Refer to Exercise 10.7 for data. At the end of Year 2, the manager of the Houseware Division is concerned about the division’s performance. As a result, he is considering the opportunity to invest in two independent projects. The first is called the Espresso-Pro; it is an in-home espresso maker that can brew regular coffee as well as make espresso and latte drinks. While the market for espresso drinkers is small initially, he believes this market can grow, especially around gift-giving occasions. The second is the Mini-Prep appliance that can be used to do small chopping and dicing chores that do not require a full-sized food processor. Without the investments, the division expects that Year 2 data will remain unchanged. The expected operating incomes and the outlay required for each investment are as follows: Jarriot’s corporate headquarters has made available up to $500,000 of capital for this division. Any funds not invested by the division will be retained by headquarters and invested to earn the company’s minimum required rate of return , 9 percent. Required: 1. Compute the ROI for each investment. 2. Compute the divisional ROI (rounded to four significant digits) for each of the following four alternatives: a. The Espresso-Pro is added. b. The Mini-Prep is added. c. Both investments are added. d. Neither investment is made; the status quo is maintained. Assuming that divisional managers are evaluated and rewarded on the basis of ROI performance, which alternative do you think the divisional manager will choose?

At the beginning of the last quarter of 20x1, Youngston, Inc., a consumer products firm, hired Maria Carrillo to take over one of its divisions. The division manufactured small home appliances and was struggling to survive in a very competitive market. Maria immediately requested a projected income statement for 20x1. In response, the controller provided the following statement: After some investigation, Maria soon realized that the products being produced had a serious problem with quality. She once again requested a special study by the controllers office to supply a report on the level of quality costs. By the middle of November, Maria received the following report from the controller: Maria was surprised at the level of quality costs. They represented 30 percent of sales, which was certainly excessive. She knew that the division had to produce high-quality products to survive. The number of defective units produced needed to be reduced dramatically. Thus, Maria decided to pursue a quality-driven turnaround strategy. Revenue growth and cost reduction could both be achieved if quality could be improved. By growing revenues and decreasing costs, profitability could be increased. After meeting with the managers of production, marketing, purchasing, and human resources, Maria made the following decisions, effective immediately (end of November 20x1): a. More will be invested in employee training. Workers will be trained to detect quality problems and empowered to make improvements. Workers will be allowed a bonus of 10 percent of any cost savings produced by their suggested improvements. b. Two design engineers will be hired immediately, with expectations of hiring one or two more within a year. These engineers will be in charge of redesigning processes and products with the objective of improving quality. They will also be given the responsibility of working with selected suppliers to help improve the quality of their products and processes. Design engineers were considered a strategic necessity. c. Implement a new process: evaluation and selection of suppliers. This new process has the objective of selecting a group of suppliers that are willing and capable of providing nondefective components. d. Effective immediately, the division will begin inspecting purchased components. According to production, many of the quality problems are caused by defective components purchased from outside suppliers. Incoming inspection is viewed as a transitional activity. Once the division has developed a group of suppliers capable of delivering nondefective components, this activity will be eliminated. e. Within three years, the goal is to produce products with a defect rate less than 0.10 percent. By reducing the defect rate to this level, marketing is confident that market share will increase by at least 50 percent (as a consequence of increased customer satisfaction). Products with better quality will help establish an improved product image and reputation, allowing the division to capture new customers and increase market share. f. Accounting will be given the charge to install a quality information reporting system. Daily reports on operational quality data (e.g., percentage of defective units), weekly updates of trend graphs (posted throughout the division), and quarterly cost reports are the types of information required. g. To help direct the improvements in quality activities, kaizen costing is to be implemented. For example, for the year 20x1, a kaizen standard of 6 percent of the selling price per unit was set for rework costs, a 25 percent reduction from the current actual cost. To ensure that the quality improvements were directed and translated into concrete financial outcomes, Maria also began to implement a Balanced Scorecard for the division. By the end of 20x2, progress was being made. Sales had increased to 26,000,000, and the kaizen improvements were meeting or beating expectations. For example, rework costs had dropped to 1,500,000. At the end of 20x3, two years after the turnaround quality strategy was implemented, Maria received the following quality cost report: Maria also received an income statement for 20x3: Maria was pleased with the outcomes. Revenues had grown, and costs had been reduced by at least as much as she had projected for the two-year period. Growth next year should be even greater as she was beginning to observe a favorable effect from the higher-quality products. Also, further quality cost reductions should materialize as incoming inspections were showing much higher-quality purchased components. Required: 1. Identify the strategic objectives, classified by the Balanced Scorecard perspective. Next, suggest measures for each objective. 2. Using the results from Requirement 1, describe Marias strategy using a series of if-then statements. Next, prepare a strategy map. 3. Explain how you would evaluate the success of the quality-driven turnaround strategy. What additional information would you like to have for this evaluation? 4. Explain why Maria felt that the Balanced Scorecard would increase the likelihood that the turnaround strategy would actually produce good financial outcomes. 5. Advise Maria on how to encourage her employees to align their actions and behavior with the turnaround strategy.

Home Builder Supply, a retailer in the home improvement industry, currently operates seven retail outlets in Georgia and South Carolina. Management is contemplating building an eighth retail store across town from its most successful retail outlet. The company already owns the land for this store, which currently has an abandoned warehouse located on it. Last month, the marketing department spent $10,000 on market research to determine the extent of customer demand for the new store. Now Home Builder Supply must decide whether to build and open the new store. Which of the following should be included as part of the incremental earnings for the proposed new retail store?

Suppose that you have been given a summer job as an intern at Issac Aircams, a company that manufacturessophisticated spy cameras for remote-controlled military reconnaissance aircraft. The company, which isprivately owned, has approached a bank for a loan to help it finance its growth. The bank requires financialstatements before approving such a loan. You have been asked to help prepare the financial statements andwere given the following list of costs:1. Depreciation on salespersons’ cars.2. Rent on equipment used in the factory.3. Lubricants used for machine maintenance.4. Salaries of personnel who work in the finished goods warehouse.5. Soap and paper towels used by factory workers at the end of a shift.6. Factory supervisors’ salaries.7. Heat, water, and power consumed in the factory.8. Materials used for boxing products for shipment overseas. (Units are not normally boxed.)9. Advertising costs.10. Workers’ compensation insurance for factory employees.11. Depreciation on chairs…

Suppose that you have been given a summer job as an intern at Issac Aircams, a company that man- ufactures sophisticated spy cameras for remote-controlled military reconnaissance aircraft. The company, which is privately owned, has approached a bank for a loan to help it finance its growth. The bank requires financial statements before approving such a loan. You have been asked to help prepare the financial statements and were given the following list of costs: Depreciation on salespersons’ cars. Rent on equipment used in the factory. Lubricants used for machine maintenance. Salaries of personnel who work in the finished goods warehouse. Soap and paper towels used by factory workers at the end of a shift. Factory supervisors’ salaries. Heat, water, and power consumed in the factory. Materials used for boxing products for shipment overseas. (Units are not normally boxed.) Advertising costs. Workers’ compensation insurance for factory employees. Depreciation on…

Home Builder Supply, a retailer in the home improvement industry, currently operates seven retail outlets in Georgia and South Carolina. Management is contemplating building an eighth retail store across town from its most successful retail outlet. The company already owns the land for this store, which currently has an abandoned warehouse located on it. Last month, the marketing department spent $15,000 on market research to determine the extent of customer demand for the new store. Now Home Builder Supply must decide whether to build and open the new store. Which of the following should be included as part of the incremental earnings for the proposed new retail store? a. The original purchase price of the land where the store will be located. b. The cost of demolishing the abandoned warehouse and clearing the lot. c. The loss of sales in the existing retail outlet, if customers who previously drove across town to shop at the existing outlet become customers of the new store instead.…

Home Builder Supply, a retailer in the home improvement industry, currently operates seven retail outlets in Georgia and South Carolina. Management is contemplating building an eighth retail store across town from its most successful retail outlet. The company already owns the land for this store, which currently has an abandoned warehouse located on it. Last month, the marketing department spent $15,000 on market research to determine the extent of customer demand for the new store. Now Home Builder Supply must decide whether to build and open the new store. a. Should the original purchase price of the land where the store will be located be included in the incremental earnings for the proposed new retail store? (Select from the drop-down menu.) b. Should the cost of demolishing the abandoned warehouse and clearing the lot be included in the incremental earnings for the proposed new retail store? (Select from the drop-down menu.) c. Should the loss of sales in the existing retail…

Meredith had an excellent management science course as part of her MBA program in college, so she realizes that break-even analysis is needed to help make this decision. With this in mind, she instructs several staff members to investigate this prospective product further, including developing estimates of the related costs and revenues as well as forecasting the potential sales. One month later, the preliminary estimates of the relevant financial figures come back. The cost of designing the grandfather clock and then setting up the production facilities to produce this product would be approximately $250,000. There would be only one production run for this limited-edition grandfather clock. The additional cost for each clock produced would be roughly $2,000. The marketing department estimates that their price for selling the clocks can be successfully set at about $4,500 apiece, but a firm forecast of how many clocks can be sold at this price has not yet been obtained. However, it is…

Suppose that you have been given a summer job as an intern at Issac Aircams, a company that manufactures sophisticated spy cameras for remote-controlled military reconnaissance aircraft. The company, which is privately owned, has approached a bank for a loan to help finance its growth. The bank requires financial statements before approving the loan. Required: Classify each cost listed below as either a product cost or a period cost for the purpose of preparing financial statements for the bank. Costs 1. Depreciation on salespersons' cars. 2. Rent on equipment used in the factory. 3. Lubricants used for machine maintenance. 4. Salaries of personnel who work in the finished goods warehouse. 5. Soap and paper towels used by factory workers at the end of a shift. 6. Factory supervisors' salaries. 7. Heat, water, and power consumed in the factory. 8. Materials used for boxing products for shipment overseas. (Units are not normally boxed.) 9. Advertising costs. 10. Workers' compensation…

Three entrepreneurs were looking to start a new brewpub near Sacramento, California, called Rosevill Brewing Company (RBC)

Read the following scenario and answer the question in 5–10 sentences. You are the manager of a medium-sized paper sales company. The paper market has been stagnant for the last several years. Therefore, you are analyzing the possible restructuring of your current staff to help improve efficiency and the quality of your services. Specifically, the supplier purchases team needs a fresh evaluation. Currently, Keeler Pansing is a rising star, known for her keen eye for determining the superiority of paper and finding great values. Her attendance of outside training and obtainment of multiple certifications in paper purchasing are primary contributors to her success. The present lead purchaser, Katie Lackey, has held the position for the last ten years and, at the age of 57, is 20 years Keeler's senior. Katie has always performed satisfactory work, but you feel that Keeler would give you an edge. Would you be concerned with making any changes in the purchasing group?

Rock Designs, Inc. is a jewelry store located in Miramar Beach, Florida. After Valentine’s Day, the store often has excess cash to get it through the three-month slow season. The primary stockholder, Hardy Rock, wants to make this seasonal cash work for the business. Requirements Identify which investment class options are available to Rock Designs, Inc. The company identifies that it wants to invest in the technology sector and has narrowed its choices to three companies: Apple Inc., Google Inc., and Microsoft Corporation. Prepare a brief analysis comparing the three companies, and recommend one of the three based on your analysis.

Whitcomb Foods is a small company in Oregon that packages and sells organic juices. Recently, a sales rep from one of the company's suppliers suggested that Whitcomb could increase its profitability by 50 percent if it introduced a second line of products, packaged dried fruit for snacks. The rep offered to do the analysis and show the company the assumptions made. When Whitcomb's management opened the spreadsheet sent by the sales rep, they noticed that there were several blank cells. In the meantime, the sales rep had taken a job with a competitor and told the managers at Whitcomb that "I can no longer advise you." Although they were not sure they should rely on the analysis, they asked you to see if you could reconstruct the sales rep's analysis. They had been considering this new business already and wanted to see if their analysis was close to that of an outside observer. Required: Complete the below table by filling in the blank cells. Note: Enter all amounts as positive values.…

Solution Summary: The author explains how to calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) for each investment.

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Chapter 10 Solutions