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Researchers frequently employ standardized instruments to collect data associated with a variable of interest. In such cases, it is helpful to have served in the role of participant before making research decisions relating to measurement. If researchers are able to identify with and put themselves in the place of the participant while designing research methods, the participation can have a positive impact. For example, as the researcher, it might make sense to include a lot of instruments in the same packet for participants to complete so that you can get as much data as possible. However, if you have completed instruments yourself and can put yourself in the place of the participant, you might realize that participants can become tired and pay less attention to items or even stop responding when they have to complete too many instruments. In such cases, there might be missing or misleading data, which is not helpful to you as the researcher.

As you learned in this course, phenomena can be investigated using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodologies based on the problem under investigation, the purpose, and the corresponding research questions. Therefore, you will also answer open-ended questions that tap into the same constructs as the questionnaires that you completed. This will offer you experience as a participant in collecting qualitative data as well as demonstrate how phenomena can be explored using varied methodologies. However, it is worth noting that collecting qualitative data electronically comes with a number of limitations that should always be strongly considered when determining whether to collect qualitative data in person or not.

Please use this link to complete the measurement part of this assignment: Survey (Survey is attached)

Finally, based on your experiences in completing this assignment, address the following:
•What did you think of the length of each survey instrument? Was there a point at which you began to feel tired or paid less attention to the items?
•What did you think of the open-ended questions? Were they clear? Did they seem leading?  Did they seem concise or too wordy?
•Did you prefer completing the closed questions (or multiple-choice questions) or the open-ended questions? Why?
•Which methodology do you believe is most useful in the examination of each variable/construct? Why?
•How might this experience influence you when designing your own research?

Length: 4 pages and please include a reference sheet

Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic.

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Discussion 2: Shared Practice—Why It Is Important to Have a Code of Conduct

In our business lives, we are faced with challenges and compromises to our ethical foundations, and sometimes we are caught in a conundrum. Organizations that develop and utilize a "code of ethics" or a "code of conduct" can assist employees in understanding what they should or should not do when they are caught in a potential compromising position. If properly advocated and modeled by leadership, the code of ethics or a code of conduct can make decision making more streamlined and a much less stressful process. Some of the areas where they can assist in decision making with legal and ethical issues are:
•Social Media
•Identity Theft
•Intellectual Property Rights
•Workplace Privacy
•Software Piracy
•Patent/Copyright Protection
•Patent/Copyright Infringement
•Employee Computer Use

For this week's Shared Practice Discussion, you will begin by carefully reading the weekly article readings from Brooks (2010), De George (2000), and Mingers & Walsham (2010).

Once you have completed your reading, search for at least two examples of code of conduct/ethics policies from a publically traded company. You may want to look at several such policies to get a broad sense of what they cover.

By Day 5:

Post the following:
•Share your assessment of the importance of utilizing a code of ethics to direct solid business decision making when managing business information and information systems.
•Provide 2 or 3 examples of code of conduct/ethics policies related to the use and management of information and information systems.
•Summarize your observations about the code of conduct/ethics you reviewed and the major themes you found in your search of these important policy statements as they pertain to the use and management of information and information systems.
•Describe how you, as a manager, will ensure that your conduct and the conduct of your employees as it pertains to the use of data, information, and information systems/technology aligns with the ethical standards of the organization and the applicable regulations that must be followed. What specific steps can you take, and how will you serve as a role model?

Please be specific, and remember to use citations and references as appropriate and necessary.

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“Ford Company Capital Budgeting Project”: Mini-case  

You are provided with the following information to determine Ford’s weighted average cost of capital that will be used for capital project calculations.  As a Finance Analyst for Ford, you will calculate and support the development of its weighted average cost of capital and communicate it to the CFO of Ford.  After you have calculated the required data points in the two tables below, provide a brief paper (approximately 300 to 400 words) to the CFO summarizing the weighted average cost of capital you determined for Ford, where they may be risks in the calculation (how the calculation may change over time), how the weighted average cost of capital you calculated should be applied when making cost of capital project decisions, and some scenarios that the CFO should be aware of that may change the weighted average cost of capital at some future point. Your discussion of the scenarios should cover aspects of management, marketing and broader economic factors that may influence the weighted average cost of capital. 

Submit the attached and the short paper together for this assignment.

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Mayor Trading Partners of Germany

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The Background
Judy Maples, the appraisee, has been working for the housing authority, in one of the branches in the northwest, for nine years. She is 45 years old and has worked for other building societies.
During her nine years with this society, she has progressed to taking responsibility for all the front-desk transactions within the branch. This involves many tasks, including balancing the cash drawers, assigning duties for the staff, and handling new accounts. Judy dislikes change, is very quiet, and prefers her own company. She takes pride in her standard of work and has always been left to run the front-desk operation the way she believes best. This changed with the arrival of the new branch manager, Barry Hopkins. She finds him extremely difficult to relate to since his methods are so different than those of the previous manager, and in her opinion, he is loud and self-opinionated. Because he wants to change so many operations on the front desk, she is having difficulty knowing where to start.

Barry Hopkins is 27 years old and has been working for the housing authority for five years, having joined as a management trainee out of college. He is considered a potential regional manager and is well respected for his managerial skills. He moved to this branch 9 months ago and has enjoyed the normal challenges that face a manager when taking over a branch, especially one from which the last manager retired, having been there for 20 years. He has found that Judy Maples, the supervisor on the front desk, has been used to doing things her way, some of which are not totally in line with organizational policy. He finds her very hard to relate to since they are so very different in character and style of management.

The Appraisal Interview
It is now the appraisal interview and Barry has asked Judy to prepare her own appraisal. The interview seems to have gone reasonably well so far, although Judy is not forthcoming at all and seems very agitated. She seems to agree with the comments made by Barry, yet it is obvious by the way she agrees that she is not totally happy with the way the interview is progressing and the way things stand generally.


If you were Barry, what action could you now take?

cite the book only

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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.

Financial information is contained in this document Final Paper Spreadsheet

Write a five- to seven-page financial statement analysis of a public company, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your paper should consist of the following sections: 
1.Introduction
2.Risk Profile
◦An overall risk profile of the company based on current economic and industry issues that it may be facing. 

3.Cash Flow Statement
◦You need to complete a cash flow statement for the company using the direct method.
◦Once you’ve completed the cash flow statement, answer the following questions:
◾What does this statement of cash flow tell you about the sources and uses of the company funds?
◾Is there anything ABC Company can do to improve the cash flow?
◾Can this project be financed with current cash flow from the company? Why or why not?
◾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?


4.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.
◾What is the product cost for the expansion product under absorption and variable costing?
◾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?
◾Assuming ABC Company wants a 40% gross margin for the new product, what selling price should it set for the expansion product?
◾Assuming the same sales mix of these two products, what are the contribution margins and break-even points by product? 


5.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.
◦What is the net present value of the proposed investment (ignore income taxes and depreciation)?
◦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?
◾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? 


6.Conclusion
◦What are the major risk factors that you see in this project?
◦As the controller and a management accountant, what is your responsibility to this project?
◦What do you recommend the CEO do?



Section heading titles should be centered and in bold. Your paper needs to include a minimum of two scholarly resources in addition to the textbook as references. Be sure to integrate your research rather than simply insert it.

Writing the Final Paper
1.Must be five to seven double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Excluding the title page and reference page.
2.Must include a title page with the following:
a.Title of paper
b.Student’s name
c.Course name and number
d.Instructor’s name
e.Date submitted
3.Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text. Be sure to integrate your research rather than simply insert it.
4.Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and here and here.
5.Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.


Course Textbook
Principles of accounting: Volume II. (2012). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. •This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM) title.

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Write a research paper regarding an organization of your choice that is contemplating using a team-based approach to increase productivity and reduce costs. What training issues would the organization be likely to face? How could the organization address these issues? Be sure to conduct research into similar type organizations to uncover the specific areas that might be relevant to your organization and their training needs. Provide 3 references.

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Review this video: Bank of America 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Showcases Local Impact, Global Momentum.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyvNdvTzZXk

Using Carroll's list of four responsibilities, discuss whether Bank of American appears to be concerned about discretionary responsibilities.  Should a global company be concerned about discretionary responsibilities?  Why or why not?

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Case 2: Wolfgang Keller At Konigsbraun-Kravina
Question 1: How did Brodsky and Keller each contribute to the tension that occurred between them? What role do cognitive biases appear to be playing in the case? What other factors contributed to the tension?
Question 2: Should Brodsky be fired? Why or Why not? If you were in Keller’s shoes what would you do next to improve the relationship with Brodsky while making sure his performance is consistent with the company’s performance?

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Poverty and Inequality in south Sudan

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For this assignment, you will select an organization that you might like to work for upon graduation, and write a short report examining its strategy and its culture.  If it is a large organization, feel free to focus on the portion of the organization you are interested in – you do not have to comprehensively include everything that the organization does.  Feel free to use personal sources (e.g. your own internship, the internship experience of someone you know) and non-personal sources (newspaper/internet articles, company websites, etc.) to inform your essay.  However, when you do present or cite specific information or evidence, you should make it clear where this comes from.

Your essay should demonstrate your knowledge of the organization you select.  First, you should clearly articulate the strategy of the organization or organizational unit.  In which arenas does the organization choose to operate?  How does the organization seek to differentiate itself?  Which of the five forces are most important and why?  What are some critical resources within the organization?  What are some of the trade-offs inherent in the organization’s strategy?  Do you see any significant downsides?  (This is not a list of questions to be checked off – you should choose and analyze only the elements of strategy which you believe are most important to your organization.)  Note that you should use the frameworks and concepts covered in this course – as opposed to, for instance, taking a marketing perspective. 

Second, you should analyze the organization’s culture.  How does the organization’s culture rate along some of the dimensions we discussed in class?  Are there other key components of its culture (e.g., core values) not captured by these dimensions and if so, what are they?  How does the organization’s culture affect the behavior of its members (employees)?  How strong or weak is the culture?  What are some pros and cons of the culture?  Are there any differences between the espoused values of the organization (e.g., mission statement) and the culture that actually exists within it?  Where does the culture come from?  What are some ways in which it is reinforced or maintained – or is the organization perhaps lacking in these respects?  Your analysis can also include some discussion of organizational structure and/or leadership, if you feel that they are relevant – but the primary focus should be on culture.  Again, you do not need to answer all of these questions – you should pick and choose to focus on those aspects of culture that you think are most important and most interesting.  You should strive to include some specific examples to back up your analysis – e.g., of how the culture manifests itself (e.g., jargon, rituals, slogans, etc.) and how it shapes employee behavior.

In addition to describing and analyzing the organization’s strategy and culture, you should present some analysis of the alignment – or lack thereof – between the two.  Does the organization’s culture fit with its strategy?  Why or why not?  What are some specific instances of alignment, and/or misalignment?  You can choose to present this in a section separate from your cultural analysis – or you can weave the two together (i.e., analyze alignment with strategy as you go through your discussion of the organization’s culture).

Lastly, briefly assess the fit between your own personality, skills, and attributes and the culture and/or strategy at this organization.  Do you think you would fit in well?  Why or why not?

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Prepare a 5-slide presentation to a department head or the CEO of a company to convince the audience that this would benefit their business.

Remember to state any business goals, articulate the current setup, explain how social media is different, and how it benefits the business.  Be sure to include references and notes for each slide to fully explain your thoughts.  

The 5-slides does not include references, title slide or introduction/conclusion.