Oxidation-Reduction Titration

***Sulfuric acid used was 6 M

***All Lab notes are at the bottom, procedure included for clarity... PLEASE HELP WITH THE SHORT ANSWER:)

PROCEDURES:

Experiment 1: Prepare the Materials

Take four 100.00 mL volumetric flasks from the Containers shelf and place them on the workbench.

In one flask, prepare a standard solution of potassium dichromate (K₂Cr₂O₇):

Take potassium dichromate from the Materials shelf and add 4.00 g to the volumetric flask.

Take water from the Materials shelf and add 30.00 mL into the volumetric flask to dissolve the dichromate compound.

Complete the solution by filling the volumetric flask to the 100.00 mL mark with water from the Materials shelf by checking the "Fill To Mark" box.

Double-click on the volumetric flask to open a properties window. Then, rename the volumetric flask as "Standard Potassium Dichromate Solution".

In two of the empty flasks, prepare a standard solution of iron (II) ammonium sulfate hexahydrate (Fe(NH₄)₂(SO₄)₂ × 6H₂O):

Take iron(II) ammonium sulfate hexahydrate from the Materials shelf and add 4.00 g to each empty volumetric flask.

Take water from the Materials shelf and add 30.00 mL to each volumetric flask to dissolve the compound and release the water of hydration.

Complete both solutions by filling the volumetric flask to the 100.00 mL mark with water from the Materials shelf by checking the "Fill To Mark" box.

Rename the volumetric flasks as "Standard Iron(II) Solution". Both flasks will have the same name.

Take the Grey Moose vodka from the Materials shelf and add 2.00 mL to the last empty flask. Fill with water from the Materials shelf by checking the "Fill To Mark" box. The vodka has now been diluted to 1/50th, or 2%, of its original ethanol concentration.

Rename the volumetric flask containing the vodka as "2% Vodka Solution".

Experiment 2: Titrate the Vodka Sample

Part 1: Oxidize the Ethanol in Vodka

Take a 150.00 mL Erlenmeyer flask from the Containers shelf and place it on the workbench.

Add 5.00 mL of 2% vodka solution from the volumetric flask to the Erlenmeyer flask.

Take water from the Materials shelf and add 35.00 mL to the Erlenmeyer flask. Note that this further dilutes the vodka sample by a factor of eight. The ethanol concentration is now 1/8th of 2%, or 0.25% of the original ethanol concentration of the bottled vodka.

Acidify the vodka solution in the Erlenmeyer flask. Take the sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) solution from the Materials shelf and add 5.00 mL to the Erlenmeyer flask.

Add 5.00 mL of the standard potassium dichromate solution from the volumetric flask to the Erlenmeyer flask. This is enough to reduce all of the ethanol in the vodka and leave an excess of dichromate ions. Note that the solution has turned bright green. This is the color of the reduced Cr³⁺ ions. Record these observations in your Lab Notes. Remember to press Save Notes each time you add more notes.

Part 2: Coarse Titration

Take a burette from the Containers shelf and place it on the workbench. Fill the burette with 50 mL of the standard iron(II) solution. Record the initial burette reading for the amount of volume dispensed in your Lab Notes. Before dispensing any liquid, the amount dispensed should read 0 mL.

Take the redox indicator, sodium diphenylamine sulfonate, from the Materials shelf and add 0.50 g to the Erlenmeyer flask. In the presence of the excess dichromate ions, the solution turns a deep purple.

Place the Erlenmeyer flask on the lower half of the burette to connect to flask and burette.

Perform a coarse titration by adding large increments of the standard iron(II) solution from the burette. To do this, press and hold the black knob at the bottom of the burette until the solution turns suddenly from intense, dark purple to green. Each time you add the standard iron(II) solution, check the volume dispensed from the burette by hovering over the burette and reading the gray tool tip. You will need to know this value.

As the iron(II) is added, the dichromate ions (Cr₂O₇^2–) are reduced to Cr³⁺ ions. At the end point of the titration, there are no dichromate ions left. The redox indicator becomes colorless, and the dark purple color suddenly disappears, leaving the solution bright green again. Recall that bright green is the color of the Cr³⁺ ions.

Record both the last burette volume that the solution was dark purple and the burette volume at which the solution first appeared green again in your Lab Notes. This gives the range in which the titration will end. Remember to press Save Notes.

Discard just the Erlenmeyer flask in the recycling bin underneath the workbench.

Part 3: Fine Titration

Set up the titration as before:

Add 5.00 mL of diluted vodka, 35.00 mL water, 5.00 mL of sulfuric acid, 5.00 mL of the standard potassium dichromate solution, and 0.50 g sodium diphenylamine sulfonate to an Erlenmeyer flask.

Connect the Erlenmeyer flask to the lower half of the burette.

Note the current volume of standard iron(II) solution in the burette. Add to it from the volumetric flask on the workbench so that the volume is 50.00 mL again. Record the initial burette reading for the amount dispensed in your Lab Notes.

Click and hold the black knob of the burette to quickly add enough standard iron(II) solution to just get into the range of the coarse titration (the first number you recorded), but still have the solution in the flask appear dark purple. This is near, but not yet at, the titration's end point.

Add standard iron(II) solution in small increments, down to one drop at a time, until the addition of just one more drop causes the solution in the flask to turn green. Record the final burette reading for the amount of volume dispensed in your Lab Notes.

Place the Erlenmeyer flask in the recycling bin beneath the workbench.

Repeat the fine titration once more, and record the results in your Lab Notes. If the results from the two fine titrations do not closely agree, perform a third fine titration to determine which of the first two was done incorrectly.   

SHORT ANSWER

Oxidation-Reduction Titration

Experiment 1: Prepare the Materials

Data Analysis

Calculate the concentration of the dichromate ion in the first volumetric flask.

Calculate the concentration of the iron (II) ion in the second volumetric flask.

Experiment 2: Titrate the Vodka Sample

Lab Results

Record the following lab data in the table below. If you had to repeat one of the titrations, disregard the value that was different.

Data Analysis

Record and calculate the quantities in the table below using the data from your dichromate titrations. Use an average value for the volume of iron (II) solution used in the titration. If one of your values is very different, and you had to perform the titration three times, disregard the value that was very different when computing the average.

  The amount of alcohol in a drink is typically reported as percent alcohol by volume. Volume percent or volume/volume percent (% v/v) most often is used when preparing solutions of liquids. Volume percent is defined as:
% v/v = V_solute/V_solution  × 100
Find the percent alcohol (ethanol) by volume for the vodka used in the lab by following the steps outlined in the table below.

Conclusions

The Grey Moose vodka tested in this lab reports a percent alcohol by volume of 40.0% on its label. How does your value compare to the reported one? If the values are different, give one possible experimental error that might have contributed to the difference.  

Potassium permanganate is another strong oxidizing substance similar to potassium dichromate. An acidic solution of purple permanganate ions can get reduced to colorless Mn²ions in the presence of ethanol. Write down the redox reaction between permanganate and ethanol, and balance it using the half-reaction method.

Besides vodka, there are other colorless alcohol-containing beverages that can be titrated following the procedure in your lab. Given the average values for the percent alcohol by volume listed in the table below, which beverage do you expect to use the least amount of iron (II) standard solution during the titration? Assume all lab procedures stay the same.

LAB NOTES:

Solution turned bright green upon adding the standard potassium dichromate.

Initial burette reading: 50 mL

(Solution turned deep purple after adding sodium diphenylamine sulfonate)

Coarse Titration:

First dispense

Volume: 46.93 mL

Volume dispensed: 3.07 mL

Second dispense

Volume: 44.07 mL

Volume dispensed: 5.93 mL

Third dispense

Volume: 40.91 mL

Volume dispensed: 9.09 mL

Fourth dispense

Volume: 37.74 mL

Volume dispensed: 12.26 mL

Fifth dispense- END POINT REACHED

Volume: 34.76 mL

Volume dispensed: 15.24 mL

Fine Titration 1

End point volume: 35.85 mL

Volume dispensed: 14.15 mL

Fine Titration 2:

End point volume: 35.86 mL

Volume dispensed: 14.14 mL

The threat of litigation is making companies skittish about axing problem workers.

Would you have dared fire Hemant K. Mody? In February, the longtime engineer had returned to work at a GE facility in Plainville, Connecticut, after a two-month medical leave. He was a very unhappy man. For much of the prior year, he and his superiors had been sparring over his performance and promotion prospects. According to court documents, Mody’s bosses claimed he spoke disparagingly of his co-workers, refused an assignment as being beneath him, and was abruptly taking days off and coming to work late. But Mody was also 49, Indian born, and even after returning from leave, he continued to suffer a major disability: chronic kidney failure that required him to receive daily dialysis.

The run-ins resumed with his managers, whom he had accused flat out of discriminating against him because of his race and age. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in human resources to recognize that the situation was a ticking time bomb. But Mody’s bosses were fed up. They fired him in April. The bomb exploded in July 2006. Following a six-day trial, a federal court jury in Bridgeport, Connecticut, found GE’s termination of Modyto be improper and awarded him $11.1 million, including $10 million in punitive damages. But the award wasn’t for discrimination. The

judge found those claims so weak that Mody wasn’t allowed to present them. Instead, jurors concluded that Mody had been fired in retaliation for complaining about bias. GE sued to have the award overturned but was only able to get the award reduced by $5 million in 2007. Unfortunately, Mody never saw any of the 2006 jury award; he died in April 2007 of a heart attack.

If this can happen to GE, a company famed for its rigorous performance reviews, with an HR operation that is studied worldwide, it can happen anywhere. The result: Many companies today are gripped by a fear of firing.
Terrified of lawsuits, they let unproductive employees linger, lay off coveted workers while retaining less valuable ones, and pay severance to nonperformers and even crooks in exchange for promises that they won’t sue. The fear of firing is particularly acute in the HR and legal departments. They don’t directly suffer when an underperformer lingers in the corporate hierarchy, but they may endure unpleasant indirect consequences if that person files a lawsuit.

When Mody signed GE’s job application in 1998, the form said his employment was “at will” and “the Company may terminate my employment at any time for any reason.” Well, not exactly. The notion that American workers are employed “at will”—meaning, as one lawyer put it, you can be fired if your manager doesn’t like the color of your socks—took root in the laissez-faire atmosphere of the late 19th century and, as an official matter, is still the law of the land in every state, save Montana. For most American workers now, their status as at-will employees has been transformed by a succession of laws growing out of the civil rights movement in the 1960s that bar employers from making decisions based on such things as race, religion, sex, age, and national origin. This is hardly controversial. Even the legal system’s harshest critics find little fault with rules aimed at ensuring that personnel decisions are based on merit. Most freely acknowledge that it is much easier to fire people in the United States than it is in, say, most of Western Europe. Mass layoffs, in fact, are a recurring event on the American corporate scene. Yet even in these situations, RIFs, or “reductions in force,” are carefully vetted by attorneys to assess the impact on employees who are in a legally protected category. These days the majority of American workers fall into one or more such groups. Mody, for example, belonged to three because of who he was (age, race, and national origin) and two more because of things he had done (complained of discrimination and taken medical leave). That doesn’t mean such people are immune from firing. But it does mean a company will have to show a legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reason for the termination, should the matter ever land in court.

1. Why are many companies afraid of terminating unproductive employees?

2. Why do supervisors bear much of the blame when HR says someone can’t be shown the door?

3. Can managers really fire employees “at will”?

4. GE was successful in getting the amount of the award reduced, but was the size of the award really its first concern?

5. Relate your personal experience, and apply what you learned. Indicate how you would have handled the situation if you were the primary subject in the case study, the subordinate in the case study, a supervisor or an outsider witnessing the situation.

5.   Describe the idea of organizations as political agents and political arenas.

Book - Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents Ch11

Here is Ch11 -

please help me to find the answer

Sam Walton started his merchant career in 1945 as proprietor of the second-best variety store in a small rural Arkansas town. From that humble beginning, he built the world’s largest retail chain. With more than 2 million “associates,” Walmart became the world’s largest employer and, for both better and worse, one of the most powerful companies on the globe. More than 90 percent of American households shop at Walmart stores every year, expecting the company to keep its promise of “always low prices” (Fishman, 2006). Walmart’s subtle and pervasive impact is illustrated in a little-known story about deodorant packaging. Deodorant containers used to come packed in cardboard boxes until Walmart decided in the early 1990s that the boxes were wasteful and costly—about a nickel apiece for something consumers would just toss. When Walmart told suppliers to kill the cardboard, the boxes disappeared across the industry. Good for Walmart had to be good enough for everyone. The story is but one of countless examples of the “Walmart effect”—an 217 Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, Sixth Edition. Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal. 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2017 by Jossey-Bass. WEBC11 umbrella term for multiple ways Walmart influences consumers, vendors, employees, communities, and the environment (Fishman, 2006).

Yet, for all its power and success, Walmart has struggled in recent years to cope with an assortment of critics and image problems. The company has been accused of abusing workers, discriminating against women, busting unions, destroying small businesses, damaging the environment, and bribing government officials in Mexico and elsewhere. Circled by enemies, it has mounted major public relations campaigns in defense of its image.

Like all organizations, Walmart is both an arena for internal conflict and a political agent or player operating on a field crammed with other organizations pursuing their own interests. As arenas, organizations house an ongoing interplay of players and agendas. As agents, organizations are powerful tools for achieving the purposes of whoever calls the shots. Walmart’s enormous size and power have made its political maneuvers widely visible; almost everyone has feelings about Walmart, one way or another. The company’s historic penchant for secrecy and its secluded location in Bentonville, Arkansas, have sometimes shielded its internal politics from the spotlight, but tales of political skullduggery still emerge, including a titillating story about a superstar marketing executive who was fired amid rumors of an office romance and conflict with her conservative bosses. The same year also spawned the strange tale of a Walmart techie who claimed he’d been secretly recording the deliberations of the board of directors. Walmart has historically resisted any efforts to unionize its workers, but in the fall of 2012, the company had its first experience with strikes by workers in multiple cities. Ambivalent shoppers told reporters that they sympathized with the workers but still shopped at Walmart because they could not afford to pass up the low prices.

This chapter explores organizations as both arenas and political agents. Viewing organizations as political arenas is a way to reframe many organizational processes. Organization design, for example, can be viewed not as a rational expression of an organization’s goals but as a political embodiment of contending claims. In our discussion of organizations as arenas, we examine the political dimensions of organizational change, contrasting directives from the top with pressures from below. As political agents, organizations operate in complex ecosystems—interdependent networks of organizations engaged in related activities and occupying particular niches. We illustrate several forms that ecosystems can take—business, public policy, business-government, and society. Finally, we look at the dark side of the power wielded by big organizations. We explore the concern that corporate giants represent a growing risk to the world because they are too powerful for anyone to control

ORGANIZATIONS AS ARENAS -

From a political view, “happily ever after” exists only in fairy tales. Today’s winners may quickly become tomorrow’s losers or vice versa. Change and stability are paradoxical: Organizations constantly change and yet never change. As in competitive sports, players come and go, but the game goes on. In the annals of organizational politics, few have illustrated these precepts as well as Ross Johnson, who once made the cover of Time magazine as an emblem of corporate greed and insensitivity. In Barbarians at the Gate, Bryan Burrough and John Helyar (1990) explain how.

Please read the case below and answer the following question:    In court, Vinson’s allegations were countered by Taylor’s version of the facts. Will there always be a “your word against mine” problem in sexual harassment cases? What could Vinson have done to strengthen her case?

Consenting to Sexual Harassment

THE CASE OF VINSON V. TAYLOR, HEARd BEFOREthe federal district court for the District of Columbia, Mechelle Vinson alleged that Sidney Taylor, her supervisor at Capital City Federal Savings and Loan, had sexually harassed her.73But the facts of the case were contested.In court Vinson testified that about a year after she began working at the bank, Taylor asked her to have sexual relations with him. She claimed that Taylor said she “owed” him because he had obtained the job for her. Although she turned down Taylor at first, she eventually became involved with him. She and Taylor engaged in sexual relations, she said, both during and after business hours, in the remaining three years she worked at the bank. The encounters included intercourse in a bank vault and in a storage area. Taylor was Vinson’s supervisor, the court reasoned that notice to him was not notice to the bank.Vinson appealed the case, and the Court of Appeals held that the district court had erred in three ways. First, the district court had overlooked the fact that there are two possible kinds of sexual harassment. Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Spottswood Robinson distinguished cases in which the victim’s continued employment or promotion is conditioned on giving in to sexual demands and those cases in which the victim must tolerate a “substantially discriminatory work environment.” The lower court had failed to consider whether Vinson’s case involved harassment of the second kind.Second, the higher court also overruled the district court’s finding that because Vinson voluntarily engaged in a sexual relationship with Taylor, she was not a victim of sexual in the bank basement. Vinson also testified that Taylor often actually “assaulted or raped” her. She contended that she was forced to submit to Taylor or jeopardize her employment.Taylor, for his part, denied the allegations. He testified that he had never had sex with Vinson. On the contrary, he alleged that Vinson had made advances toward him and that he had declined them. He contended that Vinson had brought the charges against him to “get even” because of a work-related dispute.In its ruling on the case, the court held that if Vinson and Taylor had engaged in a sexual relationship, that relationship was voluntary on the part of Vinson and was not employment related. The court also held that Capital City Federal Savings and Loan did not have “notice” of the alleged harassment and was therefore not liable. Assuming the truth of Vinson’s version of the case, do you think her employer, Capital City Federal Savings and Loan, should be held liable for sexual harassment it was not aware of? Should the employer have been aware of it? Does the fact that Taylor was a supervi-sor make a difference? In general, when should an employer be liable for harassment?4.What steps do you think Vinson should have taken when Taylor first pressed her for sex? Should she be blamed for having given in to him? Assuming that there was sexual harassment despite her acquies-cence, does her going along with Taylor make her partly responsible or mitigate Taylor’s wrongdoing?5.In court, Vinson’s allegations were countered by Taylor’s version of the facts. Will there always be a “your word against mine” problem in sexual harassment cases? What could Vinson have done to strengthen her case?harassment. Voluntariness on Vinson’s part had “no bearing,” the judge wrote, on “whether Taylor made Vinson’s toleration of sexual harassment a condition of her employment.” Third, the Court of Appeals held that any discriminatory activity by a supervisor is attributable to the employer, regardless of whether the employer had specific notice.In his dissent to the decision by the Court of Appeals, Judge Robert Bork rejected the majority’s claim that “vol-untariness” did not automatically rule out harassment. He argued that this position would have the result of depriving the accused person of any defense, because he could no longer establish that the supposed victim was really “a willing participant.” Judge Bork contended further that an employer should not be held vicariously liable for a super-visor’s acts that it didn’t know about.Eventually the case arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the majority verdict of the Court of Appeals, stating that:[T]he fact that sex-related conduct was “voluntary,” in the sense that the complainant was not forced to participate against her will, is not a defense to a sexual harassment suit brought under Title VII. The gravamen of any sexual harassment claim is that the alleged sexual advances were “unwelcome.”. . . The correct inquiry is whether respondent by her con-duct indicated that the alleged sexual advances were unwelcome, not whether her actual participation in sexual intercourse was voluntary.The Court, however, rejected the Court of Appeals’s posi-tion that employers are strictly liable for the acts of their supervisors, regardless of the particular circumstances.

QUESTION 1

CAN THE GHANAIAN FINANCIAL SERVICE SECTOR WITHSTAND THE IMPACT OF COVID- 19?

COVID-19 and its impact

The impact of COVID-19 individuals, communities, and organizations is rapidly evolving from a mild and temporary hit to the worst-case scenario, a global financial crisis. While other industries such as the Travel, Transportation, Hospitality, Insurance, Retail, and Telco are severely impacted, it is the resiliency and continuity of the financial services markets that will support Governments and businesses during and post crisis; ensuring liquidity is available. All eyes will be turned to the financial services industry to see if they can respond in a manner that reduces the global economic impact of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic could be the most serious challenge to financial institutions in nearly a century. As the economic fallout spreads, retail banks find themselves juggling some big priorities that require concrete steps to reposition now while also recalibrating for the future. They are working to keep their distribution channels open, despite social distancing advice and supervisory and compliance functions that were never designed for remote work. They’re trying to manage revenue and customer expectations, despite near-zero interest rates and growing pressure on consumers. And, they need to keep an eye on strategy and brand issues that will define their future, as market forces and customer behaviors potentially change coming out of this crisis.

COVID-19 and the Marketing Environment

While definitions differ, there is consensus that the Marketing Environment is the combination of external and internal factors and forces which affect the company’s ability to establish a relationship and serve its customers. The Marketing Environment includes factors that surround the business and influence its marketing operations. Kotler (2019) posits that these forces remain outside the control of the firm and can upset marketing management ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. Some of these factors are controllable while some are uncontrollable and require business operations to change accordingly. Firms must be well aware of the marketing environment in which they are operating to overcome the negative impacts the environmental factors are imposing on their marketing activities.

Against this background, PwC (2020) conjectures that the COVID-19 pandemic could be the most serious challenge to financial institutions in nearly a century. As the economic fallout spreads, retail banks find themselves juggling some big priorities that require concrete steps to reposition now while also recalibrating for the future. It implies that agile banks will survive by taking concrete steps right now; to support the communities and customers they serve while balancing medium to long term positioning; those that do not adjust may risk not surviving at all. Ghanaian financial institutions are not insulated from this reality.

REQUIRED

Drawing on this background and your knowledge of Marketing of Financial Services:

1. Provide a critical analysis of FIVE (5) Macro Marketing Environmental forces affecting the financial service sector today. The macro-environment refers to all forces that are part of the larger society and affect the micro-environment. They include the demographic environment, political environment, cultural environment, natural environment, technological environment and the economic environment. The purpose of analyzing the macro marketing environment is to understand the environment better and to adapt to the social environment and change through the marketing effort of the financial institutions to achieve the goal of the financial institutions marketing

2. With a critical analysis of the micro environmental forces which are forces close to the company that affects its ability to serve its customers; all those factors that are closely associated with the operations of the business and influences its functioning including suppliers, customers, marketing intermediaries, competitors and publics; discuss the effects of COVID-19 on Five (5) micro environmental forces within the financial service sector in Ghana today .

QUESTION 2

Financial services certainly have their hands full in the light of the novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). Banks must also manage direct impact of COVID-19, put plans in place to protect its employees and customers from its spread. As the two months old newly appointed head of marketing for KANS Ghana Bank ( a local bank) critically discuss Five (5) out of the seven extended marketing mix strategies the bank can undertake in order to achieve medium to long term positioning and gain competitive advantage amidst COVID-19 pandemic. .

Read article “Coronavirus vaccine trials: Chinese volunteers recount their experiences” Then explain, in detail, how you would design the experiment to test the vaccine and then how you would analyze the data after the experiment. If you simply repeat the information from the article, you’ll get no 3 credit (I’ve read the article). So you must offer useful information beyond (not mentioned in) the article. Use table or graph if necessary. There is no unique correct answer so your grade depends the quality of your answer. Limit your answer to one page.

108 people aged 18-60 from Wuhan have been injected with a potential vaccine developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical firm and the military. One says that by taking part she can ‘rise above the simple interests of a normal person for once’

There may have been diarrhoea, high temperatures and a fair bit of apprehension, but 108 people from Wuhan can proudly say that this week they became the first in the country to be injected with a possible vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

The trials got under way in the central China city on Thursday, just three days after CanSino Biologics – the pharmaceutical company that developed the product in cooperation with the Chinese military – was given the green light by Beijing.

According to information published on China’s clinical trial registry, the volunteers – aged from 18 to 60 and in good health – were divided into three groups of 36 and then given either a low, medium or high dose of the vaccine at a facility owned by the city’s armed police force.

In a report by Science Daily, Wang Junzhi, a fellow at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that after receiving their injections, the participants would spend 14 days in quarantine under close medical observation.

In a rare move, some of the volunteers took to social media to recount their experiences to the public.

“I was a bit fearlessly naive when I signed up,” said a young woman with the nickname Xiao Mi, who was in the low dosage group.

“It only took a day from me being notified to getting the injection,” she said on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.

Xiao said she read up about the possible side-effects, like allergic reactions, online and was scared after receiving her shot. But that was “probably the worst thing”, she said.

“Two people from our batch saw their body temperatures rise to 38 degrees … and some had diarrhoea,” she said, adding that all of the side-effects passed quite quickly.

What was more important, Xiao said, was that although she was apprehensive, by taking part in the trials she felt she was doing her bit for society.

“I feel I can bear the consequences,” she said. “I want to rise above the simple interests of a normal person for once. We should be thanking all those who have stood in front of normal people.”

Xiao also confirmed earlier reports that the first person to receive a shot of the possible vaccine was Chen Wei, a major general and military scientist
who is also heading up the trial.

Another of the volunteers was Li Ming, whose wife, Wang Feng, recently recovered from a relatively mild case of Covid-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“From the onset of symptoms until now, I have experienced a lot of difficulties in getting a diagnosis and treatment,” Wang was quoted as saying in the Science Daily report.

“My husband has accompanied me through this, and he fully understands how difficult it is for a patient.”

Wang Junzhi said that the development programmes appeared to be going well and that most of the research teams should be able to complete their preclinical studies by next month and proceed to clinical trials soon after.

However, Roy Hall, a virology professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, said that even if vaccine trials were fast-tracked, it would still be some time before a vaccine was ready to go into mass production.

“It may be available within six to nine months of starting clinical trials, he said. “So that would mean a vaccine becomes available within a year of discovering the pathogen. That would be a remarkable achievement.”

The Allure of Franchising

Neil Erlich knew that he wanted to be an entrepreneur when he helped start a contracting business when he was just 14 years old. During his junior year at Sonoma State University, Erlich, with help from his father, a corporate executive, began investigating franchise options that would suit his interests and skills. They honed in on the automotive service industry and reviewed the regulations of several franchises, including Total, Jiffy Lube, and Midas, before settling on Express Oil Change. Erlich was particularly impressed with the support that Express Oil Change offered its franchisees. When Erlich graduated with a business degree, his father put up $375,000 to help him purchase and set up the $1.5 million franchise operation. Erlich, who is the youngest franchisee in the Express Oil Change system, sees the franchisor’s support as one of the greatest benefits of choosing to open a franchise rather than an independent business of his own.” The franchisor is there for you," he says. "It’s very comforting. "

Like Erlich, a growing number of college graduates and twenty-something adults who are disenchanted with the prospects of a dull job in the corporate grind are looking to franchising as a promising career choice. Indeed, franchising is attracting people of all ages and backgrounds, from corporate dropouts and military veterans to retired Baby Boomers and corporate castoffs.

” People say, ’I put 20 years into a company, and because they ran into some tough times, they let me go,’” explains Ray Titus, head of the United Franchise Group.” They think, ’Do I want to put myself into a position where I may get laid off again?’ Instead, they take control of their future by running their own businesses." For many of them, franchising is the perfect fit.

Retirees who are looking for second careers also are turning to franchising as well. "They’ve got school-of-hard-knocks experience and business skills that they can apply on day one at a franchise," says Michael Shay of the International Franchise Association. Judy Divita, a retired corporate human resources manager, and her husband Charlie, a retired college professor and consultant, decided to embark on second careers as franchisees rather than stop working. After researching franchise opportunities, they opened a Subway franchise in Columbia, South Carolina, not far from where Charlie had taught at the University of South Carolina. Over the next nine years, the Divitas opened five more sandwich shops in Columbia, including one on the university campus. In addition to their built-in market of college students, they target the players on the athletic teams that come to campus to participate in more than 400 sporting events ranging from baseball and football to basketball and volleyball each year. The Divitas have won the MVP Award Winner for Innovation from Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine. Their nine outlets generate $4.5 million in annual sales, and the couple’s goal is to have 13 Subway locations within 10 years.” The franchise gives you the basic things to put you in business pretty quickly," says Charlie.” You have to take it beyond that and be creative to come up with novel ways of doing things that are particular to your company and your community.”

Franchising can be the ideal path to owning a business for people in almost any phase of professional life, whether they are retirees looking for a new direction and extra income or recent college graduates who are ready to embark on exciting careers. "Boosted by a brand name, training, advertising, and an established business plan, a franchise can ease the struggle and the risk of opening a business and still let you call some shots,” says one business writer.

1. These examples show people at different stages of their professional lives choosing to become business owners with the help of a franchise. What conclusions can you draw from their stories about the benefits and appeal of franchising? (300 words – 40- marks)

2. What are the disadvantages of investing in a franchise? (200 words – 30 marks)

3. Suppose that one of your friends who is about to graduate is considering purchasing a franchise. What advice would you offer him or her before signing the franchise contract? (200 words – 30 marks)

1) _______________ is the process of business expansion due to increasing overall customer base, increased output per customer or representative, new sales, or any combination.

A.) Rapid growth

B.) Incremental growth

C.) Organic growth

D.)Episodic growth

2) Growth including foreign exchange, but excluding divestitures and acquisitions is called ____________.

A.) Plateau growth

B) Core growth

C.) Inorganic growth

D.) Rapid growth

3) All of the following are actions to create organic growth except_________.

A.) Changing the price

B.) Producing improved or better products

C.) Increasing capital expenditure

D.) Selling in the same location

4) Which of the following statements limits organic growth? Organic growth gives corporations:

A.) Dilution of control and ownership

B.) Better control and coordination

C.) Relatively inexpensive

D.) The ability to maintain corporate culture

5) Entering a market by acquisition enables an organization to

A.) obtain the most talented individuals in a market

B.) ensure the continuity of an established, profitable product

C.) enter a market most rapidly

D.) increase company profits most rapidly

6) Which of the following is an example of horizontal expansion?

A.) A hospital acquiring an HMO

B.) An insurance company acquiring a physician group practice

C.) A pharmaceutical company acquiring a medical supply company

D.) An academic medical center acquiring a specialized hospital

7) Which of the following is an example of vertical expansion?

A.) An insurance company acquiring a hospital

B.) A global cloud communications software and solutions provider, acquired Healthcare Communications, a patient services provider

C.) A pharmaceutical company acquiring a medical supply company

D.) CVS Health acquiring AETNA (an insurance company).

E.) All of the above

F.) A and D only

8) The __________________ states that private parties can find efficient solutions to externalities without government intervention.

A.) Coase Theorem

B.) Zahorski Theorem

C.) Zariski's Main Theorem

D.) None of the above

9) Transfer pricing is used to

A.) charge for goods and services within a company

B.) charge frequent customers for non-price services

C.) align goals across vertically integrated companies

D.) provide feedback on company profitability

10) Many organizations attempt to establish prices that, on average, are higher than those set by their more important competitors.

A.) True

B.) False

11) While some firms are positioned to price above competition, others wish to carve out a market niche by pricing below competitors.

A.) True

B.) False

12) Price wars usually occur when a business believes that price-cutting produces increased market share, but does not have a true cost advantage.

A.) True

B.) False

13) _______________competition involves firms distinguishing their products from competing products based on attributes other than price.

A.) Direct

B.) Indirect

C.) Phantom

D.) Non-price

14) Which of the following limitations of organic growth will cause communication to be handled with more care?

A.)Diseconomies of scale

B.) Overtrading

C.) Need to restructure

D.) Dilution of control or ownership

15) Organic growth includes which of the following

A.) Changing the price

B.) Offering customers preferential credit payment terms

C.) Improving training and development

D.) All of the above

16) _____________ refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance, and management dealing with the buying and selling of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly.

A.) Vertical Integration

B.) Horizontal integration

C.) Mergers and acquisitions

D.) Diversification

17) Economies of scope make product diversification efficient if they are based on a similar common use.

A.) True

B.) False

18) Integrating successive stages in the production and marketing process under the ownership or control of a single management organization.

A.) Vertical integration

B.) Horizontal integration

C.) Diversification

D.) Mergers and acquisitions

19) The merger or acquisition of new business operations.

A.) Vertical Integration

B.) Diversification

C.) Horizontal integration

D.) Mergers and acquisitions

20) A corporate strategy in which a company acquires or establishes a business other than that of its current product.

A.) Vertical Integration

B.) Diversification

C.) Horizontal integration

D.) Mergers and acquisitions

21) A/an _______________ is a new business that is jointly owned by two or more otherwise independent businesses.

A.) Diversified business

B.) Alliance

C.) Joint venture

D.) Merger

22) A/an _____________is formed between two or more corporations, each based in their home country, for a specified period of time.

A.) Diversified business

B.) Alliance

C.) Joint venture

D.) Merger

23) A ___________is a combination of organizations in which each abandons its previous brand and business models, creating a new organization with the combined capacities of each one.

A.) Acquisition

B.) Alliance

C.) Joint venture

D.) Merger

24) In a/an _____________one organization buys out another, with the acquired company usually placing its processes under the brand name of the acquirer.

A.) Acquisition

B.) Alliance

C.) Joint venture

D.)Merger

25) __________occurs when a company penetrates a market in which current products already exist.

A.) Market penetration

B.) New product development

C.) Market development

D.) Strategy

26) In reference to consolidation, cultural conflicts between two different organizations are common, because the mission, vision, and values of the individuals and groups within them are likely to differ.

A.) True

B.) False

27) ___________________ involves determining whether all parties have realistic objectives; forming high-caliber negotiating teams; defining each partner’s contributions and rewards as well as protecting any proprietary information; addressing termination clauses and penalties for poor performance; and highlighting the degree to which arbitration procedures are clearly stated and understood.

A.) Alliance termination

B.) Contract negotiation

C.) Partner assessment

D.) Strategy development

28) ____________is an organization ‘s strategic guide to pursuing various geographic markets.

A.) Mission

B.) Vision

C.) Emergent strategy

D.) Global strategy

29) Which of the following is a potential benefit of a strategic alliance?

A.) Locking in supply chain

B.) Building credibility with customers

C.)Pooling expensive resources and share development

D.) All of the above

30) M&A is different from joint ventures and other forms of strategic alliance, as mergers or acquisitions aim to create a single organization.

A.) True

B.) False

1.Read the following Article and provide a beautiful summary and analysis and also Discuss the 4 considerations in a negligence case and consider all the possible defendants who could be held liable in the following article?(answer must be double spaced and not more than 3 pages.)

The mother of a baby who died at a Vancouver daycare describes the details of what she experienced that day in a lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court. The statement of claim filed on Monday alleges baby Macallan (Mac) Saini choked on an electrical cord and died because he was left alone. His mother, Shelley Sheppard, is alleging negligence by the daycare operator, the property owners where the daycare was being operated, the local health authority and the provincial government. Statements of defence have not been filed and none of the allegations made in the lawsuit have been proven in court. Yasmine Saad, identified in the lawsuit as the operator of the daycare, could not be reached for comment. The Ministry of Children and Family Development said it cannot comment because the matter is before the courts, but legal counsel will review the lawsuit and "respond accordingly to the court." "The death of a child is a tragedy no parent should ever face, and our heartfelt condolences go out to the parents," it said in an e-mailed statement. The statement of claim accuses the landlords of allowing Ms. Saad to operate a daycare without a licence, failing to supervise operations and failing to ensure the premises were safe and suitable for an infant. One of the property owners said she was unaware her tenant was operating a daycare on the premises when she rented it to her and declined further comment. The second could not be reached. The statement of claim says Mac was 16 months old when he started attending the Olive Branch Daycare. It says when Ms. Sheppard arrived to pick up Mac on Jan. 18, 2017 - eight days after he started attending Olive Branch - a fire truck was in front of the daycare. She followed a firefighter up the stairs, it says, and she saw her son lying on the floor with a "'grey' pallor." She understood him to be dead. "Sheppard observed the defendant Saad yelling and screaming and attempting to resuscitate Mac Saini in a perfunctory way. Her experience in ... being present and witnessing the death of Mac Saini and seeing his lifeless body was shocking and horrifying to the plaintiff," the statement says. It alleges the daycare was "overcrowded" with children, including one who was hidden behind a couch and other children strapped to chairs. The lawsuit accuses Vancouver Coastal Health and the Ministry of Children and Family Development of failing to warn parents or stop the daycare from operating after "multiple complaints" of operating without a licence and overcrowding. Complaints were investigated in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 and the lawsuit asserts the health authority identified Ms. Saad as a "moderate risk to health and safety." It says she was never fined and no steps were taken to prevent the daycare from continuing operations. Under B.C. law, child care providers are allowed to care for up to two children or a sibling group who are not related to them without a licence. Vancouver Coastal Health said in a statement that it inspects more than 1,100 daycares routinely ever year and inspection reports are posted on its website. "Without commenting on this particular case, the vast majority of daycares are meeting their regulatory requirements for providing appropriate and safe care to children," it said. Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS