From the below, choose a question that you can best relate to and/or ideally one that is most relevant to your site. Respond to one question making sure to draw strongly on the content from both chapters assigned for this week to make explicit, informed, and relevant connections between your reflection and the text.

Please ensure that your initial post is at least 500 words.

Questions:

1. Thinking of issues raised in chapter 8, what tools are in your personal toolkit that you have used in past employment or internships that you have been successfully using this time? Which of your personal tools have not been useful this time around? Where are the places you need to add to your “strengths toolbox”?
2. What are the challenges with practicing critical reflection? What metacognitive processes do not come naturally to you? Insights covered in chapter 8 will come handy as you respond.
3. How has reading chapter 9 made a difference in the way you think about communities, the public relevance of the work of the organization, and the social obligations of the professionals to them? How has reading this chapter affected your perspective of the site and its social contract with the community? How has it affected your understanding of civic professionalism and the use of practical reasoning by its professionals?
4. What are the challenges of analyzing organizations using the various system lenses and frames discussed in chapter 9?

Complete Problems 1–4 evaluating optimal capital structure and the financial health of a firm. You may solve the problems algebraically, or you may use a financial calculator or an Excel spreadsheet. In addition to your solution to each computational problem, you must show the supporting work leading to your solution to receive credit for your answer. Note the following:

• You may need an HP 10B II business calculator.
• You may use Word or Excel, but you will find Excel to be most helpful for creating spreadsheets.
• If you choose to solve the problems algebraically, be sure to show your computations.
• If you use a financial calculator, show your input values.
• If you use an Excel spreadsheet, show your input values and formulas.

Problem 1: Optimal Capital Structure

XYZ Inc. is setting its target capital structure. The CFO of XYZ Inc. believes that the optimal debt-to-capital ratio is between 25 percent and 60 percent. Her staff derived following the projections. Various debt levels were considered.

Debt/Capital Ratio Projected EPS Projected Stock Price

Dept/Capital Ratio	Projected EPS	Projected Stock Price
25%	$4.20	$40.00
35%	$4.45	$41.50
45%	$4.75	$41.25
60%	$4.50	$40.59

Assuming that the firm uses only debt and common equity, what is XYZ’s optimal capital structure? At what debt-to-capital ratio is the company’s WACC minimized?

Problem 2: Break-Even Analysis

XYZ Inc. sells photoframes for $20 each. The fixed costs are $60,000, and variable costs are $7 per photoframe.

1. What is the firm’s gain or loss at sales of 6,000 photoframes? At 15,000 photoframes?
2. How would the break-even point be affected if the selling price was raised to $25? How is this analysis significant?
3. If the selling price was raised to $25 but variable costs rose to $13 a unit, what would happen to the break-even point?

Problem 3: WACC and Optimal Capital Structure

This problem is easiest to complete in Excel. Structure consists of only debt and common equity. XYZ’s finance department staff created the following table showing the firm’s debt cost at different debt levels:

Debt-to-Capital Ratio	Equity-to-Capital Ratio	Debt-to-Equity Ratio	Bond Rating	Before-Tax Cost of Debt
0.0	1.0	0.00	A	6.0%
0.2	0.8	0.25	BBB	7.0%
0.4	0.6	0.67	BB	9.0%
0.6	0.4	1.50	C	11.0%
0.8	0.2	4.00	D	14.0%

XYZ uses the CAPM to estimate its cost of common equity and estimates that the risk-free rate is 4 percent, the market risk premium is 7 percent, and its tax rate is 35 percent. XYZ estimates that if it had no debt, its “unlevered” beta would be 1.5.

1. What would be its WACC at the optimal capital structure? What would the firm’s optimal capital structure be?
2. If XYZ’s managers anticipate that the company’s business risk will increase in the future, what effect would this likely have on the firm’s target capital structure?
3. If Congress were to dramatically increase the corporate tax rate, what effect would this likely have on XYZ’s target capital structure?

Problem 4: Cost of Trade Credit and Bank Loan

XYZ Inc. buys $10 million of materials (net of discounts) on terms of 3/5, net 60, and it currently pays on the 5th day and takes discounts. XYZ plans to expand, which will mean additional financing.

1. If XYZ decides to forgo discounts, could it obtain much additional credit?
2. What would be the nominal and effective cost of that credit?
3. What would be the effective cost of the bank loan if the company could get the funds from a bank at a rate of 8 percent and if the interest was paid monthly? All of this should be based on a 365-day year.
4. Should XYZ use bank debt or additional trade credit? Explain.

Writing Assignment #1

Critical Annotated Bibliography of Five Sources

Summary of assignment

• Task: In this assignment you will write a list of at least 5 sources in alphabetical order in APA format.In addition, each reference will be followed by a short analytical summary of 150-200 words.At the end of the short summary, you will include a sentence or two that critically analyzes the source and that mentions distinctive features about the article and why it may or may not be useful for you in pursuing more research.
• Length:each annotation should be 150-200 words
• Format: APA

Strategies in Selecting a Topic for your Annotated Bibliography

You may select a topic of your choice. However, when selecting a topic, keep in mind that it should be a topic on which a number of studies or scholarly articles have been published.

Examples of topics students have chosen in the past or that would be workable for this assignment are the following:

• The impact of the Internet on research methods of students and plagiarism in student papers
• The impact of The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act on primary school education
• The impact of mobile devices on cybersecurity

Overall, in considering a topic, you might consider your major, topics that will be covered in future classes you plan to take at UMUC, and your interests.

For example, please examine the following ideas:

• If your major is criminal justice, you might consider researching criminal behavior among homeless individuals, criminal behavior among youth, society’s perception of law enforcement, etc.
• If your major is psychology, you might consider researching counseling strategies, consumer behavior in online shopping, decision-making in upper-management positions, etc.
• If your major is history, you might consider researching theories on the Civil War, studies on labor patterns in the United States, an aspect of military history, etc.
• If your major is social science, you might consider researching community responses to health care threats, co-parenting patterns after divorce, etc.
• If your major is graphic communication, you might consider researching different categories of graphic communication technology, trends in graphic communication through the years, etc.

Whatever topic you consider, keep in mind that it should be a topic on which a number of studies or scholarly articles have been published.

Approach

This assignment will be an analytical/critical/ annotated bibliography.The difference between the descriptive/informative annotated bibliography and the analytical/critical annotated bibliography is explained in the Below Transcript:

Transcript

You have just been given an assignment to write an annotated bibliography. Before you begin, you need to know what exactly an annotated bibliography is and how to get started.

FIRST, WHAT IS AN ANNOTATION?

An annotation is more than just a brief summary of an article, book, Web site or other type of publication. An annotation should give enough information to make a reader decide whether to read the complete work. In other words, if the reader were exploring the same topic as you, is this material useful and if so, why?

HOW IS AN ANNOTATION DIFFERENT FROM AN ABSTRACT?

While an abstract also summarizes an article, book, Web site or other type of publication, it is purely descriptive. Although annotations can be descriptive, they also include distinctive features about an item. Annotations can be evaluative and critical as we will see when we look at the two major types of annotations.

WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a pparagraph length annotation, usually 100–200 words in length.

Depending on the assignment, an annotated bibliography might have different purposes:

• Provide a literature review on a particular subject
• Help to formulate a thesis on a subject
• Demonstrate the research you have performed on a particular subject
• Provide examples of major sources of information available on a topic
• Describe items that other researchers may find of interest on a topic

TYPES OF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES

There are two major types of annotated bibliographies:

1. Descriptive or informative
2. Analytical or critical

Descriptive or informative

A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source as does an abstract, it describes why the source is useful for researching a particular topic or question, its distinctive features. In addition, it describes the author’s main arguments and conclusions without evaluating what the author says or concludes.

For example:

Breeding evil. (2005, August 6). Economist, 376(8438), 9. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com

This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video games and the effect they have on people who use them. The author points out that skepticism of new media have gone back to the time of the ancient Greeks, so this controversy surrounding video games is nothing new. The article also points out that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of generations not understanding one another, rather than of the games themselves. As the youth of today grow older, the controversy will die out, according to the author. The author of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses the good gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is distinctive in exploring the controversy surrounding video games from a generational standpoint and is written for a general audience.

Please pay attention to the last sentence. While it points out distinctive features about the item it does not analyze the author’s conclusions.

Analytical or critical

An analytical or critical annotation not only summarizes the material, it analyzes what is being said. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of what is presented as well as describing the applicability of the author’s conclusions to the research being conducted.

For most of your annotated bibliographies, however, you will be writing analytical or critical annotations.

For example:

Breeding evil. (2005, August 6). Economist, 376(8438), 9. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com

This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video games and the effect they have on people who use them. The article points out that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of age not of the games themselves. While the author briefly mentions studies done around the issue of violence and gaming, he does not go into enough depth for the reader to truly know the range of studies that have actually been done in this area, other than to take his word that the research is unsatisfactory. The author of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses the good gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is a good resource for those wanting to begin to explore the controversy surrounding video games, however for anyone doing serious research, one should actually examine some of the research studies that have been done in this area rather than simply take the author’s word that opposition to video games is simply due to an issue of generational divide.

Please pay attention to the last sentence. It criticizes the authors research.

Please note that in these samples, the citations follow the APA format. Your instructor may require you to use another citation format, such as MLA, so check first.

TO GET STARTED

Now you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography.

• Choose your sources Before writing your annotated bibliography, you must choose your sources. This involves doing research much like for any other project. Locate records to materials that may apply to your topic.
• Review the items Then review the actual items and choose those that provide a wide variety of perspectives on your topic. Article abstracts are helpful in this process.
• Write the citation and annotation When writing your annotation, the complete citation should always come first and the annotation follows. Depending on the type of annotated bibliography you are writing, you will want to include:
• 1. The purpose of the work
  2. A summary of its content
  3. For what type of audience the work is written
  4. Its relevance to the topic
  5. Any special or unique features about the material
  6. The strengths, weaknesses or biases in the material

Annotated bibliographies may be arranged alphabetically or chronologically, check with your instructor to see what he or she prefers.

GUIDELINES FOR FORMATTING THE CITATIONS

Remember, the citations themselves must be formatted properly. these guides to help you correctly format citations according to APA, MLA or Chicago Style. Remember to check with your instructor if you are unsure which style to use.

Submitting the Work:

• Please submit a first draft of the essay to me a before 12 hours or 24hours before due date.
• I will review and provide comments to it. Using the comments, you do the corrects and provide the final draft.

Sources to be use:

Please find the attached pdf files. I have 5 copies attached (WA# source1 – 5) for the five sources to be written. Please do let me know if we can use these sources. Also, you can equally do you own research just make sure to cite correctly. Can you go through the articles and list me the topics you will be writing on before you proceed to write?

TIP: Please use this template “Template for Taking Notes on Research Articles” that will help you write the assignment

Template for Taking Notes on Research Articles: Easy access for later use

Whenever you read an article, pertinent book chapter, or research on the web, use

the following format (or something similar—LaTex or Endnote, for example) to

make an electronic record of your notes for later easy access. You may think you’ll

remember everything you read in researching class assignments, professional

papers, proposals, or your thesis, but details will slip away. The time spent filling

out the form will help you understand the reading and will save you hours of

rereading when you write a Background, Related Work, or a Literature Review

section. Put quotation marks around any exact wording you write down so that you

can avoid accidental plagiarism when you later cite the article.

Complete citation. Author(s), Date of publication, Title (book or article), Journal,

Volume #, Issue #, pages:

If web access: URL; date accessed

Key Words:

General subject:

Specific subject:

Hypothesis:

Methodology:

Result(s):

Summary of key points:

Context (how this article relates to other work in the field; how it ties in with key

issues and findings by others, including yourself):

Significance (to the field; in relation to your own work):

Important Figures and/or Tables (brief description; page number):

Cited References to follow up on (cite those obviously related to your topic AND any

papers frequently cited by others because those works may well prove to be essential

as you develop your own work):

Your comments on the work:

How this reading relates to others you have read:

Helpful Resources and Websites

The following are some links to sample Annotated Bibliographies. Some of them give examples in APA format. You may want to observe these examples and perhaps model your work after them.

• A variety of samples from The University of North Carolina Writing Center, including these specific examples of APA-style annotations.
• Some instruction from Cornell University. The website also provides more information on the process of writing an annotated bibliography.
• Some instruction from East Carolina University.

Write 3–4 pages in which you explain how research on lifespan development is conducted.

Required Resources

The following resources are required to complete the assessment.

You will choose two of these articles to use in the assessment.

• Colonnesi, C., Napoleone, E., & Bögels, S. M. (2014). Positive and negative expressions of shyness in toddlers: Are they related to anxiety in the same way? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(4), 624–637.
• van Lissa, C. J., Hawk, S. T., de Wied, M., Koot, H. M., van Lier, P., & Meeus, W. (2014). The longitudinal interplay of affective and cognitive empathy within and between adolescents and mothers. Developmental Psychology, 50(4), 1219–1225.
• Lesack, R., Bearss, K., Celano, M., & Sharp, W. G. (2014). Parent–child interaction therapy and autism spectrum disorder: Adaptations with a child with severe developmental delays. Clinical Practice In Pediatric Psychology, 2(1), 68–82.
• Larsen, C. H., Alfermann, D., Henriksen, K., & Christensen, M. K. (2013). Successful talent development in soccer: The characteristics of the environment. Sport, Exercise, And Performance Psychology, 2(3), 190–206.
• Wu, C., & Hillman, C. H. (2013). Aerobic fitness and the attentional blink in preadolescent children. Neuropsychology, 27(6), 642–653.
• Toplak, M. E., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (2014). Rational thinking and cognitive sophistication: Development, cognitive abilities, and thinking dispositions. Developmental Psychology, 50(4), 1037–1048.
• Thomas, M. K., Ge, X., & Greene, B. A. (2011). Fostering 21st century skill development by engaging students in authentic game design projects in a high school computer programming class. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 44(4), 391–408.

** do not use big companies such as Apple **

Part One: Module 04 Discussion – Strategic Alliances — Due 12/4/17

(Only 150 Worrds)

Strategic alliances, whether through joint ventures or partnerships, enable organizations to attain some of the advantages and overcome some of the disadvantages of the purely in-house or spin-off options of product devleopment.

For your discussion complete the following:

• Identify two companies that have created a strategic alliance.
• Describe and analyze their situation including their failure or success and the country(ies) involved.

Part Two: 04 Written Assignment – Strategizing Globally

Some factors to be considered for a successful global strategy include developing plans for creating new products, assuring customer service and products are what customers want, and recruiting skilled employees to provide this competitive advantage.

With this in mind, complete the following:

1. Identify a non-global company.
2. Select a market entry strategy.
3. Create a 3-4 page description of how you would enter a specific global market using your chosen entry strategy.

Your final assignment should be proofread for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Part Three: 04 Global Expansion Project – Entering a Foreign Market

Continuing with the plan, the next area to research is that of the specific target market. Part of this would involve looking into the pros and cons of this area as we determine the proper way to enter.

Create a 5-7 slide presentation using the speaker’s notes section for your content and the slides for presentation purposes. Include the following information:

1. Describe the specific target market
2. Develop strategies for entering the target market
3. Create a plan for entering the target market

Your presentation should be proofread for spelling and grammar. Your presentation slides should be concise.

https://www.studypool.com/discuss/5178362/internat…