Discuss Hien’s cash position. Is there any other information which might be useful to you in order to give her good advice

Hien is in business selling high quality glassware to retailers. Her accountant prepares a statement of financial position each year following Hien’s year end of 31 December. It is now 30 June 20X3. Hien, who has no knowledge of accounting, asks you for some assistance:

‘I know you’re studying accountancy and I’ve got a little exercise for you. The situation is this: I seem to be doing really well if the bank account is anything to go by. At over £62,000 the balance is higher than it’s ever been before. I’m wondering if I can actually spend this money. I don’t need it for myself but I’m thinking about buying some shares in the glass company which supplies a lot of the goods I sell. Could you possibly draw up a statement of financial position for me for the end of June and let me know whether the business is really looking as

healthy as I think it is?’ 

Hien supplies the following list of balances at 30 June, prepared by her book-keeper.

                                                                                   £

Capital                                                                     151,068

Questions: (indicative wordcount 150 words)

1. Prepare the statement of financial position at 30 June 20X3.

Discuss Hien’s cash position. Is there any other information which might be useful to you in order to give her good advice

You are expected to identify (and justify) a pricing strategy, which is NOT the same as naming a price (though you may wish to name the sort of price you may charge to illustrate your understanding of “premium” as well as answering the question by discussing your pricing strategy).

You are expected to identify (and justify) a pricing strategy, which is NOT the same as naming a price (though you may wish to name the sort of price you may charge to illustrate your understanding of “premium” as well as answering the question by discussing your pricing strategy). 

Look at the slides from week 22 and read based on the references slide at the end of the second lecture session. 

Remember, if you say you are going to charge a premium price, you must make it a PREMIUM price, not the same (or less) as existing potential competitors currently charge for a product you will be replacing.  Again, this section must be justified with referenced research, and the application of theory

This depends on who you identify as the target market. Take into account both direct and indirect competitors.

This depends on who you identify as the target market.  Take into account both direct and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors

Direct competitors are things that do the same job as your product in much the same way as your product

Ford, Peugeot-Citroen, Renault, and Jaguar are direct competition

Indirect competitors

Indirect competitors are things that do the same job as your product in a different way to your product

In London, the Underground, overground, busses, taxis, and hire bikes are all indirect competitors because they all enable people to move around the capital more quickly than on foot, and with ease

Research (using solid academic sources) to determine who your in/direct competitors are

Which are the key/main competitors?

You must say which of the competitors identified are our main competitors

They may or may not be the market leader

They may not even be in our market at the moment – for example, Microsoft has tried (and failed) to introduce mobile handsets – they may want to try again.  Likewise, Amazon seem to be trying to be ‘all things to all men’ so perhaps handsets will be their next thing? Answers should justify why companies identified are felt to be key competitors, using referenced research to support the answer

You should consider both B2B and B2C markets: being Apple, it is very likely that both will be relevant.  

Aiming your marketing at a distribution chain of intermediaries is B2B

Aiming your marketing at the end consumers is B2C

You should consider both B2B and B2C markets: being Apple, it is very likely that both will be relevant.  

Aiming your marketing at a distribution chain of intermediaries is B2B

Aiming your marketing at the end consumers is B2C

Whatever route you choose for the company, the report needs to justify why you chose that route.  There isn’t a ‘right’ route, just different routes from which you must choose.

Markets should be accessible, profitable, and sustainable.

You should remember that, although Apple is the only manufacturer selling phones using their proprietary software system, this is NOT a unique product, and that there is much competition from Andoid handsets. 

Consider how this will impact opportunities to make money quickly

Say how this will tie in with your pricing strategy

Say how big the potential market you have chosen is likely to be – undertake academic research that will let you put numbers to it – and how many of these items you believe you will sell per year. 

You can make any assumptions you want as long as these are stated, reasonable, and within the confines of the brief

perform a PEST analysis OR an environmental analysis using Porter’s Five Forces. Which you choose is entirely up to you, but you don’t need both. Bear the following in mind when deciding on your approach

perform a PEST analysis OR an environmental analysis using Porter’s Five Forces.  Which you choose is entirely up to you, but you don’t need both.  Bear the following in mind when deciding on your approach:

There are some really helpful templates for both of these analyses on Moodle (see the top section, under the “Only look at the contents of this section if you want to pass the assignments” heading

In my experience as a marker, students generally perform PESTEL analyses better than they perform Porter’s Five Forces

You don’t get extra marks for taking the more difficult route

You do NOT need SWOT. 

Remember ….

Ensure you include about five points under each of the PESTEL subheadings

Make those points especially relevant to the company and product in the case study

“We must obey all employment law” is not especially relevant because:

• ALL organisations must do this: you might just as well write “we must not murder our future competitors” – these things are LAWS and laws must be obeyed, doing so is not optional!
• Also, it is not relevant because we are marketers, not lawyers

“We cannot begin formal marketing until we have been granted government-approved safety clearance” would be relevant because we are marketers, not lawyers

List the points in each quadrant in order of importance

Expand on some of the points made if necessary for clarity of meaning

Short summary points like “green issues” or “mobility” would need expansion

If GDP is included as an economic factor (a student favourite), the report MUST say WHY it is a factor worth considering

• Not once I have ever considered the state of GDP before making a purchase!

Show a diagram of the model you are using

Put the diagram before the discussion, and in the same section as the discussion

The diagram is there to aid reader understanding

• It’s NOT there merely to look pretty or to tick a box that says “diagram included”
• It must be big enough to be legible – if it isn’t, what does it add to your report?

Reference your work using academic journal articles and textbooks

• There is a section at the end of these notes that will help you determine the value of different source types

Quantitative Analysis phase• Move beyond general comments on strategy, learning,linkages, processes and innovative organisation• Use quotes from interviews to bring your analysis tolife• Compare your findings with comparator organisations– if possible• Develop a heat map of your results – highlighting lowand high score

Quantitative Analysis phase
• Move beyond general comments on strategy, learning,
linkages, processes and innovative organisation
• Use quotes from interviews to bring your analysis to
life
• Compare your findings with comparator organisations
– if possible
• Develop a heat map of your results – highlighting low
and high scores
Guidance: Highlight key ideas + draw out some key messages +
recommendations about the theme for managers in your organisation
Section Words? Often Missed……
Introduction, explaining the purpose of the report,
and briefly introduce the organisation that you will
be assessing. Make sure the reader knows what is
coming up.
200
1-3 refs
High impact cover
Contents page incl. list of tables + figures
Don’t get into lots of detail about your
organisation too early ….
Literature review of the key elements of the
innovation process, including visuals. Confirm that
innovation is a complex process, that requires
capabilities across a range of themes.
Sets you up to refer to the literature as you review
your findings.
1400
18-40 refs
Say something (3-5 references) about each of
the 8 key elements of the simplified innovation
management process: Search; select;
implementation; value/business models;
innovation strategy; innovative organization;
linkages; learning
Reflect on how contexts are changing:
Sustainablity; digitalization; ecosystems
Methodology: so that the reader trusts your
research process –and the quality of your data –
and your recommendations.
200
1 ref:
John
Bessant
Benefits of a mixed qualitative + quantitative
approach
Guidance: Highlight key ideas + draw out some key messages +
recommendations about the theme for managers in your organisation
Section Words? Often Missed……
Findings: Explain what you found. Use infographics
and tables to draw attention to key aspects/areas
for focus.
500
No refs
Results to 1 or 2 decimal places
Comment at the high level: Strategy; processes;
organization; linkages; learning
Comment on outlier (high and low) results
Use quotes
Use a table to bring together what has been
learned from the research
Discussion: Compare your findings with what you
know about managing innovation from the module,
including references to the literature. Make
recommendations for future actions to improve
innovation management in the digital era.
1,500
Re-use
6-15 refs
from Lit
Review
Reflect on how context is changing the
organization’s priorities: Sustainablity;
digitalization; ecosystems
Compare the findings to internal documents –
and cite them
Recommendations: Delivered in a 5 columned table
works best
200
No refs
Timings; priorities; responsibilities; “Phase
1/Phase 2”; alignment of the recommendations
with the findings. Use colour
Report: + or – 10% words: 3,600 – 4,400 words
Guidance: Examples of Recommendation Tables
Be persuasive ………..Seek implementation
Example A
Recommendation Objective Specific actions Resource/Budget Owner
Example B
Focus area:
Strategy; Learning;
Linkages;
Processes;
Organization
Prioritized
recommendations
Rationale Next steps Resource
allocation
Decisions to
progress
Example D (weaker)
Area for improvement Recommended
improvement action
Next steps Priority
Example C
Challenges
identified
Prioritized
recommendations
Benefits in
prospect
Next steps Resource
allocation
Decisions to
progress
Executive Summary PPT (20% of marks)
• 10 slides
• Can repeat material from report
• Use notes function for detail
• References on slide 11 if needed
Useful References
Search: References
Alexy, O., & Dahlander, L. (2014). Managing Open Innovation. In M. Dodgson, D. M. Gann, & N.
Phillips (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management (pp. 442–461). OUP.
Baumann, O., & Siggelkow, N. (2013). Dealing with Complexity: Integrated vs. Chunky Search
Processes. Organization Science, 24(1), 116–132. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.0729
Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Know You Customers’ “ Jobs to Be
Done ”. Harvard Business Review, 94(9), 54–62.
Laursen, K. (2012). Keep searching and you’ll find : what do we know about variety creation
through firms’ search activities for innovation ? Industrial & Corporate Change, 21(5), 1181–

1220. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dts025
      Lopez-Vega, H., Tell, F., & Vanhaverbeke, W. (2016). Where and how to search? Search paths in open
      innovation. Research Policy, 45(1), 125–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2015.08.003
      McGrath, R. G. (2012). How the Growth Outliers Do It. Harvard Business Review, 90(1/2), 110–116.
      McGrath, R. G., & McManus, R. (2020). Discovery-Driven Digital Transformation. Harvard Business
      Review, 98 (3), 124–133.
      Search: Reference

Carry out research to assess the “Innovation Fitness” of Mastercard Inc. (or anypayments company you want), The 4,000 word report and summary 10 PowerPointslide presentation will analyse how well the organisation manages innovation inrapidly changing digital environments, and will include prioritised recommendationsto improve innovation performance

Carry out research to assess the “Innovation Fitness” of Mastercard Inc. (or any
payments company you want), The 4,000 word report and summary 10 PowerPoint
slide presentation will analyse how well the organisation manages innovation in
rapidly changing digital environments, and will include prioritised recommendations
to improve innovation performance
You will develop a report which covers key elements including:
• Introduction setting the overall context for the study
• Identifying and critically reviewing relevant literature
• Methodology, embedding core theories and material presented during the course
• Data analysis, developing your own critical analysis of the results
• Discussion section, drawing together key themes identified in the report and
recommendations for future actions to improve innovation management in the
digital era
Innovation Fitness Report

You must choose an answer for each MCQ. There is only ONE correctanswer to each question. If you choose more than one answer to aquestion, you will receive no marks for your choice.You must choose an answer for each MCQ and provide a short writtenjustification, including calculations, as needed, for your answer.The recommended word limit for Section A is approximately 700words.All questions carry equal marks – two marks per question: one markfor the answer and one mark for the justification

Answer ALL 20 questions in this section.
You must choose an answer for each MCQ. There is only ONE correct
answer to each question. If you choose more than one answer to a
question, you will receive no marks for your choice.
You must choose an answer for each MCQ and provide a short written
justification, including calculations, as needed, for your answer.
The recommended word limit for Section A is approximately 700
words.
All questions carry equal marks – two marks per question: one mark
for the answer and one mark for the justification (40 marks in
total).

1. The following statements have been made about life cycle costing.
2. Life cycle costing can be applied to products with a short
   life cycle.
3. Product life cycle costing is not well-suited for use within
   budgetary control systems.
   Which of the following statements is/are true?
   a. 1 only
   b. 2 only
   c. Neither 1 nor 2
   d. Both 1 and 2
   Examination
   © Pearson College London 2022 6
4. Product Alpha is made in a process where machine time is a
   bottleneck resource. Each unit requires 0.1 machine hours. The
   costs and selling price of product Alpha are as follows:
   Materials £6
   Labour £3
   Other factory costs £5
   Selling Price £15
   Using throughput accounting, what is the return per factory
   hour?
   a. £60
   b. £90
   c. £10
   d. £4
5. Given the following data has been established for product Beta, a
   new product in its design phase.

Product Beta target selling price £10 per unit
Target Profit 25% on cost
Current cost £8.40 per unit
What is the target cost gap for product Beta?
a. £0.40
b. £0.60
c. £0.90
d. £1.60

4. Paddington plc manufactures advanced cordless saws in a single
   factory. Each saw sells for £200 and the material costs £80 per unit.
   There is no limit to sales demand. Other production costs are
   £1,100,000 per year.
   Each saw requires the use of multiple machines of which, one
   machine is old and often breaks down. This means only 15,000
   saws can be produced per year.
   The factory is open for 50 weeks of the year and operates 40 hours
   a week.
   What is the throughput accounting ratio for Paddington plc’s
   factory?
   a. 1.32
   b. 1.53
   c. 1.64
   d. 2.19
5. Which of the following reasons would the choice of
   penetration pricing be suitable when establishing the price
   of a new product?
   a. To discourage new entrants to the market
   b. To increase the length of the initial stage of life cycle
   c. To ensure the product is as profitable as possible
   d. To set a price for the product to ensure it has a low elasticity
   of demand
6. A company is budgeting to sell 230,000 units of its product
   next year at a price of £15 per unit. Fixed costs will be
   £1,400,000 with variable costs of £8. What is the breakeven revenue and margin of safety in the budget?
   a. Break even £2,700,000, margin of safety 13%
   b. Break even £2,700,000, margin of safety 15%
   c. Break even £3,000,000, margin of safety 13%
   d. Break even £3,000,000, margin of safety 15%
7. The following budget data has been prepared for a company that
   manufactures four products
   Alpha Beta Gamma Delta
   Sales price per unit £9.00 £6.00 £4.00 £8.00
   Variable cost per unit £5.50 £4.00 £2.20 £4.00
   Budget sales units 20,000 25,000 50,000 12,500
   Direct labour hours
   per unit
   0.5 hr 0.25 hr 0.30 hr 0.8 hr
   The total number of direct labour hours available is 24,000 hours.
   Which products should it make and sell in the period?
   a. Alpha, Beta and Gamma
   b. Alpha, Beta and Delta
   c. Alpha and Beta only
   d. Alpha and Delta only
8. The main purpose of sensitivity analysis is to:
   a. predict the outcome of future events in an uncertain situation
   b. determine the worst possible outcome in a set situation
   c. understand how different assumptions and variables impact
   each other
   d. gain insight into how critical certain assumptions or variables
   are
9. Dig Ltd has been requested by a customer to help with some garden
   landscaping. The material which needs to be used and available
   information is as follows:
   Amount
   required
   Amount
   in stock
   Historic
   price per
   kg
   Current
   Price per
   kg
   Scrap
   Value per
   kg
   Cotswold stone 500 300 £12 £15 £5
   Green slate 200 200 £24 £20 £8
   The Cotswold stone is regularly used in projects by the company
   but the green slate is no longer used and has no alternative use.
   What is the relevant cost of material for this job?
   a. £5,200
   b. £8,400
   c. £9,100
   d. £10,800
   
10. A company is deciding which project to go ahead with from the
    following four mutually exclusive projects. The profit output
    depends on the strength of the economy.
    Strong
    economy
    Moderate
    economy
    Weak
    economy
    Project A £70,000 £10,000 (£7,000)
    Project B £40,000 £21,000 £5,000
    Project C £50,000 £20,000 (£6,000)
    Project D £25,000 £12,000 £5,000
    Probability of outlook 10% 40% 50%
    Which project offers the highest expected value?
    a. Project A
    b. Project B
    c. Project C
    d. Project D
11. Extracts from the flexible budgets of a manufacturing company are
    as follows.
    Quantity to produce 5,000 units 9,000 units
    Materials costs £50,000 £90,000
    Labour costs £55,000 £79,000
    Production costs £80,000 £80,000
    What would be the total expenditure incurred when 6,000
    units are produced?
    a. £259,000
    b. £248,000
    c. £230,000
    d. £233,000
12. The following statements have been made about zero based
    budgeting.
    (1) The zero-based budgeting process seeks to identify long term
    benefits and improvements, even if they are sometimes made
    at the expense of short-term profitability.
    (2) A restriction on the use of zero-based budgeting is that
    management do not always have the skills to apply it.
    Which of the above statements is/are true?
    a. 1 only
    b. 2 only
    c. Neither 1 nor 2
    d. Both 1 and 2
13. The following statements have been made about planning and
    operational variances.
    (1) No one may accept responsibility for planning variances.
    (2) It is usually easy to identify in retrospect what prices and
    quantities were, but not nearly so easy to identify what they
    should have been.
    Which of the above statements is/are true?
    a. 1 only
    b. 2 only
    c. Neither 1 nor 2
    d. Both 1 and 2
14. ‘Beyond Budgeting’ is considered an alternative to
    traditional budgeting as a result of criticisms of traditional
    budgeting. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of
    traditional budgeting?
    a. Budgets protect rather than reduce costs
    b. Budgets focus on sales targets rather than customer
    satisfaction
    c. Managers do not give budgeting enough of their time
    d. Budgets discourage innovation and initiative
15. Budget set up costs in a manufacturing department are £120,000.
    The following budgeted information is also available.
    Number of batches produced 40 batches
    Number of orders handled 200 orders
    Number of machine hours 8,000 machine hours
    Quantities of products produced 30,000 units
    In an activity-based costing system, what is likely to be the
    overhead recovery rate for set-up costs?
    a. £3,000 per batch
    b. £600 per order
    c. £15 per machine hour
    d. £4 per unit produced
16. Product quality or service quality is generally associated
    with which perspective of performance in a balanced
    scorecard?
    a. Customer perspective
    b. Financial perspective
    c. Innovation and learning perspective
    d. Operation perspective
17. In terms of performance measurement, ‘divisionalisation’
    refers to:
    a. The delegation of profit-making responsibility
    b. Incentives for improvement performance
    c. Return on investment
    d. Transfer pricing
    
18. Which ONE of the following measures of performance for
    public sector services is a measure of efficiency?
    a. Number of patients treated for £1 spent on hospital services
    b. Reduction in spending budget on government department
    compared with previous year
    c. Number of reported crimes that are solved by the police
    service
    d. Proportion of students in college achieving good pass grades
19. A divisionalised company has one division with the following
    performance details.
    per unit
    Selling price of products £154
    Variable Production costs £119
    Fixed Costs £160,000
    Sales 7,000 units
    Investment in the division £500,000
    The company uses 16% as its cost of capital.
    What is the residual income of the division?
    a. £85,000
    b. £5,000
    c. 17%
    d. 1%
20. The following are some areas which require control within a
    division.
    i. Creation of revenue
    ii. Purchase of Non-Current Assets
    iii. Apportioned head office costs
    iv. Spend on inventory and other working capital
    Which of the above would a manager within an investment
    centre have control over?
    a. i, ii, and iii only
    b. ii, iii and iv only
    c. i, ii and iv only
    d. All of the above

The assignment requires you to analyse data from Edinburgh’s JustEat bicycle hire scheme from January 2021. The data include trips with a duration of at least one minute, made during Just Eat Cycles’ regular opening times. This excludes cancelled trips and bikes moved by the JustEat team.

The assignment requires you to analyse data from Edinburgh’s JustEat bicycle hire scheme from January 2021. The data include trips with a duration of at least one minute, made during Just Eat Cycles’ regular opening times. This excludes cancelled trips and bikes moved by the JustEat team.

Variable definitions are given below:

The assignment requires you to carry out a series of tasks. All of the code used to answer the questions must be included with your assignment. You should also comment on the results you generate and explain to the reader what they show.

The assignment must be produced using R Markdown. You must submit both the .Rmd file and the knitted html file (a knitted Word of pdf file will also be acceptable). Note that the knitted output must contain the output of the code. Credit will not be given for code which does not produce anything. Outputs will not be produced by the marking team from your code. It is your responsibility to ensure that any plots, tables or other output displays correctly in the knitted output. Check which files you have submitted. Changes made to submissions after the deadline will be counted as late and will be subject to late penalties. You cannot claim at a later date you intended to submit something else. Whatever you submit will be marked and that will be the final grade.

Your name should not appear anywhere in the assignments. You may use your student number. Please save the file name as your student ID number and the title of the course (e.g. 1234567_URBAN5127.html).

All assignments must be written in English. Submissions not in English will be awarded a grade of H.

For more information about assessment at the University of Glasgow, please consult the Code of Assessment. You can read the university’s degree programme regulations here. Please also take time to familiarise yourself with the university’s policy on plagiarism.

You should spend time to make the output of your work presentable. For example, charts and tables should be properly labelled i.e., no raw variable names, labels which clash and so on. You should not go beyond 1,000 words in writing up your results. Code is not included in the word count.

Questions

1. Give summary statistics for the trip duration along with your interpretation of the results.
2. Plot the distribution of the trip duration.
3. Plot how many trips start at each of the 10 most popular stations for trips to start at.
4. Make a table showing the 10 most popular origin-destination pairs and the number of trips between them.
5. Plot the distribution of trip duration for each of the 10 most popular stations for trips to start at.

HOLDING PERIOD RETURN (HPR), ARITHMETIC AVERAGE RATE OF RETURN (AAR) ANDGEOMETRIC RATE OF RETURN (GAR). (12+12 MARKS)Select two companies from the list and download daily stock prices from 1 January 2020 to 28 February 2022from Eikon databases and save the data in an excel workbook. You must select a company from the list provided.Calculate the following in an Excel workbook and include this in the part of the business report, along with anexplanation of the method used

HOLDING PERIOD RETURN (HPR), ARITHMETIC AVERAGE RATE OF RETURN (AAR) AND
GEOMETRIC RATE OF RETURN (GAR).
Select two companies from the list and download daily stock prices from 1 January 2020 to 28 February 2022
from Eikon databases and save the data in an excel workbook. You must select a company from the list provided.
Calculate the following in an Excel workbook and include this in the part of the business report, along with an
explanation of the method used
a) Calculate daily HPRs using the closing prices for both companies during the specified period — plot these
results on a line graph(s).
b) Calculate the following summary statistics for the returns:
i. Variance and Standard Deviation
ii. Minimum and Maximum returns
c) Calculate the Arithmetic Average and Geometric Average returns for both companies. Comment on the
findings.
d) Assume you had a savings of $150,000. You had invested the money in your selected companies at the
beginning of the period. Calculate the number of shares you bought for each, given a brokerage fee of
10% of the investment capital (your savings) for every transaction (buying or selling).
Note: at this point of the assignment, assume that your investment ratio is 50:50.
QUESTION 2: DAILY VALUE AT RISK (VAR)
For the two companies selected in Question 1, for which daily stock prices (closing prices) were downloaded:
a) Calculate the daily 1% and 5% Parametric VaR (based on a normal distribution) along with 1% and 5%
Historical VaR for the time series returns for both stocks.
b) Considering your investment in both stocks – express the VaR calculated in (a) as Dollar-VaR and
compare the VaR for both stocks.
QUESTION 3: PORTFOLIO SELECTION
Use the daily stock returns calculated in Question 1 (and 2) for the two stocks and calculate the following:
a) Correlation and Covariance for the stock returns
b) Use various weight combinations to plot an efficient frontier.
c) Minimum Variance Portfolio weights for the portfolio with these two stocks.
Page | 5
QUESTION 4: THE CAPITAL ASSET PRICING MODEL (CAPM)
Download daily stock index values for ASX-All Ordinaries for the same period as for the two stocks in Question
1 and save the data in an excel workbook1
. Assume a risk-free rate of 1.10 % per annum 2
.
a) Calculate the value of for both stocks using regression analysis.
b) Plot the security characteristic line for both stocks.
c) Compare the level of market risk of both of your stocks while highlighting any significant factor(s)
responsible for the level of .
QUESTION-5: SINGLE INDEX PORTFOLIO RISK AND RETURN (SIM)
Use the Minimum Variance Portfolio asset weights and stock Market Beta (), Alpha () and Residual Variance
(

) to calculate the Portfolio Risk and Portfolio Return. You must use the portfolio risk and return calculation
method based on the Single Index Model (SIM).