Assignment Overview

Before beginning this assignment, make sure you have gone carefully through all of the required readings for this module.  It is very important to carefully absorb the general concepts as well as the numerical examples in the background readings.  For this assignment, you will have to answer some purely conceptual questions, as well as some numerical problems.  For conceptual questions, make sure to thoroughly explain your answers and to cite specific readings from the required background materials to explain your answers.  For numerical problems, make sure to show all of your work and explain how you arrived at your answers (partial credit can be given if you get the final answer wrong but do some of the steps correctly).

Case Assignment

Part A: Conceptual questions

1. Suppose you own a pet shop.  Your sales are decent but a marketing consultant tells you that you could increase your sales and be able to charge a higher price if you spend some money on local television ads.  If the consultant is right, will advertising lead to an increase in quantity demanded?  Or a shift in the demand curve?  Both?  Neither?  Explain your answer and make sure to cite at least one of the required readings in your answer.
2. You are the owner of a furniture factory.  You normally produce 100 pieces of furniture a day because that is how much you can produce given the amount of qualified workers in your town and the amount of reasonably priced wood that you can purchase locally.  Then one day you get an order from a large national retail chain who wants to purchase 200 pieces of furniture a day from you.  You are hesitant, as you will have to pay higher wages to get some qualified workers to move to your town.  You also will need to pay higher prices for wood because you will no longer be able to rely solely on local suppliers and will have to spend more on shipping wood from other towns.  But you drive a hard bargain and the retail chain agrees to pay one and a half times your normal price.  Does this situation describe a change in quantity supplied?  A shift in the supply curve?  Both?  Neither? Explain your answer and make sure to cite at least one of the required readings in your answer.
3. Suppose marijuana has just been legalized in your state.  Nobody in your home town wants to start a marijuana business, as this would be too much of a stigma.  But being an MBA student, you know a good business opportunity when you see one and decide to take a stab.  Shortly after starting up your business, you gain a loyal following of customers and start raking in some steep profits.  However, the local government decides that they want a cut of your profits and starts charging a 20% sales tax on marijuana.  Do you think this would lead to a 20% or greater loss in sales?  Do you think marijuana in this situation would be facing inelastic or elastic demand?  Explain your reasoning, and make sure to cite at least one of the required readings regarding elasticity.

Part B Quantitative Problem

Suppose the demand function for a new smartphone can be expressed as QD =  1000 – 1.5P with QD being quantity demanded and P being price.  The supply function can be expressed as QS = 50 + 2P

Fill out the following table using the above equations:

Price	Quantity Demanded	Quantity Supplied	Surplus Amount or Shortage Amount
200
220
240
260
280
300
320
340

Now answer the following questions:

1. What is the equilibrium price?  You can compute this either using Microsoft Excel, or by using algebra from the equations above and solving for a price where quantity supplied equals quantity demanded. Show your work by either showing the algebra steps or by showing how you used Excel to calculate.
2. Suppose the supply function changes to 100 + 2P.  What is the new equilibrium? Show your work by either showing the algebra steps or by showing how you used Excel to calculate.

Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly.
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions. Do not go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
• For computational problems, make sure to show your work and explain your steps.

For short answer/short essay questions, make sure to reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations.

SECOND

One of the few books about economics to recently hit the New York Times bestseller’s list was Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner.   The book was so popular they even made a movie about it.  The specialty of Levitt and Dubner is applying economics to unconventional, controversial, or sometimes even downright bizarre topics.  Some praise them for bringing economics to a wider audience, while others criticize them for not tackling serious issues or for delving into overly conversional areas.

So what’s all the fuss about?  Take a look for yourself by viewing some of their videos from YouTube, including clips from their movie, or take a look at some articles at their blog.  The links are below:

https://www.youtube.com/user/FreakonomicsVideos/playlists

http://freakonomics.com/category/freakonomics-blog/

Choose one of the videos or blog articles that you find most interesting, and share the link with your classmates.  Discuss some of the following issues based on what you have viewed or read:

1. What did you find interesting about the video or article that you found?
   1. Did you find anything from any of the videos or articles that might help you understand some concepts from the class, or is their stuff too odd or far out there to be useful for this class?
   1. Overall, what is your impression of Levitt and Dubner?  Silly?  Interesting?  Bizarre?  Informative? Boring?  Other?

 

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Analyst Report – 125 points

(This assignment is to be completed individually)

Part 1:  Executive Summary – 10 points

GOAL:  For this section of the assignment you will have to succinctly summarize important information included in the annual report to provide the reader with a quick overview of the contents.   Look at key findings from your report including financial information as well as industry information.    Things that can be included – (these are just ideas include others if relevant):  current financial information depicting health of organization, new products or markets, future growth opportunities.   It is worth noting that an executive summary in business usually does not exceed one page, be clear and concise.

Part 2:  Company Profile – 10 points

GOAL:  For this section of the assignment you will have to locate pertinent company information contained in the annual report or on financial websites (example is finance.yahoo.com).  Bullet pointing this information is appropriate for your report. 

You will have to identify the following items that are specific to your company:

*Ticker symbol

*Mission Statement as it is printed in the Annual Report

*Corporate headquarters location

*Date of Incorporation

*Public Auditor

*Name of CEO

*Name of CFO

*Stock classifications (common, preferred, both?)

*Exchange  (e.g.: NYSE, Nasdaq)

*Dividends (have they been issued and for how much)

Part 3:  Industry Profile – 30 points

GOAL:  For this section of the assignment you will have to locate pertinent company information contained on financial websites (ONE example is finance.yahoo.com). 

• Identify the market sector to which your company belongs.  Describe what a market sector is and list three industry leaders and three industry laggards in the sector
• Identify and define the industry to which your company belongs.  Research and describe what specific characteristics must a company have to be in that industry
• Attach your company’s stock performance in comparison to your company’s two largest competitors stock performance over the past two years.  Note on the graph three events. These can be company, industry or market specific events. In detail, describe the events and their effect on your company’s stock performance.   This can be done either in Excel or using web based applications as the data set is large in this example.
• Graph, using a pie chart in Excel,  your company versus other companies (at least 3) in the industry with market capitalization data.  Make observations and describe your observations.  Make sure your graph is labeled properly including a legend, a title, and appropriate data labels as well.
• In detail, discuss the global presence of your company/industry. Identify three international elements that are critical to your company’s success & global presence.

Part 3:  Current Events/Future Outlook – 30 points

            GOAL:  For this section of the assignment you will have to use business periodicals,        online sources, and the annual report to start to understand the relationship between         significant internal corporate events/external global events and company financial      performance.  Deliverables in this section include:

1. Two relevant articles – one domestic and one global – on current events affecting either your company or your industry (or preferably both).  Must be recent articles, within the past 12 months.  Articles must be attached, not linked, to document, and you are required to summarize the event in your own words and why you found it important to incorporate into the report.
2. What is the outlook for the industry as well as your company in the next 1-3 years?  What changes or trends will or may affect it?   Cite specific examples you have read about.

Part 5:  Recommendation – 30 points

GOAL:  For this section of the assignment you will have to use your compiled data to justify an “educated guess” on investment suggestions.  You will have to determine either “buy” or “don’t buy” and back up your suggestion with strong financial reasoning.

*You will have to identify strategies used for your analysis.  Use at least three ratios, and two other sources of information you believe are relevant, to help you make your decisions. Explain what ratios you used and specify what information your choices provided.  For example, did you use the Current Ratio?  If so, why?  What information did the Current Ratio provide that helped you determine the viability of investing in this company?

You will also need to compare this data (of your choice) to the same data of companies in your industries to support your recommendation.  Comparison ratios can be found via online databases thru the Library as well as Google Finance, Yahoo! Finance and bloomberg.com

*You will also have to graphically represent why you chose the data for your ‘educated guess’ as reinforcement to your statement.  This can be inserted in or below your written work, with reference made to the graph.  In other words, explain to the reader the significance of the graph and data you chose.  

Overall appearance of the report including, but not limited to: proper citations, proper use of grammar/spelling, sentence structure, formatting of the cover page and body of the report, table of contents, page numbers, etc – 15 points

 

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Franchise Profile 

100 points

A practical application of the Student Learning Priorities of Critical Thinking, Information Literacy, Technology Use, Global Competence, and Research, Scholarship, and Creative Expression

OBJECTIVE 1:  Give students an opportunity to understand the role of franchising in the small business sector of the American economy.

OBJECTIVE 2:  Expose students to business research resources, and with the help of those resources, encourage them to think critically and form options on various business disciplines

Entrepreneurship:  15% of your grade

*How was the business created? (whose idea, history of the company, where the company was started)

*Research how many stores are currently in operation, how many are franchises vs. company owned stores, and when why/the first franchise opened

*Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a parent business franchising its operations

International Business:  10% of your grade

*Prepare a PMI (plusses, minuses, implications) for your firm’s international expansion  (provide at least 3 examples of each)

Operations Management:  10% of your grade

*Does your firm have centralized or decentralized authority for decision making? 

*Given today’s global marketplace, explain the benefits and drawbacks of your firm’s authority structure.

Finance:  15% of your grade

                *Explain all start up fees for your franchise

                *Identify any ongoing fees for franchise ownership (how much, payment schedule)

                *Determine the advertising fee charged to franchisees

Management:  15% of your grade

                                *Prepare a SWOT analysis for your franchise.  (3 examples per section)

*Compare your franchise’s culture to that of a non-franchised competitor.  What are the benefits and drawbacks of your firm’s culture in today’s global environment?

Human Resource Management:  10% of your grade

                                *What are the steps one must follow in order to become a franchisee?

                *Why might an entrepreneur be inclined to buy a franchise?

EXCEL:  15% of your grade

*Using EXCEL, provide a graphical representation of your franchise’s profits and stock price relative to a non-franchised competitor, covering the most recent 3 consecutive years.

*What observations can you make about the competitive advantage or disadvantage of franchise ownership?

Evidence Based Research and References:  10% of your grade

*Cite research sources appropriately in a bibliography

Company choice

Steak ‘n shake

 

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Name:                                                                                                 

1. Find all of the following information about your computer. (12 points total/2 points each)
   1.  Make and model

• My CPU is [CPU]. Its clock speed is [SPEED].

• Size of my RAM:

• The total capacity of my hard disk is:

• My optical drive is:

• The operating system I am using is:

• You are going to build a computer that has more capacity to replace your computer and is capable of running new software you intend to purchase and use in the future.

You must choose a different brand as a replacement.  For example, if you have a Dell, choose Asus, Lenovo or HP.  If you have a Mac, choose a different model Mac as a replacement.

First you need to choose a software product that you intend on using. Some examples of software you may choose to use:  Imaging software, Video Design software, Music Software, PC Game software, or Business/Tax software. (6 points total/2 points each)  Write down the software you chose along with the information below:

1. Software product along with its version/release number

• OS and minimum system requirements to run the software (memory, sound card, disk space,..)

• Distribution Media for the software

• The new computer must have more disk storage to hold at least twice as much data then the computer you are using now. (6 points total/2 points each)

1. Disk Storage Requirements (double the amount of GBS):

• What manufacture did you choose for your replacement computer?

• Set a target budget for the replacement  (Intel computers probably should have a target price of $ 600-1300; A Mac computer should probably have a target price of $ 1200-$2300)

• At this step, you will review different models at a vendor’s website (e.g., Dell, HP, Sony, Apple) and build a computer that satisfies your needs and fits your budget (20 points total)

1. Desktop VS. Laptop. What did you I choose and why? (3 points)

• Model, what did you chose and why? (3 points)

• Operating System? (2 point)

• Processor name? (2 point)

• Clock speed(2 points)

• Memory capacity(2 points)

• Disk Drive choices; What did you chose and Why? (3 points)
  • Size

1. Speed (RPM)

• Other hardware devices (3 points)
  • Optical Drive

1. Video card

1. Sound card
2. Summarize all the specifications of your computer (you can copy and paste this from your final customization page on the manufactures website). (10 points)

What was the total price for the hardware configuration you chose (do not include the cost for software) ?

Was the total price acceptable when compared to your budget (less than your original budget)?

• Describe two reasons why this newly configured computer is worth purchasing (6 points)

60 points are available in this homework. This will be converted into a 10% grade.

 

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