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Developmental histories of different types of delinquents

1. Moffitt focuses on the importance of the developmental histories of different types of delinquents. Thinking about her work and what it says about the nature of delinquency, answer the following questions:

(a) What are the difficulties in distinguishing between her two groups and how is this tied into what the juvenile justice system knows when it encounters delinquent youth?

(b) Are there other important implications for juvenile justice policy and practice embedded in our understanding of her taxonomy? For example, what role can be played by risk assessment (as relates to the developmental taxonomy) in the juvenile justice system?

Discuss how diversification reduces risk

Question 1

Exacta, s.a., is a major French producer, based in Lyon, of precision machine tools. About two-thirds of its output is exported. The majority of these sales are within the European Union. However, the company also has a thriving business in the United States, despite strong competition from several U.S. firms. Exacta usually receives payment for exported goods within two months of the invoice date, so that at any point in time only about one-sixth of annual exports to the United States are exposed to US Dollar currency risk.

The company believes that its North American business is now large enough to justify a local manufacturing operation, and it has recently decided to establish a plant in South Carolina. Most of the output from this plant will be sold in the United States, but the company believes that there should also be opportunities for future sales in Canada and Mexico.

The South Carolina plant will involve a total investment of $380 million and is expected to be in operation by the year 2015. Annual revenues from the plant are expected to be about $420 million and the company forecasts net profits of $52 million a year. Once the plant is up and running, it should be able to operate for several years without substantial additional investment.

Although there is widespread enthusiasm for the project, several members of the management team have expressed anxiety about possible currency risk. M. Pangloss, the finance director, reassured them that the company was not a stranger to currency risk; after all, the company is already exporting about $320 million of machine tools each year to the United States and has managed to exchange its dollar revenue for euros without any major losses. But not everybody was convinced by this argument. For example, the CEO, M. B. Bardot, pointed out that the $380 million to be invested would substantially increase the amount of money at risk if the dollar fell relative to the euro. M. Bardot was notoriously risk-averse on financial matters and would push for complete hedging if practical.

M. Pangloss attempted to reassure the CEO. At the same time, he secretly shared some of the anxieties about exchange rate risk. Nearly all the revenues from the South Carolina plant would be in U.S. dollars and the bulk of the $380 million investment would likewise be incurred in the United States. About two-thirds of the operating costs would be in dollars, but the remaining one-third would represent payment for components brought in from Lyon plus the charge by the head office for management services and use of patents. The company has yet to decide whether to invoice its U.S. operation in dollars or euros for these purchases from the parent company.

M. Pangloss is optimistic that the company can hedge itself against currency risk. His favoured solution is for Exacta to finance the plant by a $380 million issue of dollar bonds. That way the dollar investment would be offset by a matching dollar liability. An alternative is for the company to sell forward at the beginning of each year the expected revenues from the U.S. plant. But he realizes from experience that these simple solutions might carry hidden dangers. He decides to slow down and think more systematically about the additional exchange risk from the U.S. operation.

Questions

a. What would Exacta’s true exposure be from its new U.S. operations, and how would it change from the company’s current exposure?

b. Given that exposure, what would be the most effective and inexpensive approach to hedging?

Note:

Answer is not less than 1000 words with appropriate referencing (Harvard Referencing), graphs and charts. Appropriate selection of real world factors related to the companies. Breaking into section headings/subheadings, tidiness and plagiarism free.

Question 2

Discuss how diversification reduces risk. Comment on the beta of a portfolio with a large number of randomly selected stocks. (Hint: your discussion should include the increased importance of diversification post 2008 financial crisis.)

Note:

Answer is not less than 500 words with appropriate referencing (Harvard Referencing), graphs and charts. Appropriate selection of real world factors related to the companies. Breaking into section headings/subheadings, tidiness and plagiarism free.

Discuss advantage of company matrix organizational structure

Case Study-Siemens

Read the case study located in the section titled Case Studies in your textbook and prepare a 5- to 6-page report in a Microsoft Word document concerning the following situation:

Siemens is a leading global electrical engineering and electronics firm headquartered in Munich, Germany. Profiling a highly diversified company, this case addresses the issue of optimizing the business portfolio through a coherent corporate strategy. An in-depth look at the programs designed and implemented at Siemens to spur management innovation provides a unique opportunity to study an organization’s efforts to facilitate the transfer corporate-level core competencies across business divisions in order to strengthen competitive position and performance.

The case opens with an introduction and a profile of the company. Management innovation activity at Siemens is then thoroughly reviewed, including the context, evolution, purpose, content, implementation, capability development, and performance measurement of the company’s top+ program.

This case study demonstrates how the principles of strategic management apply to Siemens’ structured and systematic approach to management innovation and business excellence. It also provides a framework for assessing the effectiveness of the company’s corporate management tools and programs.

• Describe Siemens’ corporate-level strategy and characterize its level of diversification. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the company’s matrix organizational structure. Does the organizational design effectively support the needs of Siemens’ corporate-level strategy?

• Describe how the company structured the top+ program. Who was responsible for oversight and coordination of the business excellence initiatives? How does the management innovation activity at Siemen’s facilitate achievement of the company’s corporate objectives?

• Using a balanced scorecard framework, outline the financial and strategic organizational controls used by Siemens to drive management behavior and firm performance. Are the corporate criteria balanced? Are they yielding desired outcomes for the company?

• Conduct a financial analysis using Siemens’ financial performance results from 1998 to 2007 to assess the effectiveness or success of the top+program. What recommendations would you make to improve either the design or implementation of the company’s management innovation efforts?

Support your responses with examples.

Role of business process reengineering

1. What is the role of business process reengineering (BPR) in enhancing competitiveness? Give examples to illustrate your answer.

2. Why is selecting computer hardware and software for the organization an important business decision?

3. To what extent should end users be involved in the selection of a database management system and database design?

4. Should all major retailing and manufacturing companies switch to RFID? Why or why not?

Explain the purpose of a balance sheet

Balance Sheet – Ford Motor Company

In a two- to three-page paper (not including the title and reference pages), explain the purpose of a balance sheet and analyze Ford Motor Company’s balance sheet from its 2012 Annual Report. In your analysis, you must determine the financial ratios and compare them to industry standards.

Your paper must be formatted according to APA style, and it must include citations and references for the text and at least two scholarly sources.

Discuss the foundation of strategic capability

Part -1:

The Case: DESIGNING FOR DOLLARS

Great product design is absolutely critical for most consumer products companies. But how do these companies know when a design feature will pay off, especially when every dollar counts? How do they make those tough decisions? That’s the challenge that faced Whirlpool’s chief designer, Chuck Jones. He knew he had to come up with a better way.

Chuck’s realization that the whole process of making design decisions needed to be improved came after a meeting with Whirlpool’s resource allocation team. Chuck wanted to add some ornamentation to a Kitchen Aid refrigerator that was being redesigned, but it would have added about $5 in extra cost. When the team asked him to estimate the return on investment (that is, would it pay off financially to add this cost?), he couldn’t give them any data. His “trust me, I’m a designer” argument didn’t sway them either. Chuck resolved to improve the approach to investing in design.

His first step was the survey other “design-centric” companies, including BMW, Nike and Nokia. Surprisingly, only a few had a system for forecasting return on design. Most of them simply based future investments on past performance. Chuck said, “No one had really figured this stuff out.” With so many smart, talented people in their field why had no one been able to come up with a good way to make those decisions? According to two accounting professors, one reason is that it is incredibly difficult to discern designs contribution from all the other business functions (bargaining, manufacturing, distribution and ethics). And even the designs profession couldn’t agree on how to approach this problem. Despite the obstacles, Chuck continued his quest to find a way to objectively measure the benefits of design.

What he eventually concluded was that a focus on customer preferences would work better than a focus on bottom-line returns. If his team could objectively measure what customers want in a product and then meet these needs, the company could realize financial returns. Chuck’s design team created a standardized company¬wide process that puts design prototypes in front of customer focus groups and then gets detailed measurements of their preferences about aesthetics, craftsmanship, technical performance, ergonomic, and usability. They chart the results against competing products and the company’s own products. This metrics -based approach gives decision makers a baseline of objective evidence from which to make investment decisions. Design investment decisions are now based on fact, not opinion. The “you” decision-making approach has transformed the company’s culture and led the boarder designs because the designers can now make a strong case for making those investments.

Assignment task:

Based upon the information of the case, prepare an essay of approximately 820 words by completing the following tasks:

1. Critically analyse the strategic decision made by Whirlpool. Discuss carefully how the company initiated successful decisions and how each strategic level has been considered to compete in the market.

2. Critically evaluate the strategic development direction opened by Whirlpool for a wise investment decision.

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Part -2:

Baggage Blunders

Terminal 5, built by British Airways for 8.6 billion, is Heathrow Airport’s newest state-of-the-art facility. Made of glass, concrete and steel, it’s the largest freestanding building in the United Kingdom and has over 16 kilometers of belts for moving luggage. At the terminal’s unveiling on March 15, 2008, Queen Elizabeth II called it “the 21st Century Gateway to Britain.” Alas… the accolades (compliments) didn’t last long! After two decades of planning and 100 million hours of labour, opening day didn’t work out as planned. Endless lines and severe baggage handling delays led to numerous flight cancellations, stranding many irate passengers. Airport operators said the problems were triggered by glitches (malfunction) in the terminal’s high-tech baggage handling system.

With its massive automation features, terminal 5 was planned to ease congestion at Heathrow and improve the flying experience for the 30,000,000 passengers expected to pass through it annually. With 96 self-service check-in kiosks, more than 90 check-in fast bag drops, 54 stranded check-in desks, and over 16 kilometers of suitcase moving belts that were supposed to be able to process 12,000 bags per hour, the facilities design didn’t seem to support those goals.

Within the first few hours of the terminal operation problems developed. Baggage workers, presumably understaffed, were unable to clear incoming luggage fast enough. Many arriving passengers had to wait more than an hour to get their bags. There were problems for the departing passengers, as well, as many tried to in vain (unsuccessful) to check in for their flight. Flights were allowed to leave with empty cargo holds. At one point that first day, the airlines had no choice but to check-in only those with no luggage. And it didn’t help matters that the moving built system jammed at one point. Lesser problems also became apparent: a few broken escalators, some hand dryers that didn’t work, a gate that wouldn’t function at the new underground station and inexperienced ticket sellers who didn’t know the fares between Heathrow and various stations on the Piccadilly line. By the end of the first full day of operation, Britairt’S Department of Transportation, released a statement — calling for British Airways and airport operator BAA to “work hard to resolve these issues and limit disruptiarii fo passengers.”

Anyone might he tempted to think that all these could have been prevented if British Airways had only tested the system. But thorough runs of all systems “from toilets to check-in and seating” took place six months before opening, including four full-scale test run using 16,000 volunteers.

Assignment tasks:

1. Describe any strategic management theory and critically analyse which of these theories is applied at Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport for immediate corrective actions.

2. Discuss the foundation of strategic capability and the concepts of competitive advantage then critically determine which of these concepts can be applied prior to the operation of Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport.

3. Analytically evaluate which important role of Benchmarking can be applied in the situation of the case.

Explain price competition in perfect competition

Managerial economics class In this assignment, you are to prepare a report analyzing the two problems below. Be sure to include your own interpretation and opinion as you prepare this report. You are the manager of a small pharmaceutical company that received a patent on a new drug three years ago. Despite strong sales ($150 million last year) and a low marginal cost of producing the product ($0.50 per pill), your company has yet to show a profit from selling the drug. This is, in part, due to the fact that the company spent $1.7 billion developing the drug and obtaining FDA approval. Discuss why this firm is currently not making a profit. Include the concepts of total revenue, variable costs, fixed costs, and sunk cost. Explain the relationship of between total revenue and own price elasticity of demand. Based on this information, what can you do to boost profits? The pharmaceutical industry operates in an aggressively competitive market. There are a limited number of firms in the industry. This is due primarily to the high fixed cost of entering the market, the high cost of research and development, obtaining patents and dealing with mergers and acquisitions. Let us assume that over 70% of the products sold in this market are protected by patents for the next eight years. Identify and describe the market characteristics of perfect competition. Explain price competition in perfect competition. Explain the barriers to entry in perfect competition. Does this pharmaceutical industry conform to an economist’s definition of a perfectly competitive market? Justify your response

Ethics and corporate responsibility in the workplace

Assignment: Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Workplace and the World

PharmaCARE (We CARE about YOUR health®) is one of the world’s most successful pharmaceutical companies, enjoying a reputation as a caring, ethical and well-run company that produces high-quality products that save millions of lives and enhance the quality of life for millions of others (Note: PharmaCARE is a hypothetical company that you will to compare to a real company as noted in the assignment criteria below). The company offers free and discounted drugs to low-income consumers, has a foundation that sponsors healthcare educational programs and scholarships, and its CEO serves on the PhRMA board. PharmaCARE recently launched a new initiative, We CARE about YOUR world®, pledging its commitment to the environment through recycling, packaging changes and other green initiatives, despite the fact that the company’s lobbying efforts and PAC have successfully defeated environmental laws and regulations, including extension of the Superfund tax, which was created by Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Based in New Jersey, PharmaCARE maintains a large manufacturing facility in the African nation of Colberia, where the company has found several “healers” eager to freely share information about indigenous cures and an abundance of Colberians willing to work for $1.00 a day, harvesting plants by walking five (5) miles into and out of the jungle carrying baskets that, when full, weigh up to fifty (50) pounds. Due to the low standard of living in Colberia, much of the population lives in primitive huts with no electricity or running water. PharmaCARE’s executives, however, live in a luxury compound, complete with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a golf course. PharmaCARE’s extensive activities in Colberia have destroyed habitat and endangered native species.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research companies that have recently experienced negative consequences as a result of the company’s corporate activities. Compare the facts and consequences surrounding the companies you have researched to PharmaCare to support your response(s) to the criteria below.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Describe the key characteristics of a stakeholder and determine all the stakeholders within the PharmaCARE scenario.
2. Analyze the human rights issues presented by PharmaCARE’s treatment of the Colberia’s indigenous population versus that of its executives. Recommend at least three (3) changes PharmaCARE can make to be more ethical going forward.
3. Assess PharmaCARE’s environmental initiative against the backdrop of its anti-environmental lobbying efforts and Colberian activities. Support the position.
4. Decide whether or not PharmaCARE’s actions with respect to the indigenous people of Colberia would be ethical in accordance with each of the following ethical theories:
   1. Utilitarianism
   2. Deontology
   3. Virtue ethics
   4. Ethics of care
   5. Your own moral / ethical compass
5. Compare PharmaCARE’s actions with those of at least one (1) real-world company, whose corporate activities led to ethical, environmental, or workplace safety issues and financial loss. Analyze the similarities and differences between PharmaCARE and the company that you chose.
6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary 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 and evaluate laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace.
• Examine and assess employee rights to health and safety in the workplace.
• Analyze environmental protection laws and assess their impact on organizations.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in law, ethics, and corporate governance.
• Write clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate governance using proper writing mechanics.

Explain the difference between Laissez Faire Economics and Keynesian Economics

Explain the difference between Laissez Faire Economics and Keynesian Economics

Describing using three different social media platforms

Write a 350- to 700-word summary describing using three different social media platforms with the objective of networking within your career field. Use your current social media accounts, or create new ones. Incorporate research regarding how to present a professional profile on social media platforms, and discuss your experience in the paper.

Cite at least one resource.

Format your assignment according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.