ECO561 Week 6 Signature Assignment Challenges of Expansion to a Foreign Location

Purpose of Assignment 

This week students will review and revise their Week 3 Research Analysis for Business Signature Assignment based on economic analysis and the feedback provided by their facilitator. Students will also expand their Week 3 analyses to evaluate the challenges of expanding their chosen company's production to a foreign market.

About Your Signature Assignment

This signature assignment is designed to align with specific program student learning outcome(s) in your program. Program Student Learning Outcomes are broad statements that describe what students should know and be able to do upon completion of their degree. The signature assignments might be graded with an automated rubric that allows the University to collect data that can be aggregated across a location or college/school and used for program improvements. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Tutorial help on Excel^® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft^® Office website. There are also additional tutorials via the web offering support for Office products. 

Revise your Week 3 assignment, Research Analysis for Business, using the feedback provided by your facilitator. This Week 6 report should only include one conclusion, so you will need to rewrite the conclusion you included in your Week 3 assignment, Research Analysis for Business. 

Select a foreign market in which to expand your chosen product. If you wish, you may use one of the countries your team analyzed in their Week 5 Comparative and Absolute Advantage Assignment. 

Prepare a minimum1,750-word report addressing the points listed below. The use of tables and/or charts to display economic data over the time period discussed is highly encouraged, you may submit any economic data in Microsoft^® Excel^® format in a separate file. You may use the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Dept. of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Federal Reserve of St. Louis's FRED data, the CIA World Fact Book, World Bank data, and World Trade Organization, or other appropriate sources you might find on the Internet or in the University Library. The new sections of your report should:

• Evaluate current global economic conditions and their effects on macroeconomic indicators in your selected country. Provide forecasts for population growth, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, GDP per capita growth, export growth, and sales growth.
• Evaluate any competitors' existing production in the chosen country.
• Assess sales forecasts in the selected country by using the Federal Reserve of St. Louis's FRED data, the CIA World Fact Book, World Bank data, World Trade Organization, or other appropriate sources you might find on the Internet or in the University Library.
• Categorize the type of economy that exists in your selected country as closed, mixed, or market.  What is the difference between these types of economies and how might this affect your expansion?
• Assess how your chosen country's current credit market conditions, especially interest rates and the availability of financing, affect demand for your product or service and your planning or operating decision for your production in that country.
• Analyze the role of the selected country's central bank on that country's economy.
• Compare the availability, education, and job skills of the work force in the selected country. Discuss any additional challenges of international production, such as political stability, availability of government financing or other incentives, threat of capital controls, and exchange rate risks.
• Explain any additional supply chain challenges you anticipate if attempting to make your product in your chosen country and selling the product in other countries.
• Based on the data gathered and analysis performed for this report write a conclusion in which you:
• Create business strategies, including price and non-price strategies, based on your market structure to ensure the market share and potential market expansions and explore global opportunities for your business in a dynamic business environment and provide recommendations.
• Develop a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production by synthesizing the macroeconomic and microeconomic data presented.
• Propose how the firm's position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take your recommended action.
• Recommend strategies for the firm to sustain its success going forward by evaluating the findings from demand trends, price elasticity, current stage of the business cycle, and government.
• Recommend any comparative advantages your company will have over competitors currently operating in that country, and defend your position, either for or against, expanding your company's production into your chosen country based on your research. 

Integrate with the Week 3 Individual Assignment, and incorporate corrections and suggestions from the instructor's feedback. The final report should be a minimum of 2,800 words. 

Cite a minimum of three peer reviewed sources not including the textbook. 

Include all peer-reviewed references and government economic data sources/references from Week 3. 

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

 

 

 

ECO561 Final Exam Score 97 PERCENT (2019)

Question 1
The fact that international specialization and trade based on comparative advantage can increase world output is demonstrated by the reality that:
    the production possibilities curves of any two nations are identical
    a nation's production possibilities line lies to the right of its trading possibilities line
        a nation's trading possibilities line lies to the right of its production possibilities line
        a nation's production possibilities and trading possibilities lines coincide

Question 2
The business cycle depicts:

    the phases a business goes through from when it first opens to when it finally closes
    the evolution of technology over time
    short-run fluctuations in output and employment(Probably wrong, not sure. Either answer of question 1 is wrong or question2 is wrong)
    fluctuations in the general price level

3.Which of the following have substantially equivalent effects on a nation's volume of exports and imports?

Exchange rate depreciation and domestic inflation

Exchange rate depreciation and domestic deflation

Exchange rate appreciation and domestic deflation

Exchange rate appreciation and a decrease in the domestic supply of money


4If an unintended increase in business inventories occurs at some level of GDP, then GDP:

may be either above or below the equilibrium output

is too high for equilibrium

is too low for equilibrium

entails a rate of aggregate expenditures in excess of the rate of aggregate production


5Why are economists concerned about inflation?

Inflation lowers the standard of living for people whose income does not increase as fast as the price level

Inflation increases the value of peoples' saving and encourages overspending on goods and services

Inflation generally causes unemployment rates to rise

Real GDP is necessarily falling when there is inflation


6Contractionary fiscal policy is so named because it:

involves a contraction of the nation's money supply

is aimed at reducing aggregate demand and thus achieving price stability

necessarily reduces the size of government

is expressly designed to expand real GDP
7The term "recession" describes a situation where:

government takes a less active role in economic matters

output and living standards decline

inflation rates exceed normal levels

an economy's ability to produce is destroyed


8Which of the following statements best describes the 12 Federal Reserve Banks?

They are privately owned and publicly controlled central banks whose basic goal is to earn profits for their owners.

They are privately owned and publicly controlled central banks whose basic goal is to control the money supply and interest rates in promoting the general economic welfare.

They are privately owned and publicly controlled central banks whose basic function is to minimize the risks in commercial banking in order to make it a reasonably profitable industry.

They are privately owned and privately controlled central banks whose basic goal is to provide an ample and orderly market for U.S. Treasury securities.


9The primary gain from international trade is:

tariff revenue

more goods than would be attainable through domestic production alone

increased employment in the domestic import sector

increased employment in the domestic export sector


10If the prices of all goods and services rose, but the quantity produced remained unchanged, what would happen to nominal and real GDP?

Nominal and real GDP would both rise

Real GDP would rise, but nominal GDP would be unchanged

Nominal GDP would rise, but real GDP would be unchanged

Nominal and real GDP would both be unchanged


11Pure monopolists may obtain economic profits in the long run because:

of rising average fixed costs

of barriers to entry

of advertising

marginal revenue is constant as sales increase


12Mrs. Arnold is spending all her money income by buying bottles of soda and bags of pretzels in such amounts that the marginal utility of the last bottle is 60 utils and the marginal utility of the last bag is 30 utils. The prices of soda and pretzels are $.60 per bottle and $.40 per bag respectively. It can be concluded that:

the two commodities are substitute goods

Mrs. Arnold should spend more on soda and less on pretzels

Mrs. Arnold should spend more on pretzels and less on soda

Mrs. Arnold is buying soda and pretzels in the utility-maximizing amounts


13Suppose you have a limited money income and you are purchasing products A and B, whose prices happen to be the same. To maximize your utility, you should purchase A and B in such amounts that:

their marginal and total utilities are proportionate

their marginal utilities are the same

the income and substitution effects associated with each are equal

their total utilities are the same


14Two major virtues of the market system are that it:

eliminates discrimination and minimizes environmental pollution

allocates resources efficiently and allows economic freedom

results in price level stability and a fair personal distribution of income

results in an equitable personal distribution of income and always maintains full employment


15Macroeconomics approaches the study of economics from the viewpoint of:

the entire economy

governmental units

individual firms

the operation of specific product and resource markets


16Which of the following will generate a demand for country X's currency in the foreign exchange market?

The imports of country X

Travel by citizens of country X in other countries

The desire of foreigners to buy stocks and bonds of firms in country X

Charitable contributions by country X's citizens to citizens of developing nations


17The simple circular flow model shows that:

households are on the buying side of both product and resource markets.

businesses are on the selling side of both product and resource markets.

businesses are on the buying side of the product market and on the selling side of the resource market.

households are on the selling side of the resource market and on the buying side of the product market.


18Countercyclical discretionary fiscal policy calls for:

surpluses during both recessions and periods of demand-pull inflation

surpluses during recessions and deficits during periods of demand-pull inflation

deficits during recessions and surpluses during periods of demand-pull inflation

deficits during both recessions and periods of demand-pull inflation


19If the Federal Reserve System buys government securities from commercial banks and the public:

commercial bank reserves will decline

the money supply will contract

it will be easier to obtain loans at commercial banks

commercial bank reserves will be unaffected


20The two basic markets shown by the simple circular flow model are:

product and resource

free and controlled

capital goods and consumer goods

household and business


21All else equal, a large decline in the real interest rate will shift the:

investment demand curve rightward

investment demand curve leftward

investment schedule downward

investment schedule upward


22Normal profit is:

determined by subtracting implicit costs from total revenue

the return to the entrepreneur when economic profits are zero

the average profitability of an industry over the preceding 10 years

determined by subtracting explicit costs from total revenue


23In the theory of comparative advantage, a good should be produced in that nation where:

its absolute cost in terms of real resources used is least

its cost is least in terms of alternative goods that might otherwise be produced

the production possibilities line lies further to the right than the trading possibilities line

its absolute money cost of production is least


24As output increases, total variable cost:

increases continuously at a decreasing rate

increases at a constant rate

increases more rapidly than does total cost

increases at a decreasing rate and then at an increasing rate

25Assume the reserve ratio is 25 percent and Federal Reserve Banks buy $4 million of U.S. securities from the public, which deposits this amount into checking accounts. As a result of these transactions, the supply of money is:

directly increased by $4 million and the money-creating potential of the commercial banking system is increased by $12 million.

directly increased by $4 million and the money-creating potential of the commercial banking system is increased by an additional $16 million.

not directly affected, but the money-creating potential of the commercial banking system is increased by $12 million.

directly reduced by $4 million and the money-creating potential of the commercial banking system is decreased by an additional $12 million.



26Buyers will opt out of markets in which:

standardized products are being produced

there are only foreign sellers

there are significant negative externalities

there is inadequate information about sellers and their products


27In order for mutually beneficial trade to occur between two otherwise isolated nations:

each nation must be able to produce at least one good absolutely cheaper than the other

each nation must face constant costs in the production of the good it exports

each nation must be able to produce at least one good relatively cheaper than the other

one nation's production must be labor-intensive while the other nation's production is capital-intensive


28Research for industrially advanced countries indicates that:

the more independent the central bank, the higher the average annual rate of inflation

there is no relationship between the degree of independence of a country's central bank and its inflation rate.

the more independent the central bank, the higher the average annual rate of unemployment.

the more independent the central bank, the lower the average annual rate of inflation


29A monopolistically competitive industry combines elements of both competition and monopoly. The monopoly element results from:

the likelihood of collusion

mutual interdependence

high entry barriers

product differentiation


30Because the federal government typically provides disaster relief to farmers, many farmers do not buy crop insurance even through it is federally subsidized. This illustrates:

the moral hazard problem

logrolling

the adverse selection problem

the special interest effect

HW-2227 Evolution of modern war between 1648 and 1941

Using Geoffrey Parker's Western Way of War Thesis, which element or elements best explain the evolution of modern war between 1648 and 1941? What are the implications of your answer for the US military in the 21st Century?

 

HW-2226 Huron Company

Huron Company produces a commercial cleaning compound known as Zoom. The direct materials and direct labor standards for one unit of Zoom are given below:

Standard Quantitiy Standard Price Standard
or hours or rate cost
Direct Materials 4.6 pounds 2.50 per pound 11.50
Direct Labor 0.2 hours 12.00 per hour 2.40



During the most recent month, the following activity was recorded:
• a. Twenty thousand pounds of material were purchased at a cost of $2.35 per pound.
• b. All of the material purchased was used to produce 4,000 units of Zoom.
• c. 750 hours of direct labor time were recorded at a total labor cost of $10,425.
Required:
• 1. Compute the direct materials price and quantity variances for the month.
• 2. Compute the direct labor rate and efficiency variances for the month.

HW-2223 Arrangement is a “partnership” for federal income tax purposes

In not less than 3 pages (double spaced) discuss the factors that are considered in determining whether an arrangement is a "partnership" for federal income tax purposes. Your discussion should include a comprehensive analysis of the authority (court decisions, Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations and IRS pronouncements, i.e., Revenue Rulings) that pertain to this issue. The discussion should not focus on the characteristics of an "association" taxable as a corporation and the resulting classification of the entity as a partnership or a corporation under the Kinter Regulations as those Regulations have been replaced by the new "check the box regulations" under Treasury Regulation 301.7701. The discussion should focus on whether an arrangement between persons creates the existence of a partnership for federal income tax purposes.

 

 

HW-2222 Journal Part 3 Entries 13-18 (New)

Required Journal Entry 13: Evaluating Your Sources

Describe when it's appropriate to use sources in an essay. Why is it important to differentiate

between facts, opinions, and bias when choosing sources for your research? (2 paragraphs,

6-8 sentences each)

 

Required Journal Entry 14: OrganizingYour Information

Review page 606–611 in Successful College Writing. Describe at least two ways to organize

your information effectively. Choose the method that would work best for you and explain why.

(2 paragraphs, 6 sentences each)

Reflect: Take a look back to your response to Journal Entry 10. Briefly describe what counts as

plagiarism. When is it appropriate to cite information? What information doesn't need to be cited?

(1 paragraph, 6–8 sentences)

 

Required Journal Entry 15: Using Your Sources Responsibly

Review the definitions of direct quotation, paraphrase, and summary in Chapters 22 and 23 in

Successful College Writing and in Chapter 39 in The Little, Brown Essential Handbook. In your

own words, define these terms. Then, explain the most effective use of each of these three types

of sources. (2 paragraphs, 6–8 sentences each)

 

Required Journal Entry 16: Planning Your Argument

Study the argument essay topics on page 167–168 in your digital study guide and choose your

topic for your argument. This journal entry will help you begin to plan, research, and organize

your paper. Please note that both topics are very broad, so you should narrow your chosen topic

appropriately to suit your purpose and interest as well as the research and length requirements.

Review "The Basic Parts of an Argument" on pages 514–520 in Successful College Writing. Once

you've chosen your topic and identified your issue (516), you need to develop support. According

to your text, the three common types of support for an argument are "reasons, evidence, and

emotional appeals" (517).

I. State your claim:

A. Identify the type of claim (fact, value or policy).

B. Explain your purpose or goal for your research paper.

II. Identify your reasons:

A. Reason 1

B. Reason 2

C. Reason 3

III. Start your research to develop support for your claim (provide at least two examples of

each):

A. Support your reasons with evidence

1. Facts*

2. Statistics*

3. Expert opinions*

4. Examples*

5. Personal Experiences

B. Identify your emotional appeals:

1. Appeal to needs

2. Appeal to values

* Cite your sources using MLA citation and documentation format (i.e., parenthetical citations and

a list of works cited).

To research effectively and efficiently, use the Expanded Academic ASAP database in Penn Foster's

digital library. For more information about using Expanded Academic ASAP or other library

resources, visit https://community.pennfoster.edu/docs/DOC-57990.

 

Below are the two topics to choose from for jounral entry 16 

 

*Persuade your audience that the use of alternative

energy is beneficial and economical, or that the use of

alternative energy is expensive and as detrimental as

traditional energy sources.

 

*Persuade your audience that social media provides a

valuable outlet for free expression, or that social media

allows users to insult, bully, and threaten others without

any fear of punishment.

 

Topic chosen:  Second one

 

Required Journal Entry 17: Recognizing Your Opposition.

Identify and define the three ways you can recognize opposing views in your argument. In your

own words, explain why it's valuable to include the opposition in your essay. (1 paragraph,

6 sentences)

Reflect: Read Lisa Hamilton's "Eating Meat for the Environment" and review the graphic organiz-

ers on pages 554 and 556–557. In your opinion, does acknowledging Dr. Pachauri's opposing

viewpoint strengthen or weaken Hamilton's argument?

 

Required Journal Entry 18: Course Reflection

Reflect:  Review your journal, starting with your first entry and the learning inventory. Reflect onhow knowing who you are as a learner has helped you with the course activities. Consider yourprogress as a writer through each journal entry and essay. How has your writing changed sinceyou started the course? Identify the improvements you've made and the skills you still need topractice. (3 paragraphs, 6 sentences each)

 

Evaluate:  What goals did you set for yourself at the beginning of this course? Did you accom-

plish everything you had hoped? Explain what you would have done differently, and describe the

approach to writing you'll use in your future assignments. (2 paragraphs, 6 sentences each)

HW-2217 Week-1 Roles and functions of managers, and management theories

Part 1

•Explain the functions, roles, and activities of managers. Research two companies within the last 3-years, not described in the book, and discuss what managerial characteristics were essential to lead change.

Part 2

 Write a 2-3+ page, double-spaced essay about classical, behavioral, and modern management approaches to leading.

•Give a brief history and the development of each theory.

•Discuss why the principles are important for managers in the workplace.

•Compare and contrast each theory.

•Give an example of how managers can use each approach to lead employees to change.

*Schermerhorn. J. &Bachrach, D. (2015). Management, (13th ed.). New York: Wiley & Sons