Questions
You are a senior manager in a U.S. automobile company who is considering investing in production...

You are a senior manager in a U.S. automobile company who is considering investing in production facilities in China, Russia, or Germany. These facilities will serve the local market demand. Develop a summary that determines the benefits, costs, and risks associated with doing business in each nation. Which country seems to be the most attractive target for foreign direct investment? Why?

The course is DBA 8710 International Business and Global Strategy

In: Economics

A company applies an aptitude test to all those who apply for jobs as programmers. The...

A company applies an aptitude test to all those who apply for jobs as programmers. The results of these tests are analyzed according to their precedence (general advertising, ads in specialized magazines, employment agencies, personal recommendations or people who come spontaneously). With a significance level of 0.025, determine if there is a difference between the results of these tests according to their precedence. Your work should have detailed procedure, in this exercise you can use the tool offered by Excel for the required test, but you have to have the appropriate analysis.

General Pub 36 47 38 51 62 78 60 47 49 53 26 38 61 39 43
Rev Esp. 58 64 62 47 71 90 65 82 61 59
Ag Emp. 47 59 48 81 66 50 42 53
Rec Per. 67 61 82 97 65 72 54 59 58
Spontaneous 38 47 80 41 38 66 50

In: Statistics and Probability

a property company who will also operate the building is deciding whether to build a standard...

a property company who will also operate the building is deciding whether to build a standard efficiency office building or a high efficiency office building. The office building is 8,000 m2 and its energy is supplied 100% by electricity. The standard efficiency office tower will consume approximately 140 kWh / m2 /y. The high efficiency office tower will consume approximately 100 kWh / m2 /y. The incremental cost (i.e. the cost between the standard efficiency and high efficiency office tower) is $40 per m2 and the building systems are expected to last 25 years. 8a. What is the estimated annual energy cost savings per year for the high efficiency building compared to the standard efficiency building? o 8b. Does it make sense for the property company to invest in the high efficiency office building?

In: Physics

You are a senior manager in a U.S. automobile company who is considering investing in production...

You are a senior manager in a U.S. automobile company who is considering investing in production facilities in China, Russia, or Germany. These facilities will serve the local market demand. Develop a summary that determines the benefits, costs, and risks associated with doing business in each nation. Which country seems to be the most attractive target for foreign direct investment? Why? The course is International Business and Global Strategy.

In: Economics

A company applies an aptitude test to all those who apply for work as programmers. The...

A company applies an aptitude test to all those who apply for work as programmers. The results of these tests are analyzed according to their precedence (general advertising, advertisements for specialized magazines, employment agencies, personal recommendations or people who come spontaneously). With a significance level of 0.025, determine if there is a difference between the results of these tests according to their precedence.

Your work should have detailed procedure, in this exercise you can use the tool offered by Excel for the required test, but you have to have the appropriate analysis.

General Pub 36 47 38 51 62 78 60 47 49 53 26 38 61 39 43
Rev Esp. 58 64 62 47 71 90 65 82 61 59
Ag Emp. 47 59 48 81 66 50 42 53
Rec Per. 67 61 82 97 65 72 54 59 58
Spontaneous 38 47 80 41 38 66 50

In: Statistics and Probability

YOU BE THE VC 6.2   COMPANY: Ava Pitch: It is difficult for people who are deaf...

YOU BE THE VC 6.2   COMPANY: Ava

Pitch: It is difficult for people who are deaf or hearing- impaired to follow conversations in group settings such as a family dinner, a business meeting, a presentation, or lunch with friends. Even in a setting where every par- ticipant knows sign language, picking up an entire con- versation is challenging. Sign language relies on people watching each other sign, and in a group setting people often talk that are not directly looking at each other. The only option that people with hearing problems have to fully capture a group conversation is to hire a transcriber or interpreter. That’s an impractical solution, given that transcribers and interpreters charge up to $125 per hour. Hearing aids are available for people who are hearing- impaired, but the cost is often a deterrent and hearing aids have varying levels of effectiveness.
Ava is a smartphone app designed to tackle this problem. Here’s how it works. Ava connects all the smartphones in a room via an app. All a person with hearing difficulties has to do is invite the people in the room to participate, and if they have Ava on their phones, they can accept the invite. Ava will then, through the microphone in each par- ticipant’s smartphone, transcribe the conversation in real time and display the transcription on the hearing-impaired person’s phone. Each person’s comments include their name and show up in a different color. Ava’s interface will also show a small photo of each person who is involved with the conversation. So if Jane, who is deaf, invites Ava at the beginning of a family dinner, and all the members of Jane’s family have the Ava app and accept Jane’s invite, Jane can follow the conversation on her smartphone. The transcriptions, which are made possible via the speech recognition technology, are made in less than one second. Ava allows people with hearing difficulties to connect, engage, and enjoy rather than dread group conversa- tions. The value that Ava adds to its users’ lives is very personal for two of its three founders, Thibault Duchemin and Skinner Cheng. Cheng has been deaf since he was two years old and Duchemin is a coda, meaning he grew up with deaf family members.
There are 360 million people in the world who are deaf or hearing-impaired, which is roughly 5 percent of the world’s population. Ava’s mission is to make its solution available to anyone who can benefit from it anywhere, enriching the social engagement of the people who utilize the service.

What questions would you ask the firm’s founders before making your funding decision? What answers would satisfy you?

In: Operations Management

YOU BE THE VC 6.2   COMPANY: Ava Pitch: It is difficult for people who are deaf...

YOU BE THE VC 6.2   COMPANY: Ava

Pitch: It is difficult for people who are deaf or hearing- impaired to follow conversations in group settings such as a family dinner, a business meeting, a presentation, or lunch with friends. Even in a setting where every par- ticipant knows sign language, picking up an entire con- versation is challenging. Sign language relies on people watching each other sign, and in a group setting people often talk that are not directly looking at each other. The only option that people with hearing problems have to fully capture a group conversation is to hire a transcriber or interpreter. That’s an impractical solution, given that transcribers and interpreters charge up to $125 per hour. Hearing aids are available for people who are hearing- impaired, but the cost is often a deterrent and hearing aids have varying levels of effectiveness.
Ava is a smartphone app designed to tackle this problem. Here’s how it works. Ava connects all the smartphones in a room via an app. All a person with hearing difficulties has to do is invite the people in the room to participate, and if they have Ava on their phones, they can accept the invite. Ava will then, through the microphone in each par- ticipant’s smartphone, transcribe the conversation in real time and display the transcription on the hearing-impaired person’s phone. Each person’s comments include their name and show up in a different color. Ava’s interface will also show a small photo of each person who is involved with the conversation. So if Jane, who is deaf, invites Ava at the beginning of a family dinner, and all the members of Jane’s family have the Ava app and accept Jane’s invite, Jane can follow the conversation on her smartphone. The transcriptions, which are made possible via the speech recognition technology, are made in less than one second. Ava allows people with hearing difficulties to connect, engage, and enjoy rather than dread group conversa- tions. The value that Ava adds to its users’ lives is very personal for two of its three founders, Thibault Duchemin and Skinner Cheng. Cheng has been deaf since he was two years old and Duchemin is a coda, meaning he grew up with deaf family members.
There are 360 million people in the world who are deaf or hearing-impaired, which is roughly 5 percent of the world’s population. Ava’s mission is to make its solution available to anyone who can benefit from it anywhere, enriching the social engagement of the people who utilize the service.

If you had to make your decision on just the information provided in the pitch and on the company’s website, would you fund this company? Why or why not?

In: Operations Management

The company who makes Chips Ahoy cookies states that there is an average of 23 chocolate...

The company who makes Chips Ahoy cookies states that there is an average of 23 chocolate chips per cookie. You take a sample of cookies and count the chips. For your sample of 30 cookies, the average # of chips in the cookies is 23.6 chips with a standard deviation of 2 chips. Use this data to test the claim that the company makes. Use a 95% significance level but you may use a two tailed OR a one tailed test. You decide. Does your hypothesis test support the claim that Chip Ahoy is making?

Provide a 95% confidence interval to estimate the true number of chips in Chips Ahoy cookies. Does your interval support the claim of the company?

In: Statistics and Probability

Who are you? You are the vice president of operations at Exquisite Entertainment, an entertainment company...


Who are you?

You are the vice president of operations at Exquisite Entertainment, an entertainment company that owns and operates 19 seasonal and year-round amusement parks (Worlds of Play) located throughout the U.S. You are responsible for providing overall direction and guidance with regard to the operational activities of the organization.

What''s the current situation?

The company''s amusement parks have always been popular, but recently they haven''t been very profitable. Operating costs have been rising, and every dollar of extra revenue has been hard won. At the company''s annual management offsite meeting held that morning at Worlds of Play-Seattle, Alex Harrington, a business strategy consultant from Ernst & Young LLP, unveiled "Operation Upmarket," a business strategy proposal aimed at addressing the issue of profitability for Worlds of Play. This plan proposed that Worlds of Play offer its customers the option of a "preferred guest" card. Cardholders would pay more, but they would get first crack at the rides and would get seated immediately at any of the park''s restaurants. According to Alex, the plan would help Worlds of Play finances because it would target the "mass affluents"--wealthy but time-pressed people who might visit the park more often and spend more time while there, were it not for long lines at the rides.

You think back to that morning's meeting. You respect Alex's plan, but what about the initiatives you had implemented to tap into that same segment? In fact, you have already had some successes. Roughly 20% of Worlds of Play souvenir shops have been upgraded to gift boutiques with more appealing displays and higher-priced merchandise, and some snack concessions have been converted to seated dining. The most upscale of the restaurants are already earning almost double the profit per square foot of the other food-service facilities.

Alex had done an impressive amount of work developing the idea, commissioning surveys and focus groups, and getting finance to run the numbers. Her presentation had been persuasive, you admit. Her tactic had been to get people arguing the details--should the pass cost $20 more than general admission or $30 more?--while ignoring the question of whether it was a good idea at all. At first, this approach seemed to be working. But Grace Jones, Exquisite Entertainment's vice president of human resources said, "Clearly, there's revenue to be gained from offering these differentiated service levels. But it just doesn't seem like us. The founder of Worlds of Play created a place where families could come together for a day to forget about their cares." Alex said, "Our history is great, but if things don't turn around fast, we are going to be history. The company has to make changes quickly to avoid cash-crunch-driven bankruptcy or a hostile takeover."

It was no secret to anyone in the meeting that theme parks have only three ways to bring in more revenue: (1) increase visits per customer, (2) increase average spending per visit, or (3) attract new customers. Alex argued that the guest card would address the last two items by attracting a different type of customer--time-starved, high-income professionals and their families--who might otherwise avoid the whole experience.

Adam Goodwin, the VP of marketing said, "It strikes me as a very shortsighted strategy. I mean, sure we could make a lot of money on those cards in the first couple of seasons. But just think about what it does to the overall customer experience. The average Joe with his wife and three kids is not going to shell out for five upgrades. So they are going to be sweating through even longer lines and just steaming when they see some yuppie waltz ahead of them. I don't even think it's a great experience for the preferred guests. Who wants to feel all the anger directed at them? The key to this business is that the customers feel good while they are here. A couple of ugly glances, a nasty remark, and the day is spoiled for everybody. Neither side's coming back."

"I should have explained," Alex said. "We would definitely separate the lines so the preferred cardholders wouldn't be in people's faces and we'd limit the percentage of special tickets issued on any given day. But I don't think you are giving your customers enough credit. People have a lot more awareness and appreciation of the fact that time is money. This program lets them choose which they want to save."

What are you supposed to do?

You have been charged by CEO Len Becker to summarize the merits of the option presented at the meeting in his absence. Craft the body of a document for Mr. Becker.

Develop a response that includes examples and evidence to support your ideas, and which clearly communicates the required message to your audience. Organize your response in a clear and logical manner as appropriate for the genre of writing. Use well-structured sentences, audience-appropriate language, and correct conventions of standard American English.

In: Operations Management

You are an investor who bought 100 shares of a company at $35 per share with...

You are an investor who bought 100 shares of a company at $35 per share with a stock on margin of 60%. The stock is now trading at $50 per share, and the initial margin require- ments has been lowered to 50%. You now want to buy 300 more shares of the stock. What is the minimum amount of equity that you will have to put up in this transaction?

In: Finance