Archive for category: Business paper

Assignment 4: Analysis of the Agency’s Policies, Procedures, and Plans Regarding Unions, Privatization, Pensions, and Productivity, Part 4 Due Week 10 and worth 250 points Refer to the Scenario for Assignments 1, 2, 3, and 4 Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you: Determine whether your selected agency should have union representation. Defend your position with at least two reasons. (Title this section “The Agency and Unions”) Determine whether your selected agency should privatize its services. Defend your position with at least two (2) reasons. (Title this section “The Agency and Privatization”) Analyze at least two (2) of the agency’s policies, procedures, and / or plans regarding pensions. (Title this section “Employee Pension Plans”) Recommend at least three (3) actions the agency could take to improve in the areas of productivity and performance evaluation. (Title this section “Recommendations for Improving Productivity and Performance Evaluation”) Appropriately incorporate at least four (4) quality sources. A quality source can be either popular, such as a news article, or scholarly, such as peer reviewed works. In the case of public administration, government websites are appropriate quality resources. Note: Wikipedia, SparkNotes, and similar websites do not quality as academic resources. Visit the Strayer University Library at http://research.strayer.edu to conduct research. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. The course learning outcomes associated with this assignment is: Develop a proposal for strategic public personnel management within a sepcific federal agency

Description Berkshire Hathaway’s Investment Strategy Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has almost a “personality cult” organizational culture which essentially revolves around one man and his investing prowess. The man’s name is Warren Buffett, the “Oracle of Omaha.” Historically, Berkshire Hathaway’s business model has been to purchase insurance companies. One great thing about insurance companies is the “cash float,” which works as follows. Suppose that a person purchases a $100,000 whole life insurance policy from Berkshire Hathaway and pays premiums of $4,000 per year to Berkshire for this policy. The Berkshire Hathaway company is obligated to pay the $100,000 death benefit when the person dies; in the meantime it gets to invest the $4,000 per year “float.” Warren Buffett, who has been a very savvy investor, has made a huge fortune from investing this float money. But recently, Berkshire Hathaway has been moving away from purchasing insurance companies with large floats and has been buying major industrial businesses instead. In 2010, for example, it completed a $44 billion purchase of one of the nation’s largest railroads, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). Berkshire paid for this acquisition with $15.8 billion in cash it had on hand, and the remainder in Berkshire Hathaway stock. Mr. Buffett, who was born in 1930, is now well beyond the age when most workers retire. For this activity, answer: How does Mr. Buffett’s age affect Berkshire Hathaway’s recent strategic moves such as buying Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad instead of another large insurance company? What does Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of BNSF Railroad say about where Buffett thinks the price of energy (oil and gasoline) is going to be in the future? How does the energy efficiency of shipping goods via rail compare with shipping goods via truck or airplane?

1. The Income Statement is prepared on an accrual basis instead of on a cash basis. What can users (investors, analysts, etc…) of the Income Statement infer from the statement compared with the information you can infer from the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Statement?

2. There are several sources of financial information on publicly traded firms. Use morningstar.com to obtain the main financial data and ratios for Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), Target (TGT) and Kohl’s (KSS) to discuss/answer the following questions.

The symbol in parentheses after each firm is the stock symbol for the firm that should be entered into the ‘Quote’ input area at the top of the morningstar website to obtain information on the company. Once information on the firm is obtained, the ‘Financials’ area will contain Revenues, expenses, net income, etc… The ‘Dividends’ area will contain dividend paid and dividend payout. You can click on the ‘Operating Performance’ link to obtain information on calculated key ratios.

There is also a ‘Valuation’ link for valuation ratios such as Price/Earnings. 1. Comparing Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T), which company has more leverage? Which one is more efficient in collecting receivables? and which one is trading at a higher valuation in terms of earnings? For each question, use the most recent financial data on morningstar.com to justify your answer. Also calculate the internal growth rate for VZ. 2. Comparing Target (TGT) and Kohl’s (KSS), which company has more leverage? Which one is more efficient in managing inventory? and which one is trading at a higher valuation in terms of earnings? For each question, use the most recent financial data on morningstar.com to justify your answer. Also calculate the sustainable growth rate for TGT.