Author: chris

• Corporate strategy begins with marketing and understanding the key elements of the marketing plan. For IKEA, describe the following elements of its marketing strategy:
  • How do IKEA’s products, services, and related attributes satisfy the wants and needs known as its value proposition?
  • How does IKEA create a well-defined market position that appeals to customer wants and needs and differentiates its offering from competitive offerings in a process known as positioning and differentiation?

• Assess IKEA’s strategy using the criteria listed below:
  • Value Chain (1 page)

    Analyze the three sources of value (economic, social, and environmental) in IKEA’s value chain.

    • Explain sources of value as they relate to the wants and needs of IKEA’s core customer.
    • Explain how IKEA’s supply chain supports its value proposition.
    • Explain how IKEA’s focus on customer value (economic, social, and environmental) is reflected in its supply chain.
  • Intangible Products (1 page)
    • Explain IKEA’s intangible products and benefits.
    • Explain how other firms employ this concept of intangibles to erect barriers to entry for competitors.
    • Explain how the concept of intangible benefits is used to increase profits.

Pick an element to write about in communication (Listening, Verbal Communications, Non-Verbal Communication, Perception, etc.), identify, and expand its significance in communication as if it were a literature review.

Policy Paper:
What is a Health Policy Paper?
The issue addressed should be a legitimate contemporary health policy issue within which the current policy is clearly discernible.
There should be clear alternatives to the current policy.
There must be sufficient data present to provide the target audience (i.e. the decision-maker) with information to make a decision on the policy proposal.

Format for the Policy Paper
Below are the guidelines for writing a policy paper. Some variation may occur depending on the topic of the paper and the research methods being used. Policy papers should be approximately 8 pages in length.

Executive Summary (.5-1page in length)
At the beginning of the paper explain who the target audience is (i.e., the decision-maker for your policy proposal) and the main points that the decision-maker should know. It may be best to write this section last because it will serve as a summary of the entire paper.
At a minimum, the summary should include the following:
A statement of current policy
Reasons for initiating changes
Policy options to be considered
Pros and cons of each option
Recommended course of action
Reasoning for selecting that course of action

Body of Paper
The main portion of the paper should be dedicated to establishing the background and discussing the reasoning behind the policy recommendation. Students should include all of the basics from the executive summary, but fully elaborate on each point that the paper is making. The following is an outline describing what the main body of the paper should include.
Overview / Background
Statement of purpose – Why is the decision-maker being asked to consider a policy change at this time?
Review the Current Policy – What are we currently doing, why are we doing it this way, what is the public’s perception of the policy? Assess how well it is or is not working.
Statement on the Necessity for Change – What circumstances (e.g., changes in government, leadership, stability, etc.) have changed that make a new approach advisable or necessary?
Discussion
Discuss the alternatives to the current policy option by enumerating and explaining each policy option in turn.
Pros and cons of each policy option should be discussed next. Identify the political, economic, and security implications for each option. Each policy option should be compared and contrasted to the other options as well as to the current policy. This is the most important part of the paper.
Recommendation
Clearly identify which option will be recommended and which options will be discounted.
Clearly lay out the argument for why that option is better than each of the others.
Implementation
Write a detailed recommendation for specific steps on how and when to implement the recommended policy option.

Viable Alternatives
Policy papers must present several policy alternatives, and they must be serious alternatives. As a general rule, three options should be presented. One serious alternative will often be to maintain the status quo.

Cost-benefit analysis
Policy papers should include a clear cost-benefit analysis. The student should be certain to think through all possible outcomes clearly and thoroughly. The cost-benefit analysis should seriously consider the feasibility of implementation, not only in terms of economic or strategic implications, but also in terms of political feasibility. Moreover, the analysis of likely effects must not be completely one-sided. There are always going to be some benefits and some costs to any policy proposal.

Clear Criteria
Students should present clear criteria for evaluating the problem at hand and the policy alternatives to be considered. This will involve prioritizing among a variety of possible values. Trade-offs are the heart of the policy process – if solutions were easy or obvious, the problem would not be around for the student to analyze.

Clear predictions
What are the likely result of the proposed policy option? Be specific and reasonably detailed. What level of certainty can one have about them? And what middle-run indicators would demonstrate success?

Health Policy Topics:
Food Safety Policies
GMO’s
Healthcare-associated infection
Death with Dignity
E-Cigarettes regulation
Mental Health coverage, Mental Health Parity Act
Ninety-Day Grace Period- ACA 90 day grace period before an insurer can discontinue someone’s coverage for failure to pay a monthly premium.
Ideas (Health Policy Briefs, www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/archives)

What is Not a Policy Paper?
An historical analysis is never an appropriate topic for a policy paper. A policy paper must focus on a current policy issue. For example, an analysis of what George W. Bush should or should not have done in 2001 would work well as a research paper, but it would not be acceptable as a policy paper.
Comparative or case studies normally fit better as research papers than policy papers. For example, a comparative study of conflict resolution in South Africa and Northern Ireland, although certainly providing an analysis with contemporary relevance, would work far better as a research than a policy paper.

Focus of the Final Paper

You’ve just been hired onto ABC Company as the corporate controller. ABC Company is a manufacturing firm that specializes in making cedar roofing and siding shingles. The company currently has annual sales of around $1.2 million, a 25% increase from the previous year. The company has an aggressive growth target of reaching $3 million annual sales within the next 3 years. The CEO has been trying to find additional products that can leverage the current ABC employee skillset as well as the manufacturing facilities.

As the controller of ABC Company, the CEO has come to you with a new opportunity that he’s been working on. The CEO would like to use the some of the shingle scrap materials to build cedar dollhouses. While this new product line would add additional raw materials and be more time-intensive to manufacture than the cedar shingles, this new product line will be able to leverage ABC’s existing manufacturing facilities as well as the current staff. Although this product line will require added expenses, it will provide additional revenue and gross profit to help reach the growth targets. The CEO is relying on you to help decide how this project can be afforded  Provide details about the estimated product costs, what is needed to break even on the project, and what level of return this product is expected to provide.

In order to help out the CEO, you need to prepare a six- to eight-page report that will contain the following information (including exhibits, but excluding your references and title page). Refer to the accompanying Excel spreadsheet (available through your online course) for some specific cost and profit information to complete the calculations.

I. An overall risk profile of the company based on current economic and industry issues that it may be facing.

II. Current company cash flow

a. You need to complete a cash flow statement for the company using the direct method.

b. Once you’ve completed the cash flow statement, answer the following questions:

i. What does this statement of cash flow tell you about the sources and uses of the company funds?

ii. Is there anything ABC Company can do to improve the cash flow?

iii. Can this project be financed with current cash flow from the company? Why or why not?

iv. If the company needs additional financing beyond what ABC Company can provide internally (either now or sometime throughout the life of the project), how would you suggest the company obtain the additional financing, equity or corporate debt, and why?

III. Product cost: ABC Company believes that it has an additional 5,000 machine hours available in the current facility before it would need to expand. ABC Company uses machine hours to allocate the fixed factory overhead, and units sold to allocate the fixed sales expenses. Bases on current research, ABC Company expects that it will take twice as long to produce the expansion product as it currently takes to produce its existing product.

a. What is the product cost for the expansion product under absorption and variable costing?

b. By adding this new expansion product, it helps to absorb the fixed factory and sales expenses. How much cheaper does this expansion make the existing product?

c. Assuming ABC Company wants a 40% gross margin for the new product, what selling price should it set for the expansion product?

d. Assuming the same sales mix of these two products, what are the contribution margins and break-even points by product?

IV. Potential investments to accelerate profit: ABC company has the option to purchase additional equipment that will cost about $42,000, and this new equipment will produce the following savings in factory overhead costs over the next five years:

Year 1, $15,000

Year 2, $13,000

Year 3, $10,000

Year 4, $10,000

Year 5, $6,000

ABC Company uses the net-present-value method to analyze investments and desires a minimum rate of return of 12% on the equipment.

a. What is the net present value of the proposed investment (ignore income taxes and depreciation)?

b. Assuming a 5-year straight-line depreciation, how will this impact the factory’s fixed costs for each of the 5 years (and the implied product costs)? What about cash flow?

c. Considering the cash flow impact of the equipment as well as the time-value of money, would you recommend that ABC Company purchases the equipment? Why or why not?

V. Conclusion:

a. What are the major risk factors that you see in this project?

b. As the controller and a management accountant, what is your responsibility to this project?

c. What do you recommend the CEO do?

1. Name two States which provided coal for the steel mills in Chicago and Pittsburg?

 

2. Name three industries that used assembly lines to manufacture their products?

 

3. In what city and state were the first oil wells dug?

 

4. Name three institutions Carnegie donated his money to?

 

5. Name two inventions that enabled cities to grow and develop?

 

6. Name two team sports that were invented in the late 1800s?

 

1.As your text states,  ” Ethnocentrism is a belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others and holds all truths.”  Today’s world is multicultural.   What type of training or interaction  can help people understand the value of cultural diversity?  How can we help people respect other cultures- allowing for better teamwork and problem solving in any situation?

 

 

You will complete an exegesis of a passage from the New Testament (employing methods of interpretation and perspectives, such as literary and historical context, literary form, and structure). Exegesis means to expound upon a text, to unpack a text of its many meanings. Elements of various types of criticism will be employed to further develop your ability to interpret the Bible. The paper should be 2000-3000 words in length and follow MLA style.

Select one of the following passages as the basis for your exegesis:

ï‚· Matthew 6:9-13

ï‚· Matthew 17:1-13 – My Selection

ï‚· Luke 9:18-36

ï‚· Luke 11:2-4

Follow the outline below and answer the questions in each section using recommended sources. Keep the outline headings below as the subheadings of your exegesis.

1. Literary Criticism

a. Context: What follows and precedes your passage? Are your pages affected by this context?

b. Form criticism: What is the literary form of your passage? Are there other places in the Bible (or related text) where this form is used and which help to interpret this passage?

c. Structure: Do you detect any particular structural pattern (e.g., parallelism within your assigned book of the Bible)? Describe the parts of your passage.

d. Redaction criticism: Has your passage come through an editorial process? What changes have been made? Explain why certain changes have been made.

e. Key words: What are the theologically important words in the passage? Do these words evoke any other parts of the Bible? Are these words used in a new way by the author of this passage? What do these words mean?

2. Theological Analysis

a. What does this passage say about the relationship with God?

b. What questions might this passage have addressed in the community for which it was originally written?

[Some of the ideas above are adopted from A Guide to Biblical Exegesis by G. Landes and W. Wink (unpublished.)]

You should document your exegesis carefully. Be sure to use some material from the bibliography in the course Doc Sharing area for your exegesis, especially the biblical reference books. Below are some hints for successfully completing the paper:

1. Look up your passage in the New Testament.

2. Consult a general commentary (such as The Jerome Biblical Commentary, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, or The Collegeville Bible Commentary).

3. Consult specific commentaries (see the course bibliography in Doc Sharing, e.g., Harrington’s Matthew’s Gospel, Fitzmyer’s The Gospel According to Luke).

4. Conduct a periodical search (through EBSCO) of your passage, limiting search to full-text, peer-reviewed journals.

Use the checklist below to ensure that you are following the format properly:

1. Are all ideas documented (including page numbers)?

2. Are all quotations documented (including page numbers)?

4

3. Is there a works cited page?

4. Do the notes and bibliography include sources recommended by the syllabus?

5. Does the format include the headings from the syllabus?

6. Does each sentence make sense?

7. Does the “form” section clearly name a literary form?

8. Does the redaction section contrast the assigned passage with Mark’s version (except for infancy narrative and Lord’s Prayer)?

9. Does the key word section include more than one key word?

10. Does the key word section refer to Old Testament material?

A draft of the paper is due by the conclusion of Module 5 and is worth 5% of the course grade. The final paper is due by the conclusion of Module 7 and is worth 25% of the course grade. A grading rubric is available in the course Doc Sharing area.

Research Question: What would it take to incorporate and make learning Transcendental meditation a requirement in our schools?

 

 

Working Thesis: There are many public education schools whose students are missing out on their true potential and benefits from learning a simple practice such as transcendental meditation. Not all students have the ability to afford or even at that discover what TM actually can do for their students and children. One alternative or solution would be to require students in CA public schools to learn the practice of TM along with the history of its origins as a general curriculum.

 

FINAL PORTFOLIO PROJECT (350 points)

Important! Read First

You have a choice between two Portfolio Projects. Do not do both projects. Identify your Portfolio Project choice in the title of your document. Note: both options are scored according to one rubric. Review the Portfolio Grading Rubric for additional details.

Gather the Data related to your montly cash inflows and outlfows. For examles, how much do you take home in your paychecks eah monrth (4000). What orther sources of income do you have? What expenses do you have-rent (821), Utilites (32) Gas (60) (insurance (125) Groceries (200) entertainment (100) car (380) cell phone (10)

2)Creat a new workbook for the sample financial data. Use the first worksheet as a documentation sheet that includes your name, and date on which you start creating the workbook, and a brief descritpion of the workbooks pruspose.

3) Plan the structure of the second worksheet, which will contain the budget. Include a setion to enter values that remain consistent from month to month, such as monthly income and expenses. AS you develop the budget worksheet, reference these cells in formulas that require those values. Later you can update any of these vlaues to see the changes immdeiately relfeted throughout the budget.

4) In the budget worksheet, enter realistic monthly earnings for each month of the year. Use formulas to calculate the total earnings each month, average montlhy earnings, and the total earnings for the entire year.

5) In the budget worksheet, eneter realistic personal expenses for each month. Divide the expenses into at least three ctegories, proiding subtotals for ech category and grand total of all the monthly expense. Calculate the average monthly expense and total expense for the year.

6) Calculate the monthly net cash flow (the value of total income minus total expenses)

7) Use the cash flow values to track the savings throughout the year. Use realistic amount for savings at the beginning of the year. Use the montly net chas flow values to add or subtract fom the value. Project the end-of-war balance in the savings account under your propsed budget.

8). Format the worksheets contents using appropriate text and number formats. Add colors and border to make the content easier to read and interpret. Use cell styles and themes to provide your worksheet with a uniform apperance.

9) Use conditional formatting to automatically hightlight negtive net cash flow months.

10) insert a pie charge thta compares the monthly expenese for the categories.
11) Insert a column chart that charts all of the monthly expenses regardless of the category.

12)Insert a line charge or sparkline that shows the change in the savings balance trhoughtout the 12 months of the year.

13) Insert new rows t the top of the worksheet and enter titles tht describe the worksheet’s contents

14) Examine your assumptions. How likely are cwertain events to occur? Perform several what-if analyses on your budget. providing the impact of (a) reducting income with expenses remaining constant, (b) increasing expenses with income remaining constant, (c) reducting income and expenses, and (d) increasing income and expenses. Discuss the different scenarios you explored. How much cushion does your project income give you if expenses increas? what are some thinks you can do in your budget to accommodate this scenario.

15)Thinking of a major purchase you might want to make- for example, a car or a house. Determine the amount of the purcchase and the current annual interest rate charged by your local bacnk. Provide a reasonalbe lenght of time to repay the loan, such as five years for a car loan or 20 to 30 years for a home loan. Use the PMT function to determine how much you would have to spend heac month on paymnets for your purchased. You can do calculations on separate worksheet.

16) Add the loan information to your monlthy budget and evaluate the purchase of this item on your budget. Is it affordable Examine other possible loans you might purse and evaluate their impact on your budget. Come up with the most realistic way of paying off the loan while still maintaing a reasonable monthly cash flow and a cushion agains unexpect expenses. If the payment exceeds your budget, reduce the estimated price of the itesm youre thinking of purchaseing until you determine the monty payment you can afford under the conditions of the loan.

17. after settling on a budget and the terms of a loan that can afford, develop an action plan for putting your budget into place. What are some potential pitfalls that will prohibit you from the following through on your proposed budget? How can you increase the likelihood that you will follow the budget? be specific, and write down a list of goals and benchmarks that you’ll use to monitor your progress in the folliwng your finical plan.

The Role of Consultation and Advocacy

Start writing your introduction here (1–2 paragraphs). An effective introduction prepares the reader by identifying the purpose of the paper and providing the organization of the paper. Please double-space and remember to indent all paragraphs throughout your paper (not block form!). Aim to keep your writing objective by using 3^rd person. Unless required for the specific assignment, please do not include a Table of Contents, as it is not APA style. Review paper guidelines on page requirements and number of sources required (if provided). Unless citing a classic work, aim to cite research articles and texts published within the past five years. Please use headings throughout your paper that are consistent with the paper’s scoring guide (that way you ensure you are adequately addressing all required areas).

Definition and Application of Consultation and Advocacy

For this section of your paper, define consultation and advocacy in the field of counseling, providing an example of an appropriate use of each. The discussion should be a minimum of 3–5 sentences and should include at least one citation from your readings and applied in APA style.

Specification of Consultation and Advocacy with Specialization

For this section, contrast consultation and advocacy in a particular specialization, providing criteria for using each. Consider how they are different from each other and specific to one’s specialty. The discussion should be a minimum of 3–5 sentences and should include at least one citation from your readings and applied in APA style.

 

 

 

Benefits and Justification of Advocacy

For this section, justify the use of advocacy as a role for counselors, identifying the benefits it provides clients. Along with offering personal insight into the benefits and justification of advocacy, this section should be a minimum of 3–5 sentences and should include at least one citation from your readings, applied in APA style and formatting.

Application of Consultation & Advocacy

For this section, describe the use of consultation and advocacy in the specific chosen case situation, pointing out evidence that supports the use of each. Review the case scenario and justify when and why either would need to be utilized. This discussion should be a minimum of 5–6 sentences and should include at least one citation from the readings, applied in APA style.

Assessment of Barriers to Services

For this section, assess barriers that might prevent clients from gaining access to services needed, and suggest solutions or alternatives. Consider what might prevent this client or family from seeking, obtaining, or getting access to services. Solutions can be from personal insight and via literature support with a minimum of 3–5 sentences.

Strategies to Address Multicultural Issues

For this section, identify strategies to address multicultural issues and advocate for diverse populations, providing examples of activities that could be pursued. Utilize textbook reading and articles to explore this topic and provide examples of activities that might assist with reducing the stress associated with these issues. The discussion should be a minimum of 3–5 sentences and should include at least one citation from your readings, applied in APA style.

 

 

Conclusion

Please provide a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas of your paper.

References (example)

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological

Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. ISBN: 9781433805622.

Gladding, S. T., & Newsome, D. W. (2010). Clinical mental health counseling in community and

            agency settings (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

 

NOTE:

Consult your APA manual for proper examples on citing and referencing APA style. The Capella

Writing Center also has helpful tutorials. Below is a list of common errors; please pay particular

attention to:

 

• Indenting.
• Use of upper and lower case.
• Italics.
• Use of double-spacing.
• Comma/period placement.