how to use the financial information and tools learned in the class on a public company,

Purpose of Assignment

Students should understand how to use the financial information and tools learned in the class on a public company, obtain public company SEC reports, and use that data to calculate a company’s financial ratios and their comparison to industry or competitor standards.

Assignment Steps

Resources: Tutorial help on Excel® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft® Office® website. There are also additional tutorials via the web that offer support for office products.

Select the publicly traded corporations listed below and obtain the most current SEC Form 10-K (annual financial report) from the company’s web site (Do not use the Annual Report that is sent to shareholders):

PepsiCo Corporation
Calculate and analyze the following ratios for your selected company for the last two years from the SEC Form 10-K:

Current Ratio
Inventory Turnover
Debt Ratio
Time Interest Earned
Gross Profit Margin
Equity Multiplier
Return on Assets
Net Profit Margin
Return on Equity (Use three ratio DuPont method)
Compare and contrast your company’s ratios to industry and competitor standard ratios obtained from Yahoo Finance, Morningstar, MotleyFool, Macroaxis or other Internet sources, and provide a detailed answer and analysis as to why your company’s ratios are different than the industry/competitor standard.

Prepare your analysis in a minimum of 875 words in Microsoft® Word. The use of Microsoft® Word tables is encouraged.

Cite the source of the industry/competitor ratio information.

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

Accounting

Summative Discussion Board

Review and reflect on the knowledge you have gained from this course. Based on your review and reflection, write at least 3 paragraphs on the following:

What were the most compelling topics learned in this course?

How did participating in discussions help your understanding of the subject matter? Is anything still unclear that could be clarified?

What approaches could have yielded additional valuable information?

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with a reply of at least 100 words about his or her primary task response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

What did you learn from your classmate’s posting?

What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?

What clarification do you need regarding the posting?

What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?

Long-term customer loyalty and relationships

From the list below, choose a subject you would like to research. This will be the topic of your thread:

Long-term customer loyalty and relationships

Global marketing

The importance of marketing research

Defending the practice of social media marketing

Threads:

Title your thread according to your topic. Have a title page, and attach a Microsoft Word document with your thread, in addition to the normal discussion board.

In at least 600 words, discuss your topic by addressing the following items:

Explain the concept of the marketing management topic selected for your paper (Your textbook is a good source for this item).

Examine at least 1 practical application/example for your topic.

Formulate a question about your topic that your classmates will respond to.

Have a separate heading for each of these 3 sections.

Replies:

You must respond to at least 2 of your classmates’ threads with a reply of at least 250 words. Your replies must do the following:

Answer the question posed in the thread.

Respond to the practical example in the thread by sharing a practical example that differs from the one in the thread.

Reference at least 1 scholarly source for each reply.

Note about Responses: Seek to understand your classmates’ threads (including the marketing management theory, the facts presented in their posts, their points of view, and their real-world examples). Aim to communicate your own understanding of relevant facts, your values, and your perspective of the topic.

Discussion Board Forum Instructions

Thread

You will create a thread in response to one of the available topics for the forum. The thread must be at least 600 words, reference at least 2 scholarly sources in addition to the course textbook in current APA format, and demonstrate course-related knowledge.

Replies

In addition to the thread, you will reply to at least 2 other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be least 250 words and reference at least one scholarly source in addition to the course textbook in current APA format.

Required Resources

American Psychological Association. Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (Current ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Kotler, P. T., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (Custom 15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Inc. ISBN: 9780133856460.

Few Additional Documents are attached for Help along with the GRADING RUBIC.

Please go through the Rubic before submission.

Understanding The Importance Of Market Research

You will be conducting an interview with a market research professional or a company representative. Use the results of your research to make specific recommendations on how market research can be applied to the Marketplace Simulation.

In your Marketplace Simulation game play today, you will be concentrating on growth options and using market research to help you in your decision making. Bont and Hamersveld (2007) tell us “Today, organisations, when making key decisions, are mindful of the importance of ensuring that they understand the views and opinions of current and potential customers and know what competitors are doing in the marketplace” (p.3). Understanding the role of market research and the many methods for conducting market research will be valuable for your work in this class and others in your program.

Learning from Subject Matter Experts (SME) in market research is the focus of this week’s Assignment and Discussion. View some ideas on how you can identify a market research professional or company.

Reference:

Bont, C., & Hamersveld, M. (2007). Market research handbook. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 4: The Market Research Process. Page 99-128

For this Assignment you will be:

● Reviewing the information in this week’s Reading and sources you identify in your own research.

● Identifying areas about market research that are particularly interesting to you or that you would like to know more about.

● Creating a set of 3-6 questions using the information you have gained in your Reading and research that will help you gain a greater understanding of these areas.

● Identifying a market research professional or a company where a representative can talk to you in more detail about the market research process. View some ideas on how you can identify a market research professional or company.

● Conducting an interview with a market research professional or a company representative.

● Using the results of this research to make specific recommendations on how it can be applied to the Marketplace Simulation.

I have attached the grading rubric as well as an example paper that you can follow. Turnitin must be under 20% and you must use academic sources only.

Sources to use if you wish.

Cadle, J., Paul, D., & Turner, P. (2014). Business analysis techniques: 99 essential tools for success (2nd ed.). Swindon, England: BCS Learning & Development Ltd. Technique 13 and 20.

Duboff, R. S. (2011). The market research magic is gone. Marketing Management, 20(4), 45-46.

Rau, J. G. (2016). The 3 ‘M’ stages. Inventors’ Digest, 32(11), 14.

Improving Decision Making

Deliverable Length: 10-12 pages (body of paper, excluding title page, abstract, references and appendices, if any)

Comprehensive Analysis of a Fortune 500 Company

For this Individual Project you will analyze publicly available information about a Fortune 500 Company and develop an assessment of the corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage.

Your analysis should include an in-depth review of the Company’s most recent SEC Form-10k Annual Report and Form DEF-14A Proxy Statement. These SEC filings can be found at the SEC Edgar Database located at the URL http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html . Pay particular attention to the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of the SEC Form 10-K and the DEF-14A Proxy statement. Direct competitors are identified in the “Comparator Group” section of the DEF-14A Proxy Statement. ) These SEC filings also contain information relative to external and industry analysis that will be helpful in your assessment of the Company’s strategy and competitive position.

A thorough analysis requires evaluation of various external stakeholders:

Competitors

Industry

Vendors

Customers

Governmental entities

Communities

Internal stakeholders that should be considered in the analysis include:

Shareholders

Board of Directors

Management

Employees

A comprehensive SWOT analysis should be performed relative to the Company’s ability to improve its competitive advantage.

The comprehensive analysis should include both qualitative and quantitative elements, leveraging information available in SEC Filings, business databases, and peer-reviewed articles.

Your work should demonstrate your ability to:

Apply critical thinking skills to analyze business situations.

Apply principles of quantitative and qualitative research to business cases.

Describe the opportunities provided by technology for businesses.

Appropriately use effective communication techniques.

Apply the standard of APA style to all research and writing tasks.

You will prepare a report presenting the findings of your comprehensive analysis examining the Company’s corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage. The written report will have a body length of 10-12 pages excluding title, abstract, references and appendices. Quotation limits should be Not more than 10% of the body of the paper can be quotations, all of which must be properly attributed in APA format.

NOTE: Article collections (scholarly databases) may be accessed in the Library. Suggestions are:

ABI Inform Global

Academic Search Premier

Business Source Premier

Personal Finance Discussion

Answer EACH question in 75 words A PIECE. Use references, if needed and cite.

1. Embark on a virtual field trip. Researching online, explore different career fields that interest you. Share with your classmates which career field or fields you found most interesting. Why do you find it interesting? What is the salary range and average income for people working in that field? What level of education is required to work in that career field? How do your findings affect your career, educational, and financial plans?

2. Share an example of an Automatic Investment Plan (AIP) that you are familiar with or that you have researched. Explain how the chosen AIP works (where the money comes from and goes to, any fees or minimums associated with the account, how do you sign up). Why does/(doesn’t) this AIP make sense for most people, yourself included, to use?

3. What are the pros and cons of filing bankruptcy? What alternatives are out there? Is it moral not to pay creditors? When collectively considering the moral and long term implications for declaring bankruptcy, how wise of an action is it really?

4. Explain the role insurance plays in your financial situation. What are some steps you could take to better protect yourself and/or reduce your insurance costs?

5. Is Wall Street a casino or an investment in the future and why? Use examples to back your stances? What do you fear the most about Wall Street and investing in the stock market? Have you learned anything in this module that has helped you overcome that fear? Please explain.

6. When should you start to think about retirement and estate planning? When should you start taking action? Why? Have you already started taking steps toward retirement? If so, when and why? If not, when do you plan to begin? Why?

7. Review and reflect on what you learned from answering the previous questions. What is the most practical and easily applied lesson you learned? What was the hardest to grasp? Why?

International Business Law

For Final Project Part II, you will prepare a five-page professional memorandum for your supervisor in a hypothetical U.S. corporation that is considering doing business overseas. Your findings and critical assessment of the cases will help shape the approach of corporate stakeholders to the legal matters raised, including each company’s response to each situation.

For your summative assessment, you will assume the role of an employee at a fictional company and prepare an executive memo pertaining to the legal and ethical implications of a company doing business internationally.

You are working for a major U.S. corporation that wants to expand its reach globally and has narrowed the search to Mexico. Your supervisor has asked you to prepare a memo that analyzes potential compliance issues with respect to aspects of law and ethics that are specific Mexico. You will prepare your memo for Mexico and address the critical elements below. This will help inform the final executive decision. Because you have some fluency with domestic laws, and given your background and history with the corporation, you have been asked to assess the pros and cons of the decision, and to provide your insights with respect to the ethical and legal implications of the expansion.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. What pertinent aspects of U.S. law should the company be aware of in its goal to do business internationally?

II. Assess the legal implications of moving business abroad specific to Mexico. What are the advantages and disadvantages?

III. What are the ethical implications involved in this business decision?

IV. Explain how other domestic companies have managed to comply with the U.S. laws related to this business decision in the past. How did these companies address potential compliance issues?

Guidelines for Submission: Your professional business memorandum should adhere to the following formatting requirements: 5 pages (not including title and reference pages), double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. You should use current APA style guidelines for your citations and reference list. Generally speaking, the best memos include references to at least two cases for each point of law that is mentioned. Students also earn high marks when they cite cases that appear to support a different legal resolution than the one presented by the student, and then distinguishing that case from the scenario described in this assignment. Such distinctions demonstrate exemplary understanding of the course materials.

Discussion Forum

Module 7: Discussion Forum

To prepare for this discussion, review “Basics of Speechwriting” and “Basics of Giving a Speech” in textbook Chapter 15. Then watch this video of Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs giving the 2005 Commencement address at Stanford University. The transcript is available on the same link below.

Jobs, S. (2005). Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford University Commencement address [Video file]. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/

For the discussion, analyze Jobs’ speech and explain how he did or not follow the basic rules of writing and giving a speech:

Knowing your objective

Structuring the message for the ear

Tailoring the remarks for the audience (knowing his listeners, using their language, using visuals, using humor carefully)

Keeping it timely and short

Incorporating gestures, eye contact, and smiles

What do you think his objectives were? Why do you think this speech is considered by some one of the top speeches of the last 50 years?

Launching a New Product Line

Option #2: Launching a New Product Line

For this Portfolio Project Option, you will act as an employee in a large company that develops and distributes men’s and women’s personal care products. The company has developed a new product line, and you have been asked to lead a marketing team in launching the new line. Explain how you would lead the team through this task. What would your first steps be? How would you help your team be successful? In explaining your approach, be sure to address the following:

Team communication and motivation

Decision making and problem solving

Conflict management

Performance management

Power, politics, and ethics

For example, how would you motivate your team? How would you make decisions and solve problems? What would you do when conflict arises? How would you address power, political behaviors, and the ethics of the team? How would you manage the overall performance of the team?

Your completed assignment must adhere to the following parameters:

Be a 6- to 9-page paper (not including title and reference pages) or an 8-to 10-minute presentation (presentation tools such as Prezi, GoogleSlides, PowerPoint, Keynote, or others can be used).

Be supported by a minimum of five credible, academic or professional sources. Remember, you must support your thinking and prior knowledge with references, even in a video presentation.

Include an APA style reference list at the end of the paper or with your presentation file.

Review the grading rubric, which can be found in the Module 8 folder.

Be formatted according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing & APA.

Managing Programs And Campaigns

The non-profit for this paper is Keep America Beautiful***

Option #1: Traditional Campaign

Design a traditional PR campaign plan for a government agency or a not-for-profit organization that wants to promote a cause. This campaign can be targeted at the city, state, or national level.

Here are some possible examples:

Your state health department hires you to promote healthy eating for school children, healthy eating for seniors, eating on a food-stamp budget, or a similar topic.

The League of American Bicyclists hires you to promote bicycling as a great family activity in your city or state and make residents aware of family-friendly bike trails in your area.

The Almond Advisory Board, a trade group of almond growers, hires you to promote almonds and increase their consumption.

The Alliance of Artists Communities hires you to promote residency programs in the U.S. and Canada for dancers from around the world.

Following the guidelines in textbook Chapter 18, your written plan is the blueprint of the entire campaign. Your plan should start with an executive summary and then outline the steps it will take to execute the program: 1) situation, 2) objectives, 3) audience, 4) strategies, 5) tactics, 6) calendar, 7) budget, and 8) evaluation.

The tactics or “how to do it” section will be heart of the plan. In addition to writing the plan, you should also write:

a press release

a series of social media posts for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

a blog post

either a Public Service Announcement or a brief speech that an expert might give as part of your campaign

Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:

Use the readings for any module, four to six peer-reviewed articles or professional sources, and public relations blogs.

Your final project should be 8-10 pages long, not including the title page and references. Include the 8-step plan, Press Release, Social Media Posts, Blog Post and PSA/Speech in the same document.

Format your document according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA