Hubel and Weisel (1963) recorded from individual neurons from visual cortex. They found that neurons in primary visual cortex

1. Desimone, et al (1984) presented macaque monkeys with stimuli that included bananas, black snakes, toilet brushes, and faces, and recorded from individual neurons from visual-temporal cortex. The results showed that

   		a. neurons responded to all of these stimuli in the same way.
   		b. neurons responded selectively to face stimuli.
   		c. neurons responded selectively to the snake stimuli.
   		d. neurons responded selectively to the faces and the toilet brush stimuli.

I keep talking about “neurons responding selectively” to things. What does it mean for a neuron to “respond selectively”?

The following information should be used when answering the provided questions below:- 1 Introduction Belaria Shoes was formed by two brothers who were passionate about diversity in cultures existing in Italy in early 1970s. At this time, the country was undergoing a period of rapid industrial growth and many companies were established that paid low wages and expected employees to work long hours in dangerous and dirty conditions. Workers lived in poor housing, were largely illiterate and had a life expectancy of less than forty years. The Belaria brothers held a set of beliefs that stressed the social obligations of employers. Their beliefs guided their employment principles – education and housing for employees, secure jobs and good working conditions. Belaria Shoes expanded quickly, but it still retained its principles. Today, the company is a private limited company whose shares are wholly owned by the Belaria family. Belaria Shoes still produce footwear in Petatown, but they now also own almost one hundred retail shops throughout Italy selling their shoes and ` IN SEMESTER (INDIVIDUAL) ASSIGNMENT Module Code: BUSS 1009 Module Name: Strategic Management Level: 3 Max. Marks: 100 Scaled down to 50 boots. The factory (and surrounding land) in Petatown is owned by the company and so are the shops, which is unusual in a country where most commercial properties are leased. In many respects this policy reflects the principles of the family. They are keen to promote ownership and are averse to risk and borrowing. They believe that all stakeholders should be treated fairly. Reflecting this, the company aims to pay all suppliers within 30 days of the invoice date. These are the standard terms of supply in Italy, although many companies do, in reality, take much longer to pay their creditors. The current Belaria family are still passionate about the beliefs and principles that inspired the founders of the company. Recent history Although the Belaria family still own the company, it is now totally run by professional managers. The last Belaria to have operational responsibility was Jock Belaria, who commissioned and implemented the last upgrade of the production facilities in 1991. In the past five years the Belaria family has taken substantial dividends from the company, whilst leaving the running of the company to the professional managers that they had appointed. During this period the company has been under increased competitive pressure from overseas suppliers who have much lower labour rates and more efficient production facilities. The financial performance of the company has declined rapidly and as a result the Belaria family has recently commissioned a firm of business analysts to undertake a SWOT analysis to help them understand the strategic position of the company. SWOT analysis: Here is the summary SWOT analysis from the business analysts’ report. Strengths Significant retail expertise: Belaria Shoes is recognized as a successful retailer with excellent supply systems, bright and welcoming shops and shop employees who are regularly recognized, in independent surveys, for their excellent customer care and extensive product knowledge. Excellent computer systems/software expertise: Some of the success of Belaria Shoes as a retailer is due to its innovative computer systems developed in-house by the company’s information systems department. These systems not only concern the distribution of footwear, but also its design and development. Belaria is acknowledged, by the rest of the industry, as a leader in computer-aided footwear design and distribution. Significant property portfolio: The factory in Petatown is owned by the company and so is a significant amount of the surrounding land. All the retail shops are owned by the company. The company also owns a disused factory in the north of Italy. This was originally bought as a potential production site, but increasingly competitive imports made its development unviable. The Petatown factory site incorporates a retail shop, but none of the remaining retail shops are near to this factory, or indeed to the disused factory site in the north of the country. Weaknesses High production costs: Italy is a high labor cost economy. Out-dated production facilities: The actual production facilities were last updated in 1991. Current equipment is not efficient in its use of either labor, materials or energy. Module Name Strategic Management (BUSS1009) – Semester – Spring 20 – CW 1 (Assignment) – Session D – QP MEC_AMO_TEM_034_01 Page 3 of 10 Restricted internet site: Software development has focused on internal systems, rather than internet development. The current website only provides information about Belaria Shoes; it is not possible to buy footwear from the company’s website. Opportunities Increased consumer spending and consumerism: Despite the decline of its manufacturing industries, Italy remains a prosperous country with high consumer spending. Consumers generally have a high disposable income and are fashion conscious. Parents spend a lot of money on their children, with the aim of ‘making sure that they get a good start in life’. Increased desire for safe family shopping environment: A recent trend is for consumers to prefer shopping in safe, car-free environments where they can visit a variety of shops and restaurants. These shopping villages are increasingly popular. Growth of the green consumer: The numbers of ‘green consumers’ is increasing in Italy. They are conscious of the energy used in the production and distribution of the products they buy. These consumers also expect suppliers to be socially responsible. A recent television programme on the use of cheap and exploited labor in Ethiopia was greeted with a call for a boycott of goods from that country. One of the political parties in Italy has emphasized environmentally responsible purchasing in its manifesto. It suggests that ‘shorter shipping distances reduce energy use and pollution. Purchasing locally supports communities and local jobs’. Threats Cheap imports: The lower production costs of overseas countries provide a constant threat. It is still much cheaper to make shoes in Ethiopia, 4000 kilometres away, and transport the shoes by sea, road and train to shops in Italy, where they can be offered at prices that are still significantly lower than the footwear produced by Belaria Shoes. Legislation within Italy: Italy has comprehensive legislation on health and safety as well as a statutory minimum wage and generous redundancy rights and payments for employees. The government is likely to extend its employment legislation programme. Recent strategies Senior management at Belaria Shoes have recently suggested that the company should consider closing its Petatown production plant and move production overseas, perhaps outsourcing to established suppliers in Ethiopia and elsewhere. This suggestion was immediately rejected by the Belaria family, who questioned the values of the senior management. The family issued a press release with the aim of re-affirming the core values which underpinned their business. The press release stated that ‘in our view, the day that Belaria Shoes ceases to be a Module Name Strategic Management (BUSS1009) – Semester – Spring 20 – CW 1 (Assignment) – Session D – QP MEC_AMO_TEM_034_01 Page 4 of 10 Petatown company, is the day that it closes’. Consequently, the senior management team was asked to propose an alternative strategic direction. The senior management team’s alternative is for the company to upgrade its production facilities to gain labor and energy efficiencies. The cost of this proposal is $37·5m. At a recent scenario planning workshop the management team developed what they considered to be two realistic scenarios. Both scenarios predict that demand for Belaria Shoes’ footwear would be low for the next three years. However, increased productivity and lower labor costs would bring net benefits of $5m in each of these years. After three years the two scenarios differ. The first scenario predicts a continued low demand for the next three years with net benefits still running at $5m per year. The team felt that this option had a probability of 0·7. The alternative scenario (with a probability of 0·3) predicts a higher demand for Belaria’s products due to changes in the external environment. This would lead to net benefits of $10m per year in years four, five and six. All estimated net benefits are based on the discounted future cash flows.

Question One: Using academic principles and examples from the above case, assess the following concepts:- (a) Strategy (b) Strategic planning (c) Strategy development.

Question Two : Belaria shoes wishes to develop a strategy for guiding its operations in future. (a) Classify and examine the main factors which are likely to shape and influence the values and strategy of the above organization? (b) Discuss the likely problems with mergers as a means of external growth.

i want the answer of Q2.

Read the extract carefully and apply the problem-solution pattern of analysis to it.

Process Reengineering at IBM Credit

IBM Credit finances the computers, software and services sold by IBM Corporation. The company is considered one of the world's most profitable publicly- traded companies. Processing a finance application usually took between six days and two weeks. The application wound its way from the credit department to the pricing department, to an administrator who wrote out a formal quote letter. When IBM Credit realized that processing an application actually took only about 90-minutes, and the rest of the normal processing time was spent with the application sitting on a pile on a specialist’s desk waiting to be looked at, they decided to reengineer the entire process. Here’s what IBM Credit did: The four specialists who previously processed the application were replaced by a generalist called the deal structurer, who processed the application from start to end using templates on a new computer system which provided all the data and tools each specialist commonly used. The results of the reengineering program were: Turnaround time was reduced from a typical 7 days to 4 hours. Without any increase in staff numbers, IBM Credit has been able to achieve a hundred-fold improvement in productivity. It can now handle 100 times the number of credit applications that were handled before reengineering was undertaken. Source: ( Adapted from Grant 2008)

Questions:

a) What is the starting situation?

b) What is the problem?

c) What is the underlying cause of the problem?

d) What solution has been proposed?

e) How successful is the solution?

Dan Corp issues 3,000 shares of 10%, preferred stock. The Cash amount is $450,000; in this case the market value is: *

$10

$100

$120

$150

On July 1, 2019, Alex Company borrows $30,000 from City Bank and signs a 4- months, 5%, $30,000 interest bearing note. Interest Expense is: *

$500

$800

$30,500

$30,800

Lili Company’s products are subject to a 1-year warranty. During 2019, the company sold 300,000 units, of which the company estimates 4% will be defective. During the year, the company honored warranty contracts for 6,000 units. When honoring warranty contracts, the company must *

Debit Warranty Liability and credit Repair Parts

Debit Repair Parts and credit Warranty Liability

Debit Warranty Expense and credit Warranty Liability

Debit Warranty Liability and credit Warranty Expense

On July 1, 2019, Alex Company borrows $30,000 from City Bank and signs a 4- months, 5%, $30,000 interest bearing note. The payment date is *

October 1, 2019

November 1, 2019

December 1, 2019

January 1, 2020

Dan Corp issues 500 of 10%, $100 par value preferred stock to attorneys who helped the company organize. Attorneys valued their service at $100,000. Preferred Stock should be recorded as: *

Debit $50,000

Credit $50,000

Debit $130,000

Credit $130,000

Which of the following represents the number of shares repurchased from the market? *

Treasury shares

Issued shares

Outstanding shares

Authorized shares

The sale of common stock below par: *

Is a common occurrence

Is not permitted

Is a practice that most shareholders encourage

Requires that a liability be recorded for the difference between the sales price and the par value of the shares.

Suppose that as the result of the crisis in Greece, the Euro depreciates against the US dollar. Why should you care when the US dollar strengthens relative to other currencies? Describe the ways this could impact your life and that of your friends and family in the US.

Word count 350 words and one reference

US Economic growth has been criticized as being too slow. Why do we care? Compare the US growth with foreign countries. You pick the countries that you think the US should care about and explain how and why the economies in these countries have diverged in economic growth.

1. Should the US follow a more protectionist trade policy? Why or why not? What could be some measures the US can impose to restrict international trade? How would these measures affect the US trade balance, the current account balance, the capital account balance and the value of the dollar? Explain.

Your sister will start college exactly 1 year from now and she wants to join you at Marquette University. Marquette University offers a couple of payment plans for the tuition fee.

Flexible Plan: Pay once a year but the tuition will increase at 5% per year (which is much lower than other schools). The first payment due at the very first day of school. This year, the tuition is $30,000.

Convenient Plan: Lock in by paying a lump sum of $95,000 today for all four years of tuition fees

Your parents are looking at these payment options and of course come to you for an advice because you are doing so well in your finance class. Your parents said all of their money is in their investment account which makes 15% per year for the next 10 years.

Which plan should your parents choose and how much will they save? (Hint: this a two step problem.)

A. The Flexible Plan is better. Your parents will save $36,851.84

B. The Convenient Plan is better. Your parents will save $140.50

C. The Flexible Plan is better. You parents will save $26,925.59

D. The Convenient Plan is better. Your parents will save $1,084.56.

SIU is a university in the UK catering for international students. There are currently 950 students. Fees were £16,000 for the last year and the president is concerned that adverse changes in the economic and educational environment are threatening the university’s future. The income of the market is expected to decline next year by 2%, and it is also expected that the average fee of competitive institutions will fall from £14,000 to £12,000. 10% of revenue is currently spent on promotion. The president does some research and estimates that the relevant demand elasticities are as follows:

PED = -1.6, YED = 2.2, AED = 1.8, CED = 0.8.

1. Estimate the number of students at the university next year, and revenue, if the president keeps the present marketing mix unchanged.
2. Estimate the level of fees that would have to be charged next year in order to maintain the number of students at its current level, assuming no change in promotion.
3. Estimate the level of fees that would have to be charged next year in order to reach the president’s target of 1,200 students.
4. If fees are maintained at their current level, estimate the amount that would need to be spent on promotion to achieve the target.
5. Determine which of the strategy options above is more profitable, assuming that these are the only alternatives under consideration.

f. Briefly outline other marketing mix options for achieving the target (50 words