After reviewing the recommended resource video, The Post-Crisis Consumer, do you see similar changes in consumerism in your own experience? Explain why or why not. What items did you purchase this week? Which of them were low-involvement purchases? Which were high-involvement? How did your purchase decision-making experience differ between those that were low versus high in involvement? Explain.

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Discussion 1

After reviewing the recommended resource video, The Post-Crisis Consumer, do you see similar changes in consumerism in your own experience? Explain why or why not.

What items did you purchase this week? Which of them were low-involvement purchases? Which were high-involvement? How did your purchase decision-making experience differ between those that were low versus high in involvement? Explain.

In continuing the discussion, review at least two of your classmates’ posts and compare and contrast your buying experiences with theirs.

As a marketer, what are the implications to this, and what could be your corresponding strategy as a result? When responding to your classmates, consider how you can enhance the decision-making process with their proposed strategies.

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Discussion

A cognitive purchase decision is the outcome of a series of stages that results in the selection of one product over competing options. Studies have shown that 57% of a complex purchase decision is made before the consumer even speaks to a sales or customer service person. As a marketer, what are the implications to this, and what could be your corresponding strategy as a result? When responding to your classmates, consider how you can enhance the decision-making process with their proposed strategies.

To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric PDF document. Rubrics ffl Discussion Rubric: Graduate Filter by: All Threads v

Argue whether you believe that a person’s language is more influenced by peers than the family. Use evidence from your reading, personal experience or observation to support your position.

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Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan

Read “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and then answer then respond to the following prompt in at least 250 words:

Tan has made the following assertion: “Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a person’s developing language skills are more influenced by peers. But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a larger role in shaping the language of the child.”

Argue whether you believe that a person’s language is more influenced by peers than the family. Use evidence from your reading, personal experience or observation to support your position.

 

What does the mean tell you? How do you know? What does it imply if the median is different from the mean? What does the standard deviation tell you about the volatility of the data? Write a new conclusions section in which you explain how these interpretations can be used in the company: What are some trends about which company leaders should be aware? How might the information you have provided be used in decision making in the company? What are other analysts indicating about the stock?

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Applying Analytic Techniques to Business

In the last assessment, you were asked to prepare the first part of your analytics report by creating graphs and calculating some descriptive statistics. In this assessment, you will write your 5-8 page analytics report by interpreting those graphs and statistics, and explicitly connecting those interpretations to implications in the practical business context.

The first step in creating meaningful information from raw data is to represent the data effectively in graphical format and to calculate any required statistics. The second step is interpreting and explaining those graphs and statistics in order to apply them in the business context.

In the previous assessment, you were asked to create the first part of your analytics report by preparing graphs and calculating some descriptive statistics. In this assessment, you will complete your analytics report by interpreting those graphs and statistics, and connecting those interpretations explicitly to implications in the business context.

In business and applied analytics, oftentimes you are interested in drawing conclusions about a population of interest. However, it may not be feasible or practical to gather data on the entire population. In those cases, data is gathered from a sample or subset of the population. Analyses done on the sample are then used to draw inferences regarding the overall population; this mathematic process is referred to as inferential statistics. In this assessment, we begin discussing the topics of sampling and drawing inferences.

All the inferential statistical techniques and methods covered in this course are considered parametric techniques and require certain assumptions to be used and for the results to be reliable, many of which are assumptions about an underlying distribution. Nonparametric techniques require no assumption about underlying distributions and are often used when the assumptions of parametric techniques are not met. Although these are beyond the scope of this introductory course, they are a great option for additional reading and research.

Analytics projects often result in two distinct types of reports or summaries: one tailored to the executive level, which takes the form of a presentation, and the other, a detailed analytics report, which documents an analysis so thoroughly that another analyst can reproduce the analysis exactly. Many times, the latter type is referred to by other departments or analysts wishing to conduct a similar analysis on similar data or by the same analyst who wants to repeat the analysis on a new or revised set of data. In this assessment, you will learn the essential elements that should be included in a report at this level of detail and you will create your own analytics report addressing the business problem you have been working on.

Scenario
The first step in creating meaningful information to develop a business report for decision making. The business report includes the analyzed raw data, effectively presents the analysis results in text and graphical format, as well as calculate any required statistics.

The second step is interpreting and explaining the graphs and statistics to understand the impact in the practical business context.

In the last assessment, you were asked to create the first part of your business analytics report by introducing a company, analyzing company stock data, developing graphs, and calculating some descriptive statistics.

In this assessment, you will adjust your business report to minimize limitations of one year’s worth of data. You will use the same company for this assessment and you will use 5 years of data!

You will also enhance your introduction or business context section of your business report based on your new graphs and your interpretation of the data graphs and descriptive statistics over a five year period. Your interpretation efforts of graphs and descriptive statistics will explicitly connect in the conclusion area. Conclusions and recommendations are the final effort in the development of a practical business report and should be supported by citations. Remember that opinion is not allowed.

Your Role
Your supervisor has asked you to prepare a report for the quarterly company meeting. The first part of the task was to download the data and create scatterplots and histograms, and to calculate mean, median, and mode of 5 years of stock prices for your report. Now you must analyze and interpret those graphical representations of the company stock and write the report of your findings and recommendations for your supervisor.

You are an analyst using the same company and five years of stock data. Having accessed the company data and placed it in an appropriate graphical format, you must now use descriptive statistics and analysis to develop a report to inform business decisions.

Instructions
After reviewing and integrating your instructor’s feedback on your previous Assessment, complete the report as follows:

For each graph you created, write at least one well supported paragraph interpreting the graph: What does that graph represent? What does the shape of the graph tell you about how the data have changed over time?
For each statistic you calculated, include at least two to three well-supported sentences explaining what the statistic represents:
What does the mean tell you? How do you know?
What does it imply if the median is different from the mean?
What does the standard deviation tell you about the volatility of the data?
Write a new conclusions section in which you explain how these interpretations can be used in the company:
What are some trends about which company leaders should be aware?
How might the information you have provided be used in decision making in the company?
What are other analysts indicating about the stock?
Explicitly connect other analysts’ comments and recommendations to your interpretations to possible impact to the business context
Lastly, should your company invest of partner with the company or stock being evaluated?

Merit pay plans appear to be the most common form of compensation in the United States. Based on your knowledge of merit pay systems, identify one job for which merit pay may be appropriate and another for which it may be inappropriate. What is the rationale for your choices?

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DISCUSSION CHAPTER 3

APA format providing parenthetical citations, and a Reference list at the end of your post

Multiple authoritative resources including the assigned textbook (shows scholarly work)

Be thorough, complete and relatively comprehensive in your commentary.

Answer the following topical discussion question for the week:

3-4. Merit pay plans appear to be the most common form of compensation in the United States. Based on your knowledge of merit pay systems, identify one job for which merit pay may be appropriate and another for which it may be inappropriate. What is the rationale for your choices?

 

Required Textbook:
Strategic Compensation: A Human Resource Approach
10th Edition
Jospeh J Martocchio
Publisher: Pearson
Publication Date: 2019
ISBN: Print ISBN: 9780135226131, 0135226139
eText ISBN: 9780135175910, 0135175917

Think of a time when you were faced with an unethical communication situation. Describe the situation. How did you respond? What was the outcome? If you could face that situation again, what would you do differently and why?

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Unethical communication situation

Think of a time when you were faced with an unethical communication situation. Describe the situation. How did you respond? What was the outcome? If you could face that situation again, what would you do differently and why?

Write a 3 page paper in APA format.

Perform supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the company policies and applicable laws. Oversee accounts payable to ensure the company’s financial obligations are met in an efficient and timely manner. Code and process invoices, ensuring proper general ledger account codes are used. Analyze and reconcile general ledger accounts and prepare journal entries. Prepare monthly and yearly accruals and adjustments for the accounting cycle.

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Accounts Payable Manager Job Description

Position Title: Accounts Payable Manager

Supervisory Level: Manages Accounting Supervisors

Reports To: Accounting Director

 

General Responsibilities:

Manages the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of Accounts Payable. Manages and coordinates activities of workers in calculating, posting, and verifying duties to obtain and record financial data for use in maintaining accounting and statistical records.

 

Essential Tasks:

  • Perform supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the company policies and applicable laws.
  • Oversee accounts payable to ensure the company’s financial obligations are met in an efficient and timely manner.
  • Code and process invoices, ensuring proper general ledger account codes are used.
  • Analyze and reconcile general ledger accounts and prepare journal entries.
  • Prepare monthly and yearly accruals and adjustments for the accounting cycle.
  • Ensure all account aging issues are identified, communicated, and resolved in a timely manner.
  • Provide detailed account variance analyses.
  • Study and standardize procedures to improve efficiency of subordinates and expedite workflow.
  • Examine work for exactness, neatness, and conformance to policies and procedures.
  • Process quarterly federal, state, sales, and use tax payments.
  • Prepare various year-end schedules and provide information for annual audit.
  • Compile reports required by management and government agencies.

 

Education and Experience:

  • Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, or related field
  • Three years’ related experience, including general accrual accounting procedures
  • Supervisory experience preferred

 

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

  • Demonstrates strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Applies generally accepted accounting principles and procedures
  • Calculates figures and amounts and applies principles of accounting
  • Is highly organized, detail oriented, analytical, and self-motivated and has a team attitude
  • Demonstrates proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, with advanced proficiency in Excel
  • Demonstrates the ability to multitask, work under pressure, plan, and problem solve
  • Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills

 

Write an essay on how ESG could be applied in the Taiwan Yacht Industry

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ESG in Taiwan Yacht Industry

Write an essay on how ESG could be applied in the Taiwan Yacht Industry

Summarize the background of the country or region, including what makes it unique and why it is a viable option for Walmart expansion. Calculate whether Walmart will have favorable or unfavorable currency translation adjustments. For example, how strong is the country’s currency against the U.S. dollar? Create revenue projections and sales projections based on the data. Consider the currently translation adjustments in your projection.

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Walmart Expansion Analysis – Part I

Step 1: Data Collection
As a data analyst, you will be required to locate data from multiple sources. It is recommended that you use the Mergent Database in the University of Arizona Global Campus Library, the Business Insight Global database in the University of Arizona Global Campus Library, and Walmart’s latest Annual Report to begin your data collection. These databases should serve as a guide for your research. You are expected to identify additional data sources that will be useful in your analysis.

Accessing Mergent database:
You can locate current Walmart data from the Mergent database in the University of Arizona Global Campus Library. Review the Mergent Online: Accessing Mergent Online (Links to an external site.) for instructions on accessing and searching the database. Search for “Walmart” and select “Walmart Inc.”

Navigate to the Company Financials tab. You may want to review the Income Statement for items such as net sales, operating expenses, projected income, etc. It is recommended that you review data from at least the last five years.

If you wish, you can export this data into an excel document by selecting the “Download” option in the upper right corner of the Mergent page.

Accessing Business Insights: Global database:
To access the Business Insight Global database, access the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and select to the “Find Articles and More”. Next, select “Databases A-Z”, then find the “Business Insights: Global” database. In the search bar, type “Walmart”, ensuring the “Company” tab is selected from the dropdown menu. You may want to review items such as gross profit, interest expense, net income, etc.

Business Insights: Global also has some information on Walmart in particular countries that may be useful in your research. To search, type Walmart or Wal-mart into the search bar at the top of the Business Insights: Global homepage, ensuring “Country” is selected from the drop-down menu. This will provide results that cover Walmart in areas such as China, Brazil, Chile, India, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Canada. You may wish to gather data for countries that are closest to your region for comparison.

Accessing Walmart’s annual report:
You can find Walmart’s most recent annual report on their Financial Information (Links to an external site.) page. You can use the annual report to gather additional international data.

Here are some examples of data that may be useful to an analyst:

Under “Item 1: Business,” in the “Walmart International Segment,” you may wish to gather data for retail unit count and retail square feet for all available fiscal years for the country or continent closest to your region. For example, if you are looking to expand in Egypt, you will use the data for Africa.
In the “Item 2: Properties” section of the report, you may wish to gather data for the owned and leased properties for the country or continent closest to your region.
In the “Results of Operations” section of the report, look for “Walmart International Segment.” You may wish to gather data for net sales, operating income, and unit counts at period end for all available fiscal years.
You will likely need to gather more data to make your case. You are encouraged to seek out additional data points that will assist you in your analysis. Other data points you may want to consider include, but are not limited to

Gross national income
Population and demographic data
Key economic metrics, including current economic status, inflation, etc.
Labor market data, including average wage, unemployment rate, cost of living, etc.
Market environment
Foreign exchange
Credit environment outlook
Here are some suggested databases to get you started. These databases may not have all the information you need to make a full evaluation. You may need to conduct your own research to find useful databases that house the data you need to conduct your analysis.

International Labour Organization’s ILOSTAT (Links to an external site.)
The World Bank’s Doing Business Data (Links to an external site.)
The World Bank’s DataBank

Step 2: Analyzing the Data
Now that you have gathered your data, you will need to determine the best way to compile the data for analysis. Using the tools and skills you have learned in this course, create graphs and tables that will assist you in making sense of the data. You will use these tables to assess the data and support your analysis.

In your paper,

Summarize the background of the country or region, including what makes it unique and why it is a viable option for Walmart expansion.
Assess the data sets and include any charts or graphs used in your evaluation.
Measure outlook sales, interest, and other trends to make a determination on the regional outlook. Is the outlook improving, remaining stable, or deteriorating? For example, how will this expansion affect sales trends, interest cost trends, etc.?
Calculate whether Walmart will have favorable or unfavorable currency translation adjustments. For example, how strong is the country’s currency against the U.S. dollar?
Create revenue projections and sales projections based on the data. Consider the currently translation adjustments in your projection.
Propose a recommended course of action based on your interpretation of the data.
The Walmart Expansion Analysis Final Project, Part 1: Walmart Case Study Paper

Why would an e-mail rules memo like this work better at an innovation-driven company such as Tesla rather than at a manufacturing-driven company such as General Motors? What are the potential problems that could arise out of this approach to e-mail?

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Week 5 Business

1. Chapter 9:

Think of a task or project you have completed recently that required a great deal of effort. What motivated you to exert so much energy to complete the task or project? Describe your motivation in terms of the theories presented in the chapter. (Systems)

2. Chapter 10:

Read the Critical Thinking Case, Innovation and E-mail Rules at the back of Chapter 10 (Links to an external site.) and answer the following:

Innovation and E-mail Rules

This chapter provides insights into how manufacturing and service organizations can implement processes and controls to increase efficiency, manage expenditures, and increase profits for the organization. For companies such as General Motors that need to manage suppliers and make sure that all components are procured on time and at the best costs to ensure the final assembly runs efficiently, and for service organizations such as Marriott, which wants to have clean rooms and an efficient check-in process when guests arrive, the main lessons of this chapter are readily apparent.

All companies, however, need to innovate continuously to improve their products and services. Automobile companies such as General Motors have to constantly measure customer tastes and needs and provide products that meet and exceed their expectations. Likewise, Marriott needs to cater to the needs of business and leisure travelers in a variety of locations.

Perhaps no company in recent years has captured the attention of the public more than Tesla and SpaceX, both headed by CEO Elon Musk. Tesla is named after the inventor Nicola Tesla, a contemporary of Thomas Edison, who designed the first electric engine. SpaceX is a company that is known for innovation such as reusing rocket launchers to reduce costs. While Tesla and SpaceX still manage their operations with all the processes covered in this chapter, their constant innovation requires new processes.

Perhaps no aspect of modern business has had a bigger impact than the proliferation of e-mail. No longer confined to the desktop, e-mail messages are delivered via mobile devices, and managers must find ways to manage the proliferation of communication to keep on top of things.

Elon Musk communicated the processes and rules for communicating at Tesla in this e-mail to all employees.

Subject: Communication Within Tesla

There are two schools of thought about how information should flow within companies. By far the most common way is chain of command, which means that you always flow communication through your manager. The problem with this approach is that, while it serves to enhance the power of the manager, it fails to serve the company.

Instead of a problem getting solved quickly, where a person in one dept talks to a person in another dept and makes the right thing happen, people are forced to talk to their manager who talks to their manager who talks to the manager in the other dept who talks to someone on his team. Then the info has to flow back the other way again. This is incredibly dumb. Any manager who allows this to happen, let alone encourages it, will soon find themselves working at another company. No kidding.

Anyone at Tesla can and should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company. You can talk to your manager’s manager without his permission, you can talk directly to a VP in another dept, you can talk to me, you can talk to anyone without anyone else’s permission. Moreover, you should consider yourself obligated to do so until the right thing happens. The point here is not random chitchat, but rather ensuring that we execute ultra-fast and well. We obviously cannot compete with the big car companies in size, so we must do so with intelligence and agility.

One final point is that managers should work hard to ensure that they are not creating silos within the company that create an us vs. them mentality or impede communication in any way. This is unfortunately a natural tendency and needs to be actively fought. How can it possibly help Tesla for depts to erect barriers between themselves or see their success as relative within the company instead of collective? We are all in the same boat. Always view yourself as working for the good of the company and never your dept.

Thanks,

Elon

Critical Thinking Questions
1. Why would an e-mail rules memo like this work better at an innovation-driven company such as Tesla rather than at a manufacturing-driven company such as General Motors?
2. What are the potential problems that could arise out of this approach to e-mail?