Customized Essay Writing : Seven Essays

1. Prepare a 3 sigma control chart for both production processes, using the new and standard material (use of quality report in Delta Plastics.
2. Discuss whether or not both processes are in control and what conclusion may be drawn.
3. Discuss whether or not both materials are equally subject to defects.
4. Given your findings, advise Jose on the action he should take.

Define an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. What business processes are supported by using an ERP? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using an ERP system?

Identify the components of a supply chain. What is the function of supply chain management (SCM)? When problems arise along the supply chain, how may SCM be used to resolve these problems?

Define the following terms and identify their role in finance: a. Finance b. Efficient Market c. Primary Market d. Secondary Market e. Risk f. Security g. Stock h. Bond i. Capital j. Debt k. Yield l. Rate of Return m. Return on Investment n. Cash Flow

Discussion Board Deliverable Length: 150 to 250 words.

You are a marketing manager interviewing for a new job at a large low price retailer. You know that being well prepared for an interview gives you a better chance of being offered a job, so you decide to the company as well as some of the company s future marketing ideas. One of the company s ideas is to phase out its well known brand names and introduce more store brands. In your discussion, describe the pros and cons of this marketing idea proposed by the company from the both a financial and nonfinancial perspective. Suggestions for Responding to Peer Posts Review your peer s response regarding the pros and cons of this marketing idea proposed by the company from the both a financial and non financial perspective, and consider the following questions: Do you agree with these pros and cons? Would you approve the marketing idea proposed by the company? Why or why not? What might be a better marketing idea for the company?

Read the following scenario.
Jack Parks is a benefits and services manager in the auto electronics division of USA Motors, a major manufacturer of audio systems and auto electronic ignition systems. After analyzing the impact of absenteeism on the division s staffing costs for the previous quarter, he is very concerned. What troubles Parks is an agreement negotiated 10 years ago between the national union and USA Motors that, in effect, pays workers for being absent.
The paid absence agreement was not supposed to work quite that way. The theory was that by giving workers one week of paid absence against which they could charge personal absences, the company would be encouraging workers to notify their supervisors when they would be gone, so that staffing arrangements could be made and production maintained. In practice, workers discovered that, by not charging off any paid absences, they could receive a full week s pay in June when the company paid off the balance of unused paid absences for the previous year. This case bonus, as workers had come to think of it, often coincided with the summer vacations taken by many of the 8,000 hourly employees when USA Motors shuts down for inventory.
As Parks learned, employees with chronic absentee records had figured out how to charge off absences using the regular categories (sick days, as well as excused and unexcused absences), and then collect the cash for the week of paid absences. In Parks s mind, USA Motors might just as well have negotiated a cash bonus for the hourly workers or given them another 10 to 15 cents per hour. After reviewing the division s absenteeism rates for controllable absences (i.e., those categories of absences believed to be of the employee s own choice), Parks concludes that the company could reduce this rate from the previous year s figure of 11%.
And then Parks had a brainstorm. What USA Motors needs to negotiate is an incentive plan for reducing absenteeism. The plan Parks has in mind entails a standard for the amount of controllable absence deemed acceptable. If a chronically absent employee exceeds the standard, then vacation, holiday, and sickness/accident pay would be cut by 10% during the next six months. If worker absence continues to exceed the allowable limits, then vacation, holiday, and sickness pay would be cut during the next six months by the actual percentage of absent days incurred by the chronic absentee. Hence, if a worker misses 15% of scheduled workdays during the first six month period, vacation pay for the new six month period would be reduced by 10%. If the employee continues to be absent at the 15% rate, the vacation rate would be reduced by 15% during the next six months.
Parks immediately drafted a memorandum outlining the program and submitted it to the corporate HR manager of USA Motors for inclusion in the upcoming bargaining session. To Parks surprise and delight, the memorandum received strong corporate support and is scheduled as a high priority bargaining topic for the fall negotiations.
1. Will the incentive plan to reduce absenteeism succeed? Explain your opinion.
2. How much absenteeism is really under the employee s control?
3. Why didn t the paid absence plan work?
4. What plan would you recommend to USA Motors? Provide rationale for the plan.

Write a 1,400 to 1,750 word paper detailing how a new technology system should be implemented or introduced to a company. Include your recommendations as if you were the manager in charge of implementing the new technology. Give your ideas on how the following information should or should not be shared by technical and nontechnical staff:

Project plans
Implementation plans
Training plans
Support strategies

write 3 to 4 paragraphs that provide support for your answers: Managers should base pricing decisions on both cost and market factors. In addition, they must also consider legal issues. Describe the influence that the law has on pricing decisions. It is impossible to use Discounted Cash Flow methods for evaluating investments in research and development. There are no cost savings to measure, and we don t even know what products might come out of our R&D activities. This is a quote from an R&D manager who was asked to justify investment in a major research project based on its expected net present value. How would you respond to this statement? Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

What is normal ? If cultural values are all relative (and therefore all equal), then isn t it absurd to say what is and what is not normal ? Again, for the criminal who was raised in a violent, poor community with a high crime rate, crime is normal, right? The criminal isn t making an excuse, he s only living according to the values he knows and understands, right?

Tata Laboratories last dividend was $1.50. Its current equilibrium stock price is $15.75, and its expected growth rate is a constant 5%. If your required rate of return is 15%, what is your expected dividend yield and expected capital gains yield for the ensuing year if you bought the stock?

When LarMar Foods introduced Garlic Expressions salad dressing, it was concerned about locating and using the computer software needed to track orders and keep up with accounting records. With which dimension of the general environment was the founder of the company most concerned?

Write 2 to 3 pages In text Citation, and lots of references Details: Your firm has been investigating the possibility of locating facilities in an East Asian country such as Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, or Singapore. You have been asked by the chief executive officer (CEO) to research what has been happening in these countries in terms of environmental legislation and laws regarding wages and hours. He has asked you to prepare a report that addresses the following information: Describe the level of environmental regulation in any 2 of these countries. Describe the 2 selected countries versions of wage and working hour legislation. Use the Library and other Internet resources to find the legislation for the specific countries. Select 2 of the 4 East Asian countries to analyze for this assignment. Use the Library and other Internet resources to answer the following questions for each selected country: What is the country s environmental regulation level? What kind of legislation has been passed in the country regarding working hours and wages? Do you think the country s environmental regulation is sufficient? Explain. Do you feel that the country s hour and wage legislation is ethical? Explain.

Rajiv just completed a project in which he restructured sales territories, met with sales representatives to help them set goals, scheduled motivational meetings, and started a program of quarterly performance review for the sales force. His goals are to reduce waste and provide improved customer service. Rajiv is engaged in
planning.
organizing.
managing.
controlling.
leading.

2. (TCO 1) Advertising and subscription revenue at U.S. newspapers have been decreasing. A CEO sets a goal of stopping the decline. The CEO is engaged in
organizing.
planning.
controlling.
leading.
communicating.

3. (TCO 1) Which of the following is a category of managerial role defined by Henry Mintzberg?
Interpersonal
Functional
Leadership
Managerial
Communications

4. (TCO 2) A(n) ____ would come under the heading of the economic element of the general environment.
increase in the number of single parent families
increase in unemployment
large increase in immigration
increase in the mean age of the population
significant decrease in the birthrate

5. (TCO 2) The interest rates are an important aspect of which environment?
Political legal
Economic
Sociocultural
Task
None of these choices

6. (TCO 2) Which of the following is NOT one of the elements in the task environment for St. Jude Children s Hospital?
The board of directors
Pharmaceuticals sales representatives
Patients
Local pediatric clinics
Safety inspectors

7. (TCO 2) Which of the following statements would NOT describe a direct influence response to the organization s environment?
A power company sets up and advertises a safety watch program to help reduce crime in an inner city neighborhood.
An industry council hires a lobbyist to represent it in Washington, D.C.
A firm develops new uses for its existing products.
An organization restructures itself from a mechanistic to an organic design.
A firm signs a long term agreement with one of its suppliers.

8. (TCO 3) You suspect that a manager is stealing company funds for his own use, but you decide to ignore it. Your action is
legal and ethical.
illegal but not unethical.
legal but unethical.
illegal and unethical.
illegal but ethical.

9. (TCO 3) Which of the following is the MOST common approach to the management of ethics?
Top management support
A multipage book of organizational policies and procedures
An unwritten code of ethics
A written code of ethics and top management support
government regulation

10. (TCO 3) New York passed a law requiring no smoking in bars and restaurants. Owners who pressure bartenders and waiters to sell to people who are smoking in order to keep profits high are taking a(n)____ stance toward social responsibility.
reactive
obstructionist
proactive
accommodative
participative

11. (TCO 2) List the five dimensions of the general environment and give an example of each would affect a local car dealership.

12. (TCO 3) Describe an ethical dilemma you have faced (it can be as simple as admitting you were undercharged by a cashier). Illustrate how you applied the ethical decision framework (Figure 4.2) in making your final judgment of what to do.

New lithographic equipment, acquired at a cost of $175,000 at the beginning of a fiscal year, has an estimated useful life of five years and an estimated residual value of $15,000. The manager requested information regarding the effect of alternative methods on the amount of depreciation expense each year. On the basis of the data presented to the manager, the double declining balance method was selected.
In the first week of the fifth year, the equipment was traded in for similar equipment priced at $240,000. The trade in allowance on the old equipment was $25,000, cash of $15,000 was paid, and a note payable was issued for the balance.
Instructions
1. Determine the annual depreciation expense for each of the estimated five years of use, the accumulated depreciation at the end of each year, and the book value of the equipment at the end of each year by (a) the straight line method and (b) the double declining balance method. The following columnar headings are suggested for each schedule:

Year Depreciation Expense Accumulated Depreciation, End of Year Book Value, End of Year
2. For financial reporting purposes, determine the cost of the new equipment acquired in the exchange.
3. Journalize the entry to record the exchange.
4. Journalize the entry to record the exchange, assuming that the trade in allowance was $18,000 instead of $25,000

10 2
LL Incorporated s currently outstanding 11% coupon bonds have a yield to maturity
of 8%. LL believes it could issue at par new bonds that would provide a similar
yield to maturity. If its marginal tax rate is 35%, what is LL s after tax cost
of debt?

10 4
Burnwood Tech plans to issue some $60 par preferred stock with a 6% dividend.
The stock is selling on the market for $70.00, and Burnwood must pay flotation
costs of 5% of the market price. What is the cost of the preferred stock?

10 5
Summerdahl Resorts common stock is currently trading at $36 a share. The stock
is expected to pay a dividend of $3.00 a share at the end of the year (D1 _ $3.00),
and the dividend is expected to grow at a constant rate of 5% a year. What is the
cost of common equity?
10 6
Booher Book Stores has a beta of 0.8. The yield on a 3 month T bill is 4% and the
yield on a 10 year T bond is 6%. The market risk premium is 5.5%, but the stock
market return in the previous years was 15%. What is the estimated cost of common
equity using the CAPM?
10 7
Shi Importers balance sheet shows $300 million in debt, $50 million in preferred
stock, and $250 million in total common equity. Shi faces a 40% tax rate and the
following data: rd _ 6%, rps _ 5.8%, and rs _ 12%. If Shi has a target capital structure
of 30% debt, 5% preferred stock, and 65% common stock, what is Shi s
WACC?
10 12
Spencer Supplies stock is currently selling for $60 a share. The firm is expected to
earn $5.40 per share this year and to pay a year end dividend of $3.60.
a. If investors require a 9% return, what rate of growth must be expected for
Spencer?
b. If Spencer reinvests earnings in projects with average returns equal to thestock s expected rate of return, what will be next year s EPS? [Hint: g _ROE(Retention ratio).]
11 13

Cummings Products Company is considering two mutually exclusive investments.
The projects expected net cash flows are as follows:
Expected Net Cash Flows
Year Project A Project B
0 ($300) ($405)
1 (387) 134
2 (193) 134
3 (100) 134
4 600 134
5 600 134
6 850 134
7 (180) 0

a. Construct NPV profiles for Projects A and B.
b. What is each project s IRR?
c. If you were told that each project s cost of capital was 10%, which project
should be selected? If the cost of capital was 17%, what would be the proper
choice?
d. What is each project s MIRR at a cost of capital of 10%? At 17%? (Hint:
Consider Period 7 as the end of Project B s life.)
e. What is the crossover rate, and what is its significance?

Shannon Albright has an accounting degree from a United States accredited university. She also became certified as a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). Upon graduation she was offered, and she accepted, an entry level accounting position at a firm in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been gainfully employed with this firm for the last five years. Recently she interviewed with your firm which is located in Boston, MA. You, working for the human resources department, want to hire Shannon for your organization s Financial Accountant position. You know Shannon is a strong candidate and you want to develop a competitive offer that will attract Shannon yet still fit within the company s budget and compensation structure (i.e. considering both internal and external equity). With this in mind, you are asked to prepare the offer for Shannon. The following will be included in this package and should be specific to Shannon and this situation: Compensation package what pay rate will you offer (using salary survey research as support). What else may be included in the compensation package? Incentive plan what performance based incentives does this offer include? Benefits plan what specific benefit plans does this offer include? It is important to provide the necessary supporting details to explain the incentives and benefits being offered. The more detail you provide, the better educated Shannon will be to make her decision to accept. Along with these packages you will include a one page cover letter addressed to your supervisor that outlines what you propose to offer. This cover letter should explain and justify the compensation package, incentive plan, and benefits plan. Your detailed plans will then follow that cover page.