Questions
Explain the factors that influence expansion strategies:concentration strategy or diversification strategy.

Explain the factors that influence expansion strategies:concentration strategy or diversification strategy.

In: Economics

Case Study: St Michael St Michael is a manufacturer of toiletry items based near Glasgow, Scotland....

Case Study: St Michael
St Michael is a manufacturer of toiletry items based near Glasgow, Scotland. It has been in business for the past ten years and has built a strong portfolio of customers. Most significantly, they are the sole suppliers of toiletry items such as shower gel, body lotion and shampoo/conditioner to various high end hotel chains throughout the UK.
They have research and development (R&D) and production departments which plan and manage the extraction of flowers and fruits, develop new odor or design and produce the high quality and nice taste gel, lotion and shampoo, etc. Their material is obtained from a series of local plant garden at Glasgow. The three other key materials required for production are their signature plastic bottles, travel pouches and cartons which obtained from the manufacturers in Leeds, England, and the wooden pallets on which the filled cartons are transported. These are produced for the organization by a pallet manufacturer who has established a pallet assembly operation on the organization’s site. In addition to the carton plant and pallet assembly operation, the site at Glasgow includes warehousing and storage facilities and management and administration offices.
The business is structured by various departments. These are Senior Management, Production, Transport and Warehousing, Sales and Marketing, Research and Development (R&D), Accounts and General Administration. Each department is headed by a departmental head who sits on the organization’s management board.
St Michael does not have its own delivery fleet, but contracts this function to a local haulier, who provides, as required, manned tractor units and curtain-sided trailers to transport the carton items direct to customers and also to collect and transport the new signature cartons from the supplier in Leeds. Neither St Michael nor the haulier has any experience of using containerization.
St Michael dispatches an average of 1000 pallets per week, which is almost 100,000 cartons. This carton pallet quantity requires between 10 and 15 trailers depending on loading levels.
They have currently been approached by one of their major customers, Crown Plaza Hotels, with a view to the hotel chain using St Michael toiletry items exclusively in their hotel chains outsides the UK. Crown Plaza Hotels operate in Canada, South Africa, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
Crown Plaza Hotels have accepted that introducing the product to their hotels will need to be phased in and happy to place the toiletry items in their Canadian hotels for a period of a year initially, and begin gradually introducing it in their hotels at all the other locations after this. They want all their hotel chains to be using St Michael toiletry items within three years.
By accepting this contract the organization would initially need to increase production by approximately 50%. Senior Management have agreed that this is possible. Eventually, when all the international locations are being served, the St Michael will have to had a increase production fivefold (500%).
The Production Department has discussed this scenarios with their bottle, pouch, carton and pallet suppliers. There is no issue with the pallet supplier increasing its delivery amounts, but the plastic bottle pouch and carton producer is running at full capacity and is unable to increase production. The Organization’s R&D department has identified a plastic bottle, travel pouch and carton manufacturer near Rome, Italy, who can supply exactly the same bottle, pouches and cartons in sufficient quantities and at an attractive cost.
The local haulier indicates that they are able to supply transport to and from UK dispatch and collection points, but are not prepared to run their fleet outside the UK. The Organization now requires to develop its ability to deliver the Crown Plaza Hotel Canadian contract and eventually the contract for the other international locations. There is no problem in increasing production and there is sufficient storage and warehousing space on their existing site. It is also relatively easy to appoint new staff with the required skills and experience to the Organization’s existing departments should this be needed.
However, the Organization has no experience of trading internationally and they need to address this.
To do this they have agreed to:
1. Establish an International Trade Department
2. Appoint a Physical Resource Manager to head this department
The board of management are considering appoint you as Physical Resource Manager. To ascertain your suitability for the role you have been asked to produce a report of approximately 1000 words which covers the following assignment.
1. Explain the various tasks which would come under your remit as Physical Resource Manager.
2. Explain how the International Trade Department would be structures and how this would benefit St Michael over a structure that did not include this department.
3. Describe the links that would operate between the International Trade Department and other departments within the organization.
4. Describe the links the International Trade Department would have with external integrating bodies and why these would exist.

In: Economics

Why home(foreign) countries increase government spending can increase the world rate of interest? Provide a Keynesian...

Why home(foreign) countries increase government spending can increase the world rate of interest? Provide a Keynesian story for why. What are assumptions in your conclusion?

In: Economics

Manage service quality to ensure consistent service delivery theory to meet customers’ expectations.

Manage service quality to ensure consistent service delivery theory

to meet customers’ expectations.

In: Economics

Explain all the different original components of Prospect Theory and compare it to expected utility theory....

Explain all the different original components of Prospect Theory and compare it to expected utility theory. In your answer you should also discuss the strength and weaknesses of Prospect Theory.

In: Economics

1. Create a new Problem 1 worksheet and build up the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model...

1. Create a new Problem 1 worksheet and build up the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model as discussed in the slides. Use the following values for the model variables:

Annual Demand: 105,000

Cost Per Unit: $27.38

Holding Costs: 7.5%

Ordering Costs: $273.00

Make sure that your model calculates the Unit Holding Costs, EOQ and Orders to Place per Year.

2. Create a new Problem 2 worksheet and build up the Earned Value Management (EVM) model as discussed in the slides. Use the following values for the model variables:

Planned Value: $45,000

Actual Cost: $39,500

Earned Value: $43,500

Balance at Completion: $172,000

Original Time in Months: 14

Your model should calculate the Cost Variance, Schedule Variance, Cost Performance Index, Schedule Performance Index, Estimate at Completion and Estimated Time. Use conditional formatting to render any “bad” values red, “good” values green and “0” values yellow.


In: Economics

Turkish Economy (ECON422) State the major economic policies implemented during the İnönü period. Explain the changes...

Turkish Economy (ECON422)

State the major economic policies implemented during the İnönü period. Explain the changes made in the agricultural sector during the Democrat Party era.

In: Economics

Digital Business Analysis Report Review How has digital business altered practices and procedures in marketing over...

Digital Business Analysis Report Review

How has digital business altered practices and procedures in marketing over the past 5-10 years?

(300 words)

In: Economics

Fertility rates have important economic effects. Discuss at least one direct and one indirect effect of...

Fertility rates have important economic effects. Discuss at least one direct and one indirect effect of fertility on economic development.   

In: Economics

Turkish Economy (ECON422) Explain the targets of the industrial sector in the 4th five year development...

Turkish Economy (ECON422)

Explain the targets of the industrial sector in the 4th five year development plan (1979-1983). State the techniques of production under this plan.

In: Economics

2. This problem evaluates the short-run asset approach to exchange rates. Assume the foreign price level...

2. This problem evaluates the short-run asset approach to exchange rates. Assume the foreign price level P* is equal to 1, there is no inflation in either country, and r* is equal to 0.04 or 4%. Nominal money demand, MD, is given by L(i)PY.

?(?)=1−0.5?   Y = 20 M=19.6

Hence the economy is at an initial equilibrium summarized by P = 1 and    E = 1.

A. The central bank decides to stimulate the economy with a one-time permanent increase of the money supply by 2% so M=19.992. Determine the initial impact of this increase on the exchange rate E under the assumptions of the model.

In: Economics

Consider an oligopoly with 2 firms. The inverse demand curve is given by P = 100...

Consider an oligopoly with 2 firms. The inverse demand curve is given by P = 100 – Q1 – Q2. Firm 1’s total cost function is TC1 = 30Q1. Firm 2’s total cost function is TC2 = 20Q2. Assume now that the firms compete by choosing their prices simultaneously, so it is a Bertrand Oligopoly model. Assume that firms choose prices in 0.01 in intervals. (i.e. A firm can choose to charge $10.00 or $10.01, but not $10.005).

a) Consider the case where firm 1 chooses P1 = 30 and firm 2 chooses P2 = 20. Argue whether this is or is not a Nash Equilibrium.

b) Consider the case where firm 1 chooses P1 = 30.01 and firm 2 chooses P2 = 30. Argue whether this is or is not a Nash Equilibrium.

In: Economics

Consider a competitive market with 12 firms. 6 of these, which we call Type 1 firms,...

Consider a competitive market with 12 firms. 6 of these, which we call Type 1 firms, have the below cost structure:

                             C₁(Q)=Q²+Q+5

and the remaining 6 firms, which we call Type 2 firms, have the following costs:

                            C₂(Q)=0.5Q²+Q+20

The market demand is given by

                            D(P)=183-3P

Use this information for questions 1-17.

1) Derive the supply function of each Type 1 firm. Show all steps.

2) Derive the supply function of each Type 2 firm. Show all steps.

3) Derive the total supply function. Show all steps.

4) Find the surplus of a Type 1 firm if the market price is equal to $6. Show all steps.

5) What is the competitive price?

6) What is the competitive output?

7) How much output does a Type 2 firm produce at the competitive price you found in Q5?

8) How much profit does a Type 2 firm make at the competitive price you found in Q5?

9) What is the consumer surplus?

10) What is the producer surplus?

11) With the intention of supporting producers to liven up the economy, the government commits to buying 60 units of the good at whatever price the producers charge them. What is the new competitive price after the government support? Show all your steps.

12)What is the new competitive output after the government support?

13)How much does the program cost the government?

14) What is the consumer surplus after the government program?

15) What is the producer surplus after the government program?

16) What is the deadweight loss caused by the government program? Show all work.

17) In this market:

Who is better off after the government program? Consumers or producers or both?

Who is worse off after the government program? Consumers or producers or both? Explain your answer.

In: Economics

Show the Edgeworth box fully labeled Jason and Clay love cheese and cola. Jason has an...

Show the Edgeworth box fully labeled Jason and Clay love cheese and cola. Jason has an initial endowment of 4 bottles of cola and 1 cheese bar. Clay has an initial endowment of no cola and 5 cheese bars. They have no other assets and make no trades with anyone other than each other. For Jason, utility function is Cobb-Douglas, U(x, y) = xy, where x is the number of the bottles of cola and y is the number of cheese bars he consumes. For Clay, cola (x) and cheese bar(s) (y) are perfect complements, his utility function is U(x, y) = min(x, y). (a) Draw the Edgeworth box with cola (x) on the horizontal axis and cheese bar(s) (y) on the vertical axis. Measure Jason's consumption from the lower left corner of the box.

In: Economics

Describe the five steps in the marketing research process

Describe the five steps in the marketing research process

In: Economics