Compare the risk analysis results for the six designs and discuss how a decision could be made between them

You are a supply chain manager at a UK firm. In 2010, a volcano broke out in Iceland, disrupting air travel across Europe. On the one hand, you are considering switching to local suppliers in the UK. On the other hand, you feel bad about abandoning your Asian suppliers, with whom you have built a pleasant personal and business relationship, and who – in the long run – may be able to deliver products much cheaper. Yet, your tightly coordinated production cannot afford to miss one supply shipment. How do you proceed?

Paterson Company, a U.S.-based company, manufactures and sells electronic components worldwide. Virtually all its manufacturing takes place in the United States. The company has marketing divisions throughout Europe, including France. Debbie Kishimoto, manager of this division, was hired from a competitor 3 years ago. Debbie, recently informed of a price increase in one of the major product lines, requested a meeting with Jeff Phillips, marketing vice president. Their conversation follows. Debbie: Jeff, I simply dont understand why the price of our main product has increased from 5.00 to 5.50 per unit. We negotiated an agreement earlier in the year with our manufacturing division in Philadelphia for a price of 5.00 for the entire year. I called the manager of that division. He said that the original price was still acceptablethat the increase was a directive from headquarters. Thats why I wanted to meet with you. I need some explanations. When I was hired, I was told that pricing decisions were made by the divisions. This directive interferes with this decentralized philosophy and will lower my divisions profits. Given current market conditions, there is no way we can pass on the cost increase. Profits for my division will drop at least 600,000 if this price is maintained. I think a midyear increase of this magnitude is unfair to my division. Jeff: Under normal operating conditions, headquarters would not interfere with divisional decisions. But as a company, we are having some problems. What you just told me is exactly why the price of your product has been increased. We want the profits of all our European marketing divisions to drop. Debbie: What do you mean that you want the profits to drop? That doesnt make any sense. Arent we in business to make money? Jeff: Debbie, what you lack is corporate perspective. We are in business to make money, and thats why we want European profits to decrease. Our U.S. divisions are not doing well this year. Projections show significant losses. At the same time, projections for European operations show good profitability. By increasing the cost of key products transferred to Europeto your division, for examplewe increase revenues and profits in the United States. By decreasing your profits, we avoid paying taxes in France. With losses on other U.S. operations to offset the corresponding increase in domestic profits, we avoid paying taxes in the United States as well. The net effect is a much-needed increase in our cash flow. Besides, you know how hard it is in some of these European countries to transfer out capital. This is a clean way of doing it. Debbie: Im not so sure that its clean. I cant imagine the tax laws permitting this type of scheme. There is another problem, too. You know that the companys bonus plans are tied to a divisions profits. This plan could cost all of the European managers a lot of money. Jeff: Debbie, you have no reason to worry about the effect on your bonusor on our evaluation of your performance. Corporate management has already taken steps to ensure no loss of compensation. The plan is to compute what income would have been if the old price had prevailed and base bonuses on that figure. Ill meet with the other divisional managers and explain the situation to them as well. Debbie: The bonus adjustment seems fair, although I wonder if the reasons for the drop in profits will be remembered in a couple of years when Im being considered for promotion. Anyway, I still have some strong ethical concerns about this. How does this scheme relate to the tax laws? Jeff: We will be in technical compliance with the tax laws. In the United States, Section 482 of the Internal Revenue Code governs this type of transaction. The key to this law, as well as most European laws, is evidence of an arms-length price. Since youre a distributor, we can use the resale price method to determine such a price. Essentially, the arms-length price for the transferred good is backed into by starting with the price at which you sell the product and then adjusting that price for the markup and other legitimate differences, such as tariffs and transportation. Debbie: If I were a French tax auditor, I would wonder why the markup dropped from last year to this year. Are we being good citizens and meeting the fiscal responsibilities imposed on us by each country in which we operate? Jeff: Well, a French tax auditor might wonder about the drop in markup. But, the markup is still within reason, and we can make a good argument for increased costs. In fact, weve already instructed the managers of our manufacturing divisions to legitimately reassign as many costs as they can to the European product lines. So far, they have been very successful. I think our records will support the increase that you are receiving. You really do not need to be concerned with the tax authorities. Our tax department assures me that this has been carefully researchedits unlikely that a tax audit will create any difficulties. Itll all be legal and above board. Weve done this several times in the past with total success. Required: 1. Do you think that the tax-minimization scheme described to Debbie Kishimoto is in harmony with the ethical behavior that should be displayed by top corporate executives? Why or why not? What would you do if you were Debbie? 2. Apparently, the tax department of Paterson Company has been strongly involved in developing the tax-minimization scheme. Assume that the accountants responsible for the decision are CMAs and members of the IMA, subject to the IMA standards of ethical conduct. Review the IMA standards for ethical conduct in Chapter 1. Are any of these standards being violated by the accountants in Patersons tax department? If so, identify them. What should these tax accountants do if requested to develop a questionable taxminimization scheme?

Stark and Company is a manufacturer that sells robots predominantly in the Asian market. Times have been tough for the auto industry and Stark and Company is no different. The company is under tremendous pressure to turn a profit. Several years ago, as analysts were predicting a large downturn in the robot industry, Stark decided to purchase a smaller niche robot maker in the hopes of capturing a different segment of the consumer market and to better learn the manufacturing processes of other robot makers. Starks still operates as two separate divisions, Classic and New Age, with each division manager employing a different manufacturing philosophy. The Classic manager is concerned with low input costs and quantity in production in addition to brand recognition and robot power. The New Age manager is concerned with quality and innovation in manufacturing, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly robots. SAC continued to suffer losses even with the addition of the New Age division.…

A4

Mercury, Incorporated, produces cell phones at its plant in Texas. In recent years, the company's market share has been eroded by stiff competition from overseas. Price and product quality are the two key areas in which companies compete in this market. A year ago, the company's cell phones had been ranked low in product quality in a consumer survey. Shocked by this result, Jorge Gomez, Mercury's president, initiated an intense effort to improve product quality. Gomez set up a task force to implement a formal quality improvement program. Included on this task force were representatives from the Engineering, Marketing, Customer Service, Production, and Accounting departments. The broad representation was needed because Gomez believed that this was a companywide program and that all employees should share the responsibility for its success. After the first meeting of the task force, Holly Elsoe, manager of the Marketing Department, asked John Tran, production manager, what he thought of…

The directors of Ribs Co, a listed company, are reviewing the company’s current strategic position. The firm makes high quality garden tools which it sells in its domestic market but not abroad. Over the last few years, the share price has risen significantly as a firm has expanded organically within its domestic market. Unfortunately, in the last 12 months, the influx of cheaper, foreign tools has adversely impacted the firm’s profitability. Consequently, the share price has dropped sharply in recent weeks and the shareholders expressed their displeasure at the recent AGM. The directors are evaluating two alternative investment projects which they hope will arrest the decline in profitability. Project 1: This would involve closing the firm’s domestic factory and switching production to a foreign country where labor rates are a quarter of those in the domestic market. Sales would continue to be targeted exclusively at the domestic market. Project 2: This would involve a new investment…

Mindspin Labs Inc. is a manufacturing firm that has experienced strong competition in its traditional business. Management is considering Joining the trend to the "service economy" by eliminating its manufacturing operations and concentrating on providing specialized maintenance services to other manufacturers. Management of Mindspin Labs has had a target ROI of 15% on an asset base that has averaged $8 million. To achieve this ROI, average total asset turnover of 2 was required. If the company shifts its operations from manufacturing to providing maintenance services, it is estimated that average total assets will decrease to $2 million. Required: a. Calculate net Income, margin, and sales required for Mindspin Labs to achieve its target ROI as a manufacturing firm. b. Assume that the average margin of maintenance service firms is 3.10%, and that the average ROI for such firms is also 17% Calculate the net Income, sales, and total asset turnover that Mindspin Labs will have if the…

Eve Corporation is considering a significant expansion to its product line. The sales force is excited about the opportunities that the new products will bring. The new products are a significant step up in quality above the company’s current offerings but offer a complementary fit to its existing product line. Sergei Bates, senior production department manager, is very excited about the high-tech new equipment that will have to be acquired to produce the new products. Will Smith, the company’s CFO, has provided the following projections based on results with and without the new products.    Without New Products    With New Products Sales revenue  $10,000,000   $16,000,000 Net income $500,000   $960,000 Average total assets  $5,000,000   $12,000,000 Instructions  a) Compute the company’s return on assets, profit margin, and asset turnover, both with and without the new product line. b) Discuss the implications that your findings in part (a) have for the company’s decision.

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