Some firms, frequently family firms or founder firms, have dual-class shares ("A" shares and "B" shares) with differential voting rights. Sometimes one class gets more votes than the other class (e..g., "A" shares receive 1 vote per share and "B" shares receive 10 votes per share). Other times, one class can have the right to elect a majority of the directors (e.g., "A" shares elect 3 directors and "B" shares elect 7 directors). In these cases, the company is considered a "controlled" company and does not have to abide by independent director rules established by the SEC or the stock exchanges. In Atlanta, Rollins is a controlled (family controlled) company and elects to be treated as a controlled, company. That is, as a controlled company, Rollins exercises their right not to comply with director independence requirements. The New York Times (controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger Family since 1893 -- ability to elect 7 of 10 directors) and Facebook (controlled by Mark Zuckerberg since the founding; 22% of the CF rights but 56% of voting rights after the IPO) are controlled companies. The New York Times and Facebook both claim controlled status but choose to meet director independence requirements. Corporate Governance groups (e.g., Institutional Investor Services) and shareholder activists almost routinely view these control arrangements negatively since the controlling shareholder has, within legal limits, unlimited power and few if any checks and balances. Thus, the controlling shareholders could choose policies to benefit themselves at the expense of minority shareholders. For instance, the Ochs-Sulzberger family might receive private satisfaction from influencing the news even if their approach did not maximize shareholder value. Others, argue that these arrangements can be beneficial for certain firms. For instance, control allows the Ochs-Sulzberger family to maintain independent journalistic control without shareholder pressure. If the Ochs-Sulzberger slant sells best to a certain constituency, this approach could maximize value for shareholders. Likewise, if Zuckerberg's creativity and innovation is vital to Facebook, his control would protect his creative guidance of the firm from unwanted takeovers or market pressures, and therefore benefit shareholders. A third viewpoint is that markets work pretty well so any positive or negative impact of the control arrangement is already impacted in the stock price when you purchase it. If The argument is correct, you will not incur costs as an investor.

Do you think controlled firms provide good governance and protect shareholder interests? Why or why not. Or, maybe you think it doesn't matter one way or the other? Why or why not? Would you be willing to invest in a controlled company? Why or why not?

5. X is a normally distributed random variable with a mean of 8 and a standard deviation of 3. The probability that X is between 6 and 10 is

a. 0.7486

b. 0.4972

c. 0.6826

d. 0.8413

The weight of football players is normally distributed with a mean of 200 pounds and a standard deviation of 20 pounds.

6. The probability of a player weighing more than 240 pounds is

a. 0.0197

b. 0.9803

c. 0.4803

d. 0.0228

7. Refer to the information in Q6. The probability of a player weighing less than 220 pounds is

a. 0.8413

b. 0.9938

c. 0.4938

d. 0.1587

8. What percent of players weigh between 170 and 230 pounds?

a. 50%

b. 86.64%

c. 68.26%

d. 99.72%

A professor at a local university noted that the grades of her students were normally distributed with a mean of 76 and a standard deviation of 10.

9. The professor has informed us that 16.6 percent of her students received grades of A. What is the minimum score needed to receive a grade of A?

a. 85.7

b. 87.7

c. 88.3

d. 88.7

CHINA TARGETING 8% GROWTH IN 2010
At the beginning of 2010 the Chinese government announced that it was targeting 8% growth for the economy
again, despite the global recession. The target had been 8% for a number of years and the government had
always met it.
About 9% growth is expected in 2010 thanks to huge government fiscal and monetary stimulus measures. The
Chinese economy is the third largest in the world. Forecasts for economic growth made by the International
Monetary Fund for 2010 included China 9.2%, UK 0.9%, Japan 1.7%, US 1.5% and India 6.4%. However,
government officials in China recognized that growth was not guaranteed. China relies heavily on exports and
so is vulnerable to economic change elsewhere in the world.
Adapted: Gillespie, A (2013), Business Economics, Oxford University Press
QUESTION 1 (25)
1.1 Discuss what is meant by economic growth and why is economic growth often important to governments.
(10)
1.2 8% is relatively fast economic growth by international standards for China. Critically evaluate the sources of
economic growth for China and why the country set such as high target?

Alice’s parents are very strict with her. In her family, her father always makes decisions about everything from what kind of car they will buy to how weekend time is spent. She is required to obey her parents and never question the reasons for their rules. What can you tell us about her family situation? What would research lead us to believe Alice will be like in childhood and adolescence?

QUESTION 5

Decide in each of the following instances whether the contract is valid, void or voidable. Motivate your answers. 5.1 Grace orders an oval-shaped swimming pool to be delivered, but the pool company delivers a square-shaped pool. (2)

5.2 Rob phones Lindsay’s home number and makes her a job offer. The next morning Lindsay’s sister, Janine, comes to work for him. Rob discovers that the offer was made to the wrong person. (2)

5.3 A traditional healer tells his patient, Julius, that he should give him all his sheep in order to be cured of Tuberculosis. Julius agrees. (2)

5.4 Louis thinks that he becomes the owner of the property by paying for the occupancy. (2) 5.5 Robert, a prominent official at the local university, wants to buy Gideon’s car. Gideon is reluctant to sell his car to Robert. Robert tells him that if he does not sell the car to him, he will see to it that his son (Gideon’s son) will not be allowed to study at the local university. Gideon sells his car to Robert. (2)

You recently graduated from university, and your job search led you to Coles Group Limited. Since you thought the company’s business was very promising, you accepted their job offer. As you are finishing your employment paperwork, Michel, who works in the Finance Department, stops by to inform you about the company’s new superannuation plan. Australian companies offer membership of a superannuation fund to their employees, where their Superannuation Guarantee contributions are saved. Superannuation funds have concessional tax arrangements, which saves tax if you save for your retirement through your fund. So, if you can make contributions to the fund from your pre-tax income (known as salary sacrifice), contributions are deducted from your current salary, and no current income tax is paid on the money, and the super fund pays only 15% tax on the contributions. For example, assume your salary will be $130 000 per year. If you contribute $7200 pre-tax to the superannuation fund, you will pay taxes on only $122 800 in income. Taxes will be payable on the initial deposits at 15% and on any capital gains or fund income while you are invested in the fund, and you will not pay taxes when you withdraw the money at retirement, provided you retire at or after turning 60. At Coles, you can contribute up to 6% of your salary to the plan, which will be saved in the fund with your 9% Superannuation Guarantee contributions. The Coles superannuation fund has several options for investments, most of which are managed funds. As you know, a managed fund is usually made up of a portfolio of assets. When you purchase shares in a managed fund, you are actually purchasing partial ownership of the fund’s assets, similar to purchasing shares in a company. The return of the fund is the weighted average of the return of the assets owned by the fund, minus any expenses. The largest expense is typically the management fee paid to the fund manager, which makes all of the investment decisions for the fund. Coles Group Limited uses Down Under Financial Services to manage its superannuation plan. Michel then explains that the retirement investment options offered for employees are as follows: Down Under All Ordinaries Index Fund. This fund tracks the All Ordinaries Index. Shares in the fund are weighted exactly the same as they are in the All Ordinaries Index. This means that the fund’s return is approximately the return of the All Ordinaries Index, minus expenses. With an index fund, the manager is not required to research shares and make investment decisions, so fund expenses are usually low. The Down Under All Ordinaries Index Fund charges expenses of 0.20% of assets per year. Down Under Property Trust Fund. This fund invests primarily in property trust shares. As such, the returns of the fund are slightly less volatile than the All Ordinaries Index. The fund can also invest 10% of its assets in companies based outside Australia and New Zealand. This fund charges 1.70% of assets in expenses per year. Down Under Bond Fund. This fund invests in long-term corporate bonds issued by companies domiciled in Australia and New Zealand. The fund is restricted to investments in bonds with an investment grade credit rating. This fund charges 1.40% in expenses. Down Under Money Market Fund. This fund invests in high-quality debt instruments, which include bank bills and government bonds. As such, the return on money market funds is only slightly higher than the return on government bonds. Because of the credit quality and nature of the investments, there is only a very slight risk of negative return. The fund charges 0.60% in expenses. Using the information provided, answer the following questions:

I. Assume you decide you should invest at least part of your money in an All Ordinaries Index fund of companies based in Australia. What are the advantages and disadvantages of choosing the All Ordinaries Index fund compared with the Bond Fund?

Carter Cleaning Centers

Jennifer Carter graduated from State University in June 2005, and, after considering several job offers, decided to do what she always planned to do go into business with her father, Jack Carter. Jack Carter opened his first Laundromat in 1995 and his second in 1998. The main attraction of these coin laundry businesses for him was that they were capital- rather than labor-intensive. Thus, once the investment in machinery was made, the stores could be run with just one unskilled attendant and none of the labor problems one normally expects from being in the retail service business. The attractiveness of operating with virtually no skilled labor notwithstanding, Jack had decided by 1999 to expand the services in each of his stores to include the dry cleaning and pressing of clothes. He embarked, in other words, on a strategy of related diversification by adding new services that were related to and consistent with his existing coin laundry activities. He added these for several reasons. He wanted to better utilize the unused space in the rather large stores he currently had under the lease. Furthermore, he was, as he put it, tired of sending out the dry cleaning and pressing work that came in from our coin laundry clients to a dry cleaner 5 miles away, who then took most of what should have been our profits. To reflect the new, expanded line of services, he renamed each of his two stores Carter Cleaning Centers, and was sufficiently satisfied with their performance to open four more of the same type of stores over the next 5 years. Each store had its own on-site manager and, on average, about seven employees and annual revenues of about $500,000. It was this six-store chain that Jennifer joined after graduating. Her understanding with her father was that she would serve as a troubleshooter/consultant to the elder Carter with the aim of both learning the business and bringing to it modern management concepts and techniques for solving the business problems and facilitating its growth.

Questions:

1. In line with your course, define the significance of the case?

2. The case narrated that the owner was capital oriented rather than labor-intensive. As an HRM student, what do you think about the philosophy of the owner? Which suggestions you will recommend to utilize labour oriented philosophy in the organization?

3. What suggestions you will provide to Jennifer to link HRM policies and practices with the differentiation strategy of the organization? Justify your answer.

Course: REL 228 at DePaul University

While using readings from class, discuss at least three author's arguments regarding what should be subject to free-market forces and what required government intervention. Restated, is society best served when all products (e.g. drugs, guns, privacy) or social reforms (e.g. equality in the workplace, discrimination) are subject to the market? Or, do we justifiably keep some products or reforms from the decisions of the market? Please provide an author's justification for their argument and not just their solution. Part of this will include a description of the author's position on how freely the market operates.

Bradley borrowed $72,500 in student loans and he has just graduated from Elon University. He earns enough at his new job to allow him to pay $575 per month on the loan. If the annual rate on the student loan is 4.38% (compounded monthly), how long will it take Bradley to pay off his student loans? Specify the number of months to the nearest whole number

Chandler found his dream mountain home, valued at $245,000. He plans to buy a home just like it when he retires in 15 years. Chandler can earn 6.96 percent per year on his investments. Assume that the price of the house will increase 2.25 percent per year for the next 15 years. How much must he invest at the end of each month for the next 15 years to make the purchase at the end of the 15th year?
A. less than $1,015
B. more than $1,015 but less than $1,080
C. more than $1,080 but less than $1,145
D. more than $1,145 but less than $1,210
E. more than $1,210