What sources of capital should be included when you estimate Jana’s weighted average cost of capital? Should the component costs be figured on a before-tax or an after-tax basis? Should the costs be historical costs or new costs?

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Case study

During the last few years, Jana Industries has been too constrained by the high cost of capital to make many capital investments. Recently, though, capital costs have been declining, and the company has decided to look seriously at a major expansion program proposed by the marketing department. Assume that you are an assistant to Leigh Jones, the financial vice president. Your first task is to estimate Jana’s cost of capital. Jones has provided you with the following data, which she believes may be relevant to your task:

*The firm’s tax rate is 25%.

*The current price of Jana’s 12% coupon, semiannual payment, noncallable bonds with 15 years remaining to maturity is $1,153.72. There are 70,000 bonds. Jana does not use placed with no flotation cost.

*The current price of the firm’s 10%, $100 par value, quarterly dividend, perpetual preferred stock is $116.95. There are 200,000 outstanding shares. Jana would incur flotation costs equal to 5% of the proceeds on a new issue.

*Jana’s common stock is currently selling at $50 per share. There are 3 million outstanding common shares. Its last dividend (D0) was $3.12, and dividends are expected to grow at a constant rate of 5.8% in the foreseeable future. Jana’s beta is 1.2, the yield on T-bonds is 5.6%, and the market risk premium is estimated to be 6%. For the own-bond-yield-plus-judgmental-risk-premium approach, the firm uses a 3.2% risk premium.

To help you structure the task, Leigh Jones has asked you to answer the following questions:

a.

(1) What sources of capital should be included when you estimate Jana’s weighted average cost of capital?

(2) Should the component costs be figured on a before-tax or an after-tax basis?

(3) Should the costs be historical costs or new (marginal) costs?

b.

What is the market interest rate on Jana’s debt, and what is the component cost of this debt for WACC purposes?

c.

(1) What is the firm’s cost of preferred stock?

(2) Jana’s preferred stock is riskier to investors than its debt, yet the preferred stock’s yield to investors is lower than the yield to maturity on the debt. Does this suggest that you have made a mistake?

(1) What are the two primary ways companies raise common equity?

(2) Why is there a cost associated with reinvested earnings?

(3) Jana doesn’t plan to issue new shares of common stock. Using the CAPM approach, what is Jana’s estimated cost of equity?

  1. (1) What is the estimated cost of equity using the dividend growth approach?

(2) Suppose the firm has historically earned 15% on equity (ROE) and has paid out 62% of earnings, and suppose investors expect similar values to obtain in the future. How could you use this information to estimate the future dividend growth rate, and what growth rate would you get? Is this consistent with the 5.8% growth rate given earlier?

  1. What is the cost of equity based on the own-bond-yield-plus-judgmental-risk-pre-mium method?
  2. What is your final estimate for the cost of equity, rs ?
  3. Jana’s target capital structure is 30% long-term debt, 10% preferred stock, and 60% common equity. How does this compare with the current market value capital structure?
  4. Use Jana’s target weights to calculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC).
  5. What factors influence a company’s WACC?
  6. Explain in words why new common stock that is raised externally has a higher per-centage cost than equity that is raised internally by reinvesting earnings.

 

What are the differences busing Maetween the levels of satisfaction that Al felt while working for the two different managers? Analyze with Alderfer’s EGR theory the needs of Al that are not being met at his current job.

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Unit 2 – Discussion Board HR

Review the Specialty Metalworking Company Case Study before proceeding with the following scenario.

Scenario:

Al Waysright, a Project Engineer for Metallico, joined the team earlier this year. He had met Win Easily from Project Management Consultants during the interview sessions and was looking forward to working under him. Al’s team members seemed warm and friendly and comfortable with their work. He had acquainted himself with his team members quite well. Out of curiosity, Al causally asked one of the team members about Mr. Easily. His team member responded, “Mr. Easily does not interfere with our work. In fact, you could even say that he tries to ignore us as much as he can.” Al was surprised by the comment but decided that Mr. Easily was probably leaving them alone to do their work without any guidance to allow them to realize their full potential.

Al’s previous job was at Expert Industrial Developers (EID) working for Ivar Kontrack. Al had worked under Ivar and had looked up to him as a guide and mentor—always guiding, but never interfering. Ivar had allowed him to make his own mistakes, and he learned from them. He had always encouraged individual ideas and let the dream team discover the flaws, if any, through discussion and experience. He rarely held an individual member of his team responsible if the team as a whole failed to deliver; for him, the responsibility for any failure was collective.

As Al was going through the initial project plan, he saw that there were several problems with the project scope that would cause scope creep in the future. Excited to bring this up to Mr. Easily in the hopes of gaining praise and recognition, Al waited the next day in front of Mr. Easily’s office for an opportunity to discuss this with him. After Al waited for an hour, Mr. Easily called him in. When Al went in, Mr. Easily looked at him blankly and asked, “Yes?” Not sure whether he had recognized Al, he introduced himself. Mr. Easily said, “Ok, but why did you want to meet me?” Al started to tell him about the problems he saw with the project scope and his solutions, but before Al could even finish, Mr. Easily told him that he was busy with other things and that he would send an e-mail with the solution to all members of the team by the end of the day that the team could then implement immediately.

Al was somewhat taken aback. He slowly realized that Mr. Win Easily was the opposite of his old boss. Although he was efficient at what he did and extremely intelligent, he had neither the time nor the inclination to groom his subordinates. His solution to problems was always correct, but he was not willing to discuss or debate the merits of any other ideas that his team might have. He did not hold the team down to their deadlines nor did he ever interfere. In fact, he rarely said anything at all! If work did not get finished on time, he would just blame the team and totally disassociate himself from them.

Time and again, Al Waysright found himself thinking of Ivar Kontract, his old boss, and how he had been such a positive influence. Win, on the other hand, without actively doing anything, had managed to significantly lower Al’s motivation levels. As a result, Al gradually began to lose interest at work. It had become too mechanical for his taste. He didn’t really need to think; his boss had all the answers. Al was learning nothing new and felt his career was going nowhere. As he became more and more discouraged, his performance suffered. From being someone with immense promise and potential, Al was now in danger of becoming just another mediocre project engineer.

After gaining a deeper understanding of your own leadership and communication style, it is time to turn your focus outward to your team. To keep your team performing at a high level, it is first assumed that you have taken them through the stages of building a team: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. You will explore what you believe are the goals of motivation, some of the theories driving motivation, and what instrument you might use to measure how each project team individual is motivated.

Research at least 2 sources to support your response. Include an introduction and conclusion to this topic. Be sure to include your references and citations, and format your submission in APA format.

Based on the above scenario, discuss the following questions:

What are the differences between the levels of satisfaction that Al felt while working for the two different managers? Answer the question using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Analyze with Alderfer’s EGR theory the needs of Al that are not being met at his current job.
Al began his current job with great enthusiasm; however, despite his positive outlook, he quickly became unmotivated. Using Herzberg’s content theory, explain the probable reasons for this.
Al’s gradual performance drop in the new division was due to a lack of intangible rewards for his needs. Analyze this statement using equity theory.
The key factor in why Al felt demoralized was that his expectations were not being met. Using Vroom’s expectancy theory, explain this.

Describe the theory that most closely aligns with how you intend to motivate your team. Describe which facilitation techniques you will use to have the project team input to the motivation plan and which team-building activities you plan to implement. Provide a visual example.

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Unit 2 – Individual Project HR

You have already analyzed your own personal strengths for leading and communicating with your project team. Now, it is time to determine the strategy and plan for motivating your team members.

There are some facilitation techniques that you can use to decide, as a team, what motivation activities you will add to the overall plan. Possibilities include brainstorming and nominal group technique, force field analysis, and mind mapping.

Motivating Project Team Strategy
Describe the method that you will use to determine how each team member is motivated.
Describe the theory that most closely aligns with how you intend to motivate your team.
Describe which facilitation techniques you will use to have the project team input to the motivation plan and which team-building activities you plan to implement. Provide a visual example.
What activities or tasks have you added to the project plan to support your strategy?

Attached are the template for the project and the first part of the project. Please review the first part for consistency. Keep the formatting from the template. The example project chosen is building a house.

What kind of car do you drive? On the discussion topic, find others in OP’ your class who drive the same brand and discuss the variety of sub-brands driven within the group.

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6-1 Discussion: Brand Applications

What kind of car do you drive? On the discussion topic, find others in OP’ your class who drive the same brand (Ford, Volvo, etc.) and discuss the variety of sub-brands (Focus, Taurus, etc.) driven within the group. Visit the website for that car manufacturer and discuss with your group how many sub-brands you find there, and how they are differentiated.

To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric PDF document.

Consider the brand you have been working with. Identify a product you would choose to co-brand with. Explain why this co-branding works.

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6-3 Presentation: Building a Brand

Instructions

Consider the brand you have been working with. Identify a product you would choose to co-brand with. Explain why this co-branding works.
Add this to the presentation you started in Module Five. Submit the presentation here. The whole presentation should be 4 to 6 slides in length.
For additional details, please refer to the Presentation Rubric PDF document.

Identify at least three products and three celebrity chefs. What do the products say about the chef and how do their products help to promote their “brand”? Do you regularly purchase any of the brands or products? Why?

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Module Six > 6-2 Brand Blog Discussion: Celebrity Chefs as Brands

6-2 Brand Blog Discussion: Celebrity Chefs as Brands –
In recent years celebrity chefs have become very popular. These chefs have also created new brands of products including grocery and cooking products (among others). These chefs have also endorsed existing products.

Identify at least three products and three celebrity chefs. What do the products say about the chef and how do their products help to promote their “brand”? Do you regularly purchase any of the brands or products? Why? Would you consider this as co-branding? Why or why not? Identify a chef that you think has done the best job of creating a brand for him- or herself. Identify a chef that you think has done the best job of using his or her brand to promote another product. Support you selection with evidence.

To complete this assignment, review the Blog Discussion Guidelines and Rubric PDF document.

What were the underlying facts that gave rise to the disaster? How did the story impact your view of the legal system, if at all? In what Court did Stern file the case, and why did he select that Court? In

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GBL 323 – Ethics Writing Assignment #4 (Fall, 2022)

Instructions (Worth 30 Points)

All GBL students at Michigan State University are required to read the Buffalo Creek Disaster. The Buffalo Creek Disaster is the story of how attorney Gerald Stern represented clients who had been hurt by flooding in West Virginia attributed to the alleged actions of a coal mining company. Much of the book deals with Stern’s decision of where to file the case. For this assignment, double spaced with 12-point font, that provides me with your take-aways from the book.

In your essay, address as many of the following as you can:

  1. What were the underlying facts that gave rise to the disaster?
  2. How did the story impact your view of the legal system, if at all?
  3. In what Court did Stern file the case, and why did he select that Court?
  4. In what Court did Stern not want to file the case, and why?
  5. How did Stern select the defendant who was sued?
  6. What were the arguments raised by the defendant to the Complaint and how did the Court rule?

 

Explain the status of the contract between Greg and Campbell. If a contract was formed, did the additional term in the acceptance become part of the contract? Is the contract between Campbell and London legally enforceable?

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Week 2 Project

Legal and Ethical Scenarios

Select two of the scenarios. Support your responses with appropriate cases, laws, and other relevant examples by using at least one scholarly source from the SUO Library in addition to your textbook for each scenario. Do not copy the scenario text into the paper. Label the beginning of each scenario with the number you selected (e.g., Scenario 1). Cite your sources in APA format on a separate page. Submit your document to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

Scenario 1 – Contracts

Greg, a consumer in Tennessee, sent a purchase order to Campbell Manufacturing, a U.S. company, for a 4000 PSI gas pressure washer valued at $1275. Greg needed a new pressure washer for his part time business of washing houses. The order did not specify how disputes between the parties would be settled. Campbell returned a definite, unconditional acceptance that contained one additional term which stated that disputes must be submitted to arbitration. Greg received the acceptance; however, he never agreed or objected to the additional term.

Campbell orally contracted to sell 15 pressure washers to London Painting Company a large commercial painting company in France.

Explain the status of the contract between Greg and Campbell.
If a contract was formed, did the additional term in the acceptance become part of the contract?
Is the contract between Campbell and London legally enforceable? (Additional research outside of the textbook may be necessary).

Scenario 2 – Management of Corporations

Parker and Phillips incorporated P & P Resorts Inc., a closely held Texas corporation. Parker was president and Phillips served as vice president and director for operations. Parker owned 40% of the stock, while Phillips owned 60%. Both men met with CTA, a group of travel agents from California to discuss special deals for booking groups into the resorts. After the first meeting, all contracts with CTA were made by Phillips, who learned that there was a good chance that CTA would award the contract to P&P Resorts. Phillips incorporated Travel Brokers and was its sole owner. Phillips used P& P Resort’s time to work on proposals for Travel Brokers and managed to keep negotiations with CTA a secret from Parker. When Parker discovered Phillip’s actions, he filed suit against him for wrongfully taking a corporate opportunity from P &P Resorts. Phillips claimed that he did not take a corporate opportunity because Travel Brokers did not have the financial ability to undertake the contract with CTA.

Provide the arguments for Parker and Phillips.
Determine which party should win and provide support for your selection.
Explain any ethical principles applicable to this case.

Scenario 3 – Product Liability

Allan was not a licensed plumber, but often installed hot water heaters as part of his job as a handyman. Allan installed a new hot water heater manufactured by Bradford Inc. for Karla, a single mother with two children. Warnings were provided in large bold letters on a metal plate on the water heater. Similar warnings were provided in the manual Allan provided to Karla at the time of installation. The warning on the water heater read “CAUTION: HOT WATER CAN SCALD.” The heater itself contained a picture of hot water coming from a faucet with the words “DANGER” printed above it. In addition, the following statement was printed on the water heater.

Warning! Water temperature over 120°F can cause severe burns. Children, elderly persons, and the disabled are at higher risk of being scalded. Test water temperature before bathing or showering. Temperature limiting valves are available, see manual.

Allan set the temperature to 105°F. The next day, 3-year-old Simon was being bathed by his 12-year-old sister, Linda. When Linda received a text on her cell phone, she left Simon alone in the bathtub with the water running. Simon was scalded by the water from the tap. Simon’s mother brought suit against Allan and Bradford Inc. alleging defects in the design of the water heater and Allan’s failure to warn her about the heater’s dangers.

Provide arguments that Allan, Bradford and Linda will introduce in court.
Determine which party should win and support your answer.

How can leaders in organizations work to perceive others accurately to positively impact learning, growth and performance? Should organizations use intelligence tests to screen applicants even though the accuracy of such tests is questioned by some? Why or why not?

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Traits and attributes

There is a difference between perceived traits, characteristics or attributes of self and how individuals are perceived by others.

How can leaders in organizations work to perceive others accurately to positively impact learning, growth and performance?

Should organizations use intelligence tests to screen applicants even though the accuracy of such tests is questioned by some? Why or why not?

 

 

Based on the EBRI’s 2009 Retirement Confidence Survey results, what are workers’ expectations for retirement? Have they changed and why? Discuss the gender comparisons regarding retirement confidence and expectations for the past two years.

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HR Bonus

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) conducts a retirement confidence survey annually to examine trends and attitudes regarding retirement benefits and plans.

You will need to go to the survey web site at www.ebri.org /surveys/rcs/

Once you get to the EBRI website, you will want to click on “Retirement” and then click on “Retirement Confidence Survey” and answer the following questions.

  1. Based on the EBRI’s 2009 Retirement Confidence Survey results, what are workers’ expectations for retirement? Have they changed and why?
  2. Discuss the gender comparisons regarding retirement confidence and expectations for the past two years.
  3. Describe the confidence level and expectations for Social Security.