The interest rate on 3-year Australia government bonds has been approximately 0.25% since April. Which of the following is the most likely explanation of this near-zero market rate of interest on government bonds?

a. Australia government budget surpluses in recent years.

b. The target cash rate being set at 0.25%.

c. The low level of government debt.

d. Purchases of bonds by the Reserve Bank of Australia on the secondary market.

e. Purchases of bonds by the Reserve Bank of Australia on the primary market.

Suppose you receive the following spot exchange rate quotes from a bank:

AUD/USD 0.65-0.66

You have USD 1,000,000, which you wish to convert into AUD. How many AUD will you be able to purchase?

a. 650,000.

b. 655,000.

c. 1,538,461.

d. 1,515,152.

e. 660,000.

Due to a global economic crisis, the private sector reduces its investment spending and increases its planned saving, so that the private sector financial balance goes from a deficit of 2% of GDP to a surplus of 5% of GDP. The current account balance goes from a surplus of 1% of GDP to a deficit of 2% of GDP. This implies the fiscal balance must go from a ____________ of _________ of GDP to a ___________ of _________ of GDP.

a. surplus; 1%; deficit; 3%.

b. surplus; 3%; deficit; 3%.

c. deficit; 3%; surplus 7%.

d. surplus; 3%; deficit; 7%.

e. deficit; 3%; deficit 7%.

You are hired as a consultant by the national corporate office to address consistently lower performance scores for at least the past five years at one branch office in DeLand, FL near a train station. While the performance ratings are still average to just below average in some cases, the scores are considerably lower than at all of the other branch offices across the country. In addition, productivity declines consistently during each summer. The job positions with poorer performance include indoor and outdoor jobs and occur with all of the positions at the branch position. Performance evaluations are identical for each of the jobs across the branches (for example, performance evaluation criteria for the production manager in DeLand, FL are the same criteria for the production managers at each of the other sites.) Upon, first review, you find that the items on the performance evaluations seem to be consistent with the expectations in each of the written job descriptions. It is now time to visit the DeLand site. The corporate office has allowed you to make suggestions directly to supervisors at the DeLand office, implement any training programs you deem to be helpful, and then report your findings to the corporate office, What are some of the things that you anticipate might account for the lower ratings? After an objective analysis of the job responsibilities, comparisons with job descriptions, interviews with staff, and systematic observations, your suspicions are confirmed. How will you address them and what suggestions will you make to the corporate office?

QUESTION 7 - 6.3

I dislike using Microsoft Word and prefer to use other work processing software. However, nearly everyone that I work with uses Word, so I have to use this product when writing articles, books, and other research reports. For this reason, Microsoft Word holds a near-monopoly position in the word processor market. What is the barrier to entry that helps Microsoft maintain their market power?

QUESTION 8 - 6.3

Suppose there are 100 firms that sell athletic shoes and each has one percent of the market share. What is the HHI statistic for this market?

QUESTION 9 - 6.3

Suppose there are six firms in the breakfast cereal market. The four largest firms have 20 percent of the market share each, and the two smallest firms have 10 percent of the market share each. If one of the largest firms buys one of the smaller firms, what is the market share of the largest firm in the market after the buyout is concluded?

QUESTION 10 - 6.3

What happens to the profits of monopolistically competitive firms in the long run?

randtly Industries invests a large sum of money in R&D; as a result, it retains and reinvests all of its earnings. In other words, Brandtly does not pay any dividends, and it has no plans to pay dividends in the near future. A major pension fund is interested in purchasing Brandtly's stock. The pension fund manager has estimated Brandtly's free cash flows for the next 4 years as follows: $4 million, $5 million, $8 million, and $16 million. After the fourth year, free cash flow is projected to grow at a constant 4%. Brandtly's WACC is 14%, the market value of its debt and preferred stock totals $62 million; and it has 7 million shares of common stock outstanding. Write out your answers completely. For example, 13 million should be entered as 13,000,000. What is the present value of the free cash flows projected during the next 4 years? Round your answer to the nearest cent. Do not round your intermediate calculations. $ What is the firm's horizon, or continuing, value? Round your answer to the nearest cent. $ What is the firm's total value today? Round your answer to the nearest cent. Do not round your intermediate calculations. $ What is an estimate of Brandtly's price per share? Round your answer to the nearest cent. Do not round your intermediate calculations. $

A clarified broth from the fermentation of sucrose using Aspergillus niger consists of 16.94% wt citric acid, 82.69% wt water, and 0.37% wt other solutes. To recover citric acid, the broth would normally be treated first with calcium hydroxide to neutralize the acid and precipitate it as calcium citrate, and then with sulfuric acid to convert calcium citrate back to citric acid. To avoid the need for calcium hydroxide and sulfuric acid, U.S. Patent 4, 25, 671 describes a solvent-extraction process using, which is insoluble in water and has a density of 0.847 g/cm^3. In a typical experiment at 30 C, 50 g of 20% wt citric acid and water was contacted with 0.86 g of amide. The resulting organic phase assumed to be in equilibrium with the aqueous phase, contained 6.39% wt citric acid and 2.97% wt water.

Determine (a) the partition (distribution) coefficients for citric acid and water, and (b) the solvent flow rate in, needed to extract 98% of the citric acid in 1300 kg/ h of broth using 5 countercurrent, equilibrium stages, with the partition coefficients from part (a), but ignoring the solubility of water in the organic phase. In addition, (c) propose a series of subsequent stages to produce near-pure citric acid crystals. In part (b), how serious would it be to ignore the solubility of water in the organic phase? 5.10. Extraction

Brandtly Industries invests a large sum of money in R&D; as a result, it retains and reinvests all of its earnings. In other words, Brandtly does not pay any dividends, and it has no plans to pay dividends in the near future. A major pension fund is interested in purchasing Brandtly's stock. The pension fund manager has estimated Brandtly's free cash flows for the next 4 years as follows: $2 million, $6 million, $8 million, and $15 million. After the fourth year, free cash flow is projected to grow at a constant 7%. Brandtly's WACC is 9%, the market value of its debt and preferred stock totals $54 million; and it has 12 million shares of common stock outstanding.

Write out your answers completely. For example, 13 million should be entered as 13,000,000.

1. What is the present value of the free cash flows projected during the next 4 years? Round your answer to the nearest cent. Do not round your intermediate calculations.
   
   $
2. 
   
3. What is the firm's horizon, or continuing, value? Round your answer to the nearest cent.
   
   $
4. 
   
5. What is the firm's total value today? Round your answer to the nearest cent. Do not round your intermediate calculations.
   
   $
6. 
   
7. What is an estimate of Brandtly's price per share? Round your answer to the nearest cent. Do not round your intermediate calculations

Discussion Post Chapter 11: Pricing Strategy

Instructions

Write a post for the Discussion Forum on this topic, addressing the questions below. You may use either a written paragraph or bullet-point format. Part 1 should be 2–3 paragraphs in length or an equivalent amount of content in bullet-point form. Responses to your classmates’ posts should be 1–2 paragraphs or several bullet points in length.

Part 1: Pricing Strategy

Briefly describe pricing for your product or service. How does this compare to competitors, assuming competitors are at or near break-even point with their pricing? Analyze pricing alternatives and make recommendations about pricing going forward based on the following:

• How sensitive are your customers to changes in price?
• What revenue do you need to break even and achieve profitability?

• What does the price say about your product in terms of value, quality, prestige, etc.?

Part 2: Respond to Classmates’ Posts

After you have created your own post, look over the discussion forum posts of your classmates and respond to at least two of them.

Part 3: Incorporate Feedback

Review the feedback you receive from classmates and your instructor. Use this feedback to revise and improve your work before submitting it as part of the “Complete Marketing Plan” assignment.

Meteorology: Storms Weather-wise magazine is published in association with the American Meteorological society. Volume 46, Number 6 has a rating system to classify Nor’easter storms that frequently hit New England states and can cause much damage near the ocean coast. A severe storm has an average peak wave height of 16.4 feet for waves hitting the shore. Suppose that a Nor’easter is in progress at the severe storm class rating.

(a) Let us say that we want to set up a statistical test to see if the wave action (i.e, height) is dying down or getting worse. What would be the null hypothesis regarding average wave height?

(b) If you wanted to test the hypothesis that the storm is getting worse, what would you use for the alternate hypothesis?

(c) If you wanted to test the hypothesis that the waves are dying down, what would you use for the alternate hypothesis?

(d) Suppose you do not know if the storm is getting worse or dying out. You just want to test the hypothesis that the average wave height is different (either higher or lower) from the severe storm class rating. What would you use for the alternate hypothesis?

(e) For each of the tests in parts (b), (c), and (d), would the area corresponding to the P-value be on the left, on the right, or on both sides of the mean?

Is capitalism sustainable? Does business need to change the way it is presently conducted to be sustainable and competitive in the future? The above questions are your research topics for this week’s assignment. These are questions that many academics, economists, and policymakers in the United States ask themselves based upon the facts. This week you are asked to fact find (data) and consider how changes in the utilization of resources used by businesses are going to be factored going forward in the coming years. For example, how will humans and businesses deal with the end or near the end of specific resources (i.e. oil, iron, seafood, etcetera)? Keep in mind, as you learned in economics, that all resources are limited. Thus, based on current consumption rates they will run out. Also, within this equation, one must consider the environment and the questions of social responsibility to those who do not have access to such resources but are affected by the current capitalist society. In addition, clean water and air are a necessity for all forms of life. How does one protect these precious resources and continue to strive toward meeting profit objectives each fiscal quarter? Is capitalism as we know it at the end of its life cycle? While this is not an easy assignment or one where there are correct answers, there are answers and they should/must be based on good data and logic. In this assignment, you are asked to conduct your research and report the data while making an argument as it pertains to the original question. Is capitalism sustainable?

Part C

Go to the Phase Changes tab. Select the particular molecule, and set the temperature to the given values by using the stove to increase or decrease the temperature. Increase the pressure of the cylinder by moving the lid of the cylinder down with the help of the finger. The pressure of the cylinder is indicated by the pressure gauge on the top left corner of the simulation. On the right-hand side of the simulation is the phase diagram for the molecule.

As the molecules collide on the walls of the cylinder, the pressure of the cylinder does not remain constant; it fluctuates slightly as indicated by the gauge.

In the phase diagram, observe the red point. When a particular molecule is selected, set the temperature and pressure condition to the required value. Observe the position of the red point on the phase diagram when the pressure reaches approximately near the required value.

Which of the following conditions will result in the formation of a supercritical fluid?

Check all that apply.