You are Susan Dean, a 35 year old woman who has always been interested in owning your own business. You graduated from Gorham HS, attended SMCC, eventually transferring to USM where you earned a bachelor’s degree in Business with a major in Marketing. Eventually you went to graduate school and earned a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA). For the last 10 years you have worked as a marketing specialist/management specialist with Yum! Brands, Inc. where you helped management open several Taco Bells and Pizza Huts in southern Maine. In addition, you evaluated several underperforming stores that had to be closed. After contacting several major corporations you find that McDonalds is the only major brand looking to open another store in the town of Gorham near the USM campus. There is a Burger King in the area. You in fact actually worked at McDonalds when you were a youngster. You have decided that you would like to open a McDonald’s franchise in this area near USM. Your grandparents have left you with a significant amount of money for which you are grateful. You would like to use this towards your new business adventure. But you will need to finance the remaining balance. You apply for a business loan to a local bank. The bank requires you to submit a detailed business plan. This business plan will include projections for operating costs, revenue stream, profits, human resource needs, your business strategy, etc. There are multiple topics that have to be analyzed and for which projections have to be made. Because of this you will have to conduct a survey(s) in the Gorham region to assess multiple demographic, supply/demand issues, and other topics.

Discussion Question/Directions:

You are Susan Dean. You need to discuss issues for which you think a statistical study would be helpful (in obtaining the information needed for your business plan). his could be demographic information, assessing the desire for a McDonald’s in the region, traffic studies, household make up, what the projected demand would be, etc. There are hundreds of topics to zero in on. What topics do you think are important to know before you invest your money into such an important undertaking? What type of statistical study should be done? What types of data will you need to collect? How will you collect your data? How much do you think it will cost to gather your information?

Case Study Eskom:

Apply the information in the artical provided below, together with knowledge of various market structures. to explain the market structure of Eskom in South Africa.

20 MARKS

Eskom our biggest threat Eskom is by far the largest of South Africa’s many state owned companies. This near monopoly power utility is in crisis. It’s the single largest threat to South Africa’s economy, according to a former minister of finance. The Conversation Africa spoke to Adjunct Professor Rod Crompton about why this is the case and what can be done.
How is power generated and distributed in South Africa?
Electricity markets in most countries consist of three parts: generation, transmission and distribution. Most electricity is generated by using heat to boil water to create steam which in turn spins a turbine that generates electricity.
South Africa’s cheap and abundant coal resources made coal generated electricity an obvious choice for many years. Initially, power stations were owned by municipalities and large mining and industrial concerns. But as the costs of recapitalisation emerged, government was persuaded to take over responsibility for power.
Eskom is among the biggest power utilities in the world, famous for its ability to handle vast tonnages of low grade coal. Eskom accounts for over 90% of power generating capacity. Its power plants are mostly coal with one nuclear station and some pumped storage (water). Only a few minor power generators have remained outside Eskom’s fold.
More recently, international climate change pressure caused government to introduce renewable power generation through bidding rounds. These private investors were given 20 year price guarantees underwritten by government – some at exorbitant prices. Nevertheless, as these technologies became more globally popular, some of them – solar (photo voltaic) and wind power – emerged as the lowest cost generators.
All power generation is tied into Eskom’s national transmission grid that moves electricity from generation stations to demand areas. Transmission is a natural monopoly. If you want to use the transmission grid you need Eskom’s permission. Transmission lines end where high voltage power is stepped down to distribution networks until it reaches residential customers – at 220 volts. In many areas Eskom sells to municipal distributors.
So, Eskom is a vertically integrated near monopoly responsible for generation, transmission and distribution. In many countries competition between power generators has been encouraged to drive down prices. Transmission, being a natural monopoly, remains just that; but like toll roads they are open to all who obey the “road rules” and pay the toll. The same goes for distribution to a lesser extent.

What costs are relevant when determining how many pizzas a month alfred Pizza must sell to break even?

alfred Pizza uses a combination of robots, artificial intelligence (AI), and GPS in its food trucks to deliver pizzas to customers’ houses just as the pizza is finished baking. Pizzas are actually prepared and baked in the Alfred pizza truck by an employee assisted by robots. alfred Pizza started operations in April 2016 and is currently selling about 250 pizzas per day.

The pizza delivery process starts with a customer using Alfred Pizza’s app to order pizza. The pizza combinations offered by Alfred have been derived by analyzing customer data to offer several popular options. These preset combination recipes are programmed into Alfred’s computers, so that its robots can build and bake the pizzas efficiently.

All pizza preparation and baking happens in the Alfred pizza truck. Once the customer orders a pizza, a worker in the Alfred food truck will toss the dough, cut the vegetables, and put on toppings. A robot will put on the pizza sauce. Each Alfred pizza truck has 56 pizza ovens, which are each individually connected to the order system and the truck’s GPS. A robot will put the pizza into the designated oven exactly four minutes before the truck reaches the customer’s house. A worker will pull out the pizza when it is finished and place it into the cutter, where a robot will cut the pizza. The pizza is boxed and the pizza is delivered to the customer’s door, all within a few minutes of finishing baking. Eventually, Alfred’s owners hope to use a robot to remove pizzas from the oven as well.

Assume that average selling price per pizza is about $18. To follow are estimates of costs that might be incurred by Alfred Pizza in its pizza business.

Questions

From the list above, what costs would you classify as variable with respect to the cost of a Alfred pizza? Are there any other variable costs you could envision that Alfred might incur per pizza? Explain.

From the list above, what costs would you classify as fixed with respect to the cost of a Alfred pizza? Are there any other fixed costs you could envision that Alfred might incur in its pizza business? Explain.

What costs from the list and any costs you thought of for Questions #1 and #2 above would you use to calculate the break even number of pizzas that Alfred Pizza must sell per day? Why did you included these costs? Calculate the break even number of pizzas.

Given your answer for the current break even number of pizzas, calculate Alfred’s margin of safety in number of pizzas (if any margin of safety exists.) What does this margin of safety mean?

What costs are relevant when determining how many pizzas a month Zume Pizza must sell to break even?
Zume Pizza uses a combination of robots, artificial intelligence (AI), and GPS in its food trucks to deliver pizzas to customers’ houses just as the pizza is finished baking. Pizzas are actually prepared and baked in the Zume pizza truck by an employee assisted by robots. Zume Pizza started operations in April 2016 and is currently selling about 250 pizzas per day.
The pizza delivery process starts with a customer using Zume Pizza’s app to order pizza. The pizza combinations offered by Zume have been derived by analyzing customer data to offer several popular options. These preset combination recipes are programmed into Zume’s computers, so that its robots can build and bake the pizzas efficiently.
All pizza preparation and baking happens in the Zume pizza truck. Once the customer orders a pizza, a worker in the Zume food truck will toss the dough, cut the vegetables, and put on toppings. A robot will put on the pizza sauce. Each Zume pizza truck has 56 pizza ovens, which are each individually connected to the order system and the truck’s GPS. A robot will put the pizza into the designated oven exactly four minutes before the truck reaches the customer’s house. A worker will pull out the pizza when it is finished and place it into the cutter, where a robot will cut the pizza. The pizza is boxed and the pizza is delivered to the customer’s door, all within a few minutes of finishing baking. Eventually, Zume’s owners hope to use a robot to remove pizzas from the oven as well.
Assume that average selling price per pizza is about $18. To follow are estimates of costs that might be incurred by Zume Pizza in its pizza business.
Description of cost Cost estimate Ingredient cost per pizza $ 6.00 Truck fuel cost per delivery $ 3.00 Cost of pizza delivery truck (estimated useful life 5 years, no salvage value) $ 80,000 Cost of initial software development (estimated useful life 3 years) $ 30,000 Annual maintenance/update costs of software $ 25,000 Supplies cost per pizza (box, napkins, etc.) $ 1.00 Cost to park pizza delivery truck per year (garage facility) $ 24,000 Insurance and other regulatory costs per year $ 36,000 Cost of cofounders' salaries per year $ 150,000 Cost to rent restaurant kitchen facility for testing and food prep (per year) $ 45,000 Direct labor cost per pizza (driving truck and preparing pizza in truck) $ 5.00  

  

Source: Wendy Tietz, PhD, CPA, CMA, AccountingintheHeadlines.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.  
Questions
1. From the list above, what costs would you classify as variable with respect to the cost of a Zume pizza? Are there any other variable costs you could envision that Zume might incur per pizza? Explain. 2. From the list above, what costs would you classify as fixed with respect to the cost of a Zume pizza? Are there any other fixed costs you could envision that Zume might incur in its pizza business? Explain. 3. What costs from the list and any costs you thought of for Questions #1 and #2 above would you use to calculate the break even number of pizzas that Zume Pizza must sell per day? Why did you included these costs? Calculate the break even number of pizzas. 4. Given your answer for the current break even number of pizzas, calculate Zume’s margin of safety in number of pizzas (if any margin of safety exists.) What does this margin of safety mean?

Suppose the historical mean thickness of the ice just off the coast of Barrow, Alaska, is 3.32 meters. Many scientists are concerned about changes in the ice due to global warming and ice streams that have slowed or halted. A random sample of the ice thickness near Barrow during 2008 was obtained with n = 28, and the sample mean is 4.036 meters. Assume Normality of ice thickness distribution and σ = 2.8 meters.

a. Conduct a two-sided hypothesis test to determine whether there is any change in the mean ice thickness. Use α = 0.01.

b. Find the probability of a type II error if the true ice mean thickness is 3.0; that is, find β(3.0).

Ocean pout, a fish found in cold waters, produce an antifreeze protein that allows them to survive at near freezing temperatures. Your company plans to genetically engineer bacteria to grow antifreeze proteins to improve the storage of ice cream products

a) The vector and PCR product that you will use to clone the antifreeze gene are shown above along with the locations of three different restriction enzyme cut sites Which restriction enzyme (Hindill, BamH1, or EcoR1) will allow you to successfully clone this transgeno? Brietly justify your answer.

b) Describe how you will select for bacteria that carry the recombinant DNA molecule once you have completed the transformation

You are required to prepare a business plan on the business you about to start in the near future using microeconomic theories/concepts.

The business plan should include:

1. A general description of the business and products/services.
2. An industry and competitors overview: Discuss and justify the potential market structure for your business that you are about to enter.
3. An analysis of the advantage and disadvantages of the product/services: Explain the possible restrictions that might be faced by your company to enter that particular market structure.
4. Targeted group of customers: Analyze the elasticity of demand on the product offered by your firm.
5. Identify the potential costs that might be involved in your business.
6. Explain the potential externalities that can be created by your business.

A Gallup Poll asked a sample of Canadian adults if they thought the law should allow doctors to end the life of a patient who is in great pain and near death if the patient makes a request in writing. The poll included 255 people in Quebec, 203 of whom agreed that doctor-assisted suicide should be allowed.

(a) What is the margin of error for a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of all Quebec adults who would allow doctor-assisted suicide? (Use 3 decimal places)

(b) Suppose the researchers wanted a margin of error of 0.01 instead. How large a sample would be needed to achieve this? Use the previous sample as a pilot study to get a value for p^.

The goal of financial management is: (select all that apply)

Question 1 options:

select all the true statements about intrinsic value

Question 2 options:

Q.7 MRI machine uses magnetic field to create detailed images of human soft organs. Can you
elaborate the basic concept of working of MRI scanner? How the strong magnetic field is
produced in MRI scanner to scan the organs? Discuss the role of radio waves in MRI machines?
Write down major parts used in MRI machine. What would happen if the north-pole end of a bar
magnet is held near a positively charged piece of plastic? Justify your answer. X-ray machine
and MRI machine do the same job of human organ scanning. Analyze both the machines and
discuss three merits and demerits of it.