Over the past year, M.D. Ryngaert & Co. has realized an increase in its current ratio and a drop in its total assets turnover ratio. However, the company's sales, quick ratio, and fixed assets turnover ratio have remained constant. What explains these changes?

Describe at least three physical changes that occur during middle adulthood. Explain how stress can affect health during this developmental period.

Your response should be 5 paragraphs in length. Be mindful of using proper grammar and spelling. Please be specific in your example.

Your task: Write one paragraph on how the changing retail landscape might potentially affect your career plans. Your answer should include at least two specific retail changes that could alter the way your targeted employer or industry functions in the future.

an example of an appropriate interpersonal role carried out by a manager in an organization would be

A designing and initiating changes within the organization

B transmitting select information to subordinates

C participating in negotiating sessions with other parties vendors

D motivating subordinate to get the job done properly

Find a press release or professional communication from a credible organization that could benefit from a revision. Revise the letter or release to make it more effective, using the information from this module. Explain all of your changes and the explanation for each. Include the original text in your submission.

QUESTION 1

Read the two cases of Barbican Bank and Intermarket of Zimbabwe and answer the questions below:

Barbican Bank (BB)

Barbican Bank was formed in the late 1990s at the height of a rush into the financial services sector by domestic investors. It was born out of an asset management company. The founder
was a flamboyant businessman who was a public figure in the financial services sector. At formation the bank declared its focus would be the elite market. Its products were therefore
targeted specifically at the top market. The bank also declared an intention to operate a very small branch network, no more than five branches. Barbican started experiencing liquidity
problems in early 2003 and was placed under the curator in March 2003. Before being placed under the curator Barbican had been reporting fabulous profits most of them having come
from non interest transactions. According to the Central Bank, Barbican ‘‘was experiencing serious liquidity problems as a result of imprudent banking behaviours. There was no clear separation between various related entities within the group which led to cross funding of operations and excessive risk taking among other shortcomings.’’ The Central Bank also noted
that the bank was involved in ‘‘questionable cross-border foreign exchange activities.’’ The bank had shifted funds to South Africa from local operations with the object of establishing a
new company in South Africa. During its operation the bank introduced the derivatives (junk bonds) market, which had been non-existent in the country’s financial sector. When liquidity
problems besieged Barbican the Central Bank placed the banking division under the curator and the asset management company under liquidation. At the time of taking these measures
the Central Bank had injected money into the bank as liquidity support but the bank appeared to be on a serious slide. The bank has since failed to repay on time the loan from the Central
bank’s Troubled Bank Fund. On seeing his financial companies in difficulties, the Chief Executive (the founder) skipped the country. Despite problems in the home operations, the
founding chief executive was trying to set up another financial services company in South Africa. During his tenure the Chief Executive is said to have been so dominant the board
appeared clueless and powerless to restrain him. The bank has now been placed into liquidation by the Central Bank. It will be amalgamated into a merger of liquidated banks to form a new bank.

Intermarket (IM)

The founder established Intermarket Holdings during the late 1990s through acquisitions. At the time of inset of financial distress, the founder owned 72 percent of Intermarket Holdings
through an investment company called Transnational Holdings. Transnational Holdings comprised companies in banking and insurance among others. Its influence in the financial
services sector was in every sphere. Intermarket Banking Corporation one of the subsidiaries of the holding company started showing signs of liquidity problems in early 2004. This was
during the period of a cash crisis in the country. Much as all banking institutions were affected by the cash crisis, Intermarket appeared completely outstretched by the crisis. In March 2004
the bank was placed under the management of a curator by the Central Bank when it appeared it could not pay its creditors and depositors on demand. On investigation, the Central Bank
discovered that the Executive Chairman had loaned himself Z$90 billion of depositors’ money and the insider loans were not being serviced. The Executive Chairman was said to have been so dominant he had the veto power on everything that took place in the corporation. Investigations by the appointed curator have led to a rise in the figure for insider loans to
Z$174 billion. The Executive chairman fled the country when authorities appeared to point at him as the main contributor to financial distress in the institution. Intermarket has been trying
to enter into partnership with other banking institutions, in order to shore up its capital, without much success. Instead Finhold, another Zimbabwean financial institution whose banking
subsidiary is owed Z$100 billion is positioning itself to take over major shareholding in Intermarket Bank through a combination of cash and debt swap. Finhold’s strategy is an
attempt to protect possible collapse of Intermarket since it is a major creditor. Intermarket has to raise its capital base to Z$10 billion before 30 September 2004 as per regulatory authority
requirements. Fraud by some IM employees taking advantage of weak management systems has exacerbated financial distress in Intermarket. The curator has however opened the banking division for limited services to depositors.

Questions:

a) The liquidity problems experience by Barbican Bank and Intermarket bank were as a result of poor risk management. Discuss?

b) Identify the speculative risk that was taken by Barbican Bank?

c) Lack of board independence inadvertently creates an epicentre for corporate governance failures. Discuss using the two cases and outline the ideal role of a board in corporate governance and risk management

1) Demand pull inflation occurs when the:

• price of necessity goods increases suddenly.

• price level changes in response to changes in the business cycle.

• business cycle becomes sporadic and unpredictable.

• price of a key input increases suddenly.

2) While the __________ is not important, the _________ can have a big effect on economic behavior.

• price level; predictable change in the price level

• predictable change in the price level; price level

• price level; unpredicted change in the price level

• unpredicted change in the price level; price level

3) When real rates of interest are negative, borrowers:

• benefit, because the value of their debt increases.

• suffer, because the value of their debt increases.

• suffer, because the value of their debt declines.

• benefit, because the value of their debt declines.

4) Unexpected high inflation redistributes wealth from:

• those who save to those who borrow.

• banks to those who save.

• those who borrow to those who save.

• those who borrow to banks.

5) When banks hold excess reserves the:

• money multiplier underestimates how much money will be created in the economy.

• money multiplier overestimates how much money will be created in the economy.

• reserve ratio is not fully functioning, and should be raised.

• reserve ratio is not fully functioning, and should be lowered.

The commercial banking industry is undergoing rapid changes due to advances in technology and competitive pressures in the financial services sector. The data file BANKS contains selected information tabulated by Fortune concerning the revenues, profitability, and number of employees for the 51 largest US Commercial Banks in terms of revenues. Use the information in this file to complete the following:

a. Compute the mean, median and standard deviation for the three variables: revenues, profits and number of employees.

b. Convert the data for each variable to z value. Consider Mellon Bank Corporation headquarters in Pittsburgh. How does it compare to the average bank in the study on the three variables? Discuss.

c. As you can see by examining the data and by looking at statistics computed in part (a), not all banks had the same revenue, same profit or the same number of employees. Which variable had the greatest relative variation among the banks in the study?

d. Calculate a new variable: profits per employee. Develop a frequency distribution and histogram for this new variable. Also compute the mean, median and standard deviation for the new variable. Write a short report that describes the profits per employee for the banks.

e. Referring to part (d), how many banks had a profit-per-employee ratio that exceeded 2 standard deviations from the mean?