MAXIMIZING PROFIT: CUSTOM GAMING PCs

You are the owner of a mid-sized computer manufacturing and assembling facility – what started as a small business building and customizing computers for friends and family has grown into a much larger operation, and you want to make sure you are using your labor hours in the most efficient way to maximize your profits. Your company manufactures and assembles three types of custom gaming PCs, and the amount of manufacturing and assembling times required for each model along with the profit you make on each unit are given below:

Your labor budget each week is 1,000 hours of total manufacturing time, and 1,600 hours of assembly time. How many of each type of custom gaming PC should you task your teams with creating each week to maximize your profit?

1.    (4 points) Identify the variables you are solving for in this problem (assign a letter name and describe each in word) and write down the constraints of the problem using inequalities (include any ‘natural’ constraints as well).

2.    (2 points) Write down an equation for the objective function you are trying to maximize (profit). Rewrite this equation into the form of an inequality that you will use to enter it into the simplex tableau.

data set will need at least four variables - at least two categorical and at least two quantitative. For example, you might consider the following variables for American participants in a survey: birth month (categorical), state of birth (categorical), average number of bowls of cereal eaten per week (quantitative), and amount spent on groceries (quantitative).

(a) First, formulate a research question relating to two of your quantitative variables along the lines of "how does *quantitative variable 1* relate to *quantitative variable 2*?" For example, you might ask "Does the average height for students relate to the average number of hours slept by students?" Include the question in your Word document.

(b) Create a least-squares regression line that answers the research question posed in part (a). Your answer here will be graded on the following: (i) an appropriate scatterplot related to the two variables (ii) correlation coefficient "r" and coefficient of determination "r²" between the two variables, (iii) a determination of whether the correlation coefficient is significant and (iv) whether your line is correct (with slope and intercept) based on the data provided!

Sam Forbes and Jenny Hewes are senior vice-presidents of the First Creek Investment Council . They are co-directors of the company's pension fund management division, with Sam having responsibility for fixed income securities (primarily bonds) and Jneey being responsible for equity investments. A major new client has requested that council present an investment seminar to Executive Committee, and Forbes and Hewes, who will make the actual presentation, have asked you, a recent UCW graduate to help them.                                                                                                       

to illustrate the common stock valuation process, Sam and Jenny have asked you to analyze the Temp Force Company, an employment agency that supplies word processor operators and computer programmers to businesses with temporarily heavy workloads. You are to answer the following questions. the required rate of return in of the firm's stock is 11.8%.   Assume that Temp Force is a constant growth company whose last dividend (Do, which was paid yesterday) was $2.00, and whose dividend is expected to grow indefinitely at a 5 percent rate.            

c. Now assume that the stock is currently selling at $43.75. What is the expected rate of return on the stock?   

f. What would the stock price be if its dividends were expected to have zero growth?

g. Now assume that Temp Force is expected to experience supernormal growth of 30 percent for the next 3 years, then to return to its long-run constant growth rate of 5 percent. What is the stock's value under these conditions? What is its expected dividend yield and capital gains yield in Year 1? In Year 4?              

Chapter 7

1. Human cannot drink salty water (like ocean water). In large amounts it will cause severe health problems. Based upon your understanding of Hypertonic solutions. What is the problem with salt water from a cellular hydration perspective?
2. Chapter 7.2 lists the functions of water in the body. Create a list of the functions and define each in a sentence or two.
3. How does the brain detect water status and respond by altering thirst?
4. How do the kidneys an adrenal glands regulate the amount of water and salt in the body?
5. Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the body. It is also the primary mineral lost in sweat. What happens if sodium concentrations are too high or too low? .
6. Imbalances of Potassium can be disastrous to health. Explain the health problems associated with too much or too little potassium.
7. How does dehydration affect the body (heart rate, Blood pressure, etc). How does dehydration affect sports performance?

Chapter 8

1. What are free radicals and how does the body neutralize them using enzymes and made chemicals like glutathione?
2. The antioxidant vitamins are A,C, & E (remember the word ACE). Describe the role of each of these in disease prevention.
   1. A
   2. C
   3. E
3. Three key groups of phytonutrient are listed below. For each define and give examples of their health benefits
   1. Carotenoids
   2. Flavonoids (especially anthocyanidins)
   3. Organosulfur compounds
4. What is the only anti-oxidant mineral? What are the health benefits to adequate intake of this mineral?
5. What dietary choices are necessary to ensure adequate intake of these antioxidants and phytonutrients? What are the dietary recommendations?

Dolly and Madison Ford is a partnership that sells automobiles. The company has two dealerships—Baytown Ford and Liberty Ford. Each dealership sells two makes of automobiles—Mustang and Taurus.

Additional information:

■  Neither dealership maintains a parts inventory.

■  Each dealership owns its equipment, furniture and fixtures, but rents its location.

■  Each dealership has a manager, a bookkeeper, and four salespeople, all of whom are paid a salary.

■  Each dealership collects state sales tax on automobile sales.

■  The accounting system uses accrual-basis accounting.

■  The accounting system uses a perpetual inventory system for automobiles.

Required:

Prepare an appropriate chart of accounts for the company’s computerized accounting system using either a spreadsheet or word processing program. The chart of accounts should enable the accounting system to report the following:

a.  For both dealerships combined:

  1.  Report operating profit.

  2.  Report automobile inventory accounts for each make of automobile and for both makes combined.

b.  For each dealership:

  1.  Report operating profit.

  2.  Report sales and cost of sales for each make of automobile.

  3.  Report inventory accounts for each make of automobile.

Use the appropriate block codes given in the chapter in the “Coding Schemes” section. Include not only the accounts needed to accomplish the above reporting requirements but all other accounts that are needed for recording typical day-to-day transactions involved in operating an automobile dealership (except for parts inventory, as noted above).

Government Failures

For your main (initial) response, construct thoughtful and detailed responses to the Discussion. After your initial response, post at least two substantial responses to your classmates and instructor's posts in order to earn full credit.

The role of a government in the market economy is one of the most debated issues in economics. Similarly, one of the most enduring debates on U.S. economic history focuses on the role of government in the economy. Some argue that government regulation of the U.S. economy is too little and too late. On the other hand, there is also a claim that the U.S. economy is no longer a free market due to too many regulations.

Read the Last Word piece, "Government Failure" in the News, in Chapter 5 in your textbook. Investigate the use of special-interest lobbyists and its connection with the government failures.The process of lobbying legislatures is itself becoming a big business. State legislatures are under the same kind of pressure from interest groups as the Senate and the House of Representatives.

• What are the roles of government in the market economy? Based on the current economic conditions, to what extent should the government intervene in the market economy?

• What are the justifications given in favor of more government involvement in the market economy? What are the reasons given in favor of less government involvement in the market economy?

• Provide an example to discuss how special interests can succeed in perpetuating policies that are opposed by the majority of voters because the costs of organizing and motivating groups to take political action increase with group's size.

Your employer, a midsized human resources management company, is considering expansion into related fields, including the acquisition of Temp Force Company, an employment agency that supplies word processor operators and computer programmers to businesses with temporarily heavy workloads. Your employer is also considering the purchase of Biggerstaff & McDonald (B&M), a privately held company owned by two friends, each with 5 million shares of stock. B&M currently has free cash flow of $24 million, which is expected to grow at a constant rate of 5%. B&M’s financial statements report short-term investments of $100 million, debt of $200 million, and preferred stock of $50 million. B&M’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is 11%.

A) What is free cash flow (FCF)? What is the weighted average cost of capital? What is the free cash flow valuation model?

B) Use a pie chart to illustrate the sources that comprise a hypothetical company’s total value. Using another pie chart, show the claims on a company’s value. How is equity a residual claim?

C) Suppose the free cash flow at Time 1 is expected to grow at a constant rate of gL forever. If gL < WACC, what is a formula for the present value of expected free cash flows when discounted at the WACC? If the most recent free cash flow is expected to grow at a constant rate of gL forever (and gL < WACC), what is a formula for the present value of expected free cash flows when discounted at the WACC?

The following is a free response question to be used as practice for future exams. You can complete the assignment in this document, using the drawing tools in Word (or any photo editing program) or print this document, and complete the activity by hand, submitting a scan or photo of your work. When you are done, submit the assignment for grading by your instructor. This question will be graded out of 6 points.

1. (a) The outputs and prices of goods and services in Country X are shown in the table above. Assuming that 2012 is the base year, calculate each of the following.

(i) The nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013

(ii) The real GDP in 2013

(b) If in one year the price index is 40 and in the next year the price index is 50, what is the rate of inflation from one year to the next?

(c) Assume that next year’s wage rate will be 3.5% percent higher than this year’s because of inflationary expectations. The actual inflation rate is 3 percent. At the beginning of next year, will the real wage be higher, lower, or the same as today?

(d) Assume that Zac gets a fixed-rate loan from a bank when the expected inflation rate is 4 percent. If the actual inflation rate turns out to be 2 percent, who benefits from this: Zac, the bank, neither, or both? Explain.

Assignment #8: Chi-Square Test of Independence

Directions: Use the Crosstabs option in the Descriptives menu to answer the questions based on the following scenario. (Be sure to select Chi-square from the Statistics submenu and Observed, Expected, Row, and Column in the Cells submenu. Assume a level of significance of .05)

The school district recently adopted the use of e-textbooks, and the superintendent is interested in determining the level of satisfaction with e-textbooks among students and if there is a relationship between the level of satisfaction and student classification. The superintendent selected a sample of students from one high school and asked them how satisfied they were with the use of e-textbooks. The data that were collected are presented in the following table.

          Student Classification

1. Of the students that were satisfied, what percent were Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior? (Round your final answer to 1 decimal place).

2. State an appropriate null hypothesis for this analysis.

3. What is the value of the chi-square statistic? The value of chi-square is 7.12.

4. What are the reported degrees of freedom? The df is 3.

5. What is the reported level of significance? The reported level of significance is .052.

6. Based on the results of the chi-square test of independence, is there an association between e-textbook satisfaction and academic classification?

7. Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table and narrative statement that reports and interprets the results of the analysis.

Note: The table must be created using your word processing program. Tables that are copied and pasted from SPSS are not acceptable.