Wednesday 30 April 2014

Obtain the Whole Foods Market 2010 Annual Report

Obtain the Whole Foods Market 2010 Annual Report by visiting the Whole Foods Market site or searching Google. Review Whole Foods Market’s 2010 accomplishments as well as its goals and strategies for the future.
Based on your review, respond to the following:
  • What is the Whole Foods' company strategy? What were the company's goals and were they successful in achieving those goals?
  • Would you invest in Whole Foods stock? Why or why not?
  • What recommendations would you make to senior management for the upcoming year? Would you consider expanding into new markets? Would international expansion be profitable? Are there new products or services that you would recommend to management to offer? Are there markets that you might recommend closing or products/services that should no longer be offered? Should prices be reduced or increased?

    (Note: Stating you have no advice or that management should keep doing what they have been doing is not sufficient.)
Write your initial response in 200–250 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

In the United States women are more likely than men to initiate divorce. Why do you think this is so?

In the United States women are more likely than men to initiate divorce. Why do you think this is so?


#8 . How is our age related to what people expect of us? Is age always a good indicator of our abilities? Explain. 

To feel confident that all of the employees in your strategic planning team understand all that you have taught them, you require each to prepare a streamlined version of the key elements of a company’s strategic plan. ............

To feel confident that all of the employees in your strategic planning team understand all that you have taught them, you require each to prepare a streamlined version of the key elements of a company’s strategic plan. You require each employee to prepare the following sections of a strategic plan for any one of the corporation’s four divisions. You intentionally gave them no information about any of the divisions and suggest that they pick a current leading competitor in that field, and are to assume they are in that company as they write the following parts of a strategic plan:
  • Mission statement (simply copying an existing real company’s mission is unacceptable)
  • Industry analysis
  • SWOTT analysis
  • 2 perceptual maps
    • Choose any 2 pairs of criteria that you think are important to plot.
    • Explain why you picked those 2 pairs of criteria.
The 4 corporate industries that each employee can pick from are the following:
  • Auto industry
  • Pharmaceutical industry
  • Mass merchandiser industry
  • Home movie rental industry
Part 2
Deliverable Length: 4 or more blank forms (minimum 1-page each), a complete set of instructions for each form, (200–300 words minimum), and a 200–300 word cover letter
Your team has practiced doing strategic planning for a competitor company in an associated industry. The team has done the preliminary work of learning about the process of strategic planning and is now set to begin the necessary preparatory work to assist each division’s senior management team in creating its own strategic plan.
You and your team are now ready to assist in the strategic planning process with each division’s senior staff. Your team knows that a massive amount of information will need to be collected and collated as part of each division’s individual strategic plan. Ahead of your team’s visit to each division’s headquarters, you are preparing a package of forms and instructions to disseminate to each division head. The purpose of this package is to have each division’s senior staff do the necessary legwork to prepare for the week-long strategic planning meetings that you will hold at each site. You want to make sure that each division’s staff knows what they have to do, what information they have to collect, and how to present it in a consistent manner. In this fashion, each division’s strategic plans will have a consistent look and feel.
Create the necessary blank forms that the management team will need to fill out to gather the appropriate data. At a minimum, the following forms will be needed:
  • Industry analysis
  • SWOTT analysis
  • Competitor analysis and perceptual map
  • Five year financial forecast
Provide one set of clear and concise written instructions for the division senior teams to assist them in how to gather the information and transfer it to the appropriate forms for subsequent discussion and collation into the final 5-year strategic plan document. Each form’s instructions must be 200–300 words and include examples to help explain how to fill it out.
One cover letter of 200–300 words must be included and addressed to the CEO, who will then distribute the materials and instructions to the senior teams of each division regarding the overall process his or her team will be going through, culminating in a formal strategic planning meeting that you and your team will participate in.
To keep decision making as decentralized as possible, draft 2 policy statements, each of 100–200 words, that each division’s CEO will be asked to disseminate and comply with. They must both comply with the following policy-writing guidelines:
  • One policy statement must address human resource promotion policy.
  • One policy must address capital spending authority levels.
2nd Assignment:

Analyze the effectiveness of your organization’s training and development process. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation that addresses the following:
  1. Explain the training needs analysis approach that your organization uses to define training needs.
  2. Describe the process for capturing needs for individuals, groups, and the wider skills for the organization.
  3. Evaluate the effectiveness of at least 3 courses in this curriculum. For each course, address the following:
  • Are adult learning theories evident in the course design?
  • Does the course have clear and measurable training objectives and learning outcomes?
  • Is there alignment of the course objectives with organizational strategic goals and objectives?
  • Describe the training delivery methods. Are they varied and appropriate to the course topics?
  • Does the course incorporate varied learning styles in the design?
  • What level of evaluation is used to measure the effectiveness of the training?
You must include a minimum of 4 scholarly references.

Describe the strategic importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and discuss how CRM can be used to create customer satisfaction and greater profits for the firm.

The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid


Assignment 1: The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid
Use the Internet to research one (1) developing nation of your choice. Your research should include an examination of the effects that war and peace have on the distribution of foreign aid, as well as the material covered by the Webtext in Weeks 1 through 3.
Write a three to four (3-4) page research paper in which you:
  1. Assess the positive and negative effects that peace and war, respectively, have on the distribution of foreign aid in the developing country that you have selected. Support your response with concrete examples of each of the results that you have cited.
  2. Analyze the specific actions that the leadership of the selected country has taken, through the use of its foreign aid from donor nations and international lending institutions, to relieve the severe problems caused by warfare.
  3. Discuss whether or not the extension of foreign aid has successfully reduced poverty and the incidence of warfare in the selected country. Support your response with examples.
  4. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other 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.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
  • Analyze how funding in the form of aid, investment and loans moves from industrialized nations to the developing world to alleviate the problems caused by warfare.
  • Use technology and information resources to research issues in sociology of developing countries.
  • Write clearly and concisely about sociology of developing countries using proper writing mechanics.

surprise ending

Choose one (1) of the three (3) reading selections from the list of topic choices below. Read the selection in the textbook. Write a three to four (3-4) paragraph essay (250 words) which analyzes the “surprise ending” of the reading selection.
Topic Choices
  • Reading selection from Descartes’ Discourse on the Method (Part IV). Descartes begins with the problem of being able to prove his own existence but ends up with an argument proving the existence of God. Read more about the Discourse on the Method located at http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/authors/descartes.html.
  • Reading selection from Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Swift begins with offering the solution that the English could do things which might solve the problem of overpopulation and the mistreatment of citizens in Ireland. It ends by offering the solution that an internal change in the Irish government would best solve the problem of overpopulation and a populace victimized by its own government. Read more about A Modest Proposal located at http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/swift/modest.html.
  • Two (2) reading selections from Voltaire’s Candide. The story begins by acknowledging the foolishness of the superstitious traditions held by the people in the city of Lisbon but ends by confirming Voltaire’s belief that religion in general is equally based in false superstitions. For the reading selection you choose: 1. Clearly state in your own words the “surprise ending” in the reading you selected. Identify the point in the reading when you realized that the ending would be different from what the beginning of the reading suggested that it would be. 2. Since you were expecting a different ending, evaluate how successful the author was in convincing you to accept the validity of the “surprise ending” that was not clearly suggested at the beginning.

For the reading selection you choose:
  1. Clearly state in your own words the “surprise ending” in the reading you selected. Identify the point in the reading when you realized that the ending would be different from what the beginning of the reading suggested that it would be.
  2. Since you were expecting a different ending, evaluate how successful the author was in convincing you to accept the validity of the “surprise ending” that was not clearly suggested at the beginning.

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 Style format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. (Note: Students can find APA style materials located in the course shell for reference)
  • Include a cover page containing the tile 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.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
  • Explain how key social, cultural, and artistic contributions contribute to historical changes.
  • Explain the importance of situating a society’s cultural and artistic expressions within a historical context.
  • Examine the influences of intellectual, religious, political, and socio-economic forces on social, cultural, and artistic expressions.
  • Identify major historical developments in world cultures from the Renaissance to the contemporary period.
  • Use technology and information resources to research issues in the study of world cultures.
  • Write clearly and concisely about world cultures using proper writing mechanics.

Marketing



Textbooks =

Wiley Pathways E-Business

Greg Holden (Chicago, Illinois), Shannon Belew, Joel Elad, Jason R. Rich with Don Gulbrandsen

March 2008, ©2008

Learning Objectives =

Assess e-Commerce influence on businesses and how it provides a competitive advantage.

Discuss the role of eCommerce in practical business applications.

Evaluate and discuss issues surrounding ethics and security as related to eCommerce.

Readings =

Chapter 8: Marketing an E-Business       

Chapter 9: Effectively Using Search Engines

Assignment(s) =

(1)Discussion Board Activity Post. Respond in 3-4 well researched short paragraphs.

(a)Your team has been directed to market your online specialty wine distribution company. Discuss what automated marketing approaches might benefit your business without adding to your workload? Which forms of offline advertising would most benefit the wine distribution company?

Support your view with evidence, explanations and credible references.



(2)Week 5 Homework Assignment:

(a) Recommend a strategy to attract online customers, which may include online (e.g. search engines) as well as off line (e.g. print ads) techniques. 

(b) Would your strategy include pop-ups?  Why or why not. 

Response should be no less than two pages, supported with credible references and submitted in a APA format. Outside references are required.  Please cite any outside sources you use, such as financial projections, etc. in APA style.

De Beers Diamond Company National Football League (NFL) British Petroleum (BP) National Rifle Association (NRA) Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you: Specify the nature, structure, types of products or service of your chosen organization,


  • De Beers Diamond Company 
  • National Football League (NFL) 
  • British Petroleum (BP)
  • National Rifle Association (NRA)


Write a 5 page paper in which you:
  1. Specify the nature, structure, types of products or service of your chosen organization, and two (2) key factors in the organization’s external environment that can affect its success. Provide explanation to support the rationale.  
  2. Examine three (3) salient stakeholders of the chosen organization based on their key roles and relationships with the company.
  3. Suggest five (5) ways in which the primary stakeholders can influence the organization’s financial performance. Provide support for the response.
  4. Specify one (1) controversial corporate social responsibility concern associated with your selected organization. 
  5. Assuming you are the leader of the most influential stakeholder group, outline a plan to form a stakeholder coalition to force the organization to address your chosen controversial issue. The plan should include the key steps that you would take to identify members for your coalition group, the major reasons why you believe that the particular target group can help you to accomplish your goal, and the method you would utilize to foster collaboration among the various groups you target. 
  6. Assume the role as the leader of the most influential stakeholder group, and indicate three (3) potential challenges that you may face in encouraging stakeholders to form a coalition to help you achieve your goals. Suggest the significant steps that you would take in order to overcome these challenges that you have identified. Justify the response.
  7. Use at least four (4) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

SQL database

This project will test your ability to analyze data in a SQL database to obtain information. To complete this project, you will need to answer the list of questions and show your work. Scripts will be provided to create your database and load it with information. Create a SSRS report that displays the information necessary to answer the questions below. You may create multiple reports if necessary. 
Run the create_FinalDB.sql script to create the database. If you need to start over for any reason, use the drop_FinalDB.sql script to delete the database. You will need to re-do steps #1 and #2.
Run the LoadSampleData.sql script to populate the database with data.
Create a SQL Server Reporting Services report that displays information in a manner that allows you to answer the following questions (multiple reports, if necessary):
  1. What percentage of students have a class level of Senior?
  2. What course has received the most posting activity?
  3. Which course has the most assignments?
  4. What date has the most posting activity?
  5. Does there appear to be a correlation between positing activity and better scores on assignments for students? Support your answer with information from the data.
Bonus Question/Extra Credit (Tough Question)
Which type of student (TRAD/Non-Trad), on average, has more posting activity?
Grant access to the report(s) to your instructor.
Notify your instructor when your report is ready for submission by submitting your report within the assignment drop box.

Business Process and Functional Modeling


Advanced Business Systems (ABS) is a consulting and staffing company providing specialized staffing and consulting services to clients in a variety of different industries. It has offices in major U.S. metro areas and has ongoing relationships with Fortune 500 companies. Its areas of services range from software development and network engineering to geo-information systems. It has 50 plus regional offices in U.S. and five (5) offices in Canada. It plans to expand to other countries in the future.

When an ABS client company determines that it will need a contractor or temporary professional, it issues a staffing request against the contract it had previously negotiated with ABS. The contract manager in ABS reviews the staff request and ensures that the request is valid with its current contract with its client from the database.
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· If the request is not valid, the contract manager sends the staffing request back to the client and explains the reasons and asks for the need for starting a new contract.

· If the request is valid, the contract manager will start recruiting requests by putting the request into its staffing database. The staffing request is then sent to ABS placement department.

In the placement department, the placement specialists will check the job requirements and candidate’s qualifications.

· If there is a qualified candidate, the specialist will notify the candidate and put a note in the database.

· If a qualified candidate cannot be found or not immediately available, the specialist notifies contract managers and the recruiting department; the recruiting department starts searching outside immediately.

The recruiting department normally has 30 days to find an outside candidate and send the qualified candidates to the placement department to review. If an internal qualified candidate is confirmed with his / her availability, the confirmation will be sent to the arrangement department. In the arrangement department, the candidate works with the specialists to further confirm the placement details, such as starting date, location, compensation (e.g., per diem), and travel arrangement. The final confirmation will be sent to the client along with a billing schedule. If the client agrees with the arrangement, he/she acknowledges the arrangement with contract managers in the contract department. The contract manager then puts a memo into its database and closes the request.







Write a four to five 4 pages paper in which you:

1. Create a use-case diagram to include at least three (3) actors for the system described in this case through the use of graphical tools in Microsoft Word or Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.

2. Create an activity diagram for the business process described in this case through the use of graphical tools in Microsoft Word or Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.

3. Develop a use-case description for each major use case.

4. Verify and validate the functional models for this case.

5. Create a high-level requirements document which captures the major functions of the system.

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.

· Include charts or diagrams created in Visio or Dia. The completed diagrams / charts must be imported into the Word document before the paper is submitted.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Procure, document, and scope IT project requirements with use cases.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in procuring and designing project requirements.

· Write clearly and concisely about project requirements and design topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.

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influences on perception

1. Discuss an example of a time when one of the six influences on perception caused you to misperceive someone or something in a work situation. What could you have done differently? Also, discuss a time when you were misperceived by someone else and why you believe this happened. What could you do to change that misperception?

2. Have you ever wondered why you get tired much faster on warmer days than on cold ones or why you become dizzy and weak when you are dehydrated? As you are learning, your body is more than a collection of organs. In addition to understanding where we come from and what we are made of, we must understand the role of chemicals in our body. Chemicals can help you to maintain homeostasis, but an imbalance can also disrupt this important process. Electrolytes, substances that are able to conduct electricity when they are dissolved, are some of these chemicals. Scientists have identified four main electrolytes in the human body: sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate. 

On a warm day, George embarks on his first 5K run. After approximately 40 minutes, he becomes dizzy, then stumbles and falls. When emergency personnel arrive on the scene, they find him weak but awake. He complains of muscle pain in his limbs and dizziness. He mentions that before leaving his home, he ate a piece of toast and a large cup of coffee. He has not consumed any other foods or beverages since leaving his home.



In your main response, please address the following questions. What could be happening to George? How should he be treated? Based on what you’ve learned thus far, what could George have done to help prevent this situation? What factors may be contributing to George's symptoms?


Capital Budgeting

Your final assignment as a financial management intern is to apply the knowledge that you acquired while engaging in the cost of capital and capital budgeting discussion you had with your colleagues. In this task, you will be evaluating a capital project using the weighted cost of capital for a firm using the market value rather than the book value of the components and the capital budgeting techniques presented in this phase.
First, recalculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) using the market value of equity to determine are more realistic cost of capital. You will need to visit a Web site to get the current value of the common stock price per share and multiply this value times the most recent number of shares of common stock outstanding. In this exercise, you will be ignoring preferred stock because its weight value will most likely be too low to impact the final result. You may use the following table to complete this portion of the task:
Company
Common Stock, price per share
Number of Common Shares Outstanding
Market Value of Common Equity





Now, you can estimate the total market value of the company by adding the book value of total liabilities to the market value of the firm’s common equity and determine their market value weights.
Company
Total Liabilities
Market Value of Common Equity
Market Value of the Firm
Values



Weights




Using the cost of each component as determined in the Phase 4 IP, calculate the firm's market value WACC.

After-Tax Cost of Debt
Cost of Common Equity
WACC
Unweighted Cost



Market Weight of Component



Market Weighted Cost of Component




The firm is considering investing in a capital project that will have an initial cost of $12 million. The project is expected to have a productive life of 5 years, and at the end of this period, it is expected to have a salvage value of $2 million. The net value of the project will be depreciated using the straight-line method for the full 5 years. The project is expected to increase the firm’s revenue by $10 million per year, and related expenses (not including depreciation) are expected to increase by about $6.5 million per year.
The first thing you need to do is calculate the annual depreciation. Feel free to use the following table:
Initial Investment

less Salvage Value

Depreciable Value

Life of Project (years)

Depreciation/year


Now, you need to calculate the relevant cash flows for the project. You can use the average tax rate that was calculated in Phase 4 to determine the additional taxes the firm will have to pay. The following template may be of some assistance to you:
Years
0
1
2
3
4
5
Initial Investment (negative)






Increase in Revenue






Less Increase in Operating Expenses






Increase in Operating Income






Less Depreciation/year






Taxable Income






Less Taxes at Average Rate






Net Income






Plus Depreciation/year






Operating Cash Flow






Plus Salvage Value (Year 5)





    
Relevant Cash Flows (0–5)







At this point, you are ready to apply the capital budgeting techniques of net present value (NPV) and the internal rate of return (IRR). To calculate the NPV, use the market-value WACC as your discount rate and the required rate of return for IRR.
  • After completing the required calculations, explain your results in a Word document, and attach the spreadsheet showing your work. Be sure to explain the following:
    • Based on your calculations, would you recommend approving or rejecting the project, and why?
    • Why would you expect both NPV and IRR to support the same conclusion to accept or reject the project?
    • If you employed a cost of capital of 20%, would you have made the same accept or reject decision, and why?
    • What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 methods (NPV and IRR), and under what circumstances is one more reliable over the other?
    • Why is operating cash flow used in capital budgeting and not net income?
Be sure to document your paper with in-text citations, credible sources, and list of references used in proper APA format.