Virgin was founded in 1970 by Richard Branson and is classified as a holding company for multiple ventures under the Virgin Group. When it comes to innovation Virgin is one of the top companies in the world. What began as a mail order record company has evolved into one of the most diverse companies in existence. Virgin invests in and builds companies that revolve around delivering fantastic customer experience and change the scope of industries. They do everything from space tourism to air travel, make comic books and video games. The company now holds over 200 companies and operates in 29 countries. They’ve found that the most successful ideas they get are the ones that are marketing, sales, and customer focused, sit under the Virgin brand, have a well-defined and differentiated customer offer and oftentimes are delivered in partnership with experts in their field.
Virgin takes the ideas it gets and boils them down into several categories. Anything that doesn’t quite fit into an existing company gets sent to corporate development for review. They take the time to read and respond to every proposal. They do not disclose how rewards are awarded but there are substantial ones for good ideas that are implemented. Internally Virgin also sources business plans and ideas from employees. Once a flight attendant had an idea. It got presented to the CEO and before long she had a considerable role in starting up Virgin Brides (which beyond being a fantastic idea didn’t quite work out in the market place). It’s incredible that a flight attendant can have an idea that makes it that far in a company. Notice that Virgin has over 200 companies under it. If you stop for a second you’ll realize just how massive that number is. That is a lot of innovation for a company only 40 years old. Financially they do quite well so obviously something has been working out for them. Not a lot of firms innovate this much or support this much innovation but that’s kind of the key – they don’t just source great ideas, they act on them. Sourcing this many fantastic ideas isn’t easy – it’s a lot of hard work for the company and they have to devote time and resources to going through all of them never mind actually taking the time to respond. But it shows that they care and that they’re serious about this. All great innovations come from an idea. Some go so far as to say it’s the most important part of the process (Seth Godin would likely disagree and say that shipping is the most important). Some companies looking at Virgin’s requirements might find them surprisingly strict, others surprisingly loose. No matter how you view it the only thing that remains true at the end of the day is that Virgin’s strategy works – and it works well.

Required:

What five lessons can other businesses learn from Virgin?

Question 10 (1 point)

What is the formal term for the complaint filed by unionized workers when they feel they've been treated unfairly based on their contract?

Question 11 (1 point)

Your credit score is affected by which of the following?

Question 12 (1 point)

If labour differences can't be resolved through collective bargaining or formal grievance procedures, management may close the workplace to workers. This is referred to as a:

Question 21 (1 point)

Collective bargaining takes place in a union environment when a contract is being renewed and:

Question 22 (1 point)

A fire causes considerable damage to a warehouse. The fire, as the event that caused the loss, is known as the

Walt, age 62, worked as an assembler for a private manufacturer and is a member of a bargaining unit represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). He has served as a shop steward for many years. Due to an increasing number of missing parts in its assembly area, the company installed hidden security cameras in that area, as well as the employee locker rooms, to identify the source of the loss. Employees are permitted to place their own locks on their lockers to safeguard their personal belongings during work. In order to avoid tipping off employees, the company did not notify employees or the IBT of the installation of the cameras. After it appeared from video recorded by a camera in the men’s locker room camera that Walt may have placed some parts in his locker, the company cut his personal lock off the locker and found parts like those that had been missing. Although Walt had maintained a clean disciplinary record for over twenty years, he was immediately terminated for theft. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the company and the IBT makes no reference to the installation of security cameras in the workplace nor to the company’s ability to search employee lockers. The CBA does require that all terminations be based upon just cause, which is not defined. However, progressive discipline is specifically required before any termination may be imposed.

If the IBT filed a grievance on Walt’s behalf pursuant to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement challenging his termination, what would be the likely basis for the grievance? What issues should the IBT raise and WHY?

1) What is the battery current

PROJECT 3 INSTRUCTIONS Based on Brase & Brase: sections 6.1-6.3 Visit the NASDAQ historical prices weblink. First, set the date range to be for exactly 1 year ending on the Monday that this course started. For example, if the current term started on January 13, 2019, then use January 13, 2019 – January 12, 2020. (Do NOT use these dates. Use the dates that match up with the current term.) Do this by clicking on the blue dates after “Time Period”. Next, click the “Apply” button. Next, click the link on the right side of the page that says “Download Data” to save the file to your computer. NOTE I’M TO USE THESE DATES: JAN 13, 2019 – JAN 12, 2020. PLEASE USE THESE DATES TO HELP ME ANSWER QUESTIONS # 5 – 7 This project will only use the Close values. Assume that the closing prices of the stock form a normally distributed data set. This means that you need to use Excel to find the mean and standard deviation. Then, use those numbers and the methods you learned in sections 6.1-6.3 of the course textbook for normal distributions to answer the questions. Do NOT count the number of data points. Complete this portion of the assignment within a single Excel file. Show your work or explain how you obtained each of your answers. Answers with no work and no explanation will receive no credit. 1. a) Submit a copy of your dataset along with a file that contains your answers to all of the following questions. b) What the mean and Standard Deviation (SD) of the Close column in your data set? c) If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed at less than the mean for that year? Hint: You do not want to calculate the mean to answer this one. The probability would be the same for any normal distribution. (5 points) 2. If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed at more than $1150? (5 points) 3. If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed within $50 of the mean for that year? (between 50 below and 50 above the mean) (5 points) 4. If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed at less than $950 per share. Would this be considered unusal? Use the definition of unusual from the course textbook that is measured as a number of standard deviations (5 points)

5. At what prices would Google have to close in order for it to be considered statistically unusual? You will have a low and high value. Use the definition of unusual from the course textbook that is measured as a number of standard deviations. (5 points)

6. What are Quartile 1, Quartile 2, and Quartile 3 in this data set? Use Excel to find these values. This is the only question that you must answer without using anything about the normal distribution. (5 points)

7. Is the normality assumption that was made at the beginning valid? Why or why not? Hint: Does this distribution have the properties of a normal distribution as described in the course textbook? Real data sets are never perfect, however, it should be close. One option would be to construct a histogram like you did in Project 1 to see if it has the right shape. Something in the range of 10 to 12 classes is a good number. (5 points) There are also 5 points for miscellaneous items like correct date range, correct mean, correct SD, etc. Project 3 is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 5.

PROJECT 3 INSTRUCTIONS Based on Brase & Brase: sections 6.1-6.3 Visit the NASDAQ historical prices weblink. First, set the date range to be for exactly 1 year ending on the Monday that this course started. For example, if the current term started on January 13, 2019, then use January 13, 2019 – January 12, 2020. (Do NOT use these dates. Use the dates that match up with the current term.) Do this by clicking on the blue dates after “Time Period”. Next, click the “Apply” button. Next, click the link on the right side of the page that says “Download Data” to save the file to your computer. NOTE I'M TO USE THESE DATES JAN. 13, 2019- JAN 12, 2020. PLEASE USE THESE DATES TO HELP ME ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. I'M HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME!! This project will only use the Close values. Assume that the closing prices of the stock form a normally distributed data set. This means that you need to use Excel to find the mean and standard deviation. Then, use those numbers and the methods you learned in sections 6.1-6.3 of the course textbook for normal distributions to answer the questions. Do NOT count the number of data points. Complete this portion of the assignment within a single Excel file. Show your work or explain how you obtained each of your answers. Answers with no work and no explanation will receive no credit. 1. a) Submit a copy of your dataset along with a file that contains your answers to all of the following questions. b) What the mean and Standard Deviation (SD) of the Close column in your data set? c) If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed at less than the mean for that year? Hint: You do not want to calculate the mean to answer this one. The probability would be the same for any normal distribution. (5 points) 2. If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed at more than $1150? (5 points) 3. If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed within $50 of the mean for that year? (between 50 below and 50 above the mean) (5 points) 4. If a person bought 1 share of Google stock within the last year, what is the probability that the stock on that day closed at less than $950 per share. Would this be considered unusal? Use the definition of unusual from the course textbook that is measured as a number of standard deviations (5 points) 5. At what prices would Google have to close in order for it to be considered statistically unusual? You will have a low and high value. Use the definition of unusual from the course textbook that is measured as a number of standard deviations. (5 points) 6. What are Quartile 1, Quartile 2, and Quartile 3 in this data set? Use Excel to find these values. This is the only question that you must answer without using anything about the normal distribution. (5 points) 7. Is the normality assumption that was made at the beginning valid? Why or why not? Hint: Does this distribution have the properties of a normal distribution as described in the course textbook? Real data sets are never perfect, however, it should be close. One option would be to construct a histogram like you did in Project 1 to see if it has the right shape. Something in the range of 10 to 12 classes is a good number. (5 points) There are also 5 points for miscellaneous items like correct date range, correct mean, correct SD, etc. Project 3 is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 5.

For each of the following difference equations

(i) y[n + 1] + 1.5y[n] = x[n]

(ii) y[n + 1] + 0.8y[n] = x[n]

(iii) y[n + 1] - 0.8y[n] = x[n]

For the difference equations given in Problem 2.16:

(a) Find a closed-form solution for y[n] when x[ n] = 0 for all n and y[0] 2.

(b) Find a closed-form solution for y[n] when x[n] = u[n] and y[ 0] = 0.

(c) Find a closed-form solution for y[n] when x[n] = u[n] and y[0] = 2.

Brief down in at least 200 words of what do you personally think about the following country risk profile of Brazil. Include your personal views about the following country risk profile & explain with a proper justification whether a company should business with or in Brazil.

Economic Risk : Brazil is the world's eighth largest economy. The nation is trying its best at remaking itself after the downturn that happened five years prior, when the economy shrunk by nearly 7%. From that point forward, Brazil hasn't had the option to develop at a similar movement it was accustomed to, during the decade prior to the downturn. Nonetheless, things appear to be gazing upward monetarily in Brazil, yet the current recuperation is a moderate one. In 2019, the nation's GDP became 1.1%, against 1.3% in 2018, and it is relied upon to tumble to - 5.3% in 2020 because of the episode of the COVID-19 and get to 2.9% in 2021, as indicated by the refreshed IMF conjectures from fourteenth April 2020. In 2019, expansion rate was equivalent to 3.7% - same pattern in 2018 and is required to remain moderately steady, at 3.6% in 2020 and 3.3% in 2021 in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. All things considered, costs have gone up by 25% since the downturn - and compensations haven't followed. Government obligation is at present 91.6%, and should increment in the following two years, to 93.9% in 2020 and 94.5% in 2021. The nation is as yet buried owing debtors, and the Brazilian president says the principal offender is the annuity framework, as he accepts individuals to resign soon with such a large number of advantages. Monetary solidification is the administration's fundamental goal, yet the Brazillian president's guarantee to diminish the irregularity to zero this year isn't achievable. The administration spending balance enlisted in 2019 a deficiency of 6.3% which is required to diminish in 2020 and 2021, coming to 6%. The joblessness rate in Brazil is still high, arriving at 11.9% in 2019, a little improvement contrasted with 12.3% of 2018.

Political Risk: President Jair Bolsonaro has been in power since the start of 2019. At first, him and his team's supportive business plans were very popular and he had the option to supervise the section of a pension reform bill. This bill was to spare the nation an expected USD 195 billion, as it raised the retirement age and contained other income sparing measures. Nonetheless, the pandemic has expanded focuses of contradiction between the president and the congress, bringing about an increased political conflict and diminishing the probability that Brazil will have the option to proceed on a more positive note. The administration had been focused on fiscal consolidation but, considering the pandemic, extra financial changes are far-fetched. The administration's monetary reaction to the pandemic is to expand the monetary shortage to over 9% of GDP. Corruption scandals and investigations is an on-going issue for the nation. Brazil is positioned to be 106 out of 180 nations in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index.

Geographical/ Environmental: Despite the fact that Brazilian courts are yet to issue decisions in activities identified with environmental change, Brazil has been progressively giving critical indications that climate change is a pattern that can't be overlooked. In 2010, the So Paulo State Public Prosecutor's Office recorded activities against the excess of 30 organizations looking for pay for GHG outflows. After ten years, none of the organizations were viewed as a risk, however one of those organizations, documented against KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which lead to a forthcoming examination by the Superior Court of Justice. In 2019, IBAMA, which is what could be compared to the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), filed a lawsuit against a steel organization and its investors looking for pay for climate damages brought about by the consuming of unlawful coal in the production of steel. In June 2020, opposition political groups documented claims against the Brazilian government because of its absence of activity regarding the Climate Fund and Amazon Fund, which has been prompting the suspension of the assets tasks, affecting ventures, exploration and exercises that try to moderate environmental change and that in any case could be profited by the funds reserve. Formal proceedings are required to be held soon by the Brazilian Supreme Court to examine these activities. The Brazilian Association of Environmental Public Prosecutors joined forces with the Institute for Climate and Society to advance an atmosphere suit capacitation course for investigators, for which will motivate the examining and adjusting techniques for battling environmental change in Brazil.

During one of the lectures, typical royalty rates were discussed. What would the range of typical (medium) royalty rates be for: a. A firm that licenses its technology that provides a minor improvement to an existing technology or process? b. A firm that licenses its technology that provides a revolutionary improvement to a technology or process?