1. Selection methods used for international assignments are probably not much different from the methods used in domestic staffing decisions. However, culture has an impact in terms of how these procedures are applied and in the focus of each procedure.  
   1. True
   2. False
2. Think and act globally means that a global enterprise must think about and prepare for a presence in a favored few select markets, not just its home region.
   1. True
   2. False
3. Repatriating refers to the _________ of bringing the international assignee and family back “home” from the foreign assignment.  

Show that the worst-case and average-case time complexities for the number of assignments of records performed by the Exchange Sort algorithm (Algorithm 1.3) are given by

          W(n) = 3n(n-1)/2 ≈ n²/2 and A(n) = 3n(n-1)/4 ≈ n²/4

Two related long-term concepts are those of economic growth and the natural rate of unemployment. Frequently, policymakers target these well-known indicators.

(a) Explain how the following policy actions affect the rate of economic growth.

i.Investment tax credits encourage firms to increase spending on research and development.

ii.Marginal tax cuts combined with increased government spending cause the federal budget deficit to rise.

iii.Increased access to government grants allow greater access to higher education and vocational training. Identify how the f

b) Identify the following policy actions affect the long-run Phillips curve and the natural rate of unemployment.

i.Unemployment benefits are extended from 27 to 54 weeks.

ii.Frictional and structural unemployment decrease due to federal work programs.

Complete a case analysis of Ford (Case 17) (case study section of your text). A formal, in-depth case analysis requires you to utilize the entire strategic-management process. Assume your group is a consulting team asked by Ford to analyze its external/internal environment and make strategic recommendations. You will be required to make exhibits/matrices to support your analysis and recommendations. The case analysis must encompass 1-2 pages plus the reference page. The cover page must include the company name, your group name, and the date of submission. The completed case must include: Proposed Alternative Strategies and Recommended Strategies for Ford Company!

A pension fund manager is considering three mutual funds. The first is a stock fund, the second is a long-term government and corporate bond fund, and the third is a T-bill money market fund that yields a sure rate of 5.0%. The probability distributions of the risky funds are: Expected Return Standard Deviation Stock fund (S) 11% 40% Bond fund (B) 6% 20% The correlation between the fund returns is .16. What is the expected return and standard deviation of the optimal risky portfolio? (Do not round intermediate calculations. Round your answers to 2 decimal places.) Expected return % Standard deviation %

Can someone please explain to me how electromagnetic induction is used in Cochlear implants?

Beckett Organics

John Beckett enjoys vegetables, so much so that he has given up his full-time job as a lawyer to concentrate on growing and marketing organic vegetables. He started growing vegetables 20 years ago in his back garden and eventually became fully self-sufficient in supplying vegetables for the family. Partly bored with his legal job and tempted by an attractive severance package, John decided he would try to establish his own vegetable supply business. Eighteen months ago he looked around for two fields to lease in which he could grow organic vegetables.

Organic products including vegetables, is a growth market in the UK. Growers must adhere to strict guidelines in order to gain organic certification. Increasing awareness of the problems associated with many pesticides and fertilizers, coupled with an increased interest in healthy eating habits and ‘wholesome’ food, has meant that many consumers are now either purchasing or interested in purchasing organic vegetables. This is true not only of household customers, but in addition, many restaurants are using the lure of organic produce to give them a distinctive edge in the market place.

All this has meant that many of the larger supermarkets in the UK have begun to stock more and more organic produce from what was a relatively specialized market in the 1990s; the market has grown to where overall organic produce accounts for some 12% of the total UK grocery market and in worldwide terms as of January 2010 it accounts for approximately 3% of all food sales. The market for organic vegetables has grown more rapidly than other organic products and it is estimated that by 2014 some 25% of all vegetables marketed in the UK will be organic. This growth has been sustained at a rate of around 20% per year in developed countries. However, organic yields are between 10% and 20% lower than conventional agriculture, with crops like potatoes some 40% lower. Unsurprisingly, this makes organic produce on average around 40% more expensive than non-organic produce.

A.C.Nielsen Co. cite the case of the United States where organic sales eased in the second half of 2009 as middle- and upper-income families have felt the strain of layoffs and declining investment portfolios. Sales in December 2009 were up 5.6 percent, year on year, against a 25.6 percent rise a year earlier.

Organic vegetables offer several advantages over their non-organic counterparts:

• They are generally tastier, and because they are not treated in the same way, are usually fresher than nonorganic products.
• They are good for a healthy lifestyle as they contain no pesticides and chemicals.
• The fact that no pesticides or herbicides are used in their production means that they are much ‘greener’. For example, they help to reduce the problems associated with nitrates in the soil and water supplies.
• On the downside, organic vegetables are generally less uniform, and as far as some consumers are concerned, are less attractive in appearance. This lack of uniformity has also been a problem in the past with supermarket buyers who have traditionally looked for uniformity in fresh products to aid merchandising and marketing in retail outlets.

• Generally, organic vegetables are more expensive than their non-organic counterparts. Currently, on average they are somewhere in the region of 40% more expensive.

In the UK, anyone wishing to claim that their produce is organic, and market it in this way, needs to obtain the approval of the Soil Association, which checks the organic credentials of a supplier. For example in this case, they check the conditions under which the produce is grown and how the seeds used.

Two interesting developments are taking place in the organic produce market. One is the growth of home supplies. This is where the producer supplies direct to the householder. There are a variety of ways of doing this. Some smaller growers use mail-shots and leafleting to build up a client base. They then deliver locally to customers who order from a list. Very often the supplier will simply make up a box of a pre-determined value or weight containing a selection of vegetables which are in season and ready for picking. Other suppliers are using a similar system, but take their orders via the Internet. This is particularly suitable for this type of product as customers can check on a regular basis what is available and order from home. The produce is then delivered at a pre-arranged time.

The second development in the organic produce market is the growth of farmers’ markets. These markets are usually run by local authorities, often on Saturdays or Sundays. Local and other producers attend these markets, paying a small fee for a stall and then sell their produce direct to the consumer. These farmers’ markets partly came about as a result of the frustration felt by many farmers and growers at the way they were being treated by retailers and at the margins they were receiving. In addition, such markets have been successful because consumers feel they are getting fresh produce at lower prices than they might be able to obtain through supermarkets.

Despite the growth in the market for organic vegetables, after 18 months in his business, John is worried. Quite simply, his business has not been as successful as he envisaged it would be, and as a result he is not earning enough to make a living. The real worry is that he is not sure why this is the case. His produce, he believes, is as good as anything in the business. He is a very good grower and the land he has leased is perfect for the range of produce he wishes to grow. Starting with organic potatoes he now produces a range of organic vegetables including beans, sprouts, carrots, lettuce and his latest venture organic tomatoes and corn grown in poly-tunnels. Although customers he currently supplies are very loyal to John, indeed many are friends and acquaintances he has known over the years when he grew vegetables in his back garden, there are simply not enough of them.

As a result, his turnover which increased rapidly over the first year of the business has for the last six months has stagnated. He mainly supplies locally and has tried to increase his customer base by taking leaflets out and posting them through letterboxes in the area. He has done this by dividing up the housing areas in a ten mile radius around his growing area and dropping leaflets throughout the area to as many houses as he can cover on a systematic basis. Only some 2% of customers have responded with an order, usually contacting by telephone. These customers seem to come from the middle class areas. He has considered taking a stall at one of the farmers’ markets, the nearest of which is some 40 miles away and operates one day per month, but he realises this would not be enough to reach the turnover levels he requires. He has in the past supplied one or two local restaurants and hotels, but usually only when they have contacted him because they have had a problem with their existing supplier.

He has never followed these up. His growing area is currently too small to supply a major retailer, although he has been approached on an informal basis by the buyer of a voluntary chain of local grocers representing some 40 retail outlets in the county.

John is wondering where he goes from here. He cannot understand why his superior products are not selling well. A friend has suggested that John needs a more strategic approach to marketing. John is not convinced. He feels his business is too small to warrant any kind of marketing, never mind strategic marketing, and he has always felt that a good product should sell itself. He is, however, anxious to grow the business and become a leading organic vegetable supplier.

Questions 4:

What in your opinion should be the marketing strategy that an organization of this type should indulge in? Bring out the advantages and disadvantages of the strategy

.

You own a lot in Lowell, Massachusetts that is currently unused. Similar lots have recently sold for $0.7 million. Over the past five years, the price of land in the area has increased 8 percent per year, with an annual standard deviation of 12 percent. A buyer has recently approached you and wants an option to buy the land in the next 12 months for $0.77 million. The risk-free rate of interest is 3 percent per year, compounded continuously. How much should you charge for the option? $16,877.44 $15,996.12 $14,762.58 $13,267.79 $12,196.55

You should write a small C++ program that performs the following tasks:

1. First, your program should read in a set of 5 integers from “standard in” (remember cin). The numbers that you read in will be either zero or positive.

2. If at least one of the five numbers entered is non-zero then your program should calculate the sum of the numbers and report that back to the user using “standard output” (remember cout). Then your program should be ready to accept 5 new numbers from the user.

3. Your program should allow the input of 5 numbers until the user enters 5 zero values. At this point, your program should then terminate.

Example input/output:

1 1 1 1 1

5

10 5 5 10 5

35

0 1 0 0 0

1

0 0 0 0 0

Assuming there are no deposits other than the original investment, the balance in a

savings account after one year may be calculated as

                             Amount = Principal *(1 + Rate/T)^T

Principal is the original investment in the savings account,

Rate is the annual interest rate, and T is the number of times the interest is

compounded during a year ( T is 4 if the interest iscompounded quarterly).

NOTE: the periodic rate r in the expression (1 + r) must match the duration of the period.

That is, a monthly period must use a monthly rate. When Rate is expressed as an Annual Percentage Rate (APR), then a monthy rate r is Rate/12.

Write a program that asks for the principal, the interest rate, and the number of times

the interest is compounded. It should display a formatted report similar to

Interest Rate: 4.25%

Times Compounded: 12

Principal: $ 1000.00

Interest: $ 43.34

Amount in Savings: $ 1043.34

Display your interactive dialog with the console

RUN THE FOLLOWING TEST CASES:

1) $ 5000 at 7.5% compounded 4 times.

2) $ 7500 at 5.2 % compounded 12 times.

3) $ 1000 at 10 % compounded(daily) 360 times.

Quality of craftsmanship is part of the grading.

Using Ruby. Create a program that prompt the users for his full name

For example: Brian Smith

You code should swap the first name to last and last name to first and display the result.

Smith Brian

Your code should run for any combination of first name and last name.

Hint: Research around String class methods in Ruby. The separator is the space in between first and last name.

Please submit your code, as well as screenshot of how your code ran in the console.

It was noted in the text that big data makes it harder to keep secrets. Provide examples (e.g. a person undergoing genetic testing for dementia markers, an unfaithful partner using a ride service to visit their paramour), both good and bad, where individuals may prefer to keep secrets? Analyze the potential impact of exposing this private information to the individuals and businesses.

Stuart Company is considering investing in two new vans that are expected to generate combined cash inflows of $30,500 per year. The vans’ combined purchase price is $99,000. The expected life and salvage value of each are five years and $21,200, respectively. Stuart has an average cost of capital of 14 percent. (PV of $1 and PVA of $1) (Use appropriate factor(s) from the tables provided.)

Required

1. Calculate the net present value of the investment opportunity. (Negative amount should be indicated by a minus sign. Round your intermediate calculations and final answer to 2 decimal places.)

2. Indicate whether the investment opportunity is expected to earn a return that is above or below the cost of capital and whether it should be accepted.

What are the conditions on the parameters for linear multistep methods so that the methods are regular? Would appreciate a detailed explanation.

Your company is deciding whether to buy a new production equipment worth $25 mil and has employed a consultant to evaluate the decision. Your boss is unhappy with the following report:

You note that the consultant didn’t factor in that the projects require an upfront working capital injection of $10 million, which will be fully recovered in year 10. The consultant has attributed the $2 million SG&A expense, out of which $1 million is sunk cost (it has to be used regardless of the project decision).
Given the information, calculate free cash flows for years 0 through 10. If the interest rate is 10%, what’s the value of the project?