Our identity is shaped by our family, friends, and the members of our community. It is also shaped by the books we have read and the stories we heard from our parents as well as our teachers. Likewise, places we have visited, the people we have met, the incidents that have happened in our lives, and the incidents we saw happen to others have shaped our identity.

Write a personal narrative drawing from your experiences of growing up. For example, you may recall significant life experiences or people or events from the past that matter personally to you. Since it is improbable and not necessary to recall every person and discuss every event, limit yourself to specific people and events that you think are important to you. You may focus on two major incidents that happened in in your life or during your younger years, events that you keep remembering and consider worth sharing. Take notes as you reflect on your past and present perspectives regarding the incidents you describe.

You may also describe one of the members of your family or a person you admire or have met. Write how you feel about them or how what happened to you has impacted you as an individual. Use vivid description to give people and events breadth and motion. Recall actual conversations that happened; if you can’t, make up ones that resemble the truth and describe your feelings about them in a way so that your readers can visualize the people and events you describe. The events you describe can be happy, embarrassing, or horrifying, but you will need to explore their significance to you. Remember, a strong personal essays uses opens in an appealing way, uses language in such a way that it wins the readers’ hearts, and leads its readers toward a sense of significance about the people or events described.

Length: 2 pages (double-spaced)

FONT : LENGTH (12)

TIMES NEW ROMAN

You need to find two business-related stories that contain an ethical dilemma. You will need to read through the business section of a newspaper or website. You should copy the link to the article, summarize the article in two or three sentences, and then write an ethical dilemma that someone in the story clearly had to make a decision about. Remember that the ethical dilemma needs to follow the formula of “Should business person X do Y?” . You can use stories from news outlets overseas or in the U.S. They can also be outlets that are related to a particular business or hobby that you are interested in for your future career.

This assignment comprises of two case studies.

• Case Study 1: Baidu: Beating Google at Its Game 
• Case Study 2: United Airlines 

Case Study 1: Baidu: Beating Google at Its Game

Read the case study located on page 16 of the section titled Case Studies in your textbook and prepare a 3- to 4-page report in a Microsoft Word document, based on the following situation:

At the conclusion of Baidu’s final strategic planning session, Robin Li (Cofounder, Chairman, and CEO) assigned you to prepare a written report and announcement that would be presented to the company’s shareholders and included in a public statement. The purpose of the report is to summarize the strategic direction for Baidu moving forward and to highlight key decisions made to exploit the company’s capabilities, address competitive realities, maximize performance, and secure a long-term position for the company.

Your report should address the following key strategic issues:

• Summarize Baidu’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
• Define the company’s strategic goals.
• Discuss the characteristics of Baidu’s competitive landscape and the need for strategic flexibility.
• Considering the company’s current situation, summarize the strategic direction Li has decided to pursue.
• Explain how this strategy will stand up against the competition and conditions in the industry.
• Discuss the uncertainties and risks of doing business in different regions throughout the world.
• Discuss the elements and objectives of Baidu’s cooperative strategy. What potential risks can interfere with achievement of immediate and long-term strategic goals? How should Baidu protect itself to sustain success?

Case Study 2: United Airlines

Read the case study located on page 421 of the section titled Case Studies in your textbook and prepare a 3- to 4-page report in a Microsoft Word document, based on the following situation. You could append this report to the report you prepared forCase study 1.

As the industry watches to see how United Airlines’ strategy performs against American Airlines’ strategy, management at United Airlines is anxiously monitoring market signs to determine its next competitive move. It has underestimated American Airlines in the past, and despite the fact that with billions of dollars invested and strategies that cannot be easily abandoned, United Airlines needs to be prepared to respond to changing industry needs as quickly as they are detected.

You have been asked to join a strategic planning discussion, and hoping to contribute to the meeting, you decide to take one more look at United Airlines’ situation to see if you can formulate some insight that could give the company an edge against American Airlines.

Your analysis should include the following elements:

• Compare the two competitor’s strategies. Based on your knowledge of the industry, what conclusions can you draw?
• Outline a rough competitor analysis. What does the level of interdependence between the rivals reveal about competitive behavior that can be expected from American Airlines?
• Evaluate the pros and cons of United Airlines outsourcing strategy. Do you agree with the company’s decision to offload parts production?
• Review United Airlines cooperative strategy. What are the risks of its partnership arrangements?
• Discuss the ways in which United Airlines can improve international strategy.
• Identify and describe some of the near-term and long-term results you anticipate in the airplane production industry.

Support your responses with examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.

Submission Details

Name your document SU_MGT4070_W3_A2_LastName_FirstInitial.doc.

Submit your document to the W3 Assignment 2 Dropbox by Tuesday, June 17, 2014.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Case Study 1: Baidu: Beating Google at Its Game
Summarized Baidu’s current SWOT.	10
Defined the company’s strategic goals.	10
Discussed the characteristics of Baidu’s competitive landscape and the need for strategic flexibility.	10
Summarized the strategic direction Li has decided to pursue keeping in mind the company’s current situation.	10
Explained how this strategy will stand up against the competition and conditions in the industry.	10
Discussed the uncertainties and risks of doing business in different regions throughout the world.	10
Discussed the elements and objectives of Baidu’s cooperative strategy. Also discussed the potential risks that can interfere with achievement of immediate and long-term strategic goals and how Baidu should protect itself to sustain success.	20
Case Study 2: United Airlines
Compared the two competitor’s strategies. In addition, discussed the conclusions that can be drawn based on your knowledge of the industry.	10
Outlined the competitor analysis. Revealed competitive behavior that can be expected from American Airlines based on the level of interdependence between the rivals.	20
Evaluated the pros and cons of United Airlines outsourcing strategy.	10
Reviewed United Airlines cooperative strategy and discussed the risks associated with its partnership arrangements.	20
Discussed the ways in which United Airlines’ international strategy can be improved.	10
Identified and described some of the near-term and long-term results anticipated in the airplane production industry.	10
Written Components.	40
Total:	200

please write like ” Hi i agree with your answer” and add some new information.

ANSWER 1

Chapter 13 Question 1

Describe the general characteristics of a futures contract. How does a

clearinghouse facilitate the trading of financial futures contracts?

A futures contract is a standardized agreement to deliver or receive a specified amount of a specified financial instrument at a specified price and date. The clearinghouse records all transactions and guarantees timely payments on futures contracts. This precludes the need for a purchaser of a futures contract to check the creditworthiness of the contract seller.

Chapter 14 Question 1

Describe the general differences between a call option and a futures contract.

A call option requires a premium above and beyond the price to be paid for the financial instrument, whereas a financial futures contract does not contain such a premium. In addition, the call option represents a right but not an obligation, whereas a futures contract represents an obligation.

ANSWER 2

Chapter 13

Question 15: Why would a pension fund or insurance company consider selling stock index futures?

The most common pension plan is a defined benefit plan. Employees receive a payment equal to a percentage of the average salary that they received over the last few years of employment with their employer. The formula, which includes years with the same company, sets the payment amount. A combination of employee and employer contributions fund benefits, with employers paying the largest share.

Index futures are futures contracts on a stock or financial index. For each index, there may be a different multiple for determining the price of the futures contract.

If a pension fund or insurance company anticipates a temporary decline in stock prices, it may attempt to hedge its stock portfolio by selling stock index futures.

Chapter 14

Question 10: Describe a put option on interest rate futures. How does it differ from selling a futures contract?

A put option is a contract that gives the owner a right, but not the obligation, to sell a stock at a predetermined price within a certain period. The seller of the futures contract (the party with a short position) agrees to sell the underlying commodity to the buyer at expiration at the fixed sales price. As time passes, the contract’s price changes relative to the fixed price at which the trade was initiated. This creates profits or losses for the trader.

A put option on interest rate futures provides the right to sell a specified interest rate futures contract that contains a specified price, and an owner of a put option on an interest rate futures contract allows one the right to sell the underlying instrument on the settlement date specified by the futures contract, if the put option on futures is exercised. but there is no obligation unless the put option on futures is exercised.

Overview

The 4-module SLP sequence for BUS599 requires that you run a simulation over an 18-year period, and that you analyze the outcome of the decisions you make at each decision point.

In this course, we will be using the MIT Solar Power Pricing Simulation.

Read the following introduction to the SunPower case:

The Industry Evolution Management Flight Simulator portrays the growth and competition of firms as an industry evolves. Playing the role of chief executive for one of the firms in the industry, you make key decisions involving pricing, investment and marketing in order to succeed in the marketplace.

This version of the simulator has been customized to portray the solar power industry, specifically SunPower and other manufacturers of photovoltaic panels (PVs). While historically the cost of electricity from PV panels has limited them to niche applications, there is massive potential for growth in the market if solar power could become a viable alternative to traditional sources of electricity.

In the simulator, your job is to maximize SunPower’s cumulative profit over a period of eighteen years. To do this, you make pricing and investment decisions each simulated time period.

As a young company with a new innovation, you will start the game with a technology that you hope stays proprietary. In theory you can reap the benefits of technological advancements from the rest of the industry while spreading your advancements to them.

In addition, you (or your administrator) have the option of setting several other competitive and market scenarios, including the sources and rates of learning, the strength of knowledge spillovers, entry of new competitors, and external incentives that help to drive consumers towards using solar power.

You will receive periodic reports including your income statement and industry data. You need to select your strategies based on those reports, your understanding of the underlying industry structure, and your best judgment about how your competitor and customers may respond.

Though the model has been carefully calibrated and tested, it is not designed to predict the future or exactly match the history and special circumstances of SunPower. Rather, it is used to illustrate competitive dynamics important not only in the photovoltaic panel industry but in other contexts you may face. Instead of merely “beating the game,” focus on understanding the underlying industry structure so you can develop robust, successful strategies.

*** Source: Sterman, J. (2014). Eclipsing the competition: The Solar PV industry simulation. Forio. Retrieved on November 23, 2014 from http://forio.com/simulation/solar-test/index.htm#p…

Be sure to review the SunPower case study, as it will provide you with background and context for the simulation: http://forio.com/simulation/solar-test/downloads/S…

Then, visit the simulation here:

http://forio.com/simulation/solar-test/index.htm#p…

At the landing page, click on “Play as an INDIVIDUAL.” Then, choose a Screen ID and click “Submit.”

Familiarize yourself with the simulation. This will require that you get an in-depth understanding of the terminology used in the simulation, as well as the pricing and cost structure of the product. As you begin this simulation (Year 1), your market share is only 2.40%. Your role with the company is to expand your company’s market share over the multi-year period of operations – while recognizing the highest possible cumulative profit. To do this, you must make favorable pricing decisions, and you must ensure that you are improving your product while simultaneously lowering unit costs. Product improvements are determined by the % of revenue allocated to process improvement (i.e., technological advancement = lower unit costs).

Should you need to brush up on financial analysis, the following presentation provides a very good overview of financial statement analysis:

http://vrpacioli.loyola.edu/ac102/chapter17/chapte…

In SLP2, you will again be provided the numbers to be input for each of four decision points. For purposes of SLP2, pricing will be more conservative (lower) than the pricing strategy reflected in the Module 1 SLP.

Assignment

Run the simulation, entering the following numbers at each of the four major decision points:

1) Decision 1: For Years 2008-2012

a) Pricing – Manual

b) Module Price – .13

c) Revenue to Process Improvement – 5%

d) Years to Advance – 5 years

2) Decision 2: For Years 2013-2017

a) Pricing – Manual

b) Module Price – .11

c) Revenue to Process Improvement – 5%

d) Years to Advance – 5 years

3) Decision 3: For Years 2018-2022

a) Pricing – Manual

b) Module Price – .09

c) Revenue to Process Improvement – 5%

d) Years to Advance – 5 years

4) Decision 4: For Years 2023-2025

a) Pricing – Manual

b) Module Price – .08

c) Revenue to Process Improvement – 5%

d) Years to Advance – To end

NOTE: Do not change the numbers displayed in the “Settings” tab!

At each of the four (4) decision points above, you are required to analyze the impact of your Module Price on market share and total profits. You are also required to determine how process improvements yield a reduction in unit costs. Be sure to copy tables and charts to support your analysis. You may need t use Excel to edit the charts and tables. However, do not use figures and tables as “space fillers” – use these only to support your analysis.

Keys to the Assignment

The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered and taken into account in preparing your 5-6 page paper include:

1. Include discussion and analysis of key metrics at the end of each decision point (e.g., among other data, be sure to include total market share, revenue, cumulative profit, consumer net price, modular price, unit cost, etc.). As an MBA, it is your job to identify cause and effect!
2. For each decision point, be sure to include comparative tables that include what you believe to be the most important data. Don’t merely recite the data, however – instead, analyze the data! As an MBA, what does it tell you?
3. Make recommendations. What would you have done differently as it relates to pricing, process improvement, or other?
4. Compare and contrast the pricing decisions made in SLP1 and SLP2. Give key metrics that demonstrate how the different pricing decisions have affected market share, cost to the customer, cost of goods sold, revenue, profits, etc., etc.

Be sure that you retain all SLP2 notes, tables, and figures, as you will be comparing the results of SLP2 with those of SLP3 in the next module.

**** NOTE: The 5-6 page requirement includes written analysis and all supporting tables, figures, and graphics. However, it does not include Cover or Reference page. Be sure to adhere to the TUI Writing Guide for formatting of all papers. If you are unsure how to complete a financial analysis, please review the following sample report:

Gilbert O’Neil Mushure. (2014). Financial analysis report: Malaysia airlines 2007 – 2011. International Journal of Sciences : Basic and Applied Research, 14 (2), 148-153.

Also refer to the following source on business writing:

O’Hara, C. (2014, November 20). How to improve your business writing. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/11/how-to-improve-your-busine…

SLP Assignment Expectations

Your paper will be evaluated based on the Rubric.

Please note the following tips and suggestions:

• Include a cover page and reference page, in addition to the 5-6 pages of analysis described above.
• Include headings for all papers greater than two pages (basically all papers), but do not use headings as “space fillers.”
• Cite and reference all sources that you use in your work, including those that you paraphrase. This means include citations and quotation marks for direct quotes of more than five words, and citations for that information which you have “borrowed” or paraphrased from other sources.

Hints for success!

Throughout this SLP, you will be asked to make business decisions under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty. To do so, you will need to make assumptions based on what you have learned throughout the MBA program about how markets operate. Thus, your strategies in approaching this decision need to rely on models, financial analysis, and theories from such classes as Economics, Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Strategy, and Quantitative Analysis. In addition, the simulation will give you some additional market information as you progress.

Be sure to explicitly draw on concepts and theories from the courses you have taken throughout the MBA program. That means you need to “think like an MBA” and use the financial data you are given. You will have to crunch some numbers and present your data analysis professionally by creating some simple tables, charts and graphs.