Evaluate the characteristics of the top-level management in the MWM organisation at the end of the simulation. Develop a managerial succession plan for the blue buddies organisation. justify your responses and discuss disadvantages.

1.Introduction to the MWM Organization

MWM was originally a family business and the Dexter family is still the largest single shareholder even though their shareholding is under 5%. Their presence on the external board is largely honorary now. Frank Dexter was a solid state physics graduate who specialized in the development of hard drive storage and access protocols. Both his son and nephew, best friends from their earliest years, had graduated with majors in mathematics and physics respectively. These two, Marc and Stephen, were among the earliest gamers in the late 1970’s and had a vision for the industry. They built the company into a profitable and successful one and largely liquidated their shareholding in the mid-1990s.  

The organization still holds strongly to the values of fairness, integrity and innovation that the original founders had. MWM appears to new employees as an organization which can achieve good outcomes but can be rather sloppy and unsystematic in the way that it got there: it marches to its own drum. In the past, new console launches have been delayed by up to 6 months. When it has mastered something as an organization, it can be quite good at ongoing execution. However, when it needs to do something quite different from ‘business as usual’ it struggles. It lacks a ‘project management’ discipline which is usually taken for granted in most organizations in the technology industry.

MWM employs over 5500 staff. 85% are in the Roundland continent, the majority being located in three factory sites linked to distribution hubs – East Coast, Mid-Continent and West Coast. Head office consists of 500 people, and the Research Centre 800 people. The remaining Roundland employees are in Sales, spread across the Roundland continent. The 825 employees located in the Starland continent are mainly in Sales with some minor local support functions.

A– CEO

A has been with MWM for 15 years, previously playing the role of marketing manager. An enthusiastic gamer himself, he is often on the front cover of industry magazines and always willing to give opinions on the industry to journalists, many of whom he would count as his personal friends.  

His office wall is lined with trophies and citations awarded at the annual video gaming awards ceremony held in mid-January every year – just after the high winter sales period. A is a capable businessman and manages to keep the profits of MWM steady when those of competitors have been declining, although even he has been unable to stem the downward trend in profits experienced over the last 3 quarters. He has given his word that he will remain at the helm of MWM for as long as the shareholders still need him. It is well known that he is privately very wealthy and wishes to spend more time fishing.

B – CFO

B has only been with MWM for 6 months. He was previously a partner in a medium-sized accounting firm and had long wanted the chance to be part of an organization with tangible products and services. An active and sophisticated gamer himself, he leapt at the chance to join MWM when he noted the position advertised in a gaming industry magazine.  

B has become increasingly concerned by the drop in unit sales, although

he realizes that this is mostly due to the trend in the industry overall. He

believes that what the industry needs most is novelty, a new technological breakthrough which will “wow” customers to such an extent that they will be happy to replace their existing consoles, as they have done for each new generation of gaming console in the past.

C – Marketing Director

C is a well known figure in the video gaming world. She began her career in marketing at a well known consumer goods organization. After a thorough training in marketing, she made an industry switch to become the managerial assistant to Stephen Dexter. She is an avid gamer and extremely knowledgeable about the industry and its customers, and is deeply respected for this knowledge within MWM and the industry. She was the first person in the industry to accurately segment the market and to point out that gamers now ranged from under ten to over 40 and comprised 3 separate demographic and psychographic groups. Many of the competitors had adopted her classifications of the different customer segments. She had encouraged the other major players to subscribe to a panel which collected and distributed monthly information on certain vital customer purchasing and usage patterns. She is a popular conference speaker, often headlining industry events.

D – Operations Director

D has been with MWM for over 20 years, longer than A who he remembers inducting into the organization all those years ago.   D is a real devotee to the gaming industry. At home he has installed an impressive home cinema, complete with 7.1 surround sound and a $25,000 projector. When the MWM research laboratories want to test their latest graphics and sound systems, D is their number one test customer – if he likes it, it will be good enough for anyone in the market. D has seen the market develop from the first colored blocks moving on a screen to the massively impressive and realistic 3D pictures and great sound being offered today. After an early career in the mail distribution center and then in sales, D worked his way up through the business and took over the helm of Operations two years ago. His main challenge has been to deal with balancing staffing at the factories with the unpredictable demand pattern for consoles. The patterns that existed with peaks during the winter season and just before the summer break no longer occurred.   

E – Sales Director

E was seen as a strategic hire when she joined MWM just under a year ago from a major global computer giant, where she was deputy Global Sales Director. She holds a PhD in Computer Science and was a prominent researcher before her management career development led her to doing a stint in Sales. Following MWM’ struggles to change its culture, E was seen as the right person with the intelligence and initiative to make a real impact at MWM.

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For more than two years, my school employer in Thailand had been trying to terminate me with forced retirement. In a January 2013 meeting with my supervisor, I was politely informed that my teaching contract for the new school year beginning in May of 2013 was not being renewed. The sole reason for this was my age. Although I was 68, my health was still good, and I hadn't missed one day of teaching during the past year. Furthermore, my mind was still very sharp, and teachers and students alike regarded me as one of the better teachers at school. Upon appealing this unfair action to the school's principal, I was given a contract for the upcoming school year but with a frozen salary, and the stipulation that both the school and I mutually agreed on my retirement in April of 2014. After an appeal and assistance from a third party, I was finally given a lawful due pay increase for my final year at the school.

Why, then, was my school so intent on forcing me into retirement? The answer lies in age discrimination or ageism which I will examine in this hub. After defining age discrimination and forced retirement, I will present the pros and cons of age discrimination and forced retirement in the workplace.

What is Age Discrimination?

Age discrimination or ageism may be defined as treating a person less favorably because of age. This is often reflected in the hiring, promotion, and forced retirement policies of businesses and governments. Whenever they can get away with it through loopholes in the law, businesses and the government will hire younger people in preference to senior citizens. A lot more younger than older persons will be promoted as seen during my career with the government.

Age Discrimination at Work

What Is Forced Retirement?

Forced retirement is the involuntary ending of a person's career usually through age discrimination. This can happen to an individual who is still in his or her 50s when a company is downsizing. Under the guise of early retirement with a few benefits, an employee who is still productive is coerced into a forced retirement. Forced retirement can also happen to an older employee in his or her 60s. This is done by making the workplace job so unpleasant that the employee eventually gives up and accepts a forced retirement.

Forced Into Retirement - What You Should Do

Arguments for Age Discrimination and Forced Retirement

What, then, are the arguments for and justifying age discrimination and forced retirement in the workplace?

1. The Employer Saves Money

It is a fact that older employees receive a much higher salary than younger employees. In the case of my employment at a school, wouldn't it make good business sense to replace my salary with that of a younger teacher who will earn half as much as me?

If a person is working for a business or government in the United States, the employer will contribute much less to retirement benefits for a younger employee than for an older one.

2. The Older Employee Is Less Productive

Some people have made the case that a worker's productivity declines rapidly after the age of 65. This is many times reflected in the increased number of sick days taken, and the slower reaction time both mentally and physically of older workers. Older workers are often challenged by new technology and find it very difficult to learn new office computer applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Office. In competitive professional sports such as baseball, basketball, and football, the older athlete most times in his mid or late 30s is not as good as the younger athlete.

3. More Opportunities For Younger People

If a company or the government has too many older employees, it will not be able to hire new blood in the form of younger employees. It is a fact that younger employees are more energetic and generally more able to adapt to change than the older. By examining what is reflected in today's media, it is, in fact, a young person's world. Trends and changes in business and society are initiated by younger people. In professional sports, most people recognize that it is a young person's sport. Consequently, teams are built around the younger athletes rather than the older.

Arguments Against Age Discrimination and Forced Retirement

Now for the arguments against age discrimination and forced retirement which are as follow.

1. It's Unfair and Against Most Laws

In many western countries, age discrimination and forced retirement are against most laws. In Thailand, forced retirement is allowed; however, according to labor laws, the employee forced to retire from his job is entitled to severance pay. I personally feel that if an older employee is in good health, and has a good flexible mind to his or her job, it is unfair to force retirement.

2. The Older Employee Has a Wealth of Experience

Older employees have a wealth of experience to contribute to businesses and the government. The United States persuades some of its older employees to accept an early retirement by promising them part-time contractor jobs after they retire. As a part-time contract worker, the retirement annuitant gets to mentor junior employees, and the government saves money by not keeping the older employees on as full-time workers. Unless businesses agree to keep their experienced older employees on as part-time workers and mentors, they would be foolish to let this wealth of knowledge and experience go.

3. Older Employees Have Better Work Habits and Loyalty than Junior Employees

Many older employees have much better work habits than younger workers. A senior dedicated employee will not miss much work time and will always be on time. Because the senior is not interested in upper mobility and only looking out for himself or herself, he will be more dedicated to his job with the government or a business.

It is completely understandable why my school forced me to retire with age discrimination. The school could save money, and maybe the school and students' parents prefer seeing a younger and more handsome face in the classroom. Just the same, I challenge the school to hire a younger teacher who is more dedicated, more experienced, and a better teacher than me.

1.   Define each of the following fundamental concepts

1. Interpreted vs. Compiled Languages
2. Interpretive Overhead
3. Scripting (Procedural) vs. Object Orientation vs. Logic Programing vs. Event Driven Programming Paradigms
4. Programming Libraries/Modules
5. Command Line (Prompt)
6. ASCII
7. Functions
8. Control Flow
9. Hashes/Dictionaries
10. List Comprehension

True or False

2.   A dictionary is a random-access data structure.

3.   An array is a sequential access data structure.

4.   Using functions to isolate code is a good programming practice.

5.   Lexicographical ordering starts by comparing the first letters of two strings to determine the order.

6.   Standard Input in Perl and Python is the keyboard.

7.   Standard Output in Perl and Python is the printer.

8.   The character "!" comes after "M" in the ASCII table.

9.   Regular expressions are used to process text.

10. In Perl, the last calculation performed in a subroutine is returned by the subroutine, unless an explicit return value is provided with the return keyword.

11. Python numpy arrays are homogenous data structures.

12. A Python list is a mutable, random access data structure of mixed type.

13. Dictionaries are useful to store pairs of data sets which are related and of the same length.

Basic Statistical Functions

14. Come up with a function in Python to compute the sample mean of a list of numbers. The return value should be the sample mean and the input value should be the list of numbers. Do not use a built-in function for the mean. Show an example of your function in use.   

The sample standard deviation s_N is defined as the square root of the sample variance of a set of N values.

15.  come up with a function in Python to compute the sample standard deviation of a list of numbers. The return value should be the sample standard deviation and the input value should be the list of numbers. Do not use a built-in function for the standard deviation. Show an example of your function in use.   

Basic Text Processing

16. Come up with a function in Python to take in a piece of sample text via a long string (you pick the string) and to output a dictionary with each word as a key and it's frequency (the number of times it occurred in the original string) as the value. Show an example of your function in use. Be sure to strip out any punctuation.

17. Come up with a function in Python which removes a set of common words from a long piece of text. Be sure to strip out any punctuation. The common words to be removed are:

                    a, an, as, at, by, for, in, is, it, of, that, this, to, was, will, the

These are typical words which are considered to have low semantic value.

Process each paragraph provided below individually. Your end result for each paragraph should be a string or list containing the processed paragraph with the common words and punctuation removed. It is not required to put the text samples into a file (you can simply copy and paste into a string variable inside your Python script).

For the text samples to process, use the following (taken from the official Python tutorial):

If you do much work on computers, eventually you find that there's some task you'd like to automate. For example, you may wish to perform a search-and-replace over a large number of text files, or rename and rearrange a bunch of photo files in a complicated way. Perhaps you'd like to come up with a small custom database, or a specialized GUI application, or a simple game.

If you're a professional software developer, you may have to work with several C/C++/Java libraries but find the usual write/compile/test/re-compile cycle is too slow. Perhaps you're writing a test suite for such a library and find writing the testing code a tedious task. Or maybe you've written a program that could use an extension language, and you don't want to design and implement a whole new language for your application.

You could come up with a Unix shell script or Windows batch files for some of these tasks, but shell scripts are best at moving around files and changing text data, not well-suited for GUI applications or games. You could come up with a C/C++/Java program, but it can take a lot of development time to get even a first-draft program. Python is simpler to use, available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix operating systems, and will help you get the job done more quickly.

Python is simple to use, but it is a real programming language, offering much more structure and support for large programs than shell scripts or batch files can offer. On the other hand, Python also offers much more error checking than C, and, being a very-high-level language, it has high-level data types built in, such as flexible arrays and dictionaries. Because of its more general data types Python is applicable to a much larger problem domain than Awk or even Perl, yet many things are at least as easy in Python as in those languages.

Python allows you to split your program into modules that can be reused in other Python programs. It comes with a large collection of standard modules that you can use as the basis of your programs — or as examples to start learning to program in Python. Some of these modules provide things like file I/O, system calls, sockets, and even interfaces to graphical user interface toolkits like Tk.

Python is an interpreted language, which can save you considerable time during program development because no compilation and linking is necessary. The interpreter can be used interactively, which makes it easy to experiment with features of the language, to write throw-away programs, or to test functions during bottom-up program development. It is also a handy desk calculator.

21. Install a Python module that is not included with the Anaconda Distribution. Explain how you installed the module and take a screen shot of the install.  

The process of break-even analysis examines the relationship between revenue and costs for different factors of production. The main emphasis is in determining the number of units and the sales volume at which the company will recover its costs. At this level of production and sales the company's profits are zero. By examining this initial break-even point companies can analyze the risk of a particular project as well as any potential profits that can be garnered.
In a spreadsheet analysis of break-even problem, the advantage is that many "what if" scenarios can be examined without lengthy computation times and fear of computational errors are virtually eliminated. In addition, by taking advantage of the graphical capabilities of spreadsheet programs, the results can be shown graphically as well as numerically.
A well designed spreadsheet would accommodate cells for the input data such as fixed costs, variable cost per unit, price per unit, etc. It is possible to even provide for raw observational data to be used such as sales volume, total cost, and quantity. However, we will leave that model for a subsequent analysis. In addition, the model should provide an output range to include relevant factors like break-even quantity, break-even dollars, and target profit, etc. The model should be designed such that as the input values are changed the corresponding output values are automatically modified to reflect these changes. This process involves setting up relative formulas for the computation of break-even quantity, break-even dollars, and projected profits. Finally, the model should provide a graphical representation of the problem. This would best be represented as a linear graph of revenue, cost, and profit displayed as a function of quantity.
Some useful hints for creating a well-designed break-even computer model include:
1. The basic computational equation for break-even quantity is: Break-Even Quantity = Fixed Costs / (Price per unit - Variable Cost per Unit) 2. Break-even dollars can be computed using the revenue or cost formula evaluated at the break-even quantity. 3. Projected profits can be evaluated using the profit function evaluated at the planned production level. 4. Each of the above formulas should be written with relative references to the cells of the spreadsheet that contain the input data of price per unit, variable cost per unit, fixed costs, and planned production level.
Break-Even Analysis Project - Saint Francis Hospital
Saint Francis Hospital has an operating room used only for eye surgery. The annual cost of rent, heat, and electricity for the operating room and its equipment is $275,000, and the annual salaries for the people who staff this room total $1,270,000. These costs are the same

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regardless how many surgeries are performed. Each surgery performed requires the use of $1,375 worth of medical supplies and drugs. To promote goodwill, every patient receives a bouquet of flowers the day after surgery. In addition, all patients require dark glasses, which the hospital provides free-of-charge. It costs the hospital $55 for each bouquet of flowers and $25 for each pair of glasses. The hospital receives a payment of $3,500 for each eye operation performed. Last year the hospital performed 950 operations and plans to continue at this level of production.
Identify the revenue per case (price per unit) and the annual fixed and variable costs for running the operating room. Set up your spreadsheet so that theses inputs can readily be changed. Set up an output range to calculate the break-even quantity and dollar amount for total revenue and costs. Also, set up an output range to display the projected profits resulting from different levels of production. How many eye operations must the hospital perform each year in order to break even? What would the annual profits be if they perform 950 operations each year?
One of the nurses has just learned about a machine that would reduce the cost of medical supplies needed by $580 per patient. It can be leased for $475,000 annually. Keeping in mind the financial costs and benefits, advise the hospital on whether or not they should lease this machine. Use the spreadsheet to identify the break-even point and the level of profit associated with 950 operations per year. Modify the fixed and variable costs as appropriate and examine the break-even quantity and profits again.
An advertising agency has proposed to the hospital's president that she spend $10,000 per month on television and radio advertising to persuade people that Saint Francis Hospital is the best place to have any eye surgery performed. The advertising firm estimates that such publicity would increase business by 30 operations per month. If they are correct, what impact would this advertising have on hospital's profit? What would happen to the break-even point? In case the advertising agency is being overly optimistic, what would the decision be if the advertising campaign only increased the number of operation per month by 5? What is the maximum amount the Hospital would be willing to pay for the advertising if the ads generated 30 additional operations each month? Consider this option independent of the machine purchase described above.
Assuming the hospital decided to use the advertising program, should the hospital then also purchase the machine? What impact do these decisions have on profits and risk for the hospital?
Prepare a written report summarizing your results and recommendations. Include an explanation of the effects of changing the price, variable cost, and fixed costs on the break-even point and profits. The report should include printouts of the various spreadsheets and graphs to support your conclusions.
Deliverables
1. Executive summary report to address relevant problem definition, assumptions, alternative solutions, and optimal solutions selection. A Microsoft Word file entitled, Project1.docx 2. Detailed numerical analysis with appropriate calculations and charts for the various scenarios. A Microsoft Excel file entitled, Project1.xlsx

Jan Northcutt, owner of Northcutt Bikes, started business in 1995. She notices the quality of bikes she purchased for sale in her bike shop declining while the prices went up. She also found it more difficult to obtain the features she wanted on ordered bikes without waiting for months. Her frustration turned to a determination to build her own bikes to her particular customer specifications.

She began by buying all the necessary parts (frames, seats, tires, etc.) and assembling them in a rented garage using two helpers. As the word spread about her shop’s responsiveness to options, delivery, and quality, however, the individual customer base grew to include other bike shops in the area. As her business grew and demanded more of her attention, she soon found it necessary to sell the bike shop itself and concentrate on the production of bikes from a fairly large leased factory space.

As the business continued to grow, she backward integrated more and more processes into her operation, so that now she purchases less than 50% of the component value of the manufactured bikes. This not only improves her control of production quality but also helps her control the costs of production and makes the final product more cost attractive to her customers.

The Current Situation

Jan considers herself a hands-on manager and has typically used her intuition and her knowledge of the market to anticipate production needs. Since one of her founding principles was rapid and reliable delivery to customer specification, she felt she needed to begin production of the basic parts for each particular style of bike well in advance of demand. In that way she could have the basic frame, wheels, and standard accessories started in production prior to the recognition of actual demand, leaving only the optional add-ons to assemble once the order came in. Her turnaround time for an order of less than half the industry average is considered a major strategic advantage, and she feels it is vital for her to maintain or even improve on response time if she is to maintain her successful operation.

As the customer base have grown, however, the number of customers Jan knows personally has shrunk significantly as a percentage of the total customer base for Northcutt Bikes, and many of these new customers are expecting or even demanding very short response times, as that is what attracted them to Northcutt Bikes in the first place. This condition, in addition to the volatility of overall demand, has put a strain on capacity planning. She finds that at times there is a lot of idle time (adding significantly to costs), whereas at other times the demand exceeds capacity and hurts customer response time. The production facility has therefore turned to trying to project demand for certain models, and actually building a finished goods inventory of those models. This has not proven to be too satisfactory, as it has actually hurt costs and some response times. Reasons include the following:

- The finished goods inventory is often not the “right” inventory, meaning shortages for some goods and excessive inventory of others. This condition both hurts responsiveness and increases inventory costs.

- Often, to help maintain responsiveness, inventory is withdrawn from finished goods and reworked, adding to product cost.

- Reworking inventory uses valuable capacity for other customer orders, again resulting in poorer response times and/or increased costs due to expediting. Existing production orders and rework orders are both competing for vital equipment and resources during times of high demand, and scheduling has become a nightmare.

The inventory problem has grown to the point that additional storage space is needed, and that is a cost that Jan would like to avoid if possible.

Another problem that Jan faces is the volatility of demand for bikes. Since she is worried about unproductive idle time and yet does not wish to lay off her workers during times of low demand, she has allowed them to continue to work steadily and build finished goods. This makes the problem of building the “right” finished goods even more important, especially given the tight availability of storage space.

Past Demand

The following shows the monthly demand for one major product line: the standard 26-inch 10-speed street bike. Although it is only one of Jan’s products, it is representative of most of the major product lines currently being produced by Northcutt Bikes. If Jan can find a way to sue this data to more constructively understand her demand, she feels she can probably use the same methodologies to project demand for other major product families. Such knowledge can allow her, she feels, to plan more effectively and continue to be responsive while still controlling costs.

1. Plot the data and describe what you see. What does it mean and how would you use the information from the plot to help you develop a forecast?

2. Use at least two different methodologies to develop as accurate a forecast as possible for the demand. Use each of those methods to project the next four months demand.

3. Which method from question 2 is “better”? How do you know that?

For the short essay assignment you will compare Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” with Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish.” I would like your analysis to focus specifically on the poets’ use of figurative language (metaphor and simile, in particular). How does the speaker in each of the poems feel about the fish? How does the poet’s use of figurative language contribute to the poem’s tone? Your short essay needs to be 750+ words and written in MLA format. Your paper should consist entirely of analysis. Both poems are included below along with reading questions to help guide your analysis. Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market By Pablo Neruda & translated By Robin Robertson Here, among the market vegetables, this torpedo from the ocean depths, a missile that swam, now lying in front of me dead. Surrounded by the earth's green froth —these lettuces, bunches of carrots— only you lived through the sea's truth, survived the unknown, the unfathomable darkness, the depths of the sea, the great abyss, le grand abîme, only you: varnished black-pitched witness to that deepest night. Only you: dark bullet barreled from the depths, carrying only your one wound, but resurgent, always renewed, locked into the current, fins fletched like wings in the torrent, in the coursing of the underwater dark, like a grieving arrow, sea-javelin, a nerveless oiled harpoon. Dead in front of me, catafalqued king of my own ocean; once sappy as a sprung fir in the green turmoil, once seed to sea-quake, tidal wave, now simply dead remains; in the whole market yours was the only shape left with purpose or direction in this jumbled ruin of nature; you are a solitary man of war among these frail vegetables, your flanks and prow black and slippery as if you were still a well-oiled ship of the wind, the only true machine of the sea: unflawed, undefiled, navigating now the waters of death. Questions for “Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” by Pablo Neruda 1. Compile a list of words from the poem that deal with weapons or warfare. 2. Annotate all of the metaphors and similes in the poem. What do you notice of the balance of similes and metaphors? 3. What’s the subject of the poem? 4. Who is the speaker? 5. What’s the tone of the poem? 6. How does Neruda marry form and content in the poem? 7. Do you like the poem? Why or why not? THE FISH I caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth. He didn't fight. He hadn't fought at all. He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and homely. Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper, and its pattern of darker brown was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age. He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, and infested with tiny white sea-lice, and underneath two or three rags of green weed hung down. While his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen - the frightening gills, fresh and crisp with blood, that can cut so badly- I thought of the coarse white flesh packed in like feathers, the big bones and the little bones, the dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails, and the pink swim-bladder like a big peony. I looked into his eyes which were far larger than mine but shallower, and yellowed, the irises backed and packed with tarnished tinfoil seen through the lenses of old scratched isinglass. They shifted a little, but not to return my stare. - It was more like the tipping of an object toward the light. I admired his sullen face, the mechanism of his jaw, and then I saw that from his lower lip - if you could call it a lip grim, wet, and weaponlike, hung five old pieces of fish-line, or four and a wire leader with the swivel still attached, with all their five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth. A green line, frayed at the end where he broke it, two heavier lines, and a fine black thread still crimped from the strain and snap when it broke and he got away. Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering, a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw. I stared and stared and victory filled up the little rented boat, from the pool of bilge where oil had spread a rainbow around the rusted engine to the bailer rusted orange, the sun-cracked thwarts, the oarlocks on their strings, the gunnels- until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go. Elizabeth Bishop The Noonday Press Elizabeth Bishop: The Complete Poems Questions on Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” 1. Define the following words: venerable, barnacles, rosettes, sea-lice, entrails, peony, irises, isinglass, sullen, grim, swivel, fray, bilge, thwarts, oarlock, gunnels. 2. What is the subject of the poem and who is the speaker? 3. Find all of the similes (a comparison of two things using the words “like” or “as”) in the poem. Which of them, in your opinion, is the strongest and why? 4. Explain the following image: “Like medals with their ribbons/ frayed and wavering,/ a five-haired beard of wisdom/ trailing from his aching jaw.” What does she mean by “a five-haired beard of wisdom?” Why do you think Bishop chose to use the word “medals?” 5. Track Bishop’s use of color in the poem. Find the instances where she mentions specific colors. Why do you think that Bishop writes, “until everything/ was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!” towards the end of the poem? 6. Bishop repeats words and phrases throughout the poem. Choose an instance where she uses repetition and explains how it contributes to the poem. 7. Explain the tone (the speaker’s attitude about the subject matter) of the poem. Use evidence from the poem to support your answer 8. What, in your thinking, is the strongest aspect of this poem? Do you like the poem? Why or why not? 9. Fill in the outline of a fish with 15 details from the poem. Please label each of the details. Feel free to add to the area around the fish.

Instructions:

**Must use formulas and link to cells throughout Excel file. Please name your project; i.e. Your Last Name_302 Project & Your Last Name_302 Memo. See Project Scoring Rubric for additional detail related to grading.

                        A. Record the journal entries for the December transactions.**Must show formulas in cells.

B. Record the adjusting journal entries for 12/31/18.**Must show formulas in cells.

                        C. Set up a worksheet using Excel to:

• Prepare the Unadjusted Trial Balance as of December 31, by making the December adjustments (separate columns). **Must link cells to journal entries.
• Enter the adjusting journal entries into worksheet (separate columns). **Must link cells to journal entries.
• Prepare the Adjusted Trial Balance as of December 31. **Use formulas.
• Complete the Income Statement and Balance Sheet columns of the worksheet. **Use formulas.

                        D. Prepare a multiple step income statement including calculation of weighted average shares and earnings per share. **Must link to worksheet.

                        E. Prepare a retained earnings statement. **Must link to worksheet.

                        F. Prepare a balance sheet (both years presented). **Must link to worksheet.

                        G. Prepare a cash flows statement. **Must link to comparative balance sheets and income statements.

                        H. Compute the following (**Must link to income statement and/or balance sheet):

• Current ratio
• Acid test ratio
• Debt to Equity
• Inventory Turnover
• Accounts Receivable Turnover
• At least 5 other ratios of your choosing

Using the memo format located in Microsoft Word, compile a memo incorporating the following information:   

• Based on the financial statements and ratios, describe the financial health of this company.
• Would you invest in this company? Why or why not? What would your advice be to the president of the company?
• Memo must include what other information would be helpful in making your decision.
• Memo will be graded based on content, correct grammar & spelling and the student’s ability to summarize financial data in a logical manner indicating the student’s general understanding of the financial data. See Rubric for additional details.

Record the following entries in general journal form for December, 2018:

December 1: Purchased Land for a future building site for $500,000, paying $100,000 down and signed a 5%, 90-day note for the balance.

December 3: Recorded sales on account of $45,000, 2/15, net 30. Cost of inventory was 23,500. JPJones using the net method for accounting for sales.

December 4: Bought back 5000 shares of stock for $20 per share.

December 4: Purchased 40,000 worth of equipment, 5 year life, $5,000 salvage value, for cash. Equipment will be depreciated using the straight-line method of depreciation.

December 5: Issued 5000 shares of restricted stock to its CFO. The stock has a fair value of $72,000. The service period related to this restricted stock is 3 years. Vesting occurs if the CFO stays with the company for 3 years. The par value of the stock is $1.

December 8: Purchased inventory of $44,000 on account and paid $30,000 on separate account.

December 15: Recorded cash sales of $24,000, cost of merchandise inventory was $14,900.

December 16: Issued 1,000 shares of common stock at $16.00 per share

December 17: Received payment related to sale on December 3.

December 20: Recorded sales on account of $113,000, cost of merchandise inventory was $75,000

December 24: Sold 2500 shares of Treasury Stock for $23 per share.

December 26: Wrote off 3,500 in bad debt.

Record the following adjusting entries in general journal form as of December 31, 2018:

1. Supplies on hand at the end of the year: $450
2. Equipment shown on the 12/1 TB was purchased on 1/1/17, has a 8 year life, no salvage value and company uses double-declining balance method for its depreciation.
3. Included in the truck balance is a fully depreciated truck for $6,500 and a new truck valued at $50,000 which was purchased on 1/1/17. The new truck has a 9-year life, no salvage value and the company uses the sum-of-the-years digits for its depreciation method on this asset.
4. The patent was purchased on 1/1/2013 for $100,000 and its useful life is 20 years.
5. $18,600 was paid on September 1, 2018 for six months rent
6. On 3/1/18, paid $22,500 for a 12-month insurance policy.
7. Declared dividends of $15,000 on December 31
8. The fair market value of the securities (classified as marketable) is $19,500.
9. 4% of Accounts Receivable is estimated to be uncollectible. Company uses the allowance method for estimating its uncollectible accounts.
10. Accrued salaries expense of $6,000 and recorded Payroll tax expense on account of $2300.
11. Had issued $200,000 of 6%, 10-year bond, dated 1/1/17 for $215,589 when the market rate was 5%. Interest is paid on June 30 and January 1 using the effective interest rate method. The June payment is included in the Dec. 1 TB. (Additional credit awarded if amortization table is included)
12. One month has passed since the issuance of restricted stock.
13. Interest on 30 days of note payable should be accrued. (Assume 360 days in a year for calculation)
14. Income tax rate is 25%

Additional Information:

During 2018, the following additional transactions occurred: (Hint: these are already included in 12/1/18 TB, but may be needed for the Statement of Cash Flows)

1. Issued 5,000 shares of common stock, $1 par, for $35,000 on June 30, 2018.
2. Some equipment was sold (original cost $10,000, book value $6,000) for $5,000 (do not consider in your #2 AJE)
3. All amortization and depreciation is recorded once a year on December 31.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada

INTRODUCTION During a lunchroom break, a male employee at ThyssenKrupp decided to take up a dare from a fellow colleague for $100 and the Jackass-like prank was videotaped then posted to YouTube. When it came to the attention of the HR manager and other senior management, the employee was fired for violating company policy. The employee argued in court that the organizational culture allowed such behaviour. But would the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) agree?

BACKGROUND ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada was subcontracting elevator installation at a construction site in downtown Toronto where a large office building was being built. All the workers on the site, including those from ThyssenKrupp, and the main contractor of the site, PCL Construction, were male and the culture of the workplace was described as a “macho” environment where pranks were played. There were reportedly pictures of women and provocative calendars hanging on walls, as well as signs displaying vulgar humour. There was little concern about these as access to the building was restricted to people involved in the construction project. One of ThyssenKrupp's employees at the site was an elevator mechanic. He and several other employees engaged in what he called “picking” on each other and playing pranks to keep things light at work. They also watched pornographic scenes on a worker's iPod and episodes of the television show Jackass, which features individuals doing stupid activities on dares.

ESCALATION OF PRANK BEHAVIOUR Over a period of a few weeks, the mechanic and other employees performed more and more pranks that copied some of the ones they saw on the Jackass show. Typically these events took place in the basement lunchroom where employees gathered for breaks and meals, to change clothes, and to socialize. Soon, money was being offered on dares to do certain actions. For example, one ThyssenKrupp employee accepted a dare that involved a $60 payment—money collected from fellow employees, including three foremen. The dare involved the employee eating spoiled food found in the common refrigerator of the lunchroom. A couple of weeks after the first dare, the mechanic was observed playing with a stapler in the lunchroom on a break. One of the foremen walked in and jokingly said, “What are you going to do with that? Why don't you staple your nuts to something?” The mechanic jokingly replied that he'd do it “if you get enough money.” Though he claimed it was intended as a joke, word spread within a few hours, and soon $100 was raised among seven other ThyssenKrupp and three PCL employees. Another four people were in the lunchroom later that afternoon watching when the mechanic decided to go ahead with the staple dare. He proceeded to drop his work uniform trousers and staple his scrotum to a wooden plank, which was met by “cheering and high fives,” according to the mechanic. With the mechanic's knowledge, the prank was filmed on video. Included on-camera were all those employees present, wearing full worksite uniforms, PCL logos on hats, and TK shirt patches—all easily identifiable and recorded by a worker who was present that day. The mechanic was advised at a later date that the event was posted on YouTube. Initially, the mechanic did nothing about the YouTube posting, but eventually asked for it to be taken off the site. To ensure this was done, the mechanic went back to YouTube searching for the video clip, but couldn't find it. He assumed it had been removed, however it was not—he just didn't search correctly. In total, the video clip was assessable on YouTube for two weeks, during which time many employees in the construction industry watched it. It was during these two weeks that ThyssenKrupp became aware of the video after the HR department received an email with a link to the video, and several people discussed it with a ThyssenKrupp executive at a construction labour relations conference. Conference participants insisted the employee was from ThyssenKrupp, and they questioned how the company could allow something like that to happen during work hours. At this point, ThyssenKrupp management reviewed the video one more time and decided that the mechanic had violated its workplace harassment policy, which prohibited “practical jokes of a sexual nature which cause awkwardness or embarrassment.” The mechanic was fired for “a flagrant violation” of ThyssenKrupp's harassment policy and risking the company's reputation.

CULTURE AT FAULT Upon being fired from his job, the mechanic filed a grievance with the OLRB. He argued that dismissal was too harsh given the culture of the workplace which was accepting of that type of behaviour. He also said no one told him not to do it, no one expressed displeasure, and no one mentioned they were offended. He argued that other employees had done stunts but questioned why he was the only one disciplined for his actions. He also claimed to have never seen the workplace harassment policy, even though it was part of the orientation package.

THE DECISION In July 2011, the OLRB found the mechanic's misconduct on the employer's premises, plus his permission to record it, “patently unacceptable in almost any workplace.” The fact that his employer was easily identified in the video clip contributed to the decision. The fact that the mechanic claimed not to have known about the corporate harassment policy was irrelevant—he should have known better. The OLRB also dismissed as irrelevant that no one protested or objected to the prank during the lunch break, which the mechanic argued was “not during work hours.” The court stated that ThyssenKrupp has an interest in preventing such horseplay and stunts in the workplace. They are in a safety-sensitive industry and such employee misconduct places the firm's reputation in jeopardy. The seriousness of the mechanic's misconduct also superseded any other factors, such as his claim of being a good employee with a clean record and the argument around the culture. There was no evidence that the company was aware of other pranks, and his role as the principle offender wasn't diminished by the culture, said the board. In dismissing the mechanics grievance, the board stated, “If (ThyssenKrupp) employees want to emulate the principles of Jackass by self-abuse, they may be free to do so when they are not on the (employer's) premises and cannot be identified as being associated with (ThyssenKrupp).”

(2) Considering that the mechanic claimed that the ThyssenKrupp culture contributed to such behaviour, in your opinion, does ThyssenKrupp need to change its corporate culture? If not, why not?   

(3)  You have to take one side, either the company ThyssenKrupp or the fired employee. If you decide to represent ThyssenKrupp, then you are the defense lawyer. If you decide to represent the fired mechanic, you are the Plaintiff’s Lawyer. Present your arguments with evidences and supporting matter to the Judge.

How a Welsh jeans firm became a cult global brand

With a look of concentration on her face, a worker guides the sheet of denim through the sewing machine, and a pair of jeans starts to take shape.

As the needle goes up and down in a blur of movement and rattling noise, a line of stitching starts to form a neat trouser leg.

When most people think about the global fashion industry it is safe to say that a sleepy town in far west Wales does not immediately spring to mind.

Yet Cardigan, on Wales' Irish Sea coast, has for the past five years been home to a high-end jeans-maker - the Hiut Denim Company.

Beloved by a growing number of fashionistas from New York to Paris, and London to Melbourne, Hiut ships its expensive jeans around the world.

As orders arrive via its website, Hiut's workforce of just 15 people gets to work hand-cutting and sewing the trousers from giant rolls of indigo-coloured denim that the company imports from Turkey and Japan.

Despite only making around 120 pairs of jeans a week, founder and owner David Hieatt has big ambitions to expand.

While it may seem a little incongruous that a posh jeans business is based in west Wales, Cardigan (population 4,000) actually has a long history of jeans-making.

For almost 40 years the town was home to a factory that made 35,000 pairs of jeans each week for UK retailer Marks & Spencer. But in 2002 the facility closed with the loss of 400 jobs when production was moved to Morocco to cut costs.

Fast forward 10 years, and when Mr Hieatt - a proud Welshman - was looking to open a factory to start making jeans, he chose Cardigan. The company name is a combination of the first two letters of Mr Hieatt's surname and the word "utility".

"Where better to locate ourselves than in a town with a history of jeans-making, where the expertise remains?" he says.

Employing machinists who had previously worked in the old factory and not lost their years of jeans-making skills, Mr Hieatt says he was confident that Hiut could be successful if it concentrated on selling directly to consumers around the world via its website.

"Without the internet we'd have been dead within 12 weeks," he says. "But the internet has changed only everything. The internet allows us to sell direct and keep the [profit] margin... it enables us to compete."

Now exporting 25% of its jeans, it takes Hiut about one hour and 10 minutes to make one pair, compared with 11 minutes at a highly mechanised jeans industry giant.

And rather than staff doing just one part of the manufacturing process, such as sewing on the pockets, each machinist at Hiut makes a pair of jeans from start to finish.

Mr Hieatt refers to the workers as "grand masters". This is in reference to the fact that some of them have more than 40 years of jeans-making experience, and new joiners have to train for three years before they can start making jeans for customers.

In running Hiut Mr Hieatt and his co-owner, wife Clare, have benefited from their experience of previously owning a clothing firm called Howies, which they sold to US firm Timberland for £3.2m in 2011.

But what has also been invaluable is Mr Hieatt's previous career working in advertising.

This advertising nous has enabled him to very effectively market and promote Hiut, from its snazzy website, to its extensive use of social media; both adverts in people's Facebook feeds and arty photos of people wearing its jeans.

"The interesting thing about social media for me is that up until Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and SnapChat you had to have a huge budget in order to tell your story," he says.

"In effect you were locked out of telling that story because the costs [of advertising and wider marketing] were too high. But social media has actually allowed the smaller maker [small firms that manufacture things] to go and tell his story.

"And actually, if David wants to beat Goliath, the best tool in the world is social media."

Mr Hieatt also sends out free jeans to what he calls "influencers", either fashion bloggers or famous people, in the hope that they will write or talk positively about the brand.

Successful examples of this have been an increase in orders from Denmark after Hiut sent a pair of its jeans to celebrated Danish chef Rene Redzepi, and also UK TV presenter Anthony McPartlin of the duo Ant & Dec tweeting about the company.

As Hiut continues to win overseas orders for its jeans costing up to £230 ($300) a pair, Mr Hieatt admits that one negative issue the company has to deal with is a return rate of "about 14%" - people sending them back because they don't fit.

To counter this problem Hiut is exploring using technology that can accurately tell from a photo a person's perfect jeans size.

Dr Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, fashion marketing course leader at London College of Fashion, says that if Hiut wants to expand its overseas sales it needs to "have the website in different languages" and consider partnerships that will see its jeans listed on other websites.

Back at Hiut's small factory on the edge of Cardigan, Mr Hieatt says the long-term aim remains to recreate 400 jeans-making jobs in the town.

"Our aim is to get 400 people their jobs back. If you ask me when is that going to happen, the honest answer is I don't know.

"But I believe in compound interest. Small things over time gather huge numbers."

QUESTION:

What international marketing strategy would you recommend to the firm?

ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada INTRODUCTION During a lunchroom break, a male employee at ThyssenKrupp decided to take up a dare from a fellow colleague for $100 and the Jackass-like prank was videotaped then posted to YouTube. When it came to the attention of the HR manager and other senior management, the employee was fired for violating company policy. The employee argued in court that the organizational culture allowed such behavior. But would the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) agree?

BACKGROUND ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada was subcontracting elevator installation at a construction site in downtown Toronto where a large office building was being built. All the workers on the site, including those from ThyssenKrupp, and the main contractor of the site, PCL Construction, were male and the culture of the workplace was described as a “macho” environment where pranks were played. There were reportedly pictures of women and provocative calendars hanging on walls, as well as signs displaying vulgar humor. There was little concern about these as access to the building was restricted to people involved in the construction project. One of ThyssenKrupp's employees at the site was an elevator mechanic. He and several other employees engaged in what he called “picking” on each other and playing pranks to keep things light at work. They also watched pornographic scenes on a worker's iPod and episodes of the television show Jackass, which features individuals doing stupid activities on dares.

ESCALATION OF PRANK BEHAVIOUR Over a period of a few weeks, the mechanic and other employees performed more and more pranks that copied some of the ones they saw on the Jackass show. Typically these events took place in the basement lunchroom where employees gathered for breaks and meals, to change clothes, and to socialize. Soon, money was being offered on dares to do certain actions. For example, one ThyssenKrupp employee accepted a dare that involved a $60 payment—money collected from fellow employees, including three foremen. The dare involved the employee eating spoiled food found in the common refrigerator of the lunchroom. A couple of weeks after the first dare, the mechanic was observed playing with a stapler in the lunchroom on a break. One of the foremen walked in and jokingly said, “What are you going to do with that? Why don't you staple your nuts to something?” The mechanic jokingly replied that he'd do it “if you get enough money.” Though he claimed it was intended as a joke, word spread within a few hours, and soon $100 was raised among seven other ThyssenKrupp and three PCL employees. Another four people were in the lunchroom later that afternoon watching when the mechanic decided to go ahead with the staple dare. He proceeded to drop his work uniform trousers and staple his scrotum to a wooden plank, which was met by “cheering and high fives,” according to the mechanic. With the mechanic's knowledge, the prank was filmed on video. Included on-camera were all those employees present, wearing full worksite uniforms, PCL logos on hats, and TK shirt patches—all easily identifiable and recorded by a worker who was present that day. The mechanic was advised at a later date that the event was posted on YouTube. Initially, the mechanic did nothing about the YouTube posting but eventually asked for it to be taken off the site. To ensure this was done, the mechanic went back to YouTube searching for the video clip, but couldn't find it. He assumed it had been removed, however, it was not—he just didn't search correctly. In total, the video clip was assessable on YouTube for two weeks, during which time many employees in the construction industry watched it. It was during these two weeks that ThyssenKrupp became aware of the video after the HR department received an email with a link to the video, and several people discussed it with a ThyssenKrupp executive at a construction labor relations conference. Conference participants insisted the employee was from ThyssenKrupp, and they questioned how the company could allow something like that to happen during work hours. At this point, ThyssenKrupp management reviewed the video one more time and decided that the mechanic had violated its workplace harassment policy, which prohibited “practical jokes of a sexual nature which cause awkwardness or embarrassment.” The mechanic was fired for “a flagrant violation” of ThyssenKrupp's harassment policy and risking the company's reputation.

CULTURE AT FAULT Upon being fired from his job, the mechanic filed a grievance with the OLRB. He argued that dismissal was too harsh given the culture of the workplace which was accepting of that type of behavior. He also said no one told him not to do it, no one expressed displeasure, and no one mentioned they were offended. He argued that other employees had done stunts but questioned why he was the only one disciplined for his actions. He also claimed to have never seen the workplace harassment policy, even though it was part of the orientation package. THE DECISION In July 2011, the OLRB found the mechanic's misconduct on the employer's premises, plus his permission to record it, “patently unacceptable in almost any workplace.” The fact that his employer was easily identified in the video clip contributed to the decision. The fact that the mechanic claimed not to have known about the corporate harassment policy was irrelevant—he should have known better. The OLRB also dismissed as irrelevant that no one protested or objected to the prank during the lunch break, which the mechanic argued was “not during work hours.” The court stated that ThyssenKrupp has an interest in preventing such horseplay and stunts in the workplace. They are in a safety-sensitive industry and such employee misconduct places the firm's reputation in jeopardy. The seriousness of the mechanic's misconduct also superseded any other factors, such as his claim of being a good employee with a clean record and the argument around the culture. There was no evidence that the company was aware of other pranks, and his role as the principal offender wasn't diminished by the culture, said the board. In dismissing the mechanic's grievance, the board stated, “If (ThyssenKrupp) employees want to emulate the principles of Jackass by self-abuse, they may be free to do so when they are not on the (employer's) premises and cannot be identified as being associated with (ThyssenKrupp).”

Questions

(3) Are there any Tort issues involved here? What other legal issues are involved here? Explain.