Unit 6 Assignments.

  1. Discussion Board Unit 6. Financial Management.

Your Discussion should be a minimum of 300 words in length and not more than 450 words. Please include a word count. Following the APA standard, use references and in-text citations for the textbook and any other sources. Include conclusion.

Describe the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process in the USA to include critical events and points-in-time.

 

  1. Written Assignment Unit 6. Financial Management.

Submit a written paper which is at 2-3 pages in length, exclusive of the reference page. the Abstract is not required or needed.  Papers must be double spaced in Times New Roman font which is no greater than 12 points in size. The paper should cite at least one additional (peer-reviewed) source independent of the textbooks.

In this paper, please discuss the following case study. In doing so, explain your approach to the problem, support your approach with references, and execute your approach. Provide an answer to the case study’s question with a recommendation.

Case Study:

A local family business is facing a dilemma. Dottie’s Grocery has been a landmark company in a small city located in the United States. Over the past 45 years, what began as a single fresh fruit and vegetable store, has now become a full-service grocery store chain with many stores throughout the city. Dottie’s is incorporated with only 7 shareholders, which are all family members. They are faced with a decision on how to raise much needed capital to maintain its current business operations and to allow the possibility of growth in the future. The family believes it needs an additional $23 million dollars. This sum is too large for a bank line of credit and no one in the family has additional funding to invest into the company. The family is considering other alternatives.

One alternative is to publicly issue debt (corporate bonds), the other alternative is to issue common stock to the public. Using your expertise in financial management, you have been asked by the management team of Dottie’s Grocery to conduct an analysis of the current situation and provide a summary of your recommendations. In your summary you must:

  • Describe the process (in detail) of how a public offering occurs.
    • A chronological account of how most public offerings would be an appropriate format, although not required.
  • Discuss the impact and implications of each alternative.
  • Explain how each alternative affects control over the company.
  • As a small family business, the internal affairs and finances of the company were well guarded from the public view by the family.
    • As a new IPO, how would the guarding of their finance change?
    • What are the financial reporting effects of this decision?
    • How will additional debt impact future earnings? 
    • How will new stockholders change the management of the company?

Superior papers will explain the following elements:

  • Provide a narrative about the impact of issuing stock to the public. The narrative will include the topics of loss of control of the company and the requirements that future financial statements will be available to the public.
  • Provide a narrative about the impact of issuing debt to the public. The narrative will include the topics of a potential loss of the company if debt covenants are breached and the requirements that future financial statements will be available to the public.
  • Provide a narrative on the initial public offering (IPO) process using at least four research sources in addition to the textbook material. The narrative of the IPO process steps should include the:
    • role of an investment banker
    • deal negotiation
    • preparation and submission to the SEC of the registration statement
    • SEC approval
    • setting an issue date
    • setting an issue price

This assignment will be assessed using the BUS 5111 Unit 6 Written Assignment rubric.

  1. Portfolio Unit 6. Financial Management.

The Portfolio entry should be a minimum of 300 words and not more than 750 words. Use APA citations and references if you use ideas from the readings or other sources. Include conclusion. For this week’s portfolio activity, please advise the instructor of the following:

  • Utilizing the information provided in your course textbook(s) or other valid sources, describe the role of the Financial Manager.
  • In addition, explain the functions of money.
  • Please provide a brief update to the instructor on how you feel you are doing so far this term.
  1. Business Ethics. Discussion Board Unit 6.

Your Discussion should be a minimum of 300 words in length and not more than 450 words. Please include a word count. Following the APA standard, use references and in-text citations for the textbook and any other sources.

  • Often, celebrities contract to endorse a product, but should they use the product regularly, or even like the product before they are allowed to claim that they “endorse” the product?
  • If you were assigned to sell a product called “Sweet Treats” with the slogan, “so sweet, it will make you tweet,” but you thought the product tasted sour, and not at all sweet, what would you do?
  • Explore where the line is between harmlessly implying that someone is promoting a product, and someone dishonestly claiming that they genuinely believe the product is the best.
  1. Business Ethics. Written Assignment Unit 6.

Case Study: The Pizza Puzzle

Topic: Deceptive Advertising

Involved Parties:

  • George Hansen, General Manager of Augusta Marigold Inn, a Subsidiary of Hospitality Enterprises
  • Sharon Coombs, Food Services Manager, Augusta Marigold Inn

George Hansen is General Manager for the Marigold Inn in Augusta, Georgia. Sharon Coombs is Restaurant and Food Services Manager for the Inn. She reports to George. Two years ago, Sharon noticed a decline in room service business, the highest margin portion of her operation. This decline coincided with an increase in the national sales of pizza delivery and carryout firms as well as an increase in the number of empty pizza boxes from these firms being left in guest rooms in the Inn. Her immediate response was to install a pizza oven in the kitchen and offer room service pizza to guests. The effort met with modest success, though it was well below her expectations. Questionnaires completed by departing guests revealed a problem of product quality.

Focusing on this problem, Sharon improved the Inn’s pizza until blind taste tests judged it at least equal in quality to the products of the two major pizza delivery competitors in Augusta. Sales did not improve, convincing Sharon that the problem was a perceived mismatch between the hotel’s image and guests’ expectations of pizza makers. Guests simply did not seem to believe that the traditional steak and seafood restaurant at the Inn could make a high-quality, authentic pizza. Based on this conclusion, Sharon presented the following proposal to George:

Sales of room service pizza are stagnant due to guests’ misperception that our product is lower in quality than that of competitors. This misperception is based on the belief that until we disassociate our pizza from the Marigold Inn name. Therefore, to capture more room service pizza business, we should create a ‘Napoli Pizza’ image for our guest room delivery service by:

  • Preparing ‘Napoli Pizza’ brochures for each guest room, complete with a phone number with a prefix different from that of Marigold Inn. 
  • The number will reach a special phone in room service, which will be answered, Napoli Pizza, authentic Italian pizza from old, family recipes.”
  • Using special ‘Napoli Pizza’ boxes for delivering room service pizza to guests.
  • Issuing ‘Napoli Pizza’ hats and jackets to room service personnel for use in pizza delivery. Room service waiters and waitresses will wear these garments to deliver pizza. They will change to their regular uniforms for other deliveries.

How should George respond to this proposal?

_______________________________________________

Use the Instructions for Case Analyses to craft a response to this case, articulating the main issues and ethical dilemma.   Review the assessment criteria below before you begin writing.

Submit a written paper which is 2-3 pages in length exclusive of reference page and that is double-spaced.  You should cite relevant resources in APA format.

Papers will be assessed using the following criteria:

The Written assignment:

  • identifies all the relevant facts of the case
  • articulates overarching ethical issues including the extent of George’s responsibility to take action
  • identifies the various stakeholders, and what is at stake for each one.
  • poses possible alternatives and ethics of each alternative.  Paper should explore the possible alternatives and ethics from the Utilitarian Perspective, the Rights Perspective, or the Justice Perspective
  • identifies all practical constraints
  • recommends a specific Geroge should take, directly answers the question “how should George respond?”
  • is of high quality, writing is clear and professional, paper is organized and flows in a logical way
  • conforms to the structural requirements including APA style guidelines for References.

 

  1. Operations Management. Discussion Board Unit 6.

Your Discussion should be a minimum of 300 words in length and not more than 450 words. Please include a word count. Following the APA standard, use references and in-text citations for the textbook and any other sources.

 

Toyota started in the late 1940’s creating the pillars of what later would be the Toyota Production System (TPS) or has become known globally as Lean Manufacturing System. This approach has been widely implemented in many industries driving profound changes within the operations context. Recently, Toyota has announced some details about the TPS development that is intended to revolutionize manufacturing systems – Toyota New Global Architecture (TGNA).

Read the article “TNGA explained: engineering for the future” and answer the following questions:

  • Do you think this system is indeed revolutionary?  Why or Why not?
  • Do you think this new approach for manufacturing is driving a change of the quality strategy of the company?
  • If that is the case, what do you think are the key changes?
  1. Operations Management. Written Assignment Unit 6.

Case Study: In 1999, NASA lost the Mars Climate Orbiter, a 338 kg robotic space probe (with a cost of $327.6 million dollars) due to a failed translation of British units into metric units in the mission software. This mistake triggered an unintentional de-orbit of the probe and its subsequent disintegration in Mars’ upper atmosphere.

Read NASA’s release “Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Board Releases Report, numerous NASA actions underway in response” (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/news/mco991110.html)

Write a 2-3 page response that details the issues of the case, particularly as they relate to quality, and addresses the following questions:

  • Which quality approaches, methods and tools would you propose to mitigate each of the 8 contributing factors identified in the release?
  • Which considerations would you take in order to implement your proposals within the organization?

Before you begin writing, please see the General Guidelines for Case Studies and review the assessment criteria below.

Papers will be assessed on the following criteria:

  • Description of the Case and Identification/Coverage of Major Issues
  • Depth and Scope of Analysis
  • Solutions and Strategies
  • Writing Clarity and Quality
  • APA formatting
  1. Global Economy. Discussion Board Unit 6.

Your Discussion should be a minimum of 300 words in length and not more than 450 words. Please include a word count. Following the APA standard, use references and in-text citations for the textbook and any other sources.

 

As we learned this week in our reading, cognitive dissonance is the discomfort that arises when something that we believe is challenged.

 

  • Is cognitive dissonance ever good for an organization? For an individual?
  • Based on this information, what are three specific things that a leader can do to minimize the impact/leverage the effect of cultural dissonance within an organization? Include how leaders can assist both themselves and their employees in changing their behaviors.  How can the three questions related to changing behaviors impact the employees in a positive way? What approach can a leader take if he/she receives opposition related to changing behaviors?
  1. Global Economy. Written Assignment Unit 6.

Jack is a 36-year-old leader within a major hospital.  As a leader, he prides himself as a professional who supports his team and helps each of them to meet their chosen goals.   From a personal standpoint, he focuses on eating healthy, exercising regularly, and playing on his church’s basketball team but for the past year, his focus on healthy living has declined because of professional responsibilities.  During a follow-up visit to his physician for laboratory test results, he is told by his primary care doctor that his cholesterol is 286, HDL 30, LDL 85, and triglycerides 500. The primary care doctor explains the meaning of the test results. The primary care doctor explains that Jack will need medication to control his cholesterol and lipids, writes prescriptions, and explains that his condition is one of a chronic nature and will likely require lifelong treatment. The risks and benefits of treatment are explained while Jack sits quietly in disbelief. Jack takes the prescriptions and leaves the office convinced that this is a joke. He tears the prescriptions in pieces and throws them in the trash. Jack knows that his recent lack of focus related to his health have taken its toll, along with his family history.  He vows to exercise more and eat a better diet but also wonders how he can turn his bad habits into good ones without neglecting his team.  (Self-Concept Case Study, 2010)  Please address the follow questions.

  1. What actions by Jack suggest his self-esteem may be negatively impacted by his diagnosis?
  2. What positive direction might Jack explore to help with the acceptance of his diagnosis? How can he motivate his team to get involved in the process?
  3. Identify the potential causes in Jack disturbance of self-concept.
  4. How can the behaviors related to self-disclosure and time play a role in helping Jack to accept and live with his diagnosis? What role does communication play in Jack’s overall acceptance? As a leader, how can Jack engage his team in this new healthy lifestyle while respecting his privacy?

Submit a 2-3 page paper. The paper should cite at least 2 sources, using APA format, independent of the textbook and other reasons.

Before beginning this assignment, read the General Guidelines for Case Studies and review the Case Analysis Rubric.