Business Strategy

Best Buy is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the United States with 2013 sales of almost $50 billion. The company competes aggressively on price with rivals such as Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club, Walmart, and Target, but is also known by consumers for its first-rate customer service.

Best Buy customers have commented that the retailer’s sales staff is exceptionally knowledgeable about products and can direct the customer to the exact location of difficult to find items. Best Buy customers also appreciate that demonstration models of PC monitors, digital media players, and other electronics are fully powered and ready for in-store use. Best Buy’s Geek Squad tech support and installation services are additional customer service features valued by many customers.

1. How would you characterize Best Buy’s competitive strategy?

2. Should it be classified as a low-cost provider strategy? a differentiation strategy? a best-cost strategy?

3. Explain your answer.

4. Now think of your Glo-Bus (simulation) company: would you approach Best Buy to promote the distribution of your camera? How?

1.

USA Today reported that about 47% of the general consumer population in the United States is loyal to the automobile manufacturer of their choice. Suppose Chevrolet did a study of a random sample of 996 Chevrolet owners and found that 503 said they would buy another Chevrolet. Does this indicate that the population proportion of consumers loyal to the car company is more than 47%? Use α = 0.01. Solve the problem using both the traditional method and the P-value method. Since the sampling distribution of p̂ is the normal distribution, you can use critical values from the standard normal distribution as shown in the table of critical values of the z distribution. (Round the test statistic and the critical value to two decimal places. Round the P-value to four decimal places.)

State your conclusion in context of the application.

There is sufficient evidence at the 0.01 level to conclude that the true proportion of consumers loyal to the car company is more than 47%.

There is insufficient evidence at the 0.01 level to conclude that the true proportion of consumers loyal to the car company is more than 47%.     

Compare your conclusion with the conclusion obtained by using the P-value method. Are they the same?

The conclusions obtained by using both methods are the same.

We reject the null hypothesis using the P-value method, but fail to reject using the traditional method.  

   We reject the null hypothesis using the traditional method, but fail to reject using the P-value method.

2.

In this problem, assume that the distribution of differences is approximately normal. Note: For degrees of freedom d.f. not in the Student's t table, use the closest d.f. that is smaller. In some situations, this choice of d.f. may increase the P-value by a small amount and therefore produce a slightly more "conservative" answer.

Suppose that at five weather stations on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, the peak wind gusts (in miles per hour) for January and April are recorded below.

Does this information indicate that the peak wind gusts are higher in January than in April? Use α = 0.01. Solve the problem using the critical region method of testing. (Let d = January − April. Round your answers to three decimal places.)

Interpret your conclusion in the context of the application.

Reject the null hypothesis, there is sufficient evidence to claim average peak wind gusts are higher in January.

Fail to reject the null hypothesis, there is sufficient evidence to claim average peak wind gusts are higher in January.    

Fail to reject the null hypothesis, there is insufficient evidence to claim average peak wind gusts are higher in January.

Reject the null hypothesis, there is insufficient evidence to claim average peak wind gusts are higher in January.

Compare your conclusion with the conclusion obtained by using the P-value method. Are they the same?

We reject the null hypothesis using the critical region method, but fail to reject using the P-value method.

We reject the null hypothesis using the P-value method, but fail to reject using the critical region method.     

The conclusions obtained by using both methods are the same.

1. Oil efficiency and national security. Right now, the United States is extremely dependent on oil for its automobile. Our dependence on oil has turned the Middle East into one of the most important areas in the world. If our automobiles were 40% efficient rather than 20% efficient, we would not have to import any oil. The global consequences of our oil inefficiency can reach as far as war in the Middle East. Getting more efficient use of oil is both a technological and a social issue. Who should pay for the research? The U.S. government? Private industry? Is this an economic question or is it a national security one?
2. Automobiles typically carry 100lb of gasoline. That has the energy content of 1500 lb of TNT. Is gasoline really as dangerous as this makes it sound? If so, why do we accept it in our automobiles? If not, why not? Do we accept gasoline only because it is a “known” evil?

The United States has entered into trade agreements with other countries in order to set rules and expectations to increase trade and commerce. Research either NAFTA or the TPP. How the deal you chose impact or will impact foreign trade. What were the benefits and any negative consequences from entering these types of trade agreements?

Identify arguments for and against each side of the topic. What are the objectives of each side? (provide citation used)

Country of Tax - United States - Form 1040

Paul is 66 years old and Tina is 62 years old. In 2019, they file a joint return. They support their 22-year-old son, Jed, who is a full-time student. He earns $4,000.00 per year as a waiter at a restaurant.

Wages............................................................... $ 170,000.00

Interest from savings.......................................... $12,000.00

Interest on NYS qualified bonds........................... $7,000.00

Inheritance from Tina’s Aunt Lucy....................... $6,000.00

Child support from Tina’s ex-husband Eric........ $10,000.00

Prize from contest at church.................................. $1,000.00

Paul and Tina own a house in Whitestone. The costs associated with the house were as follows:

Mortgage interest                               $7,000.00

    (Please note: The amount of the indebtedness is under $750,000.00.)

Real estate taxes                                 $8,000.00

They paid hospital bills of $7,000.00 and doctor’s bills of $6,000.00. Their medical insurance company reimbursed them in the amount of $3,000.00 for the doctor’s bills. They had prescriptions in the amount of $500.00 and a yearly vitamin expense of $200.00.

Their charitable contributions included:

$2,000.00 paid to St. Mary’s Church

$   500.00 paid to Mr. and Mrs. Elm (neighbors) whose house was damaged in a flood

1. What is Paul and Tina’s gross income?
2. What is Paul’s and Tina’s adjusted gross income ?
3. What is Paul and Tina’s standard deduction without regard to their itemized deductions?
4. What is Paul and Tina’s net itemized deduction ?
5. How much of the charitable donations are deductible?
6. What is Paul and Tina’s taxable income?
7. What is Paul and Tina’s tax liability?

Please use reference.

In Gasoline. How to make Gasoline cheaper in the United States: Government is known to utilize a product's elasticity measures to set taxes and subsidies. Use this information to set policy on petroleum products according to your goal. Research the government's tax/subsidy policy in these areas and any objectives of the tax policy. State your goal, your prescribed action, and why you believe it will work using the information you found.

The United States has a variety of regulations to address the economic harm resulting from monopoly power in an industry. This includes the Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914, and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. These acts were aimed at restricting the formation of cartels and monopolies to protect consumers and ensure competition. The article The Oligopoly Problem argued that oligopolies fall through the cracks of these regulations and leave consumers unprotected from harmful business practices where industries are highly concentrated. Read the article and respond to the following in your initial post:

What are examples of firms in an oligopolistic market that abuse their power? Explain how they abuse their power and describe the impact on consumers.

Do you agree with the author's feelings about increased government oversight of such industries? Why or why not?

1. Some experts estimated that national health spending in the United States grew at 1% in excess of the growth rates of GDP. Assume that this trend would persist for the foreseeable future, and given the fact that the share of GDP on health spending stood at 18% in 2016, what would become the share in 2064, 45 years from now (and 48 years from 2016, the base year), when most of you would enter the traditional retirement age? We should assume that GDP would grow at 3% annually. Do you have a problem with the number you arrive at?

2. After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) the Central Bank of the United States and the federal government both attempted to stimulate the economy.

a. What caused the GDC and what fiscal policy actions can the federal government take to stimulate the economy? Be sure to define the key terms and the macro models you used to explain the outcomes.

b. Explain what actions the Central Bank took to stimulate the economy. Again, be sure to define key terms and the macro models you used to explain the path to economic growth.

The United States has acted to restrict imports of certain Chinese goods, such as toys containing lead and seafood that doesn’t meet US health standards, in order to protect U.S. consumers. Some people have said this shows a double standard: If we are willing to restrict goods on these grounds, why shouldn’t we restrict imports of goods that produced with badly paid labor in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam and Haiti, just to name a few of such places. Evaluate why is or is not this argument valid? Provide political economy rationale for such a policy and relate it to the coverage in Chapter 10.

Please don't copy and paste from other websites. I can get those myself. Only answer if you have knowledge of the topic so we're not getting random answers that don't make sense.