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QUESTION:

  1. Company A wants to test three major forecasting techniques on a historical data that they have in terms of the forecasting accuracy on a certain product’s weekly sales data. They have recorded the sales values in the last 13 weeks and you can see the corresponding value of each week as a time series data in the below table.

Period

Actual

1

141

2

104

3

145

4

147

5

150

6

150

7

132

8

136

9

108

10

103

11

113

12

141

13

121

Please use this historical data to perform the following actions:

  1. Plot the time series as a scatter plot
  1. Make forecasts starting from the 9th period for five periods using moving average method (you can choose n=5; that is the number of historical data points you should use in calculation)
  1. Make forecasts starting from the 9th period for five periods using weighted moving average method (you can use the following weight scheme wt-1= 0.3, wt-1= 0.2, wt-1= 0.2, wt-1= 0.15, wt-1= 0.15 )
  1. Make forecasts starting from the 9th period for five periods using exponential smoothing method (you can use smoothing factor as 0.25 )
  2. Calculate the accuracy metrics we covered in class for all the methods you used above. Make a comparison between the techniques.
 
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Drivers of Unethical Behavior

Read the overview below and complete the activities that follow.

There are two reasons why a company’s strategy should be ethical: (1) because a strategy that is unethical is morally wrong and reflects badly on the character of the company and its personnel, and (2) because an ethical strategy can be good business and serve the self-interest of shareholders.

When high ethical principles are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture of a company, culture can function as a powerful mechanism for communicating ethical behavioral norms and gaining employee buy-in to the company’s moral standards, business principles, and corporate values. In such cases, the ethical principles embraced in the company’s code of ethics and/or in its statement of corporate values are seen as integral to the company’s identity, self-image, and ways of operating.

While most company managers are careful to ensure that a company’s strategy is within the bounds of what is legal, evidence indicates they are not always so careful to ensure that all elements of their strategies and operating activities are within the bounds of what is considered ethical. The consequences of crafting strategies that cannot pass the test of moral scrutiny is manifested in sizable fines, devastating public relations hits, sharp drops in stock prices that cost shareholders billions of dollars, criminal indictments, and convictions of company executives. The fallout from all these scandals has resulted in heightened management attention to legal and ethical considerations in crafting strategy.

Apart from the “business of business is business, not ethics” kind of thinking, three other factors contribute to unethical business behavior: (1) faulty oversight that enables the unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain, (2) heavy pressures on company managers to meet or beat short-term earnings targets, and (3) a company culture that puts profitability and good business performance ahead of ethical behavior. In contrast, culture can function as a powerful mechanism for promoting ethical business conduct when high ethical principles are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture of a company.

The goal of this exercise is for you to understand the conditions that give rise to unethical business strategies and behavior.

Before completing this exercise, be sure to review Chapter 9, “Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Sustainability, and Strategy;” specifically, the section entitled “Drivers of Unethical Business Strategies and Behavior.”

What are the drivers of unethical behavior?

Multiple Choice

  • A lack of oversight, management pressure to achieve results, and a corporate culture that puts an emphasis on profitability over ethical behavior.

  • Unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain, a policy of meritocracy in hiring and promotion, and a company culture that encourages “whistle blowing” among employees.

  • Strong management oversight, realistic goals, and earnings expectations, and a strong corporate culture that recognizes and rewards outstanding performance.

  • Ethical behaviors are ingrained in corporate culture, business principles, and corporate values.

  • Unethical behaviors are rewarded and recognized as integral to the company’s identity, self-image, and ways of operating.

 
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Who is Michael Polan and what are his accomplishments?

2. Why does Pollan say that our food chain, the general diet of most Americans, is rooted in corn?

3. Why does Pollan say that corn (he calls it a “grass”) is one of the plant world’s greatest success stories?

4. What is the relationship of chemical fertilizer to explosives?

5. Why would we call F1 hybrid corn “a big eater”?

6. What is the relationship of nitrogen to all life on our planet?

7. Explain what needs to happen to nitrogen in order to be of value to plants.

8. How is the growth of population related to the amount of nitrogen that can be “fixed”?

9. What did Vaclav Smil claim as the most important invention of the 20th Century? Why did he think it the most important?

10. Who was Fritz Haber and what did he do that was of great importance to the world?

11. What is fossil fuel?

11.Explain the following: “When humankind acquired the power to fix nitrogen, the basis of soil fertility shifted from total reliance on energy from the sun to a new reliance on fossil fuel.

12. How was the management of farms changed by the invention of synthetic nitrogen?

13. How does the over feeding of synthetic nitrogen to plants damage the environment?

14. How can we continue to use synthetic nitrogen but not damage the environment?

 
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Assignment One

Case Analysis (25%):

Richard works for the Daily Times newspaper. He publishes an award-winning story on crime and youth in England. Richard hears one day that the newspaper has sold his story to an American newspaper for publication. Richard alleges that his copyright has been infringed.

With reference to relevant case law, discuss ownership of copyright and advise Richard.

Word Limit: 1000 words

Other Instructions: Your assignment should be appropriately referenced (using OSCOLA) and should contain a full bibliography of all sources consulted in undertaking the work. You should also be aware of the University rules concerning academic integrity . Further details and marking criteria can be found in Bangor University’s Regulations for Taught Programmes

 
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