Buying nature of consumer

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Firms supply the goods and services that we as households demand. So what are people looking to buy? 
•Why do they select one product over another?
•Can free markets really allocate scarce resources in such an uncontrolled and often chaotic marketplace?
•Search the news for stories related to the supply and/or the demand for a product that you find interesting.
•Perhaps something that you recently purchased or are considering for a future purchase. What's in the news and how can you use economic principles to become a better shopper? 
•Do not copy and paste directly from the article except for small quotes that help explain your summary. Use quotations marks for anything that is directly from the news story. 
•Include the EXACT URL that can be clicked to directly retrieve the news story you selected at the end of your paper for citation purposes. NOTE: This is NOT the link to the news organization. The URL must retrieve the actual news story.

Be sure to reference all sources using APA format.

By the way, you have just passed another turn of centuries

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By the way, you have just passed another turn of centuries, from the 20th to the 21st. From your "modern" perspective, do you feel that DuBois's statement is still valid today? Do you find that DuBois was correct in his prediction that issues of "race" and "ethnicity" would be at the center of American social, political and artistic developments? Or do you find that the interaction between "minorities" and "majorities" in the United States has taken on a lesser or different role than that which DuBois predicted? 

Write a formal, 5-paragraph essay in response to this question. Base your answer on your own observations - as well as on your assigned reading this week and next. 

Important Note. Your Introduction, Thesis, and Outline for the essay are due this week. The essay itself is due Week 02.

Calculate the expected returns of your portfolio

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1. Calculate the expected returns of your portfolio
   
   

   Stock	Invest	Exp Ret
   A	$358	8.1%
   B	$954	18.1%
   C	$1,383	26%

   
   
   
   Note: Enter your answer in percentages rounded off to two decimal points. Do not enter % in the answer box. For example, if your answer is 12.345% then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 2

1. Suppose a stock had an initial price of $64.29 per share, paid a dividend of $5 per share during the year, and had an ending share price of $94.19. What are the dollar returns?
   Note: Enter your answer rounded off to two decimal points. Do not enter $ or comma in the answer box. For example, if your answer is $12.345 then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 3

1. Suppose the returns for Stock A for last six years was 4%, 7%, 8%, -2%, 9%, and 7%. 
   Compute the standard deviation of the returns.
   Note: Enter your answer in percentages rounded off to two decimal points. Do not enter % in the answer box. For example, if your answer is 0.12345 then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 4

1. You own a portfolio invested 19.2% in Stock A, 19.27% in Stock B, 28.6% in Stock C, and the remainder in Stock D. The beta of these four stocks are 0.82, 0.69, 0.94, and 0.91. What is the portfolio beta?
   Note: Enter your answer rounded off to two decimal points. For example, if your answer is 12.345 then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 5

1. Suppose a stock had an initial price of $66.22 per share, paid a dividend of $4.3 per share during the year, and had an ending share price of $84.92. What are the percentage returns?
   Note: Enter your answer in percentages rounded off to two decimal points. Do not enter % in the answer box. For example, if your answer is 0.12345 then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 6

1. Calculate the expected returns of your portfolio
   
   

   Stock	Invest	Exp Ret
   A	$427	3.6%
   B	$921	16.7%
   C	$330	28.7%

   
   
   
   Note: Enter your answer in percentages rounded off to two decimal points. Do not enter % in the answer box. For example, if your answer is 12.345% then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 7

1. You own a portfolio invested 26.47% in Stock A, 18.59% in Stock B, 22.2% in Stock C, and the remainder in Stock D. The beta of these four stocks are 1.35, 1.33, 0.29, and 1.26. What is the portfolio beta?
   Note: Enter your answer rounded off to two decimal points. For example, if your answer is 12.345 then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

QUESTION 8

1. Suppose a stock had an initial price of $96.73 per share, paid a dividend of $7.3 per share during the year, and had an ending share price of $103.32. What are the percentage returns if you own 25 shares?
   Note: Enter your answer in percentages rounded off to two decimal points. Do not enter % in the answer box. For example, if your answer is 0.12345 then enter as 12.35 in the answer box.

1 points   

Calculate the total amount of interest expense over the life of the bonds for the following independent

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 Question 1

Calculate the total amount of interest expense over the life of the bonds for the following independent situations.

a) AED100,000 face value, 10%, 10-year bonds issued at 101.

b) AED240,000 face value, 5%, 5-year bonds issued at 100.

c) AED300,000 face value, 9%, 6-year bonds issued at 98.

 Question 2

ABC Corporation issued AED2,000,000 of 10%, 6-year bonds dated July 1, 2011, with semiannual interest payments .  The bonds were issued on January 1, 2011, at 97.  ABC’s year-end is December 31.

a) Were the bonds issued at a premium, a discount, or at par?

b) Was the market rate of interest higher, lower, or the same as the contract rate of interest?

c) If the company uses the straight-line method of amortization, what is the amount of interest expense ABC  Corporation will show for the year ended December 31, 2011?

Question3

On the first day of the current fiscal year, AED2,000,000 of 10-year, 10% bonds, with interest payable annually, were sold for AED2,250,000.  Present entries to record the following transactions for the current fiscal year:

(a)	Issuance of the bonds.
(b)	First annual interest payment.
(c)	Amortization of bond premium for the year, using the straight-line method of amortization.

Question4

Future Sources, Inc. reported the following results for the year ending July 31, 2012:

Retained earnings, August 1, 2011	$875,000
Net income	260,000
Cash dividends declared	120,000
Stock divide nds declared	100,000

Prepare a retained earnings statement for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2012.

Calculating Present Values (Problem 2-1, p. 46)

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1- Calculating Present Values (Problem 2-1, p. 46)

Calculate the present value of each of the following CASH flow streams, using a discount rate of 10%.

a. $500 received at the end of 5 years.
b. $500 received annually for each of the next 5 years.
c. $500 received annually for each of the next 50 years.
d. $500 received annually for 100 years.

2-2

Singular Construction is evaluating whether to build a new distribution facility. The proposed investment will cost Singular $4 million to construct and provide cash savings of $500,000 per year over the next 10 years.

a. What rate of return does the investment offer?
b. If Singular were to invest another $200,000 in the facility at the end of 5 years, it would extend the life of the project for 4 years, during which time is would continue receiving cash savings of $500,000. What is the international rate of return for this investment?

Can you produce a family tree for at least three generations of your family

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Can you produce a family tree for at least three generations of your family, a friend's family, or a famous family such as the Bushes, Clintons, or Barrymores, following these genetic traits:
•Eye color
•Hair color
•Dominant hand
•Height
•Widow's peak
•Hitchhiker's thumb
•A family genetic disorder (this is not required and should only be provided at one's discretion)

Summarize the inheritance of sex-linked traits through meiosis and how it relates to genetics.

Create a 5- to 6-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation illustrating your findings and summarizing the inheritance of sex-linked traits.

CASE #3: Game Not Over, Not Yet

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CASE #3: Game Not Over, Not Yet

Although their expertise lies in creating games, it’s definitely serious business for the video game industry. The computer and video game industry has struggled over the last couple of years as game makers look for new sources of revenues and work to hold down costs. One company, Electronic Arts (EA), exemplifies the challenges of this industry, in which customers are fickle and demanding and competition is intense. As one of the world’s leading video game publishers, EA lives and dies by its innovations. Its product lineup includes more than 100 titles such as

Def Jam Vendetta, The Sims, Madden NFL Football, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. The company has created more than 50 best-sellers (each with more than 1 million copies sold) since 1998. In 2006, revenues were $2.9 billion, down 5.7 percent. And although net income was still $236 million, it was down 53 percent. Although the company has a record of accomplishments, paranoia is a critical part of its success. A top game title takes anywhere from 12 to 36 months to produce and costs between $5 million and $10million.

That’s a significant investment risk riding on the company’s ability to be innovative. John Riccitello, the former president and chief operating officer who left the company in 2004 to start a private equity firm and who returned to the company in early 2007 as CEO, guided much of the company’s game design accomplishments. He said, “The forgotten aspect of creativity is discipline.” The hard part, and the part that EA pursues relentlessly, “is identifying the right idea, assembling the best development team, solving the inevitable technical problems, creating a game that people want to play, getting all of the work done on schedule, getting it to market at the right time, and knowing how to generate buzz about it in an increasingly crowded market.” How does EA do it? It starts with the discipline of understanding ideas. Game designers try to identify the creative center of a game—what they call the “creative x”—so they understand what the game is about. Then, it’s the discipline of understanding the customers by using focus groups to pinpoint desires and likes and dislikes. And it’s the discipline of sharing best practices and technologies through the company’s intranet library. As one employee said, “If somebody develops a better blade of grass in one game, that grass will be in somebody else’s game the next day.” Then, there’s the discipline of developing the next generation of creative leaders. The company’s “emerging leaders” program gives participants firsthand experience in departments outside their own. And there’s the discipline of studying the competition. Employees are encouraged to know the features of competitors’ products. Then, it’s disciplined project management. Riccitello, known for his strict discipline, said, “If you’re working on a game and you miss your deadlines, you won’t be working here very long.” Although the discipline of creativity is important at EA, you can’t overlook the passion of the company’s game designers. Nearly everyone at EA

grew up playing games. They love what they do and are inspired to look for new and creative challenges not only for the hard-core gamers, but for the casual gamers, as well.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe EA’s competitive advantage from each of the three perspectives on competitive advantage. 2. Does EA exhibit the critical success factors for the new business context? Explain.

3. Describe the types of resources EA appears to have. Do you think any of these resources might be unique? Explain.

4. What stakeholders might EA have to be concerned with and how might those stakeholders affect EA’s strategic decisions and actions?

CASE - PREPARATION OF A MASTER BUDGET

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MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING 
CASE - PREPARATION OF A MASTER BUDGET
Point Value – 70 points

Required:
Based on the following information, prepare the following budgets for each month and the quarter ending March 31, 2011: (Hint: First quarter consists of January, February and March.)

• Sales Budget, including a schedule of expected cash collections
• Production Budget (in units)
• Manufacturing Overhead Budget
• Selling and Administrative Expenses Budget
• Cash Budget 
(Note: Even though you are not required to prepare Direct Materials and Direct Labor budgets, direct materials and direct labor information is necessary to prepare the Cash Budget.)

Information:
1. Sales forecast: January: 2,000 units; February: 1,700 units; March: 1,600 units; April: 1,500 units. The unit sales price is $16. All sales are on credit and collections are 40% in the month of sale and 60% the following month. Accounts receivable as of December 31, 2010 is $17,200 and this amount is expected to be collected in January 2011.

2. End of month inventory must equal 70% of next month’s sales. The inventory at the end of December 2010 was 1,400 units.

3. The following are the expected costs for direct materials, direct labor and manufacturing overhead:
DM DL Overhead
January $14,800 $6,300 $5,610 + $1.50 per unit produced 
February 8,600 5,700 $5,610 + $1.50 per unit produced
March 8,400 5,300 $5,610 + $1.50 per unit produced

A. Direct materials are paid 25% in the month incurred and 75% in the following month. 
Account payable for materials as of December 31, 2010 is $5,400; this amount will be paid in January 2011.

B. Direct labor is paid in the month incurred.

C. Overhead costs are paid in the month incurred. Fixed overhead includes depreciation of $1,500 per month.

4. Selling costs are sales commissions: $.30 per unit sold; shipping costs: $.14 per unit sold. Administrative costs per month are: salaries: $1,200; rent: $400; depreciation: $800. All costs are paid in month incurred.


5. The company plans to buy equipment costing $10,000 in January.

6. The cash balance as of December 31, 2010 is $10,200. The company borrows money only if 
the cash balance falls below $2,000 at the end of the month

Case 1 Questions

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Cash in the bank is reported on the balance sheet dated December 31,2012 is composed of:

Checking account: $324,935

Money market savings account that does not have checking privileges: $100,000

Certificate of deposit, 2% maturing on May 1st 2013=$25,000

Certificate of deposit, 1.5% maturing on January 15th, 2013=$50,000

Cash held as compensating balance, to be held until January 1st, 2015=$10,000

Required: Make necessary journal entries to correct the cash account

I-6

P&P Products implemented Dollar Value LIFO inventory valuation in 2009, when their ending inventory was $650,000. The following are the inventory amounts for an ingredient used in packaging for years 2010-2014.

Year: 2010

Inventory at end of year prices: 697,200

Price index: 105

Year: 2011

Inventory at end of year prices: 795,800

Price index: 115

Year: 2012

Inventory at end of year prices: 805,200

Price index: 120

Year: 2013

Inventory at end of year prices: 856,500

Price index: 125

Year: 2014

Inventory at end of year prices: 901,800

Price index: 135

Required:

Calculate the ending inventory for years 2009-2014 using Dollar Value LIFO

Case 2: Making over Avon

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CASE #2: Making Over Avon

As the world’s largest direct seller of cosmetics and beauty-related items, Avon Products wants to continue building its global reach (more than two-thirds of Avon’s sales revenues come from outside North America) and attracting younger customers. To do so, however, Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO, must continually juggle the strategic challenges of guiding this $8 billion company and its worldwide army of over five million independent representatives. Jung was named Avon’s first female CEO in 1999. Since that time, she has overseen some significant strategic initiatives. One of these was the company’s $100 million investment in a state-of-the-art product research facility outside of New York City, which opened in 2005. Avon had always lagged behind its competitors in R&D (research and development), spending less than 1 percent of sales while Esteé Lauder Companies was spending over 1.3 percent of sales and L’Oreal SA about 3 percent of sales. Because this industry is one in which customers continually look for new products that make them look good and that are also good for the skin, R&D is critical. In addition, because Avon is primarily a direct sales company whose representatives pitch new products to customers every two weeks, the importance of investing in new product development becomes even more apparent. Another of Jung’s strategic moves was a revamp of Avon’s stodgy, old-fashioned image through new marketing and advertising. Avon—best known for its troops of mostly middle-aged women selling skin

creams and cosmetics to their neighbors from catalogs—needed a serious overhaul of that dated image. Jung ordered a new design for the company’s all-important sales brochure using heavier, glossier paper that was more visually appealing. She also decided to increase distribution by 6 percent. This meant that sales brochures would now reach an additional one million women every two weeks—a bold strategic move that Jung felt would pay off. Another strategic initiative was the development of a line of cosmetics for women ages 16 to 24. It was the company’s first push into the youth market and a dramatic change from its core customer group, which is age 35 and older. Deborah Fine (who has since left the company) was president of Avon Future, the company division responsible for the line. She said, “We want to capture a younger customer, bring in new reps, and create a new global youth brand.” According to Avon, 17 million young women in the United States spend at least $75 billion a year on beauty and fashion. If Avon could capture part of that spending with appealing products, it had the potential to add significantly to its bottom line. Avon’s new “young” brand, called mark, launched in the summer of 2003. Thousands of career-savvy young women signed on as representatives and have helped propel mark to the number two trend brand in the world. Jung is confident that mark will continue to help the company “pass the makeup brush” to a new generation of Avon customers. The strategic challenge of this product line, obviously, will be to keep mark’s customers and sales force (a notoriously fickle age group) excited and hooked. Despite what appeared to be strategically sound actions, Avon’s sales during 2005 “showed some blemishes.” U.S. revenues sagged, and even the previously strong momentum of sales in overseas markets slowed. Jung’s response: a three-year restructuring program aimed at saving at least $300 million a year. This restructuring involved downsizing (eliminating corporate positions); doubling advertising spending; focusing R&D resources on product innovation in an attempt to make its brands more competitive; simplifying the manufacturing structure; outsourcing some services to low-cost countries; and improving the attractiveness of the representatives’ earnings potential in the United States, Russia, and Brazil. In addition, Avon’s greatest market potential appears to be in China. It was the first company to be granted a direct selling license there and by June 2006 had recruited more than 114,000 representatives. One analyst says, “Avon has a great brand; they’ve got a product lineup that’s appealing.... The model’s not broken. It needs some help.”

Discussion Questions

1. Explain how strategic management and the strategic management process are illustrated in this case.

2. What are some performance measures that Avon’s strategic decision makers might use to evaluate the results of the restructuring initiatives?

3. Andrea Jung is Avon’s first female CEO, which you might find surprising considering that Avon’s target market is overwhelmingly female. Do some research on the number of female CEOs and female board members in U.S. companies. (Check out Catalyst, an organization that researches women’s workplace issues.) Have these numbers changed over time? What conclusions might you draw from these data?

 4. Go to Avon’s Web site [www.avoncompany. com]. What are Avon’s vision and mission? How might these statements affect strategic decisions and actions? Then, check out the company’s products. What is the company’s number one brand globally?

Case 4 International Business

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Case 4 International Business

Arik Air is one Nigeria’s largest airlines and one of the largest airlines in all of Africa. Its employment situation is a bit unique in that close to 10 percent of its employees are expatriates. Recruiting and retaining expatriates to work as pilots or other positions in Nigeria can require higher salaries than are typically paid to local workers. However, disparities in wages between expatriates and local employees can lead to resentment. Overall, the human resource situation for a company that operates globally and hires globally such as Arik Air can be quite complicated.

Now suppose that Arik Airlines has been purchased by an American company, which now has to develop a plan to address the issue of hiring and maintaining a well-qualified pilot staff and making all of Arik’s employees feel welcome under the new American parent company. Also, suppose that you have been tasked with coming up with a solid human resource plan for the new American owners of Arik Air. You need to make major decisions such as how much to rely on local staff, how much to rely on employees from the United States or other countries, and how to deal with the sensitive issue of how an American company manages local employees who may be resentful of their new owner. In order to do this, you will need to use what you’ve learned in the background materials in this module as well as what you’ve learned in the previous modules about assessing the local environment of a country.

In a 4- to 5-page paper, present a strategic human resource plan considering the following issues:

1. The economic/political environment in Nigeria—how will this influence the difficulty in hiring local staff or recruiting expatriates to come work in Nigeria? How will this influence your strategy?

2. Nigeria’s national culture—what implications will cultural differences between the United States and Nigeria have on your strategic plan? What difficulties do you anticipate, and how do you propose to deal with them?

3. How much should the American company rely on local pilots and managers vs. expatriate pilots and managers? Keep the issue of potential local resentment of expatriates in mind.

Remember that your paper should reflect an integration of both what you learned in the background materials about the key general aspects of international human resource management, and what you’ve specifically learned about the unique issues involved in managing human resources in an airline in Nigeria. Your task is to apply the background materials to the specific issues that would be faced by an American company if it were to purchase Arik Air.

Background material:

Do some research on Arik Air and the human resource situation in Nigeria. Below are a few articles to get you started:

Arik Air customer base soars (Jan. 31, 2014). AllAfrica.com. Washington.
Nigeria loses N500 billion annually to expatriate pilots. (Jan. 24, 2014). AllAfrica.com [Washington] 24 Jan 2014.
Fajana, S., Owoyemi, O., Elegbede, T., & Gbajumo-Sheriff, M. (2011). Human resource management practices in Nigeria. Journal of Management and Strategy, 2(2), 57.

Paper Format as follows:

Set 1-inch margins on all four sides.
Use 12-point type throughout; don’t use different type sizes.
Double-space the text throughout the paper, including the reference page.
Do not put extra spaces between paragraphs or between headings and paragraphs.
Use italics or bold for emphasis, but use them sparingly or it becomes too distracting for your reader 

Must have in-text citations
Must have references (APA format)

Case 5 International Market Selection and Market Entry

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Case 5 International Market Selection and Market Entry

Zipcar is a highly successful new company specializing in a brand-new model for automobile rental services, allowing their customers long-term and flexible access to shared vehicles on a daily or hourly basis. Zipcar's innovative model allows those who sign up for their membership services to share cars with other members on a flexible basis, creating a cost effective alternative to car ownership. Since its founding in 2000, it has grown to become a major player in the U.S. automobile rental market and has expanded internationally to Canada, the U.K., Spain, and Austria, and offers rental services to almost 1 million customers.

Now suppose you have been hired by Zipcar to come up with an international strategic plan. Write a 4- to 5-page strategic plan for Zipcar that addresses the following issues:

1. What country or countries should Zipcar enter next beyond the five countries they already operate in? Explain your reasoning for this selection based on criteria from the background materials.

2. What mode of entry should Zipcar use to enter the country or countries that you chose? For example, should it use a joint venture, franchising, a greenfield strategy, something else?

Background Materials:

Zipcar expands in Sacramento becoming 26th major metro market: Based on strong demand, Zipcar increases number of vehicles, will open office (Nov. 6, 2013) PR Newswire

Esswein, P. M. (July, 2011). Zipcar: Robin Chase. Kiplinger's Personal Finance, 65, 1

Zipcar, Inc.; Zipcar acquires leading car sharing service in Austria, CarSharing.at. (July 25, 2012). Mergers & Acquisitions Week , 196.

Paper Format as follows:

Set 1-inch margins on all four sides.
Use 12-point type throughout; don’t use different type sizes.
Double-space the text throughout the paper, including the reference page.
Do not put extra spaces between paragraphs or between headings and paragraphs.
Use italics or bold for emphasis, but use them sparingly or it becomes too distracting for your reader 

Must have in-text citations
Must have references (APA format)