Author: chris

You have been hired as a consultant by your local mayor to look at the various market structures. Your role is to provide analysis and answers to these important questions that will help the mayor understand the structures of many of the businesses in his city:

1. Describe each market structure discussed in the course (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly) and discuss two of the market characteristics of each market structure.
2. Identify one real-life example of a market structure in your local city and relate your example to each of the characteristics of the market.
3. Describe how high entry barriers into a market will influence long-run profitability of the firms.
4. Explain the competitive pressures that are present in markets with high barriers to entry.
5. Explain the price elasticity of demand in each market structure and its effect on pricing of its products in each market.
6. Describe how the role of the government affects each market structure’s ability to price its products.
7. Discuss the effect of international trade on each market structure.

Your paper will need to include a title page, a reference page, and in-text citations properly formatted according to the APA style guide. Also, your content should be eight to ten pages, which does not include your reference or title page. You will need to include at least five scholarly sources from the Ashford Library in your paper as part of your research to support your analysis.

Throughout its existence, Saturn has never turned a profit for General Motors. Research the history of Saturn and GM’s decision to continue funding it (although GM has now decided to close down the auto maker). Why hadn’t Saturn made a profit? Was escalation of commitment in play in GM’s decision? If so, how?

In the 1960s, Britain and France decided to jointly fund and build a supersonic transport that became known as the Concorde. Research the decision to build and fly the supersonic transport Concorde. Then, discuss how the sunk costs and an escalation of commitment affected their decisions.

During the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, the United States and the Soviet Union have been competing with one another in attempts to gain a strategic advantage over one another. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was born out of that competition. Discuss the SDI and how the United States and the Soviet Union applied the competitive escalation paradigm.

 

question4

In 2001, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy protection. Investigate this filing. What caused the bankruptcy? Can it be traced to an escalation of commitment?

 

fter engaging in a dialogue with your colleagues on valuation, you will now be given an opportunity to apply principles that were presented in this phase. Using a Web site that provides current stock and bond pricing and yield information, complete and analyze the tables illustrated below. Your mentor suggests using a Web site similar to this one.

To fill out the first table, you will need to select 3 bonds with maturities between 10 and 20 years with bond ratings of “A to AAA,” “B to BBB” and “C to CC” (you may want to use bond screener at the Web site linked above). All of these bonds will have these values (future values) of $1,000. You will need to use a coupon rate of the bond times the face value to calculate the annual coupon payment. You should subtract the maturity date from the current year to determine the time to maturity. The Web site should provide you with the yield to maturity and the current quote for the bond. (Be sure to multiply the bond quote by 10 to get the current market value.) You will then need to indicate whether the bond is currently trading at a discount, premium, or par.

Bond	Company/ Rating	Face Value (FV)	Coupon Rate	Annual Payment (PMT)	Time-to Maturity (NPER)	Yield-to-Maturity (RATE)	Market Value (Quote)	Discount, Premium, Par
A-Rated		$1,000
B-Rated		$1,000
C-Rated		$1,000

 

• Explain the relationship observed between ratings and yield to maturity.
• Explain why the coupon rate and the yield to maturity determine why the bonds would trade at a discount, premium, or par.
• Based on the material you learn in this Phase, what would you expect to happen to the yield to maturity and market value of the bonds if the time to maturity was increased or decreased by 5 years?

In this step, you have been asked to visit a credible Web site that provides detailed information on publicly traded stocks and select 1 that has at least a 5-year history of paying dividends and 2 of its closest competitors.

To fill up the first table, you will need to gather information needed to calculate the required rate of return for each of the 3 stocks. You will need to calculate the risk-free rate for this assignment. You will need the market return that was calculated in Phase 2, and the beta that you should be able to find on the Web site.

Company	5-year Risk-Free Rate of Return	Beta (β)	5-Year Return on Top 500 Stocks	Required Rate of Return (CAPM)

 

To complete the next table, you will need the most recent dividends paid over the past year for each stock, expected growth rate for the stocks, and the required rate of return you calculated in the previous table. You will also need to compare your results with the current value of each stock and determine whether the model suggests that they are over- or underpriced.

Company	Current Dividend	Projected Growth Rate (next year)	Required Rate of Return (CAPM)	Estimated Stock Price (Gordon Model)	Current Stock Price	Over/Under Priced

 

In the third table, you will be using the price to earnings ratio (P/E) along with the average expected earnings per share provided by the Web site. You will also need to compare your results with the current value of each stock to determine whether or not the model suggests that the stocks are over- or underpriced.

Company	Estimated Earning (next year)	P/E Ratio	Estimated Stock Price (P/E)	Current Stock Price	Over/Under Priced

After completing the 3 tables, explain your findings and why your calculations coincide with the principles related to bonds that were presented in the Phase. Be sure to address the following:

• Explain the relationship observed between the required rate of return, growth rate and the dividend paid, and the estimated value of the stock using the Gordon Model.
• Explain the value and weaknesses of the Gordon model.
• Explain the how the price-to-earnings model is used to estimate the value of the stocks.
• Explain which of the 2 models seemed to be the most accurate in estimating the value of the stocks.
• Based on the material that you learn in this Phase, what would you expect to happen to the value of the stock if the growth rate, dividends, required rate of return, or the estimated earnings per share were to increase or decrease? Be sure to explain each case separately.

Note: You can find information about the top 500 stocks at this Web site.

References

S&P 500 index chart. (2014). Retrieved from the Yahoo! Finance Web site: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5egspc+interactive#symbol=^gspc;range=1y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;

Yahoo! Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/

Be sure to document your paper with in-text citations, credible sources, and a list of references used in proper APA format.

Select two of the major world religious traditions. Summarize the key features of each and contrast them with each other and with the Greek philosophical tradition. Write a report in which you consider the following:

• What sensations, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are expressed in religious rituals?
• How have religious traditions survived from their historical origins to the present day?
• What social and cultural differences make it difficult for people from distinct traditions to relate to each other productively?
• What power do these approaches have to transform individual lives?

Your report may well include reflection on the role of religious traditions in your own life, but develop your analysis of the issues independently of your own convictions.

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Your paper should be formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
• Length: 4–6 typed and double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Your company sells underwear for men and women. You decide to invest into a firm in Romania that will produce this product for you. You are sending a manager, an accountant, and an engineer for this Romanian firm. All three are from the US home office.

What kind of training would you give them prior to their departure for their new assignment?

How would you handle their repatriation?

How will you compensate them?

Keep in mind that Romania is a member of the European Union (EU) as from January 1, 2007.

APA format is mandatory (in text and in the reference section).

There are two main types of databases accessible in the library, through “FIND ARTICLES & BOOKS.” Keep in mind that the most popular databases are: ABI Inform Global, Academic Search Premier, and Business Source Premier. As a graduate student, you must steer away from inferior Web sites with anonymous writers, articles found on consultant Web sites, materials on sites like QuickMBA.com, MarketingProfs.com, etc. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias most often repeat the information from your text. Acceptable Internet resources include among others government sites (especially for statistics). You are not permitted to use any open-source Web site in this course.

 

In Hamlet, Shakespeare makes significant use of extended monologues, or soliloquies, to express the thoughts and feelings of Hamlet in dramatic form. For this assessment, write an essay in which you explore the use of this technique in three distinct ways:

1. Select one of Hamlet’s soliloquies from the play and analyze how it displays his inner thoughts for the audience in dramatic form.
2. Use evidence from the play to compose a soliloquy that expresses the point of view of one of the following characters: Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia, or Polonius. Into which act of the play would you insert this additional speech?
3. Write a soliloquy for yourself, expressing the central narrative of your own life in dramatic form. Think of yourself as a character explaining yourself to an audience that does not include those who play the most important roles in your life.

This assessment requires you to employ your critical skills in analyzing a work of literature but also gives you the opportunity to apply what you have learned in creative expression of your own.

 

Write an essay in which you express and defend your views on the following issues:

• Consider the rise of modern science during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
  • How did Enlightenment philosophers both defend and contribute to this cultural development?
  • How did elements of scientific reasoning alter conceptions of the origin and limits of human knowledge?
• Explain the difference between intrinsic and instrumental goods and how modern science embodies an instrumental approach to the relationship between human beings and the natural world.
  • Is recognition of our proper place in the context of a vast and ancient universe an essential insight?
  • How does it affect our understanding of ourselves?
• Consider how philosophical and scientific reasoning make a difference to our daily lives. (Of course we all benefit from technological advances that came from these ways of thinking, but that is not the point here.)
  • In what situations or circumstances of ordinary life is it appropriate to apply philosophical or scientific thinking to seek a solution, resolve a conflict, or make a decision? Imagine you are invited to contribute a post on this topic to a blog about philosophy, like those that appear in The New York Times blog The Stone, the What Is it Like to be a Woman in Philosophy? blog from WordPress, or Philosophy Now magazine.
  • How would you argue for (or against) the use of philosophical reasoning in everyday life?

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Your paper should be formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
• Length: 4–6 typed and double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

• Write an essay explaining the aesthetic principles expressed in visual arts and describe how they changed from the Baroque period through the early twentieth century.
  • Which basic features were preserved through the centuries, and which changed dramatically?
  • How do you think artists choose which styles to employ in their own work?
• Consider how these styles are exemplified in commercial design during our own time. Collect eight or ten visual images from Web sites and advertisements and explain how they incorporate traditional elements of visual design.
  • Are our decisions to purchase items of clothing, jewelry, automobiles, appliances, and services influenced significantly by the visual forms in which they are presented?

Although your paper should offer a general thesis about the use of visual arts, much of the support you offer in its defense will involve details chosen from the specific examples you select. As you write, look for ways to tie everything together with your own view of the role that the visual arts continue to play in our everyday lives.

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Your paper should be formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
• Length: 4–6 typed and double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Write a paper of 700- to 1,050-words in which you discuss the roles of law and courts in today’s business environment.

• Differentiate the federal court structure with your state’s court structure.  (Texas)
• Discuss the concept of judicial review.
• Explain how laws or regulations affect your present job or industry.
• Describe various forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and discuss how this is different from the court system.
• Properly cite to at least three peer-reviewed references.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.