Author: chris

Automotive manufacturing companies such as Ford and GM have successfully implemented ABC over the past few decades, and achieved profitability in a competitive environment despite the fact that product offerings have become increasingly diversified. Drawing from the module content, your text, and supplied articles, review the critical considerations in applying the activity-based costing method to a large automobile manufacturing company.

Answer the following questions:

What are the most prominent signs that ABC methods might be appropriately applied to product costing for an automobile manufacturing company?
Should managers be concerned about broad averaging of product costs?
What are the steps required to implement ABC within the company?
Name the four classifications of the ABC cost hierarchy and discuss an example of each type of cost classification for an auto manufacturer.
Name a significant challenge in the implementation of ABC within the company. Rationalize your response.
Name a significant opportunity in the implementation of ABC within the company. Rationalize your response.

Assignment 1: The Literature Review and Final Reflection

A strong literature review not only plays a foundational role for setting up a research proposal and/or dissertation but also plays an important role in the results and discussion sections that are presented after the data has been collected and analyzed. As you move into this module’s discussion, consider all you have learned about the literature review including the continuing process you explored in this module’s readings.

Tasks:

In a minimum of 400 words, post your responses to the following:

Part 1:

Why is the literature review a needed piece of a research proposal? How can a weak literature review diminish a research proposal?
Once the data has been collected and you are moving into the completion of the research report, how will you continue to pull from your literature review in the results and discussion section of your report?

Part 2:

What did you find to be the most valuable task in the research or writing process?
What strengths and weaknesses did you find in yourself through the research and writing process that you covered in this course?
How do you see yourself applying the skills you have gained through this course in your future career in human services research?

Complete the following for this assignment:

Use the comparative analysis attachment for S&J Plumbing, Inc. to determine if S&J Plumbing’s return on assets is comparable to its competitors in the same industry.
Use the library and other resources to research competitors.
Support your answers.

Scenario 1: You are the marketing manager for the firm of your choice responsible for developing the tactical and strategic marketing plan. You are also responsible for the successful implementation and evaluation of the plan and have full P&L responsibility for your product/service line.

Scenario 2: You are the owner of a small to mid-sized business. You are currently developing your marketing plan for the upcoming year. The marketing plan will include both the tactical and strategic plan elements. You will also discuss the implementation and evaluation of the strategic marketing plan.

In Week 3, you will answer the following:

Summarize your selected scenario and details about the firm and/or product line.
Assess which of Michael Porter’s basic strategies you will use to market this product and why.
As you know from your reading, consumers have different product needs and use products differently. Segmentation seeks to group different demands and needs into clusters with similar demand patterns. Using the dimensions of market segmentation, determine and defend which markets you will target with your marketing plan. Outline your target market in detail.
Justify the stages in the consumer decision making process for your selected product or service. Be sure to discuss how consumers evaluate alternatives and what mediums they use in the information search stage.
Conduct research to determine where improvements should be made to your product or service line. Discuss these improvements and the estimated cost in developing and launching these enhancements. This could be a product line extension, a service improvement, new packaging, Web site enhancements, etc. The purpose of this element of the marketing plan is continuous improvement. You should justify the need of these enhancements based on your research, such as a review of the competition, feedback from customers, or a review of the marketing environment.

High Performance Teams

In the 21st century, more organizations are moving to the team concept to maximize overall organizational performance through the combined efforts of people. The old adage, “Two heads are better than one” has proven to be a valid statement, as organizations strive to face the many challenges in the internal and external environments.

In this discussion question, please find an article in the Kaplan Library relating to high performance teams. If possible, try to find an article on high performance teams in the type of business you selected for your business plan. Answer the following questions relating to the article and your own experience with business teams:

Please describe the background for the article you researched and explain why this particular best practice scenario appealed to you. What did you learn from the article that you could apply in your business?
What are some characteristics of high performance teams? What are the strengths and weaknesses of business teams? Please share your experiences as a team member in either a business or non-business environment.

This project focuses on management in your organization

In a five to six page paper, describe the following items:

Part 1: Management Summary

Describe the management team in your business (include advisors, consultants, accountants, etc.).

Describe the team concept, group dynamics, and the strengths and weaknesses of business teams.

Describe management philosophy concerning communication, and organizational culture.

Discuss what leadership actions you would take to adapt your business should the following happen in the first three years of operations:

– Your manufacturer has a labor strike that may last for 6 months.

– Three more competitors emerge who are now in direct competition with your company in product quality and price.

– You have had to lay off half your employees and the rest are disheartened as a result.

Cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors involved in purchases.

There are cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors involved in purchases. Think about the things you buy. Think about the things you use to get ready for each day and what you are wearing. With consumer behavior- Is there a decision process? How does advertising and the media play a part in consumption? What about peer influence? Is it important to keep up with the Joneses? Who benefits from consumerism? How does consumer debt play a part? Explain some of the movements against consumerism in our society.

Resource: NCCAM website

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper that describes an overview of CAM and its categories of treatments. Include the following:

Compare and contrast conventional current regulations and oversights that exist in the United States with that of nonconventional medicine.
Define the terms alternative, complementary, and integrative in relation to medicine and clarify how these terms are different.
Describe how conventional medicine plays a role in these three terms.
Examine the philosophy of CAM and how it relates to or is different from conventional Western medicine.
Describe how NCCAM classifies Complementary Health Approaches.
Select one CAM treatment therapy (modality) from among the complementary health approaches and describe it.
Using one medical condition, describe how your chosen therapy can be used as an alternative, a complementary, or an integrative therapy for that specific medical condition.
Include the results of scientific studies that show a clinical benefit from the example selected, if available.

One of the products that Company W makes is snack foods. The research and development department of Company W has developed a new formula for one type of snack food that is cheaper to make than the current formula. They want to test the new formula with consumers. They want to see if consumers can tell the difference between the old and new formulas. You propose to conduct this test and analyze the results in line with WidgeCorp’s approach to gathering statistical data and use it to form business intelligence decisions. You first need to explain the process to senior management at Company W. You advocate using an unbiased sample of consumers in their test, so that Company W is randomly selecting people based on the following: age; whether or not they have kids; where they live; how often they buy snack foods; and whether or not they already buy the current product.

Prepare a presentation that addresses the following:

List at least 3 qualitative attributes of the snack food about which they might want to ask consumers. Make sure at least 1 of them is nominal.
For each attribute that is ordinal, assign names for the endpoints of a 5 point rating scale.
Explain the difference between nominal and ordinal data.
Explain how nominal and ordinal data relate to a rating scale.
List at least 2 quantitative attributes of snack food that the scientists might want to measure.
Explain the difference between interval and ratio data.
Include in your presentation the concept of business intelligence.
Include in your presentation the difference between a population and a sample.
Note why it is important to avoid bias when conducting research (see note below).

Assignment 2: Discussion—Cognitive Development in Animals

Washoe is one of the most famous chimpanzees because of her ability to use sign language to communicate. She was able to communicate approximately 350 words and was even observed teaching her son sign language. Even more impressive was that Washoe was able to combine these words into hundreds of logical combinations with different meanings that were not taught, but rather created by herself. You can learn more about human cognitive development by considering Washoe’s use of sign language, as well as the information gained from the study of other animals such as chimps, rats, etc.

Respond to the following:

Specifically, what can we learn about human cognitive development through the study of these animals?
Thinking back to the discussion in M1: Assignment 2, are there any ethical issues that arise from using animals to study human development? Consider what you have learned about the inherent differences between animals and humans.
Why do researchers make use of animals instead of humans for their experiments on development?

Write your initial response in 2–3 paragraphs. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

By Sunday, January 3, 2016, post your response to the appropriate Discussion Area. Through Wednesday, January 6, 2016, review and comment on at least two peers’ responses. In your responses, consider the following:

Are there any strengths or limitations noted by your peers that you did not include in your own response? If so, what are they?
Are there any other examples of reasoning abilities that you can add to your peers’ responses? If so, what are they?
Are there other examples of reasoning abilities that are found to exist only in a small number of species? If yes, indicate what they are.