This assignment concerns the idea of "private equity," a notion that is very important to the financial strategy of firms. We had a brief discussion on Blackrock, which is a private equity firm. Many companies have recently been bought by private equity, including Dell. Private equity firms argue that they can re-engineer the firm without shareholders breathing down their neck.

But private equity can be a very dangerous thing. Private operators buy companies by borrowing money, then load the debt on the companies books, strip it of all value, and leave it to go bankrupt. A particularly egregious case involved the Simmons mattress company, and the same might be unfolding at Toys R Us.

In his 2014 letter to investors, Warren Buffet had warned about the ethics of this phenomenon:

Families that own successful businesses have multiple options when they contemplate sale. Frequently, the best decision is to do nothing. There are worse things in life than having a prosperous business that one understands well. But sitting tight is seldom recommended by Wall Street. (Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.)

When one part of a family wishes to sell while others wish to continue, a public offering often makes sense. But, when owners wish to cash out entirely, they usually consider one of two paths.

The first is sale to a competitor who is salivating at the possibility of wringing “synergies” from the combining of the two companies. This buyer invariably contemplates getting rid of large numbers of the seller’s associates, the very people who have helped the owner build his business. A caring owner, however – and there are plenty of them – usually does not want to leave his long-time associates sadly singing the old country song: “She got the goldmine, I got the shaft.”

The second choice for sellers is the Wall Street buyer. For some years, these purchasers accurately called themselves “leveraged buyout firms.” When that term got a bad name in the early 1990s – remember RJR and Barbarians at the Gate? – these buyers hastily relabeled themselves “private-equity.”

The name may have changed but that was all: Equity is dramatically reduced and debt is piled on in virtually all private-equity purchases. Indeed, the amount that a private-equity purchaser offers to the seller is in part determined by the buyer assessing the maximum amount of debt that can be placed on the acquired company.

Later, if things go well and equity begins to build, leveraged buy-out shops will often seek to re-leverage with new borrowings. They then typically use part of the proceeds to pay a huge dividend that drives equity sharply downward, sometimes even to a negative figure.

In truth, “equity” is a dirty word for many private-equity buyers; what they love is debt. And, because debt is currently so inexpensive, these buyers can frequently pay top dollar. Later, the business will be resold, often to another leveraged buyer. In effect, the business becomes a piece of merchandise.

So workers and customers suffer, while financiers make money.

In this assignment, please write a 500-word analysis of private equity. Give your essay an original title. You can be pro-private equity or anti. I want you demonstrate how well you understand this concept.

CASE STUDY

NEW LINE IN MOBILE PHONES

One of the oldest principles of marketing is that sellers may sell features, but buyers

essentially buy benefits. This is a distinction sometimes lost on technology led organizations,

and the service sector is no exception. Recent experience of the UK’s largest

telecommunications company, Della’s, illustrates how crucial it is to see service offers in

terms of the benefits they bring to customers. The company was aware of extensive research

which had found high levels of confusion among purchasers of mobile phones, with a

seemingly infinite permutation of features and prices. With four main networks to choose

from, dozens of tariffs and hundreds of handsets, it is easy to see why buyers sought a way of

simplifying their buying process. Throughout the 1990s, Della’s had positioned its UK

network as superior technically to its competitors. Advertising focused on high coverage rates

and call reliability.

Della’s was the UK's most popular mobile phone operator, with almost eight million

customers, including 4.2 million Pay as you Talk customers. It had opened the UK's first

cellular network on 1 January 1985 and was the market leader since 1986. Della's networks in

the UK - analogue and digital - between them carried over 100 million calls each week. It

took Della’s more than 13 years to connect its first three million subscribers but only 12

months to connect the next three million. Della’s had the largest share of the UK cellular

market with 33% and had more international roaming agreements than any other UK mobile

operator. It could offer its subscribers roaming with 220 networks in 104 countries.

Despite all of the above, Della’s was aware that although it was recognized as an extremely

strong business in the corporate marketplace, it was not so strong in the market for personal

customers. Research indicated that personal buyers bought Della’s for essentially rational

reasons rather than having any emotional attachment to the brand. The success of the

competing Digital network, which had developed a very strong image, was a lesson to Della’s

that many people did not understand many of the product features on offer, but instead

identified with a brand whose values they could share. Della’s recognized that it needed to be

perceived as adding value to a consumer’s lifestyle. Given the increasing complexity of

product features, positioning on technical features was likely to make life more confusing for

personal customers. An alternative approach was needed which focused on image and

lifestyle benefits.

QUESTION

Critically analyse the information provided on Della’s position in the market, and design a marketing plan to strengthen Della’s visibility and their competitive advantage.

1. Give an overview of the phone industry,
2. Give the competitive analysis of the company,
3. Give a marketing mix strategy
4. State the marketing mix, also provide the consumer’s analysis.
5. Be sure to identify the principal benefits of your proposed marketing strategy. You are also required to design a promotional plan that would effectively capture your target market.
6. Provide any recommendations to Della’s telecommunication company.

Thanks for your assistance!!!

Review the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to address the accounting scandals in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Enron, WorldCom, etc.)BELOW:

List the existing provisions in the Act do you believe (if any) are unnecessary or over-regulate the profession?

As a result of corporate accounting scandals, such as those at Enron and WorldCom, the U.S. Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The purpose of SOX is to restore trust in publicly traded corporations, their management, their financial statements, and their auditors. SOX enhances internal control and financial reporting requirements and establishes new regulatory requirements for publicly traded companies and their independent auditors. Publicly traded companies have spent millions of dollars upgrading their internal controls and accounting systems to comply with SOX regulations. As shown in Exhibit 1-10, SOX requires the company’s CEO and CFO to assume responsibility for their company’s financial statements and disclosures. The CEO and CFO must certify that the financial statements and disclosures fairly present, in all material respects, the operations and financial condition of the company. Additionally, they must accept responsibility for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting. The company must have its internal controls and financial reporting procedures assessed annually. Some Important Features of SOX SOX also requires audit committee members to be independent; that is, they may not receive any consulting or advisory fees from the company other than for their service on the board of directors. In addition, at least one of the members should be a financial expert. The audit committee oversees not only the internal audit function but also the company’s audit by independent CPAs. To ensure that CPA firms maintain independence from their client company, SOX does not allow CPA firms to provide certain nonaudit services (such as bookkeeping and financial information systems design) to companies during the same period of time in which they are providing audit services. If a company wants to obtain such services from a CPA firm, it must hire a different firm to do the nonaudit work. Tax services may be provided by the same CPA firm if pre-approved by the audit committee. The audit partner must rotate off the audit engagement every five years, and the audit firm must undergo quality reviews every one to three years. SOX also increases the penalties for white-collar crimes such as corporate fraud. These penalties include both monetary fines and substantial imprisonment. For example, knowingly destroying or creating documents to “impede, obstruct, or influence” any federal investigation can result in up to 20 years of imprisonment. SOX also contains a “clawback” provision in which previously paid CEO’s and CFO’s incentive-based compensation can be recovered if the financial statements were misstated due to misconduct. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 further strengthens the clawback rules, such that firms must recover all incentive compensation paid to any current or former executive, in the three years preceding the restatement, if that compensation would not have been paid under the restated financial statements. In other words, executives will not be allowed to profit from misstated financial statements, even if the misstatement was not due to misconduct.

Case Study 2: The Turn Around at Ford Ford has been going through difficult times and recovered more than once. The company’s share of the automobile market continues to shrink, and its cost structure has contributed to financial losses. In 2006, Ford lost $12.6 billion. In 2007, Ford did better, posting losses of only $2.7 billion. At the same time, however, Ford’s market shares dwindled and in 2007, its share was 14.8%—down from 26% in the 1990s. In an effort to match its production with the demand for its products, as well as address concerns with its high labor costs, Ford has focused on trying to get smaller to achieve long-term success in the automobile industry. One of the primary ways for Ford to achieve this goal is to take further steps to reduce the size of its workforce. Ford’s workforce went from 283,000 employees in 2006 to 171,000 in 2013. Ford then announced a new round of buyouts and early-retirement packages to its workers in an effort to cut costs and replace those leaving with lower-paid workers. Some of the offers made to reduce the labor supply in 2013 included: Workers who were eligible for retirement would receive a $50,000 offer, higher than the $35,000 in the previous round of buyouts. Skilled-trade workers, such as maintenance workers, will get an additional $20,000, bringing the total potential payout for such a worker to $70,000. Following the 2013 round of buyouts, Ford extended its tactics to reduce the size of its workforce and ongoing expenses further through means such as the following: Extending a buyout option for its 78,000 employees and special incentives for its 40,800 workers who are eligible for retirement to retire sooner rather than later. Offering a lump sum payment for 90,000 retired engineers and office workers to forgo their regular monthly pension check for the rest of their lives. The automaker’s goal in offering the company-wide buyouts was to cut jobs, reduce its ongoing pension expenses, to position itself to be more competitive in the market, and to align its labor capacity with the demand for its products. In 2018, Ford announced that by 2020 around 90% of Ford’s sales in North America would be trucks, SUVs and commercial vehicles. The only two cars to be manufactured in North America would be the Mustang and the Focus Active Crossover. The company has reallocated $7 billion of its research funds from cars to trucks and SUVs.

Questions

What factors have contributed to the large-scale labor surplus at Ford?

What impact is the most recent strategic plan at Ford likely to have on the company’s labor supply?

Over the years, Ford has decided to pursue employee buyouts and attrition in an attempt to shrink its workforce to match its productivity demands. Why do you think Ford uses these two tactics? Do you think these are the best options for Ford to achieve its goals?

What are the downsides of these two approaches? Are there any other approaches you might recommend addressing its labor surplus?

Question 8
Choose the item below that describes the process of creating an image with the lowest file size that still renders a good quality image.
O optimization
O multimedia
O validation
O bandwidth

QUESTION 9
Choose the item that creates an image link to the school.htm page when the school.gif graphic is clicked.
O <a href="school.html" src="school.gif" alt="school"> </a>
O <a href="school.html"> <img src = "school.gif" alt = " school "> </a>
O <img src =" school.gif "href =" school.htm "alt =" school ">
O None of these

QUESTION 10
Choose the recommended method (s) to obtain graphics for your website.

O Purchase a CD of graphics.
O Use a graphics application and create your own.
O Right click and copy a graphic you like from any website.
O both a and b

QUESTION 11
Select the best reason to include height and width attributes on an dmg tag
O they are required attributes and must always be included
O to help the browser render the Dege faster because it reierves the appropriate space for the image
O to nelp the browser display the image in its own window
O None of these

QUESTION 12
Select the browser's action when you configure BOTH a background color and background image for the body selector.
O display the background color instead of the background image
O will display no background for the page because it is "confused"
O display the background color while the background image loads and before the background image is displayed
O You cannot configure both a background color and a background image.

QUESTION 13

Select the code below that associates a favorites icon named favicon.ico with a web page document.
O dmg href = "favicon.ico" alt- "favarites" width = "16 height =" 16> dink rel = "favican" type = "image'gir" href- "favicon.ico">

O dink rel = "icon "type =" imagex-lcon "href =" laviconlco ">

O ca href-'Yavi conico"> dmg href- "favicon.ico" alt- "favorites" widthe "16" height- "16">< / a>

QUESTION 14

Select the cade below that configures a backgroundi image to repeat horizontally across a web page.
O val gn = "left "
O background-repeat: repeat-x:
O packground-repeat repeat-y;
O hspace =" 10"

QUESTION15.

Select the code below that uses CSS to eliminate the default border on an image configured as an image link.
O a {border: 0; }
O img {border: 0:}
O img {border-style: none; }
O None of these

QUESTION 16
Select the code below that will configure a background image called parchment.gif for a web page using CSS.

O body {background-image: url (parchment.gif):}
O document {background: parchment.gif; }
O body (background: parchment.gif '}
O None of these
QUESTION 17
Select the tag used to place an image on a web page.
O <a href>
O <graphic >
O <image>
O<img>

QUESTION 18
The CSS3 property configures the transparency of an element.
O background-opacity
O opacity-background
O opacity
O transparency

QUESTION 19
The HTML5 element visually displays a bar that depicts a numeric value within a specified range. O section
O meter
O time
O progress
QUESTION 20
The Web Safe Color Palette is a collection of 216 colors that
O display quicker than other colors
O display the most similar on both the Mac and PC platforms
O relate to the fashion industry and change each year
O None of these
QUESTION 21

The element displays a visual gauge of a numeric value within a known range.
O border
O progress
O hr
O meter

Question 22

The is the area between the content and the border.
O border
O spacing
O padding
O None of these

QUESTION 23
The letters in the acronym HSLA indicate:
O hue, selection, lightness, alpha
O hue, shade, luminosity, alpha
O hue, saturation, lightness, alpha
O hue, saturation, luminosity , alpha

QUESTION 24
The process of ensuring that web pages coded with new or advanced techniques still are usable in browsers that do not offer support for the newer features is called:
O valid enhancement
O optimization
O progressive enhancement
O validation

QUESTION 25
The tag used to create a horizontal line on a web page is:
O <br>
O < line>
O<hr>
O<hl>

NM230 In-Class Case Study 2

Mr. and Mrs. Lahud have come to the clinic to initiate family therapy. The whole family is under stress because their youngest daughter, 10-year-old Elia, loses her temper "almost constantly," the parents say.

"In fact, she seems to be always seething under the surface, even when she's laughing and seeming to have a good time, just waiting to explode. She argues about the simplest things-you can try to give her choices, like, instead of saying, 'time to get dressed for school,' you might say, 'Elia, do you want your green sweater or your yellow one today?' She just starts screaming and says, 'You can't tell me to get dressed!' And she's ten."

Jaival, their new therapist, asks, "Can you tell me how often, on average, you'd say Elia loses her temper? Can you make an average guess at, say, how many times a week?"

Elia's mother says, "It would be easier to estimate how many times per day."

Mr. Lahud nods, "Yes, I'd say about 18 times a day, at least once for every hour that she's awake."

"And that's on a daily basis?" says Jaival.

Both parents nod without hesitation.

"How long has it been like this?"

"Well," Mrs. Lahud tilts her head. "She was always kind of a fussy baby. She's never slept much and has just kind of always thrown tantrums and never stopped."

Jaival takes some notes and then asks, "Is there anything else about her behavior that fits a pattern that's fairly long-standing?"

Mr. Lahud sighs. "It just feels like she wants a big fight, then blames everyone else for something that she started-even when it's clear no one else is even participating in the fight. It's getting to be really hard on the other two kids because she just never lets up from the time she wakes up until late into the night; she tries to annoy us and them pretty equally, and now they're having trouble with her at school too. She's not getting along with other kids there either.

"We've tried positive reinforcement, like a sticker chart for good behavior—"

"-but after a while," Mrs. Lahud adds, "we just took it down. The other two kids would have rows of stickers, but she defies even the simplest of rules, so she'd have maybe one or two stars to their eight or ten. It started to feel like the sticker chart was just making her feel worse about herself. Her teachers say the same thing."

Mrs. Lahud's eyes fill with tears. "We don't know what to do any more. I feel sorry for her. We can't help feel that this is not the 'real' her, if you know what I mean."

She looks at her husband, who nods and squeezes her hand.

"She does some pretty mean, spiteful things to 'get even with everyone.'" Mrs. Lahud continues, "but then the other night, she was quiet and thoughtful when I cuddled with her at bedtime, and while we were alone, she whispered, 'Mom, why does it have to be so hard to be good? It's really hard.'"

She breaks down and cries, and her husband hugs her.

1. Jaival meets with Elia subsequently, and though she is very charming and intelligent at first, she does make an effort to annoy him, but he doesn't take the bait. The next day, with her parents' permission, the school counselor also calls Jaival, asking if she can share some concerns of her own, which confirm for Jaival that Elia's parents have pretty accurately described her behavior. Subsequent testing does not reveal a psychotic or mood disorder, and Jaival initially makes a tentative diagnosis of "oppositional defiant disorder." Do you agree or disagree? What criteria would you cite to support ODD your opinion?
2. What can cause oppositional efiant disorder?
3. Over a period of years, Elia continues to see therapists; and as adolescent hormones are added into the mix, times get a little rougher for her and her family. What kinds of comorbidity might she be at risk for?

Ms. Horowitz is brought to the emergency department (ED) after being found on the highway shortly after her car broke down. When the police came to her aid, she told them that she is “driving to fame and fortune.” She appears overly cheerful, constantly talking, laughing, and making jokes. At the same time, she walks back and forth beside the car, sometimes tweaking the cheek of one of the policemen. She is coy and flirtatious with the police officers, saying at one point, “Boys in blue are fun to do.”

She is dressed in a long red dress, a blue and orange scarf, many long chains, and a yellow and green turban. When she reaches into the car and starts drinking from an open bottle of bourbon, the police decide that her behavior and general condition might result in harm to herself or others. When they explain to Ms. Horowitz that they want to take her to the hospital for a general checkup, her jovial mood turns to anger and rage, yet 2 minutes after getting into the police car, she is singing “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.”

On admission to the ED, Ms. Horowitz is seen by a psychiatrist, and her sister is called. The sister states that Ms. Horowitz stopped taking her lithium about 5 weeks ago and is becoming more agitated and out of control. She reports that Ms. Horowitz has not eaten in 2 days, has stayed up all night calling friends and strangers all over the country, and finally fled the house when the sister called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. The psychiatrist contacts Ms. Horowitz’s physician, and her previous history and medical management are discussed. It is decided that she should be hospitalized during the acute manic phase and restarted on lithium therapy. It is hoped that medications and a controlled environment will prevent further escalation of the manic state and prevent possible exhaustion and cardiac collapse.

Provide objective data

Provide subjective data

Nursing diagnosis

Potential treatment for this client

At age 40, Ms. Blair could easily be mistaken for a woman in her late 20s. She was fit and thin, a committed long-distance runner, and a mother of two boys. She was also embarrassed to describe her reason for coming to her physician. For several months, each time Ms. Blair finished her run, she felt an uncontrollable urge to urinate. This happened as soon as she stopped running. She would try to suppress the urge, but could not, and would void a small amount of urine while still dressed in her running clothes and before she could enter her home. This did not happen at any other times during the day, or at night—it only occurred the moment that she ended a run. In addition to feeling uneasy about discussing the problem, she was anxious, because she thought she might have a tumor. She had no known health problems, took no medications, did not smoke, ate a healthy diet, and assumed that this problem came “out of the blue” because she must have a serious condition such as a tumor in her urinary tract. A cystourethrogram, or X-ray of the bladder, was obtained, along with urinalysis and urine cultures. Physical examination was normal. The main diagnostic aid was the history, particularly the details about exactly when incontinence occurred. Ms. Blair did not have the incontinence risk factors of being overweight, smoking, or other diseases, but she did have two risk factors: female gender and advancing age. In addition, changes resulting from pregnancy can weaken the sphincter muscle. 1. What type of incontinence did Ms. Blair have? Why? 2. The physician decides on a conservative management strategy for Ms. Blair. Which technique would the physician be most likely to use? A. A pessary B. Pelvic floor muscle exercises C. Botulinum toxin type A (Botox) injections into the bladder muscle D. An implanted sacral nerve stimulator.

Dr. Xiong, a clinical psychologist, wishes to test the claim that there is a significant difference in a person's adult weight if he is raised by his father instead of his mother. Dr. Xiong surveys five sets of identical twin boys who were raised separately, one by the mother and one twin by the father. Each twin is weighed and identified as having been raised by his mother or his father. The following table lists the results. Do these data support Dr. Xiong's claim at the 0.01 level of significance?

Weights of Twins (in Pounds)

Step 1 of 3:

State the hypotheses for this test.
Answers: A:  H0: μ₁ ≤ μ_{2 ,} Ha: μ₁ > μ₂
B: H0: μ_d = 0, Ha: μ_d ≠ 0
C: H0: μ_d ≤ 5, Ha: μ_d > 5
D: H0: μ₁ = μ_2, Ha: μ₁ ≠ μ₂

Step 2 of 3
Compute the value of the test statistic.
Answers: A:  F = 2.12
B: t = 9.213
C: F = 3.695
D: t = -.370

Step 3 of 3: State the conclusion for this test.
Answers: A: Since p-value < 0.10, reject H0. There is sufficient evidence to support the claim that there is a significant difference in a person's weight if he is raised by his father rather than his mother.
B: Since t < -4.604, reject H0. There is sufficient evidence to support the claim that there is a significant difference in a person's weight if he is raised by his father rather than his mother.
C: Since p-value > 0.10, fail to reject H0. There is not sufficient evidence to support the claim that there is a significant difference in a person's weight if he is raised by his father rather than his mother.
D: Since t > -4.604, fail to reject H0. There is sufficient evidence to support the claim that weight and who raised the child are related.