In the United States some critics of the World Trade Organization say that it has failed to protect US interests. Others disagree. Given that high technology products and agricultural products are important export items for the US, which WTO agreements could have been used to protect US interests in these areas, and in what way?

1. Last week oil prices, which are determined by the market and not individual producers, became negative. Graphically show what happened to the demand curve, marginal revenue curve, and profits/losses of an individual oil producing firm. Please label everything.

1) Please describe the meaning of diversification. How does diversification reduce risk for the investor? 2) How do investors measure the risk of individual common stocks?

2) How do investors measure the risk of individual common stocks?

1. What are the six (6) advanced nursing practice roles? Discuss the occupation, education requirement, and dilemmas faced for each role.

2. How are hospitals liable for acts of individual nurses, even if no lawsuit is brought against the individual nurse?

Question 3: EatWell Inc., a large fast-food chain company of Canada, wants to test two versions of a new product before launching its full production. They select a random sample of individuals among their regular clients and ask them to participate in an experiment to rate the product according to an assessment grid worth 20 points. The 15 individuals who accepted to participate had to come to a specific company location on two occasions during a given week to test the two versions of the product. It was a randomized experiment in which the version assigned to participants during their first visit was selected at random and participants did not know which version they were rating. Scores data of each participant are included in the Minitab file EatWell_Scores.mtw and in the Excel file Assign2.xlsx under the EatWell_Scores tab.

a) Examine and comment on the distribution of the ratings for the two versions of the product and decide which statistical test is the most appropriate for this type of data. Justify your selection based on the assumptions and conditions required for the most appropriate test selected.  

b) Regardless of your answer in a) above, perform a relevant parametric test using a 10% significance level to determine if there is a difference between the two versions of the product. Make sure you show your Minitab or other software output along with an interpretation of the results (manual calculations are not required here).  

c) Now, perform a Wilcoxon signed rank test to verify if there is a significant difference at the 10% level between the two versions of the product based on these ratings. Show your manual calculations including the T+ and T- statistics and conclude based on the critical value approach.  

d) Use Minitab or other software to perform the test in c) above and comment on the computed Pvalue and your conclusion in c).  

e) Compare your results from the parametric and non-parametric tests above and state what the final conclusion regarding the two versions of the product should be.

here is the data from EatWell_Scores.mtw

A company that produces and markets continuing education programs on DVDs for the educational testing industry has traditionally mailed advertising to prospective customers .A market research study was undertaken to compare two approaches: mailing a sample DVD upon request that contain highlights of the full DVD and sending an email containing a link for a website from which sample material could be downloaded. Of those who responded to either the mailing or the e-mail, the results were as follows in terms of purchase of the complete DVD .

                                    Type of media used

             Purchased                mailing                  E-mail                     total

                   Yes                            26                             11                                 37

                   No                             227                          247                               474

                   Total                         253                          258                               511

a)     at the 0.5 level significance, is there evidence of a difference in the proportion of DVDs purchased in the proportion of DVDs   purchased on the basis of the media used ?

b)     on the basis of the results of (a) which type of media should the company use in the future ? explain the rationale for your decision

The company also wanted to determine which of three sales approaches should be used to generate sales among those who either requested the sample DVD by mail or downloaded the sample DVD but did not purchase the full DVD : 1) targeted e-mail , 2) A DVD that contain additional features or 3) a telephone call to prospective customers. The 474 respondents who did not initially purchase the full DVD were randomly assigned to one of the three sales approaches. The results in terms of purchases of the full program DVD, are as follows:

                                                                                 Sales approach

ACTION                     Targeted            More complete          Telephone calls     Total

                                     Email                       DVD

Purchase                          5                       17                                     18                       40

Do not purchase            153                   141                                   140                      434

Total                                158                    158                                   158 474

c)      at the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence of a difference in the proportion of DVDs purchased on the basis of the sales strategy used?

d)     On the basis of the results of (c) which sales approach do you think the company should use in the future . Explain the rationale for your decision.

Paul Sabin organized Sabin Electronics 10 years ago to produce and sell several electronic devices on which he had secured patents. Although the company has been fairly profitable, it is now experiencing a severe cash shortage. For this reason, it is requesting a $670,000 long-term loan from Gulfport State Bank, $185,000 of which will be used to bolster the Cash account and $485,000 of which will be used to modernize equipment. The company’s financial statements for the two most recent years follow:

During the past year, the company introduced several new product lines and raised the selling prices on a number of old product lines in order to improve its profit margin. The company also hired a new sales manager, who has expanded sales into several new territories. Sales terms are 2/10, n/30. All sales are on account.

Required:

1. To assist in approaching the bank about the loan, Paul has asked you to compute the following ratios for both this year and last year:

a. The amount of working capital.

b. The current ratio.

c. The acid-test ratio.

d. The average collection period. (The accounts receivable at the beginning of last year totaled $420,000.)

e. The average sale period. (The inventory at the beginning of last year totaled $670,000.)

f. The operating cycle.

g. The total asset turnover. (The total assets at the beginning of last year were $2,948,000.)

h. The debt-to-equity ratio.

i. The times interest earned ratio.

j. The equity multiplier. (The total stockholders’ equity at the beginning of last year totaled $1,758,000.)

2. For both this year and last year:

a. Present the balance sheet in common-size format.

b. Present the income statement in common-size format down through net income.

Show less

MERMED Inc. is a medical device manufacturer.

The company’s headquarters is located in Houston, Texas. It is a global leader in developing, manufacturing, selling and servicing diagnostic imaging and therapeutic medical devices used to diagnose and treat cardiovascular and other diseases. MERMED earned $300 million of revenue in 2015, while employing more than 10,000 people worldwide. One of it’s manufacturing plants is located in Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland. Tom Jones is the plant manager at the Dingle facility.

The Dingle site runs 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week. It has 1000 employees. It manufactures a variety of of medical devices (including Class III devices). A number of it's products are sold in the US and European markets. The facility has a Quality Management System in place. Their Quality Management System is in compliance with ISO 13485:2016 and 21 CFR 820. Their facility is frequently audited by Notified Bodies and the FDA.

The site was recently audited by corporate. The corporate auditing team were checking the site's compliance with ISO 13485:2016 and 21 CFR 820. The auditors found a number of potential non-conformances to  ISO 13485:2016 and 21 CFR 820.

You must complete 4 tasks (for each of the 5 incidents/questions):

1. Review each of these potential non-conformances (5 incidents in total)

2. Determine if they are non-conformances against the requirements of the ISO13485:2016 AND 21 CFR 820.

3. If they are non-compliances, write down the specific clause numbers in ISO 13485:2016 AND specific section number of 21 CFR 820 which is applicable (write down the main clause/section in each regulation that the non-compliance is against).

4. Briefly EXPLAIN your decision.

The company has not established a sampling plan for the evaluation of products during incoming inspection of Component ID Z2906.

JAPANESE CASE STUDY #1

This case study is a composite of actual situations. Marianne, who is American, and Ken Shimizu, who is Japanese, have worked in Tokyo for over 30 years as Methodist missionaries. They have annual furloughs and occasional sabbaticals, during which they visit relatives and sponsoring organizations and engage in continuing education in the United States. They met as college students in the United States, and their three grown children have established their own careers in the United States.

Ken’s 98-year-old mother resides with Marianne and Ken. She is not Christian but has always been extremely supportive of Ken and Marianne’s work. Ken teaches at a large Christian university, whereas Marianne has served in various church-related positions over the years. As missionaries, they live in subsidized post–World War II housing near Ken’s university. Marianne has been a frugal housewife, preparing local foods in the Japanese style for her family.

Ken, who is nearly 60, recently learned that he has glaucoma. By the time it was discovered, he had lost a significant amount of peripheral vision. Although Marianne delivered all three children at a Christian hospital in Tokyo, she gets her annual physical examination when visiting relatives in the United States. She has never believed that the Japanese health system is as proactive as that in the United States. On her most recent visit to the United States, Marianne learned that she has hypertension. Her physician prescribed a medication that is readily available in Japan, but the physician was concerned about the level of stress in Marianne’s life. Mother Shimizu is quite confused and requires considerable care, but it is unthinkable for Ken, the only child, to put his mother in a long-term-care facility. Even if he would, the

quality of facilities in Japan leaves much to be desired. Most of the responsibility for Mother Shimizu falls on Marianne, in addition to her work. Marianne’s relatives are urging her to consider placing Mother Shimizu in a church-related life-care community near Marianne’s family in the United States, where Marianne and Ken would like to retire. Marianne’s own parents lived in this facility at the end of their lives. She is considering these issues as she returns to Tokyo.

1. In what ways might you consider Ken to be countercultural as a Japanese man?

2. What social pressures might Marianne have faced, given some of her choices, as a housewife in Japan?

3. What pressures will Ken likely experience as he considers how to meet the needs of both his mother and his wife?

9. Compare and contrast the fertility and mortality rates of Japan and the United States.

10. Do the traditional Japanese maintain sustained eye contact with strangers? Why or why not?

11. To which drugs might Japanese people have greater sensitivity than that of white ethnic populations?

12. How do most Japanese people meet their need for calcium?

Question 2

Great Eastern Holdings Limited is a leading insurance company in Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asian countries.  

The company operates through Life Assurance, General Assurance, and Shareholders segments. The Life Assurance segment provides life, long-term health and accident, annuity, and unit-linked insurance products. The General Assurance segment offers short term property and casualty products, including fire or burglary insurance contracts and/or business interruption contracts, and public liability insurance contracts; and short term medical and personal accident general insurance products. This segment distributes its products through bancassurance, agents, brokers, financial advisors, and direct channels. The Shareholders segment provides fund management services for various products, such as the Asia Pacific equities, and Asian and global fixed income securities portfolios for Singapore statutory boards, government-linked corporations, public and private companies, insurance companies, and charity organizations. The company is also involved in the asset management, and property investment.[1]  

In its 2017 Annual Report, the Chairman and Group CEO stated that they were glad to announce a set of sterling results that showed improvement in profitability. This clearly showed that the company has been able to deliver values for their shareholders and customers based on clear and consistent strategies and the harnessing of technology to further improve overall productivity and operational efficiency without accompanying increased in costs.[2]

In an article issued by McKinsey & Company, “Successfully reducing insurance operating costs”, it was observed that “costs at the bottom-quartile players can be more than double of that of top performers”.[3]

Source:

[1] http://www.sgx.com/wps/portal/sgxweb/home/company_disclosure/great_eastern_holding

[2] Great Eastern Holdings Limited, Annual Report 2017

[3] McKinsey & Company, “Successfully reducing insurance operating costs - Insights from McKinsey’s Insurance 360º benchmarking”


ACC203e Tutor-Marked Assignment
SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 4 of 5
Required:

(a) Define costs and in the context of an insurance company like Great Eastern Holdings Limited, give four examples of costs.

(b) Explain why in the study of management accounting, so much attention is focused on costs and efficiency.

(c) Define cost objects. Give four examples of cost objects from the case above. Explain why managers might be interested in knowing the costs?