You are required to identify three “nichers” (firms and/or brands) and explain why they have identified these as “niches” based upon the following criteria
1. Little/no competition
2. Focused business
3. Strong relationships with customers
4. Business stability

essay answer asked write 5 pages. i would also need to know how to make the content of the answer (how to start, what are theory part should explain, how to write about the examples) body and how to end

A1 (a) Bank Muscat collect bills for encashment on behalf of its customers. It is a part of its secondary functions. During the year 2019 it received bills for collection amounting to OMR 2,000,000. The balance on bills for collection on 31/12/2018 amounted to OMR 200,000. It returned the dishonoured bills to its customers amounting to OMR 25,000.
Bills collected during the year amounted to OMR 850,000. Record these transactions in the journal and prepare the ledger for the same.
(b) Banks provide the vital resource for an economy to survive and run smoothly. There are various types of banks which cater to the growth of a country namely, housing bank, industrial bank, commercial bank, agricultural bank etc.

   (i) Explain the meaning of commercial bank in your own words. How are the commercial banks useful to Oman’s economy?  ( 2 marks)

(ii) Mr. Ahmed wants to start a business. All his financial transactions will be through bank. His father retired from his office due to old age. His mother is doing some home tuition for school students. Now Ahmed, his father and his mother all three wants to open a bank account. You recommend the type of account to be opened by these three different people and explain their special features. ( 3 marks)

Bayview Manufacturing Company has an accounts receivable department that performs three activities within the department: invoicing customers, processing customer credit applications, and performing collection activities. During interviews, the employee survey reports that they spend 15 percent of their time invoicing customers, 55 percent of their time processing credit applications, and 30 percent of their time on collection activities. The accounts receivable department employs 10 associates for a total monthly cost of $50,000. Assume each associate works 8 hours per day, 20 days per month, but an estimate of practical capacity is 80 percent. After close observation of the employee’s daily work, managers conclude the following:

Invoicing a Customer:	35 minutes
Processing a Credit Application:	10 minutes
Collection activities:	20 minutes

                                                                        

The estimated monthly quantities of work in the three activities are 300 invoices, 4,000 credit applications, and 1,150 collection calls.

Required:

1. Under a traditional ABC system, what is the cost of one unit of activity (round to 2 decimal places)? (10pts)

2. Assuming the practical capacity information, what is the cost per minute of supplying capacity (round to 2 decimal places)? (5pts)

3. Under time-driven ABC, what are the cost driver rates for each activity? (5 pts)

Automotive Products ​(AP​) designs and produces automotive parts. In 2017​, actual variable manufacturing overhead is $ 308,600. AP's simple costing system allocates variable manufacturing overhead to its three customers based on​ machine-hours and prices its contracts based on full costs. One of its customers has regularly complained of being charged non-competitive​ prices, so AP's controller Declan Smith realizes that it is time to examine the consumption of overhead resources more closely. He knows that there are three main departments that consume overhead​ resources: design, ​ production, and engineering. Interviews with the department personnel and examination of time records yield the following detailed​ information:

			Usage of Cost Drivers by Customer
			Contract
		Manufacturing	Rural	Janek	Island
Department	Cost Driver	Overhead in 2017	Motors	Motors	Auto
Design	CAD-design-hours	$39,000	110	200	80
Engineering	Engineering-hours	29,600	70	60	240
Production	Machine-hours	240,000	120	2,800	1,080
Total		$308,600

1.	Compute the manufacturing overhead allocated to each customer in 20172017 using the simple costing system that uses​ machine-hours as the allocation base.
2.	Compute the manufacturing overhead allocated to each customer in 20172017 using​ department-based manufacturing overhead rates.

In Drosophila, the mutant genes ct (cut wings), y (yellow body), and v (vermillion eye color) are all X-linked. Females heterozygous for all three genes were mated with homozygous recessive males. The male progeny from the cross are given below. As is conventional with Drosophila, the wild-type allele of each gene is designated by a + sign.

ct         y          v                      4

ct         y          +                      93

ct         +          v                      54

ct         +          +                      349

+          y          v                      331

+          y          +                      66

+          +          v                      97

+          +          +                      6

Determine the allele arrangement in the heterozygous parents.

Determine the gene order of these three linked genes.

Construct a linkage map showing the map distances between the three genes.

Calculate interference.

a. Determine the allele arrangement in the heterozygous parents. b. Determine the gene order of these three linked genes. c. Construct a linkage map showing the map distances between the three genes. d. Calculate interference.

Deletion of Product Line

St. Gallen American School is an international private elementary school. In addition to regular classes, after-school care is provided between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm at CHF 10 per child per hour. Financial results for the after-school care for a representative month are as follows:

Revenue, 750 hours at CHF 10 per hour                                                                     CHF 7,500 Less            Teacher salaries                                                     CHF 5,300            Supplies                                                                           1,200            Depreciation                                                                   1,700            Sanitary engineering                                                         200            Other fixed costs                                                               400                                     8,000            Operating income (loss)                                                                                     CHF(1,300)

The director of St. Gallen American School is considering discontinuing the after-school care services because it is not fair to the other students to subsidize the after-school program. He thinks that eliminating the program will free up CHF 1,300 a month to support regular classes.

1. Compute the financial impact on St. Gallen American School from discontinuing the after-school care program.
2. List three qualitative factors that would influence your decision

CASE CHAPTER 15: QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS: HYPOTHESIS TESTINGPERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRACTIVENESSINTRODUCTION When Song Mei Hui moved from being Vice President for Human Resources at Pierce & Pierce in Shanghai to her international assignment in New York, she was struck by the difference in perception of Pierce & Pierce as an employer in China and the United States. Pierce & Pierce in China stands for an attractive and popular place to work, as opposed to its image as an employer in the United States, which was one of an unattractive, traditional, and uninspiring place of work. This difference in perception was bothering Song Mei Hui, because a strong and appealing ‘employer brand’ has the capacity to attract (and retain) talent as denoted by the number of university graduates aspiring to work for companies such as SAS, Google, Cisco, and the Boston Consulting Group.According to Song Mei Hui, the drivers of employer attractiveness have evolved into a complex and challenging set in this day and age. Even though she believes that the success of the organization itself is at the cornerstone of being an attractive employer (and Pierce & Pierce is flourishing indeed), she feels that a wide variety of factors contribute to being successful in attracting and retaining talent. “For many employees, being a part of a profitable, thriving corporation is a reward on its own,” she says. “However, this is obviously not enough. Opportunities for empowerment, a feeling of achievement, a substantial compensation package, and a culture of grooming and development also play a major role in the decision making process of today’s young professionals. Job candidates are looking for a career, and not just for a job.”Song Mei Hui has hired a graduate student in management, Timothy Brice, to develop and test a model of employer attraction. The results of Timothy’s study should help Pierce & Pierce to become more popular as an employer in the United States and hence to attract and retain talented young professionals. Timothy has conducted a literature review and in-depth interviews with graduate students and young professionals who have just started their careers in order to establish the drivers of employer attractiveness. Based on the results of the literature review and the qualitative study, he has developed the following model. CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND HYPOTHESESFigure 1: A conceptual model of employer attraction EMPLOYER BRAND IMAGE From this model, Timothy has derived the following hypotheses. The effect of Brand Image on Employer attraction Employer brand image can be defined as the potential applicants’ perceptions of instrumental and symbolic attributes of an organization (cf. Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Lievens and Highhouse, 2003; Lievens, 2007; Martin, Beaumont, Doig and Pate, 2005). The instrumental dimension includes tangible attributes related to the job and/or the organization such as ‘job opportunities’, whereas the symbolic dimension includes (the perception of) intangible attributes of an employer (as if it were a person) such as ‘sincerity’ and ‘being exciting’. Both instrumental and symbolic attributes have been found to affect applicant attraction to an employer (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Cable and Turban, 2001; Turban and Greening, 1997). Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:H1a: The more positive the perception of instrumental attributes of an employer, the stronger applicant attraction to the organization. H1b: The more positive the perception of symbolic attributes of an employer, the stronger applicant attraction to the organization. Feelings of significant others.If significant others in someone‘s surrounding (e.g., family and friends) tell this person that a company is a much better employer than other employers, someone’s level of attraction to Instrumental attributes:-Workplace atmosphere-Job opportunities-Industry characteristicsEmployer attractionSymbolic attributes:-Excitement-Sincerity-PrestigeSubjective normsCONCEPTUAL MODEL AND HYPOTHESESFigure 1: A conceptual model of employer attraction EMPLOYER BRAND IMAGE From this model, Timothy has derived the following hypotheses. The effect of Brand Image on Employer attraction Employer brand image can be defined as the potential applicants’ perceptions of instrumental and symbolic attributes of an organization (cf. Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Lievens and Highhouse, 2003; Lievens, 2007; Martin, Beaumont, Doig and Pate, 2005). The instrumental dimension includes tangible attributes related to the job and/or the organization such as ‘job opportunities’, whereas the symbolic dimension includes (the perception of) intangible attributes of an employer (as if it were a person) such as ‘sincerity’ and ‘being exciting’. Both instrumental and symbolic attributes have been found to affect applicant attraction to an employer (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Cable and Turban, 2001; Turban and Greening, 1997). Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:H1a: The more positive the perception of instrumental attributes of an employer, the stronger applicant attraction to the organization. H1b: The more positive the perception of symbolic attributes of an employer, the stronger applicant attraction to the organization. Feelings of significant others.If significant others in someone‘s surrounding (e.g., family and friends) tell this person that a company is a much better employer than other employers, someone’s level of attraction to Instrumental attributes:-Workplace atmosphere-Job opportunities-Industry characteristicsEmployer attractionSymbolic attributes:-Excitement-Sincerity-PrestigeSubjective norms that particular organization will grow. It is generally recognized that potential applicants often consult other people (e.g., family, friends, and/or acquaintances) about jobs and organizations(e.g., Van Hoye and Lievens, 2007)”. What’s more, Turban (2001) found that university personnel’s beliefs about organizations affect students’ attraction to that organization. Kilduff (1990) also found that in the early stages of job search, college students are heavily influenced by the beliefs of their friends and classmates. These findings all point at the relevance of social influences to potential applicants in influencing the level of employer attraction. Hence, the following hypothesis is proposed: H2: The more positive significant others are about an organization, the stronger applicant attraction to the organization. To test these hypotheses, Timothy has undertaken a quantitative field study. He has collected data using a questionnaire measuring the variables in his model and a couple of respondent characteristics such as age, gender, and level of education with closed-ended questions. The results of this study are provided next. RESULTSTable 1 provides the means and standard deviations of the variables of interest to this studyand the results of a multiple regression analysis that was conducted to test the hypotheses of this study. Table 1 Summary statistics and results of the regression analysis Adjusted R2dfFMSDBSEtpRegression.3657, 897.304-----.000aConstant--2.213.5224.238.000Instrumental attributesWorkplace atmosphere4.32.75.088.152.577.565Job opportunities4.73.75.390.1362.868.005Industry characteristics4.24.74.275.1861.473.144Symbolic attributesExcitement3.78.91.071.149.474.637Sincerity5.13.80.109.137.794.429Prestige4.05.81.146.1151.268.208Subjective norm4.981.13.317.1003.169.002 Employer attraction3.711.23----Note. df = degrees of freedom; F = F-statistic; M = Mean; SD = Standard deviation; B = Unstandardized beta coefficient; SE = standard error; t = t-statistic; p = significance level; Scale 1-7 a. Predictors: (Constant), Workplace atmosphere, Job opportunities, Industry characteristics, Excitement, Sincerity, Prestige, Subjective norm.b. Dependent Variable: Employer Attraction.N= 197 (88 men and 109 women). QUESTIONS1. a. Discuss the following statement: “One of the most important issues in regression analysis concerns model specification (the determination of which independent variables should be included in or excluded from a regression equation).” b. Do you like Timothy’s model? Is it, for example, in line with Song Mei Hui’s ideas? 2. What’s the difference between simple regression analysis and multiple regression analysis?3. Why can’t Timothy run a series of simple regressions (for instance three or seven) to test the hypotheses of his study? 4. Provide the equation of Timothy’s model. 5. Interpret the results of the regression analysis. Discuss: a. the model fit; b. the significance of the model; c. the constant; d. the statistical validity of the beta coefficients; e. the face validity of the results.6. A common problem encountered in regression analysis is multicollinearity. a. What is multicollinearity and how does it affect the estimates of the regression coefficients?b. Describe two ways to test for multicollinearity. Which one do you prefer?c. Suppose that multicollinearity is a problem in this study. What can Timothy do about it? d. Do you expect that multicollinearity is a problem in this study? Explain.7. Timothy suggests that Pierce & Pierce should create more exciting jobs to attract more employees since the mean of the independent variable “excitement” is relatively low. Do you agree?8. What managerial conclusions can you draw based on the results of the regression analysis? 9. Song Mei Hui believes that the gender of potential employees may affect the original relationship between prestige and employer attraction. She asks Timothy to test this idea.a. How can Timothy test this idea? b. Provide a new equation of the model: include Song’s ideas about the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between prestige and employer attraction.10. Discuss the following statement: “Regression analysis does not address the issue of causality.”

A statistics professor plans classes so carefully that the lengths of her classes are uniformly distributed between 49.0 and 54.0 minutes. Find the probability that a given class period runs between 51.25 and 51.5 minutes. Find the probability of selecting a class that runs between 51.25 and 51.5 minutes. nothing ​(Round to three decimal places as​ needed.)

Make a table or list of the major similarities & differences between the Moon & Mercury, including three major discoveries about Mercury made by Mariner 10 & three improved results found by MESSENGER. Consider just intrinsic & rotational properties, not orbital properties

A poll asked 1054 adults​ "If purchasing a used car made certain upgrades or features more​ affordable, what would be your preferred luxury​ upgrade? The results indicated that 8​% of the males and 14​% of the females answered window tinting. The poll description did not state the sample sizes of males and females. Suppose that both sample sizes were 527 and that 44 of 527 males and 74 of 527 females reported window tinting as their preferred luxury upgrade of choice.

Is there evidence of a difference between males and females in the proportion who said they prefer window tinting as a luxury upgrade at the 0.05 level of​ significance?

a. Let group 1 be the​ males, and let group 2 be the females. State the null and alternative hypotheses.

b. Calculate the test statistic. X²_STAT

c.Determine the critical value.

d. State the conclusion.

e.Find the​ p-value in​ (a) and interpret its meaning.

What are the answers if 62 males said they prefer window tinting as a luxury upgrade and 465 did​ not?

f. The new Test Statistic? X²_STAT

g. Determine the new​ p-value.

h. Interpret the​ p-value.

i. State the conclusion.

j. An earlier​ Z-test for the difference between two proportions in part​ (a) resulted in a test statistic of Z_STAT = −2.93 against critical values of −1.96 and 1.96​, with a​ p-value of 0.003. An earlier​ Z-test for the difference between two proportions in part​ (c) resulted in a test statistic of Z_STAT = −1.10​, with a​ p-value of 0.270. Compare the results of​ (a) through​ (c) to the results of the​ Z-tests.