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Your investment package should answer the following questions that lenders are most interested in: 1. How strong is the project, and is it really feasible? ■ Your business plan, story, and feasibility study must be persuasive and confirmed by a credible third-party source. 2. Is the project team really qualified? ■ The credentials of your team must be outstanding. If you are attempting to finance a start-up business and your management team lacks experience, make sure you surround yourself with seasoned professionals and reward them well. Your investment in their talents will serve you well on later deals and help you establish a favorable track record for your company. 3. What is the risk of the venture failing? ■ Lending is all about risk, so don’t ignore it. You must clearly state what the risks of the proposed project are and how you plan to minimize them. ■ Risk can be minimized by providing additional collateral, personal guarantees, or, more preferably, by showing the lender that it is a conservative loan with low loan-to-cost and loan-to-value ratios, a high debt service coverage ratio, and that the loan can easily be paid back out of future cash flows.

 

 
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Over the years when Apple Inc. needed a leader to direct the hardware engineering for a key project, top management frequently turned to veteran Bob Mansfield. So, it was logical when CEO Tim Cook wanted a strong leader to take over the reins of the autonomous driving system that he chose Mansfield. Previous to the car project, Mansfield was the senior vice president of Technologies at Apple, a group that combined all of Apple’s wireless teams into one unit, fostering innovation at an even higher level. He was also previously the leader in charge of some of the company’s biggest hits, such as the original iPad, the iMac, and the MacBook Air. Although not an automobile specialist, he is skilled at converting Apple’s hardware division into reality. Mansfield, along with design chief Jony Ive, was one of the few executives to appear in Apple’s carefully designed product announcement videos. Under Mansfield’s leadership, the company has not abandoned its effort to build an Apple Car, but it has begun to focus more heavily on developing an autonomous driving system. Such a system could make it more feasible to partner with a traditional automobile manufacturer in the future. Mansfield has three teams in his division: one for software, one for sensors, and one for hardware engineering. One of the implied purposes of appointing Mansfield to the car project was to get it back on track because the project had been mired in problems. One of the challenges, for example, was for Apple to find a way to differentiate its proposed vehicle for automotive companies entering the self-driving field.  1. Identify at least two roles that Mansfield occupies, and explain your reasoning. 2. What do you see as Mansfield’s most important qualification for heading up the Apple Car project? 3. Even if Apple is a great company and Mansfield is a strong leader, would you ever purchase a self-driving car produced by a maker of electronic gadgets and small computers?

 

 
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1.A manufacturer in Nebraska ships finished products to the ocean port in San Diego, California. New loading facilities will be needed to accommodate the expected growth in sales for their new product. In 2018, the company shipped 4 million pounds of product through several areas in San Diego. The logistic Costs in 2018 are given in the table. Due to growth in emerging markets, the company expects a growth rate of 8% per year through this port for the next five years.(Show all steps, submission with results only will not gain any credit! If you don’t know how to type your answer, you can take a picture of your handwriting and paste it in the answer section.)

Rail Truck

Transportation Variable Cost. $250,000 $275,000

Inventory Costs

Carrying $45,000 $27,000

Handling $35,000 $43,000

Ordering $15,000 $17,000

Fixed Cost $160,000 $130,000

TOTAL COST $505,000 $492,000

  1. What is the total variable cost of the Rail shipping method?

  2. What is the total variable cost per pound of the Rail shipping method? (Round the answer to 4 decimal places)

  3. What is the total cost of shipping 5 million pounds of products via the Rail shipping method? (Note: Round the variable cost per pound to 4 decimal places)

  4. At what level of demand per year would these two transportation methods be equal in terms of total costs? (Round the answer to 2 decimal places) (Note: Round the variable cost per pound to 4 decimal places)

 
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Case study (hypothetical): Business processes at Umculo Music Streaming
(UMS) for Ukusakaza Umculo (UU), a music streaming application
Compiled by Prof J.H. Kroeze
UMS is a hypothetical South African company that owns a relatively new music streaming app,
Ukusakaza Umculo (UU). UMS’s vision is to provide easy and affordable access to South
African music to the country’s citizens, Africa and the rest of the world. After downloading the
app, new customers have to register a profile and accept the terms and conditions before they
can start using the app. During registration customers are required to provide their full names,
ID number, residential address and credit card details. They should give UMC permission to
share their personal details (except the credit card number) and listening preferences with
advertising companies. Some customers have complained about possible security issues and
processes that are not in line with the new POPIA act.
The service desk receives all new applications, print it and send it to the registration department
who validates the credit card details and either accept or decline the application. The file is
updated and sent to the communications department who informs the applicant of the outcome.
Files of successful applicants are then sent to the IT section to activate access to the app. The
whole process takes about six days. The customer has no means to check the progress until
(s)he receives the final notification from Communications. A huge backlog of applications has
already built up.A free version of the app is available. It contains advertisements and users are limited to stream
100 songs per month. A paid subscription costs R99 per month and allows users unlimited
access to all the songs in the Ukusakaza Umculo databank while their subscription fee is paid
up.
Currently UMS only accepts electronic fund transfers (EFTs) as a method of payment. This
causes delays because not all customers have access to internet banking, and the payments
have to be checked manually by die Finance Department’s staff. Customers who do not pay
their monthly subscription are cut off and the system loses all their historical data. The Finance
Department has fallen behind with checking the EFTs causing delays in terminations or
renewals of subscriptions.
UMS has been losing some of its existing customers and is struggling to attract new clients.
Management believes that the reason for the decline could be a problem with the app’s
software, but no market research has been done to confirm this hypothesis. They have
appointed you as business analyst to investigate the situation and to propose viable solutions.
You are also expected to manage the implementation of the accepted solution(s) so that the
company can retain and attract more customers

QUESTION 1 – CHAPTER 7: MODELLING BUSINESS PROCESSES (10)
Draw a swimlane diagram to graphically show the current registration business process used by
UMS for new customers. Also comment on this process critically and make some proposals on
how the processes could be improved (300 words).
QUESTION 2 – CHAPTER 8: DEFINING THE SOLUTION (10)
The CIO had a meeting with you to discuss your proposals to streamline the business
processes at UMS in order to retain and attract more clients.

2.1 You have been tasked to do a gap analysis and to inform CIO how the ICT department
would be involved to move the UMS business systems from its current state to the
proposed model (150 words). [5]
2.2 Explain to the CEO why and how necessary changes to the home loan procedure will
impact the business architecture (refer especially to the problems highlighted in subcase
study 3: the need for an enterprise architecture rethink or reengineering) (150
words). [5}

QUESTION 3 – CHAPTER 9: MAKING A BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL CASE (10)
Assume that you have finished the process of eliciting information regarding the current issues
regarding the business processes at UMS. You are now ready to compile the business case.
Explain to your professional assistant how the business case should be compiled and
structured, as well as all the elements that should be included in it (300 words).
QUESTION 4 – CHAPTER 10: ESTABLISHING THE REQUIREMENTS (10)
Choose a suitable approach to establish the requirements for the business process
improvement project at UMS. Write a memo to the CIO in 300 words giving some detail about
the proposed approach and motivate your choice.
QUESTION 5 – CHAPTER 11: DOCUMENTING AND MANAGING REQUIREMENTS (10)
Compile the basic structure of the requirements catalogue for the development of new software
to facilitate the business process improvement project at UMS (300 words).
QUESTION 6 – CHAPTER 13: DELIVERING THE REQUIREMENTS (10)
Prepare yourself for a meeting with the CIO to discuss the delivery of the new software to
facilitate the business process improvement project at UMS. Compile a set of notes on the
underlying philosophies of systems development lifecycle models, choose a suitable technique
for the current business analysis project, and motivate your choice (300 words).
QUESTION 7 – CHAPTER 14: DELIVERING THE BUSINESS SOLUTION (10)
Assume that the business analysis and process improvement project at UMS has been
completed successfully. Write a feedback memorandum of 300 words to the CIO in which you
reflect on your role to realise the required benefits.

 
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