Company Case
Perkins Cove Yacht Company produces three models of yachts. All are 44 feet long. One is a
standard Fiberglass model with nylon sails and a fixed keel made of lead and fiberglass named
the Goose Rocks. It comes with a standard depth finder, compass and 20 horsepower diesel
auxiliary motor. It sells for $120,000.
The Kennebunkport model has upgrades with radar, GPS nautical charts, enhanced batteries,
and Teflon coated carbon fiber sails. The engine produces 100 horsepower and can run a
cabin heater. It can completely recharge the battery in less than an hour. The Kennebunkport
sells for $200,000.
The Ogunquit model is a custom-made with a deck made from teak and a cabin constructed
from special woods. The sails are made from the traditional flax based canvass. The hull is
from specially cut oak from local forests. It has the look of a vessel constructed in 1850 by a
quality Maine shipyard with 2016 comforts and safety. The Ogunquit sells for $800,000.
Workers who build the Ogunquit are specialty craftsmen. They earn twice the hourly rate of
those working on the two standard models. Note: Labor rate is fully loaded for benefits.
Most of Perkins Cove Yacht’s sales come from the Goose Rocks and the Kennebunkport, but
sales of the Ogunquit model have been growing. Below is the company's sales, production, and
cost information for last year:
The company allocates overhead costs using the traditional method. Its activity base is
unit volume. The predetermined overhead rate, based on 170 total yachts, is $27,000 per yacht
($4,590,000 ÷ 170 yachts). Richard Perkins, president of Perkins Cove yacht, is concerned that
the traditional cost-allocation system the company is using may not be generating accurate
information and that the selling price of the custom Ogunquit may not be covering its true cost.
Questions:
A. The cost-allocation system Perkins Cove has been using allocates over 88% of
overhead costs to the Goose Rocks and the Kennebunk because 88% of yachts
produced were these two models. How much overhead was allocated, in total, to each
of the three models last year? Discuss why this might not be an accurate way to assign
overhead costs to products.
B. Perkins Cove’s production manager proposes allocating overhead by direct labor hours
instead since the different models require different amounts of labor. How much
overhead would be allocated to each yacht (per unit and in total) under this method?
Show all supporting calculations.
C. How would the use of more than one cost pool improve Perkins Cove Yacht's cost
allocation?
D. Perkins Cove Yacht's controller developed the following data for use in activity-based
costing:
Use activity-based costing to allocate the costs of overhead per unit and in total to each
yacht. Show all supporting calculations. It is appropriate to use an excel document to do
your computations in Excel.
E. Calculate the cost of one custom Ogunquit yacht using activity-based costing.
F. Why are the costs different between the traditional method and the activity-based
method?
G. At the current selling price, is the company covering its true cost of production of the
Ogunquit? Briefly discuss.
H. What should be the price that Perkins Cove Yacht Company charges for the Ogunquit?
Assume that the Ogunquit should have the same profit margin as the Kennebunkport.
Show all calculations.
I. What should Perkins Cove Yacht Co. do if the quantity of the Ogunquit yachts sold at the
new price falls to 10 per year?
J. What should Perkins Cove Yacht Co. do about the situation if the price of the Ogunquit
cannot exceed $800,000?
K. At a selling price of $800,000 each, what is the breakeven unit volume for the Ogunquit?
L. What are the lessons learned from this case?
Santa Rosa JewelryTarget Profit AssignmentThere
Santa Rosa Jewelry
Target Profit Assignment
There are some hints in the notes page of each slide .
To get there, go to view tab, Notes page, you can see what is
written in the notes sections, while the case facts and
requirements are in the main PP slide area.
Tiffany Nadeau is your client!
Write a report that is appropriate for her
(based on what you learn about her)
Make it a great week!
Your assignment
You agreed to analyze her business operations
and to advise her how to reach her goal of
earning $120,000 per year, after taxes. After
some calculation and some thought, you
conclude that Tiffany has to increase her
revenues, perhaps by achieving greater
volume, or perhaps by raising her selling price.
Evaluate what kind of business
Tiffany Nadeau established and ran a small
workshop that manufactured unique, high
quality jewelry. She marketed these creations
to up scale gift shops across the United States
in batches of 20 assorted items, for which she
charged $2,880 per batch. In turn, the gift
shops sold the jewelry at prices averaging
eight times what they paid for the jewelry.
A bit about your client
Business was brisk, and Tiffany could sell all that she
produced. But she found herself earning very little
money, and after paying her 45% U S and California
income tax, she found herself with almost no money
to live on. That led Tiffany to you, as her consultant.
She complained to you that she worked very hard, 50
weeks a year, but ended up broke and frustrated.
Tiffany said that house prices were very expensive in
Santa Rosa, CA and that she hoped to purchase a home
and have enough left for a nice vacation and moderate
lifestyle. She noted that she would be satisfied to
make $120,000 a year, after taxes.
Costs per unit: which unit?
Tiffany employed 11 people. 10 earned $30 per
hour and worked producing jewelry. Joseph was
paid $20 per hour for his unskilled labor. Jewelry
production varied between a low of 14 and a high
of 26 batches per week, and averaged 1,000
batches per year. Each batch cost $130 (excluding
wages) to pack and ship, with Joseph doing all
the packing and shipping. It takes Joseph 1 hour
to pack and ship one batch. Joseph also does
other chores, such as sweeping, vacuuming and
cleaning, and he averages 30 hours per week of
employment with Tiffany's workshop, for the 50
weeks per year that he works for Tiffany.
Tiffany’s marketing trips
Tiffany spends 10 weeks a year touring the U.S.
and attending trade shows in order to sell her
jewelry. Her travel, hotel, show fees, and food
costs were $4,200 each week. Workshop rent
and utilities cost her an average of $7,500 per
month. Tiffany works 40 weeks a year at making
jewelry, While at the shop, she works 50 hours
per week designing, setting up and
manufacturing as needed to get orders out on
time. She takes 2 weeks of vacation each year.
Fixed and Variable manufacturing costs
The cost of raw materials varied depending on
the price of gold and silver. Tiffany spends
about $1,900 per batch on raw materials.
Production workers spend 20 hours form each
batch. Tiffany’s time is in addition. They earn
$30 per hour. And work 40 hours per week.
Advertising runs $38,000 per year. Insurance
costs $1,500 per month. Rent and Utilities are
$7,500.
Santa Rosa Jewelry CaseTiffany Nadeau established and
Santa Rosa Jewelry Case
Tiffany Nadeau established and ran a small workshop that manufactured original design quality
jewelry. What began as a hobby for sale in craft shows grew into a small on-line business.
Later, it became a manufacturer for upscale jewelry shops in tourist locations across the
country. To accommodate the greater volume, Ms. Nadeau opened a small workshop in the
historic district of Santa Rosa, California, about 50 miles north of San Francisco. She paid the
following prices for some of her raw material: Gold $1,200 per ounce, Silver $16.50 per ounce.
Gold and Silver prices have been volatile making pricing difficult.
She marketed these creations to gift shops across the United States in batches of 20 assorted
items, for which she charged $2,880 per batch. In turn, the gift shop sold the jewelry at prices
averaging eight times what they paid for the jewelry.
Tiffany had a staff of 11. Ten workers produced the jewelry and Joseph helped with shipping
and cleanup. The production people were paid $30 per hour including benefits and Joseph was
paid $20 per hour for his unskilled labor. Jewelry production varied between a low of 14 and a
high of 26 batches per week, and averaged 1,000 batches per year. Each batch cost $130
(excluding wages) to pack, ship and insure, with Joseph doing all the packing and shipping. It
takes Joe 1 hour to pack and ship one batch. Joe also does other chores, such as sweeping,
vacuuming and cleaning, and he averages 30 hours per week of employment with Tiffany's
workshop, for the 50 weeks per year that he works for Tiffany (with his time split between
packing and shipping of batches and doing weekly cleaning, etc.)
Tiffany spends 10 weeks a year touring the U.S. She attends trade shows in order to sell her
jewelry, and to find suppliers of the components for her products. Her travel, hotel, show fees,
and food costs were $4,200 each week. Workshop rent and utilities cost her an average of
$7,500 per month. Insurance including liability, workers compensation, and unemployment cost
$1,500 per month. Advertising in trade journals and on Fashionista.com cost $38,000 per year.
Tiffany works 40 weeks a year at making jewelry, often working over 50 hours per week. She
spends 10 weeks marketing and takes 2 weeks of vacation.
The cost of raw materials averaged $1,900 per batch. It takes Maria and Juanita 20 hours per
batch to manufacture the jewelry. Tiffany does design work, creates the molds for the jewelry
and spends time making the items as needed to meet orders.
Business was brisk, and Tiffany could easily sell every batch that she produced. But she found
herself earning very little money, and after paying her 45% income tax for US and California,
she found herself with almost no money to live on. That led her to ask for your help.
She complained to you that she worked very hard, 50 weeks a year, but ended up broke and
frustrated. Tiffany said that Santa Rosa was expensive even though home prices were less than
half of what they were in San Francisco, some 50 miles to the south. Reasonable homes sold
for $500,000 to $2,000,000. These were about 4 times the price of homes in Croydon, New
Hampshire where her sister lived. With property taxes and insurance, Tiffany thought that she
needed at least $5,400 per month for her mortgage payment. That payment was far beyond
what she can afford. She would need $10,000 per month after tax to afford the mortgage and
have enough left for a moderate lifestyle.
You agreed to analyze her business operations and to advise her how to reach her goal of
earning $120,000 per year, after taxes.
After some calculation and some thought, you conclude that Tiffany has to increase her
revenues, perhaps by achieving greater volume, or perhaps by raising her selling price. Write a
short report directed to Ms. Tiffany Nadeau with your recommendation on how to increase
revenue, supported with a pro-forma contribution income statement which incorporates your
recommendations. You should show all calculations in a Microsoft Excel document. Include a
breakeven analysis for zero profit and a second analysis to achieve an after tax target income of
$120,000 for Ms. Nadeau and provide your conclusion. (The report to Ms. Nadeau can be
written in a Textbox (Textboxes automatically wrap text) in a separate worksheet in the same
Excel document.
Submit one document that contains your calculations, the 2 breakeven analyses, and the report.
Be sure to proofread. A PowerPoint presentation “Santa Rosa Jewelry Hints” has been posted
in this week’s module to get you started.
Week 4 Break Even Assignment - Submit
Week 4 Break Even Assignment - Submit Files
Hide Submission Folder Information
Submission Folder
Week 4 Break Even Assignment
Instructions
Required Multimedia:
* Breakeven Analysis and Contribution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22_AC6BN9Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOo2mY6FIw&feature=related
Required Readings:
* Capital budgeting:http://www.teachmefinance.com/capitalbudgeting.html
* Simon, Herman. Confessions of the Pricing Man, Springer International Publishing, 2015.
Chapter one. ISBN: 9783319203997 (ereserves)
Assignment (8%):
Answer the problems in the attached file: " Jewelry Case."
Refer to the powerpoint, "Jewelry Case Hints" for specific guidance through your analysis.
The report should be appropriate for your client, with all recommendations thoroughly
supported by data and logic.
All calculations should be shown,step by step, done by using Excel.
Submit a single Excel file in your assignment folder that contains your calculations, CVP graph,
and the report to your client. Be sure to proofread. Title your file, "Jewelry case week 4."
What can the team tell from the
What can the team tell from the analysis? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each company? Which is the stronger competitor? Give reasons.
8.Show that you have read and understood the required readings, links and attached files - cite and reference them where appropriate.
The Cash Flow Statement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eietCf5nNI&feature=related
Cash Flow Ratios http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzdNgaPhBMQ&feature=PlayList&p=84588A1A1F1F96D1&index=15
Market Ratios http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1WmGQLIwTY&feature=related
How to Analyse Financial StatementsThere is a
How to Analyse Financial Statements
There is a great deal of
valuable information in
financial statements.
But we must know how to
extract and refine it.
The process is like a doctor
diagnosing a patient's health.
The process is similar, but
our tools of analysis are not
quite the same.
Our tools of analysis are
financial ratios.
Financial Statement Analysis
When an unconscious patient arrives at the emergency room of
the hospital, what does the doctor do?
Answer: check the vital signs, like pulse, blood pressure,
temperature, etc.
Similarly, when we analyse financial statements, we check the
vital signs of the organization.
What are these vital signs? They include:
Short-term Liquidity
Profitability:
Profitability on Revenue
Profitability on Investment
Long-Term Asset Turnover
Long-term Leverage
For more, see the next slide.
Financial Vital Signs
Short-term Liquidity
Profitability:
On Revenue
On Investment
Long-Term Asset Turnover
Long-term Leverage
Market Performance
DuPont Analysis
Benchmarks (Yardsticks)
Data Sources
Short-term Liquidity
Short-term Liquidity means being able to
meet the payroll and pay the bills.
Organizations unable to meet the payroll
and pay the bills will soon collapse.
That is why our first step in financial
statement analysis is to test short-term
liquidity.
If an organization cannot survive the short
term, there is no need to examine its long
term signs.
Short-term Liquidity
Companies with a strong cash flow from
operations have good short term liquidity.
The cash flow statement shows the source
and uses of cash flows in a company.
Companies with good credit have bank
loans available for unexpected needs.
Assets on the balance sheet can be converted
to cash in an emergency.
Short-term Liquidity continued
Cash Flow Ratios
Cash from Operations/Net Income: represents cash
yield from Net Income. Trend should be reasonably
stable from period to period and above 100%.
Cash from Operations/Cash Used for Investing:
represents the extent to which expansion can be
financed from internally-generated cash from
operations. Trend should be reasonably stable from
period to period. Rapidly expanding companies will
need more cash than will be available from
operations. Most companies have had ratios above
1 in recent years.
Short-term Liquidity
Service companies differ from
manufacturing companies in their source of
liquidity.
Manufacturing companies have significant
inventory but service companies don’t.
Most manufacturing companies sell on
credit and have significant accounts
receivable.
Some service companies get paid in advance
or at time of provision of service.
Short-term Liquidity Manufacturing
Current Assets & Current Liabilities are items to be
received or paid in cash within a year.
As Current Assets turn into cash, the cash is used
to pay off Current Liabilities.
For short-term liquidity, Current Assets should be
greater than Current Liabilities.
We begin measuring short-term liquidity with the
Current Ratio.
Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current
Liabilities.
Current Ratio should usually be > 1 for
satisfactory liquidity – except for companies that
generate ample cash.
Short-term Liquidity: continued
The Quick Ratio.
Quick Ratio = (Current Assets, excluding
Inventory)/Current Liabilities.
Inventory can lose value fast through spoilage,
shrinkage, evaporation, obsolescence & etc.
Inventory cannot be sold off fast in a crunch –
except at fire sale prices.
So Quick Ratio conservatively – but realistically -
expects no value from inventory in an emergency.
Quick Ratio: should be > 1 for health for
companies that don’t have strong cash flow.
Short-term Liquidity: continued
Accounts Receivable Turnover.
Receivables Turnover = Sales/Accounts Receivable.
Example: Annual Sales = $120,000, Average Receivables =
$30,000.
Receivables Turnover = $120,000/$30,000 = 4 times per year
Can express as Days' Receivables on hand:
365 days/Receivables Turnover
Example continued: 365/4 = 91 days.
Receivables Turnover should be consistent;
With the firm's credit terms.
From period to period
Receivables Turnover measures the organization's efficiency in
collecting accounts receivable.
The faster the turnover the better the efficiency.
Short-term Liquidity: continued
Inventory Turnover.
Inventory Turnover = (Cost of Sales)/Inventory.
Example: Annual Cost of Sales = $100,000, Average Inventory =
$15,000.
Inventory Turnover = $100,000/$15,000 = 6.7 times per year
Can be expressed as Days' Inventory on hand:
365 days/Inventory Turnover
Example continued: 365/6.67 = 54.7 days.
Why is Cost of Sales the numerator, rather than Sales?
Sales are shown at selling price. Inventory is shown at cost.
To make numerator and denominator consistent, both should be at
cost.
Inventory Turnover measures the efficiency of inventory management.
Toyota and other Japanese firms using "just in time" inventory
showed the importance of speeding up inventory turnover.
A note of caution
Both the Current Ratio and the Quick Ratio can
be too high as well as too low.
When companies get into financial difficulty,
customer may stop paying bills – perhaps from
dissatisfaction with products
Inventory may include products that are no
longer able to be sold.
So a if the Current Ratio or Quick Ratio
increases dramatically, we should look to see
what is happening to inventory and receivables
Short-term Liquidity continued
Accounts Payable Turnover.
Payables Turnover = Cost of Sales/Accounts Payable.
Example: Annual Cost of Sales = $100,000, Average Payables =
$20,000.
Payables Turnover = $100,000/$20,000 = 5 times per year
Can be expressed as Days' Payables on hand:
365 days/Payables Turnover
Example continued: 365/5 = 73 days.
Why is Cost of Sales the numerator, rather than Sales?
Sales are at selling price. Payables are at cost, being amounts owed
to suppliers.
For consistency, both numerator and denominator should be at
cost.
Payables Turnover measures how promptly suppliers are
being paid – and whether cash discounts are being taken,
or lost.
Summary: Short-term Liquidity
Ratios measuring Short-term Liquidity:
Cash Flow Ratios
Current Ratio
Quick Ratio
Receivables Turnover & Days' Receivables
Inventory Turnover & Days' Inventory
Payables Turnover & Days' Payables
Profitability
Profitability is the most important factor in long term
corporate survival
Profits or Net Income are “the bottom line.”
On the income statement net income is the bottom line.
Businesses are formed and exist to generate returns
(profits or net income) for the owners.
Charities exist for people who want to give their money
to help others.
Good companies look to the long term to create value for
owners.
As we will see later in the course, long term value is
created when customers, employees and communities
all benefit.
Profitability
Profitability is measured in two different ways:
Profitability in Relation to Investment
Return on Equity ROE: Net Income/Equity. Shows profit
in relation to owner equity capital invested. Often the
first ratio to be considered. Some consider this
the most important ratio.
Return on Assets ROA: Net Income / Total Assets shows
what can be earned from the total of what is used in the
business
Raw Earning Power: EBIT/(LT Debt + Equity). Shows
earning power on total long-term capital invested,
regardless of type of financing.
Profitability
Profitability is measured in two different ways:
Profitability on Revenue
Profit Margin = Net Income/Sales or Net Income /
Revenue - Useful, and gives indication of pricing strategy
Gross profit ratio: Gross Profit/Sales
SG & A ratio: SG & A Expenses/Sales
EBIT ratio: EBIT/Sales – indication of cash flow
generation
Asset Turnover
Total Asset Turnover (TATO):
Total Asset Turnover = Total Revenue/Total
Assets
Measures capital intensity.
Capital intensity affects total amount of capital
needed
The faster the turnover of Total Assets, the lower
the total amount of capital that needs to be
invested in Total Assets.
Long-Term Leverage
Long-Term Leverage measures long-run risk.
Times Interest Earned (Interest Coverage):
Ratio of EBIT to Interest Expense.
Shows how much profit "cushion" there is to cover
interest payments.
Times Interest earned using Depreciation and
Amortization:
Ratio of EBITDA to Interest expense
Depreciation and Amortization are “non cash
charges” and available to provide cash to pay interest.
Long-Term Leverage
Long-Term Leverage measures long-run risk.
Debt to Equity Ratios:
Ratio of Long-Term Debt /LT Debt + Equity
Used in Weighted Average Cost of Capital work
Ratio of Debt / Total Assets
Ratio of Debt / Equity
Equity Multiplier: Total Assets / Equity
Used in DuPont Formula
More debt adds more risk, because debt repayment
must be made, whether times are good or bad.
More leverage makes the good times better, and the
bad times worse.
Stock Market Ratios
Market-based ratios reflect the investor view.
Price-Earnings Ratio P/E= Market Price per
Share/Earnings per Share.
Shows how much the market is paying per dollar of
current earnings.
Beta = a measure of common equity risk versus the entire
common equity market (which has Beta = 1.0)
Used in WACC work later in course
Market: Book Ratio.
Total Market Value of Equity/Book Value of Equity.
This is the ultimate measure of management success.
It shows how much the management has increased
the market value of the stock above the amount
invested by stockholders.
DuPont Analysis
So far, we have looked at ratios individually.
But DuPont Analysis is a way to see the
combined effect of the major ratios.
This is very important for business strategy.
The following slides explain how and why.
The DuPont Formula
Profit Margin x Total Asset Turnover x Equity
Multiplier = Return on Equity
NI = Net Income.
SA = Sales or Revenue
TA = Total assets
EQ = Total Equity (at book value)
ROE = NI/EQ
NI/SA x SA/TA x TA/EQ = NI/EQ
These 4 ratios encompass the elements of strategy
Pricing can be low and that requires that asset
turnover is high.
DuPont Analysis for Business Strategy
Long-term strategy goal: maintain strong
ROE.
DuPont analysis tells us exactly how to do
this.
Optimize one or more of the following:
NI/SA = profit on sales
SA/TA = total asset turnover (capital intensity)
TA/EQ = leverage
Profit on Sales
Ways to optimize profit on sales include:
Differentiate products to raise margins.
Revive and promote old products (Jell-O)
Promote the most profitable products.
Prune the least profitable products.
Cut costs of production.
Improve efficiency of operations
Outsource.
Total Asset Turnover
Ways to optimize total asset turnover are:
Adopt "just-in-time" inventory
Sell off obsolete inventory
Improve receivables collection efficiency
Sell and lease back property & plant
Slow down paying of accounts payable
Cut back on executive jets, corporate yachts
Seek out less capital intensive methods of
operation
Relocate operations to less expensive locations
Outsourcing
Leverage
Increase leverage, within safe limits:
Repurchase outstanding stock
Increase debt financing
Repurchase stock & issue more debt
Repurchase common stock & issue more
preferred stock
Benchmarking
In order to be meaningful, financial ratios
need to be compared with benchmark ratios.
Possible Benchmarks:
Same company, in earlier period
Competitor company, in same period
Group of competitor companies, in same period
An industry benchmark, such as The North
American Industry Classification System
(NAICS)
NAICS provides standard classifications for
industries, for example, see the next slide
Example of NAICS
NAICS code 2002
Includes NAICS Title: 21 Mining
211111 Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas Extraction
211112 Natural Gas Liquid Extraction
212111 Bituminous Coal and Lignite Surface Mining
212112 Bituminous Coal Underground Mining
212113 Anthracite Mining
These 6-digit codes describe standard industry classifications.
For more, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/
Sources of Industry Data
Most sources of industry data require purchase of a
subscription
However, the UMUC Library offers access to
several industry databases, such as Dun &
Bradstreet (D&B)
http://www.umuc.edu/library/resources/?cmd=createSubjectPages&temp
late_id=635&subjectIDs=7&submit=Write#Library_Databases
Sources that offer limited industry data free are:
Yahoo Finance
MSN Money
http://www.bizstats.com/corporations.asp?profType=ratios
Industry Data
One caution is that some companies operate in several
different industries.
For example, General Electric Company (GE) is a
diversified industrial corporation engaged in developing,
manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products for
the generation, transmission, distribution, control and
utilization of electricity. On June 23, 2005, GE announced
reorganization of its 11 businesses into six industry-focused
businesses effective July 5, 2005. The six businesses are GE
Infrastructure, GE Industrial, GE Commercial Financial
Services, GE NBC Universal, GE Healthcare and GE
Consumer Finance.
It is difficult to find industry benchmarks for conglomerates
like GE. Benchmarks are easier for companies in one
industry.
Financial Ratio Calculation
Financial ratios have a numerator and a
denominator.
These numerators and denominators are
items from the Balance Sheet or the Income
Statement.
Example: Current Ratio = Current
Assets/Current Liabilities.
Continued on next slide ...
Financial Ratio Calculation
(continued)
Balance Sheets show financial position as of one
specific date.
But one specific date cannot represent an entire
accounting period – such as a year.
Therefore it is better to average beginning and
ending balance sheet amounts
In practice, for stable companies, we can
accomplish our learning goals without needing to
calculate these averages.
Please use Excel for all calculations
Please show calculations step by step.
Summary
Use financial ratios to
analyze:
Short-term solvency
Profitability
Long-term solvency
Use DuPont Analysis
to:
Devise strategy
Implement strategy.
Benchmarking
Industry comparisons
There are several web sites where you
There are several web sites where you can find the financial statements of U.S. public companies.
SEC is best
The best source of data for public companies is the U S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). One can
be sure that the data is accurate and it is easily available in an Excel document.
Go to WWW.sec.gov
Midway down the right column is a box for the company name or stock market ticker symbol. The box is titled
Search EDGAR, Free access to 21 million filings.
Type in the company name or ticker symbol. In my case I use LUV for Southwest Airlines Company. There is
a page for EDGAR search results with many forms. Since I am interested in the Annual Report, I type 10K in
the box for Filing Type in the line for Filter Search Results and hit search.
Next I click on the box that says Interactive data.
In the new page under the company name is a link to print Document and another for View Excel Document. I
click on View Excel Document. That brings up an Excel spread sheet with many statements. I can pick the one
needed for the assignment.
Label Concerns
Even in SEC financial statements, the labels can differ. For example, sometimes they report Revenue or Net
Revenue. Sometimes it is Sales. These two mean the same. If there is a question, the notes to the financial
statements define the terms. Unfortunately this can be confusing.
Other sources
Companies have investor relations pages on their web sites with annual reports.
Probably the most convenient are MSN MONEY and Yahoo Finance. Go to MSN MONEY or Yahoo Finance.
Either look up or provide the stock symbols for each company (for example: FDX for FedEx and UPS for UPS,
or KO for CocaCola and PEP for Pepsico) and all the relevant financial information will become available.
Industry information can also be found in MSN MONEY and Yahoo Finance.
Be aware that the financial statements in MSN MONEY and Yahoo Finance are standard formats, and can differ
slightly from the actual financial statements that are in the SEC Forms 10K of the respective companies
(accessible from MSN MONEY and Yahoo Finance) and on the corporate web sites. For our purposes, you need
not worry about these small differences in most cases. Only rarely do Yahoo and MSN leave out data to better
fit their standard format. Unfortunately it may not be possible to copy and paste the numbers into Excel and
have the program recognize the numbers for calculations.
Required Reading:2016 R June Financial Statement
Required Reading:
2016 R June Financial Statement Analysis Power Point with notes
2016 July DMBA R Sample Week 3 Answer
*"Research Starters: Financial Ratios" posted in this week's Content Module
Required Multimedia:
The Cash Flow Statement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eietCf5nNI&feature=related
Cash Flow Ratios http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vzdNgaPhBMQ&feature=PlayList&p=84588A1A1F1F96D1&index=15
Market Ratios http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1WmGQLIwTY&feature=related
Recommended Support Materials:
For a "how to" explanation of Financial Statement Analysis: see the attached Power Point file 2016 R
June Financial Statement Analysis and the Word file, "Diagram of Financial Ratios."
Assignment Financial Statement Analysis:
Your team has been assigned to the CEO of a major company. The CEO keeps an eye on the
competition, and asks your team to do the following: Following the 2016 R DMBA Sample Week 3
Answer, use ratio analysis to compare two major competitors in the same industry and compare them
to the industry ratios. The sample compares Southwest Airlines Company with Jet Blue Airline
Company.
Instructions:
Pick any two U.S. public companies in the same industry.
One of the two companies can be the same company someone on the team used in Week 2.
Select the 10 most important financial ratios for the two companies and calculate each for the
last 2 fiscal years using Excel.
Follow the format of the example 2016 July DMBA R Sample Week 3 Answer for 2 airlines. This
is also separately posted in this week's content module. Use the "Compare" worksheet. Note: It
is not necessary to complete all ratios
Explain how each ratio was calculated in your own words
Explain the significance of the answers found.
1. Create a single Excel file for your entire assignment.
2. The team may obtain financial information and the companies' latest annual reports on the web
directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the company website. MSN Money
or Yahoo Finance also have information but in some situations it may be incomplete. Current
stock price information is not available from the SEC web site.
3. The team should calculate, and comment upon, at least 10 financial ratios for the last 2 fiscal
years.
6/1/2017 W3 Group Assignment instructions for Financial Statement Analysis DMBA 620 9044 Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making (2175)
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4. All calculations should be shown, and all answers should be thoroughly explained.
5. It is useful to compare financial ratios for a company with financial ratios of its industry. Industry
financial ratios can be found on Morningstar.com, Yahoo Finance and MSN Money and
http://www.bizstats.com/corporations.asp?profType=ratios
6. Whenever the team uses balance sheet items to calculate ratios, it is more accurate to average
the beginningofyear and endofyear amounts to get the average for that year. Dec 31, 2014
and Dec 31, 2015 would be beginning and end of year for 2015. Note: Averaging is NOT
required. For some students taking averages leads to calculation mistakes. The example
answer does not use averaging and includes most if not all possible ratios.
7. What can the team tell from the analysis? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each
company? Which is the stronger competitor? Give reasons.
8. Show that you have read and understood the required readings, links and attached files cite
and reference them where appropriate.
9. The final Excel file should be submitted by one team member into the Group Assignment folder.
The 2016 R DMBA Week 3 sample answer file contains a comprehensive analysis of the financial
statements of two large airline companies. It illustrates and explains how different companies
succeed by focusing on different key ratios like Net Income/Sales, or Sales/Total Assets (asset
turnover) or Total Assets/Common Equity (leverage). Also, it further explains how these different
strategies are revealed through DuPont Analysis (a powerful technique that many companies use
to devise, implement, and monitor their business strategies. It shows the source for every number
on every Excel worksheet: just click on any number in any Excel worksheet and you will see where
it comes from. Showing the source for every number on every Excel worksheet is very important
and helpful to readers, and you should do this on all of your Excel spreadsheets.
All of the data in the example comes from SEC interactive data. Under the company name in
interactive data is a small red link that says view excel document. All numbers in this document
are easy to use in calculations. Data copied from some other sources may not calculate correctly
in Excel.
These assignments are designed to help you to develop your analytical ability and your ability to
explain your analysis in words. There are many uses for financial statement ratio analysis, especially
in business strategy for an example, see the "Strategic Control Map" developed by McKinsey &
Company, the wellknown international strategy consulting firm by clicking here:
http://www.mckinsey.com/businessfunctions/strategyandcorporatefinance/ourinsights/enduringideasthestrategiccontrolmap
Examples of Excel Financial Functions
Examples of Excel Financial Functions
The Time Value of Money
Finding a growth rate:
ABC Corporation had earnings of $100,000 in 2000 and $200,000 in 2006.
What is its average annual compounded growth rate of earnings?
Note:
The average annual compounded growth rate is exactly the same thing as the average annual compounded rate of interest.
In other words, a sum of money grows by earning interest. If the interest is reinvested, it earns interest too - i.e. it compounds.
Answer:
Use the Excel RATE function. Click on the next cell to view its use
12.25%
Note use of minus sign.
Comments:
Always show your calculations, so that we can see how you got your answer.
By using Excel functions, this is done for you automatically - which is very convenient and saves you time.
Since the solutions to assigned problems are always given to you, we cannot grade you on getting the right answer.
So we grade you on showing us how to calculate the answer. That shows us that you have understood the material and can use it.
Do not use a calculator. It tells us nothing if you give an answer and say it came from a calculator.
There is a handy rule of thumb, known as the "Rule of 72."
It says that an amount roughly doubles in X periods at an interest rate of Y%, where X times Y = 72.
Example:
in the sample problem above earnings doubled in 6 years. So X = 6.
Then Y must be roughly 12% if X times Y = 72.
We see that our answer of 12.25% is roughly 12%, so the rule works.
Rate of Return:
Assume that you purchased a plot of land for $20,000. Ten years later you sold it for $80,000.
What rate of annual return have you earned on this investment?
Answer:
Use the Excel RATE function. Click on the next cell to view its use
14.87%
Note use of minus sign.
Present Value:
Assume that you are 25 years old today. Your rich uncle has just died, and his will provides that you will receive
$40,000 on your 30th birthday. But you are broke, and want money now. Your friendly bank says they will advance you
the money today, less annual interest at 8%. How much will you receive today?
Answer:
Use the Excel PV function (PV = Present Value). Click here to see the answer:
$27,223.33
Note use of minus sign.
Future Value:
Assume that you are 25 years old today. Your rich uncle has just died, and his will provides that you will receive
$40,000 today. But you are not broke, and prefer to save your money Your friendly bank says they will pay you
annual interest of 4.8% on a 6-year certificate of deposit. How much will you receive on your 31st birthday?
Answer:
Use the Excel FV function (FV = Future Value). Click here to see the answer:
$52,994.12
Note use of minus sign.
Annuities:
Annuities are a series of level periodic payments.
Consider an example of saving $100 at the end of each month for 20 years (240 months).
How much will this accumulate to at 12% interest per year (which is 1% per month).
Using Excel FV function:
$98,926
Note use of minus sign.
How long would it take to have a final accumulation of $150,000?
Using Excel NPER function:
279months or23years
What rate of interest is required for the future value in 20 years to amount to $200,000?
Using Excel RATE function:
#NUM!
per month, which is
#NUM!per year.
Here is the basis for grading your Week 3 financial statement analysis. You can use it as a checklist to ensure
that your assignment is as complete and as correct as possible.
Procedure
1. Evaluate shortterm solvency ratios
2. Evaluate profitability in relation to revenues
3. Evaluate profitability in relation to equity
4. Calculate the 4 ratios of the DuPont Analysis and evaluate what they mean for strategy, These ratios are
ROE, Profit Margin on Sales, TATO and the Equity Multiplier.
5. Evaluate longterm solvency
6. Evaluate market value ratios (not just book value ratios)
7. Correctly interpret results for items above. At random, we will test a few calculations for accuracy
8. Combine all findings into a coherent final summary Each item above carries roughly equal weight
[solved] Assignment Financial Statement Analysis:
Assignment Financial Statement Analysis:
Your team has been assigned to the CEO of a major company. The CEO keeps an eye on the competition, and asks your team to do the following: Following the 2016 R DMBA Sample Week 3 Answer, use ratio analysis to compare two major competitors in the same industry and compare them to the industry ratios. The sample compares Southwest Airlines Company with Jet Blue Airline Company.
1. Create a single Excel file for your entire assignment.
2.The team may obtain financial information and the companies' latest annual reports on the web directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the company website. MSN Money or Yahoo Finance also have information but in some situations, it may be incomplete. Current stock price information is not available from the SEC web site.
3. The team should calculate, and comment upon, at least 10 financial ratios for the last 2 fiscal years.
4. All calculations should be shown, and all answers should be thoroughly explained.
5. It is useful to compare financial ratios for a company with financial ratios of its industry. Industry financial ratios can be found on Morningstar.com, Yahoo Finance and MSN Money and http://www.bizstats.com/corporations.asp?profType=ratios
6.Whenever the team uses balance sheet items to calculate ratios, it is more accurate to average the beginning-of-year and end-of-year amounts to get the average for that year. Dec 31, 2014 and Dec 31, 2015 would be beginning and end of year for 2015. Note: Averaging is NOT required. For some students taking averages leads to calculation mistakes. The example answer does not use averaging and includes most if not all possible ratios.
7. What can the team tell from the analysis? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each company? Which is the stronger competitor? Give reasons.
8. Show that you have read and understood the required readings, links and attached files - cite and reference them where appropriate.
9. The final Excel file should be submitted by one team member into the Group Assignment folder.
Team assignment requirement checklist:
1. Evaluate short-term solvency ratios
2. Evaluate profitability in relation to revenues
3. Evaluate profitability in relation to equity
4. Calculate the 4 ratios of the DuPont Analysis and evaluate what they mean for strategy, these ratios are ROE, Profit Margin on Sales, TATO and the Equity Multiplier.
5. Evaluate long-term solvency
6. Evaluate market value ratios (not just book value ratios)
7. Correctly interpret results for items above. At random, we will test a few calculations for accuracy
8. Combine all findings into a coherent final summary Each item above carries roughly equal weight
Below is the companies used for comparison -
Google:
Key Ratios for GOOGL
http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=GOOG
Microsoft:
Key Ratios for MSFT
http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=MSFT
Also, attached is the start of our spreadsheet. I have also uploaded it to the Google Drive. All info was retrieved from sec.gov as well as MorningStar. Everything is RED is an example. We will also have to amend the compared calculations from each income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
[solved] What can you learn from the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial
What can you learn from the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A)? Give two facts learned from reading this section
[solved] What can you learn from the Business Section of the 10-K
What can you learn from the Business Section of the 10-K? Give two facts learn from reading this section.
[solved] Of what use, if any, are the notes to the financial statements?
Of what use, if any, are the notes to the financial statements? Give an example of something learned from the footnotes of your company.
[solved] What assurance, if any, is there that the financial statements are in compliance
What assurance, if any, is there that the financial statements are in compliance with GAAP, and are free of material misstatements?
[solved] Who is responsible for a) the issuance, and
Who is responsible for
a) the issuance, and
b) the content
of the company financial statements? (Note: this information may be difficult to find. Look for statements by management and the independent auditing firm.)
[solved] Can you identify the major sources of funding used by the company
Can you identify the major sources of funding used by the company from the information presented in the company's annual report? Please look at the Statement of Cash Flows, formerly called the Source and Uses of Funds Statement
[solved]What 3 items of important information does the income statement reveal
What 3 items of important information does the income statement reveal about the financial performance of the company over the last three years? southwest airline
[solved] Individual Financial Accounting Assignment - Submit Files
Individual Financial Accounting Assignment - Submit Files
Hide Submission Folder Information
Submission Folder
Individual Financial Accounting Assignment
Instructions
Financial Accounting
Reading (Required)
The Southwest example is included to show what can be learned from Financial statements. It is not necessary to reproduce the the format for your answers to this assignment. Your responses should show that you have read and understood the required readings, links and attached files - Provide appropriate citations and references.
Individual Assignment (8%):
You should answer all of the questions listed below as they relate to the financial statements of any U.S. public company of your choice in its latest annual report. Please use the Securities and Exchange Commission web site as your primary source for financial statements. All publicly traded U S companies have their annual reports called the 10-K available through the Securities and Exchange Commission web site. http://www.sec.gov/
Instructions for use of the site are as follows: About half way down the home page is a box titled Search EDGAR, free access to over 21 million filings. Enter the company name or ticker symbol. That brings up a page called EDGAR Search Results. In the line "filter results" enter "10-K" in filing type and hit search. That will bring up recent company annual reports. Note: You have a choice of "Documents" or "Interactive Data." Both contain all the information. "Interactive Data" uses Excel and provides the best access to information for questions 1, 2, and 3. "Documents" provides information that is easy to read for questions 4 through 8. After you click on Documents, click on the red letters and numbers to the right of the "10-K" heading.
Also you can find the financial statements of any U.S. public company by visiting Morningstar, Yahoo Finance or MSN Money, and using the stock market symbol for your chosen company (which can be looked up on Morningstar, Yahoo Finance or MSN Money). Please be aware that sometimes these services omit some numbers in order to fit their preferred formats. Many companies have links to the Annual Report as filed with the SEC. It can be found on the Investor relations page of the company web site.
If you work for a U.S. public company, you may want to use the financial statements of your company - but the choice is up to you.
1) What 3 items of important information does the income statement reveal about the financial performance of the company over the last three years?
2) What 3 items of important information does the balance sheet reveal about the financial position of the company over the last two years?
3) Can you identify the major sources of funding used by the company from the information presented in the company's annual report? Please look at the Statement of Cash Flows, formerly called the Source and Uses of Funds Statement.
4) Who is responsible for:
a) the issuance, and
b) the content
of the company financial statements? (Note: this information may be difficult to find. Look for statements by management and the independent auditing firm.)
5) What assurance, if any, is there that the financial statements are in compliance with GAAP, and are free of material misstatements?
6) Of what use, if any, are the notes to the financial statements? Give an example of something learned from the footnotes of your company.
7) What can you learn from the Business Section of the 10-K? Give two facts learn from reading this section.
8) What can you learn from the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A)? Give two facts learned from reading this section.
*************
Post in your individual assignment folder by the due date. .
Quantitative analysis tied to the financial statement concepts will add value to your work.
The Power Point (Financial Statements R-2.ppt) should be very helpful. It is below
2% of course grade. Post as a main point what you learned from the Bicycle case. Be specific in describing what you learned and how answering the questions led to your learning. Then respond to at least 2 classmate posts with an insight of your own. Note: since this is a reflection on an assignment that is not due until the end of the week, you are not held to the Wednesday night posting requirement for this one discussion topic. You may submit your first post by Sunday night and then respond to classmate postings by Tuesday night.
[solved] Bicycle Case - Submit Files
Bicycle Case - Submit Files
Hide Submission Folder Information
Submission Folder
Bicycle Case
Instructions
Bicycle Case (6% of course grade)
Understanding the effects of pricing on revenues, costs and pricing
Complete the remainder of the week's assignment in the discussion area.
DMBA 620 9044 Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making (2175)
FACULTY CONTACT
Gregory Worden Gregory.Worden@faculty.umuc.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Prerequisite: DMBA 610. A study of sound decision making in business, focusing on financial analysis and operational issues found in every enterprise. Discussion covers economics, financial reporting and analysis, information systems, and project management in an international context. The goal is to understand and apply the principles and techniques of effective management planning, control, and decision making in the global environment.
COURSE INTRODUCTION
Welcome to DMBA620 – Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making
This is the second 6credit course in the Dual MBA program, in which we we explore the organizational processes that support strategic objectives in the modern global environment. Focus is on project management and financial analysis as key processes that allow an organization to function effectively.
Please note that each class week begins on a Monday and ends on the subsequent Sunday at 11:59 p.m. US Eastern Time.
The last date to withdraw from this course may be found online at: http://www.umuc.edu/withdrawals (http://www.umuc.edu/withdra wals).
COURSE OUTCOMES
At the end of this seminar, students should be able to:
1. Understand the economic environment of management decisionmaking.
2. Interpret financial statements to aid decisionmaking by organization stakeholders.
3. Implement effective financial reporting and evaluate performance of organization units.
4. Make effective financial decisions based upon analysis of cash flows.
5. Implement effective financial analysis and value financial assets
6. Facilitate the implementation of business strategy and evaluate the strategy performance of organization units.
7. Identify a project in contrast to an ongoing process and apply selected project management techniques to improve operational decision making.
8. Determine the key factors that establish an organization's operational efficiency and effectiveness and apply them to effective operational decision making.
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9. Assess the uses of information systems in support of operational decision making in an organization.
10. Assess the uses of operations management techniques in improving an organization's performance.
CORE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
(Check all core learning objectives that apply to each course objective)
Professional Certifications
In addition to fulfilling its seminar objectives, DMBA 620 seeks to enhance the careers of aspiring project managers, operations managers and information systems managers, and in line with the University’s overall focus on the professional and academic advancement of students, exposes students to concepts and skills required for the Project Management Professional, Project+, Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Supply Chain Professional, Certified Quality Engineer, and Certified Software
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5/16/2017 Concourse | DMBA 620 9044 Effective Financial and Operational Decision Making (2175)
Development Professional and offered by the Project Management Institute, Computing Technology Industry Association, Scrum Alliance, APICS The Association for Operations Management, American Society for Quality and IEEE Computer Society, respectively. For instance, the project management portion of DMBA 620 follows the nine knowledge areas of project management defined by the Project Management Institute and tested in the Project Management Professional certification examination. Often your faculty members will have attained one or more professional certifications, and you can ask what these certifications have meant to them.
DMBA 620 does not correlate with requirements for any accounting, economics or finance professional certifications. However, DMBA 620 imparts a practical grasp of key topics in these disciplines, in order to support development of sound decisionmaking skills.
COURSE MATERIALS
Click to access your course materials information (http://webapps.umuc.edu/grcmBook/BPage.cfm?C=DMBA%20620&S=9044&Se m=2175)
CLASS GUIDELINES
Preparation:
Review and adhere to UMUC MBA program student expectations:
1. Review and honor all UMUC, TGS and MBA policies listed in the syllabus.
2. Invest approximately 20 hours throughout the week in each 6credit graduate seminar.
3. Complete readings and research in advance of each week.
4. In weeks when discussion contributions are required, post by the specified date or, when there is no date indicated, sufficiently early to allow you and others to develop a substantive scholarly discussion.
5. Consistently demonstrate professionalism in your interactions with peers and faculty.
6. Produce high quality, original work that properly cites the words and ideas of others.
7. Uphold the integrity of your UMUC MBA degree by not plagiarizing or cheating.
8. Accept feedback and suggestions with an open mind, taking time to reflect, and then using what you have learned to further improve your performance in future assignments.
9. Notify your professor immediately if you confront a personal emergency that puts you at risk of submitting a late assignment.
10. Honor the principle that “everything written or said within the classroom stays within the classroom.”
11. Stay current on Class News and postings by visiting your online classroom regularly.
Classroom Management:
LEO classroom is main source of information and communication in this course. The class is organized into weekly modules. Assignments and deliverables are explained and specified in each module. Faculty provide prompt and constructive feedback on students' deliverables in approximately one week following their submission.
If you have questions about the subject matter, if you don’t understand an assignment, or you have questions about a grade you received, contact your faculty member. He or she is there to help you understand the material, your grade, and how you may improve your performance in this seminar.
You should prepare and save all your assignments, including all discussion activities, on your computer before you post them to the classroom. You should never type your assignment directly into the classroom. If your computer crashes or if you are disconnected from the Internet before you finish posting your work, you will lose everything you have not saved. In addition, shortly after the seminar is over you will no longer have access to any of the materials you posted in the classroom.
Preferred Contact Method
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See the Faculty Information section located under Course Content in the online classroom for information about contacting your faculty member..
Required Readings/Materials Accessible in Class
The required reading and other resources in this seminar are taken from a variety of professional and academic sources. The particular location of each resource is either linked directly or is indicated next to the resource as listed in the Weekly Reading Assignments in the Course Content area of the LEO classroom.
Some of the required articles that are not directly linked are placed in the Reserved Readings section in “Course Resources” module in the content area of your classroom and are marked RR(Reserved Readings) when listed in the Weekly Reading Assignments in each week's module in the Course Content area of the LEO classroom.
Faculty may assign additional readings or support materials during the course of the seminar.
Accessing Articles in the Web Databases
Articles available in the ABI/Inform Global (A) and Business Source Complete (B) databases will be helpful for research in this seminar. Such articles can be accessed through the UMUC library web page (http://www.umuc.edu/library/database/ (http://www.u muc.edu/library/database/)). This database is part of the University System of Maryland Library Databases and EJournals. Instructions have been prepared to help find articles in the databases? to see them, visit http://info.umuc.edu/mba/public/MBAlibra ry.html (http://info.umuc.edu/mba/public/MBAlibrary.html).
Supplemental Materials
There are some interesting web sites of relevance to this seminar in the Webliography area of the classroom (accessed under Course Content). You are encouraged to add to this list as you come across websites that you find useful for a particular topic. When you add a web site to the Webliography, please send an email to the professor and the rest of the class letting them know about the website, as well as what you found interesting about it.
Use of Webex or Other RealTime Session Support Software
UMUC has authorized the use of Webex or other realtime session support software, such as Google, as an option for faculty to use in supporting the learning experience. The guidelines for the use of real time support software are:
Attendance at any actual realtime, i.e., live session, is optional. UMUC respects the fact that your work schedule or other activities may not permit you to attend.
If you do not attend an announced realtime session, then you are expected to view the session archive (recording) at your convenience but before the due date of the related seminar assignment. This is so that you will gain the knowledge imparted at the realtime session in a timely manner and thus be “on a level playing field" with your classmates who attended the session. Please be aware that your section professor may verify that you have accessed session archives as required.
Team Communications
There are several ways in which you may communicate with your team members at minimal cost in addition to LEO system posts or email. You can use the Chat function and Pager as a form of instantmessaging in the LEO system. In addition, there are numerous free commercial applications you can use to arrange any required real time audio enabled meetings. Any of the many audio meeting applications can be used to effectively
communicate with your team members and to support real time audio discussions within your team. Regardless of the application used for team communication, a summary of all communications outside of the LEO classroom MUST BE POSTED in the team's Group locker so that faculty may track group progress and review individual contributions if necessary.
Avoiding and Preventing Plagiarism
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UMUC has a license agreement with Turnitin, an educational tool that helps prevent or identify plagiarism from internet and other sources. If deemed necessary, faculty may submit individual and/or team written assignments to Turnitin.com. It is important that you stay alert to issues of academic Integrity in your work, including the best practices for supporting your work and avoiding plagiarism. UMUC provides a number of resources and tools to help you understand and uphold academic integrity standards at:
http://www.umuc.edu/students/academicintegrity/academicintegrityresources.cfm (http://www.umuc.edu/students/academicintegrity/academici ntegrityresources.cfm)
Other forms of guidance are available in your LEO classroom under Content>Course Resources>Writing Resources. You may contact Help@UMUC for technical support if you are unable to locate your classroom resources (call 8883608682).
GRADING INFORMATION
DMBA PROGRAM GRADING GUIDELINES
With respect to team assignments, all team members will typically receive the same grade for an assignment based on the final submitted team product. However, a faculty member may adjust a person’s individual grade for a specific team assignment up or down based on the quality of his or her participation. If a team member does not make a significant or timely contribution to a team assignment, it will result in reduction of that student’s grade for the assignment.
All individual contributions to team assignments MUST BE posted in the Group Locker area, so that the faculty member may review these contributions, if necessary.
Discussion Activity
A discussion is a timedelimited activity intended to promote active discussion of the course material among students, as well as productive engagement between students and faculty on the principles and practices being introduced in the course. Each student must post at least one main posting by WEDNESDAY, 11:59 p.m., of each week and respond to all assigned discussion topics by FRIDAY, 11:59 p.m., then make final responses to classmates no later than Sunday close of the week. Late postings undercut the usefulness of the discussion design and are also unfair to those students who do actively participate within the prescribed time limits. Extensions are therefore NOT PERMITTED on discussion due dates.
If a student is unable to participate in a discussion, due to an unexpected business, health, or personal emergency beyond the student's control, the student may request that the faculty member provide an alternative assignment. Such request should be made within one week of the missed discussion activity. The student must support this request with a compelling rationale, indicating why such an action is justified. Faculty may request documentation and have discretion to grant or deny a request for an alternative assignment. Should such a request be granted, the faculty member will determine a submission due date, not to exceed one week. There will be no extensions of that due date. Failure to meet the due date will result in a grade of zero for that week's discussion activity.
All Assignments other than Discussion Activity
A faculty member may, in his or her discretion, elect to grant an extension when a student is unable to meet a due date because of an unexpected business, health, or personal emergency beyond the student's control. For such an extension to be considered, a student must make an extension request before the assignment due date (unless this is physically impossible). The student must support this request with a compelling rationale, indicating why such an extension is justified. If a faculty member grants an extension, he or she will set a new due date for submission of the assignment, not to exceed one week. There will be no extensions of the new due date.
For late assignment submissions that have not been approved by the faculty member, and for assignments submitted after an extension due date, the penalty will be a fivepoint reduction in grade for each day that the assignment is late. Faculty will not accept assignments that are more than seven days late or that are submitted after grades have been posted for that assignment? such assignments will be assigned a grade of zero.
Note that there will be no extensions for assignments due in the last week of class. Assignments submitted after these deadlines will receive a grade of zero.
Extra Credit and “Redoing” Assignments
This is a very fastpaced seminar, and assignments are due every week. The syllabus is designed to build upon each week, and the assignments are chosen carefully to develop skills and build knowledge. It is important that you do a good job on all of the assignments and that you hand them in on time. There is no "extra credit" granted to individuals in this seminar, and students will not be able to redo assignments.
Submit Original Work
You are encouraged to refer to and build upon the theories, concepts, and ideas explored in previous coursework. However, everything you submit must be original work written by you specifically for this seminar. Resubmission of coursework from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is unacceptable unless prior approval is obtained from the instructor for the specific assignment. Using coursework from a previous class, partially or in its entirety, without explicit prior approval of your instructor, will result in a grade of zero for the assignment.
PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS
An overview of all assignments is contained in the Class and Assignment Schedule in this syllabus. Specific assignment details are posted in each week of the Course Content section of the LEO classroom. If the assignment in a given week is a discussion activity, that week’s Course Content will link directly to the discussion area? for all assignments that are not discussions, the weekly module in Course Content will link directly to the assignment section of the classroom.
Discussion Activities: There is a series of Discussion activities. Topics are posted in the Course Content weekly modules that link to the Discussion area of the classroom. Each of you is expected to discuss this topic critically in the context of the reading that you have done for that week, as well as the reading from preceding weeks. This is your opportunity to discuss the course
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material with one another, just as you would in a facetoface class. You should direct your comments to one another and not just to the professor. When responding to a Discussion activity, please use the text box. This makes it easier for the rest of the class to read what you have to say. Please do not attach files to your comments unless directed to do so.
Frequent and substantive posts are required to succeed in the Discussions. The postings should be grounded in theory from the assigned resources and industry research. Please utilize both academic and industry sources, available through UMUC library databases and open Internet resources. Class interaction should reflect your understanding of the learning material and its application to realworld organizations and industries. Detailed Discussion Participation Guidelines are posted in the Course Policies section of the Course Content.
Individual Assignments: There are six individual assignments in the seminar that you post in your Assignments folder.
Team Assignments: There are two team assignments, which are to be posted in the team's Group Assignment folder. Teams must complete a team agreement and work plan prior to the first team assignment, and a peer evaluation of team members following each team assignment. The individual contributions of each team member to the team assignment must also be posted in the team's Group Locker area, for review by faculty. Individual contributions should be stored in their original form in folders set up for each of the two weeks that require team assignments. Note that the Group discussion area is used for members to collaborate, discuss, and prepare the team assignment, which is then posted in the Group Assignment folder by one member of the team.
Team Agreement. Each team develops an initial Team Agreement to ensure selfmanagement of team activities. Additional instructions on team agreements and work plans, with templates, are posted in the Course Content area of the classroom, Week Two module.
Peer evaluations of team member contributions will be administered following each team assignment. Individual grades for team projects will not be posted until the peer evaluations are completed. Faculty may assign a 5% per day late penalty on team project grades for individuals who do not submit timely peer evaluations.
ACADEMIC POLICIES
Academic Policies and Guidelines
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
As a member of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) academic community that honors integrity and respect for others you are expected to maintain a high level of personal integrity in your academic work at all times. Your work should be original and must not be reused in other courses.
CLASSROOM CIVILITY
Students are expected to work together cooperatively, and treat fellow students and faculty with respect, showing professionalism and courtesy in all interactions. Please review the Code of Civility for more guidance on interacting in UMUC classrooms: https://w ww.umuc.edu/students/support/studentlife/conduct/code.cfm (https://www.umuc.edu/students/support/studentlife/conduct/code.cf m).
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
UMUC is committed to ensuring that all individuals are treated equally according to Policy 040.30 Affirmative Action, Equal Opport unity, and Sexual Harassment (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/adminpolicies/admin04030.cfm).
Students with disabilities who need accommodations in a course are encouraged to contact the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) at accessibilityservices@umuc.edu (mailto:accessibilityservices@umuc.edu), or call 800888UMUC (8682) or 240684 2287.
The following academic policies and procedures apply to this course and your studies at UMUC.
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150.25
151.00
170.40
170.41
170.42
170.71
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolicies/aa15025.cfm) – UMUC defines academic dishonesty as the failure to maintain academic integrity. All charges of academic dishonesty will be brought in accordance with this Policy.
Note: Your instructor may use Turnitin.com, an educational tool that helps identify and prevent plagiarism from Internet resources, by requiring you to submit assignments electronically. To learn more about the tool and options regarding the storage of your assignment in the Turnitin database go to: https://www.umuc.edu/l ibrary/libresources/turnitin.cfm (https://www.umuc.edu/library/libresources/turnitin.cfm).
Code of Student Conduct (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/studentpolicies/stud15100.cfm)
The following policies describe the requirements for the award of each degree:
Degree Completion Requirements for the Graduate School (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolicie s/aa17040.cfm)
Degree Completion Requirements for a Bachelor ’s Degree (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolicies/ aa17041.cfm)
Degree Completion Requirements for an Associate’s Degree (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolici es/aa17042.cfm)
Policy on Grade of Incomplete (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolicies/aa17071.cfm) The grade of I is exceptional and only considered for students who have completed 60% of their coursework with a grade of B or better for graduate courses or C or better for undergraduate courses and request an I before the end of the term.
170.72
Course Withdrawal Policy (https://www.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolicies/aa17072.cfm) Students must
edu/) under Academic Calendar.
130.80
cpolicies/aa13080.cfm) – appeals may be made on final course grades as described herein.
205.06
w.umuc.edu/policies/academicpolicies/aa20506.cfm) – Note: Undergraduate and Graduate Schools have
different Grading Policies (i.e. The Graduate School does not award the grade of D). See Course Syllabus
for Grading Policies.
* The grade of "B" represents the benchmark for The Graduate School. Students must maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher. Classes where final grade of C or F places a student on Academic Probation must be repeated.
** The Graduate School does not award the grade of D.
COURSE EVALUATION SURVEY
UMUC values its students' feedback. You will be asked to complete an online evaluation toward the end of the term. The primary purpose of this evaluation process is to assess the effectiveness of classroom instruction in order to provide the best learning experience possible and make continuous improvements to every class. Responses are kept confidential. Please take full advantage of this opportunity to provide your feedback.
LIBRARY SUPPORT
Extensive library resources and services are available online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week at https://www.umuc.edu/library/i ndex.cfm (https://www.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm) to support you in your studies. The UMUC Library provides research assistance in creating search strategies, selecting relevant databases, and evaluating and citing resources in a variety of formats via its Ask a Librarian service at https://www.umuc.edu/library/libask/index.cfm (https://www.umuc.edu/library/libask/index.cfm).
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SUPPORT
To successfully navigate the online classroom new students are encouraged to view the Classroom Walkthrough under Help in the upper right menu of the LEO classroom. Those requiring technical assistance can access Help@UMUC Support directly in LEO under the Help menu. Additional technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via selfhelp and live chat at htt ps://www.umuc.edu/help (https://www.umuc.edu/help) or by phone tollfree at 888360UMUC (8682).
SYLLABUS CHANGES
All items on this syllabus are subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor and the Office of Academic Affairs.
CLASS & ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE
Course Schedule of Assignments Overview
Before beginning a discussion assignment , please make sure that you read and understand the Discussion Participation Guidelines in the Course Policies section of the Course content.
All initial contributiions must be submitted by 11:59 PM ET Wednesday , and all final contributions to discussions and all Assignments must be posted by 11:59 PM ET Sunday, unless otherwise specified.
Assume Baldwin is paying a dividend of $1.38 (per share). If this dividend stayed the same, but the stock price rose by 10% what would be the dividend yield?
Select : 1
Save Answer
4.44%
5.54%
7.21%
18.04%
When the Production Department works with the
When the Production Department works with the R&D Department, which of the following would be determined?
Select One
A.
Ensuring product line meets customer expectations, and projecting revenues.
B.
Ensuring assembly lines are purchased for new products, and the impact of automation increases on revision dates.
C.
Establishing how much capacity and automation is feasible to buy or sell.
D.
Ensuring R&D costs per product are properly funded.
[solved] Which action would decrease the customer survey score
Which action would decrease the customer survey score?
Select One
A.
Increase price
B.
Increase MTBF
C.
Increase automation
D.
Decrease debt
[solved] As a Marketing manager, which of the following are you
As a Marketing manager, which of the following are you most concerned with?
Select One
A.
ROI and ROA
B.
ROS and Margin
C.
ROA and Asset Turnover
D.
ROE and Leverage
[solved] Which group of tactics would be most commonly used
Which group of tactics would be most commonly used to maximize ROS?
Select One
A.
Increase contribution margins, lower period costs, & increase sales
B.
Increase contribution margins, increase period costs, & increase sales
C.
Decrease contribution margins, lower period costs, & decrease sales
D.
Decrease contribution margins, increase period costs, & decrease sales
[solved] Which of the following is not characteristic of a differentiator
Which of the following is not characteristic of a differentiator with a product lifecycle focus?
Select One
A.
Frequent R&D
B.
Above average automation
C.
Aggressive marketing
D.
Above average pricing
[solved] Which of the following is most likely to cause a low score in the Internal Business
Which of the following is most likely to cause a low score in the Internal Business Process category of the balanced scorecard?
Select One
A.
Low stock price
B.
High plant utilization
C.
High turnover ratio
D.
Low contribution margin
[solved] Why would your company want to extend out its accounts receivable policy?
Why would your company want to extend out its accounts receivable policy?
Select One
A.
Extending their receivables will slightly increase demand
B.
Extending their receivables will increase their available cash
C.
Extending their receivables will make their suppliers happy
D.
None of the above
[solved]What effect does raising automation have on a company?
What effect does raising automation have on a company?
Select One
A.
Decreases variable costs by increasing the amount of production capacity
B.
Decreases variable costs by decreasing the amount of workers needed
C.
Decreases variable costs by increasing plant utilization
D.
Both B and C
E.
None of the above
[SOLVED]What metrics are used to calculate a product’s contribution margin?
What metrics are used to calculate a product’s contribution margin?
Select One
A.
Sales, total costs
B.
Profit, variable costs
C.
Sales, variable costs
D.
Profit, total costs
[SOLVED] When the Production Department works with the R&D Department,
When the Production Department works with the R&D Department, which of the following would be determined?
Select One
A.
Ensuring product line meets customer expectations, and projecting revenues.
B.
Ensuring assembly lines are purchased for new products, and the impact of automation increases on revision dates.
C.
Establishing how much capacity and automation is feasible to buy or sell.
D.
Ensuring R&D costs per product are properly funded.
.If a company with low automation wanted
.If a company with low automation wanted to invest in a single area that exclusively lowers labor costs, they would select:
A. QIT (Quality Initiative Training)
B. Concurrent Engineering
C. Vendor/JIT (Just in Time [Inventory])
The exact outcome of TQM efforts appear
The exact outcome of TQM efforts appear on the TQM Report, and as bar charts on the TQM spreadsheet. These results are for
A. the previous round only
B. the upcoming round only
C. cumulative for the previous and all remaining rounds (assuming no additional investment is made)
According to the S-Shaped curve, diminishing returns
According to the S-Shaped curve, diminishing returns for a single year budget become significant at
A. $1,000,000
B. $1,500,000
C. $750,000
Investing in the same TQM Initiative round
Investing in the same TQM Initiative round after round will create
A. ever increasing returns
B. diminishing returns
C. the same amount of return
The TQM report can be accessed from
The TQM report can be accessed from
A. The Foundation(r) FastTrack
B. The Decisions menu
he online food delivery industry i
According to Statista (2020), the online food delivery industry is worth $26 billion. The largest of this industry is restaurant-to-customer delivery that is worth $15 billion. The industry is expected to grow to $32 billion by 2024. According to Franchisee Resource Center (2020), the USA cleaning industry is worth $46 billion. The industry is expected to grow by 10% by the year 2026 to reach about $50 billion. According to Mkink (2020), the cleaning industry had 875,000 businesses and employed about 3.5 million people by 2015.
Haverland offers a wide range of electric radiators, electric towel, natural conversion heater, electric radiant heating panel and many other related electric products. However, inertia radiators are the company’s most trusted product which is available on most of its market segment. The best thing about the company new inertia radiators is that it comes with two options i.e. dry and fluid., therefore, it presents customers with a wide range of choices based on their heating needs and budget.
Leadership Plan for Equity at Children’s Council for San Francisco
Equity is an important organizational and legal requirement recognized as one of most critical drivers of organizational performance and economic development in a nation. In many jurisdictions, legal statutes dictate minimal policy requirements that place equity in place
In a bid to give literary works more perspectives, literary critics often use different styles of analysis. Among them are the diverse theories of literary analysis that take various frameworks of the interpretations of creative works. A good example of the models is feminist theory. Essentially, feminist theory is a principle that delves into the link between gender and power from the background of the female sex (Barnett et al. 1219). In particular, the philosophy concerns the depicting of the women and girls in a positive light by basically portraying their desirable traits or roles in their societies or showing how they suffer in male chauvinist societies.
Crafting Effective Interview Questions
Introduction
The purpose of this interview guide phenomenological research is to describe the central phenomenon experience for online learners in a business or technology doctoral program informed by the theoretical framework. At this stage in the research, the central phenomenon being studied will be generally defined as methods that online learners can lead to effective work-life balance.
INTERVENTION STRATEGIES examples
Flat organizational structure is less practical for SHU since the company has employees that believe in hieratical structure and also young employees that prefer a flat environment. It is clear also that technology change was applied to the company without proper procedure and thus resulted in conflicts. It is also clear that employees are undermotivated due to fear of job loss. This paper aims at identifying structural strategies technological strategies and behavioral strategies that can be applied to SHU to improve its effectiveness.
Structural strategies
The flat organizational structure should be replaced with original hieratical structure but give employees ownership and ability to contribute or go for flatter structure
INTERVIEWING A PROFESSIONAL NURSE
According to State Online (2017) professional nurse in today society is more than just a bedside helper, vital signs checker and medicine givers. Today professional nurse are communicators, holistic caregivers, instructors, specialists and researchers. The wide nature of today professional nurses responsibilities is a result of patients suffering from multiple illnesses as well as advancement in technology. Therefore, today professional nurses are required to have skills to operate different machines as well as give care to patients with multiple illnesses. Therefore, while interviewing a professional nurse, it is important to address wide range of aspects so that the nurse with right qualifications, skills and experience can be hired or recommended for particular position that needs a nurse profession.
General Electric (GE) SUSTAINABILITY
According to GE sustainability is defined as process of aligning the business strategies to meet wide range of societal needs, reducing environmental impact and aid society developments. As of 2016, GE was investing ana average of $1 billion worldwide for employee development. It was also voted for 11th times as one of the world’s ethical companies (GE, n.d.). It had also carried about 26500 supplier assessment top ensure they deliver quality products (GE, n.d.). in 2016 alone the company invested about $4.9 billion in green research and development programs (GE, n.d.). Despite good sustainability initiative GE has suffered several challenges, but they are responding to them adequately to keep sustainability drive alive.
Leadership and Communication Literature Review
Leadership and communication play an instrumental role in the current dynamic technological landscape. Given the essence of leadership, available scholarly sources suggest that leaders usually play a significant role in influencing performance at an organizational level. By exploring the views presented by various authors on the topic of leadership and communication, this paper will seek to provide an insightful review on aspects such as team development, motivation, employee engagement, leadership attributes, and the communication approaches embraced by organizations. Through this paper, the reader will understand the extent to which leadership and communication usually affect the success of projects, past and future leadership, and communication models as well as how a rhetoric leader can influence performance.
Introduces the SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis stands for strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Swots measures both internal and external factors influencing the business. Strength and weaknesses are internal factors while opportunities and threats are external factors. The focus of this speech is to provide an insight about PRU SWOT based on recent takeover by SHU.
Create a slide that shows the SWOT results in table form.
According to Li, Yan, Wang, and Xia (2013) information visibility are the availability of relevant and accurate information for making supply chain-related decisions. Duckworth (2018) on the other hand defined visibility as easiness of sharing of information in B2B level. Some of the benefits identified in information visibility include making the supply chain more efficient, promote business collaboration, as well enabling them manage operations more efficiently (Duckworth, 2018). Transparency, on the other hand, was defined as easiness of information disclosure between businesses, partners, regulatory bodies, customers and shareholders (Duckworth, 2018). Duckworth (2018) suggested that both visibility and transparency are related such that it is impossible to share data or to be open about if you do not have visibility to such information. Information transparency aids accountability, safety, and quality (Duckworth, 2018).
MEMO for What would be the best workplace environment and culture for Pigs R US
What would be the best workplace environment and culture for Pigs R US be in 2040, and what challenges could the company face in implementing the vision?
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN CONTEXT
Introduction
GE is a conglomerate company with a presence in various industries, including manufacturing, finance, and healthcare. The wide nature of GE business comes with greatest challenges especially when collaboration is needed. From the core aspect of GE business it is clear that it has wide range of professions and people from diverse backgrounds. It also has many suppliers who have different production and supply chain strategies. Above all, GE operates in 130 countries across the world (ge.com). Global supply chain management best practices are very important for GE. Collaboration is among the best practices in supply chain and companies that have mastered the art of collaboration both in internal and external aspects, can cut down operation costs and enjoy competitive advantage (Supply Chain Collaboration, 2017). This paper will address the role of collaboration in the global supply chain of GE. Specifically, the paper will address regional trade agreements that influence GE, consequences of characterizing a product wrongly, NAFTA tribunal, global collaboration, global supply chain strategy, and global risk factor.
Assignment 1: First Business Scenario
In the first business scenario, it has been outlined that I am working on a project along with other several companies and it happens that one of the companies is doing shoddy, dangerous work. In such a case, the shoddy and dangerous work done by one company that is part of the project being undertaken will mean that the entire project will be futile. This is because such an unscrupulous behavior will jeopardize the good work done by other companies. In such a case, the only morally viable decision to undertake is to report the company engaging in shoddy, dangerous work. Even though undertaking such a decision will mean that I lose 20% of my revenue for the year, I am convinced that reporting the problem is the only viable decision that can be undertaken to avoid scenarios where all companies working on a project faces collective criminal susceptibility due to the shoddy and dangerous work done by one company.
Systematic Literature Review Example
Phase 1: Problem discovery and definition.
Business Problem: Shop-Here is a small company that aims to provide the best quality services to the consumers. The company is faced with several challenges regarding management. Currently, the company is planning to invest in offering ethically sourced products to attract a large spectrum of consumers and remain relevant in the market. Therefore, the project assesses factors that the company needs to consider when rebranding its products to meet the clients’ needs.
Working Title: Ethical consumption acting as a barometer of profitability; a convergent mixed method approach
Aims of the Project: The aim of the project is to evaluate the behaviors of the consumers towards sustainably sourced products.
Objectives of the Project: The objective of the research is to determine the relationship between ethical consumers’ purchasing behavior and their apparent intention to consume. The other objective is to understand ethically minded consumers’ requirement and preferences. Last, the objective will identify which attributes make products more appealing to ethical consumers.
ADOPTION OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Autonomous vehicles, also referred to as self-driving cars are vehicles that can sense their environments and move safely without the intervention or input of human beings. They use a lot of sensors to learn their surroundings such as the navigation paths, signage and obstacles that should be considered in movement (Seshan and Maitra, 2014). Accordingly, autonomous denotes the fact that it is self-governing. Moreover, the autonomous control means that the gadget in this case the vehicle can satisfactorily perform under critical uncertainties in the environment.
Factors influencing project success
Factors influencing project success
The study by Salazar-Aramayo, Rodrigues-da-Silveira, Rodrigues-de-Almeida, and de Castro-Dantas, (2013) aimed at finding out the factors that influenced exploration and production project management success at Petrobras S.A. the study focused on seven hypotheses to identify the reasons for the success of the project as influenced by different factors. The first hypothesis aimed at identifying whether training, experience and good internal communication influenced project planning and control. The second objective aimed at identifying whether a coordinated team, with experience and good internal communication influences the project success. On the other hands the third objective focused on a coordinated team with skills and experience influences the quality of the scope of the E&P project.
United States steel is a steel production company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1901. The company area of operation includes the USA and central Europe. The company generated revenue of 10 billion in 2016 financial year. Facebook, on the other hand, is a social media platform founded in 2004. The company is based in Menlo Park California. The company generated a revenue of 27 billion 2016 financial year. These companies operate in different industries. Therefore, the underlying conditions that influence the earning of companies may be totally different. Besides, their assets and expenses are totally different. A company like Facebook invest most on research and development while a company like US steel invest heavily on plant and equipment.
Saudi ARAMCO is one of the largest company in the world by assets. The company position as largest among peers might not remain the same for many coming years unless they up their game in R&D and technology. The strategic alliance is one of the fundamental ways that the company can consider to ensure they remain competitive by exchanging worthy ideas and strategies. There are many challenges in strategic alliance including difficulty in finding the best partner, inability to know when the alliance is no longer viable and inability to establish trust among the parties. Using both descriptive and normative decision theory, the alliance can be able to find worthy methods and technique that can move them forward
[solved]Module 12: External Sustainability Reporting and Verification
Module 12: External Sustainability Reporting and Verification
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Module 12: Critical Thinking
Impact of ISO 14001 and AA1000 Regulations on Stakeholders (100 points)
Analyze how ISO 14001 and AA1000 regulations protect stakeholders. Do these regulations and reports have an impact on how investors see the long-term viability of an organization or company in which they plan to invest?
What are examples of this in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where this reporting occurs? In a 4-5 page paper, not including the cover and reference pages, explain how these regulations impact future investors, local stakeholders, and the organization’s or company’s sustainability.
Use Saudi Electronic University academic writing standards and APA style guidelines, citing references as appropriate.
Below is Module 12: Interactive Lecture
MGT630 – Business Ethics and Sustainability
Module 12: External Sustainability Reporting and Verification
MGT630
Table of Contents Tools
Module Introduction
Readings
Note: The following readings may require you to be logged in to the Saudi Digital Library. You may do that here.
Required
Chapter 9 in Making Sustainability Work
Lu, Y., & Abeysekera, I. (2017). What do stakeholders care about? Investigating corporate social and environmental disclosure in China. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(1), 169-184.
Massa, L., Farneti, F., & Scappini, B. (2015). Developing a sustainability report in a small to medium enterprise: Process and consequences. Meditari Accountancy Research, 23(1), 62-91.
For Your Success
We will explore the sustainability efforts that interest stakeholders most and how an organization informs its stakeholders on its sustainability efforts. We begin our examination of what should be covered and why, which will continue in Module 13.
Review the following required activities for this week:
There is a Critical Thinking Assignment due this week. You will write an analysis on the ways in which ISO 14001 and AA1000 regulations protect stakeholders.
Take the next graded quiz, covering content from Modules 11 and 12.
Learning Outcomes
Examine external sustainability reporting and verification.
Evaluate standards for sustainability reporting and verification.
1. Sustainability Efforts
Do certain sustainability efforts grab the attention of stakeholders more than others? The answer is yes. Epstein and Buhovac (2014) noted one study that identified the top five sustainability efforts of interest to stakeholders as human rights, eco/energy efficiency, health and safety, climate protection, and environmental management of the production process.
So, does that mean that all companies should focus on these five priorities? The answer is no. Different organizations have different stakeholders and operate in different business environments. The organization must determine which types of sustainability activities it should engage in based on its unique circumstances.
For example, a diamond mining company might decide to focus on improving the health of the people in the underdeveloped country where the diamonds are mined. Otherwise, the company may not have a healthy workforce available to mine the diamonds. Or, a jewelry store might focus on improving its supply chain by insisting on responsible and ethical sourcing practices from its diamond suppliers.
Before continuing, take a moment to watch the following video, which asks (and answers) the question, “Why sustainability?”
Steve Howard: Let’s Go All-In on Selling Sustainability
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buH_vs7LFzw
What priorities does the speaker identify for IKEA? Where do these align with the top five efforts listed previously?
2. Sustainability Information for Stakeholders
Stakeholders have specific expectations with regard to the sustainability information they receive from organizations. External sustainability reports strive to provide this information. For more information, listen to an audio explanation of sustainability reporting here—What is Sustainability Reporting?
Certain principles and standards tend to guide the organization when developing a sustainability report. Let’s examine some of these in more detail—click on the following tabs.
Materiality
Completeness
Responsiveness
Take a moment to watch the following video on the benefits of sustainability and sustainability reporting.
Eco-Business Explains Sustainability Reporting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCzbeyZwwqE
The video notes that the benefits of sustainability reporting extend beyond just numbers. What are these benefits?
3. What Do Stakeholders Want to Know?
Stakeholders want to know about more than just the bottom-line financial measures when it comes to reporting. Instead, they want to know about the triple bottom line, which includes social and environmental considerations as well.
Stakeholders want to see the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the business and its operations. They also want to see what the company is doing to reduce negative impacts. For example, they may want information on the sources of energy the company uses, the amount of recycled materials it utilizes, voluntary and involuntary employee turnover numbers, and the results of polls regarding the organization’s image and reputation.
The following video provides another interesting look at the issue of sustainability reporting.
Sustainability Reporting: Reporting for Stakeholders while Building a Competitive Advantage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5DvW2j3WBs
The speaker mentions that a study of sustainability professionals found that they ranked customers as the most important audience for their sustainability reporting. The next most important group was employees, with the respondents viewing reporting as a tool they could use for recruitment and retention purposes. Does this ranking surprise you?
Reflect
Consider your own organization or one you know well with regard to sustainability. Could you answer any of the following questions?
How much waste does the organization create?
How much energy does it take to run the organization? What is the source of that energy? How much does it cost, and what does it do to the environment? Are there alternative sources that could be used?
What about the amount of paper that the organization uses? Could that amount be easily cut in half? Is the paper that the organization uses recycled? If not, why not?
What about the amount of organizational turnover, both voluntary and involuntary? Is this a high or low number, and what can be done within the organization to reduce that number?
If you can’t answer these questions (or similar questions), does this mean that the organization does not engage in sustainability reporting? If given the opportunity to recommend sustainability reporting to management, what would you say?
4. The Format of Information
Of course, it is up to an organization to decide whether or not it will report on sustainability, and if it does, it will choose the format it wants to use.
How do stakeholders want to get this information? There is not one answer. Some might prefer to receive it at annual shareholders’ meetings, for example, while others might want on-demand access to these documents from the company’s website.
The length of these documents is also a consideration. People do not have a great deal of time to wade through an enormous amount of information to learn about an organization’s sustainability measures. One stakeholder survey found that the majority of individuals would like these documents to be less than 50 pages long (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014). However, if the documents were in electronic format, the organization could take the time to create links to the different sections of the documents, so the stakeholders could easily jump to the topics they want to read.
Check Your Understanding
Answer the question or define the term on the front of the card before flipping the card over to check your answer.
Click Here to Begin
References
AccountAbility. (2018). AA1000 accountability principles. Retrieved from https://www.accountability.org/standards/
Global Reporting Initiative. (2018). GRI 101: Foundation 2016. Retrieved from https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/media/1036/gri-101-foundation-2016.pdf#page=%2010
Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. J. (2014). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
ROLL ROYCE CULLINAN ORDER FULFILMENT
Roll Royce Cullinan is a new SUV produced by Roll Royce. This car is also the first of the kind produced since it is all wheeled drive SUV. The starting price is $325000 (Zhang, 2018). Therefore, the brand falls under the luxury brand. The average price of most of SUV is between 30,000 to 40,000 dollars. The vehicle was released in 2018 and will start being marketed in 2019 (Zhang, 2018). In 2016, roll Royce sold 4000 cars per year for the first time. If the SUV peaks, it is estimated that overall sales will grow to 6000 sales per year by 2019. This paper addresses order fulfillment which is the process of receiving, processing and delivering orders to final customer (Logistiikanmaailm, 2019). To address order fulfillment. There is need to understand order penetration point which is a point where the order is earmarked for specific customer (Logistiikanmaailm, 2019).
Tony has been sent to sales training and the final examination requires delivering an effective sales presentation. If he passes this examination, he will be placed into a sales job. If he does not pass, he will be let go from the company. In assessing Tony’s performance, the trainer remarks that although his talk was solid as far as content, he did not pass. The trainer fails to mention that the talk lacked several elements of excellence. Tony’s presentation graphics were inconsistent, he mumbled, and he failed to answer any of the follow-up questions. Tony throws the evaluation at the trainer, shouting, "Whatever, dude!" and slams the door on the way out. The trainer’s failure to discuss these aspects of Tony’s presentation performance demonstrated a lack of attention to which form of fairness or justice?
Select : 1
Baldwin Corporation is considering adding capacity to their Boat product, currently automated to 7.0. Assume: - They will use the new capacity next year to make and sell 200 additional units (000). - Each unit of capacity will cost $34.00. - Boat's price will be unchanged at $34.00. - Material costs will remain $13.04 next year. - Labor costs will remain $5.34 on first shift, and $7.91 on second shift. - Bond interest will remain 13.5% next year. - Depreciation will be straight line over 15 years. - SG&A costs can be ignored because they would be the same with or without the new capacity. Which of the following tactics will yield the highest ROI in their first year of production?
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Buy 200 units of capacity. Finance the $6,800 purchase entirely with a new bond.
Buy 200 units of capacity. Finance the $6,800 purchase entirely with a stock issue.
Buy 100 units of capacity. Finance the $3,400 purchase entirely with a new bond.
Buy 100 units of capacity. Finance the $3,400 purchase entirely with a stock issue.
[SOLVED]Rank the following companies from high to low cumulative profit
Rank the following companies from high to low cumulative profit, (in descending order, 1=highest, 4=lowest).
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Andrews
Digby
Baldwin
Chester
Andrews Corp. ended the year carrying $10,281,000
Andrews Corp. ended the year carrying $10,281,000 worth of inventory. Had they sold their entire inventory at their current prices, how much more revenue would it have brought to Andrews Corp.?
According to information found on the production
According to information found on the production analysis page of the Inquirer, Baldwin sold 1127 units of Bolt in the current year. Assuming that Bolt maintains a constant market share, all the units of Bolt are sold in the Nano market segment and the growth rate remains constant, how many years will it be before Bolt will not be able to meet future demand unless the company adds production capacity? Exclude any existing inventory
You’re a sales manager the Andrews Company and it’s time to decide annual bonuses for your sales force. One normally good salesperson completely failed in the fourth quarter dropping his overall sales percentage one point below what is required to earn a bonus. After receiving the news of his overall sales percentage, he reported to you that he didn’t feel good about his fourth-quarter performance because he’s been very distracted with the new knowledge that his mother had been diagnosed with an advanced cancer. Given this information, you decide to award the salesperson with an annual bonus. Which of the following arguments bests captures a Universalist perspective on this decision?
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[SOLVED]The Andrews company has a strong "promote from within" culture and thus as the team manager
The Andrews company has a strong "promote from within" culture and thus as the team manager, when a job opened up on your team you sought talented internal candidates. One of the candidates, Sally, had worked closely with you on previous projects before you took your current managerial role. The other two candidates, Cynthia and Jennifer were recommended by other managers in the company. You interviewed all three candidates and examined their personnel files for prior performance information. At this point, you’re fairly certain Sally is the best of the three candidates. Which of the following steps would be best to take before making a decision?
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Which of the following statements would best characterize someone who is not culturally competent in working with others from different cultures?
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You’ve dreaded it for a while, but now you feel prepared. In 30 minutes you’ll have to terminate Tim, a 12-year employee who is beloved by everyone in the firm. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t performed very well since his wife died three years ago and while he was given every chance to regain his performance, he has just continued to slide. Which of the following elements of communication is least likely to influence Tim’s perception of your communication effectiveness?
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Your boss recently told you that you needed to be more "culturally intelligent." Specifically he said, "I received some feedback from a major client, Palo, who said after a meeting him that you seemed not be very interested in his business anymore." You replied that meeting with Palo is very uncomfortable because he is a "close talker" and invades your personal space so you end up backing up all the time. Your boss said, "well you better figure out what to do and fast, he’s giving you another chance to meet next week." Which of the following actions would be MOST EFFECTIVE in your next communication with Palo?
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Sally was recently given feedback from her boss that the content of her quarterly financial presentation is excellent; however, she really needs to work on the "execution." Which of the following aspects of communication effectiveness is Sally’s boss NOT referring to when talking about execution?
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Her non-verbal presentation behavior
Assume Digby Corp. is downsizing the size of their workforce by 10% (to the nearest person) next year from various strategic initiatives. Digby is planning to conduct exit interviews to learn more about how they can improve in processes and increase productivity. The exit interviews are estimated to cost $100 per employee in additional to normal separation costs of $5000. How much will the company pay in separation costs if these exit interviews are implemented next year?
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One of the least desirable and routine tasks members of your team must do is taking minutes (notes) at team meetings. Proof that this task is disagreeable can be seen in the repeated arguments among team members before every meeting about who should take the minutes. Which of the following would be the most effective way for the team to address this situation?
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You’ve been asked to participate at a prestigious and well-attended annual conference within your industry. Your participation requires that you sit on a panel of experts during the keynote session of the conference. This session focuses on discussing key industry trends and challenges, and it is expected to draw a large and engaged crowd. The session will include brief presentations by each panelist, as well as a question-and-answer portion where you will respond to the audience. Which of the following aspects of effective communication should you give the most attention during the conference session?
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[SOLVED]Tom works for a large payroll outsourcing firm.
Tom works for a large payroll outsourcing firm. One of his key customer’s contracts is set to expire in one month. Competition has heated up in this industry and Tom’s customer asked him to make a presentation to the top management team about his firm’s services. In his presentation, he thanked the customers for their loyalty, talked about industry trends, highlighted how his firm has been successfully serving firms for decades (unlike the new players in the market), and then asked them to renew their business again by showing them pricing options. Tom didn’t get the contract renewed and wonders if his presentation had anything to do with it. Which of the following actions should Tom do in order to IMPROVE his future presentations?
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One of your colleagues spends a great deal of time planning her interactions with people from different cultural backgrounds. Before she talks with people from a different culture, she researches their culture, tries to understand how it’s both similar and different from her own, and then tries to put herself "in their shoes" by testing how different statements might make her feel if she were from their culture. Which of the following views is MOST ACCURATE about her behavior with respect to being culturally competent?
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[SOLVED] representative from a prestigious industry association just emailed.
A representative from a prestigious industry association just emailed. She asks for your participation on an expert panel that will be held at an upcoming professional conference. The conference is not local, so it will require you to travel and stay several days in the conference location. The representative offers to pay for travel and lodgings for you and a guest to the conference. Which of the following responses would be most effective for helping you to make an ethical decision?
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Ask the representative to cover travel expenses, but not hotel expenses
[SOLVED] You are an account manager working for the Andrews Company
You are an account manager working for the Andrews Company. You sell and service the sensors for sales representatives in many different industries. Your boss tells you that your engineers are contemplating changing the specifications to make the sensors operate in mobile phones. Some of the proposed changes however may be unpopular with your customers. You suggest to your boss that customers should be notified before any changes would take place. Your boss disagrees and says, "It’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission." Which of the following is the best course of action in order to help make the best decision?
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[SOLVED]It’s been six months since you began your role as a regional sales manager.
It’s been six months since you began your role as a regional sales manager. Your territory includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, making it highly culturally diverse. You feel like you are doing fairly well, but still feel somewhat uncomfortable when coaching sales people from Mexico. In fact, a recent meeting with a Mexican sales rep did not go well. You tried to motivate him but he just became very defensive and you’re not sure if he reacted that way because of the negative performance feedback, because you violated some cultural norm, or potentially, both. You spoke with another manager in Mexico who assured you that you were culturally sensitive in your feedback delivery. Which of the following would be LEAST helpful in continuing to develop your cross-cultural skills in delivering performance feedback?
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[SOLVED]You have just accepted a leadership position of a newly formed project team
You have just accepted a leadership position of a newly formed project team. The team is geographically dispersed with team members from Europe, North America, and South America. Although the team will have quarterly face-to-face meetings at the company’s headquarters, most of the team’s work is conducted virtually (online). As the leader of this new team, you want to ensure that team members from different cultural backgrounds work effectively and efficiently together. Which of the following actions would be most effective in facilitating your team’s performance?
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[SOLVED] You have realized that a report your team authored and which is now sitting on the desk
You have realized that a report your team authored and which is now sitting on the desk of the CEO, contains several significant errors. What is the most effective way to deal with this situation?
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[SOLVED] You are preparing for a 3-month global assignment in Turkey working on an international
You are preparing for a 3-month global assignment in Turkey working on an international quality improvement team for your company’s manufacturing division. After buying a few travel books and researching some of Turkey’s contemporary history, you are quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information to learn. Which of the following types of cultural information would be MOST CRITICAL to understand before arriving in Turkey for your assignment?
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[SOLVED] Mike is the Director of Human Resources for a 120-employee family-owned manufacturing firm.
Mike is the Director of Human Resources for a 120-employee family-owned manufacturing firm. Mike has been quite busy the last year reforming the benefit offerings to comply with recent changes in healthcare laws. Given the many changes, Mike took the opportunity to completely overhaul the employee benefits program including replacing the old medical plans with three brand-new plans. Mike is preparing to tell employees about their new benefit offerings a few months prior to the benefits open-enrollment period. Given the number of employees, he decides to design a nicely formatted PowerPoint slide deck explaining the changes and to send this presentation via email to all employees. One day into the open-enrollment period, his inbox is flooded with over 50 emails from confused employees. Mike is puzzled, but realizes he may have made a mistake in communication. Which of the following BEST describes the primary communication mistake he made?
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[SOLVED] Your team is struggling with the quality of discussions during team meetings
Your team is struggling with the quality of discussions during team meetings. Much of the difficulty stems from how conversation flows among team members. Which of the following actions would be most likely to enhance the overall quality of your team’s discussions?
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[SOLVED] Your boss confides in you that one of your highly successful coworkers has been "padding"
Your boss confides in you that one of your highly successful coworkers has been "padding" his expense account by billing for personal items. This action violates a company policy, which notes that termination is a possible consequence of such action. He asks you for your opinion, saying, "Should I fire him or just ask him to pay back the money?" Which of the following responses would be most effective in helping your boss make an ethical decision?
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You are hiring for a new group of sales reps for next year in anticipation of an increase in business. Charles, a minority candidate, is your top pick as his performance in the sales training program far exceeded any other sales rep. You’re set to hire him into your largest and most profitable territory. Your boss, however, has expressed concerns that his minority status might be a problem in your mainly White territory. Today your boss sent you an email that read in part "I think it’s in Charles’ best interest if we find him a territory that is better suited to his background." Which stakeholders are you primarily obligated to consider in making this decision?
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[SOLVED] Suggest to the group that a clear chart of roles and responsibility be created.
At the last team meeting both Shelia and Freddy showed up having erroneously accomplished the same task, which meant that one task was left undone. Both Shelia and Freddy were certain that they accomplished their assigned task. Which of the following actions would be most effective to ensure this does not occur again?
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[SOLVED] All of your teammates are dedicated to the project.
All of your teammates are dedicated to the project. They put in the time and effort to complete their individual assignments and to be adequately prepared for team meetings. However, this time and effort does not seem to translate into effectively sharing information. Which of the following actions is most likely to improve your team’s information sharing?
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Which of the following steps to making an ethical decision comes after Investigating Ethical Issues?
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You have been working on a new entrepreneurial venture with a few friends for the past year. Everyone’s efforts are really starting to come together and you have even developed a proof-of-concept to show folks in order to obtain feedback and advice. The process has been going so well that you have been invited to pitch your idea to a panel of successful entrepreneurs that might be interested in investing. You have been told the pitch is limited to 15 minutes. Which of the following areas of communication effectiveness should you focus on the most when designing your pitch?
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Determining a few key ideas and how to best sequence them.
You just finished leading your team during a two-hour long meeting with one of your larger clients. The purpose of the meeting was to provide an overview of results and recommendations from a project your team just finished for the client. Your team was very prepared and even practiced the debrief presentation several times. Everything seemed to go very well during the meeting, as you and your team detailed how the project was handled, who did what, the results of each project phase, as well recommendations for the client to implement. However, right after the meeting, the point of contact at the client said that her boss was “not at all happy with the project” and was questioning whether or not to renew your team’s contract because she “didn’t see the value created by the project.” Which of the following aspects of communication was lacking the most in your team’s debrief presentation?
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As a senior consultant, part of your role on the team is to approve final client reports before they are delivered to the client. Your team was recently hired by the President of the sales division of Plessy and Grouper, a consumer packaged goods company, to address poor customer service within the division. Your consulting team just submitted the draft of a recommendations report. While it’s full of good content, it also contains a lot of technical jargon. Which of the following aspects of effective communication do you fear your team has overlooked?
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[SOLVED] You were recently selected for an important 2-year overseas assignment in Qatar
You were recently selected for an important 2-year overseas assignment in Qatar. This is a big career opportunity and a chance to work in a high-growth region of your company’s business. You just returned from a weeklong trip to Qatar, which was part of the introduction to your new team and your soon-to-be new home. You certainly became aware that there were some noticeable cultural differences between your country and Qatar. You are scheduled to move in 3 months. Which of the following actions would be the MOST EFFECTIVE approach for improving your cultural competence?
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[SOLVED]You are the lead team member of a warranty claim team within the Andrews Company
You are the lead team member of a warranty claim team within the Andrews Company. Your team has had an average year, with profits remaining generally flat. In effort to boost profits for the year, your manager suggests you postpone processing any existing claims in the 4th quarter until the new fiscal year (some claims are as high as $150,000) but he’s not sure and is open to your opinion, asking "what would you suggest?" Which of the following responses would be the most appropriate step toward making an ethical decision?
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Your team has just been assigned a new project. So far, the start-up work has been productive, and the team has built its initial project plan. Your team’s leader has asked for projects goals to be create that aligned with this plan. Which of the following actions would be most effective in creating goals that motivate high performance for the team?
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Since your desk is close to the office supplies closet, it didn’t take long for you to notice that one of your colleagues, Jeffery, visits the office supplies quite frequently. You don’t have any solid evidence that he’s stealing, but you can’t figure out why else he’d be making daily trips into the closet. So you decide to confront Jeffery and he says, "Of course I’m taking office supplies home. And yes, I know that technically it’s stealing, but don’t act for a second like you don’t do it either; heck even the boss takes home a ream or two of paper each month. Look, you and I both know we don’t get paid much and life sucks around here, this is one of the few perks we get on this crummy job." What ethical perspective is Jeffery using to justify his actions?
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[SOLVED]At a recent networking event, a former colleague from the Andrews Company
At a recent networking event, a former colleague from the Andrews Company is talking to you about some bad press her company received. She concludes by saying, "you know it’s silly, there is no such thing as an ‘ethical decision’ anyway since ethics is totally in the eye of the beholder." You’re not sure you agree. Which of the following responses would accurately communicate the nature of an ethical decision?
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[SOLVED]Larry is in charge of collecting customer service and satisfaction data for his company.
Larry is in charge of collecting customer service and satisfaction data for his company. He’s not sure which key groups in the company would be the most appropriate audience to communicate the recent customer satisfaction results, including call center employees, senior management, and company-wide. As Larry begins to develop his communication plan, which of the following questions would most help him strategize a plan for targeting a specific audience?
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[SOLVED] One of your team members, Ted, has not been accomplishing his fair share of the work
One of your team members, Ted, has not been accomplishing his fair share of the work and because of this your team’s performance is suffering. Which of the following actions would be most effective to get Ted to do his fair share?
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[SOLVED]Digby's balance sheet has $75,183,000 in equity.
Digby's balance sheet has $75,183,000 in equity. Further, the company is expecting net income of 3,000,000 next year, and also expecting to issue $4,000,000 in new stock. If there are no dividends paid what will beDigby's book value?
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$82,183,000
$74,183,000
$39,416,000
$31,416,000
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 1.7% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,405,682. Assuming similar sales next year, the 1.7% increase in demand will provide $2,777,897 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.1%, after direct costs this revenue will add $947,263 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $1,500,000 TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 1.7% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,405,682. Assuming similar sales next year, the 1.7% increase in demand will provide $2,777,897 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.1%, after direct costs this revenue will add $947,263 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $1,500,000 TQM investment, rounded to the near
[SOLVED] Larry is in charge of collecting customer service and satisfaction data for his company
Larry is in charge of collecting customer service and satisfaction data for his company. He’s not sure which key groups in the company would be the most appropriate audience to communicate the recent customer satisfaction results, including call center employees, senior management, and company-wide. As Larry begins to develop his communication plan, which of the following questions would most help him strategize a plan for targeting a specific audience?
Select : 1
Submit Answer
You work on a multinational team and just finished leading a long virtual meeting with your colleagues in China. After the meeting, one of your local co-workers called you to ask, “why were you rushing through the meeting? I understand we had important agenda items to complete but you seemed really impatient with the team. I think our Chinese colleagues were clearly offended by your behavior.” Which of the following actions best describes how to improve your own cross-cultural communication with your colleagues in China?
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You work on a multinational team and just finished leading a long virtual meeting with your colleagues in China. After the meeting, one of your local co-workers called you to ask, “why were you rushing through the meeting? I understand we had important agenda items to complete but you seemed really impatient with the team. I think our Chinese colleagues were clearly offended by your behavior.” Which of the following actions best describes how to improve your own cross-cultural communication with your colleagues in China?
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You’re a sales manager the Andrews Company and it’s time to decide annual bonuses for your sales force. One normally good salesperson completely failed in the fourth quarter dropping his overall sales percentage one point below what is required to earn a bonus. After receiving the news of his overall sales percentage, he reported to you that he didn’t feel good about his fourth-quarter performance because he’s been very distracted with the new knowledge that his mother had been diagnosed with an advanced cancer. Given this information, you decide to award the salesperson with an annual bonus. Which of the following arguments bests captures a Universalist perspective on this decision?
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The decision is not justified because all employees have the right to fair and equitable evaluation of their performance.
The decision is not justified because harm was done to the employee in the long run because the bonus does not reflect his actual level of performance.
The decision is justified because special circumstances required special treatment.
The decision is not justified because previous sales performance was not taken into account.
Because of the fast-paced nature of your team’s project, it has been necessary to make adjustments in “real-time” to the way work is being done. Which of the following actions is most likely to help your team make these kinds of adjustments?
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Gather information that is needed to solve performance problems.
Provide feedback to team members in order to improve performance.
Encourage teammates to help each other correct performance-related mistakes.
Assign the responsibility for solving a performance issue to the person with the problem.
[SOLVED] All of your teammates are dedicated to the project.
>All of your teammates are dedicated to the project. They put in the time and effort to complete their individual assignments and to be adequately prepared for team meetings. However, this time and effort does not seem to translate into effectively sharing information. Which of the following actions is most likely to improve your team’s information sharing?
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Create less structure to allow more open sharing during team meetings.
Encourage more virtual communication among team members.
Share more information about each other’s assignments to boost mutual understanding.
Reduce the number of priorities that are discussed during team meetings.
Since your desk is close to the office supplies closet, it didn’t take long for you to notice that one of your colleagues, Jeffery, visits the office supplies quite frequently. You don’t have any solid evidence that he’s stealing, but you can’t figure out why else he’d be making daily trips into the closet. So you decide to confront Jeffery and he says, "Of course I’m taking office supplies home. And yes, I know that technically it’s stealing, but don’t act for a second like you don’t do it either; heck even the boss takes home a ream or two of paper each month. Look, you and I both know we don’t get paid much and life sucks around here, this is one of the few perks we get on this crummy job." What ethical perspective is Jeffery using to justify his actions?
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Universalism
Relativism
Utilitarianism
Resource allocation
[SOLVED]Your team is working hard to develop a strategy to serve a new client.
Your team is working hard to develop a strategy to serve a new client. Which of the following actions is most important to ensuring an effective strategy is chosen?
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Ask the team member with the most industry-related experience to lead the process.
Suggest that each proposed strategy be evaluated against a set of key objectives.
Invite the client into a meeting to shape the strategy.
Conduct a benchmarking survey of similar clients to determine best strategy.
Which of the following is the defining difference between Perfect Competition and Monopolistic Competition?
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Number of Sellers
Number of Buyers
Differentiation of the Product
Barriers to Entry
An increase in the number of sellers will have what effect on the price and sales of a product?
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Price Increases, Sales Increase
Price Increases, Sales Decrease
Price Decreases, Sales Increase
Price Decreases, Sales Decrease
You work on a multinational team and
You work on a multinational team and just finished leading a long virtual meeting with your colleagues in China. After the meeting, one of your local co-workers called you to ask, “why were you rushing through the meeting? I understand we had important agenda items to complete but you seemed really impatient with the team. I think our Chinese colleagues were clearly offended by your behavior.” Which of the following actions best describes how to improve your own cross-cultural communication with your colleagues in China?
Select : 1
Submit Answer
Larry is in charge of collecting customer service and satisfaction data for his company. He’s not sure which key groups in the company would be the most appropriate audience to communicate the recent customer satisfaction results, including call center employees, senior management, and company-wide. As Larry begins to develop his communication plan, which of the following questions would most help him strategize a plan for targeting a specific audience?
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What does each group know and not know about the customer satisfaction data?
What groups have been informed of customer satisfaction results in the past?
What way can the results be communicated so that they are acceptable to all groups?
What are the consequences of communicating the information to everyone?
You were recently hired by the Andrews CEO as a consultant to evaluate the performance of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As a part of that process, you interview the CFO’s direct reports (employees). Although they indicate that the CFO is technically competent, one individual told you stories about his verbal abuse with employees. Given this information, what would be the least effective next step in the process?
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Inform the human resources department that there is a potential problem.
Collect more information about the extent to which this reported behavior is impacting others.
Tell the CEO about what you have uncovered and ask for her permission to speak about it with the CFO.
Focus on the CFO’s work performance since his personal behavior is inappropriate in the workplace.
Your team has recently experienced some difficulties and setbacks. Some of your teammates have expressed their lack of confidence in the team. Which of the following tactics is most likely to help boost your teammates’ perception of the team’s capability to perform well?
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Identify the team’s weak links that led to the team’s past failures.
Encourage your teammates to focus on the future and not to dwell on the past.
Discuss the past successes your team has had and how the team pulled together to get the job done.
Allow time at a team meeting for everyone to openly share any complaints they might have about one another.
[SOLVED] Chester's balance sheet has $74,255,000 in equity.
Chester's balance sheet has $74,255,000 in equity. Further, the company is expecting net income of 4,000,000 next year, and also expecting to pay $5,000,000 in dividends. If there is no new stock issued what will be Chester's book value?
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The Baldwin company wants to decrease its plant utilization for Bell by 15%. How many units would need to be produced next year to meet this production goal? Ignore impact of accounts payable on plant utilization.
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Assume Digby Corp. is downsizing the size of their workforce by 10% (to the nearest person) next year from various strategic initiatives. Digby is planning to conduct exit interviews to learn more about how they can improve in processes and increase productivity. The exit interviews are estimated to cost $100 per employee in additional to normal separation costs of $5000. How much will the company pay in separation costs if these exit interviews are implemented next year?
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Chester has negotiated a new labor contract for the next round that will affect the cost for their product Cat. Labor costs will go from $2.88 to $3.48 per unit. Assume all period and other variable costs remain the same. If Chester were to absorb the new labor costs without passing them on in the form of higher prices, how many units of product Cat would need to be sold next round to break even on the product?
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[SOLVED] What would Chester Corporation's market capitalization be if the current price rose 10%?
What would Chester Corporation's market capitalization be if the current price rose 10%?
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Assuming no brokerage fees, calculate the amount of cash needed to retire Baldwin's 11.2S2030 bond early.
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Of Baldwin Corporation’s products, which earned the lowest direct labor as a percentage of its sales?
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The Baldwin Company currently has the following balances on their balance sheet: Total Liabilities $56,080 Common Stock $10,729 Retained Earnings $60,351 Suppose next year the Baldwin Company generates $36,500 in net profit and pays $15,000 in dividends and total liabilities and common stock remain unchanged. What must their total assets be next year?
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Baldwin Corp. ended the year carrying $15,786,000 worth of inventory. Had they sold their entire inventory at their current prices, how much more revenue would it have brought to Baldwin Corp.?
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[SOLVED] On the Income Statement, which of the following would be classified as a variable cost?
On the Income Statement, which of the following would be classified as a variable cost?
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Suppose the Baldwin company expands to other markets with good designs, high awareness and easy accessibility, what strategy would they be implementing?
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Digby's turnover rate for this year is 6.33%. This rate is projected to remain the same next year and no further downsizing will occur from automating. Digby plans to spend an additional $500 beyond the extra amount above the $1000 recruiting base it spent this year. The goal of this additional investment is to improve the quality of applicants. What would the total recruiting cost be for Digby next year?
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It is January 2nd and senior management of Digby meets to determine their investment plan for the year. They decide to fully fund a plant and equipment purchase by issuing $10,000,000 in bonds. Assume the bonds are issued at face value and leverage changes to 2.8. Which of the following statements are true? Select all that apply.
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This year Andrews achieved an ROE of 21.6%. Suppose the Board of Directors of Andrews mandates that management take measures to decrease financial Leverage (Assets/Equity) next year. Assuming Sales, Profits, and Assets remain the same next year, what effect would you expect this new Leverage policy will have on Andrews's ROE?
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Andrews ROE will increase
The statement of cash flows for Baldwin Company shows what happens in the Cash account during the year. It can be seen as a summary of the sources and uses of cash (sources of cash are added, uses of cash are subtracted). Please answer which of the following is true if Baldwin's inventory goes up:
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Last year, Baldwin Corp paid their workers $26.81 per hour. How much will they be paying them 2 rounds from then?
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[SOLVED] Which mission statement best represents the Chester company?
Which mission statement best represents the Chester company?
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Innovation meets revolution. We create value for our customers through breakthrough designs that lead to unique high-performance products
[SOLVED] What is the Current Ratio of Chester?
What is the Current Ratio of Chester?
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The Andrews Company has just purchased $59,068,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. The expected salvage value at the end of 15 years is $5,906,800. What will the accumulated depreciation expense for this purchase (exclude all other plant and equipment) be after its second year of use? (Use FASB GAAP)
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If Baldwin issued 1000 shares of common stock at last year's end price, the effect on the balance sheet would be:
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Midyear on July 31st, the Chester Corporation's balance sheet reported: Total Assets of $243.772 million Total Common Stock of $7.620 million Cash of $12.060 million Retained Earnings of $49.549 million. What were the Chester Corporation's total liabilities?
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Baldwin has a leverage of 1.84 This means that: (Assume leverage is calculated as Assets/Equity)
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Review the Inquirer to determine Digby's current strategy. How will they seek a competitive advantage? From the following list, select the top five sources of competitive advantage that Digby would be most likely to pursue.
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Cat's product manager is under pressure to increase market share, but is uncertain about how to make the product more competitive. The product is reasonably well-positioned in the Thrift segment and enjoys relatively high awareness and accessibility. Which of the following would most likely result in a quick increase in market share?
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Investing $2,000,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 3.0% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,085,264. Assuming similar sales next year, the 3.0% increase in demand will provide $4,892,558 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.1%, after direct costs this revenue will add $1,668,362 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $2,000,000 TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?
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Looking forward to next year, if Baldwin’s current cash amount is $20,132 (000) and cash flows from operations next period are unchanged from this period and Baldwin takes ONLY the following actions relating to cash flows from investing and financing activities: Issues $2,000 (000) of long-term debt Pays $4,000 (000) in dividends Retires $10,000 (000) in debt Which of the following activities will expose Baldwin to the most risk of needing an emergency loan?
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[SOLVED] Deal is a product of the Digby company. Digby's sales forecast for Deal is 2079 units.
Deal is a product of the Digby company. Digby's sales forecast for Deal is 2079 units. Digby wants to have an extra 10% of units on hand above and beyond their forecast in case sales are better than expected. (They would risk the possibility of excess inventory carrying charges rather than risk lost profits on a stock out.) Taking current inventory into account, what will Deal's Production After Adjustment have to be in order to have a 10% reserve of units available for sale?
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Refer to the HR Reports in the Inquirer. Through past investments in recruiting and training Chester has obtained a productivity index of 109.5%. This means that Chester's labor costs would be increased by 9.5% if it did not have these productivity improvements. This is a competitive advantage that Chester can sustain or even widen further if its competitors have no HR initiatives. Now, refer to the Income Statement in Chester's Annual Report. How much did Chester's productivity improvements save it in direct labor costs (in thousands) last year?
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Increasing the promotional budget for a product is not advisable in the short-term under which of the following circumstances?
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According to information found on the production analysis page of the Inquirer, Baldwin sold 1125 units of Bam in the current year. Assuming that Bam maintains a constant market share, all the units of Bam are sold in the Nano market segment and the growth rate remains constant, how many years will it be before Bam will not be able to meet future demand unless the company adds production capacity? Exclude any existing inventory.
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[SOLVED] Digby's product manager is considering lowering the price of the Dome product by $2.50
Digby's product manager is considering lowering the price of the Dome product by $2.50 and wants to know what the impact will be on the product’s contribution margin. Assuming no inventory carry costs, what will Dome's contribution margin be if the price is lowered?
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In three years, assuming the competitive environment remains unchanged, how many units of Bam will Baldwin be selling in the Nano market segment?
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PREVALENCE OF CARDIO-VASCULAR ILLNESS IN MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA
PREVALENCE OF CARDIO-VASCULAR ILLNESS IN MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA
Introduction
Mental health care globally is one area receiving less focus, and despite this, it is a fact that mental health issues continue to soar and more people are affected. Of all the mental health cases, schizophrenia is the least common but chronic and severe. The symptoms of schizophrenia are very disabling, and interest in the research developed because of getting into contact with a patient suffering from cardiovascular disease who was schizophrenic (Fan et al., 2013). There are always strategies that can be developed and initiated to ensure that mental health patients get to live healthy lives similarly to their counterparts, but dedication and undivided support are vital. These people are human beings like the rest, citizens contributing to society and economy at large; hence have to enjoy the right to healthy lives (Bresee et al., 2010).
Experience from the contact with the schizophrenic patient drove my interest into researching about the topic, the current trends in the public health sector specifically dealing with intellectually disabled persons and lastly what interventions the government, health sector and other stakeholders in the industry have in place to improve the quality of lives of these persons. Despite the data, depicting some conflicting inferences, it can be concluded that recommendable steps have been made in the sector depicting the concern and effort various stakeholders are putting in place to ensure that intellectually disabled persons get to live a healthy life in the country.
Overview
Over the years, mental health issues have been swept under the carpet despite them being prevalent in society. Equality act of 2010 can be considered as the turning point in the management of mental health cases in the United Kingdom, under which schizophrenia is included. Before the bill being signed, most mental health victims may have been exposed to lower quality health care as compared to their counterparts but thanks to the law, changes in their health status are being recognized.
Schizophrenic patients record higher mortality rates as a result of cardiovascular diseases as depicted by research studies carried over the globe and not only in the United Kingdom. With such indexes, there is a need for health practitioners, families and the authority at large to invest more in caring and supporting these victims to ensure that deaths because of cardiovascular diseases are limited and schizophrenic patients get to live healthy lives exposed to little or no risk factors that may lead to cardiovascular diseases.
Various professionals have been significant in the management of schizophrenia and ensuring that schizophrenic patients do not suffer from cardiovascular diseases that may be brought about by their behaviors and lifestyles. The intervention strategies include developing proper diet plans that ensure these victims eat balanced diets and not only foods rich in fats, a precursor to cardiovascular disease development. Developing practice plans that ensure these patients exercise physically hence breaking the monotony of their sedentary lives and prescribing best medication for their conditions.
Definitions, statistics, and impacts
Meehl (2017) defines schizophrenia as a severe and long-term mental health condition that causes a range of different psychological symptoms. In most cases, schizophrenia is a particular type of psychosis whereby the victims are not able to distinguish the reality from their ideas and thoughts.
Data has it that one in every six people in the United Kingdom suffers from mental health at one stage in their lives and one in every 100 will experience a schizophrenic episode. An astonishing fact about schizophrenia is that it affects individuals from all lifestyles or social backgrounds, regardless of gender or social class. National Health Service (NHS) treats around 220,000 cases of schizophrenia annually, and these patients have an incidence of between 5- 10 percent of dying within 10 years after diagnosis (NHS, n.d.). Compared to the other population, this mortality incidence percentage is high. Regarding cost, schizophrenia is an economic burden in the United Kingdom (UK) as mental health cases cost the economy close to £77 Billion annually, and this calculated in percentage is close to 4 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (NHS, n.d.).
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) on the other end are a class of ailments related to the heart and blood vessels. Examples of CDV’s include coronary artery diseases, stroke, heart failure, Venus thrombosis and congenital heart disease (World Health Organization, 2017). Despite 90 percent of CDV disease being preventable, statistics have it that it is the leading cause of mortality globally accounting for tens of millions of deaths annually.
Mortality among schizophrenic victims because of cardio-vascular illnesses has significantly elevated over the years, and despite the research and studies were done in this area, no single cause can be attributed to being a cause of the occurrence (NHS, n.d.). Deductions from this may be that the area has not been adequately addressed or no strict studies have been undertaken in the area. An example is the sedentary life of schizophrenic people hence increased incidences of diseases related to CDV (Taylor & Perera, 2015).
Role of a nurse practitioner in assisting Schizophrenic patients with cardiovascular disease
People with schizophrenia are the most affected by cardiovascular diseases, given the likelihood of the unhealthy life that they live. The basis of this statement is from statistics that show that schizophrenic patients record higher mortality rates from CDV compared to their counterparts, hence the need to develop appropriate public health interventions explicitly targeting this group of people with the aim of reversing the trend (Laursen et al., 2012).
Schizophrenic people just like other people with mental issues need adequate access to healthcare, and nurses as the primary health practitioners in the UK more likely to come into contact with them have to understand the needs of this select group of people. The equality act of 2010 makes this a mandatory requirement for people with mental disability, an area under which schizophrenia perfectly suits.
Research by Laursen et al., (2012) showed that the lifestyle of schizophrenic people is a leading factor towards their increased incidences of CVD’s but there also exists other factors contributing to that but with a much lower significance as compared to lifestyle. Given this, the central role of a nurse, at this phase is to enable schizophrenic victims with CVD’s live quality life.
There are strategies and programs in place to ensure that health practitioners play a vital role in providing medical support to schizophrenic patients with CDV. Contrary, studies have shown that inadequacy in relevant skills and knowledge as a result of inadequate training and reluctance to accept more responsibilities are leading factors towards limiting nurses offering services to these patients (Ringen et al., 2014).
Schizophrenic patients require assistance in managing their health despite their being variance in dependency on families or other practitioners to assist. The result is that nurses have to lias with family members or other people close to the patient to ensure that communication regarding the health needs of the patient, decision making and other health-related activities is enhanced for the health benefit of the schizophrenic patient (Bradshaw & Pedley, 2012). Given the sedentary life of most schizophrenic patients, developing issues like high blood pressure and being overweight is common and these are the leading risk factors for CVD. Nurses have a role to play, like ensuring that regular health check-ups are carried out on these people and the right medication or public health intervention auctioned.
Nurses also have the responsibility of enhancing self-management knowledge through public health education. The primary aim of this is to develop constructive and sustainable strategies aimed at mitigating the risk factors for CDV amongst schizophrenic patients (Videbeck & Videbeck, 2013). This may not be necessarily on the patients, but adults or family members of the patients may be advised and educated on the need to change their lifestyle or behavior patterns to limit the risks factors for developing CDV amongst schizophrenic persons. Nurses are professionally required to play this role effectively. Communication skills and knowledge of the particular nurse about the care and health needs of the schizophrenic patient with CDV is crucial in undertaking such a responsibility.
Prescription of medication in case a prior one is considered ineffective may be required and as a nurse frequently assessing the health condition of the patient, protocol to initiate such changes have to be observed. Prescriptions that trigger unlikely responses from the patient have to be substituted and given the fact that stress may be a risk factor to behavioral changes that may risk the development of CDV among schizophrenic patients; interaction with the patient in a manner that develops trust is a role to be played by the nurse. Development of such a relationship between the patient and the nurse not only enables the nurse to attain vital information from the patient but also enables the family and health practitioner to develop strategies and make decisions applicable and effective to the health of the patient (Videbeck & Videbeck, 2013).
Involvement of the patient, family and health practitioner (nurse)
Caring for schizophrenic victims with CVD is a responsibility to be performed by the family, health practitioner and the individual patient. Despite most people considering mental health cases victims like those who have schizophrenia as being incapable of making an informed decision, it is vital to involve them in the decision-making process since it is their health at stake and they have the right to make decisions also. Exceptional cases like where the victim is a minor or have been proved medically to be incapable of making such decisions are common, and it is only in such scenarios where the patient may be excluded from the decision-making process (Kakuma et al., 2011).
In most cases, schizophrenic patients live with their families, friends or extended families and it is always essential to ensure that all the people in close and frequent contact with the patient get to understand the condition their mate is suffering from to reduce conflicting instances. These family members and close acquaintances, commonly referred to as informal carers have to be actively involved in decision-making. Nurses have to ensure that the family members are presented with national policies and strategies that make it easier for them to assess the health needs of schizophrenic patients hence making it easier for the health practitioners to make informed decisions regarding the health status of the patient (Kakuma et al., 2011).
The support given to the schizophrenic patient has to be developed in a manner that makes it easier for both the nurse and family deliver health care that is manageable. Contact between the family and health practitioner is essential in ensuring that a strategy to offer the schizophrenic patient health care without any hardship or inequality on both ends hence regardless of the service provided by the family or nurse, the patient is satisfied (Richards et al., 2010). The family also plays a vital role in conjunction with the nurse and the patient may develop routines aimed at improving the health of the CDV schizophrenic patient. Like having routine chores that may enable the schizophrenic patient exercise. Diet management is also vital, and the parties involved may work together to develop a dietary routine that is healthy for the patient. Example, more vegetables may be included in the diet of the patient and foods with high levels of fats minimized, and this acts as a strategy to reinstate the health of the schizophrenic patient.
Characteristic health problems is also an area, which requires assistance and support from the parties involved; family and health practitioners. In some instances, schizophrenic patients with CVD may find it hard to express their emotions or communicate effectively. With the aid of the family, the connection that has been initially developed between the patients and their kinship they can be able to express their emotions or feelings. This may be vital in enabling health practitioners to make decisions regarding the health condition of the patient and develop supportive interventions (Kates et al., 2011).
Patients with schizophrenia and suffering from CDV’s are in most cases admitted to hospitals because of acute emergency conditions that can be easily avoided. Involvement of the patient’s family in the treatment process may play a significant role in minimizing the occurrence and likelihood of such emergency hospitalization cases depicting an improvement in the quality of life of the patient and limiting the economic burden because of frequent hospitalization of schizophrenic patients suffering from CDV’s. Engagement of the family and the nurse effectively ensures that knowledge and information for effective home-based care for the schizophrenic patient is initiated. The information provided by the nurse to the family and the victim is aimed at ensuring that the decisions made are sustainable and aim to improve the health status of the patient. Poor coordination and involvement of the parties in the treatment process increase the risks of failure, and the results may be deteriorated the health status of the patient or even mortality (Kates et al., 2011). To avoid such, it is always important to ensure that all the parties involved actively take part in the decision-making and initiation of health programs and strategies for the patient.
Roles played by different professionals in caring for schizophrenic victims suffering from CDV’s
Caring for schizophrenic patients with CDV involves various professionals. Nursing as a healthcare profession is considered the most involved in caring for these people but in reality, multiple professionals are involved but nurses play a major role, and that goes undisputed. The support provided by nurses is crucial as they provide physical care, public health advice and even support (Azad et al., 2016). The family and schizophrenic patient with CDV can share emotions and feelings with the nurse with the aim of relieving stress
Schizophrenic victims have a speech disorder. The order in which they organize their speech may be hard for others to understand. Speech pathologists role, in this case, is to work with these patients to help them manage their communication. These pathologists educate both the family and schizophrenic patient, and this is vital to enable the patient to communicate about their feelings and conditions about CDV’s. Communication is essential in ensuring that the right medication and decisions are made and limits the probability of misdiagnosis (Lee et al., 2017).
Apart from exercise, diet is important in enabling CDV patients to manage their conditions and live a healthy life. Dieticians help schizophrenic patients suffering from CDV’s and their families develop a healthy eating plan that is focused on the health needs of the victim. The objective is to enable the schizophrenic patient to eat healthy to reinstate their health condition or avoid risks factors that may lead to CDV. Emotional, practical and social support are required for schizophrenic patients with CDV and their families. These forms of support aid in relieving pain and gaining a better understanding of the system and social workers provide this support effectively (Lee et al., 2017). The families of schizophrenic CDV patients and the patients may take the initiative of enrolling themselves in societal groups that may offer these types of support or nurses, and other practitioners may pinpoint an organization where this support may be sort from. The main role of social workers, in this case, is to enable families, schizophrenic patients suffering from CDV adjust to changes, and experiences brought about because of the rehabilitation process (Azad et al., 2016). Pharmacists are also an essential professional in caring for schizophrenic patients with CDV. The medication provided to these patients may have effects and pharmacists may provide the information regarding these effects.
In some cases, the drugs provided may be ineffective, it is the role of the pharmacists to review the medication and advice health professionals on what changes can be made if necessary. Volunteers also work in close association with the health practitioners and aid in providing practical and emotional help. These include tasks such as getting schizophrenic patients to appointments. Specifically, volunteers do not replace paid health practitioners — psychologist’s aid in managing social factors, behaviors, and emotions related to schizophrenia and CDV. Psychologists may develop non-drug approaches that aid in the management of pain and health.
Pastoral care workers and chaplains are also essential healthcare professionals in managing schizophrenic patients suffering from CDV. Regardless of religion, pastoral care workers and chaplains provide emotional and spiritual support in rehabilitation.
The proposed plan of care and support
There is a need to develop a plan that is both manageable financially and sustainable in caring for schizophrenic patients with CVD. Lifestyle concerns are an important factor in the management of CDV. Practices such as smoking which is widely associated with CVD mortality is high among Schizophrenic patients as compared to the other population with indexes standing at about three times higher. Programs to ensure that these categories of people are educated against such practices are important as a health intervention to enable schizophrenic patients to limit risks for developing CDV (American Diabetes Association, 2015).
Schizophrenia is associated with a sedentary behavior that is associated with an increased risk of being overweight, a prerequisite risk for developing CDV. A plan to ensure that schizophrenic individuals engage in physical activities is essential and to improve their fitness hence reducing risks of developing Cardiovascular related illnesses (Bresee et al., 2010). The activities selected for a schizophrenic patient have to consider their functioning levels, and the nature of the psychiatric setting the victim is exposed to. Diet is also an important consideration when developing a care plan for schizophrenic patients. To avoid include foods rich in calories, carbohydrates, and fats as they increase the risk of CVD. People with schizophrenia have unhealthy diets if let to make diet decisions on their own, so it is important to develop a plan with balanced nutrition. Eating habits also have to be observed to ensure that these patients are served the right amounts of foods so that instances of overeating or undereating that may lead to eating disorders are minimized (De Hert et al., 2011).
Medication with Antipsychotic is a central and significant element in the treatment of schizophrenia. Some of this medication are obesogenic hence the need to ensure that these patients adopt an active lifestyle to reduce instances of developing CDV risks (Bresee et al., 2010). Adherence to medication is also a problem given the personal suffering associated with them, hence the need to include a plan that makes drug adherence a priority among these patients, and effectively may be making a family member monitor these patients to ensure that they do take their medication as prescribed.
Conclusion
Schizophrenia may be a rare condition but based on the facts, the economic burden is high, and interventions have to be made to ensure that the condition is managed and people suffering from it live a quality life, similarly to the other citizens in the country. Mortality and morbidity cases related to cardiovascular diseases are high among schizophrenic patients, hence the need for families and health professionals to intervene. Their sedentary lives and behaviors are considered as the main factors in them developing cardiovascular-related illnesses, whereby these diseases can be easily managed if proper care is initiated in time.
Various professionals are involved in the management of the health of schizophrenic patients, from families, social workers, nurses and even psychologists. Of importance is to ensure that proper communication is maintained for medication and all vital information assessed before decisions regarding the health of the victim are made. Schizophrenic patients also have the right to be involved in decision-making and made aware of the practices they are made to go through as a way of limiting aggressive behaviors that may be depicted at times.
References
American Diabetes Association. (2015). Standards of medical care in diabetes—2015 abridged for primary care providers. Clinical diabetes: a publication of the American Diabetes Association, 33(2), 97.
Azad, M. C., Shoesmith, W. D., Al Mamun, M., Abdullah, A. F., Naing, D. K. S., Phanindranath, M., & Turin, T. C. (2016). Cardiovascular diseases among patients with schizophrenia. Asian journal of psychiatry, 19, 28-36. Retrieved from http://www.ums.edu.my/fpsk/images/Journal/J.2016/2.11.pdf
Bradshaw, T., & Pedley, R. (2012). Evolving role of mental health nurses in the physical health care of people with serious mental health illness. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 21(3), 266-273.Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/41981126/Evolving_role_of_mental_health_nurses_in20160203-22315-151ydzs.pdf
Bresee, L. C., Majumdar, S. R., Patten, S. B., & Johnson, J. A. (2010). Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and disease in people with schizophrenia: a population-based study. Schizophrenia research, 117(1), 75-82.
Bresee, L. C., Majumdar, S. R., Patten, S. B., & Johnson, J. A. (2010). Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and disease in people with schizophrenia: a population-based study. Schizophrenia research, 117(1), 75-82.
De Hert, M., Correll, C. U., Bobes, J., Cetkovich?Bakmas, M. A. R. C. E. L. O., Cohen, D. A. N., Asai, I., ... & Newcomer, J. W. (2011). Physical illness in patients with severe mental disorders. I. Prevalence, impact of medications and disparities in health care. World psychiatry, 10(1), 52-77. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00014.x
Fan, Z., Wu, Y., Shen, J., Ji, T., & Zhan, R. (2013). Schizophrenia and the risk of cardiovascular diseases: a meta-analysis of thirteen cohort studies. Journal of psychiatric research, 47(11), 1549-1556.
Kakuma, R., Minas, H., van Ginneken, N., Dal Poz, M. R., Desiraju, K., Morris, J. E., ... & Scheffler, R. M. (2011). Human resources for mental health care: current situation and strategies for action. The Lancet, 378(9803), 1654-1663. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/entity/workforcealliance/knowledge/resources/lancet_hrmentalhealth_oct2011.pdf?ua=1
Kates, N., Mazowita, G., Lemire, F., Jayabarathan, A., Bland, R., Selby, P., ... & Audet, D. (2011). The evolution of collaborative mental health care in Canada: A shared vision for the future. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(5), I1.
Laursen, T. M., Munk-Olsen, T., & Vestergaard, M. (2012). Life expectancy and cardiovascular mortality in persons with schizophrenia. Current opinion in psychiatry, 25(2), 83-88.
Lee, J., Nurjono, M., Wong, A., & Salim, A. (2017). Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients with schizophrenia in Singapore. Retrieved from https://open-access.imh.com.sg/bitstream/123456789/4562/1/Prevalence%20of%20Metabolic%20Syndrome%20Among%20Patients%20with%20Schizophrenia%20in%20Singapore.pdf
Meehl, P. E. (2017). Schizotaxia, schizotypy, schizophrenia. In Schizophrenia (pp. 21-46). Routledge.
NHS. Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/
Richards, K., Campenni, C., & Muse-Burke, J. (2010). Self-care and well-being in mental health professionals: The mediating effects of self-awareness and mindfulness. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32(3), 247-264. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/C_Campenni/publication/279741291_Self-care_and_Well-being_in_Mental_Health_Professionals_The_Mediating_Effects_of_Self-awareness_and_Mindfulness/links/5bbb917d299bf1049b74f8d2/Self-care-and-Well-being-in-Mental-Health-Professionals-The-Mediating-Effects-of-Self-awareness-and-Mindfulness.pdf
Ringen, P. A., Engh, J. A., Birkenaes, A. B., Dieset, I., & Andreassen, O. A. (2014). Increased mortality in schizophrenia due to cardiovascular disease–a non-systematic review of epidemiology, possible causes, and interventions. Frontiers in psychiatry, 5, 137.
Taylor, M., & Perera, U. (2015). NICE CG178 Psychosis and Schizophrenia in Adults: Treatment and Management–an evidence-based guideline?. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 206(5), 357-359. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark_Taylor18/publication/275717402_NICE_CG178_Psychosis_and_Schizophrenia_in_Adults_Treatment_and_Management_-_an_evidence-based_guideline/links/55ed109d08ae21d099c7459b/NICE-CG178-Psychosis-and-Schizophrenia-in-Adults-Treatment-and-Management-an-evidence-based-guideline.pdf
Videbeck, S., & Videbeck, S. (2013). Psychiatric-mental health nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
World Health Organization. (2017). Noncommunicable diseases: progress monitor 2017.
Code Switching As Language Acquiring StrategyBackground and
Code Switching As Language Acquiring Strategy
Background and rationale
Control processes are what govern speech comprehension and production. In most cases, code-switching has been utilized by language speakers to achieve a particular objective, and in most cases, code-switching is influenced by recurrent demands dictated by the context of interaction (Auer, 2013). The globe is tremendously changing and given the fact that it is becoming a global village, learning foreign language especially international ones like English, Spanish, French and even mandarin is growing inevitable.
In the course of the conversation, it is necessary to decide on a particular code and change between various languages by either code-mixing or code-switching. In some instances, when multilingual or bilingual people converse, their first language influences them to a greater extent yet there is a way to control the first language’s influence. For the people, not very conversant with international foreign languages, cognitive control of code-switching may be the most effective way of enhancing their understanding of foreign languages. Myers?Scotton (2017) states that most monolingual speakers view multilingualism as unimportant as they fail to understand the real essence of multilingualism or bilingualism in real life and this has been found to be the primary holding back factor against them developing interests in learning foreign languages.
Aims and Objectives
The primary objective of this research is to understand the more excellent details of how cognitive code-switching may be utilized as a strategy for enhancing multilingualism. Other goals to be satisfied by this research include; determine the perception the community has towards code-switching and the impact of code-switching on learning foreign languages.
Research questions
Research questions that are aimed at guiding this research include;
a. What is the impact of cognitive code-switching on conversations?
b. What perceptions do the people have on code-switching and learning foreign languages?
c. What influence does code-switching have on learning foreign languages?
Theoretical framework and methodological approach
The focus for the research revolves around institutions of higher learning in China, explicitly selecting Chinese students. The main reason behind the selection of this group of people is the exposure they have gained in foreign languages that have molded their unique view of the society, politics and ethic portions of the different people in China.
Data collection, analysis, and discussion are the major considerate activities to be undertaken for the research to be complete. The primary source of data would be reviews from literature and the responses made by the study sample of 100 students selected randomly from Chinese students in institutions of higher learning within the country.
The principal method of data collection to be utilized for the research is questionnaires with standardized Likert scale format. The scale comprises of indexes labeled 1-5. Where 1- strongly agree, 2- agree, 3- undecided, 4- disagree, 5- strongly disagree. Instructions ought to be offered before the respondents are included in the research to ensure that validity is observed.
The main collaboration deemed essential in this research is support from the languages department of the university. The lecturers and other stakeholders in the department are considered the main consultants in this case and their support would be highly appreciated.
On matters ethics, safeguarding the respondent’s information, using the data for the right intended purpose and seeking informed consent before incorporating respondents into the research would be the key factors to consider.
Analytic discussion of scholarly research to date
The issue of cognitive code-switching has been the focus for most researchers recently, and this may be as a result of the increased intercultural interaction being experienced all over the globe currently. Thanks to contributions by Shana Poplack and Carol Myers-Scottons contributions in the area of linguistic code-switching as their models form the basis for most researches in the sector and formation of strategies that facilitate second language acquisition. The research apart from contributing to the literature in the sector, also play a role in the coining of strategies that aim at effectively utilizing cognitive code-switching in learning foreign languages.
References
Auer, P. (Ed.). (2013). Code-switching in conversation: Language, interaction and identity. Routledge. Retrieved from http://catalogtxtgin.info/peter-auer-code-switching-in-conversation-language-interaction-and-identitypdf-archive-gin-book.pdf
Myers?Scotton, C. (2017). Code?switching. The handbook of sociolinguistics, 217-237.
STAFF FUTUREHuman resource management in projects is
STAFF FUTURE
Human resource management in projects is of crucial importance. The success or failure of a project largely hinges on the way the human resource management department functions, coupled up with the programs and strategies enacted to manage employees in the project. Facts have it that project durations differ, like one project may run for a week while others run for over a decade, but regardless of the duration, all projects aimed at delivering what was initially promised. Failure to deliver means the project is a failure and was just as good as not being run.
For our case, project A is expected to run till 2025, and with the current employees, the dilemma is the human resource management plan. Is there need to recruit more employees or does using the current pool of employees till the end of the project advisable. The most viable option may be to use the current pool of employees to the end of the project but in various, unavoidable circumstances recruitment of new employees may be inevitable especially in instances where new skills and expertise that is missing in the current pool of employees is required.
The first significant reason behind settling for using the current pool of employees until the end of the project is workplace culture. Staff are a replaceable resource, but the quality of experience and dedication among the employees is an essential ingredient to project success. Workplace culture is developed only when employees get to interact over a more extended period working together and with a high turnover of employees in the form of newer recruitments, developing and maintaining a workplace culture may be hard.
Loyalty is also created when the employees who started the project are retained to completion. The impact loyalty creates is that a positive relationship between the project management team and the employees is established which goes a long way into ensuring that the employees are satisfied. With satisfaction, morale is boosted among the employees hence the quality of deliverables raised, conflict resolution becomes an easy task to handles, and it is more likely that these employees may go beyond what is required from them with the aim of aiding the project, something that may be unfamiliarly experienced with recruited new employees.
Retaining employees also improves their experience with the approach of project management the organisation utilises and this is invaluable. These employees compared to recruited ones are always in a better position to advertise the organisation hence increase its marketability, unlike newer contracted employees. The quality of projects delivered by these teams is always of high quality hence endear the project organisation to its clients.
The other issue at stake is identifying top talent that can be maintained by the shareholders. There are various strategies that can be applied, first would be important to do away with the traditional aspects of identifying top talents which solely relied on the manager’s instincts and deductions from observations.
Leadership would be the foundation for selecting top talents based on three vital leadership aspects which are foundations of leadership, emergence and lastly effectiveness. With foundation, one would observe how employees manage their careers, example how they handle work-related issues like conflicts and social interaction. With leadership emergence, the employees may be categorised based on how they stand out as compared to their peers. Those that are naturally viewed as leaders and exert a massive influence on their peers may always prove to be top talents as compared to others. Lastly under aspects of leadership when identifying top talent is leadership effectiveness. Under leadership effectiveness, especially for the project team, the focus may be on team leaders. Like the leaders who always drive their teams to success always stand out and these leaders also have to depict some sense of maintaining these high performing teams and this is primarily based on their leadership skills.
In accordance with Harvard Business Review, the other strategy that may be applied in the move to identify top talent is to use three distinguished markers which are a drive, social skills and ability. On ability, the employees with the capability of strategically thinking and adapting to the organizations changing environments are considered top talents and may prove crucial if maintained by the organisation. Emotional intelligence is what defines social skills, and top talents in an organisation are the employees able to carry themselves with integrity and dignity apart from effectively managing others. Lastly, is a drive which is the will and desire to work extra hard as compared to one’s peers and driven by the desire to achieve. Behaviorally, the drive can be manifested through the willingness of an employee to take additional roles, sacrifices made and eagerness to take newer responsibilities. Incorporating the two distinct aspects of identifying top talents in an organisation may prove useful.
What happens with the other employees once top talents have been identified and projects have been completed primarily rests with the stakeholders of the project, but productive advice is that the contracts with these employees have to be maintained in a manner that is cheaper and easily managed by the organisation. The reason behind such a decision is that, even though these employees may not be top talents, they have the experience and expertise of running a project based on the experience gained and may prove beneficial to the organisation in future. These employees may be easier to incorporate in future projects as compared to newer recruits.
[SOLVED] Which company has the most efficient SG&A / Sales ratio?
Which company has the most efficient SG&A / Sales ratio?
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Your Competitive Intelligence team reports that a wave of product liability lawsuits is likely to cause Digby to pull the product Dome entirely off the market this year. Assume Digby scraps all capacity and inventory this round, completely writing off those assets and escrowing the proceeds to a settlement fund, and assume these lawsuits will have no effect on any other products of Digby or other companies. Without Digby's product Dome how much can the industry currently produce in the Core segment? Consider only products primarily in the Core segment last year. Ignore current inventories. Figures in thousands (000).
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11,860
[SOLVED] Last year Aft charged $5,040,000 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews.
Last year Aft charged $5,040,000 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews. If Aft sold a fully depreciated piece of equipment at a loss, the effect on Andrews's financial statements would be (all other items remaining equal):
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Currently Chester is paying a dividend of $10.65 (per share). If this dividend stayed the same, but the stock price rose by 10% what would be the dividend yield?
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In the Month of March, Digby Corporation received orders of 145 units at a price of $15.00 for their product Daze. Digby uses the accrual method of accounting and offers 30 day credit terms. Digby delivers 96 units in March and the balance of 48 units in April. They received payment for 48 units in March, 48 units in April, and 48 units in May. How much revenue is recognized on the March income statement from this order? How much in the April Income statement? (Answer in thousands)
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Chester Corporation is considering adding capacity to their Cake product, currently automated to 7.0. Assume: - They will use the new capacity next year to make and sell 200 additional units (000). - Each unit of capacity will cost $34.00. - Cake's price will be unchanged at $34.00. - Material costs will remain $13.04 next year. - Labor costs will remain $5.34 on first shift, and $7.91 on second shift. - Bond interest will remain 12.3% next year. - Depreciation will be straight line over 15 years. - SG&A costs can be ignored because they would be the same with or without the new capacity. Which of the following tactics will yield the highest ROI in their first year of production?
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Buy 100 units of capacity. Finance the $3,400 purchase entirely with a stock issue
Chester Corp. is downsizing the size of their workforce by 10% (to the nearest person) next year from various strategic initiatives. How much will the company pay in separation costs if each worker receives $5,000 when separated?
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[SOLVED] The Baldwin's balance sheet has $94,137,000 in equity.
The Baldwin's balance sheet has $94,137,000 in equity. Further, the company is expecting $3,000,000 in net income next year. Assuming no dividends are paid and no stock is issued, what would their Book Value be next year?
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The Digby company will continue to train their existing workforce at their current level to help reduce turnover and improve productivity next year. Employee training costs $20 per hour. How much would their training costs per employee be to the nearest dollar?
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[SOLVED] Which description best fits Chester in your industry? For clarity:
Which description best fits Chester in your industry? For clarity: - A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility. - A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers. - A broad player competes in all parts of the market. - A niche player competes in selected parts of the market. Which of these four statements best describes this competitor?
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Assuming no brokerage fees, calculate the amount of cash needed to retire Baldwin's 11.2S2027 bond early.
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-$775,219
The Chester company will increase its automation for the Cid product by 2.0. Assuming no further change in capacity, how much will this investment in automation cost?
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How much would it cost for Chester Corporation to repurchase all its outstanding shares if the price went up by 10%? Assume no brokerage fees.
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Of Chester Corporation’s products, which earned the lowest direct labor as a percentage of its sales?
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Chester has negotiated a new labor contract for the next round that will affect the cost for their product Cake. Labor costs will go from $7.51 to $8.11 per unit. Assume all period and other variable costs remain the same. If Chester were to absorb the new labor costs without passing them on in the form of higher prices, how many units of product Cake would need to be sold next round to break even on the product?
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1,354
[SOLVED] The Baldwin company currently has the following balances on their balance sheet:
The Baldwin company currently has the following balances on their balance sheet: Assets $219,040 Common Stock $52,266 Retained earnings $34,045 Suppose next year the Baldwin Company generates $20,000 in net profit, pays $10,000 in dividends, assets change to $151,000, and common stock remains unchanged. What must their total liabilities be next year?
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The statement of cash flows for Baldwin Company shows what happens in the Cash account during the year. It can be seen as a summary of the sources and uses of cash (sources of cash are added, uses of cash are subtracted). Please answer which of the following is true if Baldwin issues bonds:
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The Baldwin's workforce complement will grow by 10% (rounded to the nearest person) next year. Ignoring downsizing from automating, what would their total recruiting cost be? Assume Baldwin spends the same amount extra above the $1,000 recruiting base as they did last year.
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Chester Corp. ended the year carrying $14,319,000 worth of inventory. Had they sold their entire inventory at their current prices, how much more revenue would it have brought to Chester Corp.?
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Which description best fits Digby? For clarity: - A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility. - A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers. - A broad player competes in all parts of the market. - A niche player competes in selected parts of the market. Which of these four statements best describes this competitor?
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Next year Baldwin plans to include an additional performance bonus of 0.25% in its compensation plan. This incentive will be provided in addition to the annual raise, if productivity goals are reached. Assuming the goals are reached, how much will Baldwin pay its employees per hour?
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It is January 2nd and senior management of Baldwin meets to determine their investment plan for the year. They decide to fully fund a plant and equipment purchase by issuing 75,000 shares of stock plus a new bond issue. Assume the stock can be issued at yesterday’s stock price ($27.57) and leverage changes to 2.8. Which of the following statements are true? Select all that apply.
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[SOLVED] On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a Period cost?
On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a Period cost?
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[SOLVED] This year Andrews achieved an ROE of 18.4%.
This year Andrews achieved an ROE of 18.4%. Suppose the Board of Directors of Andrews mandates that management take measures to decrease financial Leverage (Assets/Equity) next year. Assuming Sales, Profits, and Assets remain the same next year, what effect would you expect this new Leverage policy will have on Andrews's ROE?
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Andrews ROE will increase
[SOLVED] What is the Profit Margin of Chester?
What is the Profit Margin of Chester?
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[SOLVED] The Chester Company has just issued $6,493,586 in dividends last year.
The Chester Company has just issued $6,493,586 in dividends last year. The effect of this payment on the balance sheet is:
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[SOLVED] Review the Inquirer to determine Chester’s current strategy
Review the Inquirer to determine Chester’s current strategy. Where will they seek a competitive advantage? From the following list, select the top five sources of competitive advantage that Chester would be most likely to pursue.
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Which description best fits Baldwin in your industry? For clarity: - A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility. - A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers. - A broad player competes in all parts of the market. - A niche player competes in selected parts of the market. Which of these four statements best describes this competitor?
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Rank the following companies from high to low cumulative profit, (in descending order, 1=highest, 4=lowest).
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The Andrews Company has just purchased $59,328,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. The expected salvage value at the end of 15 years is $5,932,800. What will the depreciation expense for this purchase (exclude all other plant and equipment) be for the second year of use? (Use FASB GAAP)
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$3,559,680
[SOLVED]Midyear on July 31st, the Digby Corporation's balance sheet reported:
Midyear on July 31st, the Digby Corporation's balance sheet reported: Total Liabilities of $25.487 million Cash of $2.010 million Total Assets of $40.680 million Total Common Stock of $1.270 million. What were the Digby Corporation's retained earnings?
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[SOLVED]Chester has an asset turnover of 1.53 (Asset Turnover = Sales/Assets). That means:
Chester has an asset turnover of 1.53 (Asset Turnover = Sales/Assets). That means:
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Chester's Elite product Cedar has an awareness of 72%. Chester's Cedar product manager for the Elite segment is determined to have more awareness for Cedar than Andrews' Elite product Acre. She knows that the first $1M in promotion generates 22% new awareness, the second million adds 23% more and the third million adds another 5%. She also knows one-third of Cedar's existing awareness is lost every year. Assuming that Acre's awareness stays the same next year (77%), out of the promotion budgets below, what is the minimum Chester's Elite product manager should spend in promotion to earn more awareness than Andrews' Acre product?
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Which description best fits Andrews? For clarity: - A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility. - A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers. - A broad player competes in all parts of the market. - A niche player competes in selected parts of the market. Which of these four statements best describes your company's current strategy?
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Assuming no direct factory overhead costs (i.e., inventory carry costs) and $2.75 million dollars in combined promotion and sales budget, the Bold product manager wishes to achieve a product contribution margin of 30%. Given their product currently is priced at $35.00, what would they need to limit the material and labor costs to?
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According to information found on the production analysis page of the Inquirer, Chester sold 1129 units of Cake in the current year. Assuming that Cake maintains a constant market share, all the units of Cake are sold in the Nano market segment and the growth rate remains constant, how many years will it be before Cake will not be able to meet future demand unless the company adds production capacity? Exclude any existing inventory.
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Assuming Digby’s current market share for its Dell product remains the same, how many units of Dell should Digby expect to sell in the primary segment for the upcoming year?
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A productivity index of 110% means that a company’s labor costs would have been 10% higher if it had not made production improvements. Assume that Digby had a productivity index of 112% and that Baldwin had a productivity index of 103%. Now refer to the Income Statements in the Annual Report for Digby and Baldwin. Using the labor costs shown in the Income Statements, how much more did Digby save in direct labor costs compared to Baldwin by having a higher productivity index?
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Looking forward to next year, if Chester’s current cash amount is $17,624 (000) and cash flows from operations next period are unchanged from this period and Chester takes ONLY the following actions relating to cash flows from investing and financing activities: Issues $2,000 (000) of long-term debt Pays $4,000 (000) in dividends Retires $10,000 (000) in debt Which of the following activities will expose Chester to the most risk of needing an emergency loan?
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Investing $2,000,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 1.7% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM.xls Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,712,225. Assuming similar sales next year, the 1.7% increase in demand will provide $2,783,108 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.2%, after direct costs this revenue will add $951,823 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $2,000,000 TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?
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Bid is a product of the Baldwin company which is primarily in the Nano segment, but is also sold in another segment. Baldwin starts to create their sales forecast by assuming all policies (R&D, Marketing, and Production) for all competitors are equal this year over last. For this question assume that all 700 of units of Bid are sold in the Nano segment. If the competitive environment remains unchanged what will be the Bid product’s demand next year (in 000’s)?
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Demand is created through meeting customer buying criteria, credit terms, awareness (promotion) and accessibility (distribution). According to the Thrift segment's customers, which of these products was the most competitive at the end of last year?
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The statement of cash flows for Baldwin Company shows what happens in the Cash account during the year. It can be seen as a summary of the sources and uses of cash (sources of cash are added, uses of cash are subtracted). Please answer which of the following is true if Baldwin repurchases some of its common stock:
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This year Andrews achieved an ROE of 19.9%. Suppose next year the profit margin (Net Income/Sales) increases. Assuming sales, assets and financial leverage remain the same next year, what effect would you expect this action to have on Andrews's ROE?
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[SOLVED]On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a Period cost?
On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a Period cost?
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It is January 2nd and senior management of Digby meets to determine their investment plan for the year. They decide to fully fund a plant and equipment purchase by issuing $10,000,000 in bonds. Assume the bonds are issued at face value and leverage changes to 2.8. Which of the following statements are true? Select all that apply.
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The Digby's workforce complement will grow by 20% (rounded to the nearest person) next year. Ignoring downsizing from automating, what would their total recruiting cost be? Assume Digby spends the same amount extra above the $1,000 recruiting base as they did last year.
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Next year Baldwin plans to include an additional performance bonus of 0.5% in its compensation plan. This incentive will be provided in addition to the annual raise, if productivity goals are reached. Assuming the goals are reached, how much will Baldwin pay its employees per hour?
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Suppose the Chester company begins to compete through good designs, high awareness and easy accessibility for their existing products, what strategy would they be implementing?
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[SOLVED]Baldwin Corp. ended the year carrying $17,515,000 worth of inventory.
Baldwin Corp. ended the year carrying $17,515,000 worth of inventory. Had they sold their entire inventory at their current prices, how much more revenue would it have brought to Baldwin Corp.?
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The Andrews company currently has the following balances in their equity accounts: Common Stock $14,081 Retained earnings $101,016 Suppose next year the Andrews company generates $46,300 in Net Profit, and declares and pays $16,000 in Dividends. What will Andrews ending balance in Retained Earnings be next year?
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[SOLVED]The Baldwin company will sell 100 units (x1000) of capacity from their Bat product line
The Baldwin company will sell 100 units (x1000) of capacity from their Bat product line. Each unit of capacity is worth $6 plus $4 per automation rating. The Baldwin company will sell the capacity for 35% off. How much do they receive when the capacity is sold?
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Chester has negotiated a new labor contract for the next round that will affect the cost for their product Coat. Labor costs will go from $2.94 to $3.44 per unit. Assume all period and variable costs as reported on Chester's Income Statement remain the same. If Chester were to pass on half the new labor costs to their customers, how many units of product Coat would need to be sold next round to break even on the product?
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Of Baldwin Corporation’s products, which earned the lowest direct labor as a percentage of its sales?
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Assuming Brokerage fees of $6000, calculate the amount of cash needed to retire Baldwin's 11.2S2029 bond early.
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How much would it cost for Chester Corporation to repurchase all its outstanding shares if the price went up by 10%? Assume no brokerage fees.
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[SOLVED]Refer to the HR Report section of the Inquirer
Refer to the HR Report section of the Inquirer. Chester will continue to keep their current hourly levels of training in order to help reduce turnover and improve productivity next year. How much must be spent per employee on an hourly basis to maintain the current training commitment?
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Suppose you were hired as a consultant for a company that wants to penetrate the Comp-XM market. This company wants to pursue a niche differentiation strategy. From last year’s reports, which company would be the strongest competitor?
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Currently Baldwin is paying a dividend of $14.68 (per share). If this dividend were raised by $3.64, given its current stock price what would be the Dividend Yield?
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[SOLVED]Which company has the most efficient SG&A / Sales ratio?
Which company has the most efficient SG&A / Sales ratio?
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In the Month of March, Chester received orders of 147 units at a price of $15.00 for their product Coat, and in April receives an order for 37 units of their product Coat at $15.00. Chester uses the accrual method of accounting and offers 30 day credit terms. Chester delivers 0 units in March, 147 units in April and 37 units in May. They received payment for 147 units in April, and payment for 37 units in May. How much revenue is recognized on the March income statement from this order? How much in the April Income statement? (Answer in thousands)
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Your Competitive Intelligence team is predicting that the Chester Company will invest in adding capacity to their Cake product this year. Assume Chester's product Cake invests in increasing its capacity by 10% this year. Because of this new information, your company anticipates all other products in the Core segment will increase their capacity by the same amount. How much can the industry produce in the Core segment the next year? Consider only products primarily in the Core segment last year. Ignore current inventories. Figures in thousands (000).
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[SOLVED]Last year Abby charged $2,256,000 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews.
Last year Abby charged $2,256,000 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews. If Abby sold a fully depreciated piece of equipment at a loss, the effect on Andrews's financial statements would be (all other items remaining equal):
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Assume Baldwin is producing 600 units of Buddy next year. What would Buddy's plant utilization be?
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[SOLVED]Chester's balance sheet has $75,340,000 in equity
Chester's balance sheet has $75,340,000 in equity. If next year, assets decrease by $4,000,000 and liabilities increase by $2,000,000, what will be Chester's book value?
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Assume Baldwin Corp. is downsizing the size of their workforce by 15% (to the nearest person) next year from various strategic initiatives. Baldwin is planning to conduct exit interviews to learn more about how they can improve in processes and increase productivity. The exit interviews are estimated to cost $100 per employee in additional to normal separation costs of $5000. How much will the company pay in separation costs if these exit interviews are implemented next year?
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[SOLVED]Bill's product manager continues to perform well in the market.
Bill's product manager continues to perform well in the market. However, a competing product is coming on strong and is looking to take over as the market share leader in the segment. Without sacrificing contribution margin, what can the Bill product manager do in order to improve upon the buying criteria, and thus potentially increase demand?
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Assuming no direct factory overhead costs (i.e., inventory carry costs) and $3 million dollars in combined promotion and sales budget, the Daft product manager wishes to achieve a product contribution margin of 35%. Given their product currently is priced at $35.00, what would they need to limit the material and labor costs to?
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According to information found on the production analysis page of the Inquirer, Baldwin sold 1128 units of Bill in the current year. Assuming that Bill maintains a constant market share, all the units of Bill are sold in the Nano market segment and the growth rate remains constant, how many years will it be before Bill will not be able to meet future demand unless the company adds production capacity? Exclude any existing inventory.
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Which description best fits Andrews? For clarity: - A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility. - A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers. - A broad player competes in all parts of the market. - A niche player competes in selected parts of the market. Which of these four statements best describes your company's current strategy?
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[SOLVED]Baldwin's Elite product Boat has an awareness of 72%.
Baldwin's Elite product Boat has an awareness of 72%. Baldwin's Boat product manager for the Elite segment is determined to have more awareness for Boat than Andrews' Elite product Axe. She knows that the first $1M in promotion generates 22% new awareness, the second million adds 23% more and the third million adds another 5%. She also knows one-third of Boat's existing awareness is lost every year. Assuming that Axe's awareness stays the same next year (77%), out of the promotion budgets below, what is the minimum Baldwin's Elite product manager should spend in promotion to earn more awareness than Andrews' Axe product?
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Bill is a product of the Baldwin company which is primarily in the Nano segment, but is also sold in another segment. Baldwin starts to create their sales forecast by assuming all policies (R&D, Marketing, and Production) for all competitors are equal this year over last. For this question assume that all 1128 of units of Bill are sold in the Nano segment. If the competitive environment remains unchanged what will be the Bill product’s demand next year (in 000’s)?
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Investing $2,000,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 1.7% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM.xls Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,508,343. Assuming similar sales next year, the 1.7% increase in demand will provide $2,779,642 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.1%, after direct costs this revenue will add $947,858 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $2,000,000 TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?
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[SOLVED]Looking forward to next year, if Baldwin’s current cash amount is $17,334 (000)
Looking forward to next year, if Baldwin’s current cash amount is $17,334 (000) and cash flows from operations next period are unchanged from this period and Baldwin takes ONLY the following actions relating to cash flows from investing and financing activities: Issues $2,000 (000) of long-term debt Pays $4,000 (000) in dividends Retires $10,000 (000) in debt Which of the following activities will expose Baldwin to the most risk of needing an emergency loan?
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A productivity index of 110% means that a company’s labor costs would have been 10% higher if it had not made production improvements. Now refer to the Income Statement in Chester's Annual Report. The direct labor costs for Chester were $32,611. These labor costs could have been $20,000 higher if investments in training that increased productivity had not been made. What was the productivity index for Chester that led to such savings?
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From a marginal analysis perspective, what is the inventory carry cost for Andrews if the company carries one additional unit of Axe in inventory at the end?
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[SOLVED]What is the Profit Margin of Chester?
What is the Profit Margin of Chester?
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[SOLVED]Baldwin has an asset turnover of 1.52 (Asset Turnover = Sales/Assets). That means:
Baldwin has an asset turnover of 1.52 (Asset Turnover = Sales/Assets). That means:
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[SOLVED]Midyear on July 31st, the Chester Corporation's balance sheet reported:
Midyear on July 31st, the Chester Corporation's balance sheet reported: Total Liabilities of $25.439 million Cash of $2.010 million Total Assets of $40.623 million Total Common Stock of $1.270 million. What were the Chester Corporation's retained earnings?
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[SOLVED]Which mission statement best represents the Chester company?
Which mission statement best represents the Chester company?
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Review the Inquirer to determine Digby's current strategy. How will they seek a competitive advantage? From the following list, select the top five sources of competitive advantage that Digby would be most likely to pursue.
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The Andrews Company has just purchased $59,328,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. The expected salvage value at the end of 15 years is $5,932,800. What will the depreciation expense for this purchase (exclude all other plant and equipment) be for the second year of use? (Use FASB GAAP)
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If Baldwin issued 1000 shares of common stock at last year's end price, the effect on the balance sheet would be:
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Next year Baldwin plans to include an additional performance bonus of 0.5% in its compensation plan. This incentive will be provided in addition to the annual raise, if productivity goals are reached. Assuming the goals are reached, how much will Baldwin pay its employees per hour?
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[SOLVED]Suppose the Digby company shifts focus to only competing in the Thrift and Nano segment
Suppose the Digby company shifts focus to only competing in the Thrift and Nano segments, while competing on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to the customers, what strategy would they be implementing?
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[SOLVED]Andrews Corp. ended the year carrying $10,749,000 worth of inventory.
Andrews Corp. ended the year carrying $10,749,000 worth of inventory. Had they sold their entire inventory at their current prices, how many more dollars of contribution margin would it have brought to Andrews Corp.?
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It is January 2nd. Senior management of Digby meets to determine their investment plan for the year. They decide to fully fund a plant and equipment purchase by issuing 50,000 shares of stock plus a new bond issue. The CFO happily notes this will raise their Leverage (=assets/equity) to a new target of 2.8. Assume the stock can be issued at yesterday’s stock price ($27.43). Which of the following statements are true? Check all that apply.
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The statement of cash flows for Baldwin Company shows what happens in the Cash account during the year. It can be seen as a summary of the sources and uses of cash (sources of cash are added, uses of cash are subtracted). Please answer which of the following is true if Baldwin issues bonds:
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This year Andrews achieved an ROE of 18.6%. Suppose management takes measures that decrease Asset turnover (Sales/Total Assets) next year. Assuming Sales, Profits, and financial leverage remain the same, what effect would you expect this action to have on Andrews's ROE?
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[SOLVED]On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a variable cost?
On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a variable cost?
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The Digby's workforce complement will grow by 20% (rounded to the nearest person) next year. Ignoring downsizing from automating, what would their total recruiting cost be? Assume Digby spends the same amount extra above the $1,000 recruiting base as they did last year.
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Assuming Brokerage fees of $6000, calculate the amount of cash needed to retire Baldwin's 11.2S2029 bond early.
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The Chester company will continue to train their existing workforce at their current level to help reduce turnover and improve productivity next year. Employee training costs have increased to $30 per hour. How much would their training costs per employee be to the nearest dollar?
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Suppose you were hired as a consultant for a company that wants to penetrate the Comp-XM market. This company wants to pursue a niche cost leader strategy. From last year’s reports, which company would be the strongest competitor?
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The Baldwin company will increase its automation for the Best product by 2.0. Assuming no further change in capacity, how much will this investment in automation cost?
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If Chester Corp. were to buy all of it's shares outstanding at its current price, how much would it cost Chester Corp, excluding brokerage fees?
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$144 million
Baldwin has negotiated a new labor contract for the next round that will affect the cost for their product Bill. Labor costs will go from $7.70 to $8.20 per unit. In addition, their material costs have fallen from $13.66 to $12.66. Assume all period costs as reported on Baldwin's Income Statement remain the same. If Baldwin were to pass on half the new costs of labor and half the savings in materials to customers by adjusting the price of their product, how many units of product Bill would need to be sold next round to break even on the product?
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Of Baldwin Corporation’s products, which earned the lowest direct labor as a percentage of its sales?
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[SOLVED]Last year Attic charged $2,216,000 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews
Last year Attic charged $2,216,000 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews. If early this year Attic sold all its depreicable assets for their book value, the effect on Andrews's financial statements would be (all other items remaining equal):
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Assume Baldwin is producing 600 units of Boat next year. What would Boat's plant utilization be?
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[SOLVED]Chester's balance sheet has $73,467,000 in equity.
Chester's balance sheet has $73,467,000 in equity. Next year they expect Assets to increase by $4,000,000 and Liabilities to decrease by $2,000,000. If that happens, what will be Chester's book value?
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[SOLVED]Which company has the least efficient SG&A/Sales ratio?
Which company has the least efficient SG&A/Sales ratio?
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[SOLVED] Currently Baldwin is paying a dividend of $13.14 (per share).
Currently Baldwin is paying a dividend of $13.14 (per share). If this dividend were raised by $3.64, given its current stock price what would be the Dividend Yield?
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Chester Corp. is downsizing the size of their workforce by 10% (to the nearest person) next year from various strategic initiatives. How much will the company pay in separation costs if each worker receives $5,000 when separated?
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In the Month of March, Chester Corporation received orders of 153 units at a price of $15.00 for their product Clack. Chester uses the accrual method of accounting and offers 30 day credit terms. Chester delivers 102 units in March and the balance of 51 units in April. They received payment for 51 units in March, 51 units in April, and 51 units in May. How much revenue is recognized on the March income statement from this order? How much in the April Income statement? (Answer in thousands)
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[SOLVED] Your Competitive Intelligence team is predicting that the Chester Company
Your Competitive Intelligence team is predicting that the Chester Company will invest in adding capacity to their Cure product this year. Assume Chester's product Cure invests in increasing its capacity by 10% this year. Because of this new information, your company anticipates all other products in the Core segment will increase their capacity by the same amount. How much can the industry produce in the Core segment the next year? Consider only products primarily in the Core segment last year. Ignore current inventories. Figures in thousands (000).
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A productivity index of 110% means that
A productivity index of 110% means that a company’s labor costs would have been 10% higher if it had not made production improvements. Assume that Baldwin had a productivity index of 112% and that Chester had a productivity index of 103%. Now refer to the Income Statements in the Annual Report for Baldwin and Chester. Using the labor costs shown in the Income Statements, how much more did Baldwin save in direct labor costs compared to Chester by having a higher productivity index?
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$3,340
$3,499
$3,181
$2,863
I am in need of some one to take my COMP-XM examination for me
I am in need of some one to take my COMP-XM examination for me
[SOLVED] example of company performance analysis. select
[SOLVED] example of company performance analysis. select two companies and compare their financial structures including WACC, book value, and market value.
United States steel is a steel production company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1901. The company area of operation includes the USA and central Europe. The company generated revenue of 10 billion in 2016 financial year. Facebook, on the other hand, is a social media platform founded in 2004. The company is based in Menlo Park California. The company generated a revenue of 27 billion 2016 financial year. These companies operate in different industries. Therefore, the underlying conditions that influence the earning of companies may be totally different. Besides, their assets and expenses are totally different. A company like Facebook invest most on research and development while a company like US steel invest heavily on plant and equipment.
United States steel (X) have 176,000,000 outstanding shares while Facebook have 2,930,000,000 outstanding shares. The price per share for United States steel (X) is 35.48 USD and for Facebook (FB) is 161.89 USD. Therefore, the value of United States Steel (X) is 6,244,480,000 USD and for Facebook (FB) is 474,337,700,000 USD (Yahoo, 2019). The book value of the company is calculated by taking the total asset value less total liability. Therefore the book value of each company is as calculated below
[SOLVED] UMGC Data 620 Assignment 7.2Your name:
[SOLVED] UMGC Data 620 Assignment 7.2
Your name:
Date:
Each student runs the Python development environment Jupyter Notebook! Using the browser from the computer, prints “hello world” and writes a Celsius to Fahrenheit converter.
Turn in separate document(s) with the following items. Please label each with the TURN IN # statement so we can easily follow it.
Deliverable
Description
Points
TURN IN #1
Turn in a screen shot of your successful editor Jupyter Notebook.
1
TURN IN #2
Turn in screen shot(s) showing “hello world” program execution with your name as the input string.
1
(You can put TURN IN #1 and TURN IN #2 in the same Word document.)
TURN IN #3
Your Python code to perform a Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion. Name your python file “XXXX-temp.ipynb” where XXXX is your name. Your deliverable here is just the Python notebook; you don’t need to include screen shots. (Note there is a Rubric for Python programs (located also in this week’s materials) for how we will grade this.)
8
TOTAL
10
The following walkthrough exercises from “Python for Everybody – Exploring Data Using Python 3” by Charles R. Severance are included here:
Chapter 1: Exercises 5, 7, 9
Chapter 2: Exercises 2, 3, 4
You are encouraged to walk through these exercises. To do this, you should type the commands into your computer and make sure they give the same results as here.
Browsing the Python Jupyter IDLE (Integrated Development Environment), writing and running a program:
Try Jupyter out without installing anything.
Step 1:
Go to Jupter
Sometimes the screen will look slightly different, like this below. In that case, you need to “Try Classic Notebook”
You will get binder starting Python IDE (give it some seconds), then you will see this screen below:
Step 2:
Figure 1 into My Content area.
Figure 1: Nashville Housing Data location
o Navigate to My content and make sure that you see a copy of the Nashville housing data.
o Select Create data module from action menu in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Create data module
o The new data module will open. Click on an arrow next to save icon in Figure 3 and select save as to save new data module into my content.
Figure 3: Save Data module
o Click on Nashville housing data csv in the left panel in Figure 4 to preview data.
Figure 4: Preview data
b) Handle Missing data
Cognos Analytics represents missing data as Null
Apply the approaches in the assigned readings to handle missing data, including filtering rows, removing columns, and replacing the missing value with the average. Discuss the approaches you used in your paper.
c) Handle irrelevant variables – Which variables in the data are irrelevant? Explain why they are irrelevant and how you handle them.
Make sure to save the data module before moving on to the next part of the assignment.
4. Explore the dataset:
Return to the Welcome page and expand My Content
Select Create exploration from the action menu of the Nashville housing data module in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Create Exploration
a) Are there outliers? If so, what fields have outliers and what do you recommend as solutions?
b) Pose an initial set of questions to use for data exploration. Provide any insights gained from using Cognos Analytics with this dataset
a) Develop new specific questions which provide additional insights into and answer specific questions from the dataset. Discuss how these insights could be useful. Discuss how you would improve the relevancy.
b) Develop and explain at least five different visualizations. Experiment with the available options and summarize the results. Provide insights to what the visualizations show.
c) Utilize features (e.g., filters, comparisons) with the visualizations to uncover and explain interesting aspects of the data set.
d) Create and explain at least one insightful calculation. Discuss why this would be useful.
Submission
Each student will submit a single document conforming to the guidelines and standards outlined below.
Document format:
§ limited to 8 pages (excluding title page, references, and appendix),
§ Double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1” margins, Bottom-right page numbering.
Note: Submitted report must be either in MS Word or PDF format and titled: “Assignment2_LastName”.
Only one document will be allowed to be submitted.
Content (note that the document must have clearly marked sections for the items listed below)
1) Title page (1 page limit): course number and term, assignment number and project title, student name and contact information, instructor’s name. Format it so it looks pleasant and presentable. Follow formatting guidelines above.
2) Introduction. Provide a brief outline of the dataset you are using for this assignment. Briefly describe the content of the data. Include a screenshot of the data (not all, but partial as far as all relevant variables are visible).
3) Data preparation – handling missing data, removing irrelevant variables
4) Data exploration process. Explain and discuss what data exploration you performed (e.g., questions generated about the data set content). Include any specific ideas or suggestions as to how this could be used in your organization.
5) Visualizations created. Explain the visualizations created. Include the value-added aspects of the visualizations. Include creative aspects for increasing potential for higher assignment grade.
6) Calculation which adds insights or value to the data set. Include and explain the value of the calculation, i.e., insights provided by the calculation.
7) References (1 page limit): List all references in APA format used in preparing this report. It is strongly recommended to use outside knowledge in setting-up the analysis or discussing the results where possible.
8) Appendix (4 page limit):
a) Appendix A: Include any appropriate workbooks and/or screenshots (figures, tables, diagrams) used in this assignment. Make sure all tables, figures, or diagrams are properly numbered and titled. For example, “Table 1. Model Results”. Make sure all tables or figures or diagrams are easily readable and visually presentable.
General guidance
§ Assignments that: 1) adequately address all required tasks; 2) are submitted on time; 3) are properly formatted (APA format for references, no typos or misspelled words, no grammar errors, cover page, etc.) will receive a grade of B (80-89, depending on content).
§ In order to increase (but not guarantee) your chances of receiving a higher grade, you need to show clear evidence of critical thinking. Critical thinking can take many forms, depending on the type of assignment. In some instances, showing greater depth (e.g., such as creating more models, looking at more than one insightful fact or relationships, and comparing them on key criteria) is one method for providing evidence of critical thinking. In other cases, it might include providing more explanation to include the pros and cons of the approach used or the arguments in favor and against the proposal as well as some criteria for choosing among the alternatives. Still another example would be providing significant insights as to how the assignment outcome would benefit (or would meet resistance) in your organization and what steps might be employed to facilitate acceptance. Certainly, this is not a complete list, but gives some examples of critical thinking aspects.
Part 1 - Account access verificationscreenshot of
Part 1 - Account access verification
screenshot of your user information
Part 2 – Upload Data
screenshot of insurance data in My Content
Part 3 - Data Exploration
Variable Properties
How many variables are in the insurance data?
7
What is the datatype of Age?
Integer
What is the datatype of Charges?
decimal
What is the usage type of an Age column?
measure
What aggregation types are available for the Smoker column?
total
Explore the Relationships
What is the relationship strength between smoker and charges?
75%
What is the relationship strength between age and charges?
64%
What does the relative width of connecting line represent?
Strength of relationship
Which variables do not have a direct relationship with charges?
BMI and region
Spiral Diagram
Screenshot of the spiral diagram and the list of drivers
What driver has the highest predictive strength? What is the predictive strength?
BMI, smoker, and age is predictor of charges with predictive strength of 83%
What driver information do you see in the tooltip?
Predictive strength and composition of drivers
Which variables in insurance data are not on the spiral diagram for charges?
Sex, children, region and insuranceclaim
Summary Visualization and Using Filters
Use the summary visualization to return the average age. Take a screenshot of the visualization and paste it into the answer sheet.
Edit the summary visualization to return the minimum age. Take a screenshot of the visualization and paste it into the answer sheet.
Edit the summary visualization to show an average age of an individual with 5 children. Take a screenshot of the visualization and paste it into the answer sheet.
Edit the summary visualization to show an average age of an individual with 5 children who is a smoker (smoker=1). Take a screenshot of the visualization and paste it into the answer sheet.
Comparison Visualization of Your Choice
Visualization Screenshot
Explain the visualization purpose and summarize the insights.
1. What are the hurdles keeping your
1. What are the hurdles keeping your organization from improving its AQ? What steps would you recommend to help improve the AQ?
1. What is your organization's Analytical Quotient
1. What is your organization's Analytical Quotient (AQ)?
1. Where do you see the biggest
1. Where do you see the biggest hurdles in adopting a more 'evidence-based' approach?
1. Which approach (Davenport or CRISP-DM) would
1. Which approach (Davenport or CRISP-DM) would work better in your organization?
1. Which approach (Davenport or CRISP-DM) would work
1. Which approach (Davenport or CRISP-DM) would work better in your organization?
WK 3 – DATA 610 6/3/20 – DISCUSSION Questions/answers
1. Which methodology (Davenport or CRISP-DM) do you prefer, and why?
1. Generate an "analytics requirements
1. Generate an "analytics requirements document"
1. Complete the model (flesh out a
1. Complete the model (flesh out a full model of the decision to include decomposing the decision, refining the needed information sources for the analysis, refining authorities)
1. Specify the decision requirements (input requirements,
1. Specify the decision requirements (input requirements, analytic requirements, other knowledge about the decision, related decisions, etc.)
1. Describe the decision in full (include
1. Describe the decision in full (include business context, organizational context, and application context)
1. Identify the decision to be made
1. Identify the decision to be made (e.g., reduce churn, identify fraud, improve product mix, etc.)
1. How Good is your problem-solving? Please
1. How Good is your problem-solving? Please post the results of your Problem-Solving inventory checklist from Mindtools here. Posting of results is helpful to see how we compare as problem solvers.
1. What assistance have you seen from
1. What assistance have you seen from using analytical approaches to improve decision making?
1. Have you seen instances of poor
1. Have you seen instances of poor decision making in your organization?
1. Where does culture fit in the
1. Where does culture fit in the decision trap?
1. What is the impact of 'poor'
1. What is the impact of 'poor' or 'incomplete' decision making? What measures of effectiveness are used in your organization?
1. What are the 'decision traps' we
1. What are the 'decision traps' we all fall into?
Book Report Assignment This assignment requires that students
Book Report Assignment
This assignment requires that students read the assigned book – The Critical Chain – and submit a 5-page book report online on Canvas as a MS Word document after reading and understanding the above text. The guidelines on how to write the book report are provided below:
1. For this class, the book report must be organized around 3 major elements: Discussion, Application, and Evaluation (DAE approach).
2. Write 1-1½ pages discussing the book. Do not write a summary chapter by chapter or make lists. Write in narrative form. Make sure that your write up includes answers to these questions:
· What is the book about (briefly about 1 paragraph)?
· Describe the major themes (a couple of central ideas or gems) in the book from your perspective. Key word here is “major” themes, not just peripheral ideas such as role of communication or importance of team work etc. Remember this is operations management (OM) class and your gems should revolve around concepts related to OM.
· Give rationale why you think the above identified gems/themes are important from your perspective. (use critical thinking to add some rigor to your rationale)
3. Write 2-2½ pages on the application of the major ideas/themes/gems as identified in the discussion section above to your work place (any work place – past or present? In your own words, what is the meaning or significance of these ideas as they apply to your current or any work-setting? How does the author suggest that they be applied?
4. Finally, evaluate the book (½ to 1 page) along the following lines:
· How useful are the ideas?
· How practical are the ideas?
· How well organized and written is the book?
· Would you recommend it?
The book report must be 5 full pages, double-spaced, number 12 font with no more than one inch margins. Your write-up should make use of headings/sub-headings as needed. Rubric for grading book report is given below:
Rubric for Grading Book Report
A
A-/B+
B/B-
Exceeds Expectations
Meets Expectations
Basic Requirements
Instructions:Put your SQL in the "Problem 6"
Instructions:
Put your SQL in the "Problem 6" location in the SQL template.
Put your row count in the green box in cell D5.
Start with the same problem statement as in Problem 5, except this time generate a summary report. For each course name, list the count of the students who will need to be contacted for each format. Sort your report so it’s alphabetically sorted on Course Name, then by format (online or in person). A sample output is below (your data may vary.)
Paste a screen shot of successful execution below. Be sure your screenshots show all the SQL you use; you are welcome to include several screen shots if necessary.
Instructions:Put your SQL in the "Problem 5"
Instructions:
Put your SQL in the "Problem 5" location in the SQL template.
Put your row count in the green box in cell D5.
Professor Victoria Emmerline is set to retire immediately before spring semester. You want to generate a list of all students who are currently enrolled in any class she is teaching this spring, so you can reach out to them and let them know there will be a different professor. Assume each class she teaches could be assigned to a different professor – i.e. if Professor Emmerline was set to teach Calculus I and Calculus II, it’s possible Calculus I will be assigned to Professor X and Calculus II will be assigned to Professor Y.
Generate SQL code to make a report which will do the following
· Generate a concatenated class name/number string, such as “FIN 200” from something in the Finance Department where the course number is 200
· Print that class name/number string in the first column of your report
· Print the class description (such as “Introduction to Finance”)
· List the student’s first name and then last name
· List the offering term and the format (online or in person)
· List the professor’s first name and last name
· Sort your output ascending by the class name/number string, so “FIN 200”, “FIN 120” and “ART 100” would be sorted in the following order: “ART 100”, “FIN 120”, “FIN 200.”
· Within the same class, further sort your output so it’s alphabetical by student last name, student first name
Instructions:Put your SQL in the "Problem 4"
Instructions:
Put your SQL in the "Problem 4" location in the SQL template.
Put your row count in the green box in cell D5.
You want to see how your various students are doing, GPA-wise. Create a report which will give the student’s last name, student’s first name (should be concatenated into a single field as in the example), the student’s major, and the student’s average GPA.
Include only students who have actually taken at least one class (if they took it and earned 0 GPA points indicating they failed it, that record should be included.) Do not include a student who has not taken any classes.
The average GPA is the average of the GPA Points column in the enrollment table; display this to four or more decimal places. Sort alphabetically by “Last, First” name combination.
Paste a screen shot of successful execution below. Be sure your screenshots show all the SQL you use; you are welcome to include several screen shots if necessary.
For example, if your input data is like this: (note the in the last row – indicates student Tyrone Brown is new and has not taken any classes yet, has only declared a major.)
Instructions:Put your SQL in the "Problem 3"
Instructions:
Put your SQL in the "Problem 3" location in the SQL template.
Put your row count in the green box in cell D5.
Some faculty are grumbling that certain professors have an easy teaching load, defined as only a few courses with low capacity, while others have a heavy load of many courses with high seat counts. Run a query to help answer this question.
Your output should contain the faculty ID, faculty name (first and last – it’s fine to have this as two separate fields, also fine to concatenate together), the largest capacity class the faculty member is assigned to teach, the maximum possible total student load (sum of all the course capacities), and the number of classes the faculty member is teaching.
Include all faculty members, even if they are not assigned to teach any courses. Include courses only if they are taught by a faculty member. Sort your output ascending by the number of courses taught, with the professors with the fewest courses at the top.
For example, if you had the following input data (the blank row at the bottom means Professor Poldark did not teach anything):
Instructions:Put your SQL in the "Problem 2"
Instructions:
Put your SQL in the "Problem 2" location in the SQL template.
Put your row count in the green box in cell D5.
Write SQL which will give us the course id number (idCourse field), course description, the number of units, the offering term, whether it’s online or in person, and the capacity. Include only those courses which are more than 3 units and have a capacity of less than 40 students. We only want to list courses which have actually been offered at least once. Sort it ascending by idCourse.
Paste a screen shot of successful execution below. Be sure your screenshots show all the SQL you use; you are welcome to include several screen shots if necessary.
Instructions:Put your SQL in the "Problem 1"
Instructions:
Put your SQL in the "Problem 1" location in the SQL template.
Put your row count in the green box in cell D5.
Create SQL code to display all fields from the students table. Include only students whose major is Finance (‘FIN’) and who have an in-state residence. Sort it alphabetically by student first name.
Paste a screen shot of successful execution below. Be sure your screenshots show all the SQL you use; you are welcome to include several screen shots if necessary.
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_export.sql” where XXX are your initials.
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_export.sql” where XXX are your initials. This is an .csv file export of your “XXX_Civiccenter_query.sql” execution results. You can export this using the “export” icon in the Result Grid window in MySQL Workbench. (Note the data displayed below may or may not correspond to the data in this assignment.)
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_query.sql” where XXX are your initials.
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_query.sql” where XXX are your initials. This is an SQL script which will run a query on your database and show the results. Write SQL statement(s) which will produce an output table with the following fields in it, sorted with the most expensive tickets at the top, and then alphabetically by customer name:
Name
Opera
Cost
Date
Backstage Pass?
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_insert.sql” where XXX are your initials.
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_insert.sql” where XXX are your initials. This is an SQL script which will insert the problem data into your database.
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_create.sql” where XXX are your initials.
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_create.sql” where XXX are your initials. This is an SQL script which will drop any pre-existing Civic Center schema and create all the tables, keys, and other structures you will need. If we run this script, it should remove any existing civiccenter schema and create yours.
Assignment 3.1 This assignment is worth 70 points
Assignment 3.1
This assignment is worth 70 points and the full rubric is on the bottom of the page.
It’s time to go to the opera! You are going to use MySQL Workbench’s EER tool to create an Entity-Relationship diagram for the Civic Center Opera House. You will then engineer that to produce MySQL script(s) which will create and load the database schema with the information below. Finally, you will query your database to prove it is working.
Here is the relevant information.
· Susie attended Madame Butterfly and spent $25 on the ticket for the 1/11 performance, and then went to see La Traviata on 10/3 for $100. She also went to see Carmen for $30 on 10/10.
· Lee attended Madame Butterfly and spent $25 on the ticket for the 10/21 performance.
· Jackson attended Carmen and spent $30 on the ticket for the 5/12 performance. He also went to see La Nozze di Figaro on 1/20, and paid $100 for the ticket.
· Bobby attended Carmen and spent $30 on the ticket for the 1/26 performance, and then went to see La Boheme on 8/14 for $50.
· Margaret attended La Nozze di Figaro and spent $100 on the ticket for the 2/22 performance, and then went (with Jackson) to see Carmen on 5/12 for $30.
· Ulysses attended Rigoletto on 10/21 and spent $35 on the ticket.
· Each ticket has an option to have a “Backstage Pass” option. There is no additional cost associated with this, just a marking on the ticket that the backstage pass was selected.
· Backstage passes were selected by Margaret at all of her operas, and by Jackson when he went with Margaret to Carmen on 5/12. No other tickets chose a backstage pass.
Additional assumptions you should make:
· Assume all tickets for the same opera cost the same. For example, all tickets for Madame Butterfly are $25.
· All operas occurred last year. For example, if it is 2020 now, and the date says “November 11,” assume it was November 11, 2019.
Normalize this database and implement in MySQL Workbench using this information.
Name your database schema “CivicCenter.” Please try to use this exact name to make it easier to grade. It is not case-sensitive so it’s OK to use “civiccenter” or CIVICcenter.” Do not use “Civic_Center” or “civic-center.”
You may use as many or as few tables as you see fit.
Your deliverables are:
1. “XXX_Civiccenter_ERD.pdf” where XXX are your initials. This is a pdf of an entity-relationship diagram made using MySQL Workbench’s modeling tool (you can find this under File Menu -> Export.)
a. Entity-relationship diagrams made using other tools will not earn full points.
b. The diagram should show all entities you use (it’s OK to use more than one page if you need to, and you can cobble together screenshots if you need.)
c. All entities should show all fields and keys; expand the boxes or rearrange them if you need to.
d. All relationships and cardinalities should be easily visible
e. All relationships should have text sentence(s) labeling them. For example, if this were the pet database, you might write, “Each pet must have one and only one owner. Each owner may have zero or more pets.”
Last one! You want to know how
Last one! You want to know how many times products were shipped to customers. Note you want the total number of shipments, not the number of items shipped – one shipment of 10 items and one shipment of 20 items would be two shipments, not 30 items.
Include all products, even if they had no shipments. In this case, their count would be 0.
Include the manufacturer and the product name
Include the customer company name
Sort it so the smallest count of shipments is on top. After that, sort ascending by Manufacturer name and then product name.
Which of the following statements is true of your output? Check all that apply.
Question 6 options:
The top row of data is the Manufacturer Drill Bits R Us for its "Iron Man" product
The top row of data is from Manufacturer Born, Inc for its "To Be Wild" product
The bottom row of data shows Manufacturer Stephen, Product Name "Curried Basketball," for CompanyName Midland Imports, in 3 shipments
The bottom row of data shows Manufacturer Born, Inc, Product Name "To Be Wild," for CompanyName Bridge Fudge Retail, for 30 shipments
Question 5 (2 points) Question 5 options:[SQL Week 2
Question 5 (2 points)
Question 5 options:
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-505]
You want to report on a certain group of your products. Select
Only customers who have a balance of 0
Only shipments which were sent by employees whose employee location is California, Maryland, or New York
Only products which have had a shipment
Only employees who have made a shipment
Only customers who have received a shipment
Compute the total quantity of shipments which meet these criteria
Aggregate it by manufacturer and by product name. This means each manufacturer/product name combination appears on only one row in the table. If a manufacturer makes more than one product, it’s OK if it shows up once per product.
Sort it descending by the sum of the shipment quantity, so the largest shipment quantity shows up on top. Within shipment quantities, sort it alphabetically on manufacturer and then product name.
Your results should look something like this:
What is the total shipment quantity for General Widgets' "Widget Maximus" product? This would be in the green "A" in the screenshot above.
Which company had Total Shipments of 2 for the Twisters? This would show up in the blue letter "B" above.
Drill Bits R Us
Question 6 (2 points)
Question 4 (2 points) Question 4 options:[SQL Week 2
Question 4 (2 points)
Question 4 options:
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-504]
You want to compute the order total for your shipments. For all of your shipments, put together a report which contains the following column. Sort it ascending on idShipment
Create a new field in the output result called OrderTotal, which is the price per unit multiplied by the order quantity. You will need to calculate this field in SQL.
Your screen output should look something like this:
What is the Scantag for the entry outlined in blue above? Make sure you also type the hyphen in the middle of the scantag.
What is the quantity in the blue box? Enter your answer to the nearest integer.
What is the order total that should be in the blue box? Enter your answer to two decimal places.
Paste the SQL you used to execute this query below.
Question 3 options:[SQL Week 2 Question 200-503]You
Question 3 options:
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-503]
You suspect certain employees are not servicing very many shipments, and some may not have any shipments at all.
Create SQL to run a report which will
List all your employees and the customers they serviced along with the number of shipment for each customer. Include all employees, including those who may not have serviced any customers.
Note you want the number of shipments, not the sum of shipment quantity. For example, if you have one shipment of 10 units, and another shipment of 20 units, our number of shipments here is 2.
Sort the list descending on number of shipments, and then on employee id. If an employee has not serviced any customers, display that employee at the top.
What is the first name of the very first employee you display? (Just type the first name here.)
How many shipments did employee Sophia Moore have to Lake Erie Guitars?
If she didn't have any (or her name is not shown in the results anywhere even when you scroll down), enter the number 0.
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-502]You want to
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-502]
You want to make a report which will give you information about shipments sent by your lower-commission employees. Create a query which will
Include only all those shipments which were sent by an employee whose commission is 10% or less (include commissions of exactly 10%)
Print the state, company name, total quantity in the shipments for that customer, and the maximum employee commission in that order left to right.
Sort it alphabetically by state (ascending). If one state has several companies in it, they should be sorted within the state, with the highest total order quantity on top.
What information is found in the third row down, which should be the first one containing an entry from the State of Michigan? It corresponds to the blue box below.
Question 2 options:
Thumb Exports, 1, 0.04
Midland Imports, 57, 0.09
Something else not found here
Huron Bay Exporters, 68, 0.10
ABC Incorporated, 48, 0.09
WK 2 – DATA 620 QUIZ 2.5B – Multi-Table SQL Queries
SQL Week 2 Assignment 2.5B Questions
Question 1 (1 point)
Question 1 options:
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-501]
For every shipment in the shipment table, you want to know its shipment details, the customer information, and the employee information. Include exactly and only all the records for which a shipment ID exists. Sort it ascending by Scantag.
What is the idShipment of your first record?
What is the idCustomer of the first row returned?
What is the first name (EmpFirstName) of the employee in the first row returned?
(Make sure to type the first name only.)
Egbert
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-002] We want to
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-002]
We want to get a workload by employee printout. For every employee, print the first name, last name, all ticket ID numbers assigned to that employee, the ticket description, and ticket duration of our records. Include only tickets which have been assigned to an employee. Include all employees, even if that person doesn’t have any tickets in the current database. Sort them first alphabetically by first name (starting with letter A at the top) and then ascending by ticket duration.
Below is a screenshot of your query results. Which entry should go in the blue box?
QUIZ 2.3B – TWO TABLE SQL QUERIESSQL
QUIZ 2.3B – TWO TABLE SQL QUERIES
SQL Week 2 Assignment 2.3B Questions
Question 1 (1 point)
Question 1 options:
[SQL Week 2 Question 200-001]
Print the first name, last name, ticket ID, ticket description, and duration of the employees who are assigned with a ticket(s). Sort them first alphabetically by first name (starting with letter A at the top) and then ascending by Duration.
This query should have resulted in employee Ben Johnson as your first several rows.
What is the top row idTicket for Ben?
1. SQL Week 2 Question 200-506] Last
1. SQL Week 2 Question 200-506] Last one! You want to know how many times products were shipped to customers. Note you want the total number of shipments, not the number of items shipped – one shipment of 10 items and one shipment of 20 items would be two shipments, not 30 items.
a. Include all products, even if they had no shipments. In this case, their count would be 0.
b. Include the manufacturer and the product name
c. Include the customer company name
d. Sort it so the smallest count of shipments is on top. After that, sort ascending by Manufacturer name and then product name.
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-505] You
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-505] You want to report on a certain group of your products. Select
a. Only customers who have a balance of 0
b. Only shipments which were sent by employees whose employee location is California, Maryland, or New York
c. Only products which have had a shipment
d. Only employees who have made a shipment
e. Only customers who have received a shipment
f. Compute the total quantity of shipments which meet these criteria. Here we want the number of items shipped. If you have one shipment of 10 items, and another shipment of 20 items, this number should be 30.
g. Aggregate it by manufacturer and by product name. This means each manufacturer/product name combination appears on only one row in the table. If a manufacturer makes more than one product, it’s OK if it shows up once per product.
h. Sort it descending by the sum of the shipment quantity, so the largest shipment quantity shows up on top. Within shipment quantities, sort it alphabetically on manufacturer and then product name.
Your results should look a little bit like this. Your data may or may not match this example.
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-504] You
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-504] You want to compute the order total for your shipments. For all of your shipments, put together a report which contains the following columns.
a. Sort it ascending on idShipment
b. Create a new field in the output result called OrderTotal, which is the price per unit multiplied by the order quantity. You will need to calculate this field in SQL.
Your output will look a little bit like the following. Your numbers may vary from this example
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-503] You
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-503] You suspect certain employees are not servicing very many shipments, and some may not have any shipments at all.
Create SQL to run a report which will
a. List all your employees and the customers they serviced along with the number of shipments for each customer. Include all employees, including those who may not have serviced any customers.
b. Note you want the number of shipments, not the sum of shipment quantity. For example, if you have one shipment of 10 units, and another shipment of 20 units, our number of shipments here is 2.
c. Sort the list ascending on number of shipments (so the smallest numbers of shipments are at the top), and then on employee id. If an employee has not serviced any customers, display that employee at the very top.
For the Question 4, you may want to review the SQL Aliases functionality (“select X from Y as Z”). There is a section in WWW3 SQL schools on this.
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-502] You
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-502] You want to make a report which will give you information about shipments sent by your lower-commission employees. Create a query which will
a. Include only all those shipments which were sent by an employee whose commission is 10% or less (include commissions of exactly 10%)
b. Print the state, company name, total quantity in the shipments for that customer, and the maximum employee commission in that order left to right.
c. Sort it alphabetically by state (ascending). If one state has several companies in it, they should be sorted within the state, with the highest total order quantity on top.
Your data may or may not match the example below.
For example, if your input data looks like this
Shipment
Customer Company Name
Customer State
Quantity
Employee
Employee Commission
1
ABC
MN
1
Sarah
0.05
2
ABC
MN
2
Thomas
0.10
3
Junior
MN
5
Sarah
0.05
4
DEF
GA
1
Thomas
0.10
5
DEF
GA
1
Victor
0.11
6
G
MD
10
Wally
0.01
7
H
MD
20
Xerxes
0.09
Your answer would look like this:
State
Customer CompanyName
Total Quantity shipped to this customer
Maximum Employee Commission in these shipments
GA
DEF
1
0.10
MD
H
20
0.09
MD
G
10
0.01
MN
Junior
5
0.05
MN
ABC
3
0.10
Part 2 – Construct your Warehouse SQL
Part 2 – Construct your Warehouse SQL statements
This is where you start to turn things in. To turn in your assignment, delete the preceding pages and start with this one. Make sure to put your name up top.
Construct SQL to answer each of the following questions. For each query, paste your SQL code below, and also paste a screenshot of the first 10 or so rows the query gives you.
Give an answer to the question based only on what you see in your MySQL database. (Do not use Excel or other tools to answer these questions; since we are trying to learn MySQL here, you should do these exercises in MySQL.)
You will eventually submit this document as part of your week’s homework.
After you have completed your first draft of this document, you will use the online quiz to verify your answers. The online quiz uses the same numbering system given here, so you can quickly find the question you need.
You are welcome to update your homework document with results from the online quiz, and submit the homework document after you’ve checked your homework online.
1. [SQL Week 2 Question 200-501] For every shipment in the shipment table, you want to know its shipment details, the customer information, and the employee information.
a. Include exactly and only all the records for which a shipment ID exists.
b. Sort it ascending by Scantag.
c. Your output should look a little like this. Note the “shipment information” will be in the form of several distinct columns. (Hint: look up the “ Select * ” command to select several columns at once.)
Assignment 2.5A In this assignment, we walk you
Assignment 2.5A
In this assignment, we walk you through joins which use more than two tables.
Here’s what you are going to do for this assignment.
· Review this document. There are several parts to this document.
o Part 1 is instructions only. There is nothing to turn in, but it contains important information.
o Part 2 of this document is called the TURN IN part. This contains something you should turn in for this assignment.
· Go through this document and write SQL to answer all the questions listed below. As part of your SQL, you will capture screenshots and paste them where indicated.
· Refer to this document as you complete the online quiz which verifies your homework.
· You are welcome to use the quiz results to update your homework file.
· When you have completed the online quiz, submit the TURN IN portion of this document in the Assignment dropbox.
· Remember, you can always reach out for help to your FA or instructor if your SQL is not behaving for you.
· Your completed deliverables for this assignment are:
o The TURN IN section of this document, submitted to the LEO dropbox
o The completed online quiz results
· There is no deliverable of a SQL script for this assignment. You are welcome to create one for your own records, but the TURN IN section of this document will suffice for your faculty.
· And, you probably already know this by now, but you can always reach out to your FA for assistance.
Purpose: get more practice with multi-table SQL queries. We will practice
· Complex joins
· LEFT and FULL joins
· Order by and Group by
Part 0 – Get into your Folder
We will continue to work in the “Week2” folder inside your “DATA620” folder. Download everything into this folder and run it from there.
Part 1 – Fire up the Warehouse database
1. Go ahead and fire up MySQL Workbench and connect to your Azure MySQL database.
2. Download and run the following scripts. They will install a new database schema called “warehouse” which contains information about your customers, your products, your employees, and your shipments.
a. Warehouse_setup.sql – this will create a database schema called “warehouse”
b. Warehouse_insert.sql – this will populate your database with information about your customers, products, employees, and shipments. (Note there may be a numeric suffix on the end of your sql, so its name may be ‘warehouse_insert_v04.sql’ for example. The information in your database may or may not be exactly the same as in this example. That’s OK.)
c. You can make sure that all tables are properly populated by executing;
SELECT * FROM warehouse.<replace-table-name>;
Where <replace-table-name> is in {customer, employee, product, shipment}
d. The insert SQL also contains one query at its bottom, which should give you a list of the company names and shipments. The first one should be from ABC Incorporated, with an idShipment of 1200 and a Quantity of 9.
3. Let’s reverse engineer this database to see what the EER looks like.
a. Remember how? Database -> Reverse Engineer and then click “next” until it gives you the EER. I needed to drag my tables a little bit apart so I could see them all.
b. You can export your diagram using File -> Export -> Export as PNG. You can also grab a screenshot.
c. Verify you can see one primary key for each table. The primary key is denoted by a golden key icon.
d. Verify you understand the relationships. You should be able to see that a customer, product, and employee can exist independently.
e. You should also be able to see that a shipment ties a quantity ordered with the customer who ordered it, the product which was ordered, and the employee who fulfilled the order. A shipment also contains a Scantag and a Reference Number, two internal notations the company sometimes uses.
4. You may want to refresh your memory about how to do three-table joins. In the WWW3 Schools SQL instructions, you can see the “SQL Inner Join” on the left menu, and halfway down that page there’s a note about how to JOIN three tables.
5. There is nothing to turn in from this part.
UMGC Data 620 Assignment 4.3 Your name:Date: DeliverablesPossiblePointsTURN
UMGC Data 620 Assignment 4.3 Your name:
Date:
Deliverables
Possible
Points
TURN IN #1 – SQL script
5
TURN IN #2 – csv file
5
TOTAL
10
This assignment covers how to import data from Excel to MySQL, and how to export data from MySQL to Excel.
If you have a Mac, please see the last page (Appendix) for some helpful notes.
Reading:
? MySQL Reference Manual, Section 13.2.9.1 – how to use the SELECT INTO command
This document contains an EXAMPLE of each type of operation; you do not need to turn in anything related to the examples. The basic logic path of this assignment is:
1. Get your SQL up and running, and connected to the Cloud.
2. Prepare your Excel file into a .csv for import and get it in the right spot.
3. Import: Using Table Import Wizard
4. Export: One option presented; this sends your output file to a designated folder on your local machine.
After the examples, there is an assignment. Your deliverable here is marked with TURN IN and consists of:
? An SQL script
? An output .csv file
I have chosen to err on the side of lavish documentation here, so if you’re feeling Spartan instead, you are welcome to skip straight to the assignment on the last few pages. But if you’d like an extravagant collection of screenshots with commentary, turn straight to page 2.
EXAMPLE of an IMPORT:
Raw data stored in xls/xlsx files can be imported into MySQL databases easily. The following tutorial will demonstrate the data import process. This tutorial demonstrates a simple 50 row Excel sheet import process:
Please be aware of the following facts before you attempt the import process:
? You can only export one worksheet at a time to the MySQL database that you have created. Exporting is fast and easy provided they are in compatible formats and within a reasonable file size.
? The Excel worksheet should be clean (free of fancy formatting such as images, colors, wrap text and fancy fonts) before exporting. (The example we are doing here is well?behaved, but if you are trying to import other data from the wild, you may need to tame it a bit before doing the import.)
Get your Excel file prepared for upload to MySQL:
1. Make yourself a “Week 4” folder. Pay attention to whether you put a space between the “Week” and the “4” – I suggest you put a space there because I did, and then your filename/paths will match these directions. (If the script calls for “Week 4”, and you have “Week4” or “Week_4”, the computer won’t find it.)
UMUC Data 620 Assignment 4.1AThis assignment covers
UMUC Data 620 Assignment 4.1A
This assignment covers entity integrity and referential integrity. This is a group assignment and only one person from your group needs to post your results. It is wise for all members of the group to be familiar with the assignment.
Your group’s deliverable is participation in the Discussion Forum. Review the material below, and post your group’s answers to the discussion forum.
Feel free to read and respond to other classmates’ postings.
Reading:
· Narasimhan, Girija, “Entity Integrity Constraints,”
o Entity Integrity Constraints (2 minutes)
· Caleb the Video Maker 2, “MySQL Lecture Series,” specifically:
o MySQL 11 - Entity Integrity
o MySQL 12 - Referential Integrity
o MySQL 13 - Domain Integrity
o MySQL 14 - Primary Key (the video starts with some deer jumping in a yard, but don’t be fooled, Caleb is waiting for you): Primary Key
o (We skip his MySQL 15 - Auto Increment; you can certainly watch if you want to.)
o MySQL 16 - Foreign Key: Foreign Key
Part A: Data Integrity
This week’s reading refers to entity and referential integrity within databases. Without these items, your database would probably not work at all, and if you got it to work, it would break easily or give you crazy responses.
Get the database into MySQL Workbench
This is going to require a little bit of SQL from you.
1. Log into MySQL Workbench and create a new database. Name it “my_university.”
9/7/2020 Data 620 - Lesson 4: Data Manipulation
9/7/2020 Data 620 - Lesson 4: Data Manipulation and SQL File Input/Output - DATA 620 9040 Data Management and V isualization (2208) https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/512831/viewContent/19677149/V iew 1/3 OVERVIEW: The first three weeks of this class introduced R X W R W K H J H Q H U D O D U H D R I G D W D P D Q D J H P H Q W D Q d gave R X D W D V W H R I K R Z W R X V H 6 4 / W R W D O N W R our database. Once R X K D Y H D Q R U P D O L ] H G G D W D E D V H D Q G D V N L O O H d SQL programmer , there are additional areas to consider . This week, we cover data quality, database design and operations, data governance, and data storage and indexing. W e also expand our SQL commands to include those to read data in from outside sources, and to write the results of SQL queries to outside sources: in our case, we use a comma separated values (csv) format. Data Qualit refers to how fit R X U G D W D L V I R U W K H S X U S R V H V ou intend. You could have a beautifull Q R U P D O L ] H d relational database with perfectl X Q L T X H S U L P D U ke V D Q G I O D Z O H V V I R U H L J Q N H relationships, but if all the customers’ names are spelled incorrectly, it will still not be ver X V H I X O I R U P D U N H W L Q J S X U S R V H V 7 K L V Z H H N , we’ll cover the major wa V W K L Q J V F D Q J R Z U R Q J Z L W K our data: it could be inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, or inconsistent with itself. We’ll also cover the major wa V W K L Q J V F D Q J R Z U R Q J Z L W K our database itself: R u can fail to have referential integrity , or R X U G D W D F R X O G I D L O W R I R O O R Z E X V L Q H V V U X O H V ' D W D T X D O L W is such a huge corporate issue that man F R P S D Q L H V K D Y H H Q W L U H W H D P V R I S H R S O H G H G L F D W H G W R H Q V X U L Q J G D W D T X D O L W y . In our stud R I Database Design and Operations this week, we investigate structural problems with databases. Because databases are so precisel V S H F L I L H G D Q G E H F D X V H W K H run on computers, a structural problem can be catastrophic. We have seen in previous weeks how to set up a good database, in which all primar N H s are unique and all foreign ke V O H D G W R V R P H Z K H U H 7 K L V Z H H N Z H Z L O O V W X G integrit F R Q V W U D L Q W V Z K L F K K H O p ensure that the foreign ke V U H I H U W R H [ L V W L Q J G H V W L Q D W L R Q V D Q G W K D W L I ou delete a record, R X G R Q ’ t bring down the database. We then turn our attention awa I U R P W K H Q R U P D O L ] H G U H O D W L R Q D O G D W D E D V H V F K H P D V R R I W H Q X V H G L Q R S H U D W L R Q D l data stores. W e look towards an alternative or ganization called the Snowflake or Star Schema . Rather than several smaller tables linked with ke V W K H V Q R Z I O D N H V F K H P D K D V R Q H F H Q W U D O L ] H G I L O H Z L W K Y D U L R X V ? D U P V ? R r points of the star) attached to it. Each “arm” contains the information R X Q H H G W R T X H U along one dimension. For example, a large flat file could contain the date of a purchase, the purchased item, the shipment destination, and the customer information. One arm of one star could break the dates down into months, quarters, and H D U V Another arm of the star might break the shipment destination down into states (such as Mar O D Q G R U U H J L R Q s (such as the Pacific Northwest). This lets the customer run quick queries for things like “all orders which shipped in Quarter 1 of 2015, to the state of Mar O D Q G ? R U ? D O O R U G H U V X Q G H U Z K L F K V K L S S H G L Q 0 D of any H D r, to an Z K H U H L Q W K H 3 D F L I L F 1 R U W K Z H V W ? 4 X H U L H V R I W K L V W pe are included in a method called Dimensional Anal V L s . Data Governance: Or , the care and feeding of R X U G D W a Data is crucial to modern corporate operations, and H W L W F K D Q J H V D O O W K H W L P H - X V W D V Q H Z E X L O G L Q J F R Q V W U X F W L R n needs to be maintained, and periodicall J L Y H Q D Q H Z U R R I P R V W F R U S R U D W H G D W D Q H H G V W R X Q G H r go regular maintenance, and periodicall J L Y H Q D U H R rganization. Even if nothing went wrong with R X U G D W D S H U L R G L F D O O y there are new laws (such as HIPAA) which require new measures to be taken with existing data. Data governance includes the activities a corporation needs to undertake to identif S U R E O H P V Z L W K L W V G D W D I L [ W K H P , and deplo W K H U H V X O W V Data Storage and Indexing: How do R X I L Q G our data quickl ? With our small databases in this class, it’ s not reall Q H F H V V D U to optimize for quer V S H H G D F R P S X W H U F D n simpl O R R N W K U R X J K H D F K R Q H R I R X U I H Z K X Q G U H G D L U O L Q H U H F R U G V W R I L Q G W K H R Q H Z H Z D Q W % X W Z K D W L I ou have a few million records? Or what if R X D U H ) D F H E R R N D Q G D U H J H Q H U D W L Q J P R U H W K D Q P L O O L R Q ? O L N H V ? H Y H U y minute [1] ? Even if R X U T X H U can search one million rows a minute, if R X D U H ) D F H E R R N ou are getting 4 minutes slower in R X U T X H U L H V I R U H Y H U minute of time which passes. Y ou started off behind and R X D U e slowing down. One solution is to use a data index (plural: several data indices ) to help cut R X U V H D U F K W L P H If R X K D Y H D O L V W R I Q D P H V V R U W H G D O S K D E H W L F D O O y , and the one R X Z D Q W V W D U W V Z L W K D ? 4 ? ou don’ t need to start 9/7/2020 Data 620 - Lesson 4: Data Manipulation and SQL File Input/Output - DATA 620 9040 Data Management and V isualization (2208) https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/512831/viewContent/19677149/V iew 2/3 searching at the “A.” Data indexing is a wa W R F R Q V W U X F W D V H U L H V R I P D S V I R U our SQL query , so it can make use of alphabetical, numeric, and other sorted orders to accelerate R X U V H D U F K . SQL File Input/Output: How do R X read and write to external files? Up until now, our databases have magicall O L Y H G Z L W K L Q W K H & O R X G & R P S X W L Q J / D E V D Q G Z H K D Y H F U H D W H G D Q d destro H G W K H P Z L W K L Q W K H & O R X G & R P S X W L Q J / D E ’ s confines. But what happens if R X Z D Q W W R V D y, download a data file from the Center for Disease Control and run SQL queries on who got the flu? And then what if R X r quer U H V X O W V D U H V R E U L O O L D Q W ou’d like to share them with R X U E R V V Z K R Z L O O R Q O use Excel? There are commands in SQL R X F D Q X V H W R W H O O L W K R Z W R U H D G G D W D L Q I U R P D Q H [ W H U Q D O I O D W I L O H D Q G K R Z W R Z U L W H R X W S X W W o an external flat file. We will show R X K R Z W K R V H Z R U N W K L V Z H H N Required Readings for the W eek: 1. Data Quality M 6 4 / 11 - Entit , Q W H J U L W y M 6 4 / 5 H I H U H Q W L D O , Q W H J U L W y M 6 4 / ' R P D L Q , Q W H J U L W y M 6 4 / 3 U L P D U Ke V W D U W V Z L W K V R P H G H H U M X P S L Q J L Q D ard) (We skip the M 6 4 / $ X W R , Q F U H P H Q W ou can certainl Z D W F K L I ou want to.) M 6 4 / ) R U H L J Q . H y Chr V O H U V ' D W D 4 X D O L W Management Case Study Data Qualit & R Q F H S W V ' D W D 4 X D O L W T utorial, Data Warehousing Tutorial Data Qualit 0 D W W H U V T ech Vision 2018 T rend (Accenture) 2. Database Design and Operations Inmon vs. Kimball . This is a brief review of the normalized vs. star schema la R X W V . Star Schema Slides from Professor Majed Al-Ghandour . (Link refers to Data 620 Model Classroom 2158, material available in Week 4). 3. Data Governance Data Architecture: A Primer for the Data Scientist , b , Q P R Q D Q G / L Q V W H G W & K D S W H U 5 Data Management Practices Across an Institution: Surve D Q G 5 H S R U t Data Governance and Stewardship 4. Data Storage and Indexing Database Lesson #7 of 8 Database Indexes 5. SQL File input/output M 6 4 / 5 H I H U H Q F H 0 D Q X D l , Section 13.2.6 through Section 13.2.9.1. Also see Section 3.3.3, the LOAD command, for alternative wa V W R O R D G G D W D L Q W R D W D E O H . Optional Readings for the W eek: 1. Data Quality 2. Database Design and Operations 3. Data Governance Managing and Sharing Your Data: Best Practice for Researchers 4. Data Storage and Indexing 5. SQL File Input/Output 9/7/2020 Data 620 - Lesson 4: Data Manipulation and SQL File Input/Output - DATA 620 9040 Data Management and V isualization (2208) https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/512831/viewContent/19677149/V iew 3/3 [1] http://editorial.designtaxi.com/editorial-images/news-data14082015/big.jpg
WK 4 – DATA 620 Discussion 4.1B
WK 4 – DATA 620 Discussion 4.1B - Data Quality and Governance Do this as a GROUP ASSIGNMENT. (Once your group has submitted, you should have access to this thread. If you don't, go ahead and submit a little something like 'Please disregard - Bobby from Group 9 posting so I can see responses.') This assignment covers data quality and data governance. Have your primary posting (the response to the boss) completed by Monday midnight, and have all your responses to classmates completed by Tuesday evening. Reading: Data Quality Inmon and Linstedt, Chapter 5.5 (Data Governance) Schwartzrock, Todd, "Chrysler's Data Quality Management Case Study," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78lHpiCD0k (10 minutes) Edureka, "Data Quality Concepts | Data Quality Tutorial | Data Warehousing Tutorial," https://youtu.be/HWaBdqmTqEA (25 minutes) Accenture, "Data Quality Matters - Tech Vision 2018 Trend," https://youtu.be/abNDyLt8ilU (25 minutes) Data Governance and Stewardship (On this webpage, there is a button to download the pdf document) Watch the videos above and read Chapter 5.5 in Inmon and Linstedt. Assume you work at XYZ Automotive, a competitor of Chrysler, and your boss has written you the following email: “Hi, Everybody’s talking about data quality these days, but I’m not sure it’s actually worth the expense. I’ve got three issues here and I want you to enlighten me. First, I’m not really sure what data quality means – I know it means we spell the customer’s name right, but what else does it mean beyond writing down who bought what car when? In other words, can you define data integrity for me? Second, what exactly is data governance and how would it apply to our company? And last, I need to make a business decision. We’re considering having a consulting firm do an engagement which it says will radically improve the quality of our data. What business advantages has Chrysler actually seen from its data quality initiative? What advantages would you think we could get by doing our own?” Compose an email to answer your boss. Please paste the text of the email within the discussion forum; do *not* put your email as an attachment. Make it easy for us to respond! Include in your submission your group name; for example, if my group is Group X, I might title mine, "Group X says we absolutely need better data governance." Choose two other submissions to respond to. In your response, include three stars (three things they did well), plus one wish (constructive criticism.) The responses to classmates may or may not come from the same person who did the initial posting. Again, make sure it's easy to tell which group is responding; title it something like "Group X responds to Group Y." A successful submission will Contain approximately 300-500 words, plus a bibliography Be as formal (or informal) as you would take in a tone with an email to your boss – the only difference here would be that you do need APA citations and a bibliography. Pass a reference citation check for plagiarism – cite all your sources Define data quality and cite your sources. You may use sources outside of the Chrysler and Global Data Store assigned sources, but you must convince me you have watched those two sources as well. Define data governance and cite your sources. Again, you may use sources outside of Inmon and Linstedt, but you must convince me you have understood Chapter 5.5 in our textbook. Be as specific as you can about the business advantages for Chrysler from better data quality. List (or estimate) dollars and any other performance metrics you can find. (You are expected to be able to answer this using mostly just the Chrysler video; you are welcome do to brief Internet searches – and cite your sources - if you want to look up a fact or two, but this is *not* a research question.) Give good feedback to classmates on their postings.
WK 4 – DATA 620 Discussion 4.1C
WK 4 – DATA 620 Discussion 4.1C - Star Schema vs. Relational Databases
Do this as a GROUP ASSIGNMENT.
(Once your group has submitted, you should have access to this thread. If you don't, go ahead and submit a little something like 'Please disregard - Bobby from Group 9 posting so I can see responses.')
This assignment covers the star schema vs. relational database schema.
Have your primary posting (the response to the boss) completed by Monday midnight, and have all your responses to classmates completed by Tuesday evening.
Reading: Database schematics
This is not required reading, but it may be helpful: past students have also found useful information on the James Serra blog posting about data warehouse architecture.
Your boss is at it again. You are still working at XYZ Automotive, which is still a competitor of Chrysler, and your boss has written you the following email:
“Hi,
So I’ve done a little research on star schema vs. relational databases, and I’m just plain old confused. I’ve read the materials above, and Section 3.4 in the Inmon/Linstedt book, and I’m wondering if you could define the relational database model, define the star schema model, and tell me which one we need to use. In plain old English.”
Compose an email to answer your boss. Please paste the text of the email within the discussion forum; do *not* put your email as an attachment. Make it easy for us to respond! Include in your submission your group name; for example, if my Group is X, I might title mine, "Group X recommends the star schema"
Choose two other submissions to respond to. In your response, include three stars (three things they did well), plus one wish (constructive criticism.) The responses to others may or may not be from the same person who posted the initial submission.
A successful submission will
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 1.7% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,290,917. Assuming similar sales next year, the 1.7% increase in demand will provide $2,775,946 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.1%, after direct costs this revenue will add $946,598 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $1,500,000 TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?
Currently Digby is paying a dividend of
Currently Digby is paying a dividend of $11.99 (per share). If this dividend were raised by $3.64, given its current stock price what would be the Dividend Yield?
Select: 1
$15.63
10.3%
13.5%
Assume Baldwin Corp. is downsizing the size
Assume Baldwin Corp. is downsizing the size of their workforce by 15% (to the nearest person) next year from various strategic initiatives. Baldwin is planning to conduct exit interviews to learn more about how they can improve in processes and increase productivity. The exit interviews are estimated to cost $100 per employee in additional to normal separation costs of $5000. How much will the company pay in separation costs if these exit interviews are implemented next year?
Select: 1
$96,600
$546,000
$234,600
$1,326,000
Which company has the least efficient SG&A/Sales
Which company has the least efficient SG&A/Sales ratio?
Select: 1
Chester
Baldwin
Digby
Baldwin's balance sheet has $77,547,000 in equity.
Baldwin's balance sheet has $77,547,000 in equity. Further, the company is expecting net income of 3,000,000 next year, and also expecting to issue $4,000,000 in new stock. If there are no dividends paid what will beBaldwin's book value?
Select: 1
$84,547,000
$76,547,000
$38,810,000
$30,810,000
Assume Baldwin is producing 2,480 units of
Assume Baldwin is producing 2,480 units of Bold next year. What would Bold's plant utilization be?
Select: 1
155.00%
151.90%
111.39%
158.10%
Assume Baldwin is producing 2,480 units of
Assume Baldwin is producing 2,480 units of Bold next year. What would Bold's plant utilization be?
Select: 1
155.00%
151.90%
111.39%
158.10%
Your Competitive Intelligence team is predicting that
Your Competitive Intelligence team is predicting that the Baldwin Company will invest in adding capacity to their Brat product this year. Assume Baldwin's product Brat invests in increasing its capacity by 10% this year. Because of this new information, your company anticipates all other products in the Core segment will increase their capacity by the same amount. How much can the industry produce in the Core segment the next year? Consider only products primarily in the Core segment last year. Ignore current inventories. Figures in thousands (000).
Select: 1
7,575
13,750
9,652
8,552
7,777
8,675
5,150
In the Month of March, Chester received
In the Month of March, Chester received orders of 102 units at a price of $15.00 for their product Cid. Chester uses the accrual method of accounting and offers 30 day credit terms. Chester delivers 102 units in April. They received payment for 51 units in March, and 51 units in April. In the March income statement, how much revenue is recognized on the March income statement from this order? How much in the April Income statement? (Answer in thousands)
0, $765
0, $1,530
$1,530 , 0
$765 , $765
Currently Aft is charged $3,399,200 Depreciation on
Currently Aft is charged $3,399,200 Depreciation on the Income Statement of Andrews. Andrews is planning for an increase in this depreciation. On the financial statements of Andrews will this?
Select: 1
Decrease Net Cash from Operations on the Cash Flow Statement.
Have no impact on the Net Cash from Operations as depreciation appears in both Cash Flow and the Income Statement.
Increase Net Cash from Operations on the Cash Flow Statement.
Just impact the Balance Sheet.
The Andrews company currently has the following
The Andrews company currently has the following balances in their equity accounts:
Common Stock $25,080
Retained earnings $115,836
Suppose next year the Andrews company generates $46,300 in Net Profit, and declares and pays $16,000 in Dividends. What will Andrews ending balance in Retained Earnings be next year?
Select: 1
$146,136
$156,916
$140,916
$71,380
The Digby company will increase its automation
The Digby company will increase its automation for the Dune product by 2.0. Assuming no further change in capacity, how much will this investment in automation cost?
Select: 1
$7,350,000
$14,700,000
$8,400,000
$16,800,000
Suppose you were hired as a consultant
Suppose you were hired as a consultant for a company that wants to penetrate the Comp-XM market. This company wants to pursue a broad cost leader strategy. From last year’s reports, which company would be the strongest competitor?
Select: 1
Andrews
Chester
Baldwin
Digby
How much would it cost for Chester
How much would it cost for Chester Corporation to repurchase all its outstanding shares if the price fell by 10%? Assume no brokerage fees.
Select: 1
$73.9 million
$82.1 million
$84.0 million
$91.1 million
Assuming no brokerage fees, calculate the amount
Assuming no brokerage fees, calculate the amount of cash needed to retire Baldwin's 12.5S2027 bond early.
Select: 1
$13,765,142
$15,598,251
$14,665,611
Chester has negotiated a new labor contract
Chester has negotiated a new labor contract for the next round that will affect the cost for their product Cid. Labor costs will go from $1.77 to $2.37 per unit. Assume all period and other variable costs remain the same. If Chester were to absorb the new labor costs without passing them on in the form of higher prices, how many units of product Cid would need to be sold next round to break even on the product?
Select: 1
1,047
855
921
887
The Baldwin company will continue to train
The Baldwin company will continue to train their existing workforce at their current level to help reduce turnover and improve productivity next year. Employee training costs $20 per hour. How much would their training costs per employee be to the nearest dollar?
Select: 1
$800
$1,182
$1,982
$400
Digby Corp. ended the year carrying $9,701,000
Digby Corp. ended the year carrying $9,701,000 worth of inventory. Had they sold their entire inventory at their current prices, how much more revenue would it have brought to Digby Corp.?
Select: 1
$5,933,000
$9,701,000
$21,467,600
$15,785,000
This year Andrews achieved an ROE of
This year Andrews achieved an ROE of 16.8%. Suppose the Board of Directors of Andrews mandates that management take measures to increase financial Leverage (=Assets/Equity) next year. Assuming Sales, Profits, and Assets remain the same next year, what effect would you expect this new Leverage policy will have on Andrews ROE?
Select: 1
Andrews ROE will remain the same.
Andrews ROE will increase.
Andrews ROE will decrease.
Next year Baldwin plans to include an
Next year Baldwin plans to include an additional performance bonus of 0.25% in its compensation plan. This incentive will be provided in addition to the annual raise, if productivity goals are reached. Assuming the goals are reached, how much will Baldwin pay its employees per hour?
Select: 1
$29.63
$28.15
$31.04
$28.22
Chester's turnover rate for this year is
Chester's turnover rate for this year is 6.32%. This rate is projected to remain the same next year and no further downsizing will occur from automating. What would the total recruiting cost be for Chester, assuming it spends the same amount extra above the $1,000 recruiting base as they did this year?
Select: 1
$161,448
$316
$134,540
$2,128,469
It is January 2nd and senior management
It is January 2nd and senior management of Chester meets to determine their investment plan for the year. They decide to fully fund a plant and equipment purchase by issuing $10,000,000 in bonds. Assume the bonds are issued at face value and leverage changes to 2.8. Which of the following statements are true? Select all that apply.
Select: 3
Total Assets will rise to $207,341,821
Working capital will remain the same at $11,898,413
The total investment for Chester will be $18,828,179
Total liabilities will be $130,138,340
Chester’s long-term debt will rise by $10,000,000
On the income statement, which of the
On the income statement, which of the following would be classified as a variable cost?
Select: 1
Depreciation Expense
Promotion Expense
Direct Material Expense
R&D Expense
Company Baldwin invested $37,940,000 in plant and
Company Baldwin invested $37,940,000 in plant and equipment last year. The plant investment was funded with bonds at a face value of $28,711,622 at 13.9% interest, and equity of $9,228,378. Depreciation is 15 years straight line. For this transaction alone which of the following statements are true?
Select: 5
On the Balance sheet, Plant & Equipment increased by $37,940,000.
Cash went down by $37,940,000 when the plant was purchased.
Cash was pulled from retained earnings to cover the $9,228,378 difference between the plant purchase and bond issue.
Since the new plant was funded with debt and equity, on the Balance sheet Retained Earnings decreased by $9,228,378, the difference between the investment $37,940,000 and the bond $28,711,622.
On the Balance sheet, Long Term Debt changed by $28,711,622.
Buying the plant had no net effect on the Cash account, because the plant was paid for by the bond plus retained earnings.
Depreciation increased by $2,529,333.
Cash went up when the Bond was issued by $28,711,622.
Digby has an asset turnover of 1.51
Digby has an asset turnover of 1.51 (Asset Turnover = Sales/Assets). That means:
Select: 1
Every $1.00 of assets in the firm generates $1.51 of profit.
Every $1.51 of assets in the firm generates $1.00 of sales.
Every $1.51 of profit in the firm comes from each $1.00 of sales.
Each $1.00 of assets in the firm generates $1.51 of sales revenue.
The Andrews Company has just purchased $46,968,000
The Andrews Company has just purchased $46,968,000 of plant and equipment that has an estimated useful life of 15 years. The expected salvage value at the end of 15 years is $4,696,800. What will the book value of this purchase (exclude all other plant and equipment) be after its third year of use? (Use FASB GAAP)
Select: 1
$38,513,760
$37,574,400
$33,816,960
$40,705,600
Last year the Digby company increased their
Last year the Digby company increased their equity. In 2019 their equity was $49,360. Last year (2020) it increased to $50,897.
What are causes of change in equity? Check all that apply.
Select: 3
Profits of $10,148
A change in short term debt of-$4,032.
Plant Improvements of $9,580
A bond issue of$1,279.
Depreciation of -$41,287
An accounts payable change of$1,437.
A change in cash of -$5,803.
Issue and retirement of stock .
A change of plant and equipment of$9,580.
Dividend payment of$7,057.
Change in inventory of$871
What is the Liability to Equity ratio
What is the Liability to Equity ratio of Chester?
Select: 1
1.45
2.10
4.48
.34
Review the Inquirer to determine Chester's current
Review the Inquirer to determine Chester's current strategy. How will they seek a competitive advantage? From the following list, select the top five sources of competitive advantage that Chester would be most likely to pursue.
Select: 5
Offer attractive credit terms
Accept lower plant utilization and higher capacities to insure sufficient capacity is available to meet demand
Increase demand through TQM initiatives
Reduce cost of goods through TQM initiatives
Seek high automation levels
Add additional products
Reduce labor costs through training and recruitment
Seek the lowest price in their target market while maintaining a competitive contribution margin
Seek high plant utilization, even if it risks occasional small stockouts
Seek excellent product designs, high awareness, and high accessibility
which mission statement best represents the Baldwin
which mission statement best represents the Baldwin company?
Select: 1
Innovation meets revolution. We create value for our customers through breakthrough designs that lead to unique high-performance products.
Consistency and affordability are our goals. Our central mission is to offer dependable, low-price products that our customers can count on.
Providing value to our customers is why we get up in the morning. We accomplish this by offering products at a low price our customers can afford across a wide variety of market segments.
Lasting innovation is our motivation. We build premium products that are elegantly designed to meet the needs of a variety of market segments.
Midyear on July 31st, the Baldwin Corporation's
Midyear on July 31st, the Baldwin Corporation's balance sheet reported:
Total Liabilities of $127.704 million
Cash of $10.050 million
Total Assets of $204.791 million
Retained Earnings of $42.497 million.
What was the Baldwin Corporation's common stock?
Select: 1
$34.590 million
$44.640 million
$119.584 million
$129.634 million
Looking forward to next year, if Digby’s
Looking forward to next year, if Digby’s current cash amount is $19,378 (000) and cash flows from operations next period are unchanged from this period and Digby takes ONLY the following actions relating to cash flows from investing and financing activities:
Issues $2,000 (000) of long-term debt
Pays $4,000 (000) in dividends
Retires $10,000 (000) in debt
Which of the following activities will expose Digby to the most risk of needing an emergency loan?
Select: 1
Repurchases $10,000 (000) of stock
Purchases assets at a cost of $15,000 (000)
Issues 100 (000) shares of common stock
Sells $7,000 (000) of long-term assets
select all of the following statements that
select all of the following statements that are true four years from now, in the year 2023.
Select: 2
The Thrift segment will demand 7,744 thousand units
The Nano segment will demand 5,405 thousand units
The Core segment will demand 9,774 thousand units
The Elite segment will demand 5,871 thousand units
Cure is a product of the Chester
Cure is a product of the Chester company which is primarily in the Nano segment, but is also sold in another segment. Chester starts to create their sales forecast by assuming all policies (R&D, Marketing, and Production) for all competitors are equal this year over last. For this question assume that all 700 of units of Cure are sold in the Nano segment. If the competitive environment remains unchanged what will be the Cure product’s demand next year (in 000’s)?
Dot is a product of the Digby company. Digby's sales forecast for Dot is 505 units. Digby wants to have an extra 10% of units on hand above and beyond their forecast in case sales are better than expected. (They would risk the possibility of excess inventory carrying charges rather than risk lost profits on a stock out.) Taking current inventory into account, what will Dot's Production After Adjustment have to be in order to have a 10% reserve of units available for sale?
Refer to the HR Reports in the
Refer to the HR Reports in the Inquirer. Through past investments in recruiting and training Baldwin has obtained a productivity index of 109.4%. This means that Baldwin's labor costs would be increased by 9.4% if it did not have these productivity improvements. This is a competitive advantage that Baldwin can sustain or even widen further if its competitors have no HR initiatives. Now, refer to the Income Statement in Baldwin's Annual Report. How much did Baldwin's productivity improvements save it in direct labor costs (in thousands) last year?
Which description best fits Andrews? For clarity: -
Which description best fits Andrews? For clarity:
- A differentiator competes through good designs, high awareness, and easy accessibility.
- A cost leader competes on price by reducing costs and passing the savings to customers.
- A broad player competes in all parts of the market.
- A niche player competes in selected parts of the market.
Which of these four statements best describes your company's current strategy?
Select: 1
Andrews is a broad differentiator
Andrews is a broad cost leader
Andrews is a niche differentiator
Andrews is a niche cost leader
Chester's product manager is considering lowering the
Chester's product manager is considering lowering the price of the Camp product by $2.50 and wants to know what the impact will be on the product’s contribution margin. Assuming no inventory carry costs, what will Camp's contribution margin be if the price is lowered?
Bid's product manager is under pressure to
Bid's product manager is under pressure to increase market share, but is uncertain about how to make the product more competitive. The product is reasonably well-positioned in the Thrift segment and enjoys relatively high awareness and accessibility. Which of the following would most likely result in a quick increase in market share?
Select: 1
Re-position the product to the ideal spot within the segment
Increase awareness by 5%
Increase the unit contribution margin by decreasing the MTBF
Lower the unit selling price to the bottom limit of the segment price range
Brand managers know that increasing promotional budgets
Brand managers know that increasing promotional budgets eventually result in diminishing returns. The first one million dollars typically results in a 26% increase in awareness, while the second million results in adding another 18% and the third million in a 5% increase. Andrews’s product Agape currently has an awareness level of 79% . While an important product for Andrews, Agape’s promotion budget will be reduced to one million dollars for the upcoming year. Assuming that Agape loses one-third of its awareness each year, what will Agape’s awareness level be next year?
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems
Investing $1,500,000 in TQM's Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products 1.7% in this and in all future rounds. (Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM Decisions menu.) Looking at the Round 0 Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $163,290,917. Assuming similar sales next year, the 1.7% increase in demand will provide $2,775,946 of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of 34.1%, after direct costs this revenue will add $946,598 to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $1,500,000 TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?
