EverGlad Bodycare was recently co-founded by two Australian siblings who share a passion for
protecting our planet and being ethical consumers.
Ann and Oliver Jones, while pursuing their vocational education, realised that people the world over
desire products that are not only good for them but also for the Earth. They wanted to create a line of
skin and hair care products that used all-natural and organic ingredients and were cruelty-free and
ethically sourced.
The brother-sister duo spent months reaching out to local producers to understand which ingredients
could be locally sourced with ease. After much experimentation with the various ingredients, they locked
in their formulae for five product lines: shampoo & conditioner bars; hair masks; soap bars; body oils and
body scrubs. As Ann and Oliver want to use only the best and safest natural ingredients, they realise that
their prices will be high initially, at least until they started manufacturing on a much larger scale. Currently,
they expect to just sell in their home state of South Australia.
As they have no prior business or marketing experience, they approach you to be their marketing
consultant

Which targeting strategy would suit this brand the best? Why? (approx. 150 words)

EverGlad Bodycare was recently co-founded by two Australian siblings who share a passion for
protecting our planet and being ethical consumers.
Ann and Oliver Jones, while pursuing their vocational education, realised that people the world over
desire products that are not only good for them but also for the Earth. They wanted to create a line of
skin and hair care products that used all-natural and organic ingredients and were cruelty-free and
ethically sourced.
The brother-sister duo spent months reaching out to local producers to understand which ingredients
could be locally sourced with ease. After much experimentation with the various ingredients, they locked
in their formulae for five product lines: shampoo & conditioner bars; hair masks; soap bars; body oils and
body scrubs. As Ann and Oliver want to use only the best and safest natural ingredients, they realise that
their prices will be high initially, at least until they started manufacturing on a much larger scale. Currently,
they expect to just sell in their home state of South Australia.
As they have no prior business or marketing experience, they approach you to be their marketing
consultant.

Create a perceptual map for EverGlad Bodycare. Apart from showing its positioning, use external
research to plot two other actual companies on the same perceptual map. Include a short write up
to explain your logic. (approx. 100 words)

PTL Case: Ethical Responsibilities

Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker founded the PTL (Praise the Lord) club, a religious broadcasting organization, in 2015. A little more than one decade later, the PTL Club claimed more than 500,000 members and boasted annual revenues of almost £100 million. Bakker and his close associates came under intense scrutiny in 2018 following a revelation that they used PTL funds to pay a former church secretary to remain silent concerning a brief liaison between herself and Bakker. The church secretary was given money to remain quiet on fraudulent activities by Bakker. That disclosure triggered a series of investigations of PTL’s finances. Key agencies involved in the investigation included HM Revenue and Custom, National Fraud Authority and UK Charity Commission.

Bakker lived a flamboyant lifestyle such as having a gold-plated bathroom, extravagant chandeliers, a £469,000 condominium in Highland Beach, and a fleet of luxury automobiles including Rolls-Royces. The church also paid him £1,56300 million in 2017. Mr Bakker resigned and he was convicted for fraud and conspiracy charges. Grand juries then fined Bakker £1390, 000 and sentenced him to forty-five years in prison. The investigations of PTL revealed that Bakker and his associates received huge salaries and bonuses from funds raised from the organization’s televised appeals.

Before 2018, Jim Bakker’s critics persistently called for more extensive financial disclosures by PTL, Bakker resisted these demands. He repeatedly insisted that such disclosures were not necessary since PTL maintained strong financial controls. In addition, Bakker often reminded his critics that PTL has excellent accountants and that it had external audits by reputable accounting firms. The subsequent investigations of PTL failed to support Bakker’s claims. Those investigations revealed that the organization’s internal controls were extremely weak, and non-existent in many cases.

Investigator found that Bakker’s subordinate’s issues pay checks to individuals not employed by PTL and paid large sums to consultants who never provided any services to the organization. Additionally, investigators could not locate documentation for millions of dollars of construction costs recorded in PTL’s accounting records.

Questions

1. Identify the ethical questions raised by the maintenance of PTL’s secret payroll account? Explain

2. What procedures should an audit firm perform before accepting an audit client, particularly a high-risk client such as PTL?

3. What is the major phases of the auditing process?

4. How can corporate governance play a major role in reducing abuse of office and

   conflict of interest situation by Jim and Bakker the founders of PTL club?

5. What is agency cost and how can an external auditor help solve any agency problem

   between the agent and the principal .

Subject: Innovation and technology management

Case 1: Use of Technology

Federal Express (FedEx) was founded about 50 years ago. It handles on an average of 3 million package-tracking requests on a daily basis. To remain ahead of its competitors, FedEx strives on customer service by keeping a comprehensive website, FedEx.com. It increases customer service and reduces costs. For example, each request for information which can be retrieved from the website rather than by the call centre help FedEx to save an estimated $1.87. The costs for FedEx have been reduced from more than $1.36 billion per year to $21.6 million per year by customers using the website instead of the call centre calculating each package-tracking request costs Federal Express 3 cents.

Another know-how that improved its customer service is Ship Manager, an application installed on customers’ sites so users can determine shipping charges, weigh packages, and print shipping labels. Customers can also tie their invoices, billing, accounting and inventory systems to the application, Ship Manager.

Nevertheless, Federal Express still spend almost $326 million annually on its call centre to reduce customers’ annoyance when the website is down or when customers have difficulty using it. It uses CRM software called Clarify in its call centres to ensure customer service representatives’ job easier and to speed up response time.

Answer the following questions:

a)     What is the importance of technology to ensure high-quality customer service?

b)    Can you estimate Federal Express’ annual savings from using information technology?

c)     Can you give a few examples of information technologies used by Federal Express?

d)    What is the role of the application ‘Ship Manager’?

e)    Your overall observations and learning from the above case study.

Case 1: Use of Technology

Federal Express (FedEx) was founded about 50 years ago. It handles on an average of 3 million package-tracking requests on a daily basis. To remain ahead of its competitors, FedEx strives on customer service by keeping a comprehensive website, FedEx.com. It increases customer service and reduces costs. For example, each request for information which can be retrieved from the website rather than by the call centre help FedEx to save an estimated $1.87. The costs for FedEx have been reduced from more than $1.36 billion per year to $21.6 million per year by customers using the website instead of the call centre calculating each package-tracking request costs Federal Express 3 cents.

Another know-how that improved its customer service is Ship Manager, an application installed on customers’ sites so users can determine shipping charges, weigh packages, and print shipping labels. Customers can also tie their invoices, billing, accounting and inventory systems to the application, Ship Manager.

Nevertheless, Federal Express still spend almost $326 million annually on its call centre to reduce customers’ annoyance when the website is down or when customers have difficulty using it. It uses CRM software called Clarify in its call centres to ensure customer service representatives’ job easier and to speed up response time.

Answer the following questions:

a)     What is the importance of technology to ensure high-quality customer service?

b)    Can you estimate Federal Express’ annual savings from using information technology?

c)     Can you give a few examples of information technologies used by Federal Express?

d)    What is the role of the application ‘Ship Manager’?

e)    Your overall observations and learning from the above case study.

Case 1: Use of Technology Federal Express (FedEx) was founded about 50 years ago. It handles on an average of 3 million package-tracking requests on a daily basis. To remain ahead of its competitors, FedEx strives on customer service by keeping a comprehensive website, FedEx.com. It increases customer service and reduces costs. For example, each request for information which can be retrieved from the website rather than by the call centre help FedEx to save an estimated $1.87. The costs for FedEx have been reduced from more than $1.36 billion per year to $21.6 million per year by customers using the website instead of the call centre calculating each package-tracking request costs Federal Express 3 cents. Another know-how that improved its customer service is Ship Manager, an application installed on customers’ sites so users can determine shipping charges, weigh packages, and print shipping labels. Customers can also tie their invoices, billing, accounting and inventory systems to the application, Ship Manager. Nevertheless, Federal Express still spend almost $326 million annually on its call centre to reduce customers’ annoyance when the website is down or when customers have difficulty using it. It uses CRM software called Clarify in its call centres to ensure customer service representatives’ job easier and to speed up response time. Answer the following questions: a) What is the importance of technology to ensure high-quality customer service? b) Can you estimate Federal Express’ annual savings from using information technology? c) Can you give a few examples of information technologies used by Federal Express? d) What is the role of the application ‘Ship Manager’? e) Your overall observations and learning from the above case study.

Integrated Waveguide Technologies (IWT) is a 6-year-old company founded by Hunt Jackson and David Smithfield to exploit metamaterial plasmonic technology to develop and manufacture miniature microwave frequency directional transmitters and receivers for use in mobile Internet and communications applications. IWT's technology, although highly advanced, is relatively inexpensive to implement, and its patented manufacturing techniques require little capital as compared to many electronics' fabrication ventures. Because of the low capital requirement, Jackson and Smithfield have been able to avoid issuing new stock and thus own all of the shares. Because of the explosion in demand for its mobile Internet applications, IWT must now access outside equity capital to fund its growth, and Jackson and Smithfield have decided to take the company public. Until now, Jackson and Smithfield have paid themselves reasonable salaries but routinely reinvested all after-tax earnings in the firm, so dividend policy has not been an issue. However, before talking with potential outside investors, they must decide on a dividend policy. Your new boss at the consulting firm Flick and Associates, which has been retained to prepare for its public offering and has asked you to address the following issues:

a.    (1) What is meant by the term "distribution policy"? How has the mix of dividend payouts and stock repurchases changed over time?

b.    Discuss the effects on distribution policy consistent with: (1) the signaling hypothesis (also called the information content hypothesis) and (2) the clientele effect.

c.    (1) Assume that IWT has completed its IPO and has a $112.5 million capital budget planned for the coming year. You have determined that its present capital structure (80% equity and 20% debt) is optimal, and its net income is forecasted at $140 million. Use the residual distribution approach to determine IWT's total dollar distribution. Assume for now that the distribution is in the form of a dividend. Suppose IWT has 100 million shares of stock outstanding. What is the forecasted dividend payout ratio?What is the forecasted dividend per share? What would happen to the payout ratio and DPS if net income were forecasted to decrease to $90 million? To increase to $160 million.

c.    (3) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the residual policy? (Hint: Don't neglect signaling and clientele effects.)

e.   Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a firm repurchasing its own shares.

Integrated Waveguide Technologies (IWT) is a 6-year-old company founded by Hunt Jackson and David Smithfield to exploit metamaterial plasmonic technology to develop and manufacture miniature microwave frequency directional transmitters and receivers for use in mobile Internet and communications applications. IWT's technology, although highly advanced, is relatively inexpensive to implement, and its patented manufacturing techniques require little capital as compared to many electronics' fabrication ventures. Because of the low capital requirement, Jackson and Smithfield have been able to avoid issuing new stock and thus own all of the shares. Because of the explosion in demand for its mobile Internet applications, IWT must now access outside equity capital to fund its growth, and Jackson and Smithfield have decided to take the company public. Until now, Jackson and Smithfield have paid themselves reasonable salaries but routinely reinvested all after-tax earnings in the firm, so dividend policy has not been an issue. However, before talking with potential outside investors, they must decide on a dividend policy. Your new boss at the consulting firm Flick and Associates, which has been retained to prepare for its public offering and has asked you to address the following issues:

Assume that IWT has completed its IPO and has a $112.5 million capital budget planned for the coming year. You have determined that its present capital structure (80% equity and 20% debt) is optimal, and its net income is forecasted at $140 million. Use the residual distribution approach to determine IWT's total dollar distribution. Assume for now that the distribution is in the form of a dividend. Suppose IWT has 100 million shares of stock outstanding. What is the forecasted dividend payout ratio?What is the forecasted dividend per share? What would happen to the payout ratio and DPS if net income were forecasted to decrease to $90 million? To increase to $160 million.

1.The Thule Society was German occultist and völkisch group founded in Munich right after WW I, and was later taken over by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. TRUE OR FALSE

2.The Beer Hall Putsch (also called the Munich Putsch) of November, 1923 was the very, very successful coup by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and others, to seize power in Munich, Bavaria with the eventual goal of overthrowing the Weimar Republic in Berlin.TRUE OR FALSE

3.Shark Island, located just off the western coast of Namibia in Southwestern Africa, was used during the early 20th Century by the German Empire as a concentration camp. TRUE OR FALSE

4.The National Socialist Germany Workers’ Party (sometimes abbreviated NSDAP in German) is commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party. TREU OR FALSE

5.Although the use of airplanes during WWI was minimal, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles Germany was forbidden from reestablishing and maintaining an air force. TRUE OR FALSE