Is there a difference between the means of the total of rooms per hotel in Crete and Southern Aegean Islands? Answer your question by calculating an appropriate, symmetric, 95% confidence interval using a Z statistic and equal standard deviations in the two populations. Explain your findings

REGION ID

1= Crete
2=Southern Aegean Islands
3=Ionian Islands

The manager of a resort hotel stated that the mean guest bill for a weekend is $600 or less. A member of the hotel's accounting staff noticed that the total charges for guest bills have been increasing in recent months. The accountant will use a sample of future weekend guest bills to test the manager's claim.

(a)

Which form of the hypotheses should be used to test the manager's claim? Explain.

H₀: μ ≥ 600

H_a: μ < 600

H₀: μ ≤ 600

H_a: μ > 600

H₀: μ = 600

H_a: μ ≠ 600

A) The hypotheses H₀: μ ≥ 600 and H_a: μ < 600 should be used because the accountant wants to test the manager's claim that the mean guest bill μ is greater than or equal to 600 and find evidence to support μ < 600.

B)The hypotheses H₀: μ ≤ 600 and H_a: μ > 600 should be used because the accountant wants to test the manager's claim that the mean guest bill μ is less than or equal to 600 and find evidence to support μ > 600.   

C)The hypotheses H₀: μ = 600 and H_a: μ ≠ 600 should be used because the accountant wants to test the manager's claim that the mean guest bill μ is equal to 600 and find evidence to support μ ≠ 600.

(b)

What conclusion is appropriate when

H₀

cannot be rejected?

A)We are able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ = 600.

B)We are not able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong.We cannot conclude that μ > 600.    

C) We are not able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We cannot conclude that μ ≠ 600.

D) We are able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ ≤ 600.

E) We are not able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ ≥ 600.

(c)

What conclusion is appropriate when

H₀

can be rejected?

A) We are not able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ < 600.

B) We are not able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ > 600.    

C) We are able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ < 600.

D)We are able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ ≠ 600.

E) We are able to conclude that the manager's claim is wrong. We can conclude that μ > 600.

Following are the number of victories for the Blue Sox and the hotel occupancy rate for the past eight years. You have been asked to test three forecasting methods to see which method provides a better forecast for the Number of Blue Sox Wins.

For the following, you are to provide all forecasts to one decimal place (example, 93.2)

You are asked to forecast the Number of Blue Sox Wins for Year 9. Although you believe there might be a linear regression relationship, your boss has told you to only consider the following three forecasting methods:

• 3-period moving average
• 3-period weighted moving average given the weights of 0.7 for the most recent period and 0.2 for the next most recent period, and the remaining weight (s) consistent with this method as we have used in class, and
• exponential smoothing with α = 0.25 and the best forecast available for the Number of Blue Sox Wins is for Year 2 which is 66.0.

a) What is the forecast from each of these methods for Year 9?

b) Which forecasting method provides the better forecast for Year 9? Why? Your selection criteria must be based on one of the numerical evaluation methods we have used on the homework this term using the forecast results for Year 5 through Year 8.

Currington Company wants to use absorption cost-plus pricing to set the selling price on a newly remodeled product. The company plans to invest $168,000 in operating assets to produce and sell 12,000 units. Its required return on investment (ROI) in its operating assets is 16%. The accounting department has provided cost estimates for the new product as follows:

Required:

1. What is the unit product cost for the remodeled product? (Round intermediate calculations and final answer to 2 decimal places.)

2. What is the markup percentage on absorption cost for the remodeled product? (Round intermediate calculations to 2 decimal places.)

3. What selling price would the company establish for its remolded product using a markup percentage on absorption cost? (Round intermediate calculations and final answer to 2 decimal places.)

4. Suppose the company actually produced and sold only 10,000 units (instead of its planned sales volume of 12,000 units) at the selling price that you derived in requirement 3. What ROI did the company actually earn at this lower sales volume? (Round intermediate calculations to 2 decimal places. Round your percentage answer to 1 decimal place.)

5. Assume that the company wants to raise the price of its newly remodeled product with the intention of achieving the product’s desired ROI at the lower sales volume of 10,000 units. Using absorption cost-plus pricing, what would be the revised selling price at this lower sales volume? (Round intermediate calculations and final answer to 2 decimal places.)

1. Please list and discuss the roles played by the concept of new technology as it relates to the decision to build factory #5: Even if sales volume is flat, profits are low, and interest rates are high, why would a firm desire to build factory #5, at least in theory?

2. What is residential construction and sales volume, exactly? How many housing units are built, and sold, in this country in a typical year (before March, 2020)?

3. What are six of the occupations that are involved in this sector of the economy? That is, when there is a 20% drop in this activity, residential construction and sales volume, which workers lose their jobs? Why?

4. What could our government do to help cause a rise in residential construction and sales volume in our economy? Please list and discuss three actions that our government could take, at least in theory. What are the forces that may cause a rise or a drop in this area of the economy in the next 12 to 24 months?

New Plant and Equipment Construction, Residential Construction and Sales Volume: One of the greatest factors influencing the volume of factory (new plant and equipment) construction is the R&D (research and development) of new technology. Of course, WE HAVE TO BUILD THE NEW FACTORY! In our factory #5 example, the R&D AND CONSTRUCTION of Factory #5 may result in a. a dramatic drop in the cost per unit (the cost per pair of shoes, in our hypothetical) and/or b. The introduction of a product that is..... NEW! And IMPROVED!, thus causing a rise in Demand, where, if it captures the imagination of the consumer, we may RAISE THE PRICE and increase profits by a great amount. Let’s say that our price per pair currently is $30 per pair, and our cost per pair currently is $27, for a profit of $3 per pair. If a new method of mass producing shoes that saves on labor costs is “invented”, for lack of a better word, we will want and need to build this new factory. Let’s say that Factory #5 lowers the cost per pair to $21 by using less than half of the workers used by Factory #4. We will build this new factory! $30 per pair minus $21 per pair yields a profit of $9 per pair!!!! BUT WE MUST SELL THOSE NEW SHOES!!! If our rivals are building this factory, and we do not.... We will die. (We have rivals) - VERY few firms are true monopolies. Factory #5 may mass produce TWO million pairs of shoes compared to #4 with one million pairs in yearly output. We may build factory #5, then shut down factory #1... thus resulting in FEWER WORKERS ON OUR PAYROLL... SAD BUT TRUE.....Our sales could be dropping along with our profits. Interest rates may rise. We will still need to build that factory. Especially if the product mass produced by this new factory causes a rise in Demand. YET THERE IS A FINITE SUPPLY OF LOANABLE FUNDS AND EQUITY FINANCING available, thus, we have a tragedy: some firms are doing so well that they wish to expand---but are denied financing. What is the proper role of the government? The Obama Admin. lent money directly to Tesla in order for them to expand in Fremont. This may be called ‘industrial policy’. It worked out well. If not, Obama may have been a one term President, even though he was an excellent leader by any metric. Yet the government could be criticized for ‘playing favorites’ since THERE IS A FINITE SUPPLY OF FUNDING that the government may access. If the ‘new’ Mercedes Benz assembly plant built in Alabama (yes, this is on U.S. soil) represented a new and improved SUV, then why did this German firm build the plant here? On U.S. soil? Cheaper labor (the U.S. workers make less and have fewer benefits than their German counterparts),---incredible, but true...the firm will enjoy lower distribution costs (all those rich people on the east coast of the U.S. will buy our cars), and it is easier to ship them from Alabama than from Germany, while avoiding any possible hikes in tariffs the Trump Admin may levy NOW OR LATER---- do you trust Trump? Are you feeling lucky today? How about the next 20 years? I mean, your buyers are here on the East Coast, and Alabama offered HUGE tax incentives to Daimler (Mercedes Benz) to build the plant in Alabama instead of South Carolina, home to a BMW plant. Alabama had to ‘outbid’ South Carolina for the new factory. Also, the German firm avoids any and all possible labor disruptions by dockworkers in the U.S.---now, and for the next 20 years. We do not care if the firm’s headquarters are in Germany. If they build the factory on U.S. soil, then the expenditure is part of the Total Spending on U.S. goods and services = C+ I+ G+(X-M) equation. More on this later!

Soap Makers International

Several years ago, Ingrid Krause wanted some international expertise and applied for a transfer to her company’s soap division, which is located south of Warsaw, Poland. The soap division manufactures hand soap for use in a large number of settings, from hospitals to luxury hotels. Ingrid was awarded the transfer to the soap division and was assigned to the accounting department. She is responsible for overseeing the costing and probability analysis of the various soaps and soap-making processes. During her tenure in the soap division, there were numerous changes in the number of soaps manufactured and the processes to make the different soaps. Consequently, Ingrid’s position required her to consider changes in the accounting processes to reflect the changes in the soap division’s business.

For several decades, the company’s soap-making process required a large labour force that manufactured and packaged the soap mainly by hand. Local economic changes meant that the labour force that the factory required was not as available as it had been in the past. As a result, the division was experiencing slower processing time, and more snap being rejected during inspections because of quality concerns. To address the issues related to the lack of labour availability, the division’s management decided three years ago that automation was the way to go. Consequently, over the last three years, the soap making processes have changed with the implementation of automation.

The automation of the soap making processes have allowed for a much larger variety of soap and packing, a reduced direct labour force and direct labour costs, and a higher level of traceability of costs to the various soaps because of technological improvements. Soaps made for industrial applications require different ingredients, less time in processing, less time in finishing, and less time in and cheaper packaging than do soaps for the hotel industry. The costs of materials and packaging are directly traceable to the various types of soaps through new software that uses bar codes and counters to trace material costs to the various soaps directly.

Ingrid feels that the current costing system should be revisited. The cost driver for allocation of the overhead costs (such as supervisory salaries and plant utilities) have always been direct labour hours cost. However, given the decline in the use of labour due to automation, Ingrid is questioning its suitability as a basis of allocation. Ingrid would like to explore activity based costing to allocate overhead costs.

Ingrid has gathered cost data for two representative soaps: one sold to hospitals and one sold to hotels. Further, Ingrid has gathered data from the automated system on the amount of time each type of soap spends in the three manufacturing processes: processing, finishing, and packaging. The soap is produced in large batches, consequently, the data are adjusted to reflect the average cost per 100g of soap. The data for type of soap for one month’s production are in Exhibit 1.

REQUIRED

Prepare a report for Ingrid Krause that addresses her interest in exploring an activity-based costing (ABC) system while including the following:

1. Is Ingrid’s expectation of changing her cost allocation of overhead from a traditional approach (one cost driver for allocation) to an ABC approach (multiple cost drivers applied to multiple cost pools) justifiable? If so, explain to her why it is.
2. Calculate the costs (of direct material, direct labour, and overhead) for each of the two representative types of soap using direct labour as the basis for the allocation of overhead.
3. Calculate the costs (of direct material, direct labour, and overhead) for each of the two representative types of soap using and ABC approach for the allocation of manufacturing costs.
4. Do the cost allocation calculations provide support for an ABC approach? Explain.
5. Would you advise Ingrid Krause to continue with her traditional costing approach or change to an ABC approach? Explain.

EXHIBIT 1 – COSTS FOR ONE MONTH’S PRODUCTION OF SOAP

EXHIBIT 2 – TIME REQUIRED FOR ONE MONTH’S PRODUCTION OF SOAP

Washington County’s Board of Representatives is considering the construction of a longer runway at the county airport. Currently, the airport can handle only private aircraft and small commuter jets. A new, long runway would enable the airport to handle the midsize jets used on many domestic flights. Data pertinent to the board’s decision appear below.

In addition to the preceding data, two other facts are relevant to the decision. First, a longer runway will require a new snowplow, which will cost $140,000. The old snowplow could be sold now for $13,500. The new, larger plow will cost $10,000 more in annual operating costs. Second, the County Board of Representatives believes that the proposed long runway, and the major jet service it will bring to the county, will increase economic activity in the community. The board projects that the increased economic activity will result in $92,000 per year in additional tax revenue for the county.

In analyzing the runway proposal, the board has decided to use a 10-year time horizon. The county’s hurdle rate for capital projects is 18 percent.

1. Prepare a net-present-value analysis of the proposed long runway. (Round your "Annuity discount factor" to 3 decimal places. Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.)

2. Should the County Board of Representatives approve the runway considering NPV? Yes or No

Please review the following case information and determine what the population residual plot means. The residual is already calculated but I need to know what role in plays in this case analysis for the regression analysis. Thanks in advance!

In this case, Armand's Pizza Parlors is a chain of Italian-food restaurants located in five-state area. Their most sucessful locations are the ones near college campuses. The null hypothesis is that the managers believe that quarterly sales for these restaurants (y) are related positively to the size of the student population (x). Thus, the restaurants that are near college campuses with a larger student population tend to generate more sales than the restuarants near campuses with a small student population. The alternative hypothesis is that the restaurants near college campuses with a larger student population do not generate more sales than the restaurants near college campuses with a smaller student population.

A student wonders if tall women tend to date taller men than do short women. She measures herself, her dormitory roommate, and the women in the adjoining rooms; then she measures the next man each woman dates. The data (heights in inches) are listed below. Women (x) 67 65 69 63 68 67 Men (y) 71 67 69 67 68 66

(a) Make a scatterplot of these data. (Do this on paper. Your instructor may ask you to turn this in.) Based on the scatterplot, do you expect the correlation to be positive or negative? Near ± 1 or not?

The correlation should be positive. It should be near 1.

The correlation should be negative. It should be near -1.

The correlation should be positive. It should not be near 1.

The correlation should be negative. It should not be near -1.

(b) Find the correlation r between the heights of the men and women. (Round your answer to three decimal places.)

(c) How would r change if all the men were 6 inches shorter than the heights given in the table? Does the correlation tell us whether women tend to date men taller than themselves?

r will not change. This correlation does imply that women tend to date men taller than themselves

. r will increase. This correlation does not imply that women tend to date men taller than themselves.

r will not change. This correlation does not imply that women tend to date men taller than themselves.

r will decrease. This correlation does imply that women tend to date men taller than themselves.

(d) If heights were measured in centimeters rather than inches, how would the correlation change? (There are 2.54 centimeters in an inch.)

r will decrease by 2.54. r will be divided by 2.54.

r will increase by 2.54.

r will not change.

r will be multiplied by 2.54.

(e) If every woman dated a man exactly 3 inches taller than herself, what would be the correlation between male and female heights?

r will be equal to -1.

r will be equal to 1.

r will be the same as the value in (b).

r will be equal to 0.

For each of the scenarios below, choose the strategy that you believe should be pursued to achieve the best results, and provide a brief explanation of why you believe this is the best strategy.

5 Generic Strategies

Low-Cost Provider Strategy

Broad Differentiation Strategy

Focused Low-Cost Strategy

Focused Differentiation Strategy

Best-Cost Provider Strategy

Scenarios:

1. A new waterfront development project is beginning in a medium-size city. This project will include moderate to higher-end shopping, restaurants, and hotels. Some of these businesses include: Pottery Barn, Ann Taylor,an Apple Store, Sasha’s Dress Boutique, Apostrophe, Bose, Calvin Klein, Cheesecake Factory, Capital Grille,Maggiano’s, the Marriott, and the Westin. The spaces will include a mixture of national chains, and local businesses. The project and the city have been highlighted in national papers for the expected success of the project and renewed attraction to the city. The Sully Hospitality group is determining if they want to open a boutique hotel in this area. What strategy should Sully adopt to develop the type of boutique hotel would best- fit this project? Provide a brief explanation.

2. A new shopping center is being developed – the main anchors are Wal-Mart and Home Depot. The other parcels will include smaller establishments of fast-food and other convenience category businesses.McDonald’s is interested in this project but has to determine how they would approach this location. The options are:

Put a McDonald’s Express inside the Wal-Mart

Purchase an out-parcel at the front of the project with high traffic volume and build a traditional

McDonald’s

Purchase an out-parcel at the front of the project with high traffic volume and build a McCafe

Which generic strategy should be McDonald’s use to guide this decision? Based on the generic strategy that you believe is most appropriate for this scenario, which option should McDonald’s choose? Provide a brief explanation.

3. The airline industry has seen various players attempt all of the generic strategies. Given the current state of the airline industry and the main surviving airlines, if a company wanted to get into this industry right now, which strategy would promote the best chances for success? Provide a brief explanation.

4. The top five selling brands of tablets in the world are: 5. Acer, 4. Dell, 3. Sony Vaio, 2. Lenovo, and 1. Apple. A new start-up company wants to break into the tablet market; what generic strategy should they adopt? Provide a brief explanation.