Identify the gap or existing challenge in the implementation of diversity and inclusion.
Training and Educating women in Maritime Industry
It is possible to increase the opportunities for women in maritime operations via education and skill in the field. Reform would be necessary to reduce the everyday biases experienced by female workers in the marine sector. There is little doubt that efforts to increase the number of women working in the maritime business are ongoing, despite the many obstacles. Shipping and seafaring have been more varied in race, class, and nationality from the beginning of marine travel (Doe, 2019). Sailors are employed by a broad range of private enterprises and organizations in the global market. The male gender still dominates the international marine community since many seafaring vocations are still reserved for males.
This may be done by increasing educational and training possibilities for women who want to work in marine operations. Discrimination against women in the maritime sector may be lessened by changing the business’s culture. Despite the rise in the percentage of female workers, initiatives to diversify the workforce may improve prospects for women in the shipping sector even further. In this highly specialized and worldwide business, sailors are employed by many organizations and individuals. Consequently, the international marine community is highly biased in favor of men, who occupy many maritime vocations (Arulnayagam, 2020). There is a lot of hope since more and more women are studying and training to be marine pilots, the people in charge of guiding ships at sea.
All the previous studies on shipping industry acknowledge that the industry lacks diversity and inclusion since it has been male dominated since the eighteenth century (Kitada, 2020), the literatures have not identified the factors that influence the perceptions diversity and inclusion in the shipping industry as well as the factors that hinder the implementation of diversity and inclusion in the industry. This research will determine the factors in order to fill the gap left by the previous studies on the study of maritime industry.
Project Objectives
The purpose of the research was to determine:
Factors influencing the perception of gender diversity and inclusion
Identify the gap or existing challenge in the implementation of diversity and inclusion.
Conduct qualitative and quantitative research at regional and management on the perception of gender diversity and inclusion within shipping organizations.
What are COVID-19 policies issued to contain the spread of the virus in the United States?
Introduction
COVID-19, the millennium’s main world health disaster, was first detected in Wuhan, China in December of 2019. Within three months, this highly infectious sickness had spread to practically every country on the planet. At the time of writing, COVID-19 instances have been documented in 235 countries, affecting over 35 million individuals worldwide and resulting in over one million deaths (Allain-Dupré et al., 2020). In some countries that have had evident success in managing earlier outbreaks, the number of cases is on the rise, and the number of infections is on the rise as well. To halt the spread of this deadly disease, governments throughout the world have been forced to implement draconian measures such as quarantines, lockdowns, social isolation, and movement limitations (McCartan et al., 2021). The consequences of the Conoronavirus and associated public health initiatives extend beyond psychological health by compromising people’s freedom to do and be. Because of these problems, evaluating personal consequences connected with well-being is challenging.
Studies have been conduced to investigate the consequences of COVID-19 policies such as lockdown, which resulted in closure of schools and businesses. McCartan et al. (2021)study found that COVID-19 prevention policies caused economic distress, which increased anxiety and depression among United States residents. The study found that about 6 to 10 percent of low income individuals expressed depression symptoms during lockdown period. Many ‘waves’ of COVID19 infections, hospitalizations, deaths, and limits and attempts to reduce transmission have occurred throughout 2020 and into 2021. Peaks in mental suffering have been linked to peaks in COVID19 mortality and eras when pandemic control efforts were most strict. During the early stages of the crisis, in March-April 2020, mental distress was very severe, before lessening dramatically in the European summer, corresponding with a drop in COVID19 cases and a loosening of the ‘lockdown (Allain-Dupré et al., 2020). The results indicated that anxiety and depression rates in 2020 were higher than in previous years when compared to pre-pandemic estimates.
Research Questions
⦁ What are COVID-19 policies issued to contain the spread of the virus in the United States?
⦁ What are effects of COVID-19 Lockdown Policies on people’s mental health and depression?
What is the relationship between reliability and customer satisfaction?
Relation between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Many researchers believe that customer satisfaction and quality perceptions are distinct because quality is an attitude, while quality is an emotional state (a transaction-specific measure). This explanation helps to clarify some of the differences between the definitions of satisfaction and quality. Although quality judgment is based on specific aspects, such as attributes or cues, the aspects that lead to satisfaction judgment can be unrelated to quality. Conversely, Osman and Sentosa (2013) assert that quality perceptions do not require a prior relationship with the provider or service; on the other hand, customer experience directly affects fulfillment. Although satisfaction is affected by many cognitive and emotional processes, Rust and Oliver indicate that quality has fewer conceptual precursors, but fulfillment is shaped by many cognitive and emotional processes. Defining service quality as “a judgment about a service’s overall excellence or superiority” assumes that only clients judge the quality (Schneider & White, 2004, p. 53). In 1997, Oliver defined satisfaction as “a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasure level of consumption-related fulfillment, including levels of under-or over-fulfillment” (cited in Slack and Singh, 2020, p. 545). Based on Oliver’s (1997) definition, satisfaction relates to judging how a particular service influences consumers’ emotional state and experience (cited in Slack and Singh, 2020). On the other hand, service quality is linked to judging service products and has no connection to an experimental process. While exploring the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, Slack and Singh (2020) introduce other concepts, such as customer perception and customer expectation. The authors assert that service quality is essential to customers’ perception since it antecedes customers’ satisfaction. Several scholars have postulated the definition of perception. In particular, Strydom et al. (2000) state that customer perception entails an organization’s process to receive, organize, and assign meaning to stimuli or information that customers detect using five senses, giving meaning to their surroundings. Hill et al. (2017) viewed perception as the outcome of multiple consumers’ observations, indicating that consumers perceive a given service in terms of quality and the level of satisfaction they can derive from them. Notably, perception is also a dynamic phenomenon capable of changing the receipt of many delivered services. Client perception influences service quality in terms of its impact on consumer behavior. Ajzen (2015) examined consumers’ behavioral changes using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The theory is the most cited by scholars to explain the behavioral change process. It explains the behavioral change in terms of the cognitive approach, centering on an individual’s beliefs and attitudes (Conner, 2020). Regarding customer satisfaction, the concept of customer perception becomes relevant; essentially, it concerns clients’ attitudes and the belief system that a given commodity or service will satisfy their needs or meet their expectations. Thus, Hill et al. (2017) state that organizations must target consumers’ behavioral change and, thus, make them prefer their service or product over those offered by the competition to change consumers. Dutta and Dutta (2009) assert that it is important for service providers to comprehend how their target clients perceive their services as of quality and embrace euphoric feelings. A firm can offer the best services but consumers’ perception matters; if consumers’ perception about them is negative regarding service quality, all the effort they put in will be in vain. Service providers are responsible for researching and understanding variables that impact customer perception, including satisfaction and quality. This enables a service provider to gain a more competitive edge. Several factors (internal and external) affect customers’ perception, such as social, cultural, economic, and psychological factors (Tyagi, 2018). As such, Tyagi (2018) indicates that these factors influence consumers’ buying behavior and how consumers perceive a service or product. Therefore, it is essential to measure consumers’ perception to evaluate customers’ future behavior depending on how they perceive a given product or service. Under the circumstance of the existence of a gap between expectation and perception in which perception is valued below expectation after comparing whether a service or product exceeds clients’ expectations, the outcome is dissatisfaction after receiving the service. Customer expectation describes consumers’ wants or desires. Consumers’ expectations determine what an organization offers. Mostly, customers’ expectations are different from what they expect from reality. The most important thing to remember is customers’ expectations rather than reality concerning service or product performance (Fida et al., 2020). In this regard, Williams (2000) indicates that consumers’ driving force is the need to satisfy their needs and expectation of excellent service. Thus, when a given service satisfies the majority of their wants and improves life’s quality, they will seek more services from a service provider. Rita et al. (2019) posit that customers often demand better and faster services and are thus loyal to that organization providing the greatest service. No enterprise survives without customer loyalty and satisfaction; similarly, no one can generate profits without satisfying customers’ needs.
Conclusion
Most of these studies showed that companies that focus more on service quality acquire many customers than their competitors and, thus, gain a greater competitive advantage. Applying valuable factors like service quality, customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction is necessary since they relate with each other. The findings from past research emphasize that when a firm improves its service quality; its customer satisfaction levels and customer loyalty are also elevated. However, some studies, like Supriyanto et al. (2021), mention that the findings of the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction are still confusing for the majority of scholars examining unpredictable variables that could affect the links among variables of these studies and service quality impact on customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. This paper adds to theoretical ideas surrounding the topic and contributes to developing companies operating in the service industry in regard to implementing programs targeting customer satisfaction. Particularly, the findings of studies highlighted in this paper as well as this paper’s conclusion offer valuable information regarding how service industry firms improve organization performance as well as empower their staff by providing them employment satisfaction, thus increasing their loyalty to their employment.
1.3 Conceptual Model
Several topics that were identified in the literature review were found to be relevant to the research paper. Among them are concept of service, customer satisfaction and service quality dimension. As seen in figure 1 each of these notions has a role to play in customers satisfaction, who are ultimately responsible for improving the service quality. The conceptual model that illustrates how the ideas that have been identified are related to one another:
1.4 Research Definition
The topic that has been highlighted for this research study on the service quality having an impact on the customer satisfaction. It will be discussed in this section the problem statement and related research questions in order to specify the precise area of focus for the study.
The following problem statement is fundamental to the research paper aiming to answer:
“Which service quality dimension has the greatest impact on customer satisfaction at Renaissance?”
⦁ What is the relationship between reliability and customer satisfaction?
⦁ What is the relationship between empathy and customer satisfaction?
⦁ What is the relationship between responsiveness and customer satisfaction?
⦁ What is the relationship between assurance and customer satisfaction?
⦁ What is the relationship between tangibles and customer satisfaction?
produce TWO Project Logs, which are designed to help you gradually build up a portfolio which can be used to evidence your innovative thinking, research and strategic decisions within the context of your innovation.
Word Limit – 4000 Words
You are required to produce TWO Project Logs, which are designed to help you gradually build up a portfolio which can be used to evidence your innovative thinking, research and strategic decisions within the context of your innovation.
Project Log 1 A short introduction to the market contexts within which you would like to base your project. For example: which sector/industry? what products/services? what kinds of problem/issue that consumers have with the existing products or services? Why are you personally interested in this?
Produce an introduction to your proposed innovation. Explain how you have use specific creative thinking technique(s) to generate your innovation idea.
Provide a clear explanation of how your innovation works. For a product innovation that involves the use of any technologies, explain the technologies involved supported by all the technical and schematic details. For a service innovation, explain service processes involved, if relevant, supported by all the technical details and schematics of technologies involved. Remember that you can attach the extra technical and schematic details, diagrams, sketching in the appendices.
Produce a literature-informed explanation of a blue ocean strategy that can be used to achieve a new value curve for your chosen industry/market. Illustrate your Blue Ocean strategy on the Strategic Canvas. Explain why you have chosen the value factors used in your strategic canvas. Consider how your strategy produces a genuine Blue Ocean strategy, and justify your decision.
Project Log 2 Using the Essential Reading on Business Model and Value Proposition, produce a literature-informed discussion on the business model of your proposed innovation. Consider and justify how your business model will involve innovative strategic decisions on:
Customer Segments
Customer Relationships
Exceptional Buyer Utility
Channels
Revenue Streams and Strategic Pricing
Key Resources
Key Activities
Key Partnership
Cost Structure
You are also required to submit all the typed-up completed planning templates, which you have been given hard copies in class and electronic copies on. You will attach these as appendices at the back of your portfolio.
To do well, you must demonstrate a deep understanding of the relevant academic concepts and apply them accurately in your work. You are strongly encouraged to incorporate as many relevant materials as possible which may include: chapters of books, journal articles, internet sources, statistics, newspaper articles, images, drawings, diagrams and anything that you find useful in your project.
Anything attached in the Appendices is NOT part of the word count.
Submission Instructions:
Please make sure that you Page Number your work accurately.
Save your work into two MS WORD files: (1) Two Project Logs; and (2) Appendices.
Systematically make informed judgements about how legislation and management practices can limit the economic and social impact of logistics operations.
Strategies for Sustainable Business Logistics
Length:
3,000 words
Submission Date:
Refer to the Assignments tab for details.
Assignment Brief
In this item of assessment you are required to submit an individual report in which you evaluate specific aspects of an industry in depth, reporting on the level of sustainability seen in the present day and making recommendations for future improvements.
For the January 2022 instance of the module, the industry under study is the ready-made garment industry: you can select any part of the supply network that produces garments, or footwear, or materials such as the fibres are made into garments. Your work will be a 3,000 word report, submitted via Canvas. This assignment is worth 40% of the total grade for the module.
Background:
The ready-made garment industry forms an important part of the economy of some nations. It’s a vast, global undertaking… but its operation has accompanied by concerns and even scandals. From factory disasters and sweatshop conditions to forced labour where cotton is grown; from toxic emissions to the wasteful practices of retailers and consumers… our consumption of garments has a significant impact on society and the natural world.
There is a need for a better understanding of the impacts resulting from the production of garments. Only when this is done on the basis of evidence and good science can policymakers decide upon what parts of the industry to promote, develop and subsidise – and which to tax and discourage.
Your job, in this assignment, is to choose any one part of the supply network for garments and conduct a quantitative analysis, putting this a report to share your findings. For your quantitative analysis, select an appropriate methodology such as measuring the water footprint, measuring the carbon footprint, etc. It is a key requirement of this assignment that you present original work in which you make calculations on the basis of evidence.
Additional Guidance:The garment industry as a whole is far too complex for meaningful analysis. Instead, you should focus your attention upon a single facet of the industry where you can offer insights. For example, you might choose to report on the production of fibres, on logistics operations, tanning or dyeing etc. …any aspect you like! Discuss your choice with your tutor if in doubt.
The aim is to produce a worked example, using reasonable assumptions, to assess the environmental harm arising from the production (or harvesting, or processing) of the item(s) you have chosen. This may be a calculation of contrbution to climate change, or some other quantifiable mode of harm such as water use, worker safety, toxic emissions etc.
You should provide an overview of the organisations (or types of organisation) that work in the supply network for your chosen item, define appropriate boundaries for your study and discuss the practices that take place, presenting evidence and reasoning such that you quantify the impacts of supply chain activities.
Conduct original analysis using appropriate tools and methodologies. You might, for example, apply a life cycle assessment methodology such as PAS2050, using published conversion factors as a basis for your calculations, e.g. estimating carbon footprint based on the weight of an item, the distance and the modes of transport employed. Use the academic literature to find additional evidence of quantified economic, environmental and/or social harm.
Having reported this information, propose and justify a new strategy for the supply network: ideally a creative solution that changes such factors as the business model, the configuration of the supply network or the specification of key products of services. Cite the sources that gave you information about the sector as a whole, and about your chosen commodity. Use evidence to construct reasoned arguments that lead to workable solutions.
A good piece of work will be attractively styled and logically structured, with a good standard of written English. If you are in any doubt about your writing skills, please take advice from the Skills TeamLinks to an external site..
Do not cut and paste phrases or paragraphs from published sources without citing your sources. You should seek to use your own words to explain concepts and theories, while acknowledging the work of other scholars.
Suggested Structure:
A recommended structure for your report follows. You can depart from these recommendations if you wish, but be sure to structure your report logically, and to cover all requested elements. Use numbered sections, with decimals for subsections.
Ideally, your report will include the following:
A brief Introduction to the report, stating its purpose. (Do not expend too many words on descriptive writing and context-setting – but be sure to justify the material or component that you have chosen to study.)
Application of a tool or methodology to evaluate the sources of harm arising within the supply network for your selected material or component type.
Interpretation and discussion of the results of your analysis.
Recommendations for how the supply network can be improved, reducing or eliminating the sources of harm that you have identified. Identify any policies that should be enacted to ensure compliance, perhaps by the companies purchasing the item(s) or by government.
Include a brief conclusion to the report.
Add a list of Harvard references. Ideally, you will have cited 15+ sources within the text. This section does not count towards your word limit for the assignment.
Module Learning Outcomes and Grading Descriptors Guidance
Addressing Module Learning Outcomes 3 & 4
This assignment tests whether you have achieved the learning outcomes of the module:
LO3 Systematically make informed judgements about how legislation and management practices can limit the economic and social impact of logistics operations.
LO4 Critically evaluate the sustainability of selected logistics operations from contemporary case studies and also through personal reflection.
Independently develop a research problem guided by gaps in existing knowledge and an organisational issue, and determine appropriate research strategies
Learning Outcomes Assessed by this Assignment:
- Independently develop a research problem guided by gaps in existing knowledge and an
organisational issue, and determine appropriate research strategies - Demonstrate critical rigour in analysis of literature and data by making effective use of
multiple and critical sources of data/information/knowledge - Derive new insights based on critical review of the literature and findings of management
and organisational practice - Operate at the interface between theory and practice to derive valid and reliable
conclusions - Demonstrate skills depending on research methods chosen but these can include:
interviewing, questionnaire design and administration, focus group management (including
diary management), project management, information search, text analysis, content
analysis, statistical techniques - Communicate the research outcomes in a manner that demonstrates clarity of
organisational thinking, logical argument and practical recommendations for further
research and for practice
Assignment Guidelines:
Your dissertation should include the following: - Title page – Please use the non-anonymous cover page on Aula
- Acknowledgement – This is your opportunity to thank people that supported you on the
course. - Abstract – This should not be more than 1 page. Your abstract should provide a summary
of your dissertation and should include a description of your research, how the research
was conducted, the main findings of the research and the overall implications of your
research findings - Table of Content – In addition to including all chapters, sections, sub-sections, it should also
include the list of figures, tables and abbreviations if any - Introduction chapter –This should include research question and your research aims and
objectives. In addition, this should include a clear justification of your research in the
context of the literature. You should clearly answer the question, Why is it important to
conduct the research? The justification should be clearly argued on the bases of theory (the
literature) and business. - Literature review chapter – This should be a critical and very comprehensive review of
relevant, current literature with a focus on your research aim and objectives. This will
inform the questions in your questionnaire and interview guide. - Methodology chapter (refer to Research Onion in Saunders et al, 2016) – Research
design relates to the research opinion (philosophies, approaches, strategies, choices, time
horizon). You are expected to make strong justifications in support of your chosen research
design. Data collection relates to the last phase of the research onion (techniques and
procedures). Identify how specifically the data will be collected (i.e. questionnaire, focus
group, etc…). You are expected to provide the advantages and disadvantages of the various
data collection methods and select the most appropriate data collection method(s). Your
chosen method Research design and Data collection must clearly align to your research aim
and objectives. If secondary data collection is used: where it is collected, a description of
variables (sample) used in the analysis and the econometric model if any, needs to be
clearly discussed and justified with supporting references. Where primary data is
conducted, a copy of your questionnaire or semi/unstructured interview questions should
be presented as part of the appendices. The sample need to be clearly justified with
supporting references. Your ethics certificate MUST be added to the appendices, ethics
must be approved before collecting primary data. - Findings chapter – This chapter presents the results of the analyses, usually in order by
research question, and any results of further analyses (that is, analyses that were not
proposed but which were carried out).The data should be clearly presented in tables and
charts if it’s a quantitative study and direct quotes if it’s a qualitative study. - Discussion chapter – this is where the findings should be clearly discussed in the context of
the literature review and research objectives. Discuss the implications of the results by
aligning your results with supporting theoretical arguments and very relevant current
literature findings already discussed in your literature review chapter. You should clearly
answer the question, did your findings provide support or vary from existing theoretical
arguments? In addition, recommendations, the limitations of the study and implications
for further research should be discussed. - Reference list – Make sure you follow the APA Referencing Style
- Appendices – This should include the research instruments like questionnaire and interview
guide. It should also include your ethics certificate and meeting diary. In some cases a sample of
your interview transcript can be needed
Layout
Your work should be a word document in accordance with the following:
Font style, Arial, font size 12
1.5 line spacing.
The page orientation should be ‘portrait’
Margins on both sides of the page should be no less than 2.5 cm
Pages should be numbered
You should use a fully completed non-anonymous cover sheet
Week 11 Presentation:
You are required to deliver a 20 minutes presentation of your dissertation. Your supervisor will have
an additional 10 minutes to ask you questions on your presentation. You should refer to the slides
on the ‘Guidelines of Week 11 Presentations’ on Moodle for more details on the presentation
The objectives of your Week 11 presentation are to demonstrate: - Your experience as an independent learner and the research and work you have carried out
to produce your Dissertation. - Your research aim and objectives, a summary of your literature, your analysis, findings and
conclusions of the work you have carried out and how you have evidenced this in your
Dissertation. - Your ability to answer questions from your supervisor on the content, facts or figures used
in your Dissertation.
Acknowledge limitations, identify shortcomings in your approach demonstrating awareness of the methodological processes and identifying how you might improve the approach taken if the work was to be repeated.
Results (1000) Identify emerging themes from the results of each study.
Remember to Summarise and synthesise:
➢ Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole – think ‘themes’ (you could use a table here to help you if you wish).
• Analyse and interpret:
➢ Don’t just paraphrase the authors – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of the findings in relation to the literature as a whole.
• Critically evaluate:
➢ Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources.
• Write in well-structured paragraphs:
➢ Use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections,
comparisons and contrasts.
The results should then inform your discussion
The ‘Discussion’ (approx. 1800 words)
• Your review aims to inform practice so this section should be the
‘so what?’.
• Address the issues identified in the Introduction and literature
review/background.
• You must pull the whole review together in this section and NOT
simply re-state what you have said previously. Relate back to
what was known at the outset and what you know now.
• Explain unexpected findings and results that do not support the
commonly held beliefs.
• Use ‘narrative synthesis’.
• Don’t go off topic – answer your research question!
The ‘Conclusion’ (approx. 300 words)
• The summing up of your review.
• Needs to be succinct and not include any new information!
• Should provide a summary of the key points.
The ‘Recommendations’ (approx. 300
words)
• Are there any clear recommendations for practice?
• Is there any need for further research, and what type e.g. RCTs?
• Acknowledge limitations, identify shortcomings in your approach
demonstrating awareness of the methodological processes and
identifying how you might improve the approach taken if the work was to be repeated.
Advise the US subsidiary of Greenfields plc on the hedging strategy that should be adopted for the contract with Palermo Plc based on your analysis.
Instructions for completion and submission of written assignment
Students should answer all the questions included in the coursework. Marks distribution is provided below;
This assessment is worth 70% of the marks for the module;
You must submit your assessment electronically on MyBeckett using the Turnitin icon;
The word count is 3,500 words. There is a tolerance of 10% as per school policy. Marks will be deducted if report wordcount is outside this limit
Words included in the bibliography are not included in the word count;
You should only use Harvard referencing;
Any websites referred to must be properly referenced;
Coursework Brief:
Background to case study
Greenfields plc is a multinational company based in the UK. The company specialises in farm equipment including tractors, ploughs, seed drills, harvesters, balers, etc. Greenfields plc has subsidiaries in various countries and territories including Jifi, Camaija, USA, Italy, etc. The company operates a centralised treasury management system from London.
Part A:
The subsidiary in Jifi produces Tech-Plough. Annually it produces 800 units and sells all of them to the subsidiary in Camaija for £10,000 each. It incurs variable costs of £5,000 for each unit and total annual fixed costs of £400,000. The subsidiary in Camaija builds additional functionality to Tech-Plough to make Tech-Plough Plus. The company incurs variable costs of £8,000 each and annual fixed costs of £450,000. It then sells all the units of Tech-Plough Plus to customers in Camaija at £30,000 each.
Corporation tax in Jifi is 40% with a withholding tax on dividends of 6%. Corporation tax in Camaija is 20% with no withholding tax. Camaija, however, imposes an import duty of 5% on Tech-Plough. Greenfields plc is liable to UK Corporation tax at the rate of 25%. A double taxation agreement exists for both countries whereby credits are given for overseas taxation against UK taxation. Any unrelieved credits from any individual income streams can be offset against other overseas income.
Both companies remit all profits in the form of dividends to the UK.
It has been suggested that the Jifi subsidiary should reduce its selling price to £8,000. It is argued that the Jifi company can charge the Camaija company whatever it chooses as all its products are sold to the Camaija company. This would be an effective way, therefore, of reducing Greenfield plc’s global tax bill.
You may ignore any foreign exchange implications.
Required:
A1) Calculate the combined tax bill of Greenfields plc and its subsidiaries in Jifi and Camaija for the current prices. (10 marks)
A2) Calculate the combined tax bill for the proposed prices. (8 marks)
A3) Evaluate the effect of the change in prices on Greenfield plc’s global tax bill and explain the logic underlying the suggestion. (7 marks)
A4) Explain whether or not Greenfields plc is likely to succeed in its tactic of reducing the tax bill using the transfer price to the Camaija subsidiary. (10 marks)
Marks for Part A: 35
Part B
On 1st March 2022, the US subsidiary of Greenfields plc signed a contract to sell two batches of seed drills to Jordanian company Palermo Plc for JD12,000,000, with JD7,000,000 payable on 1st June 2022 and JD5,000,000 on 1st September 2022. The US subsidiary’s director of finance now wonders if the company should hedge against a reversal of the recent trend of the Jordanian Dinar. The current spot rate is $1.10/JD.
The US subsidiary has three hedging alternatives available:
a) Hedge in the forward market. The 3-month forward exchange quote is $1.1060/JD, the 6-month quote was $1.1130/JD, the 9-month quote was $1.1134/JD, and the 12-month quote was $1.1138/JD.
b) Hedge in the money market. The company could borrow Jordanian Dinars from the Munich branch of Deutsche Bank at 8%
c) Hedge with foreign currency options. June put options are available at a strike price of $1.13/JD for a premium of 2% per contract and September put options are available for the same strike price of $1.13/JD at a premium of 1.2%. June call options are available at strike price of $1.1000/JD for a premium of 3% per contract, September call options are available at strike price of $1.1000/JD for a premium of 2.6%.
The US subsidiary has a cost of capital of 12%.
Required:
B1) Indicate the factors that influence changes in exchange rates between currencies. Describe a theory to estimate future spot rates. (5 marks)
B2) Calculate the expected US$ value of the contract based on:
Forward contract (5 marks)
Money market hedge (10 marks)
Foreign currency options (10 marks)
B3) Advise the US subsidiary of Greenfields plc on the hedging strategy that should be adopted for the contract with Palermo Plc based on your analysis.
(5 marks)
Marks for part B 35
Part C
There has been a political shift in the UK where Greenfields plc is headquartered. This has new implications for Greenfields plc, in terms of changes to regulations on trade tariffs including additional compliance requirements. New regulations will come into effect from 1st January 2023 at 00:01 hours.
Tractors manufactured in Greenfields plc’s subsidiary in Italy have the biggest market in the UK. New regulations and import tariffs will mean an additional import cost of £3,500 per tractor (annual estimate: £10million) imported from the subsidiary in Italy to the UK. There is also an additional requirement to obtain import certification along with having to pay a processing fee of £200 per consignment of tractors. Besides this, there is also a possibility of administrative delays in obtaining import certificates.
Required:
C1) Prepare a report on behalf of the general manager for central treasure of Greenfields plc in London with recommendations to address:
The new import tariff implications (15 marks)
Processing fees and possible administrative delays in obtaining import certificates (5 marks)
Total for part C 20
Discuss your findings within the context of existing literature and other evidence. Was there a consensus within the findings or was an overall effect/picture difficult to assess?
Assessment Specification
This dissertation requires you to complete a systematic review of literature; you will need to produce a systematic and critical review of empirical studies focussed on a chosen topic area.
Dissertation: Suggested structure for your systematic review
Below you will find some general guidance on how to format your systematic review for the dissertation.
• There will be variations in how you present your dissertation work, this will depend
on the type of review – e.g. quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods review.
• You should also refer to relevant guidance on the conduct or reporting of your type
of review to determine whether adaptations are necessary
• It would be wise to read some published systematic reviews in areas aligned to
your review to determine if there are any templates that may help you with presenting your work.
These guidelines have been developed using the preferred reporting items for systematic
reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA statement) (Moher et al., 2009).
Title:
You should clearly state the type of review that you are doing (i.e. systematic review) and the focus of the review. The focus of the review should be specified according to the framework used to structure your research question e.g. PICO or PEO etc.
- PICOS is an acronym for a standard minimum set of descriptors employed in Cochrane reviews covering: Population; Intervention; Comparison; Outcome; Study design.
Abstract (awarded as part of overall presentation):
It is recommended to write this after you have completed the rest of your dissertation. The abstract should be structured, and should provide the following information:
- Background: provide a brief background with reference to review objectives
- Methods: refer to data sources, study eligibility, study appraisal and synthesis
methods - Results: include a brief summary of the synthesised results
- Conclusions and implications: Include a brief conclusion with implications for
practice and research.
Typically abstracts are between 300 and 500 words in length i.e. usually not more than one
A4 page .
Each chapter below should contain a brief (2-3 sentences) introduction (at the beginning) and summary (at the end) and be structured using subheadings to signpost
the reader.
Introduction (15%):
You should provide some broad context to the topic area, who does it impact? (Including some statistics would be helpful here) and why this is an important topic (some reference to contemporary policy is important).
You should also include some reference to what we currently know about the topic area (i.e. what is the current evidence base?). You may refer to a systematic review in a closely aligned area and state how your review will differ.
Overall: You should describe the rationale for the review in the context of what is already known.
It is important that you explicitly state the research question that your review will address with reference to a framework (e.g. PEO – population, exposure, outcome or PICO – participants, interventions, comparisons, outcomes.).
It is also important that you clearly articulate the aims and objectives of the literature review. Remember objectives are smaller bite size versions of the aim.
Methods (20%):
The purpose of this section (covering search strategy, eligibility criteria, study selection, data collection, critical appraisal and synthesis on the marking rubric) is to provide
sufficient detail to the reader to enable another researcher to replicate the review process. This section will be tailored to the type of review (i.e. qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods) you are conducting.
It is important that you also demonstrate understanding of the systematic review process by including some justification for your decisions. It is useful to refer to a recognised systematic review methodology during this chapter e.g. Cochrane or JBI or CEBM to help guide the process.
You will need to describe the search strategy, including the methods used to identify relevant primary studies, extract relevant information, assess the quality of the identified studies, and synthesize the findings. This list is not intended to be exhaustive and should be adapted according to the type of review you are reporting.
Your methods section will include sub-sections such as:
▪ Eligibility criteria – Specify study characteristics (such as PICO or PEO, length of
follow-up) and report characteristics (such as years considered, language, publication
status) used as criteria for eligibility. You will need to give a rationale for each with
some references.
▪ Information sources – Describe all information sources employed in the search (such as databases used with dates of coverage) and the date last searched with justification for decisions about the data sources and time coverage.
▪ Search strategy – Present your full electronic search strategy for at least one database, including any limits used, such that it could be repeated. This search can be
included in the appendices and referred to. In the main body of the text include explicit reference in the concepts searched (it may be helpful to include this in a table format, see formative assignment guidelines and should include the use of truncation/wildcards, phrase searching and the use of Boolean operators).
▪ Study selection – State the process for selecting studies (i.e. how were the inclusion and exclusion criteria applied to each study).
▪ Data extraction process – Describe the method of data extraction from reports. What was included in the standardized data extraction forms?
▪ Quality Assessment: – Describe methods used for assessing the quality of the studies and how this information will be used in the data synthesis. What type of critical appraisal tool did you use? And what is the rationale for using the chosen tool?
▪ Synthesis of results – Describe the methods of handling data and combining results of studies (e.g. vote count procedure; meta-analysis; thematic synthesis; meta- ethnography). For all types of review you should provide sufficient detail to allow another researcher to replicate the procedure. A rationale should be provided for the approach you have chosen (you should not include the findings of studies in this section – this is about how you will manage/present the findings in the next chapter).
Results (30%):
This section will need to be adapted according to the reporting requirements for the type of review. Most studies will include the following sections:
▪ Study selection – All reviews should include a flow diagram of study selection
(templates are available for this – PRISMA). The flow diagram should include four
main stages (identification, screening; eligibility and number of included studies). The
number of exclusions, and reasons for exclusion, should be reported as a minimum at
the full-text stage.
▪ Study characteristics – This should present relevant characteristics for which data
were extracted (such as study size, PICO, follow-up period). For example, you may
have studies from different countries or that used different study designs. It is
important that this information is reported alongside the citations. This should be a
short paragraph and should refer the reader to a summary table.
▪ Tabulated results of individual studies – For each included study present summary data in relation to the outcomes of interest or the themes identified together with any additional information required to appropriately interpret the data for each study. This should be presented in a table format. You may however make use of several tables to present your results if this seems logical.
▪ Quality assessment of individual studies – Any assessment of the quality or rigour of the primary studies should be described.
▪ Synthesis of results – Present the synthesised interpretation of the results according to the methods described in your methods chapter across all included studies and
offer some assessment of the magnitude, accuracy, consistency and coherence of the findings. For this part of the dissertation you will be summarising direction/commonalities/differences across studies (qualitatively or quantitatively).
Discussion, conclusions and recommendations (25%):
This section is usually broken down into the following subsections:
• Briefly refer back to your aim(s): Reintroduce the aim of the review and how you
have met this by undertaking the work you have presented.
• Summary of evidence – Summarise the main findings including the strength of
evidence (consider the use of GRADE or GRADE CERQual if appropriate) for each
main outcome or theme (or other substantive finding). Provide an initial
representative overview of the findings.
• Critical Discussion – Discuss your findings within the context of existing literature and
other evidence. Was there a consensus within the findings or was an overall
effect/picture difficult to assess? Were there any contradictory findings, why may this
have been so?
• Strengths and Limitations – Discuss the strengths and limitations of your review.
Highlight methodological limitations of the study design, and at the outcome level
(e.g. risk of bias; difficult comparing outcomes/ data across the identified studies).
Include a critique of the limitations at review level (such as incomplete retrieval of
identified research; reporting bias; weaknesses of the primary literature; lack of
inter-rater reliability checks).
• Implications- Provide an overall interpretation of the results in the context of other evidence, taking into account the limitations of the study, and present implications or recommendations for future research, practice, policy and/or education.
The word limit for this piece of work is 10,000 words (+/- 10%). Pass Mark
The pass mark for this assessment is 50%.
Marking Criteria
This piece of work will not be marked anonymously due to the supervisory requirement for this assessment. Please find the marking criteria on Moodle (Dissertation – Systematic Review Marking Rubric). They are descriptors, based on the module learning outcomes, of the skills, knowledge or attributes you need to demonstrate in order to complete this assessment successfully. Your feedback will be based on them
Advise Adam on the strength of the claim by ‘Elite Computers Ltd’, with detailed explanation of the relevant legal principles.
Company Law Coursework [MAIN] 2022
Adam has worked for 10 years for ‘Elite Computers Ltd’, a company which installs and manages complex IT networks for large companies. During his time with the firm, Adam has gained access to both the company’s client list and also many of the confidential processes which give the company an advantage over its competitors. For this reason, as part of his contract of employment, Adam has agreed not to set up in competition with ‘Elite Computers Ltd’ for a period of five years should he leave the company. After a row with his manager, Adam resigns and works out that he could make a good living if he could take 10% of the clients of ‘Elite Computers Ltd’ with him. To this end he has incorporated a company, ‘Adam IT Ltd’ and sent a mailshot to all of his former clients offering to undercut their existing contracts with ‘Elite Computers Ltd’. Solicitors for his former employers have contacted him to remind him of his agreement not to compete, but Adam has argue that it is the new company ‘Adam IT Ltd’, not him personally, which is competing with ‘Elite Computers Ltd’.
Together with Adam, there are two other shareholders in ‘Adam IT Ltd’. They are Adam’s brothers, Tim and Donald. Each owns 33% of the shares and all act as directors of the company. Donald has found himself increasingly isolated from decision making within the company. Adam and Tim make the decisions and, because they each own a third of the shares, they are able to outvote Donald, whom they generally ignore. Donald has decided that he has had enough and wants to leave the company, taking advantage of a provision in the articles of association which requires the remaining shareholders to purchase the shares of any member who wishes to sell. Donald has approached Adam and Tim to buy his shares, but they have told him to ‘get lost’.
The company has failed to make much profit over the past year and, in January, the accountant warns Adam that the business will be technically insolvent by June if it has not secured orders worth £100,000. When June comes, Adam realises that he has only made £25,000.Without telling Tim and Donald, Adam decides to ‘soldier on’.
Questions (NB all questions carry equal marks)
Advise Adam on the strength of the claim by ‘Elite Computers Ltd’, with detailed explanation of the relevant legal principles.
Advise Donald as to the remedies available to him if he still wishes to leave the company, with detailed explanation of the relevant legal principles.
Advise Adam, Tim and Donald of the significance of Adam’s decision to ‘soldier on’, with detailed explanation of the relevant legal principles.
Note that your answers should set out the relevant legal principles SUPPORTED BY RELEVANT PROVISIONS AND CASES and offer advice to the parties.
