Question 1: A transportation company which provides the management of the bus service in a city gets help from group of volunteers who sent pictures of people crossing the streets, kids playing in the street, angry people waiting on a bus stop, words “be happy”, timetable of the train service to next city and the length of the bridge via which main transportations of the city goes. Can the company use all of the above-mentioned contributions to build data base for management of the bus service? Discuss completely why yes or why no.

Question 2: A CIO of organization XYZ made the following statement: “Our IT department must be able to work effectively with increasing information volumes because information leads to data and data leads to knowledge”. Comment on CIO’s statement.  

Question 3: The following information for University database is available:

• Professors have SSN, name, family name and department.
• Each project is managed by one professor (PI)
• Each project can be managed by more than one professor (CoPi)
• Each student is identified by his/her SSN, age, name and family name and his/her GPA
• Each student can participate in 1 or 2 projects.

Write full ER diagram for this information. Discuss is it possible to cluster ER or is it not possible (answer why? Question in both cases). In both cases provide full reasoning.

Write clustered ER if you decided it is possible.

Question 4: Given the following relation:

Which attributes or attribute you can deduce are not/is not a candidate key, based on this instance being legal. Provide your reasoning.

Q1. Explain what companies should do to make employees contribute towards the strategic management process in the organization.

Q2. Why do many organizations fail to implement plans successfully?

Q 3&4 : Case: Maestro Pizza

Entering the food industry nowadays became harder than before. The people now pay extra attention to even small details when it comes to food. The variety of food kinds, the way the food being served, the quality of food, the price, and even the place decoration! Furthermore, there are tons of restaurants (competitors) those being in the food industry for decades which makes it even harder to compete with them. Not to mention if a new restaurant will serve one kind of food that already being served by other expert restaurants.

Here we talk about a new restaurant in Saudi Arabia that successfully entered the food industry and managed to compete existed restaurants who are serving the same kind of food for a long time and even considered the best in the world of serving such food! The restaurant's name is Maestro Pizza which is locally founded and operated by Saudi people. This restaurant has successfully dominated the market and stole the throne from underneath of many other pizza restaurants like Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza and others.

In the context of the above case analyze and provide solutions to the following questions:

Q3. Bargaining power of consumers.

Q4. Suggest strategies to differentiate Maestro Pizza products and services with its competitors.

Stanley & Sons Inc. (the “Company”) assists clients by designing and implementing solutions that reduce the overall costs of its customers’ supply chains. The Company provides Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory management of spare parts used in its customers’ manufacturing processes to reduce cycle times and lower inventory-related costs. The Company entered into a supply management contract (the “Agreement”) with Tadduni Partners (the “Customer”), an unrelated third party, to provide spare parts management services, including sourcing, procurement, repair, transport and delivery, and warehouse management. The key terms of the agreement are as follows: Purchase Process • A Customer provides the Company with a plan at the beginning of the year with a forecast of spare parts that it needs as part of its manufacturing process. On the basis of this plan, the Company purchases spare parts from third-party vendors and ships the spare parts directly to the Customer’s location. The Agreement states that the Customer determines the product and service specifications and that no changes or modifications can occur without the Customer’s consent. The Company purchases spare parts directly from vendors. Note that although the Company purchased the spare parts according to the plan, the Customer is not obligated or committed to purchase these spare parts. • The Company directly purchases from third-party vendors; the Customer is not involved in the purchasing process. Vendors name the Company in their invoices; the Customer is not named in the invoice. The Company is responsible for all payments to its vendors in purchasing the spare parts. • When space parts are purchased by the Company, the vendor ships the spare parts directly to the Customer’s warehouse; however, the Customer does not purchase and obtain title to the spare parts in its warehouse until it issues a purchase order (P.O.) to the Company. At this point, the title of the inventory for which a P.O. has been authorized transfers from the Company to the Customer. • The Company is responsible for the quality of the product sold to the Customer, who has the right to return any defective product to the Company. • Purchase of spare parts by the Company is generally made in advance of receiving a P.O. from the Customer, and the Company is obligated to pay the vendors within the agreed-upon payment terms irrespective of whether the spare parts are sold to the Customer or payment is collected from the Customer. • The Company has latitude in vendor selection and negotiates pricing with its vendors. The Company sets the price it charges the Customer on the basis of the Company’s cost plus a predetermined mark-up. If the Company is able to achieve certain cost savings for the Customer (on the basis of its ability to negotiate pricing with its vendors), it is entitled to bonus payments that are based on a percentage of such savings. Therefore, the better the Company does in negotiating savings for the Customer, the greater the margin it earns on each sale. • Spare parts inventory that is not purchased by the Customer as part of the P.O. process (because parts are obsolete or requirements have changed) remain the property of the Company. If the Company is not able to sell the inventory to other parties, the Customer will reimburse the Company for 50 percent of the cost of the unsold parts. Warehouse Operations • The spare parts are held in the Customer’s warehouse, allowing immediate access to the spare parts, which avoids the cost of storage for the Company. • Although inventory is held in the Customer’s warehouse, risk of loss or damage remains with the Company, and insurance is paid for by the Company. • The Company has dedicated employees stationed at each Customer’s warehouse. These employees handle the day-to-day issues with spare parts received into the warehouse. • The Company’s and Customer’s inventory systems are interfaced, allowing the Company to monitor stock levels. Shipping Terms • As noted above, the spare parts are shipped directly from the vendors to the Customer’s warehouse. The Company retains title and risk of loss during shipping and at the Customer’s warehouse until a P.O. is issued by the Customer to purchase the spare parts. After the Customer issues the P.O., the title transfers, and the Company recognizes revenue. Company Fee • The Company receives 5.5 percent as a “consumption fee” for spare parts that are consumed (i.e., purchased) by the Customer from the warehouse. In addition, as noted above, the Company earns other fees according to its ability to negotiate favorable pricing on the spare parts.

Required: On the basis of the case facts, should the Company (Stanley & Sons Inc.) record revenue from the arrangement on a gross or net basis? Provide an analysis supporting your conclusion based on US GAAP (section 606) and IASB IFRS.

progressive tax,  regressive tax,  proportional tax

Who benefits from each and who does the burden fall on in each?

what are the examples of each tax?

Do College students who have volunteered for community service work differ from those who have not? A study obtained data from 57 students who had done service work and 17 who had not. One of the response variables was a measure of attachment to friends, measured by the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Here are the results. Group Condition n x s__ 1 Service 57 105.32 14.68 2 No Service 17 96.82 14.26 a. Do these data give evidence that students who have engaged in community service and those who have not differ on average in their level of attachment to their friends?

Exercise 1-7 Direct and Indirect Costs [LO1-1]

Kubin Company’s relevant range of production is 22,000 to 27,000 units. When it produces and sells 24,500 units, its average costs per unit are as follows:

Required:

1. Assume the cost object is units of production:

a. What is the total direct manufacturing cost incurred to make 24,500 units?

b. What is the total indirect manufacturing cost incurred to make 24,500 units?

2. Assume the cost object is the Manufacturing Department and that its total output is 24,500 units.

a. How much total manufacturing cost is directly traceable to the Manufacturing Department?

b. How much total manufacturing cost is an indirect cost that cannot be easily traced to the Manufacturing Department?

3. Assume the cost object is the company’s various sales representatives. Furthermore, assume that the company spent $90,650 of its total fixed selling expense on advertising and the remainder of the total fixed selling expense comprised the fixed portion of the company's sales representatives’ compensation.

a. When the company sells 24,500 units, what is the total direct selling expense that can be readily traced to individual sales representatives?

b. When the company sells 24,500 units, what is the total indirect selling expense that cannot be readily traced to individual sales representatives?

Complete this question by entering your answers in the tabs below.

2. Assume the cost object is the Manufacturing Department and that its total output is 24,500 units.

a. How much total manufacturing cost is directly traceable to the Manufacturing Department? (Round per unit values to 2 decimal places.)

b. How much total manufacturing cost is an indirect cost that cannot be easily traced to the Manufacturing Department?

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Go through the case given and answer the questions that follow:

Toyota's history goes back to 1897, when Sakichi Toyoda (Sakichi) diversified into the handloom machinery business from his family traditional business of carpentry. He founded Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (TALW) in 1926 for manufacturing automatic looms. Sakichi invented a loom that stopped automatically when any of the threads snapped. This concept of designing equipment to stop so that defects could be fixed immediately formed the basis of the Toyota Production System (TPS) that went on to become a major factor in the company’s success.

In 1933, Sakichi established an automobile department within TALW and the first passenger car prototype was developed in 1935.

Sakichi's son Kiichiro Toyoda (Kiichiro) convinced him to enter the automobile business. After this the production of Model AA began and Toyota Motor Corporation was established in 1937. Kiichiro visited the Ford Motor Company in Detroit to study the US automotive industry. He saw that an average US worker's production was nine times that of a Japanese worker. He realized that the productivity of the Japanese automobile industry had to be increased if it were to compete globally.

Back in Japan, he customized the Ford production system to suit Japanese market. He also devised a system wherein each process in the assembly line of production would produce only the number of parts needed at the next step on the production line, which made logistics management easier as material was procured according to consumption. This system was referred to as Just-in-Time (JIT), within the Toyota Group.

The JIT production was defined as 'producing only necessary units in a necessary quantity at a necessary time resulting in decreased excess inventories and excess workforce, thereby increasing productivity.'

Kiichiro realized that by relying solely on the central planning approach, it would be very difficult to implement JIT in all the processes for an automobile. Hence, TPS followed the production flow conversely. People working in one process went to the preceding one to withdraw the necessary units in the necessary quantities at the necessary time...

Just-In-Time Production System:

Developed by the Japanese, the JIT production system was one of the most significant production management approaches of the post-World War II era. The system comprised a set of activities aimed at increasing production volume through the optimum use of inventories of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods. In a JIT production system, a workstation gets a part just in time, completes its work and the part is moved through the system quickly.

JIT was based on the principle of producing only what is needed and nothing more than needed. The Japanese believed that anything produced over the quantity required was a waste...

JIT In TOYOTA

In the early 1930s, the technology used by American automobile companies was superior to that used by Japanese companies. Kiichiro therefore decided to learn new automobile production techniques from American manufacturers. He soon realized that to catch up with the Americans, he had to master basic production techniques. He then reorganized the production system in Toyota in a unique way. This reorganization eventually led to the development of JIT concept...

FUTURE OF JIT:

Although many automobile companies around the world adopted JIT, the system was far from perfect and difficult to implement. It was based on the key assumption that sources and channels of supply were reliable and dependable at all times. Analysts felt that it did not take into account the possibility of labor strikes at automotive plants. Moreover, JIT involved high set up costs and Special training and reorganization of policies and procedures in the company were necessary to implement JIT. The supplier relations of the company also needed to be improved to ensure timely delivery. In the absence of good supplier relations, JIT increased the risk of inventory shortage...

Questions:

2. Do you feel the concept of JIT is applicable to any sector or only to organizations in manufacturing automobiles? Provide your answer with reasoning.