Great Gatsby Essays (787 words) - The Great Gatsby,

Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby In today society, many people like to follow the current. They want to catch the wave. Which mean, it does not matter if things were good or bad, right or wrong, they just follow and do them without any thinking. Therefore, there are not too many people would like to be a normal, thoughtful nor neutral person. However, in the novel, The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald, one of the character name is Nike Carroway, he was the good and neutral narrator. It was because, in the novel, he analyzed all of the things with regard to accuracy of observation. In The Great Gatsby, when Mr.Gatsby told Vick he wanted to return the past over again with his lover- Daisy, Nike Carroway warned him to give it up, because it was impossible. Unforturately, Mr.Gatsby was not believe it. So at the end, Mr.Gatsby's dream still had not came true because Daisy did not break up with Tom and go with him. It can be seen in the last chapter on the novel, when Gatsby was murder, Daisy went to somewhere else with her husband, and did not go to Gatsby's funeral. I called up Daisy half and hour after we found him, called her instinctively and without hersitation. But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them. Therefore, Nike Carroway's analysis was right by these clear observation. However, Nike Carroway is a good narrator, he sees everything happen and does not trust everybody easily. So during the people discuss about something at a time, he does not believe it is true. After he proves it, he will accept the truth. Moreover, when Nike went to Gatsby's party, there is a drunk lady telling everyone Gatsby killed a man before. Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once. Also, there is one more lady said that Gatsby was a German spy: It is more that he was a German spy during the war. Nike heard it, but when Nike had a chance to have a lunch with Gatsby, he told Nike, he was an Oxford man and show him that fought in World War One. Then Nike knew Gatsby was not a German Spy nor a murderer. Furthermore, at the end of the novel, when Daisy drove Gatsby's car and killed Mrs.Wilson in a car accident, Nike's first though Gatsby killed Mrs.Wilson. But after Gatsby told him all of the things at that moment, then Nike was thinking and discuss between Gatsby and Tom's speaking, and make his own conclusion. Therefore, Nike was a thoughtful man and his is not afraid to face anything around him. By these facts, he had a clear mind and reliable in his observations, so it can make people believe Nike Carroways was a neutral and clear mind narrator of this novel, because this can be seen in Nike's personality. In the novel, Nike was also a neutral narrator too becasue he is the narrator who described everything clearly and accurately. He was trustful because he described everything without any personal point of view; By the way, throughout the whole story, he didn't defenses for any characters nor put any of his self-feeling in it. That's why he is a character who strived for neutrality. On the other hand, when Mr.Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy will leave Tom because she loves Tom no more, it's full of fire's atomsphere and emotion. I've got something to tell you, old sport- began Gatsby. But Daisy guessed at his intention. Please don't! she interrupted helplessly. Please let's all go home. Why don't we all go home? That's a good idea. I got up. Come on, Tom. Nobody wants a drink. I want to know what Mr.Gatsby has to tell me. Your wife doesn't love you, said Gatsby. She's never loved you. She loves me. At that time, if Nike was not in a neutral position, he must help Gatsby or Tom. But, he did not join in the argument between Gatsby and Tom. He just put himself in a corner, keeping quiet and see whatelse would happened in page 131 to page 135. Therefore, we can see that Nike was a neutral man and a narrator who just care on the truth observation for sure in here. It is so clear that Nike was a trustful man, so, by his unjustice information,

Journal Report essays

Journal Report essays Journal Report: Personality, Nonverbal Behavior, and Interaction Quality in Female Dyads This article discusses a study that was conducted to determine whether self-reports of personality are reliable in predicting the course of social interaction. It examined the relations between dimensions of the five-factor model and the quality of social encounters that took place among women who were unacquainted with one another. The questions that this study was intended to address are interesting: "What are the social differences in personality?" and "Do people's dispositional qualities manifest themselves in ways that influence their social experiences and the experiences of those around them?" (Berry and Hansen, 2000). These are complex questions and a comprehensive understanding and consideration of contextual variables was neccessary. It was revealed through the results of the study that extraversion and agreeableness were positively related to evaluations of the quality of these interactions. Also, there was a parallel between extraversion and agreeableness and quality evaluations from independent observers. These findings suggest that people who score high in agreeableness or extraversion inteeract with others in a way that causes social encounters to be objectively more positive than those experienced by others. It was also identified that variations in body openess and visual attention explained why observers perceived dyads high in agreeableness to have higher-quality interactions. Research has shown that the manner in which people use language within their social interactions is predictive of how they are evaluated by independent observers. It is not clear, however, whether it is verbal or nonverbal behaviors produce relations between personality and the quality of social interaction. According to this article, many studies have looked at the links between primary dimensions of personality and other aspects of self...

Grave markers in colonial america Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Grave markers in colonial america - Essay Example Both the whites and the blacks has ever since observed some form of marking to the passing of a person with grave markings being among the most used forms of observing the passing on of a person. Colonialism, slavery as well as the ideology of being free had a critical part to play while observing this stage of life and hence the interest in carrying out this study. In understanding the evolution of humans through the stages of slavery, colonialism as well as the independence, this paper intends to focus on historical artifacts and records to establish the perceptions and attitudes of persons towards slavery, colonialism and their effect on tradition and the issue of grave markings with a special focus on America. This paper therefore intends to answer the question on how the larger society have swayed over years from the dictates of slavery and colonialism in such social concerns and whether this can be observed in the grave markers. The evolution of social perceptions and attitudes towards the death of a person and the subsequent burial of the remains can be seen through many archaeological features among which are grave marks. Early markers have evolved to shape what we have today in many societies with a definite evolution from then use of wood, slate, sand stone, marble/sandstone as well as granite for making grave markings (Erik, 2014). Besides, the reshaping of the society as influenced by religious believes would be seen to have had great influence on how people would perceive death. For instance, traditional African faiths had much respect of dead persons as were believed to only change in physical state but living in the spirit after death. In the 18th century (after great awakening), the religious wave in America changed the perceptions of the whites much through the faith that death was not to be feared but rather looked forward to. Christianity taught that death gave a person a time to reunite with

What do you feel is an appropriate balance between being successful Essay

What do you feel is an appropriate balance between being successful financially and the need to serve others by giving back - Essay Example Being successful financially is really a huge achievement but fixing an aim to only spend that money on your self, is that a big deal, a genuine feat? There is not a single way to create wealth and enlarge it, there is a huge literature concerning this. In fact there are countless people in this world who have no real ideas about their fortunes, but the ones who remember to give back to the community, they are not so very common. There is nothing like donating a chunk out of that huge pie to someone dying of hunger. Only a little generosity is required on part of all of us and a miraculous change can be produced in no time. That is my perspective when talking about what I plan to do with my wealth. Be it a small team or a big conglomerate, being successful economically and financially needs social responsiveness to be keenly observed. This is the demand of the present global economy. Taking care about who actually needs to be helped out is another big issue. One’s hard-earned fortune should carefully be devoted to those who intend to use that money in order to better their situations. The point is, if the process of ‘giving back’ is only applicable when one has finally established a stable business or if it is a life-long process applicable at any point? I think this is not just about donating a few dollars, giving back can also be about engaging oneself in useful volunteer work. In fact taking time out and making some destitute old man living in some old home, feel that he is not all alone in the world and bringing a smile to his face, that is also about giving back. One cannot limit oneself to giving back by the aid of some dollars, since it is also about whether one can bring any real change in the life of deserving people that can make them live again. Self-consciousness is the right motive for creating a positive balance between being

Helping Children with Learning Disabilities Essay

Helping Children with Learning Disabilities - Essay Example In teaching practice, there is the risk of focusing on the deficit or special need in a particular area which is seen as the main area of concern, while ignoring the strengths of the students. The recommendable approach in teaching practice is to deal with the difficulty by focusing on the area of strength and this strategy can improve the self-esteem of the students with learning difficulty. "Certain conditions attract more sympathy and compassion and ultimately more support, for example, physical disability, visual or hearing impairment and chronic medical problems, whilst other conditions including, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Asperger's syndrome and emotional and behavioural difficulties, may be viewed with scepticism and, in some cases, prejudice." (Benton and O'Brien, 85) Therefore, it is fundamental for practitioners to seek means to provide support to enable learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia and hearing difficulty to overcome barriers to learning and a thorough awarenes s of the issue at hand is most essential. This paper explores the various effective ways in which practitioners might provide valuable support to deal with the special needs of the learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia and hearing difficulty. One of the most essential responsibilities of the practitioners in the contemporary educational framework... Such special requirements for the learning of students with dyslexia, dyspraxia and hearing difficulty include flexible teaching arrangements, help with processing language, help and support in acquiring literacy skills, support in organising and coordinating spoken and written language and cognition, help with sequencing and organisational skills, help with problem solving and developing concepts, programmes to aid improvement of fine and motor competencies, support in the use of technical terms and abstract ideas, and help in understanding ideas, concepts, and experiences when information cannot be gained through first hand sensory and physical experience. "One understanding of inclusion is that it aims to encourage schools to reconsider their structure, teaching approaches, pupil grouping, and use of support so that the school responds the perceived needs of all its pupils. Teachers, collaborating closely, seek opportunities to look at new ways of involving all pupils and to draw on experimentation and reflection." (Farrell, 12) Therefore, it is essential for the practitioners to seek new ways to support learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia and hearing difficulty. Dyslexia refers to the problems with language with regard to reading, writing, spelling, and phonological problems and it results in severe learning issues in the classroom setting. It is a difficulty with receptive and expressive language in both its written and spoken forms and this constitutional difficulty is often hereditary. Learners with dyslexia have difficulties with reading, writing, spelling and oral language, along with difficulties with short-term memory, mathematics,

Attitude and Intention toward Mobile Advertising

Attitude and Intention toward Mobile Advertising 3. Research Framework 3.1 introductions In the research the factors will be considers as that entertainment credibility; irritation and informativeness are the significant factors affecting respondents attitudes toward mobile advertising. They use attitude as a dependent variable and consider the antecedents of advertising value as factors of attitude in their framework. (Chakraborty, Lala, Warren, 2003)Compared to other advertisings, personalization is very important in the Internet advertising. Personalization can ensure that visitors to location based service segment are to see the most appropriate and appealing Internet advertising and have positive benefits ranging from improved attitude toward the Website to purchase consider that personalization factors will come into play in the mobile environment. This factor may help further distinguish the mobile environment from traditional and Internet media. Specifically, I propose that personalization will affect respondents attitudes toward mobile advertising in addition t o those proposed by Tsang et al. Figure 1 depicts the framework of consumers perceptions on mobile advertising. These five factors are expected to affect mobile advertising attitude, and attitude will affect intention on using location based services in customer point of view. The attention refers to the plan of acting on the information presented in mobile advertising, such as going into a certain store to buy something after receiving a mobile advertisement from the store. Location-based services (LBS) are services that utilize knowledge about where a mobile device user is located. For example, the user of a mobile smart phone could be publicized ads exact to the region the user is travelling in. Location-based services exploit any of numerous technologies for knowing where a network user is geographically positioned. associated Business Intelligence estimates that the LBS industry will account for more than 80 billion in revenue by 2020 in Europe. Most telecommunications carriers plan to pursue either network- or handset-based location fixing technologies in their networks. The technology to pinpoint a mobile phones location is obtainable today and is of significant commercial value to businesses that want to aim their customers via mobile phones. Advertising that changes based on a users location (LBA Location Based Advertising) has been one of the much-talked-about capabilities of the wireless Internet, the idea being that an advertiser could reach a customer when he was most likely to buy. Opt-in possibilities could permit device users who are strolling in a shopping mall or urban area, for example, to signal their readiness for local offers. Location-based services (LBS) are services that exploit knowledge about where a mobile device user is located. For example, the user of a mobile smart phone could be shown ads precise to the region the user is travelling in. Location-based services take advantage of any of several technologies for knowing where a network user is geographically located. Allied Business Intelligence estimates that the LBS industry will account for more than 40 billion in revenue by 2006 in Europe. Most telecommunications carriers plan to pursue either network- or handset-based location fixing technologies in their networks. The technology to pinpoint a mobile phones location is available today and is of significant commercial value to businesses that want to target their customers via mobile phones. Adver tising that changes based on a users location (LBA Location Based Advertising) has been one of the much-talked-about capabilities of the wireless Internet, the idea being that an advertiser could reach a customer when he was most likely to buy. The advertising will be directed toward phone and PDA (personal digital assistant) users or passengers in public transport. Wireless advertising makes the most sense when delivered contextually through media on a geo-targeted basis. Opt-in possibilities could permit device users who are strolling in a shopping mall or urban area, for example, to signal their readiness for local offers.(Kà ¶lmel Alexakis, 2002) 3.2 Factors Contributing to Attitude and Intention toward Mobile Advertising Mobile advertising has become one of the most accepted applications in mobile marketing, principally in the form of text advertising through SMS (Short Messaging Service). This research investigates and compares the attitude toward mobile advertising and advertising- in-general. The results, conducted on 571 Sri Lankan mobile phone users, indicate that (1) consumers hold positive attitudes toward mobile advertising and advertising-in-general, (2) perceived irritation, informativeness, and trust affect consumers attitudes, (3) mobile advertising and advertising-in-general dont irritate consumers and they perceive them informative. However consumers dont trust mobile advertising and advertising-in-general. (4) Consumers are more positive about advertising-in-general than mobile advertising.(Buckley, 2004). in advertising and information systems suggests that advertising in mutually conventional media and the Internet is either effortlessly ignored by the audience or is perceived with d iminutive value. However, these studies assumed that the audience was passive and failed to consider the motives of the users. In light of this, the present study measures consumers attitudes toward advertisements for different purposes/functions (Location building and directional) and different media (traditional and Internet-based). Literature suggests the following factors that contribute to consumers perceptions of ads: entertainment, irritation, informativeness, credibility, and demographic. We believe that interactivity is also a factor that contributes to consumers perceptions. By understanding consumers attitude towards advertising, designers and marketers can better strategize their advertising designs. A better understanding of interactivity can also help to improve the effectiveness of interactive media such as the Internet. A methodology for studying the factors that contribute to consumers perceptions of ads is proposed and implications for Internet-based advertising an d e-commerce is discussed.(Wang, Zhang, Choi, Eredita, 2002). mobile marketing and the permission and user attitude for acceptance of mobile services by consumers accessed mainly by mobile phones. The aim of this study is to analyze the factors affecting consumer attitudes toward permission-based mobile marketing (PBMM).(Cengiz, Tetik, Yuan, 2010) The LBA push approach amounts to the advertiser working with the carriers and delivery networks to send (push) ads to the user, determined by the devices location. Hypothetically, it could be targeted even more finely if other information is available about users (context, demographics, psychographics, etc.) Within the push approach, there are two further possibilities with which we have become unfamiliar in recent years as they pertain to e-mail advertising: opt-out and opt-in. Opt-out suggests that advertisers would send ads to whomever they wanted to until users asked that they not be sent ads anymore. In contrast, the opt-in approach involves users authorizing that messages be sent to them, a type of permission marketing(Godin 1999). As an example, the push approach was used when moviegoers walked near a kiosk at some theaters and received text messages letting them know they could download free content related to recent movie releases (Parry 2005). In this case, opt-in would mea n recipients would have previously indicated their interest in receiving messages from the theaters whereas opt-out means they would not have done so. The other approach to LBA is called pull and it occurs when consumers request some information or use some service on a one-time basis and in the process are exposed to commercial messages (MMA 2005a). In essence, they are seeking information (pulling) rather than the information seeking them (pushing). For example, a salesman visiting San Francisco could use his device to access a portal where one of the choices is Local Restaurants. After selecting that, the next alternative he may choose to pick is Chinese. Five restaurants are shown, all indicated to be within a half-mile of his location. He selects one of them and a map is provided as well as an offer of a free appetizer, good for the next hour. Because the user chooses the time and place to access the information in the pull approach, it is by definition opt-in. 3.3 Independent variables 3.3.1 Entertainment Entertainment is also a crucial factor for mobile advertising. It is essential that the message is concise and funny, and thus immediately captures consumers attention. As most people have a natural playfulness, providing games and prizes via text messaging (SMS) yields high participationà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Entertainment as defined by Ducoffe10 is the ability to ful ­fill an audiences needs for escapism, diversion, aesthetic enjoyment, or emotional enjoyment. Recent research has shown that entertainment has a noteworthy positive relationship with attitude and is deemed to be the most significant factor determining CATSA11-12,5,13-16. It has also been argued that SMS messages providing games and prizes yield high participation levels; thus is more suc ­cessful in attracting and keeping customers. Moreover, entertainment services can increase customers loyalty and provide extra value for the customer15. As peoples feeling of enjoyment associated with advertisements is very important in gaining their atten ­tion; it is essential that such messages are brief and funny. These attributes can contribute significantly in making consumers more unfamiliar with the advertised product as well as getting them involved in a more profound manner15. 3.3.2 Credibility Credibility of advertising is an important predictor of attitude toward the advertising. Advertising credibility is consumers perception of the truthfulness and believability of advertising in general (Barclay et al., 1995) Credibility of an advertisement is influenced by different factors, especially by the companys credibility corporate credibility is defined as the extent to which consumers believe that a firm can design and deliver products and services that satisfy customer needs and wants and has been found to have direct positive effects on attitude toward the ad, the Location , and purchase intent. On the other hand, due to declining advertising Credibility, marketers continually search for innovative ways to communicate their messages. Credibility is considered the base of the consumers trust. The relation between the consumer and the Location is highly influenced by trust and it is a common finding that consumers in general do not trust advertising due to issues of false ma rketing efforts36. As risk is well associ ­ated to trust; hence it should be kept to its minimum, not only by gaining consumers trust but through sustaining it by means of hard work. Credibility is believed to be achieved in numerous ways; for instance listing key features and communicating to the consumer in a trustworthiness manner; since con ­sumers will reject receiving ads to their mobile phones, if they cannot trust the advertiser37. Hence, creating a well-established basis of trust for mobile marketing has to be a key objective for all advertising companies. In order to do so ads providers can make advantage of referrals, suggestions and positive associations to gain trust among consumers38. Moreover, credibility can be perceived posi ­tively if a spokesperson or organization is employed to sponsor an advertisement, but only if done correctly. A recent study38 has confirmed that the use of celebrities as spokespersons or endorsers can additionally enhance the level of credibility. Thus, making use of referrals or celeb ­rity endorsements it is pretty common by advertisers. The level of credibility could substantially depend upon the ad source, which means that if the source is well known for its experience and proficiency in the subject advertised for; it is most likely to be perceived as trust ­worthy. Expertise comes from knowledge acquired in the subject, whereas trustworthiness refers to the honesty of the source39. Ohaninan40 has further confirmed that the consumers willingness to accept an ad message can be influenced by the source credibility and hence many advertisers use positive characteristics of the source, such as an 3.3.3 informativeness Information delivered to customers through mobile devices requests to demonstrate qualitative features like accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness for the consumer. Apart from this, users need quick access to the information they are looking for in their current content of use. There is even the possibility that the information may be delivered automatically to the consumersà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Informativness has been defined numerously; A definition provided by Waldt et al.5 and Ducoffe10 states that informativness is the ability of advertising to inform consumers of product alternatives so that purchases yielding the greatest possible satisfaction can be made, while Oh and Xu17 has defined it as the ability to success ­fully give related information. Both definitions focus on the ability of informing the consumers of the products relevant qualities. Literature shows that there exists a sig ­nificant positive relationship between informativeness of the mobile advertising and CATSA12, 15-16. One key objective of advertising is creating awareness and illustrating the uniqueness of the advertised product or service provided18. Higher information quality percep ­tion is typically yielded if accuracy, meaningfulness and timeliness of the information provided are ensured; since Informativeness is reliant on the match between content provided by the mobile service and the subscribers infor ­mation requirements16. In the contemporary technological world, informa ­tiveness (content) and entertainment (form) are characteristically entwined with each and hence could be included into a single construct19,10. This correlation is believed to create a positive CATSA, based on consumers requirements and expectation to how these should be met. 3.3.4 Irritation When advertising employs techniques that annoy, offend, insult or are overly manipulative, consumers are likely to perceive it as unwanted and irritating influence(Ducoffe, 1996). Mobile advertising can provide an array of information that confuses and distracts the recipient as well as overwhelms the consumer with information. Consumers may feel confused about them and react negatively. . The tactics advertisers use when competing for consumers attention can be annoying to the audiences. Irritation as defined by Ducoffe10 is the tactics used by marketers in advertisement that are annoying or against the consumer attitude or may insult consumer dignity and is perceived negatively by customers or irritates con ­sumers. Hence irritation is a phenomenon pretty much similar to reactance, where the consumer is more likely to reject advertisements perceived as intrusive. This ideol ­ogy has been supported by Tsang et al.16 and Ducoffe10, as both has stated that annoying, insulting or o verly manip ­ulative tactics used by advertisers are one of the primary sources of irritation. Perceived irritation has been illustrated to be dependent on numerous factors including number of messages, the frequency of ads, the messages contend and their timing12,20-21. Moreover, overlapping, confus ­ing information provided by SMS advertisements has also been proven to cause consumer annoyance and generate negative impact towards mobile advertise ­ment22. Additionally, privacy defined as the right ofan individual to control the information held about them by third parties23. It is an essential factor affect ­ing mobile advertisement acceptance. The personal nature of the mobile can lead to the opposition of SMS advertising since its potentially perceived as threatening their privacy. Burner and Kumar24 has confirmed that personalization can create a situation where a company gathers too much private information (such as the users whereabouts, without getting his/her consent) and uses this knowledge to provide geographic specific advertise ­ment, thereby generating a feeling of intrusion for the consumers. Based on the previously discussed, irritation has shown to yield considerable negative impacts toward SMS advertising, in contrast with both informativness and entertainment which generate positive impact25. Recent research has indicated various ways to reduce irritation caused by SMS advertisement. One of the most straightforward ways to tackle the irritation issue is permission-based SMS advertising26-27. In the context of SMS advertising a beforehand notification is sent to the consumer-prior to sending advertisements- to ask for permission to send SMS ads and to convince con ­sumers to opt-in; in which case a simple registration ensures sending relevant messages to the interested audi ­ence. In other words, consumers require a certain degree of control to achieve favorable acceptance towards such advertisements. This can refer to control over when, where, what and how much advertising to receive through mobile, which in turn generate acceptance towards SMS advertising28. Furthermore, language employed in SMS advertisement should be understood by the target group, since its a major determinant of the CATSA29. Mobile advertising should as well be concise and straight to the point t o yield acceptation30-31; since reading from mobile devices may take more time due to space limitations. Finally, SMS advertising should also disclose how to stop receiving further messages. 3.3.5 Personalization Mobile advertising has gained significant attention because of the unique attributes, such as personalization (28), that offer new opportunities to advertisers to place effective and efficient promotions on mobile environments. In order to achieve the competitive advantages consistently, real time personalization will most likely be required through the use of personalization technology. Mobile commerce holds a great potential for personalization, because of the nature of mobile devices they provide personal information of (T. Lee Jun, 2007). Personalized advertising improve the experience for companies and consumers By allowing mobile advertising providers to collect data about demographics and location of the consumers, personalization improves the quality of mobile commerce and turns it into important medium (Dickinger, Haghirian, Murphy, Scharl, 2004)The impact of the message can be increased by personalizing the message. Success of the target marketing is based on well-structured and maintained databases (ibid). 3.4.1 Mediator Perceived value (PV) behavioral intention relationship examines the direct effect of Perceived value to intention to use the technology The idea is that people form intentions toward using regardless of whether they have positive or negative feelings toward the behavior. Perceived value is defined by Davis, 1989 as The degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance. (Fred D Davis, 1989) There is a positive correlation between Perceived value of mobile commerce and consumer satisfaction in mobile commerce environment (Lee et al., 2007,). The study conducted by(Soroa-Koury Yang, 2010) also found that Perceived value is one of the key variable for prediction consumer attitude toward mobile advertising. Consumer may intend to check the usefulness of the app and its advertistments inorder to make their mind set use LBS services. What causes people to accept or reject informa-tion technology? Among the many variables that may influence system use, pre vious research sug-gests two determinants that are especially im-portant. First, people tend to use or not use an application to the extent they believe it will help them perform their job better. We refer to this first variable as perceived usefulness. Second, even if potential users believe that a given ap-plication is useful, they may, at the same time, believe that the systems is too hard to use and that the performance benefits of usage are out-weighed by the effort of using the application. That is, in addition to usefulness, usage is theo-rized to be influenced by perceived ease of use. Perceived value is defined here as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance.T his follows from the defini-tion of the word useful: capable of being used advantageously.W ithina n organizationalc on-text, people are generally reinforced for good performance by raises, promotions, bonuses, and other rewards (Pfeffer, 1984). A s ystem high in perceived use-fulness, in turn, is one for which a user believes in the existence of a positive use-performance relationship 3.4.2 Moderator Location unfamiliarity People often consume products in a variety of different situations. For example, one might eat breakfast at Home, at a hotel, or at an airport. In making consumption decisions in these different situations, consumers must first recall from memory a set of products that may fulfill their needs and then make their final choice from this set.(S. Ratneshwar, Cornelia Pechmann, 1996).Location ununfamiliar defined as the knowledge about some locations. Location based advertising can be highly promoted when the consumer doesnt have an idea about the location. If the consumer has more information or consumer has many other options to use at a given location, it would be wasted decision to use LBS softwares to get services. Most of the customers willing to use LBS when the situation is unfamiliar. Such as updating market in China, consumers are more likely to use LBS, because of the lack of knowledge of the location. Location ununfamiliar can be defined as when the consumer doesnt have idea about the location and its products and services. As its a important moderator from customer point of view, i t will be use as a moderator in the research frameworkà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ (Campbell Keller, 2003) conducted in which ad contentand repetition were carefully controlled and only the ununfamiliar of the Location sponsor was varied. These provideconsistent evidence that ads for ununfamiliar Locations wear outfaster, showing decreased effectiveness at lower levels ofrepetition relative to ads for unfamiliar Locations. The results alsoprovide insight to the consumer psychology underlying theeffect of Location ununfamiliar on ad wearout.Across both studies, processing of the ads was seen todiffer with repetition depending on the ununfamiliar of the Locations. Ads for ununfamiliar Locations were processed more extensivelywith repetition than were ads for unfamiliar Locations.Just as a marketers focus is often on building market knowledgefor new Locations and on maintaining presence for familiarLocations, consumer focus may be on learning aboutununfamiliar Locations but also on updating exi sting knowledgefor unfamiliar Locations. Increases in processing because of repetitionand Location unununfamiliar lead to more negative andfewer positive thoughts. Additionally, the studies provideevidence to suggest that at higher levels of ad repetition,consumers may use more extensive processing to considerthe inappropriateness of advertising tactics for unfamiliarLocations. Tactic inappropriateness was seen to mediate theeffects of ad repetition and Location ununfamiliar on messageeffectiveness. Finally, the results demonstrated that attitudetoward the ad had a greater influence on attitude toward theLocation for ununfamiliar Locations compared with familiar Locations 3.4.3 Customer innovativeness By innovativeness we mean the predisposition of a consumer to adopt a product earlier han most others. Various studies have shown that across product categories, innovators tend to be: opinion leaders, risk takers, more likely to obtain information from mass media than through word of mouth, open to new ideas and change, relatively young etc. Marketers want to identify the segment of the market that is most likely to adopt a new product when it is the first introduced. This article describes we ask some key questions about the nature of innovativeness and try to make a correlation between characteristics of the innovators and innovativeness.(Dobre, Dragomir, Preda, 2009) 3.5 Consumer attitudes towards LBS / Purchase behavior /rejection behavior Attitude toward advertising is defined as a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner toward advertising in general. Consumer attitudes toward advertising tend to affect their attitudes toward specific advertisements (Pyun James, 2011)Many researchers around the world have developed many models that point out determinants of attitudes toward advertising.. Factors underlying consumers attitudes differ among various forms of advertising and a variety of other factors. which is most appropriate and applicable to the context of the study, three perceptual antecedents (Informativeness, Entertainment and Irritation) influence how consumers assess the value of web advertising. Additionally, the findings of this research also noted that consumers assessments of value have a significant impact on their overall attitudes. Therefore, Informativeness, Entertainment and Irritation are factors that should be considered when examining attitudes toward mobi le advertising. and tested to show that it strengthened this model. This research will focus on four hypothesized factors: Informativeness, Entertainment, Irritation and ,Credibility..Personalization according to Lee , The primary aim of this study is to investigate the factors influencing audience attitudes towards such location-based advertising. The results indicate that entertainment, personalization and privacy concerns all have direct impacts on consumer attitudes, with situational context moderating the impacts of these factors on such consumer attitudes. conclude by offering some practical suggestions for mobile operators and advertising agencies.(Y. C. Lee, 2010).buying behavior of the customers can be depending on the attitude towards location based services. If the attitude is positive , consumer may have a positive Purchase behavior , if the attitude is negative it can be rather differ. Meanwhile both purchase behavior and reject behavior will be depend on the attitude w hich create by the consumers mind. LBA opportunities. The majority (87%) of the consumerinterviewees in this study expressed ununfamiliar with SMS andmobile application forms of LBAs. They oftenreceived LBAs and promotions from well-known food and beverage vendors. Arecent survey in Singapore found perceived utility of advertisingas a strong predictor of mobile phone users affectiveattitude towards LBAs(Bruner Kumar, 2007)). In this study,more thanhalf (53%) of the interviewees perceived benefits of LBAs asconvenience (searching for deals) and time and money saving(purchasing products). Some interviewees viewed LBAs ashooks to encourage them to do shopping or attend eventsnearby. Three-fifths agreed with LBAs short-term effects toattract foot traffic by giving incentives (e.g., vouchers anddiscounts) but felt dubious about LBAs capabilities to giveadvertisers long-term benefits, particularly customer loyalty.Based on consumer interviews, a pull approach of LBAs wasmore acceptable than a push approach, indicating thatapplication-based LBAs are favored more compared with SMSads. Two-fifths of the interviewees thought application-basedLBAs gave them more control over receiving LBAs. Respondent 4 (personal communication, 19 March 2013) pointed out theimportance of allowing consumers to have choices: I justwantto be given the option to decide when I want or dont want it. 3.6 Technology Acceptance Model The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) explains how a new technology and the various aspects of it are received and used by the user. Though many models have been proposed previously in the field of Information Systems to describe the relationship, it is this model which has been widely acclaimed and used. The TAM was initially proposed by (Fred D Davis, 1989)It comprises two beliefs, the perceived utilities and the perceived ease of application, which determine attitudes to adopt new technologies. The attitude toward adoption will decide about the adopters positive or negative behavior in the future concerning new technology. A model developed to study the acceptance of the technology by an individual taking into account, basically, both the perceived ease of use and the usefulness of the technology. One of the most frequently employed models for research into new information technology acceptance. the TAM suggests that when users are presented with a new technology, a number of factors determine their decision about how and when they will use it. This is a theoretical framework designed by Davis (1989) that proposes a relationship between users acceptance of a new IS and the users perceptions of the ease of use and usefulness of the IS. A causal model hypothesizing that actual inform ation technology system use is affected by behavioral intentions that themselves are affected by attitudes toward use. Beliefs about the system, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use in TAM directly affect attitudes toward use In the TAM model, people who perceive technology as useful and easy to use will accept it more readily than those who do not, with usefulness more important than ease of use. A theory of innovation developed by Davis (1986) in which the main elements are perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward using technology, and behavioral intention. Theoretical framework developed by Davis in 1989 which identify perceived usefulness, ease of use, and cultural orientation of the decision maker as key drivers of technology an information systems theory that models user acceptance. The model includes two main factors influencing individual IS use: Perceived value (will the system enhance my job performance?) and perceived ease-of-use (how difficult will it be to use the system?). TAM has been extended to include social influence and normative beliefs of others (TAM2). a model of individual acceptance of IT, stating that an individuals adoption of IT is dependent on the perceived ease of use and Perceived value of the technology TAM is a model of user acceptance of information systems technology based on the theory of reasoned action. Two variables Perceived value and perceived ease of use lead to attitude toward use, behavioral intention to use and use of the system. Is one of the most widely used theories in IS literature. Two bel iefs (Perceived value and perceived ease of use) predict attitudes, which in turn influence intended use of a technology. This intention then consequently impacts behavior of actual system usage. Perceived value is the degree to which a user thinks a technology would enhance performance or productivity in the workplace. Perceived ease of use is the degree of lack of effort required by the user in adopting a given technology. Perceived ease of

Chinas One-Child Policy Essays -- Human Rights Violations in China

â€Å"Thousands of women are being dragged out of their homes, thrown into ‘family planning’ cells, strapped to tables, and forced to abort pregnancies, even up to the ninth month. Forced abortion and sterilization are China’s war on women† ("The Reality of China's" 1). This was said by Reggie Littlejohn, the president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers. Due to the rising population and the one-child policy, there are many human rights violations; however there are organizations, such as Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, which are helping to stop the problem. Due to the one-child policy there are many serious human rights infractions. Since the policy has been in effect, there have been more than 400 million prevented births ("China: One-child Policy" 1). Groups of women are being gathered and forced to get sterilized ("Family Planning? What" 1). â€Å"I realized there’s a Tiananmen Square massacre going on every day and no one knows about it.† This was said by Chai Ling, a leader in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. She is referring to all of the forced abortions and killings of female babies in China ("Fighting China's One Child" 1). The policy is enforced through fines, job loss, involuntary abortions and sterilizations ("The Reality of China's" 1). Many women are forced to get abortions and become sterilized. For example, a woman was given injections to induce an abortion. When the shots failed, the baby was surgically removed and cut into pieces ("Fighting China's One Child" 1). Another example is when government o fficials were told they would have their salaries cut in half if they didn’t sterilize 1,369 people, give 818 women IUD’s, and give 163 abortions in 35 days ("U.S. Groups Hit China's" 4). One horrifying example sh... ...ina’s Abominable One-Child Policy.† The New American 11 June 2007: 1-2. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. â€Å"Protecting Women and Girls in China, Where One Child Per Family is the Rule - and a Boy is the Preference.† The Christian Science Monitor 16 Aug. 2010: 1-3. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. â€Å"The Reality of China’s One-Child Policy: A Forced Abortion at Eight Months.† CNSNews.com. Cybercast News Service, 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. . â€Å"Two For Joy: the Natural Way Out of (China’s) One-Child Policy.† New Internationalist Dec. 1999: 1-2. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. â€Å"U.S. Groups Hit China’s One-Child Policy; House Focuses on Breaches of Human Rights.† The Washington Times 24 Dec. 2004: 1-6. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.

CIPD Profession Map Essay

Introduction This report is a brief summary of the CIPD Profession Map, the two core professional areas, the specialist areas, the bands and the behaviours. It will be going into more detail in the activities and knowledge specified within the professional area of Performance and Rewards at band 1 level. It will identify the activities and knowledge most essential to my own HR role. The CIPD Profession Map (CIPD, 2013) The professional map is a universal platform for HR professionals, which describes what you need to do, what you need to know and how to do it. It is designed by professionals for professionals. The 10 Professional Areas There are two core professional areas; Insights, Strategy and Solutions and Leading HR, these sit at the centre of the profession and are relevant to all HR professionals in all roles, locations and at all stages of the HR career. These two areas support the direction of the profession as a business discipline. Insights, Strategy and Solutions – Developing an understanding of an organisation and its back-ground in order to style its strategy and solutions and to meet its needs for now and in the future, by reading relevant information and articles to build and broaden an understanding of new initiatives and practices across areas of HR. Leading HR – Act as a role-model to expand the influence HR makes to the organisation both through its own efforts and through supporting, developing and measuring others across the organisation. This can be done by providing advice confidentially based on a sound understanding of the organisations policy and practice. (CIPD, The CIPD Pr ofession Map, pp. 10, 14) The remaining eight professional areas are: Organisational Design – To ensure the organisation is suitably planned to deliver maximum impact in the short and long term. Organisational Development – Identify organisational and individual capability requirements  and support all processes to enhance effectiveness and achieve organisation goals, culture, behaviours and skills Resourcing and Talent Planning – Ensuring the organisation has the right resource, competence, ability and talent to achieve the immediate and strategic goals. Learning and Development – Build individual and organisational capability and knowledge to meet current and strategic requirements. Performance and Reward – Deliver programmes that reward and recognise key employees, in a fair and cost effective manner. Employee Engagement – Strengthen the connection between the organisation and employees so that employees are more fulfilled by their work. Employee Relations – Underpin the organisations culture, practices, policies and relevant law. Service Delivery and Information – Customer focused delivery across the entire employee lifecycle. (CIPD, The CIPD Profession Map, pp. 17-39) The 4 Bands and Transitions The four bands of professional competence outline the influence that professionals make at every stage of their HR career. The transition challenges relate to moving from one band to another. (CIPD, The CIPD Profession Map, pp. 6-7) The 8 Behaviours Below are eight behaviours that each HR professional needs to carry out their activities: 1. Curious 2. Decisive Thinker 3. Skilled Influencer 4. Personally Credible 5. Collaborative 6. Driven to Deliver 7. Courage to Challenge 8. Role Model (CIPD, The CIPD Profession Map, p. 43) The Professional Area of Performance and Reward Performance and rewards is defined as: â€Å"Help create and maintain a high-achieving organisation culture by delivering programmes that reward and recognise key employees capabilities, skills, behaviours, experience and performance, and ensure that reward systems are market-relevant and cost effective† At Band 1 the following activities need to be done: Identify requirements and develop strategy Diversity and compliance Implement pay and reward practice Execute individually tailored and international rewards Communication and performance culture The most essential to my role is Identify Requirements and Develop Strategy, in the last annual appraisals I was tasked with collating the appraisal forms and analysing the data on the forms to provide information to directors as to how employees felt about their future within the organisation and what the organisation could do to further their career progression. The most essential area of my role is: Collate Data Analyse Data After completing the evaluation of My HR Map tool the following areas were identified for development: Become a policy expert Know the organisation by studying the performance and rewards data and familiarise myself with the policies and practices. Keep abreast of relevant employment law Spend time with expatriate employees to understand impact Use my own network to provide feedback. Conclusion This report has briefly summarised the CIPD Profession Map – the 2 core professional areas, 8 specialist professional areas, the 4 bands and 8 behaviours. It has also commented on the activities and knowledge specified within the Performance and Rewards professional area at band 1. Activity 2 How a HR Practitioner should ensure the services they provide are timely and effective: Within my HR role, my three main customers are: 1. Current Employees 2. Future Employees 3. Management Customers Needs Current Employees Information on employment contracts and policies Future Employees Induction – information on company policies Management Guidance and advice on staffing issues Firstly you need to establish what the customer’s requirements are by asking questions and collating the data to understand the customer’s needs. Your service delivery approach should use effective technology and comply with the organisations procedures. It is important to build a customer service culture and measure its effectiveness. Prioritising the needs of each customer can be problematic, as each one can feel their need is greater. For example current employees may need information regarding their benefits such as private medical and future employees may be asking questions on company policies with regard to annual leave before they sign their employment contract, which in turn will mean management will be chasing for this to be resolved as quickly as possible. As an HR professional it would be your job to ascertain which demands were the most urgent, ensuring that customer focus needs are managed in a timely and effective manner. It is important that all customers are kept informed and given realistic expectations of how and when HR can deal with their questions. Effective Communication Below is a table with 3 examples of effective communications to customers: Communication Advantages Disadvantages Telephone Conversation Instant Personal Global Reach Ability to Conference Call Time Zones Unable to Read Body-language Signal Problems No Audit Trail Social Media Instant Large Audience Visual Good for Recruitment Not Confidential Character Size Limit Access Mis-use Post Recorded Personal Confidential Audit Trail Slow Cost Time Consuming Unsure if message has been understood Delivering Service on Time and on Budget For effective service delivery HR needs to prioritise to ensure that any queries are handled in an effective manner according to urgency and what impact it has on the customer and the organisation. To deliver the service  you must ensure you are consistent and that you understand what expectations your customers have. Managing time and current workload is crucial to ensure that the service is delivered on time. An HR practitioner should always be aware of the cost constraints and the organisational financial model supporting service delivery. It is important to have service delivery targets within an organisation, such as a Service Level Agreement, which is an extension of the customer care concept. Dealing with Difficult Customers and Resolving Complaints When dealing with difficult customers it is important to plan your response carefully and to ensure that the following steps are met: Listen to what they are saying – do not interrupt Sympathise / empathise Don’t justify Ask relevant questions Agree a course of action Check the course of action – use their words to clarify If the above is followed, it will make the customer feel valued and promote the HR department for giving excellent customer service. Bibliography CIPD. (2013). www.cipd.co.uk. CIPD. (n.d.). The CIPD Profession Map.

Carla Potter Essay Essays

Carla Potter Essay Essays Carla Potter Essay Essay Carla Potter Essay Essay Ceramic creative person Carla Potter draws on her roots near the ocean to make sculpture that call the sea life to mind. conveying the vivacious ocean-themed pieces so about to life one time can about smell the salt air. With a piece called â€Å"Leviathan† . she inspires the beauty that possibly an ancient sea monster might non hold been able to. and throws in a spot of the repose of the oceanscape and a just sum of â€Å"What is that? ’ In her artist statement. Potter says that it is the receeding tide that inspires her work. Her medium is clay and though some of her sculptures are besides ceramic vass. much of her work is merely superb renderings of the sea life brought back to life with glazes and pigments designed to maintain them looking moisture long after the tide has rolled back out to sea. Potter is from Ketchikan. Alaska. and went to the lower 48 to analyze dance. While at that place. she discovered there she could â€Å"express grace† much easier through utilizing merely her custodies alternatively of utilizing her full organic structure ( Biography. 2007 ) . She finally turned her surveies to ceramics and earned her unmarried man of humanistic disciplines from Humbolt State College ( Biography. 2007 ) . Then. Potter wrote athe web site that local friends convinced her to move as creative person in abode at the simple schools in her place town for the following decennary while raising her ain kids. During that clip. she besides participated Immigration and Naturalization Services everal solo exhibits throughout Alaska and many juried and combined shows in the remainder o the state. Her work can be seen in the Alaska State Museum and several private museums across the province every bit good as in many private aggregations. In 2005-2006. she was the creative person in abode for the Archie Bray foundation ( Archie Bray. 2006 ) . Photographs from Potter’s concluding exhibit at Archie Bray are available online and demo some of the versatility of her work while staying true to her basic subject of ocean life. In her artist’s statement. Potter writes. â€Å"Flashing aureate seaweed. tonss of tumbled. coiled and strewn kelp fronds create a slippery head covering over the busy universes of pediculosis pubis. bantam fishes. windflowers. invertebrates and every texture and colour of sea star. It is a moisture. 3-dimensional brocade that evokes the munificent costumes of can-can terpsichoreans or ladies of the dark. † Even her words flow as a warm and fun description of the sea subjects. but fail to make her work justness. While â€Å"Leviathan† is a simple piece. raising the image of a isolated tentacle skiding up through a heap of moist mussels. her â€Å"Rock Oyster Pitcher† is a labyrinth of bantam inside informations experiencing like a hurler that has been excessively long at the underside of the seas and is covered in coral ( Artist. 2007 ) . The lovely hurler calls to mind shipwrecks and lost financial officers and the admiration that it has someway survived under the sea. Of peculiar involvement is the daintiness that Potter reflects in this work done in 2000 when compared to the more significant â€Å"Leviathan. † The other joy of looking at Potter’s work is that she is able to meld signifier and colour to do the spectator feel as though she is about to make out and touch shells fresh from the sear. Her piece â€Å"Flamenco† from 2002 expressions like a sea windflower and feels newly plucked from a crystal blue tidal pool. ( Potter 2002 Collection. 2007 ) . The piece decidedly harkens back to the artist’s statement about her work. when she wrote. † Though the expression and feel of my work is inspired by life in and around the border of the sea. the capable affair is closely paired with my experience of civilization. I love to unite the jail spongy surface of a sea Cucumis sativus with the doubtful comfort and signifier of Victorian furniture. † ( Artist Statement 2007 ) . I love the construct of uniting nature and the edgy signifier of formal trappingss. Her work is like a manner to convey the seaboard indoors without the malodor of something deceasing in a shell and without holding to kill the animate being that one time called the shell place. Potter’s work is an invitation to those of us who have merely seen the sea through old Jaques Costeau images or through Hollywood’s lens. Alternatively of the extremely conventionalized colourss of Hollywood. we have the imaginativeness and memories of a adult female who spent her life on the Pacific Ocean and wants to portion that love with the remainder of the universe. Her plants someway manages to name to mind the texture and feel of the tidal pools. an consequence she managed to accomplish through old ages of experiments with high temperature glazes ( Artist Statement 2004 ) . â€Å"For the past three old ages I have been experimenting with porcelain and high fire oxidization glazes. These glazes have a surface that is heavy with an elusive deepness and beauty. The colour effects would be impossible to retroflex with under glazes. It besides provides me with a new avenue to research the matrimony of colour and signifier unburdened by nonsubjective representation. † ( Artist Statement 2004 ) . Indeed the combination of the porcelain and high fire glazes has kept her work with the wet expression and the daintiness common to many nautical animate beings. An interesting turn in Potter’s work was the creative activity of a Cake Topper in her 2006 aggregation. The piece features authoritative images of Adam and Eve standing in a garden of green cirripeds and black mussels. ( Potter 2006 ) . The figure work is evocative of Michaelangelo’s David. complete with the deficiency of weaponries below the mid-bicep. The piece is really authoritative in feel and astonishing given the size of the piece. The piece is merely 16 inches tall ( Potter 2006 ) . This may be my favourite of the pieces that Potter has on show at her web site. It is a fantastic combination of the history of art and the add-on of natural beauty to an indoor art piece. The thought that nature’s beauty can be brought indoors via Potter’s work is really appealing to me. I find Carla Potter’s work to be animating and technically adept. something that I believe is losing from many modern creative persons. Her delicate work in porcelain shows that she has the proficient abilities to carve womb-to-tomb worlds and the attending to detail to do a mollusc shell that looks like I should be able to start it unfastened and have mussels for dinner. The combination of elements makes the work feel much older and more valued. alternatively of experiencing like modern art. something I am non as fond of. WORKS CITEDâ€Å"Archie Bray Foundation† . hypertext transfer protocol: //www. archiebray. org/residents/Potter/Potter. hypertext markup language. November 7. 2007. â€Å"Biography† . hypertext transfer protocol: //carlampotter. com/bio. htm. November 7. 2007. â€Å"Carla Potter’s Artist Statement† . hypertext transfer protocol: //www. carlampotter. com/statement. htm. November 7. 2007. â€Å"Carla Potter 2006 collection† . hypertext transfer protocol: //www. carlampotter. com/ . November 7. 2007.

Relevant Cost for Decision Making Chapter 13 Essays

Relevant Cost for Decision Making Chapter 13 Essays Relevant Cost for Decision Making Chapter 13 Paper Relevant Cost for Decision Making Chapter 13 Paper Chapter 13 Relevant Costs for Decision Making Solutions to Questions 13-1A relevant cost is a cost that differs in total between the alternatives in a decision. 13-2An incremental cost (or benefit) is the change in cost (or benefit) that will result from some proposed action. An opportunity cost is the benefit that is lost or sacrificed when rejecting some course of action. A sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and that cannot be changed by any future decision. 13-3No. Variable costs are relevant costs only if they differ in total between the alternatives under consideration. 3-4No. Not all fixed costs are sunk- only those for which the cost has already been irrevocably incurred. A variable cost can be a sunk cost, if it has already been incurred. 13-5No. A variable cost is a cost that varies in total amount in direct proportion to changes in the level of activity. A differential cost is the difference in cost between two alternatives. If the level of activity is the s ame for the two alternatives, a variable cost will not be affected and it will be irrelevant. 13-6No. Only those future costs that differ between the alternatives under consideration are relevant. 3-7Only those costs that would be avoided as a result of dropping the product line are relevant in the decision. Costs that will not differ regardless of whether the product line is retained or discontinued are irrelevant. 13-8Not necessarily. An apparent loss may be the result of allocated common costs or of sunk costs that cannot be avoided if the product line is dropped. A product line should be discontinued only if the contribution margin that will be lost as a result of dropping the line is less than the fixed costs that would be avoided. Even in that situation the product line may be retained if its presence promotes the sale of other products. 13-9Allocations of common fixed costs can make a product line (or other segment) appear to be unprofitable, whereas in fact it may be profitable. 13-10If a company decides to make a part internally rather than to buy it from an outside supplier, then a portion of the company’s facilities have to be used to make the part. The company’s opportunity cost is measured by the benefits that could be derived from the best alternative use of the facilities. 3-11Any resource that is required to make products and get them into the hands of customers could be a constraint. Some examples are machine time, direct labor time, floor space, raw materials, investment capital, supervisory time, and storage space. While not covered in the text, constraints can also be intangible and often take the form of a formal or informal policy that prevents the organization from furthering its goals. 13-12Assuming that fixed costs are not affected, profits are maximized when the total contribution margin is maximized. A company can maximize its contribution margin by focusing on the products with the greatest amount of contribution margin per unit of the constrained resource. 13-13Joint products are two or more products that are produced from a common input. Joint costs are the costs that are incurred up to the split-off point. The split-off point is the point in the manufacturing process where joint products can be recognized as individual products. 13-14Joint costs should not be allocated among joint products. If joint costs are allocated among the joint products, then managers may think they are avoidable costs of the end products. However, the joint costs will continue to be incurred as long as the process is run regardless of what is done with one of the end products. Thus, when making decisions about the end products, the joint costs are not avoidable and are irrelevant. 13-15As long as the incremental revenue from further processing exceeds the incremental costs of further processing, the product should be processed further. 3-16Most costs of a flight are either sunk costs, or costs that do not depend on the number of passengers on the flight. Depreciation of the aircraft, salaries of personnel on the ground and in the air, and fuel costs, for example, are the same whether the flight is full or almost empty. Therefore, adding more passengers at reduced fares at certain times of the week when seats would otherwise be empty does little to increase the total costs of making the flight, b ut can do much to increase the total contribution and total profit. Exercise 13-1 (15 minutes) | |Case 1 | |Case 2 | | |Item |Relevant |Not Relevant | |Relevant |Not Relevant | |a. |Sales revenue |X | | | |X | |b. |Direct materials |X | | |X | | |c. Direct labor |X | | | |X | |d. |Variable manufacturing overhead |X | | | |X | |e. |Depreciation- Model B100 machine | |X | | |X | |f. |Book value- Model B100 machine | |X | | |X | |g. Disposal value- Model B100 machine | |X | |X | | |h. |Market value- Model B300 machine (cost) |X | | |X | | |i. |Fixed manufacturing overhead | |X | | |X | |j. |Variable selling expense |X | | | |X | |k. Fixed selling expense |X | | | |X | |l. |General administrative overhead |X | | | |X | Exercise 13-2 (30 minutes) 1. No, production and sale of the racing bikes should not be discontinued. If the racing bikes were discontinued, then the net operating income for the company as a whole would decrease by $11,000 each quarter: Lost contribution margin | |$(2 7,000) | |Fixed costs that can be avoided: | | | |Advertising, traceable |$ 6,000 | | |Salary of the product line manager |  10,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  16,000 | |Decrease in net operating income for the company as a whole | |$(11,000) | The depreciation of the special equipment is a sunk cost and is not relevant to the decision. The common costs are allocated and will continue regardless of whether or not the racing bikes are discontinued; thus, they are not relevant to the decision. Alternative Solution: |Current Total |Total If Racing Bikes|Difference: Net | | | |Are Dropped |Operating Income | | | | |Increase or (Decrease) | |Sales |$300,000 |$240,000 |$(60,000) | |Less variable expenses |  120,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  87,000 |  Ã‚  33,000 | |Contribution margin |  180,000 |  153,000 |  (27,000) | |Less fixed expenses: | | | | |Advertising, traceable |30,000 |24,000 |6,000 | |Depreciation on special |23,000 |23,000 |0 | |equipment* | | | | |Salaries of product managers |35,000 |25,000 |10,000 | |Common allocated costs |  Ã‚  Ã‚  60,000 |  Ã‚  60,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 | |Total fixed expenses |  148,000 |  132,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  16,000 | |Net operating income |$  32,000 |$  21,000 |$ (11,000) | *Includes pro-rated loss on the special equipment if it is disposed of. Exercise 13-2 (continued) 2. The segmented report can be improved by eliminating the allocation of the common fixed expenses. Following the format introduced in Chapter 12 for a segmented income statement, a better report would be: | | |Total |Dirt Bikes |Mountain Bikes |Racing Bikes | | |Sales $300,000 |$90,000 |$150,000 |$60,000 | | |Less variable manufacturing and selling expenses |  120,000 |  27,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  60,000 |  Ã‚  33,000 | | |Contribution margin |  180,000 |  63,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  90,000 |  Ã‚  27,000 | | |Less traceable fixed expenses: | | | | | | |Advertising |30,000 |10,000 |14,000 |6,000 | | |Depreciation of special equipment |23,000 |6,000 |9,000 |8,000 | | |Salaries of the product line managers |  Ã‚  Ã‚  35,000 |  12,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  13,000 |  Ã‚  10,000 | | |Total traceable fixed |  Ã‚  Ã‚  88,000 |  28,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  36,000 |  Ã‚  24, 000 | | |expenses | | | | | | |Product line segment margin |92,000 |$35,000 |$ 54,000 |$? 3,000 | | |Less common fixed expenses |  Ã‚  Ã‚  60,000 | | | | | |Net operating income |$? 32,000 | | | | Exercise 13-3 (30 minutes) | 1. |Per Unit Differential | |15,000 units | | | |Costs | | | | | |Make |Buy | |Make |Buy | | |Cost of purchasing | |$35 | | |$525,000 | | |Direct materials |$14 | | |$210,000 | | | |Direct labor |10 | | |150,000 | | | Variable manufacturing overhead |3 | | |45,000 | | | |Fixed manufacturing overhead, traceable1 |2 | | |30,000 | | | |Fixed manufacturing overhead, common |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | | |Total costs |$29 |$35 | |$435,000 |$525,000 | | |Difference in favor of continuing to make the carburetors | |$6 | | | |$90,000 | | |1 |Only the supervisory salaries can be avoided if the carburetors are purchased. The remaining book value of the special | | |equipment is a sunk cost; hence, the $4 per unit depreciation expense is not relevant to this decision. Based on these data, | | |the company should reject the offer and should continue to produce the carburetors internally. | | 2. |Make |Buy | | |Cost of purchasing (part 1) | |$525,000 | | |Cost of making (part 1) |$435,000 | | | |Opportunity cost- segment margin foregone on a potential new product line |  150,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | | |Total cost |$585,000 |$525,000 | | |Difference in favor of purchasing from the outside supplier | |$60,000 | | Thus, the company should accept the offer and purchase the carburetors from the outside supplier. Exercise 13-4 (15 minutes) Only the incremental costs and benefits are relevant. In particular, only the variable manufacturing overhead and the cost of the special tool are relevant overhead costs in this situation. The other manufacturing overhead costs are fixed and are not affected by the decision. | |Per Unit |Total | | | |for 20 | | | |Bracelets | |Incremental revenue |$169. 95 |$3,399. 0 | |Incremental costs: | | | |Variable costs: | | | |Direct materials |$  84. 00 |1,680. 00 | |Direct labor |45. 00 |900. 00 | |Variable manufacturing overhead |4. 00 |80. 00 | |Special filigree | 2. 00 | 40. 00 | |Total variable cost |$135. 00 |2,700. 0 | |Fixed costs: | | | |Purchase of special tool | | 250. 00 | |Total incremental cost | | 2,950. 00 | |Incremental net operating income | |$ 449. 00 | Even though the price for the special order is below the companys regular price for such an item, the special order would add to the companys net operating income and should be accepted. This conclusion would not necessarily follow if the special order affected the regula r selling price of bracelets or if it required the use of a constrained resource. Exercise 13-5 (30 minutes) | 1. | |A |B |C | | |(1) |Contribution margin per unit |$54 |$108 |$60 | | |(2) |Direct material cost per unit |$24 |$72 |$32 | | |(3) |Direct material cost per pound |$8 |$8 |$8 | | |(4) |Pounds of material required per unit (2) ? (3) |3 |9 |4 | | |(5) |Contribution margin per pound (1) ? 4) |$18 |$12 |$15 | 2. The company should concentrate its available material on product A: | |A |B |C | |Contribution margin per pound (above) |$ 18 |$ 12 |$ 15 | |Pounds of material available |? 5,000 |? 5,000 |? 5,000 | |Total contribution margin |$90,000 |$60,000 |$75,000 | Although product A has the lowest contribution margin per unit and the second lowest contribution margin ratio, it is preferred over the other two products since it has the greatest amount of contribution margin per pound of material, and material is the company’s constrained resource. 3. The price Barlow Company would be willing to pay per pound for additional raw materials depends on how the materials would be used. If there are unfilled orders for all of the products, Barlow would presumably use the additional raw materials to make more of product A. Each pound of raw materials used in product A generates $18 of contribution margin over and above the usual cost of raw materials. Therefore, Barlow should be willing to pay up to $26 per pound ($8 usual price plus $18 contribution margin per pound) for the additional raw material, but would of course prefer to pay far less. The upper limit of $26 per pound to manufacture more product A signals to managers how valuable additional raw materials are to the company. If all of the orders for product A have been filled, Barlow Company would then use additional raw materials to manufacture product C. The company should be willing to pay up to $23 per pound ($8 usual price plus $15 contribution margin per pound) for the additional raw materials to manufacture more product C, and up to $20 per pound ($8 usual price plus $12 contribution margin per pound) to manufacture more product B if all of the orders for product C have been filled as well. Exercise 13-6 (10 minutes) |A |B |C | |Selling price after further processing |$20 |$13 |$32 | |Selling price at the split-off point |  16 |  Ã‚  8 |  25 | |Incremental reve nue per pound or gallon |$  4 |$  5 |$  7 | |Total quarterly output in pounds or gallons |? 15,000 |? 20,000 |? 4,000 | |Total incremental revenue |$60,000 |$100,000 |$28,000 | |Total incremental processing costs |  63,000 |  Ã‚  80,000 |  36,000 | |Total incremental profit or loss |$(3,000) |$  20,000 |$(8,000) | Therefore, only product B should be processed further. Exercise 13-7 (30 minutes) 1. The relevant costs of a hunting trip would be: |Travel expense (100 miles @ $0. 21 per mile) |$21 | | |Shotgun shells |20 | | |One bottle of whiskey |  15 | | |Total |$56 | This answer assumes that Bill would not be drinking the bottle of whiskey anyway. It also assumes that the resale values of the camper, pickup truck, and boat are not affected by taking one more hunting trip. The money lost in the poker game is not relevant because Bill would have played poker even if he did not go hunting. He plays poker every weekend. The other costs are sunk at the point at which the decision is made to go on another hunting trip. 2. If Bill gets lucky and bags another two ducks, all of his costs are likely to be about the same as they were on his last trip. Therefore, it really doesn’t cost him anything to shoot the last two ducks- except possibly the costs for extra shotgun shells. The costs are really incurred in order to be able to hunt ducks and would be the same whether one, two, three, or a dozen ducks were actually shot. All of the costs, with the possible exception of the costs of the shotgun shells, are basically fixed with respect to how many ducks are actually bagged during any one hunting trip. 3. In a decision of whether to give up hunting entirely, more of the costs listed by John are relevant. If Bill did not hunt, he would not need to pay for: gas, oil, and tires; shotgun shells; the hunting license; and the whiskey. In addition, he would be able to sell his camper, equipment, boat, and possibly pickup truck, the proceeds of which would be considered relevant in this decision. The original costs of these items are not relevant, but their resale values are relevant. Exercise 13-7 (continued) These three requirements illustrate the slippery nature of costs. A cost that is relevant in one situation can be irrelevant in the next. None of the costs- except possibly the cost of the shotgun shells- are relevant when we compute the cost of bagging a particular duck; some of them are relevant when we compute the cost of a hunting trip; and more of them are relevant when we consider the possibility of giving up hunting. Exercise 13-8 (10 minutes) |Contribution margin lost if the Linen Department is dropped: | | |Lost from the Linen Department |$600,000 | |Lost from the Hardware Department (10% ? 2,100,000) |  210,000 | |Total lost contribution margin |810,000 | |Less fixed costs that can be avoided ($800,000 – $340,000) |  460,000 | |Decrease in profits for the company as a whole |$350,000 | Exercise 13-9 (15 minutes) The target production level is 40,000 starters per period, as shown by the relations between per-unit and total fixed costs. | | |â€Å"Cost† Per |Differential Costs | | | | |Unit |Make |Buy |Explanation | | |Direct materials |$3. 10 |$3. 0 | |Can be avoided by buying | | |Direct labor |2. 70 |2. 70 | |Can be avoided by buying | | |Variable manufacturing overhead |0. 60 |0. 60 | |Can be avoided by buying | | |Supervision |1. 50 |1. 50 | |Can be avoided by buying | | |Depreciation |1. 00 |- | |Sunk Cost | | |Rent |0. 0 |- | |Allocated Cost | | |Outside purchase price |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |$8. 40 | | | |Total cost |$9. 20 |$7. 90 |$8. 40 | | The company should make the starters, rather than continuing to buy from the outside supplier. Making the starters will result in a $0. 50 per starter cost savings, or a total savings of $20,000 per period: $0. 50 per starter ? 40,000 starters = $20,000 Exercise 13-10 (15 minutes) 1. Annual profits will be increased by $39,000: |Per Unit |15,000 Units | |Incremental sales |$14. 00 |$210,000 | |Incremental costs: | | | |Direct materials |5. 10 |76,500 | |Direct labor |3. 80 |57,000 | |Variable manufacturing ov erhead |1. 0 |15,000 | |Variable selling and administrative |  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. 50 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  22,500 | |Total incremental costs |  11. 40 |  171,000 | |Incremental profits |$? 2. 60 |$? 39,000 | The fixed costs are not relevant to the decision, since they will be incurred regardless of whether the special order is accepted or rejected. 2. The relevant cost is $1. 50 (the variable selling and administrative expenses). All other variable costs are sunk, since the units have already been produced. The fixed costs would not be relevant, since they will not change in total as a consequence of the price charged for the left-over units. Exercise 13-11 (15 minutes) The company should accept orders first for C, second for A, and third for B. The computations are: | | |A |B |C | |(1) |Direct materials required per unit |$24 |$15 |$9 | |(2) |Cost per pound |$3 |$3 |$3 | |(3) |Pounds required per unit (1) ? 2) |8 |5 |3 | |(4) |Contribution margin per unit |$32 |$14 |$21 | |(5) |Contribution margin per pound of materials used (4) ? (3) |$4. 00 |$2. 80 |$7. 00 | Since C uses the least amount of material per unit of the three products, and since it is the most profitable of the three in terms of its use of materials, some students will immediately assume that this is an infallible relationship. That is, they will assume that the way to spot the most profitable product is to find the one using the least amount of the constrained resource. The way to dispel this notion is to point out that product A uses more material (the constrained resource) than does product B, but yet it is preferred over product B. The key factor is not how much of a constrained resource a product uses, but rather how much contribution margin the product generates per unit of the constrained resource. Exercise 13-12 (10 minutes) |Sales value if processed further |$84,000 | |(7,000 units ? $12 per unit) | | |Sales value at the split-off point |  63,000 | |(7,000 units ? 9 per unit) | | |Incremental revenue |21,000 | |Less cost of processing further |  Ã‚  9,500 | |Net advantage of processing further |$11,500 | Exercise 13-13 (20 minutes) | 1. |Fixed cost per mile ($5,000* ? 50,000 miles) |$0. 10 | | |Variable cost per mile |  0. 7 | | |Average cost per mile |$0. 17 | | |* |Insurance |$1,600 | | | |Licenses |250 | | | |Taxes |150 | | | |Garage rent |1,200 | | | |Depreciation |  1,800 | | | |Total |$5,000 | This answer assumes the resal e value of the truck does not decline because of the wear and tear that comes with use. 2. The insurance, the licenses, and the variable costs (gasoline, oil, tires, and repairs) would all be relevant to the decision, since these costs are avoidable by not using the truck. (However, the owner of the garage might insist that the truck be insured and licensed if it is left in the garage. In that case, the insurance and licensing costs would not be relevant since they would be incurred regardless of the decision. ) The taxes would not be relevant, since they must be paid regardless of use; the garage rent would not be relevant, since it must be paid to park the truck; and the depreciation would not be relevant, since it is a sunk cost. However, any decrease in the resale value of the truck due to its use would be relevant. 3. Only the variable costs of $0. 07 would be relevant, since they are the only costs that can be avoided by having the delivery done commercially. 4. In this case, only the fixed costs associated with the second truck would be relevant. The variable costs would not be relevant, since they would not differ between having one or two trucks. (Students are inclined to think that variable costs are always relevant in decision-making, and to think that fixed costs are always irrelevant. This requirement helps to dispel that notion. ) Exercise 13-14 (30 minutes) No, the bilge pump product line should not be discontinued. The computations are: Contribution margin lost if the line is dropped | |â‚ ¬(460,000) | |Fixed costs that can be avoided: | | | |Advertising |â‚ ¬270,000 | | |Salary of the product line manager |32,000 | | |Insurance on inventories |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  310, 000 | |Net disadvantage of dropping the line | |â‚ ¬(150,000) | The same solution can be obtained by preparing comparative income statements: | |Keep Product Line |Drop Product Line |Difference: Net | | | | |Operating Income | | | |Increase or (Decrease) | |Sales |â‚ ¬850,000 |â‚ ¬Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |â‚ ¬(850,000) | |Less variable expenses: | | | | |Variable manufacturing expenses |330,000 |0 |330,000 | |Sales commissions |42,000 |0 |42,000 | |Shipping |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  18,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  18,000 | |Total variable expenses |  Ã‚  390,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  Ã‚  390,000 | |Contribution margin |  Ã‚  460,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  (460,000) | |Less fixed expenses: | | | | |Advertising |270,000 |0 |270,000 | |Depreciation of equipment |80,000 |80,000 |0 | |General factory overhead |105,000 |105,000 |0 | |Salary of product line manager |32,000 |0 |32,000 | |Insurance on inventories |8,000 |0 |8,000 | |Purchasing department expenses |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  45,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  45,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 | |Total fixed expenses |  Ã‚  540,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  230,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  310,000 | |Net operating loss |â‚ ¬Ã‚  (80,000) |â‚ ¬(230,000) |â‚ ¬(150,000) | Exercise 13-15 (20 minutes) The costs that are relevant in a make-or-buy decision are those costs that can be avoided as a result of purchasing from the outside. The analysis for this exercise is: |Per Unit | |30,000 Units | | |Differential Costs | | | | |Make | |Buy | |Make | |Buy | |Cost of purchasing | | |$21. 00 | | | |$630,000 | |Cost of making: | | | | | | | | |Direct materials |$? 3. 60 | | | |$108,000 | | | |Direct labor |10. 00 | | | |300,000 | | | |Variable overhead |2. 0 | | | |72,000 | | | |Fixed overhead |  Ã‚  Ã‚  3. 00 |* |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | |  Ã‚  Ã‚  90,000 | |     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | |Total cost |$19. 00 | |$21. 00 | |$570,000 | |$630,000 | |* |The remaining $6 of fixed overhead cost would not be relevant, since it will continue regardless of whether the company | | |makes or buys the parts. | The $80,000 rental value of the space being used to produce part S-6 represents an opportunity cost of continuing to produce the part internally. Thus, the completed analysis would be: |Make |Buy | |Total cost, as above |$570,000 |$630,000 | |Rental value of the space (opportunity cost) |  Ã‚  Ã‚  80,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | |Total cost, including opportunity cost |$650,000 |$630,000 | |Net advantage in favor of buying | |$20,000 | | Problem 13-16 (30 minutes) | 1. Contribution margin lost if the flight is | |$(12,950) | | |discontinued | | | | |Flight costs that can be avoided if the flight is discontinued: | | | | |Flight promotion |$  Ã‚  750 | | | |Fuel for aircraft |5,800 | | | |L iability insurance (1/3 ? $4,200) |1,400 | | | |Salaries, flight assistants |1,500 | | | |Overnight costs for flight crew and assistants |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  300 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9,750 | | |Net decrease in profits if the flight is discontinued | |$? 3,200) | The following costs are not relevant to the decision: |Cost | |Reason | | | | | |Salaries, flight crew | |Fixed annual salaries, which will not change. | | | | | |Depreciation of aircraft | |Sunk cost. | | | | |Liability insurance (two-thirds) | |Two-thirds of the liability insurance is unaffected by this | | | |decision. | | | | | |Baggage loading and flight preparation | |This is an allocated cost that will continue even if the flight is | | | |discontinued. | Problem 13-16 (continued) Alternative Solution: |Keep the Flight |Drop the Flight |Difference: Net | | | | |Operating Income | | | | |Increase or (Decrease) | |Ticket revenue |$14,000 |$  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |$(14,000) | |Less variable expenses |  Ã‚  Ã‚  1,050 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1,050 | |Contribution margin |  12,950 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  (12,950) | |Less flight expenses: | | | | |Salaries, flight crew |1,800 |1,800 |0 | |Flight promotion |750 |0 |750 | |Depreciation of aircraft |1,550 |1,550 |0 | |Fuel for aircraft |5,800 0 |5,800 | |Liability insurance |4,200 |2,800 |1,400 | |Salaries, flight assistants |1,500 |0 |1,500 | |Baggage loading and flight preparation |1,700 |1,700 |0 | |Overnight costs for flight crew and |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  300 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  300 | |assistants at destination | | | | |Total flight expenses |  Ã‚  17,600 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7,850 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9,750 | |Net operating loss |$ (4,650) |$ (7,850) |$  Ã‚  (3,200) | 2. The goal of increasing the seat occupancy could be obtained by eliminating flights with a lower-than-average seat occupancy. By eliminating these flights and keeping the flights with a hig her average seat occupancy, the overall average seat occupancy for the company as a whole would be improved. This could reduce profits, however, in at least two ways. First, the flights that are eliminated could have contribution margins that exceed their avoidable costs (such as in the case of flight 482 in part 1). If so, then eliminating these flights would reduce the company’s total contribution margin more than it would reduce total costs, and profits would decline. Second, these flights might be acting as â€Å"feeder† flights, bringing passengers to cities where connections to more profitable flights are made. Problem 13-17 (15 minutes) 1. | |Per 16-Ounce T-Bone | |Revenue from further processing: | | |Sales price of one filet mignon (6 ounces ? $4. 00 per pound ? 6 ounces per pound) |$1. 50 | |Sales price of one New York cut (8 ounces ? $2. 80 per pound ? 16 ounces per pound) |  1. 40 | |Total revenue from further processing |2. 90 | |Less sales revenue from one T-bone steak |  2. 25 | |Incremental revenue from further processing |0. 65 | |Less cost of further processing |  0. 5 | |Profit per pound from further proce ssing |$0. 40 | 2. The T-bone steaks should be processed further into the filet mignon and the New York cut. This will yield $0. 40 per pound in added profit for the company. The $0. 45 â€Å"profit† per pound shown in the text is not relevant to the decision, since it contains allocated joint costs. The company will incur the joint costs regardless of whether the T-bone steaks are sold outright or processed further; thus, this cost should be ignored in the decision. Problem 13-18 (60 minutes) 1. The simplest approach to the solution is: Gross margin lost if the store is closed | | |$(316,800) | |Costs that can be avoided: | | | | |Sales salaries |$70,000 | | | |Direct advertising |51,000 | | | |Store rent |85,000 | | | |Delivery salaries |4,000 | | | |Store management salaries |9,000 | | | |($21,000 – $12,000) | | | | Salary of new manager |11,000 | | | |General office compensation |6,000 | | | |Insurance on inventories ($7,500 ? 2/3) |5,000 | | | |Utilities |31 ,000 | | | |Employment taxes |  15,000 |* |  Ã‚  Ã‚  287,000 | |Decrease in company profits if the North Store is closed | | |$  (29,800) | *Salaries avoided by closing the store: | | | Sales salaries |$70,000 | | Delivery salaries |4,000 | | Store management salaries |9,000 | | Salary of new manager |11,000 | | General office compensation |  Ã‚  Ã‚  6,000 | | Total avoided |100,000 | | Employment tax rate | 5% | | Employment taxes avoided |$15,000 | Problem 13-18 (continued) Alternative Solution: | |North Store Kept |North Store Closed |Difference: Net | | |Open | |Operating Income | | | | |Increase or (Decrease) | |Sales |$720,000 |$? 0 |$(720,000) | | |Less cost of goods sold   403,200 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  403,200 | | |Gross margin |  316,800 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 |  (316,800) | | |Operating expenses: | | | | | |Selling expenses: | | | | | |Sales salaries |70,000 |0 |70,000 | | |Direct advertising |51,000 |0 |51,000 | | |General advertising |10,800 |10,800 |0 | | |Store rent |85,000 |0 |85,000 | | |Depreciation of store fixtures |4,600 |4,600 |0 | | |Delivery salaries |7,000 |3,000 |4,000 | | |Depreciation of delivery equipment |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 | | |Total selling expenses |  231,400 |  Ã‚  21,400 |  210,000 | | |Administrative expenses: | | | | | |Store management salaries |21,000 |12,000 |9,000 | | |Salary of new manager |11,000 |0 |11,000 | | |General office compensation |12,000 |6,000 |6,000 | | |Insurance on fixtures and |7,500 |2,500 |5,000 | | |inventory | | | | | |Utilities |31,000 |0 |31,000 | | |Employment taxes |18,150 |3,150 |15,000 |* | General office- other |  Ã‚  Ã‚  18,000 |  Ã‚  18,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0 | | |Total administrative expenses |  118,650 |  Ã‚  41,650 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  77,000 | | |Total operating expenses |  350,050 |  Ã‚  63,050 |  Ã‚  287,000 | | |Net operating income (loss) |$(33,250) |$(63,050) |$  (29,800) | | *See the computation on the prior page. Problem 13-18 (continued) 2. Based on the data in (1), the North Store should not be closed. If the store is closed, then the company’s overall net operating income will decrease by $29,800 per quarter. If the store space cannot be subleased or the lease broken without penalty, a decision to close the store would cause an even greater decline in the company’s overall net income. If the $85,000 rent cannot be avoided and the North Store is closed, the company’s overall net operating income would be reduced by $114,800 per quarter ($29,800 + $85,000). 3. Under these circumstances, the North Store should be closed. The computations are as follows: |Gross margin lost if the North Store is closed (part 1) |$(316,800) | |Gross margin gained from the East Store: $720,000 ? 1/4 = $180,000; $180,000 ? 5%* = $81,000 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  81,000 | |Net operating loss in gross margin |(235,800) | |Less costs that can be avoided if the North Store is closed (part 1) |  Ã‚  Ã‚  287,000 | |Net advantage of closing the North Store |$? 51,200 | *The East Store’s gross margin percentage is: $486,000 ? $1,080,000 = 45% Problem 13-19 (60 minutes) 1. The $90,000 in fixed overhead cost s charged to the new product is a common cost that will be the same whether the tubes are produced internally or purchased from the outside. Hence, they are not relevant. The variable manufacturing overhead per box of Chap-Off would be $0. 50, as shown below: Total manufacturing overhead cost per box of Chap-Off |$1. 40 | |Less fixed portion ($90,000 ? 100,000 boxes) |  0. 90 | |Variable overhead cost per box |$0. 50 | The total variable costs of producing one box of Chap-Off would be: |Direct materials |$3. 60 | |Direct labor |2. 00 | |Variable manufacturing overhead |  0. 0 | |Total variable cost per box |$6. 10 | If the tubes for the Chap-Off are purchased from the outside supplier, then the variable cost per box of Chap-Off would be: |Direct materials ($3. 60 ? 75%) |$2. 70 | |Direct labor ($2. 00 ? 90%) |1. 80 | |Variable manufacturing overhead ($0. 50 ? 90%) |0. 45 | |Cost of tube from outside |  1. 5 | |Total variable cost per box |$6. 30 | Therefore, the company sho uld reject the outside supplier’s offer. A savings of $0. 20 per box of Chap-Off will be realized by producing the tubes internally. Problem 13-19 (continued) Another approach to the solution would be: |Cost avoided by purchasing the tubes: | | |Direct materials ($3. 60 ? 25%) |$0. 90 | |Direct labor ($2. 00 ? 10%) |0. 20 | |Variable manufacturing overhead ($0. 50 ? 0%) |  0. 05 | |Total costs avoided |$1. 15 |* | | | | |Cost of purchasing the tubes from the outside |$1. 35 | | | | |Cost savings per box by making internally |$0. 20 | |* |This $1. 5 is the cost of making one box of tubes internally, since it represents the overall cost savings that | | |will be realized per box of Chap-Off by purchasing the tubes from the outside. | 2. The maximum purchase price would be $1. 15 per box. The company would not be willing to pay more than this amount, since the $1. 15 represents the cost of producing one box of tubes internally, as shown in Part 1. To make purchasing the t ubes attractive, however, the purchase price should be less than $1. 15 per box. Problem 13-19 (continued) 3. At a volume of 120,000 boxes, the company should buy the tubes. The computations are: |Cost of making 120,000 boxes: | | |120,000 boxes ? $1. 5 per box |$138,000 | |Rental cost of equipment |  Ã‚  Ã‚  40,000 | |Total cost |$178,000 | | | | |Cost of buying 120,000 boxes: | | |120,000 boxes ? $1. 35 per box |$162,000 | | | | |Or, on a total cost basis, the computations are: | | | | | |Cost of making 120,000 boxes: | | |120,000 boxes ? 6. 10 per box |$732,000 | |Rental cost of equipment |  Ã‚  Ã‚  40,000 | |Total cost |$772,000 | | | | |Cost of buying 120,000 boxes: | | |120,000 boxes ? $6. 30 per box |$756,000 | Thus, buying the boxes will save the company $16,000 per year. Problem 13-19 (continued) 4. Under these circumstances, the company should make the 100,000 boxes of tubes and purchase the remaining 20,000 boxes from the outside supplier. The costs would: |Cost of making: 100,000 boxes ? $1. 15 per box |$115,000 | |Cost of buying: 20,000 boxes ? $1. 35 per box |  Ã‚  Ã‚  27,000 | |Total cost |$142,000 | Or, on a total cost basis, the computation would be: Cost of making: 100,000 boxes ? $6. 10 per box |$610,000 | |Cost of buying: 20,000 boxes ? $6. 30 per box |  126,000 | |Total cost |$736,000 | Since the amount of cost under this alternative is $20,000 less than the best alternative in Part 3, the company should make as many tubes as possible with the current equipment and buy the remaining tubes from the outside supplier. 5. Management should take into account at least the following additional factors: )The ability of the supplier to meet required delivery schedules. b)The qu ality of the tubes purchased from the supplier. c)Alternative uses of the capacity that would be used to make the tubes. d)The ability of the supplier to supply tubes if volume increases in future years. e)The problem of alternative sources of supply if the supplier proves undependable. Problem 13-20 (30 minutes) 1. Since the fixed costs will not change as a result of the order, they are not relevant to the decision. The cost of the new machine is relevant, and this cost will have to be recovered by the current order since there is no assurance of future business from the retail chain. |Unit |Total- 5,000 units | |Revenue from the order ($50 ? 84%) |$42 |$210,000 | |Less costs associated with the order: | | | |Direct materials |15 |75,000 | |Direct labor |8 |40,000 | |Variable manufacturing overhead |3 |15,000 | |Variable selling expense ($4 ? 25%) |1 |5,000 | |Special machine ($10,000 ? ,000 units) |  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 |  Ã‚  Ã‚  10,000 | |Total costs |  29 |  145,000 | |Net in crease in profits |$13 |$  65,000 | | 2. |Revenue from the order: | | | |Reimbursement for costs of production (variable production costs of $26, plus fixed manufacturing |$175,000 | | |overhead cost of $9 = $35 per unit; $35 per unit ? 5,000 units) | | | |Fixed fee ($1. 80 per unit ? ,000 units) |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9,000 | | |Total revenue |184,000 | | |Less incremental costs- variable production costs |  130,000 | | |($26 per unit ? 5,000 units) | | | |Net increase in profits |$  54,000 | | 3. |Sales revenue: | | | |From the U. S. Army (above) |$184,000 | | |From regular channels ($50 per unit ? 5,000 units) |  250,000 | | |Net decrease in revenue |(66,000) | | |Less variable selling expenses avoided if the Army’s order is accepted ($4 per unit ? 5,000 units) |  Ã‚  Ã‚  20,000 | | |Net de