Category: Business and Management

Homework #2 Name: _____________________________ Show your work/steps and specify the units ($, %, days, etc.) for your answers to receive full credit.
(1)  An architect firm uses an average of 60 boxes of copier paper a day. The firm operates 280 days a year. Storage and handling costs for the paper are $30 a year per box, and its costs approximately $60 to order and receive a shipment of paper.
(a)  What quantity order size would minimize the total annual inventory cost? ________________________________________________________________________________
(b)  Determine the minimum total annual inventory cost. ________________________________________________________________________________
(c)  The office manager is currently using an order size of 300 boxes. The partners of the firm expect the office to be managed “in a cost-efficient manner.” Would you recommend the manager to use your quantity from part (a) rather than 300 boxes? _______.
Justify your answer (by determining the total annual inventory cost for 300 boxes): ________________________________________________________________________________
(2)  The ABC Company is both a producer and a user of brass couplings. The firm operates 220 days a year and uses the couplings at a steady rate of 60 per day. Coupling can be produced at a rate of 200 per day. Annual storage cost is $2 per coupling, and machine setup cost is $120 per run. Determine the:
(a) optimal production run size = ________________________________________________________ (b) length of production run = ___________________________________________________________ (c) maximum inventory level = __________________________________________________________
(3)  Suppose that a perishable item costs $8 and sells for $10. Any item that is not sold by the end of the day can all be sold at $5.
(a) Find MP = and ML = . The table below reveals the discrete demand for this item. (b) Complete the last column of the table.
Demand P(Demand = this level) P(Demand  this level) 110 0.20
120 0.15
130 0.15
140 0.15 150 0.15 160 0.10 170 0.05 180 0.05
(c) Use the marginal analysis to determine how many units should be stocked.
Analysis: ________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion: ________________________________________________________________________
(4) ABC Woodcarving manufactures two types of wooden toys: soldiers and trains. A soldier sells for $29 and uses $10 worth of raw materials. Each soldier that is manufactured increases ABC’s variable labor and overhead costs by $12. A train sells for $22 and uses $7 worth of raw materials. Each train built increases ABC’s variable labor and overhead costs by $10. The manufacture of wooden soldiers and trains requires two types of skilled labor: carpentry and finishing. A soldier requires 4 hours of finishing labor and 3 hour of carpentry labor. A train requires 2 hour of finishing and 1 hour of carpentry labor. Each month, ABC can obtain all the needed raw material but only 4,200 finishing hours and 2,000 carpentry hours. Demand for trains is unlimited, but at most 220 trains are bought each month. ABC wants to maximize monthly profit (revenues – costs). Formulate an LP model that can be used to maximize ABC’s monthly profit.
(a) Step 1: Define the decision variables precisely and completely (e.g., let X1 = … and X2 = …, etc.).
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________ (b) Step 2: State the objective function.
___________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) Step 3: Specify the constraints.
___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________
(5) Consider the following linear programming model with 4 regular constraints:
Maximize 3X + 5Y subject to: 4X + 4Y ≤ 48 4X + 3Y ≤ 50 2X + 1Y ≤ 20
X ≥ 2 X, Y ≥ 0
(a) Draw your graph in the space below:
(constraint #1)
(constraint #2)
(constraint #3)
(constraint #4) (non-negativity constraints)
(a) Which of the constraints is redundant? Constraint #______. Justify by drawing a graph similar to Figure 7.14 on p.263.
(b)  Is point (9,3) a feasible solution? _____. Explain your answer (by analyzing each of the constraints). Constraint #1: _______________________________________________________________ Constraint #2: _______________________________________________________________ Constraint #3: _______________________________________________________________ Constraint #4: _______________________________________________________________
(c)  Which of the following points yields the best solution? Underline the best solution: (7,5), (9,2), (6,6). Justify your answer (using the data from the above LP model).
(7,5): ____________________________________________________________________ (9,2): ____________________________________________________________________ (6,6): ____________________________________________________________________

Goal: 
Develop a Entrepreneurship Due Diligence Report on Maydm’s technology education non-profit, using the articles found in the following links.
https://maydm.org/Links to an external site.
https://www.ibmadison.com/In-Business-Madison/May-2019/Maydm-awarded-50K-grant-from-CUNA-Mutual-Foundation/Links to an external site.
Consider the following questions. Note that because this is a general outline, not all questions may apply to this specific business.
External Environment:
· How is the economic environment where the business is located?
· How is the social environment where the business is located?
· How is the technological environment where the business is located?
· How is the political/legal environment where the business is located?
Industry Environment:
· What is the state of the industry in which the business operates? Is the industry in growth mode, or is it mature or in decline?
· How does this business compare to competitors in its industry?
· What is the business’ reputation in the industry and the community?
· How many competitors are there? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Business Environment:
· What is the state of the business’ target market? Is its target market growing or shrinking?
· Are its target customers undergoing demographic changes, such as aging, loss of disposable income, or other transitions that could put the business at risk?
· Is the business’s customer base growing? Is the business adequately diversified, or is it overly dependent on one or two big customers?
· What kind of staff does the business have? Do employees have skills that are difficult to find elsewhere? Are their wages average, above average, or below average for the industry?
· Are employees being treated fairly? Is there a lot of turnover at the business?
Finances:
· Are the business’ sales increasing?
· What is the business’ profit margin?
· Does the business have adequate funding?
· How much debt does the business have?
Conclusion:
· Is this a business worthy of consideration for investment?
· What are the reasons for your decision?
Adapted from https://www.allbusiness.com/questions-to-ask-when-buying-a-business-567-1.htmlLinks to an external site.
Submission Instructions:
The detailed summary should be 600 words in length that uses current APA style and format.  

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review all the required resources for this week.
You are playing the role of the divisional manager of the new e-bike division of Fox Factory Holding Corporation. The divisional manager is preparing to request funding to introduce the product and begin sales. Three options have been identified (note that these are fictitious assumptions):
Produce the new e-bike internally,
Outsource manufacturing to another manufacturer, and
License the design to an existing company for royalties on future sales.
Note: Please use the most recent Quarterly ResultsLinks to an external site. (Form 10-Q) published on the Fox Factory Investor Overview website. Please use the earnings announcement, for example: “Fox Factory Holding Corp. Announces Third Quarter 20XX Financial Results” for the relevant required information.
In your paper,
Summarize the company’s financial performance, referencing key data points from the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement available in the Quarterly ResultsLinks to an external site..
Identify the highlights and areas of concern.
Calculate six different standard ratios for the company—three using Balance Sheet data and three using Income Statement data.
Include in your ratios the
current ratio,
cash ratio,
gross margin,
net profit margin, and
two others of your choosing.
Explain the relevance of each of the ratios.
The Financial Statement Analysis paper,
must be 2–3 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA StyleLinks to an external site. as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft WordLinks to an external site.
must include a separate title page with the title of the paper in bold font; names of the student, institution, and instructor; along with the course name and number and the due date.
must use Academic VoiceLinks to an external site..
must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph.
Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
See Introductions & ConclusionsLinks to an external site. and Writing a Thesis StatementLinks to an external site., for additional guidance.
must use at least two credible, preferably scholarly, peer-reviewed, sources in addition to the course text.
See the Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible SourcesLinks to an external site. for additional guidance.
If you have questions whether a specific source is appropriate or not, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source.
must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your PaperLinks to an external site.
must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA Style.

examine an issue related to electronic medical records and consider the implications of this issue for health care administration. Some possible issues include, but are not limited to, the following:
linking of genome information to medical records and resulting privacy issues;
the problem of missing older records when medical records are moved to electronic and the resulting loss of information related to patient care;
overall security of electronic medical records;
freedom of digitized information to move around (insurance companies requiring a HIPA waiver, but not pledging to keep that information secure). 
In doing so, you should consult appropriate research, convey your findings, and apply what you have learned to your healthcare organization (including, as appropriate, your personal position in healthcare).
You are also expected to support your discussion with at least two relevant articles, at least one of which should be from a peer-reviewed academic journal obtained through a scholarly database. You must cite these sources in your response

You are a magazine writer assigned to write a profile of:
* A person who influenced your choice of degree program – not just going back to school or pursuing an education but choosing your specific field.
OR, 
* A person who has contributed to your chosen field of study significantly.
The person can be living or dead, but it CANNOT be you. You will be writing about yourself in the Week 4 Assignment.
Write 200-300 words describing:
* Your chosen field of study.
* A brief background of the person you chose (No need to include details like eye color or height but do include birth and death, if applicable, dates).
* WHY this person was important to your decision to pursue education in that field. OR,
* HOW the person you chose has contributed to your field.
* A couple of sentences to responding to ONE of the following questions using the biographies located in the Week 4 resources:
* From among this week’s biographies, who do you think your chosen person would have wanted as a friend and why?
* From among this week’s biographies, who might have been a good mentor for your person? Or who might your person have mentored?
choose one for last 2 questions:
* Michelle Obama. (2020, May 7). Biography. https://www.biography.com/us-first-lady/michelle-obama
* Holden, S. (2003). Johnny Cash, Country Music Bedrock, Dies at 71.  https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/sep/13/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries
* Profile: Malala Yousafzai. (2017, August 17). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937
* Kelion, L., (24 September, 2019) Google wins landmark right to be forgotten case. BBC.com accessed at https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49808208

Compose an original post of 250-350 words, and
You will need to respond to one other student in your group with a separate reply post to their original post in 100-150 words.
Remember, ALL dialogue posts need to have citations and references (including reply posts).
Respond to the following:
Patterson, K. (2006). Servant-leadership: A brief look at love and the organizational perspective. The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, 2(1), 287-296. https://spearscenter.org/docs2010/InternationalJournalofServantLeadership2006.pdfLinks to an external site.
The discussion topic is: “Why is love an important leadership virtue in contemporary society—does love even work? Show your insight into the construct of ‘love’ and provide examples of managers/leaders showing, or not showing, love in today’s organizations.”
****************************************

12 principles:
Show them you believe
Be clear about the goals and the rules
Provide and seek feedback
Get to know constituents
Be creative about incentives
Just say “Thank You”
Celebrate accomplishments in public
Provide social support
Have fun together
Show you care
Spread the stories
Make celebrations part of organizational life
Assignment 1 – discussion(250 words)
This case study ends by asking, ‘What should James do?’ Which of the 12 principles (you can address 1-2 principles in your discussion) from this module would you recommend James Reid first implement to start getting this business/team back on track (i.e. to reduce/eliminate conflict between departments, correct the unwillingness to share information, address the organizational culture problems, promote teamwork and collaboration, help people feel motivated and want to come to work, etc.)? Why? There are a lot of issues that could be addressed from previous modules, but please stay focused on this module (Encourage the Heart) and the principles from this module.
Support your position with the appropriate application of the principles (found above)
Assignment 2 – CASE STUDY ANALYSIS(600 words)
Using two (2) principles from the reading materials AND at least three (3) specific examples (courses of action) per principle to support your arguments, what should James Reid do to use the principles from this module moving forward to better Encourage the Heart of this business/team and help facilitate this turnaround? Make sure you support your arguments by integrating the reading material into the principles and the specific examples.
Assignment 3 – 
PERSONAL REFLECTION  (500 words)
On a scale of 1 to 7, how well do you demonstrate the principles of “Encourage the Heart” from Kouzes and Posner’s The Leadership Challenge?
= very poor
= poor
= fair
= good
= very good
= excellent
= exceptional
Which of these principles do you use most effectively?
Which of these principles do you use least effectively?
What should you do to use the principles of “Encourage the Heart” more effectively?
Please use the 12 principles I give you. 
For each assignment you should use 2 principles. In assignment , the last question you can use more principles. And all the principles you use should be from the 12 principles I give you.
‘Personal reflection 5’ and ‘ case study analysis 5’ docx files are the example.

Guidelines and Rubric
Competency
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:
Analyze and reflect on factors that commonly lead to the success or failure of a project
Scenario
You have reached the end of Release One of the XYZ Business Workflow project, and your team has faced some challenges during the development process.
One software tester and one developer from your team resigned. You found replacements for both of them, but the new developer had to be trained by one of your other team members. This affected the team’s productivity.
Also, during one of your status meetings with the client stakeholders, their product owner requested a change in a feature that was almost complete. They were also very resistant to give any additional time for the first release. As a result, you had to add extra hours to your development time.
To accommodate these changes, your team worked extra hours and even some weekends to complete the project. Finally, you managed to deliver the first release according to schedule.
The release goes fairly smoothly, but after a few days, the customer reports that their users are facing some issues with the software. They also have a list of changes and two new features they would like to see in the software before your final rollout in Release Two.
Directions
Analysis and Recommendations
Your executive team has asked you to prepare a report summarizing your analysis of the first release of the XYZ Business Workflow software and including recommendations for how you think Release Two of the project should be planned.
Think about the project charter, the initial project plan you created in Project One, and the challenges the project team has faced so far. What steps did you take to manage these challenges? In retrospect, can you think of some other strategies you could have used during project planning and/or risk mitigation for better results? Specifically, your report should include the following rubric criteria:
Reflect on the project so far and provide your analysis of what went well and what could have been better.
Outline what you think were the successes and failures of the project.
Identify major challenges your team faced in completing this project and describe how you handled them.
List some alternate strategies you could have used during project planning and during risk mitigation for better results.
Based on your experience with Release One, provide some recommendations for managing the second release of the XYZ Business Workflow software, including the methodology, change management, and quality control strategies.
Use information from the scenario, Project One, and Project Two, to make reasonable assumptions as you complete these tasks. Be sure to explain your assumptions.
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following item:
Project Analysis Recommendations
Write a short paper with your analysis of the first phase of the software development project and your recommendations for the second phase. Your paper should be 750 to 1,250 words in length. Cite any references using APA format.

Part1) Please read two students’
answers and  write a short comment.
Student1_Josh)
Hello Professor,
I believe that strategic
alliances are more than just important, they are an integral aspect of
operating internationally. When you think about all of the complexities of
running a business and then factor in everything that is piled on top of your
operation now that you are operating in multiple countries across the world,
there is really no feasible way to do this without having partnerships where
those partners take on some sort of responsibility for different aspects of the
business. this is especially true for a manufacturing situation, but also
applies to international freight and shipping. when you operate in another
country, there will be other companies that keep things in that nation’s
economy running, that you will need to find and partner up with.
-Josh
Student2_Ronnie)
Professor,
An international
business will not be successful without good working alliances. These are the
key takeaways.
·       A strategic alliance is an arrangement between two companies
that have decided to share resources to undertake a specific, mutually
beneficial project.
·       A strategic alliance agreement could help a company develop a
more effective process.
·       Strategic alliances allow two organizations, individuals or
other entities to work toward common or correlating goals.
·       Strategic alliances diversify revenue streams, grant access to
potentially difficult-to-obtain resources, and may improve a company’s public
image.
·      
Strategic alliances
may also cause companies to expend resources to resolve conflict, not yield
results as expected, or negatively impact a company’s public image.
Part2) Please write a paper about the below topic
The Middle East, India, Russia,
Zimbabwe, or elsewhere? Place and Entry Method
Overview
and Thoughts
Developed and developing countries are modern classifications that refer to the level
and effectiveness of industrialization rate, individual income, and human
indicators, such as life expectancy, child mortality rate, and literacy rate.
Basically, countries with a high level of industrialization, high level of
income per capita, high life expectancy, low child mortality rate, and high
level of educational attainment are considered developed, and the opposite is
true about developing countries.
However, the relationship between
the aforementioned factors is not linear. For example, in 2015, Brazil had a
higher income per capita than China, but China had a higher literacy rate,
higher life expectancy, and a lower child mortality rate than Brazil for the
same year.
Although developed economies tend
to be more attractive to multinational corporations and foreign investors due
to their reliable legal and financial systems as well as their high income,
developed markets tend to be saturated, and there is little room for growth.
Developing economies, on the other hand, might lack solid and reliable legal
and/or financial systems, but they have much wider space for growth as they
typically have a large young population, more low-skilled labor (low labor
cost), and a population with an  appetite for new commodities.
Your job here is to help a
multinational corporation decide where and how to invest. Help them pick a
region or a country, and then tell them what the best method of entry is based
on the characteristics of that region or country.
Assignment
Description
Organic Valley, which is an
organic food brand and independent cooperative of organic farmers based in La
Farge, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1988, Organic Valley is the
nation’s largest farmer-owned organic cooperative and one of the world’s
largest organic consumer brands. The organization is interested in expanding
their international market for lactose free products, primarily yogurt and milk
(Organic Valley, n.d.).
The company has approached you to
help them select one region or country to expand to and the method of entry to
that region or country. Their target regions and countries (just pick one) are
the Middle East, South America, Russia, India, Zimbabwe, Netherland, Japan,
Iraq, Qatar, Kazakhstan, and Romania.
They need to know which region or
country has a higher potential for market growth for lactose free dairies and why and also the
best approach to enter the market—export products there, build production facilities
in the region or country, or build production facilities somewhere near the
region or country, and how to manage logistics based on the region’s or
country’s characteristics.
The following are useful sources
for obtaining data income and demographic by country.
Economic,
Development, and Demographic data Sources
To review these sources, copy and paste the following
links into a new web browser.
https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/the-world-by-income-and-region.html
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
https://ourworldindata.org/human-development-index
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/wb_political_stability/
Writing
Style (APA) and Page Number Requirements
Font Type: Times New Roman or Arial
Font Size:
12
Spacing:
Double
Number of Pages:
Two to three pages, not counting the separate Title page and the separate
References page.
Content
Structure and Requirements
Title Page
Title of the paper (your
choice)
Name
of the author (your name)
Email
address of the author
Class
name
Professor’s
name
Date
Content
Structure
Introduction:
Briefly state the name of
the region or country that you have selected for the company to enter,
its population size, its average household income level, its political
and legal index, and the size of the dairy industry there.
Briefly
discuss export and import restrictions in that country.
Country and Dairy Data and Analysis:
Use graphs, data, or tables
to show the growth pattern of the dairy industry in that country and
state whether  the industry is growing or declining.
Use
data to show the size of the lactose free dairy market there. Does it
exist? Is it growing?
Recommendations:
State the name of the region
or country that Organic Valley could enter to sell its lactose free, and
list the reasons that make the country most suitable for their lactose
free products.
State
the best method of entry (export or manufacture) and why. What makes
that country attractive (or unattractive) for dairy production?
Reference
List
Use two to three credible
sources to support your argument.
Cite
any sources used. The references need to be in APA format.
Use APA ResourcesLinks to an external site. to
learn more about how to cite and format resources.
References
Organic Valley. (n.d.). Our humble history. Retrieved on November 03, 2022.  https://www.organicvalley.coop/about-us/our-humble-history/.

Just Another Move to China Case Study. ****HELLO WRITER, THE CASE STUDY IS ATTACHED TO THIS ASSIGNMENT****
Prepare 1,000 word paper in proper APA format and provide at least 7 peer-reviewed references.
Respond to the questions on page 8 of the PDF and explain, discuss, and analyze the Global HRM concepts in the case.
Include concepts that will contribute to best practices in effectively leading and managing personnel while adhering to laws, ethics, cultures to ensure an effective human resources strategy.