Case Study: PackCo

PackCo is an Australian-listed company that manufactures packaging products. PackCo services customers that are mainly food and beverage producers. The company currently operates in Australia, New Zealand and USA, and employs more than 6,000 staff. With its head office in Melbourne, Victoria, PackCo is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and operates a number of production facilities in Australia, mainly in Victoria and South Australia. Since its inception, the company has grown steadily with revenues reaching almost USD $4 billion in 2016. The company has also acquired a number of other businesses to support its business growth.

PackCo sells its products and services to both local and overseas customers, and is reliant on third party logistics (3PLs) for transportation and forwarding companies to move its products. A newly appointed Supply Chain Optimisation Manager, Aras, has been tasked to oversee transportation and freight optimisation within PackCo. His responsibilities include conducting RFPs (requests for proposals) for the selection of carriers, and also implementing S&OP and CPFR projects to ensure that demand planning within the category is cost efficient and service effective.

Despite the implementation of an ERP system, management and replenishment of inventory to the right location has been a challenge.

Aras, in his first weeks of this job in overseeing one of the business groups within PackCo, recognised that due to forecast inaccuracies, it would be a big challenge to get the transport planning right. Despite the implementation of an ERP system, due to master data inaccuracies, management and replenishment of inventory to the right location has been a challenge. This has led to the demand planners in his team resorting to using spreadsheets to communicate demand requirements to the providers. Also, the lack of accurate data has resulted in higher inventories and accumulation of aged and obsolete stock.

Aras realised that his supply chain team has constantly exceeded its logistics budget to provide outstanding service levels for customers. Due to lack of clear sales strategy, expedited delivery or special production runs for low-order customers have further reduced the profit margins. For example, one of PackCo’s biggest accounts, Healthy Foods, spends only $2 million a year and, yet the logistics costs incurred servicing this client as a percent of revenue is over 25%.

Aras, prior to his first quarterly C-level management meeting, asked his team to run some analysis for the customer base and its use of 3PL provider services. The results were astonishing:

36.1% of the customer base accounts for 73% of the company’s operating profits.

24.9% of the customer base accounts for approximately USD246 million in losses.

the average DIFOT (deliver in-full and on-time) rate is 99.6% for the customer base.

the average logistics costs as a per cent of revenue across the customers is 16.3%.

there is no long-term contract with any 3PLs. Contracts tend to be 'arms-length' and negotiated with the 3PLs on ad-hoc basis.

68.2% of the outbound deliveries tend to be LTL (less-than-truckload).

special production runs lead to overtime wastage of more than USD $46 million in the last financial year.

Question:

Students are required to prepare a one-page executive summary (no more than 500 words) that describes the problem(s) identified from the case company and to prescribe recommendations to overcome the problems and take following elements in consideration.

1) Identification of key issues and their practical ramifications.

2) Rich recommendations (or recommended solutions).

3) Logical and coherent argument to support recommendations, substantiated, where appropriate, by credible, tested practices and/or well established academic paradigms or perspectives.

4) Indication of limitations or plausible pitfalls arising from implementation of recommendations.

What countries surprise you that there are no publicly available cybersecurity strategies??

Bramble Electronics operates as a decentralized company. Bramble’s Battery division manufactures batter chargers that are sold both externally to outside customers and internally to the Camera division. Battery division’s annual capacity is 83,700 units. The revenue and costs associated with one battery charger are as follows:

The Camera division would like to purchase 25,110 units of battery chargers; however, Cameron, the manager of the Camera division, is able to purchase the battery charger from an overseas supplier at $19.

Assuming the Battery division operates at 60% capacity, what is the range of the transfer price, if any, for the battery charger? Cameron has learned that the Battery division operates below its capacity. He is willing to pay up to $18.50 for a battery charger. Should the Battery division accept the offer at $18.50?

The range $_______   ? TP ? $_________

The Battery division _____(should/should not) accept the offer to transfer the battery chargers at $18.50.

Bramble Electronics operates as a decentralized company. Bramble’s Battery division manufactures batter chargers that are sold both externally to outside customers and internally to the Camera division. Battery division’s annual capacity is 83,700 units. The revenue and costs associated with one battery charger are as follows:

The Camera division would like to purchase 25,110 units of battery chargers; however, Cameron, the manager of the Camera division, is able to purchase the battery charger from an overseas supplier at $19.

Assuming the Battery division operates at 85% capacity, what is the range of the transfer price, if any, for the battery charger? Cameron has learned that the Battery division operates below its capacity. He is willing to pay up to $18.50 for a battery charger. Should the Battery division accept the offer at $18.50?

The range $_______   ? TP ? $_________

The Battery division _____(should/should not) accept the offer to transfer the battery chargers at $18.50.

Describe THREE (3) categories of e-commerce revenue models with ONE (1) real-life example for each model. Below are the guidelines of answer. DO NOT use guidelines below as the answer of question.

Answer:

First let me list the three :
1. Affiliate marketing
2. Online advertising
3. Transaction fees
Explanation:
1. Affiliate marketing enables you to earn revenue by marketing or offering another product for sale on your site. For example, you may reference a book you read and recommend your customers get a copy for themselves. You could also set up an affiliate account and place a direct link to the book on the Amazon site, which will pay you a percentage of the sale. If you decide to participate in affiliate marketing, you\'ll need to research which companies might provide you with a financial incentive for promoting their sites on your page.
When you\'re just starting out, the money you earn from affiliate marketing may be just a small, supplemental amount. However, as traffic to your site increases, you may enjoy more substantial income.
2. Online advertising is a very popular revenue model for e-commerce businesses. In this method, companies or organizations buy advertising space on your site, provide a designed ad or written message, and then pay you for promoting their messages. Media sites, such as magazines, newspapers, and television channels typically use online advertising.
Two common types of online advertising include pay-per-click and pay-per-view, which determine how much advertisers will pay for their advertisements. While some sites charge a set fee for placing an ad, most pay a set fee for each person who clicks on a link or views a page related to the advertiser. As traffic to your site grows and more people click on an advertiser\'s link or view a related page, you\'ll earn more advertising revenue.
3. Transaction fees are the charges a company pays for using their service. If you\'ve ever sold anything on eBay, you know there\'s a set price for posting a product for sale. Each time a transaction happens, you pay a small fee to eBay for marketing your product. Whether you charge a small fee for a company to list a transaction or for someone to view a video, transaction fees can be a sizable if the traffic to the website is substantial.
Examples of the firms that use these revenue models are:
1. TDC and Orange are using Affiliate marketing .
2. Coco Cola , AMEX , Mint are using Online advertising .
3. Google (e.g. AdWords and AdSense),Facebook,New York Times (Marketing) are using Transaction fees

High skilled immigrants use the H-1B visa to work in the United States. Prior to 2004, they allowed over 120000 visas to be issued each year. After 2004, they reduced the quota to 65000 immigrants per year. Discuss the implications that this change would have based on your knowledge of economic theory on a. native workers in the USA b. firm owners in the USA c. remaining workers in the destination countries d. firm owners on destination countries You may use graphical analysis if it helps illustrate your points.

Studies have examined changes over time in the annual global temperature based on planet-wide recordings. To make temperatures at different locations comparable, "temperature anomalies" are computed locally by comparing the local annual sea surface temperature average with the local temperature reference, the 1951-1980 average. The analysis showed that, in each of several time periods, the distribution of local seasonal temperature anomalies was approximately Normal. Because temperature anomalies are computed relative to the 1951-1980 reference period, summer temperature N(0,1). Decades later, summer temperature in the northern hemisphere over the 2005-2015 period followed approximately the N(1.6, 1.3) distribution. (a) Draw both distributions on the same graph, indicating the mean and standard deviation of each curve. (Select the graph that best matches the graph you drew. Make sure that the means and standard deviations on the legend match the curves.) 13 (b) In the reference period, standardized summer temperature anomalies greater than 3 were considered to be extreme heat events. Based on the proposed Normal model, what percent of local summer temperature anomalies in the northern hemisphere were extreme heat events in the 1951-1980 reference period? (Enter your answer rounded to one decimal place.) percent: (c) Based on the proposed Normal model, what percent of local summer temperature anomalies in the northern hemisphere between 2005 and 2015 were extreme heat events? (Enter your answer rounded to one decimal place.) percent (d) Based on the recording stations at numerous worldwide locations, 14.5% of temperature anomalies in the northern hemisphere were extreme heat events between 2005 and 2015, compared with 0.1% in the reference period of 1951 to 1980 Compare the actual values to the ones you obtained using the proposed Normal models. O Both values found using the Normal models are very close to the actual values. Neither value found using the Normal models is very close to the actual value. The value found for 1951-1980 using the Normal model is very close to the actual value, but not the one for 2005-201:5 O The value found for 2005-2015 using the Normal model is very close to the actual value, but not the one for 1951-1980.

High school students across the nation compete in a financial capability challenge each year by taking a National Financial Capability Challenge Exam. Students who score in the top 14 percent are recognized publicly for their achievement by the Department of the Treasury. Assuming a normal distribution, how many standard deviations above the mean does a student have to score to be publicly recognized? (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

Mattel​ (U.S.) achieved significant sales growth in its major international regions between 2001 and 2004​. In its filings with the United States Security and Exchange Commission​ (SEC), it reported both the amount of regional sales and the percentage change in those sales resulting from exchange rate changes.

a. What was the percentage change in​ sales, in U.S.​ dollars, by​ region?

b. What were the percentage change in​ sales, by​ region, net of currency change​ impacts?

c. What impact did currency changes have on the level and growth of consolidated sales between 2001 and​ 2004?