Section 1. Business Improvement and Performance Excellence Profile

Conduct a research activity on the following aspects of the key organizational characteristics of any ONEof the chosen Company or Organization that are serving the Global Consumer Market. Write a response paper to the following salient points and address the following prompts:

1. What are they trying to accomplish?

2. What changes can the management make that will result in improvement?

3. What are the indicators to know that a change is an improvement?

A. Define the process: its start, end, and what it does.

B. Describe the process: list the key tasks performed and sequence of steps, people involved, equipment used, environmental conditions, work methods, and materials used.

C. Describe the players: external and internal customers and suppliers, and process operators.

D. Define customer expectations: what the customer wants, when, and where, for both external and internal customers.

E. Determine what historical data are available on process performance, or what data need to be collected to better understand the process.

F. Describe the perceived problems associated with the process; for instance, failure to meet customer expectations, excessive variation, long cycle times, and so on.

G. Identify the primary causes of the problems and their impacts on process performance.

H. Develop potential changes or solutions to the process, and evaluate how these changes or solutions will address the primary causes.

The new revenue recognition standard issue by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will call for major changes in the way companies in the airline industry recognize revenue. Airlines may have to change how they account for loyalty status benefits, mileage credits, change fees, and breakage for tickets that expire unused. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has formed an airlines task force to address implementation issues of the new standard for the airline industry. Assume that you have been called upon to present an analysis of the impact of the new standard on Southwest Airlines.

Refer to Southwest’s (ticker symbol: LUV) current/most recent financial statements (10-K) and the accompanying notes to answer the following questions. The current/most recent financial statement can be found on https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html. Search for the company in the ‘Fast Search’ box by using the ticker symbol provided above. In the list of results, find the latest filing labeled 10-K and select the ‘Documents’ link. On the next page, select the document of type ’10-K’ to open it.

1. For each of the following revenue categories, describe the current accounting, the likely changes (if any) that the new revenue recognition standard will require, and the potential impact of those changes on patterns of revenue recognition.

a) Flight Transportation (for tickets used and for ticket breakage)

b) Loyalty Program

c) Ancillary Services and Other Revenue

1. Define the socialisation process and what the process entails.

2. State various interactive elements of human ecology and explain their roles in socialisation processes.

3. Examine the influence of chronosystem on the meaning of childhood and its impacts on the process of child development.

4. Specify the measures that reflect the well-being of children in general.

5. Describe the challenges adults have to face in socialising children in the modern world and identify the ways to solve them.

6. Define socialisation.

7. Explain how socialisation is a unique human process.

8. Explain the reciprocal and dynamic process of socialisation.

9. State the difference between intentional socialisation and unintentional socialisation.

10. Explain child development through the Bronfenbrenner biological model.

11. Identify the four constructs in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of human development.

12. Explain the impacts of changes in human ecology on the process of socialisation.

13. Illustrate the changes in the definition of childhood from the Renaissance era up until the present day.

14. Describe how socialisation can help children adapt to changes in the modern era.

15. Define the chronosystem.

16. Describe how the change in chronosystem impacts the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem.

17. Identify measures that reflect the welfare of children in general.

18. Identify and discuss current societal trends that influence the socialization process of children.

I. At the beginning, create a folder named "test" and add the folder into the version control tool tracking system. Then create one file named "001" under this folder. Commit any change if necessary.

II. Next, add another file named "002" in the same folder and commit the change ("adding") in the version control tool.

III. Followed by adding that file, create a branch (namely, "branch-A") in the version control tool and make some changes to the contents in file "001" under the newly created branch. Then commit the change from file "001".

IV. Create another branch (namely, "branch-B") from the main branch (NOT from "branch-A"!) in the version control tool and make some changes to the contents in file "002". Then commit the change from file "002".

V. The next step is to merge "branch-A" and "branch-B" and commit the change to the main branch. Record what you see from such an operation and make your own decision which version you want to keep.

VI. At last, Revise the current change from the merged result to the beginning where there was one file named "001". Record what you see from this operation.

(3) Show a graph of all version related operations from version control tool. The graph is used to visually depict how changes are made.

You own goods A and B. You are considering increasing price of good A by 10%. Here is the information you have

Pa = 20

Qa = 1000

For each $1 increase in Pa, Qa will decrease by 100.

Pb = 12

Qb = 750

For each $1 increase in Pa, Qb will increase by 100.

(The point of this exercise is to have you do everything the long way then use the delta r formula so you can see the difference)

a . What is Total revenue of A before the price change?

b. What is total revenue of A after the price change?

c . What is Total revenue of B before the price change?

d. What is total revenue of B after the price change?

e. What is the change of revenue for A after the price changes?

f. What is the change or revenue for B after the price changes?

g. What is change in total revenue for both goods after price changes?

h. What is the own price elasticity for good A?

i. What is the cross price elasticity of A and B?

j. Calculate the change of revenue using the formula ∆ r =[ Rx (1 + E_Qx,Px) + Ry(E_Qy,Px)]%∆P_x.

k. Explain why the two methods have different answers.

l. To calculate the change in total revenue from the price change, which method do you prefer? Doing parts a-g or doing part h-j? Briefly explain.

Only h-l

1. The 6h 20 min between low and high tide is caused by what?
2. The 7 days between very large to mild CHANGES in tides is caused by what?
3. We see very large tide changes when the moon is in what two phases?              We see mild tide changes when the moon is in what two phases?
4. The unlit side of the moon ought to be totally black and be unseen in any phase. However, often it can be dimly seen. Why? How does it get any light at all?                    

5. Nebulas were mysterious fuzzy patches of light in space seen in a dark sky. Today we know these are four different things. List them.

6. Put these numbers in order, largest to smallest:   10⁵, 10¹⁴ , 10¹ , 10^-1 , 10^-8 ,10⁰

7. Put these distances in order: ly, megamile, pc, AU. How many km in 1 ly & 1 AU?

8. Put these 14 objects in rough size place (largest to smallest) according to their actual sizes, not as we see them: star (sun), major planet, comet head, meteor, galaxy, universe, a moon, asteroid, comet tail, solar system, local group, minor planet, space out to a nearby star, meteorite, an entire constellation

9. What is the moon illusion and why is it called an illusion?

You own goods A and B. You are considering increasing price of good A by 10%. Here is the information you have Pa = 20 Qa = 1000 For each $1 increase in Pa, Qa will decrease by 100. Pb = 12 Qb = 750 For each $1 increase in Pa, Qb will increase by 100. (The point of this exercise is to have you do everything the long way then use the delta r formula so you can see the difference) a . What is Total revenue of A before the price change? b. What is total revenue of A after the price change? c . What is Total revenue of B before the price change? d. What is total revenue of B after the price change? e. What is the change of revenue for A after the price changes? f. What is the change or revenue for B after the price changes? g. What is change in total revenue for both goods after price changes? h. What is the own price elasticity for good A? i. What is the cross price elasticity of A and B? j. Calculate the change of revenue using the formula provided in class. k. Explain why the two methods have different answers. l. To calculate the change in total revenue from the price change, which method do you prefer? Doing parts a-g or doing part h-j? Briefly explain.

E10-5 Calculating Return on Investment, Residual Income, Determining Effect of Changes in Sales, Expenses, Invested Assets, Hurdle Rate on Each [LO 10-4, 10-5]

Solano Company has sales of $520,000, cost of goods sold of $380,000, other operating expenses of $51,000, average invested assets of $1,650,000, and a hurdle rate of 8 percent.


Required:
1. Determine Solano’s return on investment (ROI), investment turnover, profit margin, and residual income. (Do not round your intermediate calculations. Enter your ROI and Profit Margin percentage answer to the nearest 2 decimal places, (i.e., 0.1234 should be entered as 12.34%). Round your Investment Turnover answer to 4 decimal places.)

     

2. Several possible changes that Solano could face in the upcoming year follow. Determine each scenario’s impact on Solano’s ROI and residual income. (Note: Treat each scenario independently.) (Enter your ROI percentage answers to 2 decimal places, (i.e., 0.1234 should be entered as 12.34%.))

   a. Company sales and cost of goods sold increase by 40 percent.      

         
       
    b. Operating expenses decrease by $10,500.        
      
                

   c. Operating expenses increase by 20 percent.

                

    d. Average invested assets increase by $310,000.

                

    e. Solano changes its hurdle rate to 14 percent.

        

Often, planned tasks and their duration may change during project execution. It is important to analyze the effect of these changes on your project to ensure that the project still executes as expected. In this assignment, you will learn how to monitor your project for any effect of changes to planned tasks.

Revisit Chapter 6, "Project Time Management" in your textbook. Assume that there are six tasks to be completed in a project. Their duration and predecessors are specified in the following table:

Perform the following tasks:

1. Create a network diagram for this project.

2. Calculate the critical path and slack times for all tasks.

3. Assume that during project execution, you need to change the duration for Task 3 to 5 days, and Task 2 is finished 1 day early. How would these changes affect your project? What problems would have arisen if you were not monitoring the project?

4. Submit the network diagram as an embedded image in a 3- to 4-page document that also contains the calculations for the critical path and slack times and responses to the questions.

Submit your answers in the online classroom by Day 6.

Submit your answers by Day 6.

If you don’t repay a loan, and a lot of time passes, the debt can grow to unmanageable proportions, as happened to an unfortunate borrower in Melbourne. A grandmother has been forced to put her house up for sale after she ended up owing a massive $83 000 —on a $15 000 loan. Andrea lane, 57, borrowed the money in 2002 to pay for her father’s funeral and to buy a new oven for her Clayton home. But she could not meet the cost of the loan and 18 years later, the amount she owed had grown to $83 000 … Andrea said: ‘I borrowed the money when I was grieving for my father. I just signed the papers.’

a) Based on original loan of $15000, calculate the monthly repayments to be repaid over 5 years. Assume an interest rate of 25% p.a.

Andrea can afford to pay $600 per month into the loan, and she has been able to negotiate a new interest rate of 8% p.a.

b) How long would it take Andrea to repay the loan?

c) If she cannot afford to increase her current repayments, and is unable to negotiate a better interest rate, recommend a strategy to reduce the total length of time to repay the loan? Based on this strategy, how much interest would she save?