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All Textbook Solutions for Introduction to Business
What are the two main factors that should be considered when selecting advertising media?What are the advantages of personal selling?Explain the selling process.How does sales promotion differ from advertising?Describe several types of sales promotion.How does public relations differ from advertising?Describe several types of publicity.How are companies embracing social media as a way to connect with customers?What has been the effect of social media on traditional advertising?How can brick-and-mortar stores use technology to compete with online giants such as Amazon?What factors contribute to the internet's soaring growth in retailing?After working really hard to distinguish yourself, you've ?nally been promoted to senior account executive at a major advertising agency and placed in charge of the agencies newest account, a nationally known cereal company. Their product is one you know contains excessive amounts of sugar as well as arti?cial colorings and lacks any nutritional value whatsoever. In fact, you have never allowed your own children eat it. Your boss has indicated that the cereal company would like to use the slogan “It's good for you" in their new television and print advertising campaign. You know that a $2 billion lawsuit has been ?led against the Kellogg and Viacom corporations for marketing junk food to young children. The suit cited "alluring product packaging, toy giveaways, contests, collectibles, kid-oriented websites, magazine ads, and branded toys and clothes." In addition, two consumer groups have brought suit against children's television network Nickelodeon for "unfair and deceptive junk-food marketing." Your new role at the agency will be tested with this campaign. Doing a good job on it will cement your position and put you in line for a promotion novice president. But as a responsible parent, you have strong feelings about misleading advertising targeted at susceptible children. Using a web search tool, locate articles about this topic aid then write responses to the Following questions. Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources. Ethical Dilemma: Do you follow your principles and ask to be transferred to another account? Or do you help promote a cereal you know may be harmful to children in order to secure your career? Sources: James Schroeder, "To the Heart of the Matter: We Are What We Eat,"Evansville Courier Press, http://www.courierpress.com, September 11, 2017; Lizzie Parry, “Popular Cereals Contain Up to a Third of Your Kids' Sugar Intake." The Sun, http://thesun.co.uk, February 8, 2017; Stephanie Thompson. "Kellogg Co. Might as Well Have Painted a Bull's—eye on Itself: Advertising Age, January 23, 2006; and Abbey Klaassen, "Viacom Gets Nicked," Advertising Age, January 23, 2006.Name some of the challenges marketers encounter when developing advertising and promotional campaign. How does the type of product affect the promotional strategies?You work for an ad agency that has a Super Bowl sponsor asa client. What approach would you recommend for your agency as it develops a campaign—universal, customized for each geographical region, or something else, and why?What types of companies could benefit from placing ads on the NFL website, and how can they use the internet effectively to promote their products?What are management information systems, and what challenges face the CID in developing the company's MIS?Distinguish between data and information. How are they related? Why are data considered a valuable asset for a firm?How does systems integration benefit a company?What is a computer network? What benefits do companies gain by using networks?How do a LAN and WAN differ? Why would a company use a wireless network?What advantages do VPNs offer a company? What about the cloud, ASPs, and MSPs?What are the main types of management information systems, and what does each do?Differentiate between the types of management support systems, and give examples of how companies use each.What are some ways a company can manage its technology assets to its advantage?Differentiate between information management and knowledge management. What steps can companies take to manage knowledge?List the key questions managers need to ask when planning technology purchases.Describe the different threats to data security.How can companies protect information from destruction and unauthorized use?Why are privacy rights advocates alarmed over the use of techniques such as data warehouses and data mining?How are companies and other organizations using digital forensics to obtain critical information?Why do companies find that productivity rises when they offer employees the option of joining the virtual workforce?What advantages do grid and cloud computing offer a company? Whatare some of the downsides to using this method?As the owner of a small but growing business, you are concerned about employees misusing companycomputers for personal matters. Not only does this cost the company in terms of employee productivity, but it also ties up bandwidth that may be required for company operations and exposes the firm's networks to increased risks of attacks from viruses, spyware, other malicious programs. Installing e-mail monitoring and web security and filtering software programs would allow you to track e-mail and internet use, develop use policies, block access to inappropriate sites, and limit the time employees can conduct personal online business. At the same time, the software will protect your IT networks from many types of security concerns, from viruses to internet fraud. You are concerned, however, that employees will take offense and consider such software an invasion of privacy. Using a web search tool. locate articles about this topic and write responses to the following questions. Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources. Ethical Dilemma: Should you purchase employee-monitoring for your company, and on what do youbase your decision? If you install the software, do you have an obligation to tell employees about it? Explain your answers and suggest ways to help employees understand your rationale. Sources: KC Agu, "6 Software Tools for Monitoring Employee Productivity. - Huffington Post, https://www.huffngtonpost.com, December 6. 2017; Marissa Lang,"Electronic Tracking Spurs Workplace Privacy Debate." Government Technology.http://www.govtech.com, October 18, 2017; Mike Rogoway, "Jive's Buyer Responds to Employee Anxiety over Workplace Monitoring Tool, "The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com.What factors contributed to Novartis's invoice processing being so complex?How did IT help the company solve that problem?What other uses and functions does Input Accel serve, and how will this be useful to Novartis over the long term? (You may want to visit the EMC/Captive website, https://www.emc.com, for more information on InputAccel's capabilities.)Explain who uses financial information.Differentiate between financial accounting and managerial accounting.How do GAAP, the FASB, and the IASB influence the accounting industry?Compare the responsibilities of public and private accountants. How are they certified?Summarize the major changes affecting accounting and corporate reporting and the reasons for them.Explain the accounting equation.Describe the six-step accounting cycle.What role do computers and other technology play in accounting?What is a balance sheet?What are the three main categories of accounts on the balance sheet, and how do they relate to the accounting equation?How do retained earnings relate to owners' equity?What is an income statement? How does it differ from the balance sheet?Describe the key parts of the income statement. Distinguish between gross sales and net sales.How is net profit or loss calculated?What is the purpose of the statement of cash flows?Why has cash flow become such an important measure of a firm's financial condition?What situations can you cite from the chapter that support your answer?How can ration analysis be used to interpret financial statements?Name the main liquidity and profitability ratios, and explain what they indicate.What kinds of information do activity ratios give? Why are debt ratios of concern to lenders and investors?How has the relationship between public accounting firms and their clients changed since SOX became law?Describe how could computing and automation are changing the accounting industry.What are some of the challenges encountered by accounting firms when introducing new technologies into their workflow process?As the controller of a financial company, take pride in the and internal control systems have developed for the company. You and your staff have kept up with changes in the accounting industry and been diligent in updating the systems to meet new accounting standards. Your outside auditor, which has been reviewing the company's books for 15 years, routinely complimented you on your thorough procedures. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, with its emphasis on testing internal control systems, initiated several changes. You have studied the law and made adjustments to ensure you comply with the regulations, even though it has created additional work. Your auditors, however, have chosen to interpret SOX very aggressively—too much so, in your opinion. The auditors have recommended that you make costly improvements to your systems and also enlarged the scope of the audit process, raising their fees. When you question the partner in charge, he explains that the complexity of the law means that it is open to interpretation it is better to err on side of caution risk. You are not pleased with this answer, as you believe company is in compliance with SOX, and considerchanging auditors. Using a web search tool, locate articles about this topic and then write the responses to the following questions.Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources. Ethical Dilemma: Should you change auditors because your current one is too stringent in applying theSarbanes-Oxley Act? What other steps could you take to this situation? Sources: Loren Kasuske, "The 4 Biggest Pros and Cons of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,https://ktconnections.com, June 8, 2017; Terry Sheridan, "Financial Services Spend More than $1M Annually on SOX,"https://www.accountingweb.com, August 2, 2016; "Sarbanes-Oxley Is Paying Off for Companies Despite Increased Costs and Hours. Protiviti Survey Finds."http://www.pmewswirexom, June 2, 2016; Daniel Kim. "Top 3 Ways to Reduce SOX Compliance Costs," https://www.soxhub.com, December 14, 2015.How does the company's focus on recruiting accountants and related services give Accounting fly a competitive advantage?Do you thinkAccounitngfly's approach can compete with the Big 4's expensive and comprehensive recruiting efforts for new accountants? Explain your reasoning.How canAccounitngfly'suse its recent acquisition of Going Concern as a recruiting tool for experienced CPAs who desire a different career track? Provide some examples to support your answer.What is money, and what are its characteristics?What are the main functions of money?What are the three main components of the U.S. money supply? How do they relate to M1 and M2?What are the four key functions of the Federal Reserve System?What three tools does the Federal Reserve System use to manage the money supply, and how does each affect economic activity?What was the Fed's role in keeping the U.S. financial markets solvent during the 2007-2009 financial crisis?What is the financial intermediation process?Differentiate between the three types of depository financial institutions and the services they offer.What are the four main types of non-depository financial institutions?What is the FDIC, and what are its responsibilities?What are the major deposit insurance funds?What can the FDIC do to help financially troubled banks?What is the role of U.S. banks in international banking?What challenges do U.S. banks face in foreign markets?How will fintech services enhance the overall banking experience?What challenges do banks face when it comes to offering local branch services to customers?You are a loan officer with a financial company that specializes in auto loans. The senior vice president in charge of your area sets new loan quotas for your group and suggests that courting more subprime make the quotas easier to meet. He reminds you that the company can justifiably charge higher interest rates, loan fees, servicing costs for these higher-risk loans. He also points out that the loans will earn you and your team larger commissions as well. "Everyone wins," he tells you. "We help people who might otherwise be able to get the financing they need, the company make money, and so do you. But you are uneasy about the company's focus on subprime borrowers, low-income applicants with poor limited credit histories, many of whom are also minorities. You suspect the company's tactics could be considered "predatory lending" or "reverse redlining." You are also convinced that the cost of the company's subprime loansaren't tied to the risk factor at all, but to how profit the an squeeze from a group of unsophisticated borrowers with few other options. Using a web search tool, locate articles topic of subprime auto loans, and then write responses to the following questions. Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources. Ethical Dilemma: Should you seek out subprime loans, knowing that youwill have to charge borrowers the high fees your company demands, while believing they may not be totally justified? Sources: Adam Tempkin. "Deep' Subprime Car Loans Hit Crisis-Era Milestone,"Bloomberg Markets, https://www.bloomberg.com, August 15, 2017; ShannaraJohnson, "Subprime Auto Loans Up, Car sales Down: Why This Could Be for Gold, Forbes,https://www.forbes.com, July 13, 2017: Mark Huffman, "Santander Settles Subprime Auto Loan Suit with Massachussetts," Consumer Affairs, https//www.consumeraffairs.com, March 31, 2017; Michael Corkery and Jessica Silver-Greenberg. "Prosecutors Scrutinize Minority Auto Loans."The New York Times, https://www.nyrimes.com. March 30, 2015.Do you think Stripe's strategy of keeping things simple is a sound business plan? Explain your reasoning.What impact do you think the company's Atlas product offering will have on Stripe's global expansion?Do you think Stripe's agility in working with so many different businesses provide the company with a competitive advantage over big banks and credit card companies? Justify your answer.What is the role of financial management in a firm?How do the three key activities of the financial manager relate?What is the main goal of the financial manager? How does the risk-return trade-off relate to the financial manager's main goal?Distinguish between short- and long-term expenses.What is the financial manager's goal in cash management? List the three key cash management strategies.Describe a firm's main motives in making capital expenditures.Distinguish between unsecured and secured short-term loans.Briefly describe the three main types of unsecured short-term loans.Discuss the two ways that accounts receivable can be used obtain short-term financing.Distinguish between debt and equity.Identify the major types and features of long term debt.Compare the advantages and disadvantages of debt and equity financing.Discuss the costs involved in issuing common stock.Briefly describe these sources of equity: retained earnings, preferred stock, venture capital.Distinguish between primary and secondary securities markets. How does an investment banker work with companies to issue securities?Describe the types of bonds available to investors and the advantages and disadvantages they offer.Why do natural funds and exchange-traded funds appeal to investors? Discuss why futures contracts and options are risky investments.How do the broker markets differ from dealer markets, and what organizations compose each of these two markets?Why is the globalization of the securities markets important to U.S. investors? What are some of the other exchanges where U.S. companies can list their securities?Briefly describe the key provisions of the main federal laws designed to protect securities investors.What is insider trading, and how can it be harmful? How does the securities industry regulate itself?How has the role of CFO changed since the passage of the Sarbannes-Oxley Act?Describe the major changes taking place in the U.S. securities markets. What trends are driving these changes?In late July 2017, senior management at Equifax. a U.S. credit-reporting company, discovered that hackers had stolen the personal data of more than 145 million U.S. customers, including names, birthdates, Social Cecurity numbers. and driver's license information. In addition, the hackers stole credit card information for more than 200,000 Equifax customers. If that weren't bad enough. reports soon surfaced that three top executives, including Equifax's chief financial officer, sold close to $2 million in shares of company stock days after learning about the breach and more than a month before the company announced the data hack publicly. In a company statement, Equifax says the executives "had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time they sold their shares." The day after the company's announcement about the breach, Equifax's stock dropped by double digits, and the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation. Less than three weeks after the public announcement, Equifax announced its CEO, Richard Smith, would retire, taking a multimillion-dollar payout with him-even after shareholders lost more than $5 billion in stock value after the data breach was acknowledged. Ethical Dilemma: Is it legal for company executives to sell stock shares for financial gain when they knowWhat issues should executives of a company such as Blue Apron consider before deciding to go public? In your opinion, was the company ready for an IPO? Why or why not?How else could Blue Apron have raised funds to continue to grow? Compare the risks of raising private funding to going public.Use a search engine and a site such as Yahoo! Finance to learn about Blue Apron's current situation. Prepare a brief including the company's current financial situation. Is it still a public company, and how has its stock fared? Would you invest in it? Explain your reasoning.