The Zomcast cable TV company is considering out- sourcing its call center to the Philippines. The cost of hiring operators and staff in the Philippines is 60 per- cent of the salary and benefits paid in the U.S. The operators are slightly less efficient at handling calls They frequently read from scripts and are not experi- enced in handling calls. The efficiency is estimated to be 80 percent of the U.S. in terms of staffing operators. Currently, the U.S. has an average of 83 operators handling calls paid at $15.00 per hour and 5 managers. The call center is staffed around the clock and throughout the year, but each operator works 2000 hours in a year. The Philippines will need the same number of managers. It will cost $100,000 to train the operators. It will cost an additional  $110,000 per year to administrate the contract and supervise the operation from the U.S headquarters. a. What are the total costs of outsourcing this call center to the Philippines compared to the U.S.? b. What are the risks associated with the outsourced service? c. Should the call center be outsourced to the Philippines?

International outsourcing. Riverside Clippers Corp manufactures garden tools in a factory in Taneytown, Maryland. Recently, the company designed a collection of tools for professional use rather than consumer use. Management needs to make a good decision about whether to produce this line in their existing space in Maryland, where space is available or to accept an offer from a manufacturer in Taiwan. Data concerning the decision are:

International outsourcing. Riverside Clippers Corp manufactures garden tools in a factory in Taneytown, Maryland. Recently, the company designed a collection of tools for professional use rather than consumer use. Management needs to make a good decision about whether to produce this line in their existing space in Maryland, where space is available or to accept an offer from a manufacturer in Taiwan. Data concerning the decision are:

Australia and Italy have 140 and 150 total resources, respectively. Each country produces only two goods, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Australia can produce each roll of toilet paper for 14 resources and each bottle of hand sanitizer for 19 resources. Italy can produce each roll of toilet paper for 6 resources and each bottle of hand sanitizer for 38 resources. Assume each country would prefer to consume more toilet paper and hand sanitizer than it currently can in an autarky. Also assume that each country can produce fractional units of each good. Between which range of prices of hand sanitizer (in terms of rolls of toilet paper) will there be gains from trade? Select one: a. Between 1.36 and 6.33 b. Between 0.16 and 0.74 C. Between 0.43 and 2.00 d. Between 0.50 and 2.33 e. Between 0.93 and 1.07

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Myers Inc. manufactures biodegradable bottles. Since this is a patented method of producing environmentally-friendly plastic, they cannot use an overseas contractor. They will make the products in the United States. What criteria would you use to assess their business model? O The production expertise scale will tell if the company is ready to partake in such a venture. O The fixed costs need to be compared to other similar companies in the U.S. The standardization of the product is making it more expensive to produce, as the copyrights are implemented. O Since the product will be outsourced, the manager needs to assess the simplicity of the supply chain. Even though the manufacturing costs are high, the transportation costs will be low. O The minimum efficient scale will tell the minimum volume they need to produce to reach economies of scale. The quality of the in-house product needs to be constantly inspected, as they will not use outside sourcing.

i-Qua group is a drinking water factory in US. As the business progresses, demand is increasing in Texas, Chicago and New York. And the company owner plans to build a factory so that customer needs in the area can be met without having to send from the main factory. Some of the considerations for decision making can be seen based on the data below: a. How much is the annual sales volume (box)  for each area to be able to compete on a competitive advantage strategy with competitors? b. What do you suggest to the company based on the cost data above for the location of its factory construction? Explain why and use the calculation data so that decision making can be in accordance with the company strategy that you have learned.

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?

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