1. Briefly describe the three generic strategies—overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.

2. Explain the relationship between the three generic strategies and the five forces that determine the average profitability within an industry.

Forecasting labour costs is a key aspect of hotel revenue management that enables hoteliers to appropriately allocate hotel resources and fix pricing strategies. Mary, the President of Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (HHF) is interested in investigating how labour costs (variable L_COST) relate to the number of rooms in a hotel (variable Total_Rooms). Suppose that HHF has hired you as a business analyst to develop a linear model to predict hotel labour costs based on the total number of rooms per hotel using the data provided. 3.1 Use the least squares method to estimate the regression coefficients b0 and b1 3.2 State the regression equation 3.3 Plot on the same graph, the scatter diagram and the regression line 3.4 Give the interpretation of the regression coefficients b0 and b1 as well as the result of the t-test on the individual variables (assume a significance level of 5%) 3.5 Determine the correlation coefficient of the two variables and provide an interpretation of its meaning in the context of this problem 3.6 Check statistically, at the 0.05 level of significance whether there is any evidence of a linear relationship between labour cost and total number of rooms per hotel

TR=TOTAL ROOMS, L COST =LABOUR COST

TR L_COST       Turnover_per_Room
412       2,165,000       21,519.42
313       2,214,985       21,755.04
265       1,393,550       17,937.91
204       2,460,634       37,400.05
172       1,151,600       31,824.30
133       801,469 19,444.46
127       1,072,000       22,551.18
322       1,608,013       18,205.04
241       793,009 8,793.00
172       1,383,854       25,114.16
121       494,566       14,095.35
70       437,684       22,231.59
65       83,000 5,953.85
93       626,000       18,150.99
75       37,735       3,871.67
69       256,658       11,071.70
66       230,000       8,030.30
54       200,000       10,185.19
68       199,000      
57       11,720       2,982.46
38       59,200       6,342.11
27       130,000       25,185.19
47       255,020       18,223.26
32       3,500 1,000.00
27       20,906 2,384.85
48       284,569       14,264.58
39       107,447       10,478.26
35       64,702       10,811.29
23       6,500 3,478.26
25       156,316       22,231.56
10       15,950       8,150.00
18       722,069       81,556.71
17       6,121 2,151.88
29       30,000       4,068.97
21       5,700 4,142.86
23       50,237       5,113.83
15       19,670       10,037.87
8       7,888 4,849.25
20 3,750.00
11 1,753.91
15       3,500 2,666.67
18       112,181       34,260.90
23              
10       30,000 12,000.00
26       3,575 3,001.81
306       2,074,000       19,803.92
240       1,312,601       15,823.58
330       434,237       4,361.65
139       495,000       17,050.36
353       1,511,457       15,370.22
324       1,800,000       15,432.10
276       2,050,000       22,101.45
221       623,117       9,199.82
200       796,026       18,158.06
117       360,000       11,649.57
170       538,848       10,294.08
122       568,536       17,510.12
57       300,000       15,614.04
62       249,205       9,623.61
98       150,000       6,326.53
75       220,000       6,666.67
62       50,302       2,058.19
50       517,729       20,000.00
27       51,000       16,666.67
44       75,704       7,118.52
33       271,724       40,499.76
25       118,049       9,664.80
42              
30       40,000       4,833.33
44 522.73
10       10,000       7,300.00
18       10,000       5,555.56
18 1,338.22
73       70,000       4,958.90
21       12,000       6,904.76
22       20,000       3,636.36
25       36,277       1,489.72
25       36,277       1,489.72
31       10,450       2,348.39
16       14,300       5,000.00
15       4,296       732.00
12 1,083.33
11 2,000.00
16       379,498      
22       1,520 673.36
12       45,000       58,333.33
34       96,619       18,817.53
37       270,000       21,621.62
25       60,000 10,000.00
10       12,500 9,000.00
270       1,934,820       27,977.57
261       3,000,000       36,781.61
219       1,675,995       17,559.77
280       903,000 15,907.14
378       2,429,367       16,666.67
181       1,143,850       22,352.93
166       900,000 20,180.72
119       600,000       31,932.77
174       2,500,000       32,628.43
124       1,103,939       17,559.77
112       363,825 8,054.72
227       1,538,000       16,173.81
161       1,370,968       23,161.53
216       1,339,903       12,503.53
102       173,481       6,795.40
96       210,000       15,833.33
97       441,737       11,759.43
56       96,000       8,000.00
72       177,833       7,501.82
62       252,390       25,266.45
78       377,182       17,409.35
74       111,000       9,891.89
33       238,000       23,848.48
30       45,000       5,919.30
39       50,000       3,846.15
32       40,000       6,250.00
25       61,766       4,237.28
41       166,903       25,266.46
24       116,056       17,409.33
49       41,000       5,102.04
43       195,821       11,759.42
9              
20       96,713       17,409.35
32       6,500       2,953.13
14       5,500       2,500.00
14       4,000       4,285.71
13       15,000       2,307.69
13       9,500       1,538.46
53       48,200       3,528.30
11       3,000       10,909.09
16       27,084       3,652.44
21       30,000       2,380.95
21       20,000       2,380.95
46       43,549       1,314.04
21       10,000       952.38

Retirement planning.

John and Jane will contribute to an RRSP until they are each 71. When they turn 71, CRA rules require them to switch their RRSPs to an annuity and begin receiving payments. John and Jane will receive their first payments on their (respective) 71st birthdays. Each wish to receive a payment of $10 000 per month until they die. If the annuity pays 5% interest compounded monthly, how much must they have saved in their RRSP if they live until their 81, 91 or 101 birthday?

Both John and Jane have 10 000 which they will contribute to their new RRSP on their 31^st birthday. Supposing that their RRSPs earn 12% compounded monthly what is John’s monthly contribution if he plans to live until 91? Similarly, what is Jane’s monthly contribution if she plans to live until 101?

You have just turned 22 received your degree and accepted your first job. You must decide how much to put in your retirement plan. The plan works as follows. Every dollar in the plan earns 6.5 percent per year. You may not make withdrawals until you retire at 65. After that you can withdrawal money as needed. You believe you will live to 100 and work until 65, and believe you need 95000 per year to be comfortable starting at the end of the first year of retirement and will end on your 100^th birthday at the end of the year. You contribute the same amount to the plan at the end of every year you work. How much will you need to contribute each year to fund your retirement

After reading Butler, Harper, & Mitchell, C. B. (2011), answer the following questions:

1. What research question(s) does the study address?
2. What is the researchers’ rationale for the study? Was the study designed to contribute to theory? Do the results of the study contribute to theory? For both questions: If so, how? If not, why not?
3. What constructs does the study address? How are they operationalized?
4. What are the independent and dependent variables in the study?
5. The researchers used analysis of variance (ANOVA) in their data analysis. Was this an appropriate choice? Why or why not?
6. Name the type of research design the researchers used.
7. What internal and external validity threats did the researchers address in their design? How did they address them? Are there threats they did not address? If so how does the failure to address the threats affect the researchers’ interpretations of their findings?

Branding On NIKE

Brand Description

What is the “brand” you are trying to build? What do people think about this brand today, and how do they experience it?

Brand Promise

What is the brand promise for this brand? If one hasn’t been defined yet, create one. If you believe the brand promise needs improvement, please suggest how you would refine it. Why is your recommended brand promise a good fit?

Brand Voice and Personality

Describe your brand voice and personality using the is/is never template:

• [Brand] is:
• [Brand] is never:

Brand Positioning and Strategy

Make a recommendation about brand positioning and/or branding strategy to help build the brand and contribute to aligning it with what your target segment wants. How will this contribute to the success of your product, service or organization?

Although bats are not known for their eyesight, they are able to locate prey (mainly insects) by emitting high-pitched sounds and listening for echoes. A paper gave the following distances (in centimeters) at which a bat first detected a nearby insect.

61 24 52 56 42 34 27 42 68 45 83

(a) Compute the sample mean distance at which the bat first detects an insect. (Round your answer to three decimal places.)

? cm

(b) Compute the sample variance and standard deviation for this data set. (Round your answers to two decimal places.)

3) You expect a risk free rate of 8% and a market risk premium of 6%. You ask a stockbroker what the firm’s research department expects for stocks “U”, “N”, and “D”. The broker responds with the following information:

Compute the expected & required return for these three stocks, and plot them on an SML graph. Indicate what actions you take with regard to these stocks. Discuss your decisions.