Sony Corporation – Since its founding in 1960, Sony was always known for innovation and market leadership. But in the last 20 years, troubling issues have emerged to partially counter the many successes along the way. Research Sony and its subsidiaries, and answer the following questions:

3. Should Sony’s R&D efforts be focused on a limited number of core products, or should it aim to be the leader in each business segment it operates in?

4. Some say Sony Entertainment “runs the show” now, because one very successful movie returns massive profits. Do you think excessive diversification is Sony’s problem? They usually target the upscale high-end consumer groups. Should they change strategies?

Thank you!

You joined Digitech in Cambridge as the Chief Innovation Officer four years ago, and since then the company has been undergoing significant changes. Although known for its computer software, with a worldwide reputation for a smaller company, the leadership has been looking to expand the work in the social sector. You have been actively searching for ways that Digitech could get more involved with public-private partnerships and the board has proposed a wide variety of initiatives from promoting computer literacy in the US public school system to improving technology access in developing countries. You and the board have decided to create a new position to help you start and manage these initiatives, Director of Public and Non-Profit Partnerships. However, you have been having a hard time finding someone to lead the new department. A couple weeks ago, you ran into another parent, Jordan Webb at a fundraiser for your child’s pre-school. Jordan is finishing a graduate degree, but previously worked for one of your rivals, Alpine Technology, as the Manager for International Business Strategy. Jordan really wants to stay in the Boston area due to family ties and seemed enthusiastic about a potential job leading public-private partnerships at their old company. Because of this enthusiasm, you thought Jordan might be a great fit for Digitech and after talking more they appear to be a perfect fit: experience in the tech industry, familiar with a similar sized organization, and additional education to support this interest. Jordan came through for informal interviews with your executives and everyone came away with a positive impression, wanting to offer Jordan the job as Director of Public and Non-Profit Partnerships. You called Jordan to share this news and promised to send a follow-up email to figure out the terms. You checked in with the Vice President of Human Resources (VP of HR) at Digitech to find out what kind of package you may be able to offer. She informed you that the going salary range for the incoming director working on nonprofit public-private partnerships would be around $70,000-$100,000, and she would prefer you to negotiate an agreement at the lower end of the range, since public and non-profit partnerships are unlikely to generate much revenue for Digitech. This would be a substantial pay cut from Jordan’s previous position with Alpine Technologies, which you are guessing would have paid in the range of $150,000 to $200,000. You told the VP of HR that although the salary range she presented seems fair, you may not be able to attract Jordan without providing additional incentives. The VP of HR responded by describing the standard benefits package offered to Digitech employees: 4 weeks of paid vacation plus select holidays off, full individual health coverage with all premiums paid by Digitech (family coverage requires employees to make a $350/month contribution; employees who waive all employer-sponsored health insurance coverage can get a rebate from Digitech for $5,000 per year). Digitech also matches employee 401k retirement contributions by 50%, for up to 6% of an employee’s base salary. Finally, Digitech does not give tuition reimbursement to employees. The VP of HR let you know that these standard benefits are offered to all employees and no exceptions can be made. When you pressed the VP of HR to increase the amount you can offer for salary, or to allow you to offer a year-end bonus, she was very unenthusiastic. She explained that year-end bonuses are tied to the profitability of each department, and since this new department would work primarily with non-profit or government partners, it is unlikely to be highly profitable. However, she did finally agree to authorize you to use up to $20,000 in extra money, to be offered at your discretion--as a signing bonus, to reimburse moving costs, or for whatever purpose seems most appropriate. You would prefer not to have to offer any extra money beyond the base salary, unless you think it absolutely necessary to convince Jordan to join you. Digitech has a very strong office culture and employees are expected to work out of the office in Cambridge so they can interact with colleagues, except when on business trips. The company was founded on the belief that making personal connections and being able to directly turn to colleagues for immediate, personal feedback are key pillars to success. Employees are given one flex day per week in the summer months (when they can work at home or reduce their hours by working extra hours other days of the week), but the rest of the year most employees work 5 days per week from the office. You did allow two employees to work from home one day per week last year (one had a new baby and the other was caring for an elderly parent); however, you are reluctant to allow this to spread too widely for fear your strong office culture may be damaged. You expect Jordan’s position to require travel once every month or so, to meet with partners in other locations. However, you are open to Jordan conducting most meetings via teleconference. You expect that this new position will be fairly demanding, especially in the first year, but you hope the opportunity to create a new department, as well as the prestige and focus of this new job, will be worth it. You want to make sure that the person you hire is really a team player. That is one of the reasons you are so excited to hire Jordan. Recently, one of the board members suggested you consider his best friend’s daughter, Robin, who is about to graduate with an MBA. At the advice of the board member, you hired Robin as a summer intern last summer, and were very unimpressed. You felt Robin lacked sufficient experience and was not very proactive, waiting to be guided in each activity. Robin also went on vacation halfway through the summer and left a project unfinished. You are a little worried that if you do not lock in someone else for the new job soon, the board member will push you to consider Robin more seriously; you would really like to avoid this if at all possible. Because Digitech’s lawyers need time to structure the public-private partnership agreements, you would prefer Jordan start in early to mid-July. However, Jordan has been so enthusiastic that if Jordan really wants to start immediately after graduation, you will try to be flexible.

You are now getting ready to send an email to Jordan to try to reach an agreement on the terms of employment. Prepare for and conduct your negotiation with Jordan. What would you do to convince Jordan to work for your company in your email?

1.Discuss the issue of digital divide. Is it lessening or widening with more technological innovation? How have businesses, government bodies, and nonprofit organizations met the digital divide challenge?

2. Describe the ethical challenges regarding one of the following scientific breakthroughs: genetically modified foods, human genome or stem cell research. Do the potential benefits of this breakthrough outweigh the potential costs?

3. Explain the concept of the "right to be forgotten." What are its implications to governments, businesses and individuals?

4. Discuss the motivations of cybercriminals. Explain the costs that cybercrime has on businesses, governments, and individuals.

Al’s Car Wash purchased a piece of equipment on October 1, 2018, for $27,000. The equipment has a useful life of four years and a residual value of $2,000. Compute the depreciation for 2020, accumulated depreciation at the end of 2020, and book value at the end of 2020 using the straight-line method.

Given the following four subsequent events (unrelated) for the December 31, 2019 year-end:

1. On January 15, 2020, a major customer declared bankruptcy.
2. On January 25, 2020 a fire destroyed a major suppliers building that warehouses inventory .
3. On January 4^, 2020, an investment analyst downgraded the stock of the auditee.

            The audit report date is February 15, 2020.

Required:

      State clearly the type of subsequent event (Type I or Type II), if any, and the required impact on the financial statements.

Singularity Products began business on January 1, 2020. During 2020, Singularity recorded the following:

Purchases of inventory, at cost: $400,000
Purchases of inventory, at retail value: $800,000
Net Markups: $200,000
Net Markdowns: $400,000
Sales: $500,000

a. Calculate the balance in ending inventory on December 31, 2020 if Singularity uses the Retail
Inventory – Conventional Method to value inventory. (7 points)

b. What amount of gross profit will Singularity report on its 2020 Income Statement? (7 points)

Coyote Company sold a merchandise costing $30,000 for $50,000 on credit to Beer Company on 4/1/2020. To expedite the cash payment, Coyote offered a cash discount of 3/15, n/30.

Instructions: prepare any necessary journal entries for the following transactions for the seller and the buyer using the net method.

1. The credit sale on 4/1/2020.
2. A receipt of the full payment if it is paid on 4/10/2020.
3. A receipt of the full payment if it is paid on 4/24/2020.

Make the following journal entries in good form.

1. On January 1, 2020, Entity A sold common stock for $30,000 to investors.

2. On January 3, 2020, Entity A performed services for Entity B for $1,500 on account.

3. On January 5, 2020, Entity A performed services for Entity C for $750 and Entity C paid.

4. On January 7, 2020, Entity A purchased a new computer (office equipment) from Best Buy for $500, paying $100 down, the rest on account.

A simple random sample of 300 colleges and universities was selected and for each it was determined whether they planned to move summer 2020 classes online or not. Of the 300 colleges and universities in the sample, 90 responded that they will move summer 2020 classes online , and 210 responded that they will not move summer 2020 classes online. . If appropriate, use this information to calculate and interpret a 99% confidence interval for the proportion of all colleges and universities that will move their summer 2020 classes online . Please type your solution in the box below.

3. Prepare the journal entry to record receipt of payment by Hamada LLC if the spot rate on dirhams was 4.75 dirhams/GBP on April 2, 2020.

Suppose that on February 1, 2020, Victoria, Plc., a British company, makes a sale and ships goods to Hamada, LLC, an Emirati customer, for 100,000 (GBP).

However, it is agreed that Hamada will pay in dirhams on April 2, 2020. The exchange (spot) rate as of February 1, 2020 is 5 dirhams per Great British Pound.