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Assignment 2— Evaluation and analysis case study

 
 
 
Assignment 2
Assignment 2— Evaluation and analysis case study (1600 words) Due Friday 22nd December by 6pm to Turnitin. Worth 35% of final mark
Present detailed answers, using 6 academic references minimum to support them, to the questions posed at the end of this case study in approximately 1600 words in total:
Background context to the case: Hiroshi Okuda, is the former chairman of the Toyota Motor Corporation who was in this role from 1999 to 2006. Under Okuda’s leadership Toyota shifted from not just being the number one carmaker in Japan, but rapidly reached to be a main competitor to General Motors in the United States.  Okuda is remembered for his vision in seeing the need for hybrid cars early and pushing Toyota towards quickly bringing them to market. Okuda is often studied in business schools relating to his leadership style. One of Mr. Okuda’s biggest achievements was Toyota’s aggressive expansion of production in the U.S.
 
 
Read the following case study and answer all the questions.
Present detailed answers to the questions posed at the end of this case study in approximately 1600 words in total:
 
 
Toyota’s tough boss (taken from Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter 2006, p.600) Hiroshi Okuda is not afraid to speak his mind or impose radical change in an organization. And because of these traits he is memorable at Toyota Motor Corporation where he is the chairman of the board. Prior to becoming chairman, Okuda served as Toyota’s president – the first non-family member in over 30 years to head the company. He also is unusual among other Japanese executives because, in Japan, executives are supposed to be unseen. Okuda justifies his outspoken and aggressive style as being necessary to change a company that had become lethargic (i.e. tired) and overly bureaucratic. Okuda moved ahead at Toyota by taking jobs that other employees did not want. For example, in the early 1980s the company was trying to build a manufacturing facility in Taiwan, but the Taiwanese government’s demands for high local content, technology transfer and guaranteed exports convinced many at Toyota that the project should be scrapped. Okuda thought differently. He successfully lobbied for the facility in the company, and it is now very profitable for Toyota. As Okuda noted, ‘Everyone wanted to give up. But I restarted the project and led it to success.’ His drive and ability to overcome obstacles were central to his rise in the company’s hierarchy. When Okuda ascended to the presidency of Toyota in early 1995 the company was losing market share in Japan to both Mitsubishi and Honda. Okuda attributed this problem to several factors. Toyota had been losing touch with Japanese customers for years. For example, when engineers redesigned the Corolla in 1991 they made it too big and too expensive for Japanese tastes. Then four years later, in an attempt to lower costs significantly, they stripped out so many features in the car that the Corolla looked too cheap. Competitors, on the other hand, had also done a much better job of identifying the boom in recreational vehicles – especially the sport-utility market. Toyota’s burdensome bureaucracy also bothered Okuda. A decision that took only five minutes to filter through at Suzuki Motor Corporation would take upwards of three weeks at Toyota. In his first 18 months on the job Okuda implemented some drastic changes. In a country where lifetime employment is consistent with the culture, he replaced nearly one-third of Toyota’s highest-ranking executives. He revamped Toyota’s long-standing promotion system based on seniority, adding performance as a factor. Some outstanding performers moved up several managerial levels in one go – something unheard of in the history of the company. Okuda also worked with the company’s vehicle designers to increase the speed at which the vehicle went from concept to market. What once took 27 months was shortened to 18 months. And now the company is making a custom car within five days of receiving an order. Finally, Okuda is using the visibility of his job to address larger social issues facing all Japanese businesses. For instance, he accused Japan’s Finance Ministry of trying to destroy the car industry by driving up the yen’s value. And he has been an audible voice in the country, condemning the lax lending practices that forced Japanese banks to write off billions of dollars in bad loans and led, in part, to that country’s economic crisis in the late 1990s and early 2000.
Unfortunately, some of Okuda’s actions may have backfired. It has been suggested that the reason he was removed as president of the company in June 1999 was that he had overstepped the boundary at times with his blunt demands for change; and his refusal to bail out other members of the Toyota keiretsu may have offended the founding Toyota family. However, even though he was no longer president, his strategic leadership helped him to be appointed to the chairman’s job.
Discussion questions Answer all three (3) of the following questions in short answer format.

  1. Explain trait theory then apply it to Okuda in this case. Discuss with examples from the case of leadership traits Okuda demonstrated during his time at Toyota. Provide an example of another leader who has also demonstrated leadership traits.
  2. Drawing on leadership theory from this Course, how would you describe Hiroshi Okuda’s leadership style/s? Cite specific examples in the case study that support your choice.
  3. Explain the terms ‘transactional’ and ‘transformational’ leadership. What form did Hiroshi Okuda exhibit? Cite specific examples in the case study that support your choice.

 
 
 
 
Please conform to the following:
 use Font 12
 Times New Roman font only
 1.5 line spacing
 reference list on a separate page after conclusion
 use Harvard Style of referencing ONLY
do not use foot-notes
 
Assessment of your assignments will take into account:
 relevance of your answer to the questions
 clarity of expression
 supporting documentation for arguments
 proper acknowledgment of documentation and use of Harvard Style referencing
 logical planning and sequence
 use of inclusive language
 overall presentation, including correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
 comprehensive coverage reflecting engagement with text(s) and other relevant materials
 
The answers should be written in paragraph form using appropriate headings and sub-headings based on your reading of the case study and additional research. Please ensure that it is thoroughly and correctly referenced using the Harvard referencing system.
 
Use a minimum of 6 different reference sources in the body of this assignment. Where less than 6 references are used within the body of the assignment it would be difficult to achieve a grade higher than P2. Assignments that are not correctly referenced will incur heavy penalties.
Your answers to the Case Study should be presented as three (3) distinct answers. You should divide your assignment into a discussion (of each of the three questions) and conclusion section to the case study.
It is recommended approximately 450-550 words per answer with a conclusion of around 100 words

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Female entrepreneurs are said to experience a range of barriers when starting a business. What is the evidence for this from literature sources and what recommendations would you make to a female entrepreneur who is considering starting a business.

Assignment extract:
you have to choose one research question from the list to write about.
the question is: Female entrepreneurs are said to experience a range of barriers when starting a business. What is the evidence for this from literature sources and what recommendations would you make to a female entrepreneur who is considering starting a business.
• Title page
• Abstract (ideally around 500 words to offer an effective overall summary)
• Introduction
♣ Introduction to include an academic definition and some factual data about the context of the set question
• Main contents
♣ Various sub-headings
♣ Includes good use of references with occasional quotes
♣ Good mix and range of sources
♣ Some mini examples cited to the appendices can be useful
♣ Critical commentary
• Advantages/disadvantages
• Evidence for and against
• Conclusions: Offers a clear rationale that answers the set questions
• Recommendations: A reasoned set of recommendations that matches the
concern of the set question
• References (Harvard)
o A minimum of 20 references (No Wikipedia), a mix of texts, journals (emerald) and reports from a range of sources e.g. Business Source Premier (BSP), Mintel, Expanded Academic ASAP, trade associations, govt reports, newspaper analysis, business groups (IOD and FSB) and other policy sources).
• Appendices
Marking template
Title page and abstract 5%
Introduction 10%
Main contents
Mix and range of sources 20%
Critical discussion 35%
Conclusions and recommendations 20%
Overall layout and structure 10%
-Please use mix of sources and minimum of 20 sources as required.
-Use sources that can be accessed such as google scholar

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CASE STUDY: CAPITAL STRUCTURE ANALYSIS-Corporate Finance | 25765

1
Corporate Finance | 25765
Summer 2017/18
Case Study Guidelines
CASE STUDY: CAPITAL STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
You are employed in a corporate finance advisory firm that has been hired by the Board of
Directors of the company assigned to your group to perform analyses of the company’s
capital structure and to provide advice on whether the current capital structure is optimal.
Since your group will report directly to the Board of Directors, you can assume Financial
Management-level knowledge of finance. That is, you can assume that your readers would be
familiar with Modigliani and Miller (MM) theorem with corporate taxes. The report should
therefore cover material more advanced than MM with corporate taxes.
You should thoroughly read lectures 5, 6 and 7, the relevant textbook chapters, and pp. 1-34
of the survey, “The Theory and Practice of Capital Structure”, by Henri Servaes and Peter
Tufano (available on UTSOnline in the Course Documents/Case Study Documents folder)
to gain the background necessary to undertake the project.
Your group’s assigned task is to produce a report on the capital structure of the company
assigned to your group. In the report, you should analyse the capital structure of the assigned
company following the guidelines provided below, and determine whether the firm is under,
over or correctly leveraged.
A printed copy of the report is due at the beginning of class on 06/02/2018.
2
GUIDELINES FOR THE REPORT
In your report, you must apply the theories and concepts discussed in class to the facts of
the firm assigned to your group.
The report should demonstrate your understanding of the theories and their practical
implications.
The report should be no longer than 12.5 pages, including the executive summary, tables
and graphs but excluding references and appendices. You can include one page of references
and up to two pages of appendices.
 Please do not cite too many academic articles from the internet — this report is about
applying capital structure theories, as discussed in the lectures, the textbook and the
Servaes and Tufano paper, to a real company, and therefore there is no need for you to
do detailed review of academic literature in this report.
The report will be marked on both its content (discussions/analyses/arguments) and the
quality of the writing (organisation, clarity, conciseness, grammar and punctuation).
 All graphs and tables included in the report must be produced by the group members.
You may not copy figures, graphs or tables from other sources such as company
annual reports or financial databases. You must discuss the relevance and the
significance of the information provided in tables and graphs included in the report.
You should not include redundant information in tables.
 You may obtain raw financial data from financial databases and/or annual reports.
Most of the analyses should be based on at least 10 years of past data in order to
capture financing and leverage decisions of the firm over the business cycle.
 In order to receive high marks on the report, the report must successfully apply
the theories and concepts discussed in class to the assigned company.
The report is be marked out of a total of 60.
A case study cover sheet is available on UTSOnline. The report should be submitted with a
completed and signed cover sheet attached.
3
The following is a summary of the areas your group report must cover. Please note that it is
not comprehensive but it gives you a sense of what is expected in your submission.
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY and COMPANY AND INDUSTRY
OVERVIEW (8 marks)
1.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (max ½ page)
Include a brief summary of the report highlighting its major conclusions and
recommendations and how you arrived at those conclusions and recommendations.
 Half of the executive summary page should be left blank.
 The executive summary must clearly state the optimal leverage or optimal leverage
range according to your analyses.
 Clearly but briefly spell out the reasoning that led to this optimal leverage or optimal
leverage range
 An executive summary must not be a list of the content of your report.
1.2 COMPANY AND INDUSTRY OVERVIEW (max. 2.5 pages)
Provide a summary of
 the firm’s business activities
 business segments: how large are each segment and what are the segments’ lines of
business
 recent developments in the company: use financial statements, management
discussions in the company’s annual reports and news articles
 recent developments in the industry: use news articles, industry reports and
management discussions in the company’s annual reports
 This overview of up to 2 pages should also identify two comparable firms, which you
will use in your analyses in the next section (in the last point of section 2.1 only). You
should fully justify your choice of the comparable firms — compare the industry,
size, profitability and growth of comparable firms with firm you are analysing.
4
2. CAPITAL STRUCTURE ANALYSIS (44 MARKS)
In this section you will analyse the company’s capital structure and leverage policy.
Your discussion in this section should include, but not be restricted to, the following:
2.1 Historical Company Financing/Leverage Analysis and Peer Leverage Analysis (max.
4 pages, 20 marks)
You should document the financing and leverage history of the company and characterise the
company’s historical (and current) leverage policy using:
 recent trends in the use of debt and equity
 recent financing activities of the firm: debt and equity issues, placements and share
buybacks
o All the information (for at least the past ten years) mentioned above must be
presented in a table and then trends should be discussed. You should also use
graphs to facilitate your discussion as necessary
 current and recent history of leverage and interest coverage ratios
o All the information (for at least the past ten years) mentioned above must be
presented in a table and then trends should be discussed. You should also use
graphs to facilitate your discussion as necessary
 management discussions about the firm’s leverage policy (if available in the annual
reports).
Based on the above analyses, does the company have a target leverage ratio?
Does the past pattern of the company’s financing and leverage support:
 the managerial inertia theory?
o The managerial inertia theory uses market leverage as the measure of leverage,
so you should use market leverage in this analysis.
 the security mispricing theory?
o Think about what information you need to test the security mispricing theory.
Detail the company’s past capital expenditures, including mergers and their financing
 all the information (for at least the past ten years) mentioned above must be presented
in a table and then trends should be discussed
 is the financing behaviour of the company consistent with the pecking order theory?
You should document and discuss the firm’s leverage policy relative to the leverage policies
of comparable firms.
 Comparable firms should only be used to compare leverage policies; all the other
analyses mentioned above should be done only on the firm your group has been
assigned.
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2.2 Optimal Leverage Analysis (max. 5.5 pages, 24 marks)
You should discuss the implications of the various capital structure theories for optimal
capital structure as they apply to your assigned company including:
 Trade-off theory
o The trade-off between tax benefits of debt (including personal taxes and
dividend imputation credits (see Topic 7)) and the financial distress costs.
Keep the general discussion of the trade-off theory very short (not more than
half a page).
o Analysis of tax benefits should be detailed.
 This analysis must consider Australia’s dividend imputation tax
system.
o The implications of the trade-off theory determinants (see Topic 5) of optimal
leverage for the optimal leverage of the firm.
 The report should have separate sub-sections for each of the
following determinants: Profitability, Uncertainty of Operating
Income, Growth Opportunities and Types of Assets.
 Analyses of the determinants should be both qualitative and
quantitative.
o You may incorporate stakeholder theory and agency theory (see Topic 6)
along with the trade-off theory determinants mentioned above in a broader
trade-off theory framework.
o The analyses of the trade-off theory determinants (including stakeholder
theory and agency theory, if you choose the broader framework) should
be detailed and should form the bulk of your analyses of optimal leverage.
 Agency theory
 Stakeholder theory
You should determine the optimal leverage or optimal leverage range of the firm and whether
the firm should increase, decrease or maintain its current leverage.
GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION AND CLARITY (4 MARKS)
The report should be grammatically correct and properly punctuated.
The report should be clear, concise and to-the-point.
FORMAT AND PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT (4 MARKS)
The report should satisfy the basic formatting requirements suggested in the UTS Guide to
Writing Assignments: http://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/business-writing-guide2014.pdf
References
The report should appropriately reference all sources used following the harvard-uts
referencing style: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/help/referencing/harvard-uts-referencing-guide
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You should use the textbook, the lecture notes, company annual reports, industry reports and
news articles about the company and the industry as the primary references in writing the
report.
PLAGIARISM
Each member of the group must read the whole of the report before submission.
If there is evidence of plagiarism in any section of the report, then under UTS rule 16.2
your group may be subject to an allegation of student misconduct.
RESOURCES
Your group should acquire the financial and other information necessary to complete the case
study from databases available through the UTS Library (e.g., DatAnalysis Premium:
http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/databases/search_databases.py?search=datanalysis+premium
The UTS Library subscribes to many databases that provide information relevant for the case
study such as company financials, industry reports, newspapers and journal articles.
You can access these databases on and off campus via the UTS Library website:
http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/databases/search_databases.py?subcategory_id=324

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Discuss some of the ways Western and other foreign cultural elements have been incorporated into the popular cultures of China, Indonesia and Japan. How do these elements interact with Asian cultures? Do Asians accept foreign cultural elements without criticism or opposition?

Assignment 1: Essay
Weight: 40%
Length: 2000 words
Due date: 11.59pm Friday 19 January 2018
Submission format: .pdf
Relates to Learning Outcome 3-4
Assignment Instructions
Write a 2000-word essay on ONE of the following two topics.
Your essay should conform to normal requirements for academic essays in its style, structure and
referencing of sources. This unit requires APA referencing style.
You are encouraged to read widely, not just from the required readings, but also from recommended
readings and other reliable sources.
Topic 1
Discuss some of the ways Western and other foreign cultural elements have been incorporated into the popular
cultures of China, Indonesia and Japan. How do these elements interact with Asian cultures? Do Asians accept
foreign cultural elements without criticism or opposition?
In your answer, you should apply key theoretical concepts introduced in this unit, and include examples from all
three countries to illustrate your points.
OR
Topic 2
Discuss the ways cultural actors (activists) and creators in China, Indonesia and/or Japan express social criticisms
through their work.
You must include examples from at least two of the three countries (China, Indonesia and Japan), and at least
two of the forms of cultural expression studied in this unit (films, literature and popular culture).
General Assessment criteria:
Your essays will be assessed according to how you have:
Addressed the question and covered the topic
Argued your case based on the evidence/ideas you cite
Critically analysed and used the relevant literature
Expressed your ideas clearly and succinctly and in logical sequence
Demonstrated your overall understanding of the subject matter of the unit, including theoretical cultural
concepts
Presented your work in terms of organization of material, grammar, spelling, punctuation, citation of sources
etc
Complied with the UNE Referencing Guide and complied with the UNE Plagiarism and Academic
Misconduct policy.
Submission status
Submission status No attempt
Grading status Not graded
Due date Friday, 19 January 2018, 11:59 PM
Time remaining 4 days 7 hours
Last modified –
Submission comments Comments (0)
Add submission
Make changes to your submission

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Descartes—philosophy questions and summary 

philosophy questions and summary

1.. What was the purpose of Descartes’s “methodological doubt”? What are the things he doubted?
2. The “cogito” is a disembodied universal rationality that Descartes reached at the end of his methodological doubt. In addition he also reasoned that there must be another thing that is real. What is it, how did he reach that conclusion?
[Hint: Descartes used his methological doubt to reach an absolute “truth”, meaning a truth that is objective and that will force him to accept it. He reached “Cogito” from which he built his entire philosoph. Then, via his “wax experiment” he reached the truth (only via reason, not via experimentation), that if he holds a fresh piece of wax near the fire, all its previous qualities will transform, but something extended, “waxy” “waxness” will remain, as extended in space. Matter is something extended in space; so for him there are two ultimate substances, mind and matter].
3. According to Locke human beings are not born with innate ideas, they acquire ideas via sensation and reflection. State clearly, with examples, in your own words Locke’s argument for stating the above.
[Hint: S, a child, is not born with the idea that 2+2=4, but learns it, agrees with it, and stores it in his memory and it becomes part of his knowledge. Do NOT use this example in your answer].
4. Do you have any idea in your mind that you did not learn from someone or somewhere and that you never had an experience before. State “yes” or “no”. If “yes” say how did you get that idea in your mind?  ( For example, sometimes you go to some place and have a feeling you know that place, but you have never been there, nor heard, read, or been told about that place, nor does it resemble anything you are familiar with and you start wondering if it was in your mind and where it came from).
5. Locke was an empiricist  and could only rely on sense perception and reflection to assert that certain things exist. Nonetheless, he asserted the existence of “material substance” as the unknown “substrate” that holds the primary qualities. Do you think in doing that Locke showed some inconsistencies in his philosophy.
 
According to Berkeley, the sizes of things change with location, which shows that things are not “out there” or lack objectivity.
 
7. Describe one experience you had where the size and shape of a thing changed with the change in your location.
 
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Current Events in Counterterrorism

Terrorism Wk 7 Paper

· Week 7 Assignment: Current Events in Counterterrorism
In examining course materials, the various methods to counterterrorism are introduced and the need to remain vigilant in the ever-changing face of terrorism is reinforced. To demonstrate the ongoing counterterrorism efforts globally, identify a current event, reported by a news source within the last 12 months.
The selection should focus on anti-terrorism activities or counterterrorism activities and include some an appropriate level of detail for an analysis to be completed. The news source can be a written news article published on the internet, a video news source, or audio news source; any selected source should be cited and linked in the submission.
· In a brief, 3 to 4-page paper discuss the current event you have selected, specifying the counterterrorism activity that was carried out, thwarting a potential terrorist attack.

· Include a summary of the major points presented in the selected news source.
· Close by sharing your thoughts about the global efforts in counterterrorism and how these efforts affect the presence of terrorist activity.
Papers should be formatted in APA style, including separate title and reference pages that are not counted in the 3 to 4-page minimum. In-text citations are required in addition to the reference page.
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Culture In Nursing – People of Korean Heritage: People of Mexican Heritage

Topic :   People of Korean Heritage. People of Mexican Heritage
PowerPoint presentation. Preparation for the presentation will include synthesizing the information from assigned readings, the scientific literature, Internet resources, and other sources.
This presentation should address the following: History, values and worldview, language and communication patterns, art and other expressive forms, norms and rules, lifestyle characteristics, relationship patterns, rituals, degree of assimilation or marginalization from mainstream society, and health behaviors and practices. In addition to describing the these characteristics, the presentation must include (a) a comparative and contrast analysis of common characteristics and distinguishing traits between the groups,(and (b) a discussion of differential approaches needed by health care professionals.

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Information Systems Infrastructure

Discussion Points
1. Do some Internet research on Chevron’s use of seismic imaging technology. Briefly explain how it works and how it has helped Chevron discover new oil and gas reservoirs. C6-7 
2. Do some Internet research on security vulnerabilities associated with SCADA and digital industrial control systems. Summarize the major security concerns associated with these systems and steps than can be taken to enhance their security.
3. Discuss the pros and cons of moving enterprise-wide applications that have traditionally been supported on premises to the cloud.
4. Do some Internet research on identify management and single sign on systems. Briefly explain how these work and why they are important in business intranets and extranets.
5. Why is it increasing most important for a CIO or IT executive who oversees geographically distributed enterprise networks to be business literate?