Review content found in the RSS reader that you created last week. Answer the following questions (4-5 sentences each): 1. Choose another current event (within the last three months) Go into detail about the current event and what it is about. If the current event you spoke about last week has evolved significantly, feel free to elaborate more on that topic. 2. How is the current event impacting this company, brand or person? 3. How are they handling the event?  • If negatively, how do you think they should be handling it?  • Positively?  4. Do you think it’s something that will effect the company long-term or short-term and why?

To avoid any uncertainty regarding his business’ financing needs at the time when such needs may arise, Cyrus Brown wants to develop a cash budget for his latest venture: Cyrus Brown Manufacturing (CBM). He has estimated the following sales forecast for CBM over the next 9 months:

March       $100,000April          $275,000May           $320,000June           $450,000July            $700,000August       $700,000September $825,000October    $500,000November  $115,000

He has also gathered the following collection estimates regarding the forecast sales:

• Payment collection within the month of sale = 25%
• Payment collection the month following sales = 55%
• Payment collection the second month following sales = 20%

Payments for direct manufacturing costs like raw materials and labor are made during the month that follows the one in which such costs have been incurred. These costs are estimated as follows:

March    $187,500April      $206,250May        $375,000June       $337,500July              $431,250August        $640,000September $395,000October $425,000

Additional financial information is as follows:

• Administrative salaries will approximately amount to $35,000 a month.
• Lease payments around $15,000 a month.
• Depreciation charges, $15,000 a month.
• A one-time new plant investment in the amount of $95,000 is expected to be incurred and paid in June.
• Income tax payments estimated to be around $55,000 will be due in both June and September.
• And finally, miscellaneous costs are estimated to be around $10,000 a month.
• Cash on hand on March 1 will be around $50,000, and a minimum cash balance of $50,000 shall be on hand at all times.

To receive full credit on this assignment, please show all work, including formulas and calculations used to arrive at the financial values.

Group Project Guidelines

• As a group, prepare a monthly cash budget for Cyrus Brown Manufacturing for the 9-month period of March through November.
  • Use Excel to prepare the monthly cash budget.
• Based on your cash budget findings, answer the following questions:
  • Will the company need any outside financing?
  • What is the minimum line of credit that CBM will need?
  • What do you think of CBM’s cash position during the budget period? Do you see any concerns for the company in this regard?
  • If you were a bank manager, would you want CBM as your client? Why or why not?
• It is up to the members of the group to divide the assignment tasks evenly. You will be graded on group participation

1. analysis of the economy (policies, performance, etc)

2. Theoretical analysis of the exchange rate (UIP, PPP)

3. Further supporting evidence

4. Conclusion and recommendation

In this module, you will explore how businesses react to changing economic times and the influence this has on product and service positioning in the market place. You will also learn about the different approaches an organization may take such as a retrenchment approach, an investment approach, or an ambidextrous approach to provide a foundation for opportunity and risk in recessionary times.

Consumer spending habits have undergone dramatic and enduring change with the slowed economy in the United States.

Using the module readings, Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet, respond to the following:

• What are the factors that are key for establishing product differentiation in the new post-recession consumer environment especially as it relates to economic indicators?
• What is a luxury good and should marketers of luxury goods abandon their efforts to establish premium pricing?
• How do changes in societal attitudes toward companies and products affect the way marketers of consumer goods think about the customer value chain? Provide examples of companies that have changed their approach to marketing in response to a shift in consumers’ value in changing economic times.

Write your initial response in approximately 300 words.

Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

By Saturday, April 22, 2017, post your response

 1 Globalization Strategies

• From the e-Activity, discuss the best possible pricing strategy based on whether the company you selected is a retailer, manufacturer, or service firm. Explain your rationale.
• Discuss the best possible way the company you selected could expand its market globally.

 2 Sources of Equity Financing

• From the e-Activity, discuss how the company you selected might benefit from selling new customers on e-Bay (as opposed to building and maintaining its own Website).
• Referring to the same company, determine the best source of equity capital available to the company you selected. Explain your rationale.

Discuss the evolution of management models.

Discuss CORE competency and critical thinking.

***APA FORMAT – 400 WORDS. Please use citations and references.***

Assignment 1: What About the Contract?

Maynard, 18, was shopping for his first car. With a mere $4,000, he was hoping for a deal. He found a used convertible 1979 Mustang at Pierre’s Awesome Car Place for $5,000. Pierre claimed that the Mustang was “one of a kind” and “the best car in town.” He said “the engine and brakes are in tip-top shape.” Pierre even promised to bring the price down to $4,000, if Maynard agreed to buy it that very day.

Maynard immediately signed an agreement that contained an “as-is” clause and drove off in the car. Two days later, the brakes failed while driving and Maynard crashed into a tree. The front of the car was damaged and Maynard sustained mild injuries. Infuriated, Maynard immediately towed the vehicle back to Pierre’s and confronted him. Pierre shrugged it off, saying, “Too bad, bad brakes or not, you agreed to the “as-is” clause in the contract!”

Now Maynard does not know what to do. He has lost two weeks of work pay due to the injury, a damaged car that cost him $4,000, and physical pain and mental trauma. To make things worse, Maynard discovered the car’s fair market value was actually only $1,500 at the time of the purchase.Research contract concepts related to formation and defenses to enforcement using your textbook, the Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet. Based on the facts of the case and your research, respond to the following questions:

• Was a valid contract formed between Pierre’s and Maynard? Explain.
• If a valid contract was formed, does Maynard have any arguments to have his money refunded?
• What are Maynard’s rights under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) with respect to the “as-is” agreement he signed?
• What damages, if any, can Maynard sue Pierre’s for?
• Discuss any ethical issues concerning Pierre’s behavior.

Identify, assess, and offer recommendations for a range of current “health care consumerism” issues.

Assignment 1: LASA 2: Employee Development and Performance Appraisal

Submit your assignment to the M5: Assignment 1 Dropbox by Monday, April 10, 2017.

You are the vice president of a human resources department and Susan has been your executive assistant for one (1) year. She effectively completes her given assignments, sometimes ahead of schedule.  Susan has a welcoming personality and is commended on her willingness to help when asked. As a result of her efficiency, Susan often has spare time on her hands.

In several conversations, you have spoken with Susan about taking a proactive stance and involving herself in the business to increase her knowledge base. You have suggested she attend strategic planning meetings, shadow other Business Partners, and take professional development courses geared towards human resources.   Susan has not incorporated any of these suggestions. 

The organization promotes and encourages employee development and has a requirement of 24 professional development (PD) hours for each employee per annual review cycle.  As VP of the department, you have offered to mentor Susan; yet she has not taken advantage of the offer. Given Susan’s capabilities and potential, you want to mutually establish future performance goals and developmental opportunities to enhance her effectiveness and maximize her organizational contributions.

Susan’s professional appearance and interaction with co-workers is superb.  When asked to complete a task, she fulfills the assignment willingly and with very few errors.  She is well liked and respected by her peers.  She has impeccable oral and written communication skills. Overall, you are pleased with her performance but want to see Susan take initiative to seek out tasks to complete rather than waiting to be told what to do.

As the VP of HR, you have been tasked with a two part assignment. In part one of this assignment you will explain the importance of performance appraisals, analyze the essential elements which should be included and describe how performance appraisals can be used to promote employee growth. In part two of this assignment you will create a performance appraisal for Susan.

Your paper should be 8-10 pages in length incorporating both parts I and II.  You can either design a performance appraisal document or use an existing template.  The performance appraisal should be no more than 3 pages of the total page count for the assignment.  Be sure your paper addresses all of the following components:

Part I: Importance of Performance Appraisals:

• Explain how performance appraisals can be used as part of employee development.
• Explain why rankings are given to employees and the advantages and disadvantages of including rankings.
• Address why organizations should deliver appraisals in a timely manner to employees.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of three different types of performance appraisals. Make a recommendation of which type of performance appraisal is most appropriate for Susan.
• Provide suggestions on how the manager can give feedback on a continual basis to the employee to encourage continual development.

Part II: Susan’s Performance Evaluation

As the VP of HR, you are providing Susan with feedback on these areas and suggesting ways to develop in the areas where she is not meeting expectations as outlined in the scenario. The performance appraisal directly ties to compensation increases. The appraisal should highlight achievements over the past year; while addressing expectations and setting goals moving forward. 

The performance evaluation should address the following areas:Professional Development Job performanceCommunication – internal and external Professional DemeanorWorking relationshipsCompensation recommendations

“Distributions to Shareholders and Capital Structure Decisions”  Please respond to the following:

• * From the e-Activity, contrast the differences between a stock dividend and a stock split. Imagine that you are a stockholder in a company. Determine whether you would prefer to see the company that you researched declare a 100% stock dividend or declare a 2-for-1 split. Provide support for your answer with one (1) real-world example of your preference.
• * From the scenario, examine the dividend rate that TFC is paying in order to determine if the company should receive a rate adjustment. Suggest whether TFC’s dividends should either (1) stay the same; (2) be increased; (3) or go down. Provide a rationale for your response.

Situational Leadership Theory and Organizational Leadership

As the new top-level executive of a medium-sized corporation, you have noticed that the leadership culture in the organization has been ineffective, which has lowered employee morale. To change the leadership culture you have decided to discuss this issue with all the managers and supervisors in the organization. Prior to meeting with all the managers and supervisors, you have decided that you need to develop a how-to guide on effective leadership.   

In a four- to five-page paper (excluding the title and references pages), explain why situational leadership theory is useful and relevant in developing an effective leadership culture. Describe the three theories of situational leadership and what you consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of each theory when leading staff in the organizational environment. 

The written assignment should include at least three scholarly sources, in addition to the text, and be formatted according to APA style 

NO DIRECT CITATIONS! Must be paraphrased only! 

Conduct research and locate a minimum of five scholarly journal articles regarding the benefits and challenges of self-contained, inclusion, and resource room placement settings for individuals with mild to moderate disabilities. Your research articles should also encompass the effects of these placement options on both individuals with mild to moderate disabilities and individuals without exceptionalities.

In a 500-750 word response:

1. Identify how an individual’s patterns of learning and development, interests, and cultural and linguistic factors affect decisions leading to placement; and
2. Analyze specific strategies that facilitate integration ofindividuals with exceptionalities into the placement options described and how they maximize positive social interaction, create meaningful academic engagement, and increase self-motivation.

Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide,

Capstone Forum: Assignment With Peer Review: Core Skills, Competencies, and Capabilities of Your Capstone Organization

Now it is time to apply lessons learned from this week’s case analysis and discussion about internal resource assessment, this week’s readings, and other resources, to help you think about how you might answer the question, which capabilities must be in place (for my Capstone organization to win)?

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review all required readings, including the Weekly Briefing, which provides additional guidance on how to complete the Assignment.
• Review this week’s case study and peer discussion and reflect and make notes on the following: What insights did you gain, and what did you learn from this week’s resources your case analysis and peer discussion that you can apply to your Strategy Playbook for your chosen organization? What conceptual and strategic differences are important between the case example and your organization (focus on the concepts analyzed this week)? What assumptions do you need to make in order to use the strategy concepts appropriately?
• Identify and review all relevant readings from the MBA Capstone Program Bibliography. Given your chosen organization, what concepts, tools, and readings from the Program Capstone Bibliography are most relevant to helping guide how you might recommend improving the company? How and why are they relevant?
• Locate and maintain access to publicly available information about your organization.

By Day 5, post a polished and synthesized entry into the discussion area, which will also be the basis for an entry into the final draft of your Strategy Playbook for Extraordinary Results. At minimum you should add the following to your discussion post and Strategy Playbook:

• An evidence-based and cohesive set of specific and actionable recommendations for actions (based on application of this week’s strategy concepts), that your selected organization can take that will clearly enable your organization to achieve its strategic goals, sustain and grow its business, and remain viable and healthy.
  • HINT: You should provide a preliminary argument that defends your recommendations. Consider why your recommendations are SMART– specific, measurable, achievable (that is realistic and feasible, and timely (relevant and important).
• A related set of metrics that will enable your selected organization to measure the effectiveness of your recommended actions.
  • HINT: These metrics could then be used in the comprehensive final draft of your strategy playbook diagram, which is part of your final Strategy Playbook.

General Guidance: Your original discussion post for the Capstone Forum will typically be 1 to 1 ½ single-spaced pages, excluding references. Refer to the Week 3 Discussion 2 rubric for grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use the rubric to assess your work.

Note: After you receive input from your colleagues, in the next few days you should revise your original post to reflect input that you think is helpful and strengthens your position. This final revised version from this week’s Capstone Forum will become the second formal entry into your Strategy Playbook appendix. Title this section “Internal Resource Analysis for XYZ [Insert Organization Name],” and be sure to keep a version of your response in your Strategy Playbook template. As a best practice you should plan to review your playbook throughout the course as you continue to build your components. You may find that you have new ideas and items that further improve your work.

In the textbook 1.8 discusses “Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice ” and promotes the idea that we should strive to be ethical in all that we do. Why is it important to  statistics ethically? Give an example of unethical use of statistics and explain why it is unethical. Could this unethical  of statistics be corrected so that the statistics are performed fair, thoroughly and objectively? Why or why not? 150 words minimum 

Case Study: Online Purchasing at McDonalds

Read the Online Purchasing at McDonald’s case study on page 507 of your text book, and answer the three questions at the end.

The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:

• Write between 750 – 1,250 words (approximately 3 – 5 pages) using Microsoft Word in APA style, see example below.
• Use font size 12 and 1” margins.
• Include cover page and reference page.
• At least 80% of your paper must be original content/writing.
• No more than 20% of your content/information may come from references.
• Use at least three references from outside the course material, one reference must be from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the three reference requirement.
• Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) in the paper and list on a reference page in APA style.

References must come from sources such as, scholarly journals found in EBSCOhost, CNN, online newspapers such as, The Wall Street Journal, government websites, etc. Sources such as, Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, blogs, etc. are not acceptable for academic writing.  

HA6510

LP2 Assignment: The Impact of Infectious Disease

This assignment will assess competency 2. Analyze the impact of resource constraints that impact global health care

Directions: Write a 1250-1500 word paper on the prevalence of one selected infectious disease in the underdeveloped country of your choice.

Include the following in your paper:

• A discussion of disease incidence. • A discussion of the effect of the disease on individuals. • A discussion of the effect of this disease on the health economic system of the country (you’ll need to also describe the health system).• A discussion of the effect of the disease with respect to the global health market, with regard to both health and economic factors.• A discussion of the effect on health agencies that may provide aid to citizens of this country.• An evaluation of how successful an international health aid organization or set of organizations have been in meeting health care needs in the areas it/they serves with regard to the country and disease you selected.

Criteria for this paper:

• The paper must be written and properly cited in APA style.• The paper must include at least three peer-reviewed sources other than the text.

Submit this assignment to your instructor via the dropbox LP2 Assignment: The Impact of Infectious Disease. This assignment is worth 100 points; grading will be based on the General Writing Rubric, located under Course Information

MT6580:

LP2 Assignment

LP2 Assignment: Milestone 2: The Impact of Culture

This assignment will assess competency 2. Predict how the role of culture and diversity will impact management in multicultural organizations.

Directions

We will continue to work on the due diligence analyses of the three countries chosen in LP1. For each chosen country, you will write up your analysis of doing business based on your readings of chapters 4, 5, and 6 of your text, on the websites provided and other research.

Be sure to include information on each country from the cultural dimension theories of Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars and the Globe Project. Address the following prompts:

• How do customs, manners and social structure figure into the mix?
• What are the differences you would expect to find in management styles between the selected country and the US?
• What special skills would be required to be an effective global leader? 
• Be sure to discuss whether you think each country would be a good business fit for your company.

The expectation is for a minimum of two pages per country. Include the graphs created from your LP2 practice exercise for each of chosen countries compared to the United States. You will follow APA (6th edition) formatting (no abstract is required) and should have a minimum of four references and associated in-text citations.  This information, and that of the following LPs, will become part of your final project artifact.

Submit this assignment to your instructor via the dropbox LP2 Assignment: Milestone 2: The Impact of Culture. This assignment is worth 100 points and will be graded according to LP2 Assignment: Milestone 2 rubric.

“Inflows and Revenue Management” Please respond to the following:

• Determine a key difference between a fee-for-service plan and an episode of care payment plan, and indicate the plan that you believe to be most advantageous for the majority of patients. Provide support for your rationale.
• * From the scenario, determine one (1) key factor that has a negative impact on revenue. Recommend a revenue strategy for the organization in the scenario to improve its revenue cycle management. Provide support for your recommendation.

**PLEASE CITE ALL SOURCES**

5A (Value and Expected rate of return on preferred stock)

Question 2

Glant Co. has just issued preferred stock with a par value of $100 and an annual dividend rate of 8.53 percent. If your required rate of return is 9.25 percent, how much will you be willing to pay for one share of this preferred stock?

In Scenario 3, XYZ Corporation won a contract bid with the Federal Government to develop a state-of-the-art Biohazard Incident Tracking and Coordination System portal.  This includes applications needed for collaboration between emergency responders and decision support.  It is an intranet-only accessible portal facilitating collaboration with seamless access to event data relating to active biohazards.

Requirements:

• The response is per Agile principles and values, appropriate, well developed, and well presented with no errors in content or English usage.

• Agile PM Release Plan (for a 3-month project with 3 monthly sprints). 

Conduct an internal and external environmental analysis, and a supply chain analysis for your proposed new division and its business model.

Create a SWOT table summarizing your findings. Your environmental analysis should consider, at a minimum, the following factors. For each factor, identify the one primary strength, weakness, opportunity, threat, and trend, and include it in your table.

External forces and trends considerations:

• Legal and regulatory
• Global
• Economic
• Technological
• Innovation
• Social
• Environmental
• Competitive analysis

Internal forces and trends considerations:

• Strategy
• Structures
• Processes and systems
• Resources
• Goals
• Strategic capabilities
• Culture
• Technologies
• Innovations
• Intellectual property
• Leadership

Write a synopsis of no more than 700 words in which you analyze relevant forces and trends from the list above. Your analysis must include the following:

• Identify economic, legal, and regulatory forces and trends.
• Critique how well the organization adapts to change.
• Analyze and explain the supply chain of the new division of the existing business. Share your plans to develop and leverage core competencies and resources within the supply chain in an effort to make a positive impact on the business model and the various stakeholders.

Identify issues and/or opportunities:

• Identify the major issues and/or opportunities that the company faces based on your analysis.
• Generate a hypothesis surrounding each issue and research questions to use for conducting analysis.
• Identify the circumstances surrounding each issue; classify the circumstances; attribute the importance of each classification; and test the accuracy of the importance for each classification.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

You need a table in this paper as well.

This is a mangment class homework. So I have to introduce the background, founder and business model  about this company. You may add some your own idea about what else can be introduce. Only you can find a small video about this company. 

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to allow the student an opportunity to calculate the rate of return of equity and debt instruments. It allows the student to understand the effects of dividends; capital gains; inflation rates; and how the nominal rate of return affects valuation and pricing. The assignment also allows the student to apply concepts related to CAPM, WACC, and Flotation Costs to understand the influence of debt and equity on the company’s capital structure.

Assignment Steps

Resources: Corporate Finance

Calculate the following problems and provide an overall summary of how companies make financial decisions in no more than 700 words, based on your answers:

1. Stock Valuation: A stock has an initial price of $100 per share, paid a dividend of $2.00 per share during the year, and had an ending share price of $125. Compute the percentage total return, capital gains yield, and dividend yield.
2. Total Return: You bought a share of 4% preferred stock for $100 last year. The market price for your stock is now $120. What was your total return for last year?
3. CAPM: A stock has a beta of 1.20, the expected market rate of return is 12%, and a risk-free rate of 5 percent. What is the expected rate of return of the stock?
4. WACC: The Corporation has a targeted capital structure of 80% common stock and 20% debt. The cost of equity is 12% and the cost of debt is 7%. The tax rate is 30%. What is the company’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC)?
5. Flotation Costs: Medina Corp. has a debt-equity ratio of .75. The company is considering a new plant that will cost $125 million to build. When the company issues new equity, it incurs a flotation cost of 10%. The flotation cost on new debt is 4%. What is the initial cost of the plant if the company raises all equity externally?

The companies that I would like to use is Home Depot and Lowes

Assignment 3: Business-Level and Corporate-Level StrategiesDue Week 6 and worth 300 points

Choose an industry you have not yet written about in this course, and one publicly traded corporation within that industry. Research the company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.
2. Analyze the corporate-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the corporate-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.
3. Analyze the competitive environment to determine the corporation’s most significant competitor.  Compare their strategies at each level and evaluate which company you think is most likely to be successful in the long term. Justify your choice.
4. Determine whether your choice from Question 3 would differ in slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets.
5. Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration.
• Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics.

Click here to view the grading rubric.

Part A:1.Allison expects her monthly cash inflow after taxes to be $3000. She also has the following monthly expenses: Rent, $750; student loan payment, $200; utilities, $150; food, $300; recreation, $600; car expenses, $200; clothing, $150.  What is Allison’s net cash flow for the current month?

2.Judy has cash inflows of $3,000 for the month of June. Her expenses or cash outflows were $4,000. List two (2) options for Judy to meet her financial obligations in June and indicate the effect (increase or decrease) of these options on her assets and liabilities.

Part B:Describe how credit cards affect the following.

1. Your personal budget
2. Your income statement
3. Your balance sheet

Part C:Describe at least two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages of selling your home yourself instead of hiring a realtor.

Sometimes one’s choices may involve catastrophic decisions and bear great risk and yet there can be no clear answer. For example, if a person gets a divorce, shutters a plant, sells a losing investment, or closes their business, will he or she be better off? The following case incorporates nearly all of the material you have covered this far and presents an example of one such choice where nearly all of the alternatives have a significant downside risk.

Review the following information from the article “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the New Orleans Flood Protection System” by Stéphane Hallegatte (2005):

• Hallegatte, an environmentalist, assigns a probability (p) of a Katrina-like hurricane of 1/130 in his cost-benefit analysis for flood protection. However, the levees that protect New Orleans also put other regions at greater risk. You may assume the frequency of other floods is greater than Katrina-like events (Vastag & Rein, 2011).
• The new levees that were built in response to Katrina cost approximately fourteen billion dollars (in 2010). This is in addition to the direct costs of Katrina (eighty-one billion dollars in 2005).
• 50 percent of New Orleans is at or below sea level.
• A 100-year event means that there is a 63 percent chance that such an event will occur within a 100-year period.
• The following are the interested (anchored and/or biased) constituencies:
  • Residents of New Orleans—both those that can move and those who cannot move
  • Residents of the surrounding floodplains at risk from New Orleans levees
  • The Mayor of New Orleans
  • The federal government—specifically taxpayers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Assume that the availability heuristics make people more risk averse (populations drop, at least in the short term). Consider how this would affect the local economy.

You are an analyst at FEMA and are in charge of developing a recommendation for both the state and the local governments on whether or not to redevelop New Orleans.

Write a report with your recommendation. Address the following in your report:

Part A

• Analyze the economics of New Orleans in light of the above parameters and develop your own Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for rebuilding.
• Evaluate the value of the CBA for each constituency and integrate these estimates into a scenario model and/or decision tree. Analyze the results.
• Clearly each of these constituencies may both overlap and be prey to a variety of group dynamics internally. For one of these options, discuss the decision pitfalls to which they may be susceptible and make a recommendation on how to alleviate these pressures.
• Starting with your CBA, estimate the relevant expected utility for the interested constituencies.

Note: You need not have absolute amounts but your relevant utilities should be proportional to one another.Hint: If you assume that your total CBA for New Orleans is fixed for each constituency (do not forget the overlaps), then each constituency will have a piece of the utility pie.

Part B

• Make a case for or against rebuilding the city of New Orleans. This should be an executive summary; be concise and brief. Include exhibits.
• Whether you are for or against, discuss how social heuristics could be used to your advantage, both ethically and unethically, in making your case. You may choose to fill the role of one of the constituents, if you prefer.

Write an 8–12-page report in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use proper spelling and grammar throughout, and keep the text legible and balanced with visuals. 

Introduction of OPM, Products, and Productivity

The fundamental reference for all four SLP assignments is the Department of Defense Continuous Process Improvement Transformation Guidebook. You should acquaint yourself with its contents before beginning the first SLP, refer to it throughout the course, and cite relevant portions as you prepare each SLP assignment.

_____________________________________________

The Google online dictionary defines the noun “process” as, “A series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end.” The Business Dictionary (Webfinance, 2017a) gives a more specific definition: “A sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc.) into outputs. These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached.”

Deciding what belongs and what doesn’t belong to a particular process can be challenging. A common cliché states that “Everything is connected to everything else.” Here’s an example. Buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks is connected to:

• Making paper products (the cup)
• Making paper
• The pulpwood industry
• Forest management
• Climate and climate change
• The coffee industry
• Production of coffee beans
• International trade agreements
• Electricity production (for roasting and grinding beans)

We could spin the list out indefinitely; electricity production, for example, is related to the production of fossil fuels, which in turn is affected by the political stability of the Gulf states, etc. But the further afield we go, the less relevance there is to that cup of coffee.

As the Webfinance (2017a) definition implies, any process consists of subprocesses, each of which can be considered a process in its own right. Staying with the coffee example:

• “Selling hot beverages” is a process within “Running a Starbucks franchise.”
• “Selling coffee products” is a process within “Selling hot beverages.”
• “Making a macchiato” is a process within “Selling coffee products.”

Even greater levels of detail could be specified. For example, “Filling a cup” could be considered as a discrete process, consisting of taking a cup from a dispenser, placing it under the espresso machine, loading the machine with coffee, starting the machine, waiting, removing the cup from under the machine, and passing it to the server. Some coffee products may require additional steps, such as foaming milk with steam.

The first task in Continuous Process Improvement is to identify the process. We must decide exactly what, for our purposes, is part of the process, and what is not. This decision is arbitrary. Here are some examples.

• The shift manager at Starbucks wants to make the coffee-serving process more efficient, but she’s not interested in the larger process of managing the franchise.
• A records clerk at a medical clinic wants to in-process new patients more efficiently, but he’s not involved in patient management beyond that point.
• An industrial engineer wants to assemble auto engines more efficiently, but he doesn’t care about the efficiency of the processes used to manufacture the crankshafts, blocks, valves, camshafts, spark plugs, and so forth.
• A political functionary, working from a list, wants to get people to a demonstration, but she isn’t concerned with either compiling or maintaining the list.

As we’ve implied, every process takes place in a larger context (we could also say environment), which provides the resources, inputs, and outputs. The context for each of the items above would be:

• A Starbucks franchise.
• A medical clinic.
• An auto assembly line.
• A political organization.

Identifying the process within its context consists of identifying the specific resources allocated to that process, its inputs, and its outputs.

SLP Assignment: Process Identification

Think of a specific process you’re familiar with. The process should be sufficiently important to merit improvement, and also sufficiently complex to offer room for improvement. Filling a coffee cup, for example, could be considered a process, and may be important, but it’s so simple that it’s difficult to see how it could be improved. On the other hand; running an aircraft repair facility is a process within the larger process of running an Air Force Wing, and while it’s definitely important, it would be too complex for this SLP.

Any process is embedded in a context. This is the organization which provides its resources, its inputs, and either consumes or distributes its output.

Before going further, please read all of the SLP assignments, to make sure you don’t do everything at once. That would result in an overly long paper, which despite its length, wouldn’t have sufficient details or adequate explanations. For this SLP, the specific tasks are:

• Describe an organization you’re familiar with. Ideally, you’re either working for this organization, or have in the recent past. The description should be detailed enough to support the second task, which is to:
• Describe a specific process that takes place within the organization. As noted above, the process should be important enough, and complex enough, to meet the needs of all four SLP assignments. The process description should include, in as much detail as possible,
  • what the process does,
  • the resources dedicated to the process by the organization,
  • the inputs consumed by the process, and
  • the outputs produced by the process.
• What sort of improvement could be made in the process? It’s not important to be specific, since Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) envisions incremental changes that take place over an extended period of time. All that’s required is a general statement, such as “make easier,” “reduce error rate,” or “increase efficiency with respect to the (labor/materials/time) required.”

Bear in mind that resources, inputs, and outputs may consist of materials, products, or services, or any combination thereof.

SLP Assignment Expectations

1. There are no page limits. Write what you need to write, neither more nor less. Make each sentence count! (Having said that; it’s unlikely that one page would be enough, and very likely that eight pages would be too much.)
2. Ensure that your answer reflects your detailed understanding of the theory and techniques taught in this module.
3. References and citations are required. This requirement can be satisfied by citing the module Home page, and (for the SLP) the DOD CPI Guidebook.

Assignment 4: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual PropertyYou are a new associate at the law firm of Dewey, Chetum, and Howe. John, a former researcher at PharmaCARE, comes to your office. He has concerns about PharmaCARE’s use of AD23, one of the company’s top-selling diabetes drugs. Two (2) years ago, after PharmaCARE’s research indicated that AD23 might also slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, John and his team of pharmacists began reformulating the drug to maximize that effect. In order to avoid the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) scrutiny, PharmaCARE established a wholly-owned subsidiary, CompCARE, to operate as a compounding pharmacy to sell the new formulation to individuals on a prescription basis. CompCARE established itself in a suburban office park near its parent’s headquarters. To conserve money and time, CompCARE did a quick, low-cost renovation.CompCARE benefited from PharmaCARE’s reputation, databases, networks, and sales and marketing expertise, and within six (6) months had the medical community buzzing about AD23. Demand soared, particularly among Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Affairs patients. Seeing the opportunity to realize even more profit, CompCARE began advertising AD23 directly to consumers and marketing the drug directly to hospitals, clinics, and physician offices, even though compounding pharmacies are not permitted to sell drugs in bulk for general use. To circumvent this technicality, CompCARE encouraged doctors to fax lists of fictitious patient names to CompCARE. PharmaCARE sold CompCARE to WellCo, a large drugstore chain, just weeks before AD23 was publicly linked to over 200 cardiac deaths.As CompCARE and its new parent company enjoyed record profits and PharmaCARE’s stock price approached $300 per share, reports started surfacing that people who received AD23 seemed to be suffering heart attacks at an alarming rate. The company ignored this data and continued filling large orders and paying huge bonuses to all the executives and managers, including John, whose wife recently died from a heart attack after using AD23.John has come to you with an internal company memo describing the potential problems with AD23, and information describing the company’s willingness “roll the dice” and continue to market the drug.Your senior partner has asked you to write a memo outlining the following issues for review by the senior partners.In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research examples of intellectual property theft that occurred within the past two (2) years.Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:1.    Research three to five (3-5) ethical issues relating to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety and examine whether PharmaCARE violated any of the issues in question.2.    Argue for or against Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies. Provide support for your response.3.    Determine the parties responsible for regulating compounding pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme, the actions that either these parties or the FDA could / should have taken in this scenario, and whether PharmaCARE could face legal exposure surrounding its practices. Support your response.4.    Analyze the manner in which PharmaCARE used U.S. law to protect its own intellectual property and if John has any claim to being the true “inventor” of AD23. Suggest at least three (3) ways the company could compensate John for the use of his intellectual property.5.    Summarize at least one (1) current example (within the past two [2] years) of intellectual property theft, and examine the effect on that company’s brand.6.    Analyze the potential issue surrounding the death of John’s wife and other potential litigants against PharmaCARE as a result of AD23.7.    Specify both the major arguments that John can make to claim that he is a whistleblower and the type of protections that he should be afforded. Justify your response.8.    Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources.Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:•    Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.•    Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length

Discussion: Creative Teams and Creative Conflicts

Have you ever worked on a team that struggled to complete a project? In your first MBA course, Dynamic Leadership, you learned about the “big five” personality traits that can potentially lead to conflicts in the workplace; but differences in creative thinking styles can also keep a team from functioning effectively. The major thinking styles you will learn about this week can provide insight into the reasons why conflicts can arise among individuals and teams trying to innovate.

For example, perhaps you have worked on a team with someone who you thought asked too many questions or focused on what appeared to you to be insignificant details. As a leader, you need to learn how to accommodate a diversity of creative thinking styles in effective ways.

For this Discussion, you will consider your own creative thinking styles and how they differ from others in your current (or a past) workplace environment. Consider how different creative thinking styles can potentially create conflict among teams. You can review the five personality traits that were covered in a previous course by referring to the Digman article in the Optional Resources this week.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3

Post a cohesive analysis using the scenario presented in this week’s media piece, Creative Teams and Creative Conflicts, in which a team is unable to make progress on a project. In your post, incorporate the following:

• An analysis of the barriers that prevented the group from leveraging their differences and creating innovative ideas.
• Three suggested ways that their process could be improved, despite their different styles.
• An explanation of how you would approach the scenario differently and lead the group towards success if you were asked to lead the team.
• A description of how you would implement the three ways you identified above to help the group improve.
• Finally, include an explanation of how you could use the strategies described in this week’s chapter from Creative leadership: Skills that drive change to accommodate the diversity of thinking styles to lead the group in a unified direction.

Discussion—Integration of Technology

Technology has changed the way we conduct business on a daily basis. A number of organizations have opted for integrating systems and sharing information with their counterparts.

Using the Argosy University online library resources and the Internet, research information technology (IT) systems for supply chains.

Then respond to the following:

• As a manager, if you have to design an IT system for supply chain purposes using a cross-functional team, who would you include on your team and why?
• Explain some of the trade-offs you would consider when designing/acquiring the system. Be specific and support your reasoning with examples.

Write your initial response in 200 to 300 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.