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Three independent widget-producing machines all require the same type of vital part, which needs frequent maintenance. To increase production, it is decided to keep two spare parts on hand (for a total of 2 + 3 = 5 parts). After 2 hours of use, the part is removed from the machine and taken to a single technician, who can do the required maintenance in 30 ± 20 minutes. After maintenance, the part is placed in the pool of spare parts, to be put into the first machine that requires it the technician has other duties, namely, repairing other items which have a higher priority and which arrive every 60 ± 20 · minutes requiring 15 ± 15 minutes to repair. Also, the technician takes a 15-minute break in each 2-hour time period. That is, the technician works 1 hour 45 minutes; takes off 15 minutes, works 1 hour 45 minutes, takes off 15 minutes, and so on. (a) What are the model's initial conditions-that is, where are the parts at time O. and what is their condition? Are these conditions typical of “steady state”? (b) Make each replication of this experiment consist of an 8-hour initialization phase followed by a 40-hour data-collection phase. Make four statistically independent replications of -the experiment all in one computer run (i.e.; make four runs with each using a different set of random numbers); (c) Estimate the mean number of busy machines and the proportion of time the technician is busy. (d) Parts are estimated to cost the company $50 per part per 8-hour day (regardless of how much they are in use). The cost of the technician is $20 per hour. A working machine produces widgets worth $100 for each hour of production. Develop an expression to represent total cost per hour which can be attributed to widget production (i.e., not all of the technician's time is due to widget production). Evaluate this expression, given the results of the simulation.

 

 
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Project Goals: The main goal of this project is to help students to build skills in statistical analysis by applying the descriptive statistics tools to estimate the mean COVID-19 Total Cases per 100,000 people (C19TCP100T) and the mean COVID-19 Proportion of Total Deaths in Total Cases (C19PTDITC) for each of your two selected US selected states, and then use those estimates and the inferential statistics to test the difference in COVID-19 incidences across the two selected states. Attached Files: • ECON 351-555 Fall 2021 – Working File – Chapter 3.xlsx (9.468 KB) Students are expected to write their final research report which must describe the population of interest to the analysis, the data collection procedure, the implementation of the statistical procedure to estimate the population parameters (mean C19TCP100T and the mean C19PTDITC) using the sample data, the interpretation of the results, and the policy recommendations. Problem Statement The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which appeared first in China in late 2019, has spread quickly across the world, causing in its way significant health, economic, demographic, and social disruptions. What was initially seen as a largely China-centric shock has ballooned to full blown global crisis. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. COVID-19 has brought forth new challenges such as social distancing, requirement to wear masks in public place, teleworking, prohibition of large-scale social events, travel restrictions and others. Overcoming those challenges has proved to be the best way to contain the spread of the pandemic and protect lives. In the particular case of the United States, each state has set forth strategies to contain the spread of the disease and to reduce the number of deaths. Project Description You are tasked with determine whether or not there exits difference in COVID-19 incidences across two US states of your choice using COVID-19 data, namely, Total Cases and Total Deaths and US population data by state. To complete your project, you will use secondary; 2020 CDC COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by State over time – 2020 (https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-StatesCOVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36/data ) to estimate the difference in COVID-19 incidences across two states (The Excel file on this dataset is attached). You will also have to test the hypothesis of no difference in COVID-19 incidences across two states. Steps for conducting the statistical analysis are described below. 1. Data collection and visualization – Part 1 (Due Date: 10/01/2021) The dataset on COVID-19 Total Cases and Total Cases by state in 2020 and on the US population by state in 2020 is attached. Select a simple random sample for your selected states which must be the third of the total number of observations. If the third of observations is less than 30, increase the number to 30 by randomly selecting the missing observations. Next, generate the COVID-19 Total Cases per 100,000 people (C19TCP100T) and the COVID-19 Proportion of Total Deaths in Total Cases (C19PTDITC) To generate the C19TCP100T for each state, generate first the population in 100,000 units by dividing the population of state by 100,000. Then, divide Total Cases by the population in 100,000 units to generate the C19TCP100T for each state. To generate C19PTDITC for each state, divide the Total Deaths for the state by the Total Cases for the same state and multiply the results by 100 to express it as a percent. Next, plot the C19TCP100T for the two samples in the same chart (visualization) to detect whether or not there exist differences in Total Cases per 100,000 people. Do the same for the C19PTDITC. The visualizations should be presented using EXCEL.
 
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Readthe case entitled, “Should U.S. Imports of Prescription Drugs from Canada Be Widened” at the end of Chapter 7. Then, answer the following questions:

  1. Should the United States legalize the importation of lower-cost pharmaceuticals? If so, should this apply to individual consumers, pharmacies, or other entities?
  2. If the United States were to permit the importation of lower-cost pharmaceuticals from abroad, should this importation apply to all foreign countries or a limited number? if a limited number, which should they be and why?
  3. If the United States were to permit the importation of lower-cost pharmaceuticals from abroad, should this apply to all pharmaceuticals or just to some? If just to some, what criteria should be used?
  4. If pharmacies were allowed to import less costly drugs from abroad, should regulations be put into effect to pass on some/all cost savings to consumers? If so, what should they be?

Submityour answers in a doc or docx document. Follow full APA compliance guidelines. Use all resources provided this week to support your assignment completion.

 
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R&D at Hewlett-Packard

(pp. 118-119 in Collinson, Narula, & Rugman 2020)

Founded in a small garage by William Redington Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, The Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) is a multinational American organisation that develops a range of computer hardware components. HP also provides software and IT-related services to SMEs and large organisations and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, US. In 2014, HP split into two separate entities, with one being Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, which sells servers and enterprise services, and the other one being HP Inc which focuses on PCs and printers. The deal was motivated by the opportunity to save around $1 billion in operating costs.

Before the split, HP primarily had seven basic R&D centres: in Palo Alto, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Bristol, England; Galway, Ireland; Grenoble, France; Haifa, Israel; and Tokyo, Japan. These explored a wide range of technologies more or less linked to its product range. Its Advanced Studies Research Labs include a sub-group doing information theory research, linking the Mathematical Science Group based in Bristol with experts at US universities at Stanford and Berkeley. Grenoble specialises in business PC design and development and Israel in image and document processing, among other areas. These centres of research excellence were linked to HP’s global product divisions, mainly headquartered in the United States, and its national subsidiaries around the world, which encompass most of its 85,500 employees. The Palo Alto centre pioneered HP’s thermal ink-jet technology, for example.

Its Consumer Products group, headquartered in San Diego, California, designed, developed and led the manufacturing of a range of imaging products using this technology. The firm’s subsidiary in Singapore customises the design and produces thermal ink-jet printers for the Japanese and Asian markets. The R&D structure of the firm evolved a step further when the Singaporean subsidiary took the lead from San Diego for the design, development and manufacturing of a new range of portable ink-jet printers. It had built up a range of specialist capabilities, through learning from other parts of the internal network and through local Asian technical partnerships and subcontractors, which made it the best place to lead innovation efforts in this area for the firm as a whole.

HP has developed a strong culture of creative innovation, going back to its roots as a garage-based start-up. In addition to the ‘formal’ R&D function, with its global network of R&D centres, HP promotes innovation across all of its functions and employees. Continuous improvement of technologies, products, services and solutions which exploit new technological trends and match these to the changing needs of customers is encouraged across the firm. HP focuses its efforts on areas where it believes it can make a unique contribution, which at times also include forming partnerships with other leading organisations.

In 2015 HP invested US$3.5 billion into R&D, up from US$3.45 billion in 2014 and US$3.14 billion in 2013. But the firm’s R&D investment as a percentage of sales (a standard measure of R&D ‘intensity’) declined from 3.9 percent in 2006 to less than 3 percent in 2015. With the help of its R&D centres, HP has recently been able to develop new products and services around the cloud storage platform and related to ‘big data’. In 2015, HP opened an 87,000 ft2 Innovation Center in Ballybrit, Galway, Ireland, with a workforce of 700 engineers, consultants, and support team. With the opening of this new Innovation Center, HP is striving to become a leader in software R&D, cloud technology and service innovation. Similarly, the 2017 opening of its new research centre in Singapore is aimed at allowing engineers to experiment, design, and find solutions for improving the company’s manufacturing processes.

Conclusion

Even though HP’s expenditure on R&D has been increasing, it is still relatively low compared to some of its competitors and particularly low as a percentage of sales. For example, Microsoft spends approximately 15 percent of its revenues on R&D; IBM 5–7 percent; and SAP 14 percent. However, in consecutive annual reports, HP states its intention to invest larger sums into R&D. The central belief of HP’s founders, David Packard and William Hewlett, from the days of the garage in Palo Alto, that investing in R&D to drive continuous innovation is necessary for long-term competitive advantage, still runs strong.

Website: https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/home.html

Source: HP, Annual Report, 2014; Cliff Saran, ‘HP CEO Meg Whitman pushes hardware R&D strategy’, Computer Weekly, 10 May 2012; ‘HP opens new Innovation Facility in Galway’, ARUP, 13 May 2015, arup.com; ‘Invest in the West – MJ Conroy & HP Ballybrit’, Irish Building, 9 February 2015. https://www. businesstimes.com.sg/technology/hp-unveils-s100m-campus-home-to-its-first-advanced-manufacturing-centre.

CASE QUESTIONS

Use all class resources you have learned thus far and:

1. Competitive advantages & Dynamic capabilities: Deliberate and discuss in detail whether HP has competitive advantages.

  1. If yes, what are they? If no, argue why HP has no competitive advantages.
  2. Outline examples of dynamic capabilities HP has. If you argue there are none, state why.
  3. Discuss the interaction of CSAs and HP’s FSAs in developing the firm’s competitive advantages.

2. Consider whether the Singapore R&D subsidiary is: centre-for-global, local-for-local, local-for-global, or global-for-global. Make an argument for (using examples) for the classification you choose.

Submit maximum 3 A4 pages (=ca 250 words double-spaced per page) = max 750 words.

Answers should be well structured, concise, and logically argued.

Use of relevant external resources must be cited appropriately. Choice of citation style is up to each student (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.), but whichever style chosen, it must be correctly and consistently applied in the assignment. For example, this means that if you choose to use APA style, then use ONLY APA style accurately from start to finish.

Cases of plagiarism will not be tolerated and will earn a failing grade for the assignment.

 
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