Pleasanton Studios Kersten Brown, the CEO of Pleasanton Studios, is having a tough week - all three of her top management level employees have dropped in with problems. One executive is making questionable decisions, another is threatening to quit, and the third is reporting losses (again). Kersten is hoping to find simple answers to all her difficulties. She is asking you (her accountant) for some advice on how to proceed. Pleasanton Studios owns and operates three decentralized divisions: Entertainment, Streaming, and Parks. Pleasanton Studios has a decentralized organizational structure, where each division is run as an investment center. Division managers meet with the CEO at least once annually to review their performance, where each division manager's performance is measured by their division's return on investment (ROI). The division manager then receives a bonus equal to 10% of their base salary for every ROI percentage point above the cost of capital. The Entertainment division manager, John Freeman, was the first to knock on Kersten's door this morning. Entertainment, Pleasanton Studios' first endeavor, produces movies for the big screen. Entertainment has been in operation since 1965. Last month, John had mentioned a proposal to build a new animation studio. The build would cost $4,910,000 with an estimated life of 20 years and no salvage value and would allow Entertainment to start producing animated movies. Animated movies were projected to bring in an additional $1,210,000 in revenues each year, but would increase annual production costs by $574,000. John had dropped in to let Kersten know he had decided not to move forward with the animation studio. This surprised Kersten - her quick mental calculation indicated that the studio would have a payback period of 8 years, much shorter than the expected life of the studio. Not entirely sure that her quick assessment was valid, Kersten needed to check with her accountant on the matter. Next to Kersten's door was the manager of Streaming, which produces short-form (30 minute to one hour) episodes in addition to streaming the movies developed by Entertainment. Customers then buy subscriptions to the service. Run by division manager Reyna Imanah, Streaming was introduced in 2016 and has increased subscriptions by 20% every year since. Reyna's complaint was that, based on the current bonus payout schedule, John Freeman's bonus last year was significantly higher than hers. She points to the increasing subscription rates at Streaming, and says that her division is being punished for having opened so recently (her division's facilities are much more recent than those in Entertainment). She currently has an employment offer from another company at the same base pay rate, and stated that she will accept this offer unless she feels her performance is being appropriately acknowledged and compensated. Kersten needs to look at the relative performance across divisions to determine how to proceed with Reyna. Pleasanton Parks is a theme park based on the movies from Entertainment and the series from Streaming. For many years, it was a popular year-round destination, with characters, rides, and a hotel. This park has lost popularity in recent years, and has been 'in the red' for the past two years. If the park is not profitable this year, you will need to decide whether to permanently close that division. Included in the 'Fixed COGS' for Parks is an annual $1,650,000 mortgage payment on the land and buildings for the park, which would still need to be paid (as a corporate level cost) if the park is closed and that segment is removed from the financial statements. Incidentally, you recently had a conversation with a Marriott Hotels executive, who would like to expand into the area. If you decided to close Parks, you are fairly certain that you could lease the hotel facilities to Marriott for $650,000 annually. A partial report of this year's financial results for Pleasanton Studios can be found in Table 1 below. The 'Selling and admin costs' listed in Table 1 are directly incurred by each division, and are determined at the beginning of each year (that is, they do not change with increased/decreased production). In addition to the divisional information above, there are $2,000,000 in corporate costs that are currently allocated evenly between the three divisions. These costs are primarily due to employee benefits costs, which are billed at the corporate level. If the Parks division is closed, the decreased employee base would reduce allocated corporate costs by $500,000. Pleasanton Studios has a cost of capital of 12 percent (and Kersten uses the cost of capital as their required rate of return) and are subject to 32% income taxes. Before she can make any decisions, Kersten needs to evaluate this year's performance results. She sets off to see you, the company's accountant, for answers.

Table 1: Pleasanton Studios current year data Experience Streaming Parks Revenues $54,583,520 $30,184,570 $7,564,270 Fixed COGS $3,356,850 $4,074,530 $3,159,430 Variable COGS $40,257,310 $22,020,695 $3,698,928 # of customers 15,264,200 1,420,060 30,240 # of employees 11,562 1,954 1,378 Average net operating assets $29,014,000 $19,252,000 $420,000 Selling and admin costs $3,259,520 $944,620 $231,900  

b. Evaluate Entertainment's decision not to invest in the new animation studio (i.e., was the decision appropriate and in the best interests of Pleasanton Studios), including the appropriate financial analyses to support your evaluation. c. Evaluate the validity of Reyna Imanah's complaint regarding her evaluated performance. Explain why it is (or is not valid), and what further information would be necessary. d. Provide a recommendation on whether to close the Parks division, including all necessary financial analyses.

Assignment 2: Leadership Strategies Presentation

Directions:

Taking on the role of a CEO, develop a PowerPoint presentation of approximately 15 slides that explains how you would adapt the Western leadership strategies of either Heifetz and Linsky or Drucker in your approach to managing an international organization on the brink of structural change and expansion. One of your main goals will be to motivate and communicate a vision while connecting to the firm’s mission for all stakeholders, including your Board of Directors. A brief profile of the organization is as follows:

The company is a manufacturing firm with annual earnings in excess of $350 million.

It is headquartered in the United States, has two branches in the United Kingdom, and one expansion branch set to open in China.

A new branch will provide more innovative technologies to infuse the firm’s declining market share while also presenting cultural management and organizational integration challenges.

Your presentation should contain the following components:

Identification of your chosen leadership philosophy with justification of your choice.

Using Porter’s Five Forces as a strategic guide, please explain how you will approach Foreign Direct Investment and Financial Risk Assessment.

Complete a Financial Risk Assessment for acquiring the new technology company by identification and explanation of at least four risks which could impact your organization.

Identification and explanation of the key internal structures (at least 3) that will be designed to enhance the culture within your organization

Explanation of how projected global and market trends over the next 10-15 years will impact your company’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage.

Question 1:

Suppose that your group is the executive sales team for Starbucks. The CEO has just proposed lowering the price of regular coffee and increasing the price of specialty coffee drinks. The belief is that our customers are sensitive to a price change of regular coffee but much less sensitive to a change in the price of specialty coffee. As such, your team is tasked with providing an analysis on this proposal. In order to provide your analysis, you need to find out if the CEO’s theory about customer behavior, and their sensitivity to price changes for regular and specialty coffee, is correct. In order to find out how sensitive customers are to a price change, you will need to calculate the price elasticity of demand, describe what that means, and evaluate the impact on revenues.

For this activity, use the standard percent change formula (also known as the point method).

You have been given the following data on prices and changes in quantity demanded.

Regular Coffee:

Current Price per cup: $2.00 and quantity sold per month is 1 million

Proposed Price per cup: $1.80 and estimated quantity sold per month is 1.5 million

Specialty Coffee:

Current Price per cup: $4.00 and quantity sold per month is 50 million

Proposed Price per cup: $4.40 and estimated quantity sold per month is 47 million

Part 1: Find the elasticity of demand for regular and specialty coffee.

Part 2: Find the total change in revenue for regular and specialty coffee.

Part 3: Use a demand curve graph to explain the change in revenue. You only need to show the demand curve on your graph.

You may upload a picture/file of your graph or use the creately template.

Review the case of Paradise Hills Medical Center, below. The CEO has asked you for a recommendation. What will you tell him? PARADISE HILLS Medical Center is a 500-bed teaching hospital in a major metropolitan area of the South. It is known throughout a tri-state area for its comprehensive oncology program and serves as a regional referral center for thousands of patients suffering from various forms of malignant disease. Paradise Hills is affiliated with a major university and has residency programs in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, radiology, and pathology, all fully accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Graduate Medical Education. In addition, Paradise Hills also has an oncology an oncology fellowship program, a university-affiliated nursing program, as well as training programs for radiology technicians and medical technologists. All of these teaching programs are highly regarded and attract students from across the nation. Paradise Hills enjoys an enviable reputation throughout the area. It is known for its high-quality care, its state-of-the-art technology, and its competent, caring staff. While Paradise Hills is located within a highly competitive healthcare community, it boasts a strong market share for its service area. Indeed, its oncology program enjoys a 75 percent market share and its patients provide significant referrals to the surgery, pediatrics, and radiology programs as well. Paradise Hills is a financially strong institution with equally strong leadership. Its past successes, in large part, can be attributed to its aggressive, visionary CEO and his exceptionally competent management staff. But all is not as well as it seems to be at Paradise Hills. While the oncology program still enjoys a healthy market share, it has been slowly but steadily declining from its peak of 82 percent two years ago. In addition, the program's medical staff are aging and some of its highest admitting physicians are contemplating retirement. The oncology fellowship program was established a few years ago in anticipation of this, but unfortunately, thus far the graduates of this program have not elected to stay in the community. Of most concern to the CEO and his staff is the fact that the hospital's major competitor has recently recruited a highly credentialed oncology medical group practice from the Northeast and has committed enormous resources to strengthening its own struggling oncology program. Last week the board of trustees for Paradise Hills had its monthly meeting with a fairly routine agenda. However, during review of a standard quality assurance report, one of the trustees asked for clarification of a portion of the report indicating that 22 oncology patients had received radiation therapy dosages in excess of what had been prescribed for them. The board was informed that the errors had occurred due to a flaw in the calibration of the equipment. The board was also informed that the medical physicist responsible for the errors had been asked to resign his position. The question was then asked if the patients who were recipients of the excessive radiation had been told of the error. The CEO responded that it was the responsibility of the medical staff to address this issue and it was their decision that the patients not be informed of the errors. The board did not concur that the responsibility for informing the patients of the errors rested solely with the medical staff and requested that the administrative staff review the hospital's ethical responsibility to these patients, as well as its liability related to this incident, and report back to the board within two weeks. The CEO and his management staff responsible for the radiology department and the oncology program met with the medical staff department chairmen for internal medicine and radiology, the program medical directors for oncology and radiation therapy, and the attending oncologists. The CEO reported on the board discussion related to the incident and the board's request for a review of the actions taken, specifically the decision to not inform the affected patients. The physicians as a whole agreed that the adverse effects of the accidental radiation overdose on the patients were unknown. Therefore, they argued the patients should not be told of the incident. These are cancer patients and they don't want or need any more bad news, the oncologists argued. “Let's face it, these patients are terminal.” “Informing the patients of this error will only confuse them and destroy their faith and trust in their physicians and in the hospital,” they added. Furthermore, they claimed, informing the patients of the errors may unnecessarily frighten them to the extent that they may refuse further treatment and that would be even more detrimental to them. Besides, argued the physicians, advising the patients of potential ill effects just might induce these symptoms through suggestion or excessive worry. Every procedure has its risks, insisted the chairman for radiology, and these patients signed an informed consent. Physicians know what is best for their patients, the attending oncologists maintained, and they will monitor these patients for any ill effects. The department chairman for internal medicine volunteered that, in his opinion, this incident is clearly a patient-physician relationship responsibility and not the business of the hospital. Besides, added the chairman of radiology, informing the patients would “just be asking for malpractice litigation.” The medical director for the oncology program then suggested that the board of trustees and the management staff “think long and hard” about the public relations effect of this incident on the oncology program. “Do you really think patients will want to come to Paradise Hills if they think we're incompetent?”, he asked. The CEO conceded that he supported the position of the medical staff in this matter and he, too, was especially concerned about preserving the image of the oncology program, but “his hands were tied” since the board clearly considered this an ethical issue and one that would be referred to the hospital's ethics committee for its opinion. The physicians noted that if indeed it was the subsequent recommendation of the ethics committee that these patients be informed, then realistically, that responsibility would rest with the patient's primary care physician and not with any of them. Reference: Perry, F. (2002). The Tracks We Leave, Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press, pp. 1-3

1. Assume that you are the chief financial officer at Porter Memorial Hospital. The CEO has asked you to analyze the proposed capital investments-Project X and Project Y. Each project requires a net investment outlay of $10,000, and the cost of capital for each project is 12 percent. The project’s expected net cash flows are:

Year          Project X                     Project Y

0                (10,000)                       (10,000)

1                6,500                           3,000

2                3,000                           3,000

3                3,000                           3,000

4                1,000                           3,000

1. Calculate each project’s payback period and net present value.
2. Which project (s) is financially acceptable? Explain your answer.

Please include the input that would be used in a financial calculator if it is needed.

If the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a financial institution finds ways to increase the asset-capital leverage of the institution during the boom years, how can we use the relationship between the return on assets, the return on capital and the asset-capital leverage for banks and financial institutions to explain how this would affect the share price and hence the shareholders' return?

If the CEO's bonus is linked with the institution's profit in that year, how would this affect the CEO's bonus? How would this affect the risk of the financial institution in the long run?

COST MANAGEMENT :Jay Banning, CEO and a major stockholder of Banning Inc., was unhappy with its operating results for the past year. The company manufactures two environmentally friendly industrial caliber cleaning machines used primarily in automobile repair shops, gas stations, and auto dealerships. The master budget and operating results for the year (000s omitted except for the selling price per unit) follow:

Required:

1. Compute the contribution margin flexible-budget variance, contribution margin sales volume variance, contribution margin sales quantity variance, and contribution margin sales mix variance for each product and for the firm.

Interview an upper level manager (e.g., CEO, CFO, CID, IT manager) in a hospital, or other health care facility that has instituted electronic medical records. Your interview should be 30 mintues in lenght and may be completed face-to-face or over the phone. The interview should focus on the implementation of the EMR system, including: factors that influenced the organization to institute the EMR system. Resistance to the decision-making process. Obstacles experienced during the inital EMR rollout. Overall impact on quality in health care since instituting the EMR.

Write a 1000, 1,250 word paper summarizing the interview and the interviewee's perspectives on the four points above. This paper should also include a brief history of electronic medical records in the health care industry. How does the information gained in the interview match up with your readins/research on the subject? This paper should cite at least three references, and should be in APA 6th edition.