Regarding Microsoft's financial statements:

Most of their efficiency ratios are low in comparison to the industry standard.

this includes Accounts Receivable Turnover, total asset turnover, and inventory turnover.

Why is this and what does that tell us about the company?

Prepare a paragraph to tell us what is horizontal and vertical analysis. State why vertical and horizontal analysis can be of value to any company. How it might apply to your employer/business or other business you know of?

Discuss the various categories of financial ratios used in financial statement analysis. Provide at least two examples of each type of ratio and discuss what the particular ratio tells us about the performance of a company. (Essay question)

A company is using Markov theory to analyse switching between four different foods marketed as slimming aids. These slimming aids claim that with regular use they result in significant weight loss. Individual customers who buy these sliming aids only switch (on average) once every four months. Market research has produced the data shown below for the probability of customers switching between slimming aids. UL20/0468 Page 6 of 9 To 1 slimming aid From slimming aid 1234 1 0.04 0.02 0 0 0.55 0.89 0 0 0.30 0.04 0 0 0.11 0.05 1 2 3 4 Here, for example, there is a probability of 0.11 that a customer switches to slimming aid 4 from slimming aid 2. The current market shares are 9%, 78%, 3% and 10% for aids 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. (a) Copy the following table into your answer and fill in the long-run prediction for the market shares for these four slimming aids. Long-run (%, 2dp) Aid 1 Aid 2 Aid 3 Aid 4 (b) The appropriate regulatory authority in the country where these four slimming aids are marketed has been concerned about the claims made for weight loss. As a result of an investigation which they have made they intend to ban sliming aid 2 from the market in six months’ time for making false claims. Giving a clear explanation of your working, copy the following table into your answer and fill in the percentage of the market that will be affected by this ban when it is imposed in six months’ time. Value Percentage affected (2dp)

A newly established start-up in Beirut’s Digital District (BDD) named MedEntr aims to establish online support tools for surgeons to employ during surgical operations. The start-up’s vision is to enable surgeons around the world to perform all or most of the surgical operations required, especially in countries that are short on medical equipment and surgical expertise. The start-up has won $25,000 from BDD and another investing firm in Beirut as funds for their IT infrastructure. They intend to use this money to develop their website and mobile app and try to build an online community which is ready to take part in their initiative.
MedEntr has two co-founders, three full-time employees and two part-time developers. Both co-founders are biomedical engineers who recently graduated from university. The employees are also their friends from their time at the university who are willing not to be paid until the start-up can secure more investments. The co-founders benefit from unlimited medical advice from mentors in the incubator along with their previous university professors, as they believe MedEntr has the potential to gain global recognition.
All stakeholders of the start-up believe that knowledge is their greatest asset, as they could have a lot more money, but that will lead them nowhere if they do not employ the needed technologies, mechanisms and tools to discover, capture, share and apply knowledge. For that, both co-founders are in constant discussions with their mentors to establish a knowledge management plan to employ in the early stages of their start-up that would pave the way for a proper entrepreneurial endeavor.  
The majority of their mentors suggested focusing MedEntr’s efforts on knowledge capture for several reasons. First, capturing knowledge could be the least expensive but most integral knowledge process, as both knowledge sharing and application are dependent on it. Second, knowledge capture systems are easy to integrate in a business culture, especially an entrepreneurial one. Third, being part of BDD encourages employees to capture knowledge in innovative ways as the environment surrounding MedEntr is highy supportive of knowledge management and knowledge management processes. However, capturing knowledge is dependent on several other prerequisites.
To ensure that a proper knowledge capture system can be put in place before the end of July, and considering the limited financial budget at hand, both Ms. Mira Hilal and Mr. Jad Youssef, previous university professors of the co-founders of MedEntr, have called for external support using their own research funds from the university. They believe that outsider input from KM specialists is highly beneficial and can lift the ambiguity (related to several unclear KM tools) surrounding them. KM specialists know better, and they can help MedEntr use the right and needed tools from the start.
Accordingly, consider yourself a KM consultant receiving MedEntr’s profile for advice on how they can capture knowledge properly. You are required to prepare a report (i.e. maximum 10 pages) that addresses the following:
1. Highlight and explain how storytelling can be an important knowledge capture system to adopt.
a. Explain the concept of storytelling and three methods for encouraging storytelling in MedEntr (considering its limited financial resources). (8 points)
b. Explain at least 3 types of knowledge that can be captured through storytelling. (8 points)
c. Discuss, through the use of examples, how KM infrastructure can support storytelling. (8 points)
2. Highlight and explain how communities of practice can be an important knowledge capture tool to adopt.
a. Explain the concept of communities of practice and the importance for start-ups and/or small enterprises. (10 points)
b. Explain at least 3 types of knowledge that can be captured through communities of practice. (10 points)
c. Discuss, through the use of examples, how KM technologies can support communities of practice. (12 points)
3. Suggest a knowledge management system that can be adopted by MedEntr to capture knowledge.
a. Explain the suggested knowledge management system (its possible variations and/or alternatives if applicable) and its strengths. (10 points)
b. Why is your suggested knowledge management system suitable for a start-up and/or small enterprise? (10 points)
c. Discuss, through the use of examples, how KM mechanisms can support the suggested knowledge management system. (12 points)
d. Discuss possible barriers to the use of the knowledge management system.
(12 points)

You are to abide by the following outline:
• Introduction: your introduction must introduce MedEntr along with the recommendations you propose.
• Clearly stated objectives and/or outline.
• Recommendations:
o Storytelling
o Communities of Practice
o Your suggested knowledge management systems
• Analysis
o Specific costs and benefits: discuss here some costs (if applicable) and benefits of the three aforementioned recommendations.
o Analysis of recommendations: you might discuss here the best option/s MedEntr has and/or means in which they might employ the three suggested tools and technology for capturing knowledge.
• Conclusion: This part summarizes all of the recommendations and findings from your report.
• Appendix:
o This part is optional and is NOT included towards the page count.
o If you plan to add an appendix, it should include any relevant supporting citations like bibliography, references, photographs, etc.
o Include any information which supports all of your recommendations.

Good Luck!
Note: Students are to complete the project individually or in a group consisting of no more than three students.

Answer the questions below using the appropriate statistical technique. For questions involving the use of hypothesis testing, you must:

1. State the null and research hypotheses

2. Provide the Z(critical), T(critical), or χ 2 (critical) score corresponding to the α threshold for your test

3. Provide your test statistic

4. Provide your decision about statistical significance

An advantage that often comes with a basic knowledge of statistics is a change in salary. To see whether this was the case for Tulane University graduates, you took a random sample of 57 students who completed a statistics class and asked about their starting salaries (in thousands) after graduation. The sample had a mean of 53.3 with a standard deviation of 3.72 (i.e., x = 53.3 and s = 3.72). A call to the Office of the Registrar indicates that the average starting salary value for all Tulane students is 47.1. Do students who take statistics courses earn an equal salary compared to Tulane students generally? Use α = 0.001.

A report suggests that business majors spend the least amount of time on course work than other college students (The New York Times, November 17, 2011), A provost of a university conducts a survey of 50 business and 50 nonbusiness students. Students are asked if they study hard, defined as spending at least 20 hours per week on course work. The response shows "yes" if they worked hard or "no" otherwise; a portion of the data is shown in the following table.

1. At the 5% level of significance, determine if the percentage of business majors who study hard is less than 20%?
2. At the 5% level of significance, determine if the percentage of nonbusiness majors who study hard is more than 20%.

Please show work**

Answer the questions below using the appropriate statistical technique. For questions involving the use of hypothesis testing, you must:

1. State the null and research hypotheses

2. Provide the Z(critical), T(critical), or χ 2 (critical) score corresponding to the α threshold for your test

3. Provide your test statistic

4. Provide your decision about statistical significance

An advantage that often comes with a basic knowledge of statistics is a change in salary. To see whether this was the case for Tulane University graduates, you took a random sample of 57 students who completed a statistics class and asked about their starting salaries (in thousands) after graduation. The sample had a mean of 53.3 with a standard deviation of 3.72 (i.e., x = 53.3 and s = 3.72). A call to the Office of the Registrar indicates that the average starting salary value for all Tulane students is 47.1. Do students who take statistics courses earn an equal salary compared to Tulane students generally? Use α = 0.001.

If you understand the meanings of many words, you can be said to have a "good vocabulary." Words are the basis of thought. We think with words, we understand words, and we communicate with words.

A large vocabulary is a significant asset. It allows us to use precise words that say exactly what we intend. In addition, we understand more effectively what we hear and read. A large vocabulary also enables us to score well on employment and intelligence tests. Lewis M. Terman, who developed the Stanford-Binet IQ tests, believed that vocabulary is the best single indicator of intelligence.

In the business world, where precise communication is extremely important, surveys show a definite correlation between vocabulary size and job performance. Skilled workers, in the majority of cases, have larger vocabularies than unskilled workers. Supervisors usually know the meanings of more words than the workers they direct, and executives generally have larger vocabularies than employees working for them.  

Having a good vocabulary at our command doesn't necessarily ensure our success in life, but it certainly gives us an advantage. Improving your vocabulary will help you expand your options in an increasingly complex world.  

Vocabulary can be acquired in three ways: accidentally, incidentally, and intentionally. Setting out intentionally to expand your word power is, of course, the most efficient vocabulary-building method.  In addition, with all of the technology and tools at our disposal, such as the Internet, Siri, Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, it is easy to look up and expand our vocabulary daily.

Consider your childhood--who/what was the most influential component of you developing your vocabulary? Explain.  

How strong is your vocabulary?

Toyota Manufacturing Company (TMC) is a global vehicle manufacturing company that operates in many markets, and its business is affected by global factors. The company is subject to strict scrutiny by governments and environmentalists, which could affect its ability to sell cars in certain markets. The company’s earnings are also affected by the decision to call back more than 1.5 million vehicles due to the fault found in their fuel pump. Moreover, TMC diesel-engine vehicles were also found to have problems with their filters, and the company faces litigation due to the high number of complaints against it. The company’s sales are also affected by the current COVID-19 crisis situation prevailing in major markets across the globe. Car manufacturing companies were forced to shut down their plants, which affected sales. Furthermore, the biggest car markets, including China and the US, have reached the maturity that limits demand for new vehicles.

From the above paragraph, if an investor want to invest in this company, would be a wrong decision currently? Explain