Decor Seating Company is currently selling 1,400

oversized bean bag chairs a month at a price of $75 per chair. The variable cost of each chair sold includes $45 to purchase the bean bag chairs from suppliers and a $22 sales commission. Fixed costs are $6,000 per month. The company is considering making several operational changes and wants to know how the change will impact its operating income.

.1.

Prepare the​ company's current contribution margin income statement.

2.

Calculate the change in operating income that would result from implementing each of the following independent strategy alternatives. Compare each alternative to the current operating income as you calculated in Requirement 1. Consider each alternative separately.

a.

Alternative​ 1: The company believes volume will increase by 20​% if salespeople are paid a commission of 12​% of the sales price rather than the current $22 per unit.

b.

Alternative​ 2: The company believes that spending an additional $4,000 on advertising would increase sales volume by 6​%.

c.

Alternative​ 3: The company is considering raising the selling price to $89​, but believes volume would drop by 15​% as a result.

d.

Alternative​ 4: The company would like to source the product from domestic suppliers who charge $13 more for each unit. Management believes that the​ "Made in the​ USA" label would increase sales volume by 20​% and would allow the company to increase the sales price by $13 per unit. In​ addition, the company would have to spend an additional $7,000 in marketing costs to get the word out to potential customers of this change.

Complete the following two parts. Your responses to both Part 1 and 2 should total 2 to 3 double-spaced pages in Microsoft Word, using 12-point font. Follow APA style for citations and references. Part 1 Consider the following scenario: Central Manufacturing Company needs 20,000 units of a certain part to use in its production cycle. The following information is available: Cost to Central to make the part: Direct materials â $4.00. Direct labor â $16.00. Variable factory overhead â $15.00. Fixed factory overhead applied â $8.00. Total â $43.00. Cost to buy the part from Northern Company: $39.00. If Central buys the part from Northern instead of making it, Central could not use the released facilities in another manufacturing activity. Eighty percent of the fixed factory overhead applied will continue regardless of what decision Central makes. Assess this situation, and write a response in which you address the following: In deciding whether to make or buy the part, what are the total relevant costs per unit to make the part? Direct materials. Direct labor. Variable overhead. Fixed overhead. Total. What decision should Central make? Why? Part 2 Evaluate variable costing by addressing each of the following: What are the advantages and disadvantage of using variable costing? What is absorption costing? How it is possible, under absorption costing, to increase net income by producing more goods? Which costing method is allowed for external financial reporting? Why only this method? Explain. How is a contribution margin determined? Why is it important to management?

Don't forget that your reply to my post must be at least 150 words; and when replying to your classmates, your minimum word count is 50 words. Business Ethics Note: This week's Discussion Board operates a bit different . . . .

First, read The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility.doc in this week's Required Resource folder. Then note what follows below before attempting to post.

The author argues that managers who sacrifice profit for the common good are in effect imposing a tax on their shareholders and arbitrarily deciding how that money should be spent. Even if executives wanted to forgo some profit to benefit society, they could expect to lose their jobs if they did so in a meaningful (i.e., high cost to profits) manner. They are, after all, paid to achieve business objectives, not use shareholder money to engineer the public good (assuming there is agreement on what, exactly, that is.)

Before responding to the questions below ask yourself the following: 1) is it true that “…doing what's best for society necessarily means sacrificing profits,” 2) are shareholders the only important and influential stakeholders in deciding how best to pursue corporate objectives, and 3) is government regulation, supplemented by self-regulation and civil society, the most effective way to strike a balance between profits and the public good?

Based on your individual conclusions regarding the above, answer the following questions:

Are profits and the general welfare basically incompatible? Why or why not?

If you believe CSR requires the sacrifice of some amount of profit, what amount is appropriate? Is that amount the same for all firms in all industries? How should the CEO decide?

Provide a separate paragraph for each question.

A (HF) hedge fund, “BigBets” currently holds a well diversified (passive) portfolio of stocks worth V_p = $10m with β_p =1.2 (with respect to the market index the S&P500, which currently is at S=1000).

In addition, the HF holds V_B =$1m in Boeing stock, with a current price of S_B = $100 and a beta β_B = 2. The risk-free interest rate = 1% pa (continuously compounded). The volatility of Boeing stock is currently 30% pa.

Derivatives contracts available include a 1-year futures contract on Boeing stock, a 1-year stock index futures contract and calls and puts on Boeing stock, with 1 month to maturity. (Assume Boeing stock pays no dividends).

The HF believes that over the next month, the market index (S&P500) will decrease by 2% (due to a slowdown in the world economy). The HF also believes that there will be a clear announcement about the grounded Boeing 737-800 jet in 1 months time, which will result either in the plane not coming into service (for the foreseeable future) or, it is announced that all the technical problems have been solved. The HF therefore forecasts either a 20% rise or a 20% fall (with equal probability) in Boeing’s stock price, depending on the outcome.

The boss of the HF states that you cannot change the composition of your stocks’ portfolio but you can use futures and options contracts to achieve the best outcome possible, for the HF over the next month, given the above scenario.  

Explain ONE strategy you might use (with futures and/or options) and the potential outcomes from your strategy. Explain any costs and risks in your strategy.

You may use illustrative data, tables and diagrams in your analysis.

(Max 400 word limit)

Businesses both large and small are flocking to social media platforms to engage consumers in conversations and also to drive sales through deals and coupons. Small businesses have found that social media and the Internet help them to level the playing field. They can foster closer relationships with clients and identify potential customers. Flirty Cupcakes owner Tiffany Kurtz says that Facebook and Twitter greatly helped her with product innovation, market expansion, and customer service. Many other entrepreneurs are using social media to launch and expand their businesses.

Read the article, "9 Businesses that Social Media Built (Links to an external site.)."

Using the Internet, search for small businesses that have used social media to start a business or expand their market share. Select four businesses to study. Analyze their use of social media. What do they have in common? When these companies were first launched, most of them probably needed to borrow money to get started. How might these companies have described the social media potential in writing a proposal seeking funding? In which of the proposal components would this information be best placed? In an e-mail or memo to your instructor, describe briefly the four companies you selected. Then, for one company write a portion of the proposal in which the entrepreneur explains how he or she plans to use social media to promote the business. How much time do you think the entrepreneur would need to devote to social media weekly? What platforms would be most useful?

Submission Guidelines: Submissions should be turned in on a Word document, be at least 250-words, and properly cite any outside sources used.

Your employer, a mid-sized 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 temporary 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%.

Answer the following questions.

a. Describe briefly the legal rights and privileges of common stockholders.

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

c. 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?

d. 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?

Identifying Channels of Distribution

For this week’s assignment pick a product with which you are very familiar with or take the time to go through your clothes closet and try and find a product made in the USA, or one that you can anticipate being able to research easily.

1. Map the supply chain of your product as far back as is feasible. A simple example is a diamond sold by a local jewelry store, purchased direct from diamond wholesalers in the Netherlands, bought by wholesalers from diamond centers in South Africa, and brought out of mines owned by a company in South Africa. Identify as many participants in the channel as possible by company name and location.
2. Identify the mode of transportation used between each stage in the channel.
3. Identify by name and location the component parts of the product if any.
   

The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:

• Write between 500 – 750 words (approximately 2 – 3 pages) using Microsoft Word.
• Attempt APA style, see example below.
• Use font size 12 and 1” margins.
• Include cover page and reference page.
• At least 60% of your paper must be original content/writing.
• No more than 40% of your content/information may come from references.
• Use at least two references from outside the course material, preferably from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the two reference requirement.
• Reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) must be identified in the paper and listed on a reference page.

IN YOUR OWN WORDS PLEASE!!!! NO PLAGIARISM!!!!

The amounts of the assets and liabilities of Journey Travel Agency at December 31, 2018, the end of the year, and its revenue and expenses for the year follow. The retained earnings were $625,000 on January 1, 2018, the beginning of the year. During the year, dividends of $41,000 were paid.