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Pick an era from this course that fascinated you.
Describe the event/time period and explain why it helped you to understand the “American experience”.
What would you like to know more about this event/time period?
Why do you think understanding this event/period in history is important for future generations to know about?
Commenting on your classmates’ posts is encouraged but not required.
Assignment No. 6 ~ Technology Innovation for competitive advantage
For this assignment, use the business that you selected for Homework 1 — unless you clear a new selection with your facilitator in advance.
Good news! The business evolution that you proposed (from Module 1) was accepted!
Over the next two years, your organization needs to shift its business model and widen its technology exploitation in order to expand in its existing market, expand into new markets, facilitate new products and services, and reduce costs, using your business evolution as the beginning platform to do it from.
Your mission is to provide the CEO or CFO with technical recommendations on how to accomplish these goals and fulfill your business model evolution proposal.
Your assignment is to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the CEO, CFO and the Board of Directors, describing a technology you believe should be adopted, describing the benefits, costs and risks of adoption, and recommending how to proceed. However, all work and ideas not your own should be clearly acknowledged in the PowerPoint notes in accordance with academic standards.
Use your own words and do research to back up your assertions! Your objective is to convince the committee to adopt your proposal.
Use the PowerPoint “Notes” section for comments that you would supply verbally at the presentation. Also use it for explanations to your facilitator.
Address (in order) the sections described below in approximately 15 PowerPoint slides with Notes sections. Typically, an average submission is about 12-13 slides with speaker notes. You may follow this with appendices if you wish. Appendices will be read only as needed. You need not address every point mentioned within each section – just those most significant for your organization and the technology, and which result in a clear, coherent overall presentation. Give approximately equal space to the sections.
For 5 points of extra credit for this assignment, you can record yourself going through the presentation and upload it as well either separately or as part of the presentation. This must include video to achieve the 5 points of extra credit!
Hints:
This presentation is designed to convince your CEO, the CFO and the Board of Directors. The slides should steer a course between the extremes of wordiness (remember that you can talk to add content) and bare-bones meaninglessness (viewers need words with meaning). Vary bullet slides, figures, and tables to maintain attention.
You have limited space, so conciseness is important.
Organizational Background
This section of the presentation demonstrates to the CTO/CIO that you clearly understand your organization’s background enough to advocate the technology you propose. Emphasize the basis on which it competes with similar organizations (or for organizations where there is no relevant basis for competition, describe the organization’s mission). Include mention of technology that your organization uses, but only to the extent that it is relevant or needed to understand this presentation. This will probably differ somewhat from assignment 1 in that it describes the background for the proposals you are making in this presentation: However, you are free to cut and paste from assignment 1 if you wish. The section in this week’s notes on SWOT may help too.
2. Technology Description
Re-cap your business model evolution and then identify and describe a technology (e.g., virtualization) that your organization should adopt, along with its key capabilities and characteristics. The specifics of “how” the technology would be implemented are not required in this section. If it is to replace technology your organization currently uses, consider summarizing key technology differences. Focus on the here on the essential technology description, as well as on the problems you expect that adoption would solve. Do not focus on these details about the technology (especially ones extracted from marketing materials). Where possible, focus on the technology, rather than one particular product or supplier’s version. The section in this week’s notes on IT portfolio management may help for this and subsequent sections. In thinking about this, note the section in this week’s notes on “The Technology Hype Curve.”
Use and Benefits
In considering a technology, it is possible or even likely that you have a specific use in mind (e.g., for a specific project, or to solve a specific problem). However, keep in mind that a technology may be used for a variety of purposes, and that after its first use, others applications may present themselves.
Your task in this section is to be somewhat visionary, and imagine, where possible, a range of potential uses (in part, so that you can justify amortizing any one-time costs of adoption over multiple uses) and benefits, while still remaining pragmatic. Be clear about exactly how features of the technology support the benefits described. Recall the following.
Operational Uses and Benefits. What are the most significant ways in which adoption of the technology could allow your organization to operate more effectively? Consider both new opportunities, as well as ways in which existing problems and compliance requirements can be addressed.
Competitive Uses and Benefits. What are the most significant ways in which adoption of the technology could benefit the company’s competitive strategy (or for organizations where there is no relevant basis for competition, consider how adoption would support the organization’s mission)? Consider new opportunities (e.g. ways of expanding or extending the company’s business model), as well as ways of addressing existing environmental (e.g. regulatory, economic) and competitive forces.
Hints:
For technologies whose benefits are primarily operational, there may be no competitive use or benefit that you can clearly articulate. Don’t stretch to find competitive uses and benefits that are not clear.
Internal cost reductions, by themselves, are primarily an operational benefit rather than a competitive benefit, unless the cost reduction is intended to directly affect product or market positioning (e.g. by lowering prices in a market where cost is a primary basis of competition) or to provide the crucial additional revenues needed for specific competitive strategies.
Technologies that will be adopted for incorporation into products or services that your organization offers may primarily have competitive uses or benefits and may not have significant operational benefits for your organization. Note that operational benefits refer to your organization, not to your customers.
4. Technology Analysis
Summarize the preliminary analysis you have done which convinced you that the technology is viable and appropriate for its intended uses in the intended timeframe, and to identify any additional analysis that will be needed as part of the adoption consideration process.
Consider and address the specific points below to the extent that they serve this purpose. The goal is not to necessarily address every point, but to include material and organize this section in a way that provides a clear, cohesive, and diligent analysis of the technology, and how it would fit into your organization’s technology infrastructure. Focus here on “what” the technology is, not necessarily “how” it will be implemented in the organization. You may find the section “IT Architecture Planning” – and, of course the section on “Technology Analysis” – in this week’s notes helpful for this part of the assignment.
Technology Maturity.
Think about where the technology currently falls on the reality curve, where you think it will fall at the time you believe it should be adopted, and what that says about whether your organization should adopt it. What successes and difficulties have been reported in both experimental and actual deployments, especially in situations similar to the uses you imagine? How stable and mature are the companies developing and supplying the technology?
Technology Displacement and Disruption. In what ways, to what degree, and how rapidly might this technology displace other existing technologies, especially ones your organization is currently using? How might this affect whether and when your organization should adopt it?
Technology Impacts. Think about ways in which the technology would need to be integrated with your organization’s existing IT systems, and the associated costs and risks. How might it result in new reliability, privacy, security and compliance challenges? How might adoption drive or limit other technology choices you expect to make in the future? What other IT-based solutions or initiatives are needed to address these issues and ameliorate these risks? (Note that initiatives or processes that would involve your organization more broadly are probably better discussed below under Addressing Operational and Competitive Impacts).
Technology Evolution. Think about how the technology might evolve over the next five years and how this might affect its value for your organization, or your organization’s need to adopt it. Might there be added costs or risks if your organization doesn’t have control over how it evolves?
Technology Alternatives. Are there alternative technologies (other than the ones you are already using) that could be adopted for the uses you envision? If so, how would they compare with respect to technology evolution and lifetime benefits, as well as costs, risks and benefits. Why do you believe the technology you’ve chosen is the best alternative? Note that if it’s not clear, there might be some additional evaluation needed during the adoption consideration process.
5. Operational and Competitive Risks
The purpose of this section is to describe the impact of adoption and the approaches needed to ensure that any related issues and risks are addressed successfully.
Consider including the following.
The major issues and risks that will need to be addressed during integration and deployment of the technology (other than ones fully addressed in the Technology Analysis section above)
What it is about your organization or the technology that makes each of these issues or risks significant and critical (this ensures that you focus on real issues specific to your organization or the technology, not just general principles)
The operational processes, structures or approaches that will be needed to address these issues and risks successfully. (These should be very specific to your organization and to the technology. Note that purely IT-specific solutions and initiatives are probably better discussed above under Technology Analysis.)
In regard to issues and risks, consider the following.
The structure, management, business processes, staff and culture of your organization, and whether its capabilities are adequate for successful adoption, as well as any negative impacts that adoption might have.
The external relationships of the organization, and how they might be impacted by adoption.
Whether adoption might have any negative impact on the basis of competition in your segment (e.g. might adoption lead to commoditization) or on the success of your organization’s competitive strategy.
In regard to processes, structures and approaches needed for successful integration and deployment, consider the following.
relationships with technology suppliers
stakeholder involvement
change management
resource and capability management (including outsourcing)
pace and extent of deployment
management and governance structure and activities
6. Adoption Analysis Summary
The purpose of this section is to summarize the key reasons why you believe, on balance (considering costs, risks etc.), that the technology is seriously worth considering for adoption, and the reasons for the specific timeframe you are recommending.
Consider and address the specific points below only to the extent that they serve this purpose. The goal is not to necessarily address each and every point, but to include material and organize this section in a way that provides a clear, cohesive and compelling overall analysis that supports your recommendation.
Adoption Cost and Value. What are the main sources of cost due to adoption, including some rough $ estimates? What are the overall costs, and how would they be spread out? What’s the ROI (or other basis for evaluating return), or more generally, how can the costs be justified relative to the perceived value of adoption? You might think about quantifying the perceived value in terms of $’s, although this can be hard to estimate, especially when the benefits involve opportunities such as preparing for potential business model evolution or are part of a larger initiative.
Risks of Adoption. What are the most significant risks of adopting the technology? What’s the likelihood of the various risks? What kinds of effort should be put into ameliorating (vs. accepting) the various risks, and what are the associated costs? (Note that these may actually dominate other costs!) What are the costs and other impacts if the risk scenarios actually occur?
Other Approaches. For the uses you intend, are there other approaches that need to be considered that do NOT involve adoption of new technology, and if so, why? How do they compare with respect to costs, risks and benefits? Why do you believe that adopting new technology makes most sense? Note that if it’s not clear, there might be some additional evaluation processes needed during the adoption consideration process.
Relative Value. How important and urgent is adoption of this technology relative to other IT activities your organization could undertake instead? How well does adoption of this technology fit into your organization’s overall IT portfolio?
Adoption of this Technology. It is almost certainly worth noting what kind of adopter your organization should be for this technology, with respect to (a) all potential adopters, (b) all organizations in your industry/segment and (c) just those of comparable size. You will probably want to provide some justification if the answers are different than the one for organizational adoption, in general.
End with a list of references following the standard reference format, as described in References and Citations document.
Use the Ask Your Facilitator Discussion Board if you have any questions regarding the objectives of the assignment or how to approach the assignment.
Save your assignment as LastnameFirstname_assign6.doc and submit it in the Assignments section of the course.
Choose a publicly traded company that issues bonds. You can locate this information by reviewing your chosen company’s annual report online. A good place to start is the Annual Reports website (https://www.annualreports.com/).
In your case study, discuss the following aspects of the company.
1.Provide a brief introduction of the company, including its name, headquarters, products/services offered, and approximate net worth.
2.What are the key features of one of the bonds issued by your chosen company? Discuss how the bond’s terms and collateral can affect the bond’s interest rate.
3.How would a potential investor determine the value and risk of the bond?
4.Explain the concept of the time value of money (TVM) as it applies to the company’s bond offerings.
Your case study should be at least two pages in length. Use APA Style to cite and reference all quoted and paraphrased material. Use a minimum of two sources. Include a title page, introduction, body, conclusion, and references page. An abstract is not required.
Requirements: 550 words
Scenario
You are a department manager for a distribution team that packages and ships products from a warehouse location to fulfill customer orders. Your company has been acquired by a larger firm. The new owners are requesting that each department manager prepare a master budget for the upcoming year and submit it for approval. The submission must include a written justification of the requested amount and at least one risk mitigation action to control or reduce costs.
The information available to meet this request includes:
In the justification memo, include one visual (chart, graph, etc.) created from the data. The purpose and type of visual selected should be based on the data being highlighted. Examples include a summary pie chart of the total budget, a bar chart comparing the department’s historical metrics to the expected metrics with the new budget, or costs across time to implement the efficiency project using the recommended financing options.
Submit an Excel file with the new master budget and a justification memo with embedded visual.
Stabilizing the Economy (ECO201 Macroeconomics)
As you have learned in Unit 8 (this week), monetary and fiscal policy play important roles in economic stimulation and or stabilization. In this regard:
Use the information presented in the module folder along with your readings from the textbook to answer the following questions.
1. Describe three (3) functions of a normal healthy body that help prevent the occurrence of UTIs:
2. List two reasons why women are at higher risks for developing UTIs
3. Briefly describe the two-step process used to diagnose UTIs. Which organism is most often responsible for causing UTIs?
4. What is Vaginosis? List some of the members of the normal microflora of the female reproductive organs and discuss factors that may contribute to an abnormal increase in these organisms.
5. Describe and explain the primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary stages of syphilis:
6. Explain why a person with AIDS is more susceptible to opportunistic infections. What diseases or conditions might a person with HIV or AIDS be more susceptible to?
Moving forward, how will you apply what you have learned in this course? Are there things you can apply to your personal life? Professional life? Future courses? What topics were most interesting to you?
Please be sure to answer each question fully and include references to your textbook and at least 2 supplemental resources. Each response should be at least 500 words in length.
QUESTION 1
General Information for Liam Howieson:
· SIN: Your student number
· Date of Birth: 1978-02-02
· Address: 1 Front Street, Ottawa, ON K1C 1C1
· Telephone number: 613-678-1234
· Marital Status: Divorced
· Canadian Citizen: Yes
· Share information with Elections Canada: Yes
· No foreign property in excess of $100,000
· Did not sell principle residence in 2018.
· Mary, eldest child’s date of birth: 2002-03-03
· Gary, youngest child’s date of birth: 2009-05-01
Liam Howieson operates his own unincorporated business that purchases documentary films. He reports income earned from his documentary business on his T1 Return on the T2125 form. The following information pertains to his business:
· The business earned $12,000 each month for the entire year.
· Liam paid $12,000 in advertising during the 2018 taxation year. Half of which targeted the Canadian market.
· Liam spent $11,000 on business meals and entertainment during the year. Included in that amount was a family trip ($7,000), to visit his parents in Costa Rica.
· Liam pays $25 a month for life insurance. This insurance was mandatory per the loan agreement with his financial institution, who wanted it as collateral against Liam’s loan.
· Liam paid $13,500 in interest on the outstanding loan with the financial institution. It is worth noting that one third of the loan was attributable to a new deck he built at his personal residence. The remaining two thirds relate to his business.
· He paid $500 in dues to the curling club he is a member of. He solicits a lot of business from his curling connection.
· He paid $9,750 in legal fees in 2018, all of which were related to his recent divorce.
· Liam has two children aged 11 and 16, and both of them are in good health. The older child provided minor administrative support to Liam’s business and was paid $5,000 for those services, which is considered a reasonable amount. The younger child was paid $12,000; however, did not perform any work for the business.
· Liam rented his business location for $2,500 a month and the rental came fully furnished. In July 2018, Liam decided that he was fed up with renting and decided to buy a building with his inheritance (totaling $500,000), and to use it exclusively for his business. He bought the property for $290,000 and then spent $8,000 on office furniture and $5,000 (total) for two computers.
· On October 1, 2018, Liam decided to buy a vehicle for $45,000 (including taxes). Liam estimated that the vehicle was used for business purposes 25% of the time. The car incurred the following expenses:
· Gas: $1,000
· Maintenance: $1,200
· Insurance: $500
Liam paid $24,000 in spousal support to his former spouse, as per the court judgment.
Liam contributed $4,000 to his RRSP, of which $800 constituted repayments to his Lifelong Learning Plan. Liam also made contributions to both of his children’s RESPs that totalled $2,000. His 2017 Notice of (re)Assessment states that his limit was $25,000.
Liam’s eldest child was considered a prodigy at a young age and she started university at 15 years old. During the 2018 taxation year, Liam paid $8,000 in eligible tuition fees for his daughter; however, they do not want to transfer her unused credits.
Even though both children are healthy, Liam paid for the following medical expenses:
· Liam – Dentist $1,200;
· Mary – Wisdom tooth removal $2,500; and,
· Gary – Orthodontist $3,000.
Liam sold his old boat for $800 and its original cost was $900. Liam also sold an old manuscript for $2,000 that he purchased for $750 in 2011.
Liam bought and sold publicly traded shares during the 2018 taxation year. On January 2, 2018, Liam purchased 2,000 shares in Company A for $25 each, and sold all of the shares on December 1, 2018 for $37 each. Company A shares were held in his Tax Free Savings Account.
Liam bought and sold shares from Company B, which is also publicly traded. He bought 1,000 shares for $10 each on March 15, 2018, and then sold them on September 20, 2018, for $32 each. These shares were held in a non-registered account.
Liam was relieved to finally pay off his student loans in 2018. During the year he paid $138 in interest on the loan.
Liam wanted some of his inheritance to go to good use, so he made a $10,000 donation to the local animal shelter.
Liam goes to the casino twice a year with his friends. During his first trip, he won $5,000 at the Blackjack table and then lost $6,000 while playing roulette 6 months later.
Finally, Liam received $800 (grossed-up) in eligible dividends.
Required: Prepare Liam’s 2018 T1 Return. Liam wishes to minimize his tax liability and wants to claim the maximum amount of CCA.
24 Marks
1. South Korea is famous for its spectacular rise from one of the poorest countries in the
world to a developed, high income country in just one generation. In about 200 words, can you
summarize the three major factors of why Korea is so successful? 15 points
2. Sony, once the king of the hill in consumer electronics, has been handily eclipsed by
Samsung. Samsung grew from a simple grocery store to tech titans, and this state of affairs is
reflected in millions of global consumers’ household electronics devices. Sony’s market value is
now one-ninth that of Samsung Electronics. What happened? Why did Samsung become
successful? Can you summarize the three major factors of why Samsung is so successful? (15
points totals. 150 words)
3. India is now a top IT outsourcing destination for many large corporations in the West. It
is an example of the growth of a knowledge industry in a largely poor, developing country. In
about 200 words, can you summarize three major factors of why India is successful in IT
Outsourcing? (15 points)
4. In the late 1980’s, the rapid rising cost in Taiwan had started to drive investments to
lower wage countries. Fortunately, Taiwan has advantages (political, cultural, economic) that
Japan did not have 20 years ago. In about 200 words, please explain Taiwan’s policies that kept
its economy growing rapidly after 1979. (15 points)
5. In 1980, China established Special Economic Zones (SEZ). China’s Special Economic
Zones were significant in building the global powerhouse China is of today. Please answer the
following QUESTIONS: (100 words each) (15 points)
a. What did “Reform and Opening” do for the Chinese economy?
b. Describe what is a Special Economic Zone?
c. How does Special Economic zone help the growth of China, especially in the
1990’s?
6. By welcoming foreign direct investment (FDI), China’s open-door policy has added
power to its economic transformation. Please answer the following QUESTIONS: (100 words
each) (15 points total)
a. How did the encouragement of foreign direct investment specifically in
manufacturing helped China’s growth?
b. How did China solve the labor shortage problem in these Special Economic
Zones?
c. What did China do to improve the investment climate for the private sectors?
7. “China’s economy is at a significant crossroads after 2012, it has come to the end of the
export focused industrial model of development.” In about 150 words, will you explain this
statement and give examples of the status of China’s economic development? (15 points)
Ref: https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33534.html
2
8. Starbucks Has an Eye-Popping New China Plan: Open a Store Every 15 Hours For 4 Years. In
about 150 words, can you tell us why Starbucks is successful in China? (Please use references
from WSJ, NYTimes, SCMP, etc) (15 points)
9. US China “Decoupling” is Washington’s new foreign policy buzzword: For the White House,
the phrase is shorthand for the administration’s commitment, through taxes, tariffs, and other
incentives, to disentangle its companies and their technologies from China’s supply chains. Yet,
American companies that produce, import, or exports from China are caught in US China Trade
War crossfire. The deepening economic rivalry creates a headache for multinational companies
that have spent decades constructing global supply chains and building market share in China. In
your own words, can you comment on these ongoing trade issues between US and China? (150
words) (15 points)
10. Academics and policymakers have debated the appropriate role of public policy in
developing economies. Most of the East Asian growth is attributable to seemingly miraculous
achievement in the high performing Asian economies: Japan, Hong Kong, the Republic of
Korea, Singapore, and later, China. The growth in some of the East Asian economies has raised
complex and controversial questions concerning the relationship between government, the
private sector, and the market. (15 points)
In about 150 words, please describe what you have learned from studying these East Asian
successes? Do you think this is a sustainable model for the rest of the developing world?
Reference: Lessons from the East Asian Development Model, John Julian 2014
https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Lessons-from-the-East-Asian-Development-Model