GLO-BUS QUIZ
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20_questions.docx|
1. Which one of the following is NOT an attractive way to reduce production and/or marketing costs and strive to achieve a competitive advantage over rivals based on lower overall costs per entry-level camera sold? |
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Keeping a watchful eye on warranty costs for entry-level cameras and endeavoring to keep them below the industry-average benchmark (as reported on p. 5 of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review) |
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Making sure that total compensation per full-time PAT member remains at or very close to the industry-low benchmark (as reported on p. 6 of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review) |
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Striving to keeping marketing costs per entry-level camera in all 4 geographic regions sold to levels that are substantially below the industry-average benchmark (as reported on p. 6 of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review) |
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Trying several different "what-if" entries for core components to be used in entry-level cameras in order to discover the lowest cost combination for achieving the target P/Q rating |
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Paying full-time PAT members a sufficiently high total compensation package that boosts the productivity of the labor force enough to keep labor costs per entry-level camera below the industry-average benchmark (as reported on p. 5 of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review) |
2. If a management team wishes to boost the company's stock price, then it should consider actions to
issue additional shares of common stock and use the proceeds to pay off the borrowings against the company's line of credit.
boost the prices it charges for entry-level and multi-featured cameras by a minimum of $10 in all four geographic regions.
boost the amount of earnings retained in the business and increase the hoard of cash held in the company's retrained earnings account.
spend additional money on corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship.
boost the company's net income and EPS and, also, to repurchase shares of common stock.
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3. Which one of the following is NOT a way to improve the P/Q rating of a company's brand of multi-featured cameras? |
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Increasing the size of the LCD display screen for multi-featured cameras |
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Spending additional money to improve the imaging devices used in making the company's multi-featured cameras |
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Improving the optical zoom capability of the company's multi-featured cameras |
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Spending additional money to improve the ergonomics of the company's multi-featured camera models |
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Increasing the warranty period for multi-featured cameras from 1 year to 2 years |
4. If a company earns net income of $25 million in Year 8, has 10 million shares of stock, pays a dividend of $1.00 per share, and has annual interest costs of $10 million, then
the company's retained earnings for the year would be $5 million; the $5 million in retained earnings would be shown on the company's balance sheet as a reduction in equity investment by stockholders in Year 9.
the company's EPS for Year 8 would be $2.50 and its retained earnings for Year 8 would be $15 million (net income of $25 million less dividend payments of $10 million); the $15 million in retained earnings is treated on the company's balance sheet as additional accumulated retained earnings and thus additional equity investment by stockholders in Year 8.
the company would have Year 8 earnings per share of $1.50 and retained earnings of $15 million (net income of $25 million less interest costs of $10 million).
the company's retained earnings for the year would be $5 million (net income of $25 million less dividend payments of $10 million less interest costs of $10 million).
the company's EPS for Year 8 would be $1.50 and its dividend payout for Year 8 would equal 60% of net income.
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5. According to the depreciation rates used by the company and described in the Production Cost Report, if a company adds 80 new workstations at a cost of $75,000 each and also spends $20 million for an addition to its assembly plant to accommodate the new workstations, then its annual depreciation costs will rise by |
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4% of $26 million or $1,040,000. |
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$1,875,000. |
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4% of $20 million or $800,000. |
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$2,400,000. |
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1.25% of $20 million or $250,000. |
6. In which one of the following circumstances should managers seriously consider shifting away from pursuit of a strategy to differentiate its highly-rated, premium-priced entry-level cameras from the entry-level cameras of rival companies?
When one or more rivals produce and market four or more models of entry-level cameras
When many rival companies are spending above-average amounts on quarterly advertising
When a big fraction of the companies in the industry are offering entry-level camera buyers 3 or fewer models with P/Q ratings of 2 1/2-stars or lower and are spending above-average amounts on tech support in all four geographic regions
When the company's image rating falls below 70
When one or more rivals produce and market entry-level cameras with only a 1-star P/Q rating
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7. Which one of the following actions is MOST likely to reduce the labor productivity of PATs? |
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Cutting the combined number of entry-level and multi-featured cameras being assembled from 6 models to 5 models |
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Boosting the base pay of PAT members from 0% in the prior year by only 1% in the current year |
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Decreasing the size of the incentive bonus each PAT receives from $1.00 to $0.70 per camera assembled |
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Failing to pay PAT members enough so that the total annual compensation per full-time PAT member is at least equal to the industry-average compensation level (the industry-average compensation level is reported in the bottom section of p. 5 of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review) |
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Not raising the quarterly bonus for perfect attendance from $50 for a period of 3 years |
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8. The industry-low, industry-average, and industry-high cost benchmarks on pp. 5-6 of each issue of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review |
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are worth careful scrutiny by the managers of all companies because they help managers determine the degree to which their company's costs for the benchmarked cost categories are competitive with those of rival companies. |
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are particularly valuable to company managers who are actively considering hiring additional PATs in the upcoming decision round. |
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are of little value to company managers in making decisions to improve company performance in the upcoming decision round, except in those cases when a company is losing money. |
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have the greatest value to the managers of companies whose costs are above the industry averages. |
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are of considerable value to the managers of companies selling low-cost/low-price entry-level and/or multi-featured digital cameras but are of very limited value to the managers of all other companies. |
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9. Which one of the following results from the latest decision round are LEAST important in providing guidance to company managers in making their strategic moves and decisions to improve their company's competitiveness and rank among the top-performing company's in the upcoming decision round? |
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The selected financial and operating ratios for each company that appear at the bottom of p. 7 of the GSR |
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Each company's performance on EPS, ROE, stock price, credit rating, and image rating displayed on the pp. 2 and 3 of the GSR |
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The company's competitive strengths and weaknesses for each geographic region that appear at the bottom of the Quarterly Snapshot pages of the Competitive Intelligence Report |
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The Quarterly Snapshot data at the top of the Competitive Intelligence Report for each geographic region that shows each company's competitive efforts (advertising, tech support, prices, P/Q rating, promotions, and so on) |
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The industry-low, industry-average, and industry-high benchmarks on pp. 5-6 of each issue of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review (GSR) |
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10. Pursuing a strategy of social responsibility and corporate citizenship |
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has the positive impact of increasing overall company performance (EPS, ROE, stock price, credit rating and image rating) when a company wins one or more Gold Star Awards for Corporate Citizenship. |
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can lead to increased global sales volume and global market share of entry-level and multi-featured cameras when a company's advertising is devoted to explaining all of the socially responsible activities being undertaken. |
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increases a company's ability to earn higher total profits. |
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enhances the power and effectiveness of a company's advertising expenditures in years when its total annual spending for socially responsible activities is above the industry average. |
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has a positive impact on a company's image rating, provided company spending on socially responsible activities is a meaningful amount and is sustained over a multi-year period. |
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11. Which of the following actions does not help make a company's brand of multi-featured cameras more competitive and attractive to buyers vis-à-vis the brands of rival firms? |
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Increasing the length of the warranty period for multi-featured cameras |
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Increasing advertising expenditures in those geographic regions where multi-featured camera sales are lowest |
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Increasing the number and length of promotional campaigns for multi-featured cameras |
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Increasing total compensation of PAT members to boost their productivity in assembling multi-featured cameras |
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Increasing the P/Q rating of the company's multi-featured cameras from 3 stars to 4 stars in all four geographic regions |
12. Given the following Financial Statement data:
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Income Statement Data |
Quarter 1 (in 000s) |
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Sales Revenues |
$50,000 |
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Operating Profit |
14,400 |
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Net Income |
$9,555 |
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Balance Sheet Data |
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Total Current Assets |
$70,000 |
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Total Assets |
159,000 |
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Total Current Liabilities |
26,000 |
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L-T Debt (draw against credit line) |
43,000 |
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Total Equity |
91,400 |
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Other Financial Data |
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Depreciation |
$4,000 |
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Dividend payments |
$2,250 |
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Based on the above figures, the company's capital structure (defined as the sum of total debt outstanding and total stockholder's equity) consists of what percentages of debt and equity? The percentages of total capital invested that are debt-financed and equity-financed are among the factors used to determine a company's credit rating, as explained in the Help section for the Comparative Financial Performances presented on p. 7 of the GLO-BUS Statistical Review.) |
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29% debt and 71% equity or 29:71 |
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25% debt and 75% equity or 25:75 |
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47% debt and 53% equity or 47:53 |
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15% debt and 85% equity or 15:85 |
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32% debt and 68% equity or 32:68 |
13. Assume a company’s Income Statement for a given quarter is as follows:
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Income Statement Data |
Quarter 1 (in 000s) |
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Sales Revenues |
$50,000 |
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Production Costs |
26,500 |
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Delivery Costs |
1,600 |
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Marketing Costs |
8,500 |
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Administrative Expenses |
2,000 |
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Operating Profit |
14,400 |
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Net Interest |
750 |
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Income Before Taxes |
13,650 |
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Taxes |
4,095 |
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Net Income |
$9,555 |
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Based on the above data, which of the following statements is false? |
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Administrative expenses are 8.0% of revenues |
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Delivery costs are 3.2% of revenues and are the company’s smallest operating cost |
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Production costs are 53% of revenues, thus resulting in a gross profit margin (sales revenues less costs of goods sold) of 47% |
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Net interest costs are 1.5% of revenues |
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Marketing costs are 17.0% of revenues |
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14. Which of the following is NOT an action company co-managers should seriously consider in trying to improve the company's credit rating? You may wish to consult the discussion of the credit rating that appears on the Help screen for the Comparative Financial Performance page of the GSR in answering this question. |
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Strive to increase net income, which should help increase the company’s free cash flow (bigger free cash flows lower the number of years it takes to pay back the loans outstanding on the company’s line of credit) |
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Reduce dividends and use the cash saved from lower dividend payments to pay down the loans outstanding on the company’s line of credit |
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Repurchase shares of the company’s stock |
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Strive to boost operating profits (higher operating profits boost the company’s times interest earned ratio) |
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Issue additional shares of stock and use the proceeds to pay down the loans on the company’s line of credit
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15. A company's managers should probably give serious consideration to changing from a low-cost/low price strategy for entry-level cameras to a different strategy when |
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more than half of the companies in the industry are marketing 4 or more models of entry-level cameras with a P/Q rating of 3.5-stars or higher |
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the company's market share is not the largest in all four geographic regions and its credit rating is also not the highest in the industry. |
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so many other rival companies are pursuing a similar strategy for entry-level cameras that intensive competition in the low-end entry-level camera segment makes it quite difficult to earn profit margins big enough for every company competing in this segment to earn attractively large profits. |
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sizable unfavorable shifts in exchange rates are too high and occur too often in one or more geographic regions to enable the company to be profitable selling low-priced multi-featured cameras. |
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the company's operating profits per entry-level camera sold are not above the industry-average in at least three geographic regions (as reported on p. 6 of the most recent GLO-BUS Statistical Review). |
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16. If a company is being outcompeted by various rival companies in the Europe-Africa market for multi-featured cameras and consequently has an unappealingly low sales volume and market share in Europe- Africa, then company managers should |
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increase spending for corporate social responsibility and citizenship to an amount that exceeds the prior-year maximum by at least 10%, hold 4 promotions for multi-featured cameras of 2 weeks each, offer a promotional discount of 20%, and increase quarterly advertising in Europe Africa by 25%. |
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produce and assemble 5 models of multi-featured cameras with a 3-star P/Q rating, charge a price for multi-featured cameras in Europe-Africa that is about $10 below the prior year's industry average in Europe-Africa, and have 3 quarterly promotions of 2 weeks in length and discount of 15% or more in the Europe-Africa region. |
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immediately increase quarterly advertising expenditures in Europe-Africa to 10%-15% more than the highest amount spent by a rival company in the prior year, set a price for multi-featured cameras that is no more than $10 above the lowest multi-featured camera price charged by a rival company in the prior year in the Europe-Africa region, and offer a warranty period for multi-featured cameras in Europe-Africa of at least 2 years. |
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produce and assemble only 1 multi-featured camera model with a P/Q rating of 1-star; increase quarterly advertising in Europe Africa by 50%, and cut the company's multi-featured camera price in Europe-Africa to $5-$10 below the lowest price charged by any rival company in Europe-Africa in the prior decision round. |
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explore correcting most or all of the company's competitive weaknesses (shown at the bottom of the latest Competitive Intelligence Report for the Europe-Africa region); in addition, managers should initiate actions that they believe will result in the company having at least two important competitive strengths vis-à-vis its Europe-Africa rivals in the upcoming decision round. |
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17. Which one of the following actions is usually a dependable and appealing way for managers to try to boost their company's EPS? |
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Issue enough additional shares of stock to raise sufficient cash to pay off all of the company's borrowings on its line of credit; this will cut interest costs to zero and boost the company's EPS |
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Repurchase shares of the company's common stock |
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Strive to be the dominant provider of entry-level cameras in all four geographic regions every year; the added profits on entry-level camera sales will drive increases in EPS |
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Cut the company's selling prices for both entry-level and multi-featured cameras to levels close to the lowest prices being charged by any company in all four regions; the resulting increases in sales volumes and revenues will boost the company's EPS |
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Minimize the company's dividend payments so as to boost retained earnings--higher retained earnings divided by the number of shares outstanding result in higher EPS |
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18. According to explanations provided in the Help pages for the Production Cost Report, if (1) a company pays a PAT member a base wage of $19,600, a $75 quarterly bonus for perfect attendance, and annual fringe benefits of $3,200, (2) a PAT is paid a $1 incentive bonus per camera assembled, and (3) a PAT assembles 10,000 cameras per year (or 2,500 cameras per quarter), then the annual compensation cost of a single PAT member and a fully-staffed PAT would be |
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$25,600 and $102,400. |
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$19,900 and $79,600. |
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$19,600 and $59,800. |
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$22,400 and $89,600. |
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$22,100, and $66,300. |
19. Assume a company’s Income Statement for a given period has the following entries:
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Income Statement Data |
Quarter 1 (in 000s) |
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Sales Revenues |
$50,000 |
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Production Costs |
26,500 |
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Delivery Costs |
1,600 |
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Marketing Costs |
10,500 |
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Administrative Expenses |
2,000 |
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Operating Profit |
12,400 |
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Net Interest |
750 |
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Income Before Taxes |
11,650 |
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Taxes |
3,495 |
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Net Income |
$8,155 |
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Based on the above income statement data, the company's operating profit margin and net profit margin are |
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24.8% and 16.3%. |
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53.0% and 10.15%. |
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26.8% and 19.1%. |
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28.8% and 16.3%. |
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28.8% and 17.7%.
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