Every so often a management idea escapes from the pages of the Harvard Business Review and becomes part of the zeitgeist. In the 1990s it was “re-engineering”. Today it is “disruptive innovation”. TechCrunch, a technology-news website, holds an annual “festival of disruption”. CNBC, a cable-news channel, produces an annual “disruptor list” of the most disruptive companies. Mentioning “disruptive innovation” adds a veneer of sophistication to bread-and-butter speeches about education or health care. But just what is disruptive innovation?

The theory of disruptive innovation was invented by Clayton Christensen, of Harvard Business School, in his book “The Innovator’s Dilemma”. Mr Christensen used the term to describe innovations that create new markets by discovering new categories of customers. They do this partly by harnessing new technologies but also by developing new business models and exploiting old technologies in new ways. He contrasted disruptive innovation with sustaining innovation, which simply improves existing products. Personal computers, for example, were disruptive innovations because they created a new mass market for computers; previously, expensive mainframe computers had been sold only to big companies and research universities.

The “innovator’s dilemma” is the difficult choice an established company faces when it has to choose between holding onto an existing market by doing the same thing a bit better, or capturing new markets by embracing new technologies and adopting new business models. IBM dealt with this dilemma by launching a new business unit to make PCs, while continuing to make mainframe computers. Netflix took a more radical move, switching away from its old business model (sending out rental DVDs by post) to a new one (streaming on-demand video to its customers). Disruptive innovations usually find their first customers at the bottom of the market: as unproved, often unpolished, products, they cannot command a high price. Incumbents are often complacent, slow to recognize the threat that their inferior competitors pose. But as successive refinements improve them to the point that they start to steal customers, they may end up reshaping entire industries: classified ads (Craigslist), long distance calls (Skype), record stores (iTunes), research libraries (Google), local stores (eBay), taxis (Uber) and newspapers (Twitter).

Partly because of disruptive innovation, the average job tenure for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company has halved from ten years in 2000 to less than five years today. There is good reason to think that the pace of change will increase, as computer power increases and more things are attached to the internet, expanding its disruptive influence into new realms. Google promises to reinvent cars as autonomous vehicles; Amazon promises to reinvent shopping (again) using drones; 3D printing could disrupt manufacturing. But perhaps the most surprising disruptive innovations will come from bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurs who are inventing new ways of delivering education and health-care for a fraction of the cost of current market leaders.

QUESTIONS

If every new product has a first-mover advantage, then why do products fail?

Do you view 3D printing as sustaining or disruptive technology? Choose one of the products listed and determine what the company could have done to prevent the product from failing.

Can you name another technology product that failed? Why did it fail? What could the company have done differently for it to succeed?

Blossom Company uses special strapping equipment in its packaging business. The equipment was purchased in January 2019 for $6,000,000 and had an estimated useful life of 8 years with no salvage value. At December 31, 2020, new technology was introduced that would accelerate the obsolescence of Blossom's equipment. Blossom's controller estimates that expected future net cash flows on the equipment will be $3,750,000 and that the fair value of the equipment is $3,300,000. Blossom intends to continue using the equipment, but it is estimated that the remaining useful life is 4 years. Blossom uses straight-line depreciation.

(a) What is the carrying value of the equipment at December 31, 2020?

(b) Prepare the journal entry (if any) to record the impairment at December 31, 2020.

(c) Prepare any journal entries for the equipment at December 31, 2021. The fair value of the equipment at December 31, 2021, is estimated to be $3,450,000.

(d) Repeat the requirements for (a) and (b), assuming that Blossom intends to dispose of the equipment and that it has not been disposed of as of December 31, 2021.

*I keep getting these sorts of problems wrong on my practice quiz so if you could break down how you're finding the solution I would greatly appreciate it!

As the HR coordinator, you are asked to provide strategies on how to successfully manage the collective bargaining process. Describe at least 4 strategies the employer can take during the collective bargaining process.

The reported net incomes for the first 2 years of Splish Products, Inc., were as follows: 2020, $147,800; 2021, $202,000. Early in 2022, the following errors were discovered.

Prepare the correcting entry necessary when these errors are discovered. Assume that the books are closed. (Ignore income tax considerations.)

1) Briefly explain the intelligence-gathering exercises carried out by Zara in its stores and the role of technology in such efforts.

2) In 2010, Reed Hastings was named Fortune Magazine’s “Business Person of the Year.” Yet according to readings and class discussions, what was the Netflix CEO’s “biggest strategic regret” to that point? What was his reason for giving this answer?

You have three lines of training modules: Company Training (CT), On-line Training (OT), and Academic Training (AT). For each sold CT, you will receive $1,000 in revenue, while for each sold OT, you will receive $800 and for each AT, you will receive $700. Each module lasts for one month. To deliver the module CT, UQ-HDTC requires 100 hours of data scientist and computer programmer time. The module OT requires 300 hours of data scientist and 500 hours of computer programmer time, while AT requires 200 hours of data scientist and 100 hours of computer programmer time. Suppose you has purchased 1,000 hours of data scientists time and 800 hours worth of computer programmer time for each month. How many CT, OT, and AT modules you should sell per month, so as to maximize your revenue, given the constraints on data scientist and computer programmer time? Please form the problem as an LP problem and solve it using Tableu form of Simplex method.

At the beginning of 2010, Lipstick Company has installation costs of $8,000 on new machine that were charged to Repair Expense. Other costs of this machinery of $29,000 were correctly recorded and depreciate with the straight-line method with an estimated life of 10 years and no residual value. At December 31, 2008, Lipstick Company decides that the machinery has remaining useful life of 15 years, starting with January 1, 2011. The book have not been closed for 2018 and depreciation expense has not yet been recorded for 2018. Do not take in to account the impact of taxes.

a) Show the journal entry that Lipstick Company should make in 2011 to correct for the error.
b) Calculate and present the journal entry of Lipstick Company’s depreciation expense in 2011 for machinery acquired in 2010.

At the beginning of 2010, Lipstick Company has installation costs of $8,000 on new machine that were charged to Repair Expense. Other costs of this machine of $29,000 were correctly recorded and depreciate with the straight-line method with an estimated life of 10 years and no residual value. At December 31, 2008, Lipstick Company decides that the machinery has remaining useful life of 15 years, starting with January 1, 2011. The book have not been closed for 2011 and depreciation expense has not yet been recorded for 2011. Do not take in to account the impact of taxes.

a) Show the journal entry that Lipstick Company should make in 2011 to correct for the error.
b) Calculate and present the journal entry of Lipstick Company’s depreciation expense in 2011 for machinery acquired in 2010.

Please type down (easy for me to copy and paste) your response (thoughts, ie agree or diagree and why?) after your reading the following paragraphs. (min 5 sentences, 150-200 words)

Climate change is a great environmental threat that requires attention. It exacerbates extreme weather patterns and changes in temperature, which in turn affect the livelihoods and lifestyles of people around the world. The biggest cause of climate change is the emission of CO2. One solution to climate change is the use of current renewable energy. Renewable energy is an adequate form of energy that does not require fuel. Its advantage is that it is virtually inexhaustible in duration; they are constantly replenished. However, they are limited in flow; solar energy and wind power are not always available. Another solution is nuclear power, which is a less appealing solution compared to renewable energy. Advancing technology nuclear power can increase the risk that the nuclear power will be used for malevolent purposes, such as creating weapons. Nuclear power is also dangerous in that errors in operation can lead to a disaster similar to that of Chernobyl, where a nuclear reactor explosion caused numerous deaths resulting from radiation exposure.

Bill Gates’ proposed solution for the climate change problem is TerraPower. TerraPower “breeds [the 99%, the 238] uranium as it goes along, so it's kind of like a candle” (Gates, 2010). The 238 uranium is thus essentially a “miracle battery,” storing enough fuel for the entire lifetime on the planet (Gates, 2010). I think if we depend on nuclear power for energy, there is always the risk of equipment malfunction and radiation exposure, which is extremely detrimental. Nonetheless, Gates understands the value of discovering innovative ideas through research and technology in order to benefit the public. Essentially, his wish for efficient, low cost energy is an idea worth spreading.

Suppose that an innovation earns a monopolist innovator profits of $1 million if there was no infringement. If there was infringement, suppose that the innovator would earn $600,000, while the infringer earns $300,000. a. Under the lost profits protocol, how much compensation is the innovator entitled to? b. Under the unjust enrichments protocol, how much compensation is the innovator entitled to? c. In the United States, how much compensation is the innovator entitled to? d. What if the infringement was willful? Does this change your answer to part c? 10.

Consider the numbers from question 9. Let ? denote the probability that a non-willful infringer in the US is found to be infringing on an innovation. Suppose that by not infringing, the innovator can earn profits of $50,000 using its own technology. Also, suppose that fighting the infringement charge costs the innovator $100,000, regardless of the outcome. For what values of ? is there an incentive to infringe?