Suppose John writes down a single number that is in the range from 1 to 20, and Susan also writes down a single number in the range from 1 to 20. What is the probability that the number John wrote down will be higher than Susan’s?

case study

Corporate Knights, a research organisation from Toronto, Canada, puts together the Global 100, ranking of the world’s most sustainable companies, based on annual data analytics. Using data available publicly, Corporate Knights rates large companies on 17 key measures, evaluating their management of resources, finances and employees (eg. Energy, carbon footprint, water use, waste productivity, clean air). It considers about 4000 companies worldwide with market value of at least $2billion. For several years, Natura &Co SA from Brazil has been amoung the world’s leaders, ranking number 14 in the latest ranking. It is also the world’s largest cosmetic company. Natura (naturaco.com) with headquarters in San Paulo, Brazil, was founded in 1969. It has more than 18,000 employees and annual revenue of about $4.4billion. Natura has three prominent subsidiaries that strive to be as sustainable in their operation as possible: Natura Cosmetics, which has become synonymous with Natura & Co SA in general, and its more standalone brands The Body Shop. Natura Cosmetics develops, produces, distributes and sells cosmetics, fragrances and hygiene products. Natura’s products include creams, perfumes, shampoos, shaving creams, soaps and sunscreens. Its portfolio is made up of brand names such as Amo, Ekos, Tolodia, Aguas, Chronos, Erva Doce, Homen, Horus, Seve and Luna. It employs more than 7,000 people seven countries: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico Peru, Colombia and France. Sustainable development has been Natura’s guiding principle since it was founded. A passion for customer relationship management (CRM) led the company to adopt direct sales as its main commercial strategy. To support its direct sales model, more than 1,421,000 consultants around the world (most in Brazil) promote the company’s values and products to consumers. Innovation is at the heart of Natura’s sustainable development policy. For example, last year the company spent $75million on product development, launching 164 products and achieving an innovation index of 63.8% (percentage of revenue from products launched in the last two years). The Body Shop International Limited, trading as The Body Shop, is a well-known, formerly British cosmetics, skin-care and perfume company that was founded in 1976 by Anita and Gordon Roddick. It currently has more than 1,000 products, which it sells in 3,100 owned and franchised stores in 66 countries. The company is still based in East Croydon and Littlehampton in the United Kingdom, but was bought from the French cosmetics company L’Oreal (which owned The Body Shop from 2006 to 2017) in June 2017 for $1.2billion. Famously, The Body Shop has been a leader in banning animal testing of cosmetics products worldwide. The Body Shop has been against animal testing since the 1980s but is also tirelessly working to ban animal testing in general in the cosmetics industry. This position also feeds into its sustainability initiatives. Anita Roddick said: ‘My hope for the future of The Body Shop is primarily invested in those people who will be the custodians of our culture and values.’ This custodianship includes the pledge of being the world’s most ethical, sustainable company. For example, in 2016 to mark its 40th anniversary, The Body Shop unveiled a global CSR strategy – Enrich Not ExploitTM – that underpins all aspects of its operations. The pioneering commitment reaffirmed the global cosmetics brand’s positioning as a leader in ethical and sustainable business practice. Aesop was founded by hairdresser Dennis Paphitis in 1987 Melbourne, Australia. Suzanne Santos, Aesop’s first employee was also instrumental in the foundation and growth of the company. Aesop is viewed as an Australian skin-care brand, owned fully by Natura since 2016 (although Natura has had part ownership since 2012). The brand has been identified as a unique way of doing marketing in today’s social media world. In a somewhat unorthodox way, this includes not using traditional advertisements of discount sales to promote its products. Instead, Aesop’s promotional communication are mostly by word-of-mouth for the design of its products, stores, and events, which are a singular mix of indulgent product experiences, thoughtful language and modern minimalist design (compare with the Swedish furniture giant that often receives similar reviews of minimalist but superb design in the furniture business). With its core subsidiaries (Natura Cosmetics, The Body Shop and Aesop), Natura and Co SA has redefined success on business on a global scale. In 214, it became the first publicly traded company to become a Certified B Corporation. A Certified B Corporation is a company that focuses on two specific sustainability issues. First it has a threshold standard for its impact on society and the environment. Second, the company must have committed to consider the impact of its business decisions on its wider stakeholders, not just its shareholders. Currently, only 2,200 B Company Corporations exist worldwide, and their core sustainability focus is on the interdependence between society, environment, and economy. Importantly, Natura’s actions show that it is possible to make a positive difference to the environment while also ensuring that financial viability of the company. This mindset drove Natura’s purchase of The Body Shop in 2017, the first billion-dollar B Company Corporation acquisition by another B Company Corporation. Background Dossier generated as part of our company discussions with The Body Shop.

Please review the dossier and utilise the Body Shop website (https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-sg/#) and respond to the questions below:

RTC are in early discussion with Natura Cosmetics, parent company of The Body Shop (TBS) on how to improve TBS positioning in Asia to take advantage of their appeal to the market and expand to meet the demands of the forthcoming middle-class wealth boom. Managers of TBS and Natura are aware that TBS products and shopping experience is very popular in Asia, but they want to take it to expand the popularity and depth of penetration of TBS in Asia. The Boards of TBS and Natura have also become aware that, while TBS has excellent sustainability credentials (a B company rating) in the West, their corporate responsibility to community has focused on non-Asian recipients (see the About Us page on TBS web site). They wonder if the sustainability and corporate responsibility story is appealing in Asia or able to be maximized in some way to benefit the company. Natura and TBS have asked RTC to identify some strategies that would be successful in the Asian market (they have not yet specified which countries – you may wish to suggest which one country, or a grouping, based on market analysis). They are not looking for a marketing campaign – rather strategies based in sound knowledge of the country’s business culture that they can exploit to maximise potential success and profit while building on the sustainability credentials. Your strategies may take into account all aspects of business – from operations to marketing. Most importantly, your response should identify the ‘traps’ for a business such as TBS in Asia. One ‘trap’ identified by the client is counterfeiting (with non-sustainable product supply chains) undermining their reputation. Please offer advice.

In short – what is your advice for success for TBS and Natura in the Asian market?

Case Study:

Mrs. Crowley is the chief operating officer (COO) of a tourism resort in northern Queensland. A core component of her role as COO is to predict, plan for and implement necessary changes to the resorts core services. Guests staying at the resort primarily travel to the region to enjoy the surrounding environment, including natural attractions such as the Daintree rainforest, Great Barrier Reef and Wallaman Falls. Where possible, the resort likes to facilitate their guests travel to these natural attractions. However, over recent years their courtesy car and bus fleet has become increasingly run down. This has frustrated employees of the resort who enjoyed facilitating this service and overtime developed a level of expertise and experience in describing the importance of these natural sites. Adding to frustrations, the employees have had to watch other tourism services offering this exact service become more and more successful! Some good news is on the horizon however. The Queensland state government has decided to invest in sustainable tourism development and a considerable sum of money is available to those tourism operations who can demonstrate their ability to provide educational and sustainable tourism services to their clients. This initiative is considered critical as sustainable tourism is an increasingly popular form of tourism consumption. There are fears that if tourism in Queensland doesn’t respond to this market trend it could be surpassed by other states or international destinations as the ‘must visit’ location for environmental attractions. Knowing this, Mrs. Crowley is very keen to secure access to some of the promised investment capital. However, she is aware that to receive any money from the state government she must demonstrate her resorts ability to innovate and provide a sustainable tourism service.

Assessment Details:

You need to complete a research report, investigating the feasibility of an innovation strategy for the example case presented above. As part of this feasibility report you will need to:

• Identify and account for internal and external environmental factors facing the organisation.

• Identify three (3) opportunities and associated strategies to innovate.

• Critically evaluate one (1) of these opportunities and strategies and develop a plan for its implementation.

• Develop a process to review and monitor the progress of this innovation strategy.

In completing the research report, you are required to do the following:

• Explain the importance of environmental factors in shaping business innovations – specifically those which apply to the organisation described in the case study.

• Assess and evaluate potential opportunities for business innovation the organisation in the case study can exploit.

• Develop a plan and review system to implement and control the chosen business innovation strategies the case study organisation would like to employ.

• Write a 2500-word research report following the suggested structure/criteria provided below.

• On completion, submit the assessment in a single Microsoft Word document via the Assessment 5 Upload link on the Canvas system.

Report Structure: It is suggested you use the following sections and headings to structure your research report

. • Report preliminaries: Title page, executive summary, table of contents.

• Introduction: Provide a brief description of the purpose and aim of the report. Outline the nature of the industry applicable to the case study organisation. Briefly identify the importance of understanding environmental factors and their role in shaping business innovation.

• Body: Present theoretical/conceptual research justifying the need for organisations to consider their external environment. Present findings of research into factors affecting the organisation described within the case study. Discuss implications of these findings to present three (3) opportunities to innovate (using theoretical/conceptual evidence to support opinion). Choose the most favourable innovation option and describe in detail (including a plan for its implementation and means by which to monitor and control once implemented).

• Conclusion: Link the arguments presented in the body to form sound and logical conclusions.

• Recommendations: In line with conclusions, offer specific recommendations designed to aid in achievement of the selected innovation initiative.

Zamakulungisa is a hardware store that buys and sells all types of household equipment and electrical appliances. The shop which is owned by Bandile Melane, is located at Mthatha Plaza shopping centre. Zamakulungisa started operating on the 1st of December 2019 and uses the perpetual inventory system account for inventory. The following transactions took place:

1. 1 December: Bandile Melane, the owner, contributed R100 000 cash to the business.

2. 1 December: The business obtained a loan of R150 000 at an interest rate of 15% p.a from Matshonisa Bank. The capital repayments will be made every 6 months. Interest will be paid monthly.

3. 4 December: Purchased stationery amounting to R2 125 on credit from Postdam Stationery.

4. 10 December: Sold 5 electrical heaters with a selling price of R400 each and with a cost of R200 each to Mrs Mail on credit.

5. 12 December: Mr Mthendeni visited the shop and purchased 12 big screen TV’s with a selling price of R7 000 each. The original cost price is R 4 000 for each TV. Mr Mthendeni paid 50% of the total amount and the balance will be paid in the month following the sale.

6. 16 December: Mrs Mail paid R1 000 to reduce her debt. (See transaction 5).

7. 17 December: The business bought inventory worth R120 000 from NMD Wholesalers on credit. All purchases made on credit are paid within 60 days.

8. 22 December: The business bought a delivery van from Auto Dealers for the value of R100 000 on credit.

9. 23 December: The business paid R30 000 for salaries and wages.

10.28 December: paid NMD Wholesalers R20 000 for partial settlement on the account. (See transaction 7).

11.31 December: Paid the interest on loan. (See transaction 2).

12.31 December: The owner withdraws R3 000 cash from the business bank account to buy his family new year’s presents

Required:

1.1. Record the above transactions in the relevant subsidiary journals.

1.2. Do all postings to the general ledger for the month of December 2019.

1.3. Prepare the trial balance for the month of December 2019

Show work please!

A research team is interested in the difference between serum uric acid levels in patients with and without Downs Syndrome. In a large hospital for the treatment of the mentally retarded, a sample of 12 individuals with Down Syndrome yielded a mean of X1(line suppose to be on top of x) =4.5mg/100ml. In a general Hospital a sample mean of 15 normal individuals of the same age and sex were found to have a mean value of X2 ( line suppose to be on top of x) = 3.4mg/100ml. If it is reasonable to assume that the two populations of values are normally distributed with variances equal to 1 and 1.5, find and interpret the 95% confidence interval for u1 -u2.

2.11 The WorldLight Company produces two light fixtures (Product 1 and 2) that require both metal frame parts and electrical components. Management wants to determine how many units of each products to produce per week so as to maximize profit. For each Unit of Product 1, one unit of frame parts and two units of electrical components are required. For each unit of Product 2, three units of frame parts and two units of electrical components are required. The company has a weekly supply of 3,000 units of frame parts and 4,500 of electrical components. Each Unit of Product 1 gives a profit of $13, and each unit of Product 2, up to 900 units, gives a profit of $26. Any excess over 900 units of Product 2 brings no profit, so such an excess has been ruled out.

Identify verbally the decisions to be made, the constraints on these decisions, and the overall measure of performance for the decisions.

Convert these verbal description of the constraints and the measure of performance into quantitative expressions in terms of the date an decision.

Formulate and solve a linear programming model for this problem on a spreadsheet.

Formulate this same model algebraically.

2.13 You are given the following linear programming model in algebraic form, with X1 and X2 as the decision variables and constraints on the usage of four resources:

Maximize Profit = 2X₁ + X₂

Subject to     X₂ ≤ 10 (Resource 1)

        2X₁ + 5X₂ ≤ 60 (Resource 2)

        X₁ + X₂ ≤ 18 (Resource 3)

        3X₁ + X₂ ≤ 44 (Resource 4)

And

        X₁ ≥ 0 X₂ ≥ 0

Use the graphical method to solve this model.

Incorporate this model into a spreadsheet and then use Solver to solve this model.

2.11 The WorldLight Company produces two light fixtures (Product 1 and 2) that require both metal frame parts and electrical components. Management wants to determine how many units of each products to produce per week so as to maximize profit. For each Unit of Product 1, one unit of frame parts and two units of electrical components are required. For each unit of Product 2, three units of frame parts and two units of electrical components are required. The company has a weekly supply of 3,000 units of frame parts and 4,500 of electrical components. Each Unit of Product 1 gives a profit of $13, and each unit of Product 2, up to 900 units, gives a profit of $26. Any excess over 900 units of Product 2 brings no profit, so such an excess has been ruled out.

Identify verbally the decisions to be made, the constraints on these decisions, and the overall measure of performance for the decisions.

Convert these verbal description of the constraints and the measure of performance into quantitative expressions in terms of the date an decision.

Formulate and solve a linear programming model for this problem on a spreadsheet.

Formulate this same model algebraically.

2.13 You are given the following linear programming model in algebraic form, with X1 and X2 as the decision variables and constraints on the usage of four resources:

Maximize Profit = 2X₁ + X₂

Subject to     X₂ ≤ 10 (Resource 1)

        2X₁ + 5X₂ ≤ 60 (Resource 2)

        X₁ + X₂ ≤ 18 (Resource 3)

        3X₁ + X₂ ≤ 44 (Resource 4)

And

        X₁ ≥ 0 X₂ ≥ 0

Use the graphical method to solve this model.

Incorporate this model into a spreadsheet and then use Solver to solve this model.

incoming freshmen are given entrance examination in a number of fields including English. Over a period of years, it has been found that the average score in English examination is 80 with standard deviation of 7.8. An English instructor examines the scores from his class of 40 and finds their average in 85. Can the instructor claim the average scores has increased at 0.05 level of significance?

critical value?

computed value?

conclusion?