Laundry detergent and bags of ice—products of industries that seem pretty mundane, maybe even boring. Hardly! Both have been the center of clandestine meetings and secret deals worthy of a spy novel. In France, between 1997 and 2004, the top four laundry detergent producers (Proctor & Gamble, Henkel, Unilever, and Colgate-Palmolive) controlled about 90 percent of the French soap market. Officials from the soap firms were meeting secretly, in out-of-the-way, small cafés around Paris. Their goals: Stamp out competition and set prices.

Around the same time, the top five Midwest ice makers (Home City Ice, Lang Ice, Tinley Ice, Sisler’s Dairy, and Products of Ohio) had similar goals in mind when they secretly agreed to divide up the bagged ice market.

If both groups could meet their goals, it would enable each to act as though they were a single firm—in essence, a monopoly—and enjoy monopoly-size profits. The problem? In many parts of the world, including the European Union and the United States, it is illegal for firms to divide up markets and set prices collaboratively.

These two cases provide examples of markets that are characterized neither as perfect competition nor monopoly. Instead, these firms are competing in market structures that lie between the extremes of monopoly and perfect competition. Discuss the market conditions based on the above scenario.

Q2. It’s no secret that small businesses play a vital role in the US economy. However, most non-employer small businesses average just $44,000 a year in annual revenue, with many of these companies earning $25,000 or less. While various factors can affect a business’ revenue potential, one of the most important is the pricing strategy utilized by its owners.

Good pricing strategy helps you determine the price point at which you can maximize profits on sales of your products or services. When setting prices, a business owner needs to consider a wide range of factors including production and distribution costs, competitor offerings, positioning strategies and the business’ target customer base.

While customers won’t purchase goods that are priced too high, your company won’t succeed if it prices goods too low to cover all of the business’ costs. Along with product, place and promotion, price can have a profound effect on the success of your small business.

Here are some of the various strategies that businesses implement when setting prices on their products and services. Analyze pricing strategies.

Read the article (link is below) and answer the questions that follow in a paper format. (Paper has to be 1-page, 11-inch font- single-spaced). I already did #1, please I need help with 2 & 3. The article is super confusing. COPY THE BELOW LINK AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50596700_A_long_noncoding_RNA_maintains_active_chromatin_to_coordinate_homeotic_gene_expression

Primary Paper HW assignment guidelines

Your primary paper consists of three parts:

1. In your own words, state the essential take home message of the paper assigned.

-Here you should briefly mention what was known about this topic before this paper was published

-Then state what the aim/goal/purpose of this published study was. In other words, what did the authors set out to do?

-Also describe why this research is important (if you think it is important)/ what are the researchers hoping to contribute to the existing knowledge.

2. State how the authors demonstrated the essential point of the paper: what experiments and what methods they used to prove the point

-In this section you should link how a particular approach/method was used to obtain a particular result and why it would be important/relevant. For example:

-Authors used method A to get/show result B. Result B is important because (it supports their original hypothesis in the following way/describe how/ or it provides novel findings regarding mechanism X

-Continue the bulleted list to correlate specific method with specific result and how it supports the claims made in the paper.

3. Discuss the strengths and significance of the paper and also the weaknesses and indicate additional lines of investigation that you think would be worth pursuing that were opened up by the paper.

-Here I want you to critique the experimental approach and author’s conclusions, not their writing style or format of the paper. Also, keep in mind that these are primary research articles published in scientific journals, so they are intended for a scientific, not general audience. Hence the language could be a bit dense.

-I want you to be very specific here. Do not write general and vague statements. Instead, refer to specific data in the paper (in figure X, or table Y) and indicate any possible flaws or limitations of the experiment.

-Propose possible future directions or follow up studies. You can look up papers that cited this research or follow up on the last author’s subsequent research.

-Explain if this paper contributed anything new to the field and if it enabled better understanding of the subject

12. All of the following are arguments used by proponents of offshoring except:

a. It creates enormous value for firms and economies.

b. Western firms are able to tap into low-cost and high-quality labor.

c. Firms can focus on their core capabilities.

d. For every dollar spent by US firms on India, the U.S. obtains $1.13.

e. It is not true that some US employees may lose their jobs.

14. Which are true regarding informal constraints?

a. When formal institutional constraints fail, informal constraints tend to fail as well.

b. Following the collapse the former Soviet Union, informal constraints were unable to facilitate growth of entrepreneurial firms.

c. Even in developed economies, the best-connected firms can reap significant benefits.

d. All of the above.

e. None of the above.

15. Which is the instrumental view regarding motivation to become ethical?

a. Jump on the “bandwagon” to appear more legitimate without becoming more ethical.

b. Be self-motivated to “do it right” regardless of social pressures.

c. Good ethics are a way to achieve good profits.

d. Ethics is an instrument to impose the values of the elite on the masses.

e. Ethics is a game that is played like a musical instrument.

17. Which of the following are NOT true in regards to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

a. They create approximately 50% of total value added in the world.

b. They generate 60-90% of employment, depending on where they are located.

c. Each year 4-6% of adult working population in North America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe attempt to start a new venture.

d. Around the world, a majority of entrepreneurial firms (including 60% of start-ups in the US) succeed within 6 years.

18. To achieve success, entrepreneurial resources must be:

a. Of low value so as to reduce cost.

b. Common.

c. Non-core competencies that are hard to imitate.

d. Organizationally embedded.

e. All of the above.

19. Which of the following is NOT an example of one of the five entrepreneurial strategies?

a. Use speed and stealth to disrupt and pre-empt competitors.

b. Emphasize analysis over action.

c. Less novel, but substantially new ways of doing business can also be innovative.

d. Centrally located network positions are most helpful.

e. Selling an equity stake to outside investors.

20. “Greenfield ventures” are:

a. Examples of international grain corporations.

b. Environmentally friendly MNEs.

c. Wholly owned subsidiaries that are built from scratch in a foreign country.

d. Irrigation projects in areas stricken by famine.

e. Joint ventures in agriculture between governments and private firms.

answer this question after reading the below post

Which of these five management styles do you prefer when dealing with conflict and why?

Recognizing that conflict and conflict resolution will be a skillset that every manager should be prepared for, having a variety of conflict management techniques that are appropriate for a given scenario will always be advantageous; however many conflict management specialists will develop their own preferences of style based upon experience.

Here are the five conflict management styles according to Thomas, K.W., and R.H. Kilmann:

1.Accommodating – This is when you cooperate with a high-degree, and it may be at your own expense, and actually work against your own goals, objectives, and desired outcomes. This approach is effective when the other party is the expert or has a better solution. It can also be effective for preserving future relations with the other party.
2.Avoiding – This is when you simply avoid the issue. You aren’t helping the other party reach their goals, and you aren’t assertively pursuing your own. This works when the issue is trivial or when you have no chance of winning. It can also be effective when the issue would be very costly. It’s also very effective when the atmosphere is emotionally charged and you need to create some space. Sometimes issues will resolve themselves, but “hope is not a strategy”, and, in general, avoiding is not a good long-term strategy.
3.Collaborating – This is where you partner or pair up with the other party to achieve both of your goals. This is how you break free of the “win-lose” paradigm and seek the “win-win.” This can be effective for complex scenarios where you need to find a novel solution. This can also mean re-framing the challenge to create a bigger space and room for everybody’s ideas. The downside is that it requires a high degree of trust and reaching a consensus can require a lot of time and effort to get everybody on board and to synthesize all the ideas.
4.Competing – This is the “win-lose” approach. You act in a very assertive way to achieve your goals, without seeking to cooperate with the other party, and it may be at the expense of the other party. This approach may be appropriate for emergencies when the time is of the essence, or when you need quick, decisive action, and people are aware of and support the approach.
5.Compromising – This is the “lose-lose” scenario where neither party really achieves what they want. This requires a moderate level of assertiveness and cooperation. It may be appropriate for scenarios where you need a temporary solution, or where both sides have equally important goals. The trap is to fall into compromising as an easy way out when collaborating would produce a better solution.

Bartman Industries’ and Reynolds Incorporated’s stock prices and dividends, along with the Wilshire 5000 Index, are shown below for the period 1996-2001. The Wilshire 5000 data are adjusted to include dividends.

1. Use the data given to calculate annual returns for Bartman, Reynolds, and the Wilshire 5000 Index, and then calculate average returns over the 5-year period. (Hint: Remember, returns are calculated by subtracting the beginning price from the ending price to get the capital gain or loss, adding the dividend to the capital gain or loss and dividing the result by the beginning price. Assume that dividends are already included in the index. Also, you cannot calculate the rate of return for 1996 because you do not have 1995 data).

2. Calculate the standard deviations of the returns for Bartman, Reynolds, and the Wilshire 5000. (Hint: Use the sample standard deviation formula given in the chapter, which corresponds to the STDEV function in Excel.)

3. Now calculate the coefficients of variation for Bartman, Reynolds, and the Wilshire 5000.

4. Construct a scatter diagram graph that shows Bartman’s, Reynolds’ returns on the vertical

   axis and the market index’s returns on the horizontal axis.

5. Estimate Bartman’s and Reynolds’ betas by running regressions of their returns against the

   Wilshire 5000’s returns. Are these betas consistent with your graph?

6. The risk-free rate on long-term Treasury bonds is 6.04 percent. Assume that the market risk premium is 5 percent. What is the expected return on the market? Now use the SML

   equation to calculate the two companies’ required returns.

7. If you formed a portfolio that consisted of 50 percent of Bartman stock and 50 percent of

   Reynolds stock, what would be its beta and its required return?

8. Suppose an investor wants to include Bartman Industries’ stock in his on her portfolio.

   Stocks A, B and C are currently in the portfolio and their betas are 0.769, 0.985 and 1.423, respectively. Calculate the new portfolio’s required return if it consists of 25 percent of Bartman, 15 percent of Stock A, 40 percent of Stock B and 20 percent of Stock C.

In this assignment students will demonstrate their understanding of the distribution of means doing all steps of hypothesis testing.
For each problem students will write out all steps of hypothesis testing including populations, hypotheses, cutoff scores, and all relevant calculations. Assignments will be typed and uploaded in a word document to blackboard.

1.A nationwide survey in 1995 revealed that U.S. grade-school children spend an average of µ = 8.4 hours per week doing homework. The distribution is normal with σ = 3.2. Last year, a sample of n = 100 grade-school children was given the same survey. For this sample, the mean number of homework hours was 7.1. Has there been a significant change in the homework habits of grade-school children? Test with α = .05.

2.On the basis of her newly developed technique, a student believes she can reduce the amount of time schizophrenics spend in an institution. As director of training at a nearby institution, you agree to let her try her method on 20 schizophrenics, randomly sampled from your institution. The mean duration that schizophrenics stay at your institution is 85 weeks, with a standard deviation of 15 weeks. The scores are normally distributed. The results of the experiment show that patients treated by the student stay at the institution a mean duration of 78 weeks. What do you conclude about the student’s technique? Use α = .05.

3.A psychologist has developed a standardized test for measuring the vocabulary skills of 4-year-old children. The scores on the test form a normal distribution with μ = 60 and σ = 10. A researcher would like to use this test to investigate the idea that children who grow up with no siblings develop vocabulary skills at a different rate than children in large families. A sample of n = 25 children is obtained, and the mean test score for this sample is 63. On the basis of this sample, can the researcher conclude that vocabulary skills for children with no siblings are significantly different from those of the general population? Test at the .01 level of significance.

4.The average age for licensed drivers in a county is 42.6, with a standard deviation of 12, and the distribution is approximately normal. A county police officer was interested in whether the average age of those receiving speeding tickets is less that the average age of the population who has a license. She obtained a sample of 16 drivers with speeding tickets. The average age for this sample was 34.4. Do all the steps of hypothesis testing using the 0.01 significance level.

1. What type of research design is used in this study (e.g., cross-sectional, longitudinal,

experimental, correlational, or naturalistic observation)? Is this

design appropriate?

2. What explanation do the researchers offer for their findings? Does this explanation

make sense based on the evidence?

3. Given the results of this study, why can’t the researchers draw a causal connection

between behavior disorders and temperament?

4. Can you think of an alternative explanation for the results of this study?

Critical Thinking Activity: Early Temperament Style and Later Adjustment Problems

Now that you have read and reviewed Chapter 7, take your learning a step further

by testing your critical thinking skills on this scientific reasoning exercise.

A study by Caspi and others (1995)* revealed that temperamental style in early

childhood might be linked to adjustment problems during adolescence. The study

involved a cohort of 1,037 children born between April 1, 1972, and March 31,

1973, in Dunedin, New Zealand.

At ages 3, 5, 7, and 9, the behavior of each child was rated in terms of 22

aspects of temperament, including emotional stability, restlessness, self-reliance,

persistence, negativism, passivity, shyness, self-confidence, emotional flatness,

and 13 other dimensions. To assess behavior problems in the sample, the

researchers relied on outcome data from teachers and parents who rated the children

at ages 9, 11, 13, and 15 on two widely used behavior problem checklists.

These checklists included subscales measuring anxiety/withdrawal, which represents

feelings of inferiority and failure; attention problems, which reflect difficulty

in concentration skills; conduct disorder, which reflects aggressiveness and

alienation; and socialized delinquency, which reflects norm-violating tendencies.

For both boys and girls, lack of control at ages 3 and 5 showed a significant

positive correlation wth teacher and parent reports of antisocial behavior and

conduct disorder at ages 9 and 11. In addition, boys and girls characterized as

lacking in control in early childhood were less likely to be rated in adolescence as

mature and confident.

The authors suggest several possible explanations for these intriguing results.

One is that certain temperamental characteristics in young children are actually

early, “subclinical” manifestations of more extreme behavior disorders. Whatever

the correct explanation, the results of this extensive study suggest that early temperament

may have remarkably specific predictive validity for the development of

behavior problems during adolescence.