When Kim Smith graduated with a degree in civil engineering, she pictured herself designing buildings and managing construction. She never imagined herself behind a computer writing reports. However, that is exactly where Kim finds herself today. She has just finished a major project: an environmental assessment of a plot of land on which a client wants to build an office park. Emily, the senior engineer on the project has asked Kim to write the client report. When Kim asked Emily if she could give her a model to follow, Kim pointed to the file cabinet and said, "Sure, you'll find lots of reports in there." Kim found a lot of reports: long ones, short ones, letter reports, and memo reports. The diversity confused her, but she was glad that she saved her business communication textbook from Concordia University. Kim begins writing her report using the 3x3 Writing Process. Her audience, the CEO of Halvorson Properties, wants to know whether it is safe to build an office park on the property he owns. Because this decision has significant financial and environmental effects, Kim decides to write a formal letter report that clearly communicates the message that the property is safe. Kim's research indicated that the site has not been affected by hazardous waste or contaminated groundwater. In the body of the report she will provide enough details about her methodology and findings to give Mr. Halvorson confidence in the assessment. With those decisions in mind. Kim sits down and write's the following report introduction: Dear Mr. Halvorson: At your request, we have conducted an investigation of the site defined by the attached survey map for the purposes of rendering an opinion as to whether the site contains hazardous waste or is being impacted by contaminated groundwater. Our investigation consisted of making soil borings and visual observations of the ground surface, vegetation, and drainage patterns and laboratory testing of soil samples. The testing included physical properties testing and chemical testing of the water extracted from the soil. In addition, we have examined various maps and aerial photos, contacted various government agencies, and contacted the power company in our efforts to determine whether the hazardous waste is known to have impacted the site. our findings are as follows: Your task is to revise Kim's introduction and rewrite it to promote clarity and conciseness.

CASE 4–20 Ethics and the Manager, Understanding the Impact of Percentage Completion on Profit—Weighted-Average Method [Course Objective B] Gary Stevens and Mary James are production managers in the Consumer Electronics Division of General Electronics Company, which has several dozen plants scattered in locations throughout the world. Mary manages the plant located in Des Moines, Iowa, while Gary manages the plant in El Segundo, California. Production managers are paid a salary and get an additional bonus equal to 5% of their base salary if the entire division meets or exceeds its target profits for the year. The bonus is determined in March after the company’s annual report has been prepared and issued to stockholders.
Shortly after the beginning of the New Year, Mary received a phone call from Gary that went like this:
Gary: How’s it going, Mary?
Mary: Fine, Gary. How’s it going with you?
Gary: Great! I just got the preliminary profit figures for the division for last year and we are within $200,000 of making the year’s target profits. All we have to do is pull a few strings, and we’ll be over the top!
Mary: What do you mean? Gary: Well, one thing that would be easy to change is your estimate of the percentage completion of your ending work in process inventories. Mary: I don’t know if I can do that, Gary. Those percentage completion figures are supplied by Tom
Winthrop, my lead supervisor, who I have always trusted to provide us with good estimates.
Besides, I have already sent the percentage completion figures to corporate headquarters. Gary: You can always tell them there was a mistake. Think about it, Mary. All of us managers are doing as much as we can to pull this bonus out of the hat. You may not want the bonus check, but the rest of us sure could use it.
The final processing department in Mary’s production facility began the year with no work in process inventories. During the year, 210,000 units were transferred in from the prior processing department and 200,000 units were completed and sold. Costs transferred in from the prior department totaled $39,375,000. No materials are added in the final processing department. A total of $20,807,500 of conversion cost was incurred in the final processing department during the year.
Required:
1. Tom Winthrop estimated that the units in ending inventory in the final processing department were 30% complete with respect to the conversion costs of the final processing department. If this estimate of the percentage completion is used, what would be the Cost of Goods Sold for the year? (Note: Since all units completed were sold, the cost of goods transferred out = Cost of Goods Sold.)
2. Gary is recommending that the completion percentage by adjusted by 15 percentage points in order to assist the team in making their bonus.
a. Calculate the cost of goods sold if the ending inventory is 15% complete in regard to conversion costs. Would net income increase or decrease if this option was chosen over the 30% completion percentage? How much is the increase?
b. Calculate the cost of goods sold if the ending inventory is 45% complete in regard to conversion costs. Would net income increase or decrease if this option was chosen over the 30% completion percentage? How much is the increase?
c. Based on your calculations, which percentage is Gary suggesting that Mary use for her ending inventory calculations.
3. Do you think Mary James should go along with the request to alter estimates of the percentage completion? Why or why not?

Deliverables:
1. Submit an Excel spreadsheet that documents the calculations made for steps 1 and 2 above. All items should be clearly labeled, and appropriate formulas should be used to perform your calculations.

Gilmore Framing (GF) specializes in framing artwork for mid-sized commercial projects. Its clients are largely brokers who contract to provide “art” to decorate new or renovated hotels. The brokers send the unframed artwork to GF to mount and frame.

The process at GF involves two steps, Frame Construction and Mounting. There is one Frame Construction Station and one worker at Mounting.

The Frame Construction Station handles the artwork in batches. The batch size is set to be 12 pieces of artworks/batch. A 5-minute setup for each piece of art is required before the batch processing. Then the frames for the whole batch of artworks will be constructed all together, which takes on average 1.5 hours. These 1.5 hours processing time does not change when the batch size changes.

At Mounting, art pieces are matted and placed in a frame. Mounting is largely a manual operation and does not require a set up. The worker at the mounting finishes one piece of artwork in 10 minutes.

Please use the information provided to answer the following 7 questions.

1. Which kind of batching the Frame Construction Station is doing?

A. Sequential Batching B. Simultaneous Batching

2. The stage capacity of Frame Construction is ______ pieces/hour? (Keep one decimal in your answer.)

3. The stage capacity of Mounting is _______ pieces/hour.

4. The bottleneck of the process is ______.

A. Frame Construction B. Mounting

5. If the demand to the process is 5 pieces of artworks/hour, the flow rate is ______ pieces/hour.

6. If the demand to the process is 4 pieces of artwork/hour, the stage utilization of Frame Construction is _______; the stage utilization of Mounting is _______.

A. 66.7%; 80% B. 83.3%; 80% C. 83.3%, 66.7% D. 66.7%, 80%

7. Please indicate which of the following CANNOT improve the process capacity.

A. Increase the batch size at Frame Construction.

B. Add one more worker to Mounting.

C. Reduce the setup time at Frame Construction.

D. None of the above.

Marigold Industries purchased the following assets and constructed a building as well. All this was done during the current year.

Assets 1 and 2: These assets were purchased as a lump sum for $160,000 cash. The following information was gathered.

Asset 3: This machine was acquired by making a $16,000 down payment and issuing a $48,000, 2-year, zero-interest-bearing note. The note is to be paid off in two $24,000 installments made at the end of the first and second years. It was estimated that the asset could have been purchased outright for $57,440.

Asset 4: This machinery was acquired by trading in used machinery. (The exchange lacks commercial substance.) Facts concerning the trade-in are as follows.

Asset 5: Equipment was acquired by issuing 100 shares of $13 par value common stock. The stock had a market price of $18 per share.

Construction of Building: A building was constructed on land purchased last year at a cost of $240,000. Construction began on February 1 and was completed on November 1. The payments to the contractor were as follows.

To finance construction of the building, a $960,000, 12% construction loan was taken out on February 1. The loan was repaid on November 1. The firm had $320,000 of other outstanding debt during the year at a borrowing rate of 8%.

Record the acquisition of each of these assets. (Round intermediate calculations to 5 decimal places, e.g. 1.25124 and final answer to 0 decimal places e.g. 58,971. Credit account titles are automatically indented when amount is entered. Do not indent manually. If no entry is required, select "No Entry" for the account titles and enter 0 for the amounts.)

Exercise 10-16 Crane Industries purchased the following assets and constructed a building as well. All this was done during the current year. Assets 1 and 2: These assets were purchased as a lump sum for $290,000 cash. The following information was gathered. Description Initial Cost on Seller’s Books Depreciation to Date on Seller’s Books Book Value on Seller’s Books Appraised Value Machinery $290,000 $145,000 $145,000 $261,000 Equipment 174,000 29,000 145,000 87,000 Asset 3: This machine was acquired by making a $29,000 down payment and issuing a $87,000, 2-year, zero-interest-bearing note. The note is to be paid off in two $43,500 installments made at the end of the first and second years. It was estimated that the asset could have been purchased outright for $104,110. Asset 4: This machinery was acquired by trading in used machinery. (The exchange lacks commercial substance.) Facts concerning the trade-in are as follows. Cost of machinery traded $290,000 Accumulated depreciation to date of sale 116,000 Fair value of machinery traded 232,000 Cash received 29,000 Fair value of machinery acquired 203,000 Asset 5: Equipment was acquired by issuing 100 shares of $23 par value common stock. The stock had a market price of $32 per share. Construction of Building: A building was constructed on land purchased last year at a cost of $435,000. Construction began on February 1 and was completed on November 1. The payments to the contractor were as follows. Date Payment 2/1 $348,000 6/1 1,044,000 9/1 1,392,000 11/1 290,000 To finance construction of the building, a $1,740,000, 12% construction loan was taken out on February 1. The loan was repaid on November 1. The firm had $580,000 of other outstanding debt during the year at a borrowing rate of 8%. Record the acquisition of each of these assets. (Round intermediate calculations to 5 decimal places, e.g. 1.25124 and final answer to 0 decimal places e.g. 58,971. Credit account titles are automatically indented when amount is entered. Do not indent manually. If no entry is required, select "No Entry" for the account titles and enter 0 for the amounts.) Account Titles and Explanation Debit Credit Acquisition of Assets 1 and 2 Acquisition of Asset 3 Acquisition of Asset 4 Acquisition of Asset 5 (To record acquisition of Office Equipment)

Cheyenne Industries purchased the following assets and constructed a building as well. All this was done during the current year. Assets 1 and 2: These assets were purchased as a lump sum for $280,000 cash. The following information was gathered. Description Initial Cost on Seller’s Books Depreciation to Date on Seller’s Books Book Value on Seller’s Books Appraised Value Machinery $280,000 $140,000 $140,000 $252,000 Equipment 168,000 28,000 140,000 84,000 Asset 3: This machine was acquired by making a $28,000 down payment and issuing a $84,000, 2-year, zero-interest-bearing note. The note is to be paid off in two $42,000 installments made at the end of the first and second years. It was estimated that the asset could have been purchased outright for $100,520. Asset 4: This machinery was acquired by trading in used machinery. (The exchange lacks commercial substance.) Facts concerning the trade-in are as follows. Cost of machinery traded $280,000 Accumulated depreciation to date of sale 112,000 Fair value of machinery traded 224,000 Cash received 28,000 Fair value of machinery acquired 196,000 Asset 5: Equipment was acquired by issuing 100 shares of $22 par value common stock. The stock had a market price of $31 per share. Construction of Building: A building was constructed on land purchased last year at a cost of $420,000. Construction began on February 1 and was completed on November 1. The payments to the contractor were as follows. Date Payment 2/1 $336,000 6/1 1,008,000 9/1 1,344,000 11/1 280,000 To finance construction of the building, a $1,680,000, 12% construction loan was taken out on February 1. The loan was repaid on November 1. The firm had $560,000 of other outstanding debt during the year at a borrowing rate of 8%. Record the acquisition of each of these assets. (Round intermediate calculations to 5 decimal places, e.g. 1.25124 and final answer to 0 decimal places e.g. 58,971. Credit account titles are automatically indented when amount is entered. Do not indent manually. If no entry is required, select "No Entry" for the account titles and enter 0 for the amounts.) Account Titles and Explanation Debit Credit Acquisition of Assets 1 and 2 Acquisition of Asset 3 Acquisition of Asset 4 Acquisition of Asset 5 (To record acquisition of Office Equipment)

QUESTION: Mr. Horwell is unsure that NOBU has the resources to support the entire IMC you suggested in Q3(advertising, personal selling, public relations, social media marketing, sales promotion). Please rank the promotional mix tools (1= highest priority to 4= lowest priority) and justify.

Traveling in Nobu Style: Converting Restaurant Patrons to Hotel Guests The name “Nobu” is synonymous with an exceptional Japanese dining experience, perfected by chef Nobu Matsuhisa over a more than 30-year career. Matsuhisa, together with actor Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, opened the first Nobu restaurant in 1994 and to date, there are now 38 Nobu restaurants worldwide. But if you talk to Trevor Horwell, the CEO of Nobu Hospitality, Nobu represents much more than just a restaurant experience. It’s a true lifestyle brand that also encompasses a relatively small, but growing portfolio of luxury hotels, too — eight of which are open now, and eight more are in the pipeline. Horwell’s primary focus as CEO is to continue to grow the Nobu Hotels brand and as he opens up diners’ eyes to the fact that cannot only eat at a Nobu but stay at one, too, he hasn’t forgotten the brand’s origins in the process. “We don’t normally do a hotel unless we think that a Nobu Restaurant can do well in that location,” said Horwell. “That’s very important because what we want to do first and foremost is to make sure there is a draw for locals, and that really comes down to the Nobu Restaurant.” Horwell said the majority of his Nobu hotel restaurant diners — 80 percent on average — are local residents, not hotel guests. “It’s not like a tourist restaurant. We like to attract the locals. We want that built-in customer.” “We are defined by the restaurant, in a way,” he said. “We play to our strengths. If you look at the hotel business today, the majority of hotels are suffering because they don’t lead with food and beverage. don’t have strong food-and-beverage concepts, and a lot of hotels are losing money. Today, we play to our strengths because that is one area that we do very, very well, and we bring in locals.” The idea to launch Nobu Hotels, he said, came from the fact that when Nobu Restaurants were located inside of a hotel, they “were the draw for the hotel and we were bringing in customers.” “If I only convert 5 percent of my customers in Nobu Restaurant to stay in our hotels, then at the end of the day, we’re filling out hotels. It’s not a tall order to do that, and you can do that very well and very quickly if you offer the right product.” Nobu Hotels has the advantage of having built its brand over a 24-year period with its restaurants first, followed by the first Nobu hotel that opened within Caesars Palace Las Vegas in 2013. “The first focus for us, really, is to expose the brand to our restaurant customers,” Horwell said. “We touch all types of Nobu customers. And we also provide instant identity. If you put ‘Nobu Hotel’ on a hotel, the word ‘Nobu’ says something and it attracts a certain type of customer.” Horwell said that, for example, when the first Nobu opened, the hotel had “more than one billion media impressions.” So, what’s next for the brand, and how does Horwell plan to grow Nobu Hotels? He explained, “We’re not driven by reservations systems because we’re small. It isn’t as if we need a huge reservations system to fill a 400-room hotel. That’s why a lot of these corporations do well, because they have the reservations platform to fill the big hotels.” Nobu Hotels, by comparison, average anywhere from 100 to 150 rooms generally. “The reason why those young lifestyle brands have emerged is because they’re like us. They are entrepreneurial, they’re unique because it’s a concept that’s come from the heart, from whoever is the original founder. But when it’s absorbed by a corporation, the whole thing changes. At the end of the day, the specialness is lost because then the corporation’s running it, and then, I think you lose what your original concept was all about. I think that’s the biggest issue.” Horwell also doesn’t necessarily think of Nobu Hotels as occupying a place in luxury hospitality, instead referring to the brand as “special.” “I look at our hotels not as luxury,” he said. “I look at them as special. I like us to be special, in each location we’re in. ‘Luxury’ is a word that’s used too much in terms of ‘everything is luxury today.’ For us, we’re ‘special.'” “That’s why I’m saying, from a company perspective, we’re very entrepreneurial. Today’s evolving luxury traveler is seeking “youthfulness” no matter what age they are, and they are “very curious and very adventurous. Because of that, it’s important for hospitality brands, Nobu included, to not just say they’re unique but to really offer unique experiences. He pointed to Nobu Ryokan Malibu in California as an example. The 16-room retreat overlooks the beach and is right by the ocean, and right next door to the Nobu Restaurant in Malibu. It becomes a destination, and that’s something Nobu wants to offer. It’s also a different concept from what the other Nobu Hotels have. While Nobu Hotels are places where there’s an emphasis on bringing in the locals, the Ryokans are meant to be more private. “The Ryokan is actually a place where people don’t want to necessarily be seen,” Horwell explained. “It’s a hideaway, a retreat. You can only book through a general manager and it’s a special place.” He added, “We will do more Ryokans, definitely, in locations that we think is right.” A major focus for Nobu Hotels is to grow the company and the brand with the right talent and partners, as well as make sure that the Nobu Hotels brand is reaching the right consumers. “The most important thing, from our perspective, is to build a relationship with our existing customers,” he said. “It’s about, first and foremost, on digital, working our databases. We like to do that through email, through a lot of channels. We just brought on a new head of digital. Capturing data is very, very important now, and that’s something that is a main focus and her team.” “I think the main thing for us is the customer relationship management (CRM) because you can do so much with it,” he said. “You can know your customer. It’s one part of the business that we are heavily focused in in and we can extract a lot of information from that.” In addition to beefing up its customer relationship management system, Nobu is also testing out a loyalty partnership, of sorts. The Nobu London Shoreditch joined Design Hotels last year, giving the property access to distribution on Design Hotels’ site, as well as a connection to the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. Three Nobu hotels are also members of Leading Hotels of the World. “A lot of our customers aren’t driven by points,” he said. “When I travel, I don’t go for points. I want to stay in a hotel where I enjoy the staff, the food and beverage, the products — all of that — and I will pay a premium for it.” Appendix A Additional Information about NOBU Nobu Hotels "A Place to go and be seen" By “wrapping” the concept of a luxurious boutique hotel around energized public spaces, Nobu Hotels creates powerful stages for shared experiences of excitement and escapism. Featuring the best of everything with imaginative new restaurants, high- energy bars, relaxing rejuvenation, distinctive service, remarkable retail and an air of celebrity, Nobu Hotels will afford guests and privileged owners the most exclusive entry into unparalleled experiences that lay at the crossroads of innovation and imagination. Source: Excerpted from ‘Nobu Hotels CEO on a Restaurant-First Approach to Hospitality’ by D. Ting. Skift – March 22, 2018. +Experts and image from Nobu restaurant and hotel website

Why are Km values of enzymes typically at or near the cellular substrate concentration?

Differentiate between near and far transfer. Provide a substantive example of each.

What type of structure exists in central Tennessee near Nashville? Geology