The most significant feature of Irish landscape is ______.
A.bogs
B.streams
C.islands
D.ciffs
A.bogs
B.streams
C.islands
D.ciffs
from larger competitors in their core food and drink markets. They are also finding it hard to respond to these
competitors moving into the sale of clothing and household goods. Supaserve has a reputation for friendly customer
care and is looking at the feasibility of introducing an online shopping service, from which customers can order goods
from the comfort of their home and have them delivered, for a small charge, to their home.
Chris recognises that the move to develop an online shopping service will require significant investment in new
technology and support systems. He hopes a significant proportion of existing and most importantly, new customers,
will be attracted to the new service.
Required:
(a) What bases for segmenting this new market would you recommend and what criteria will help determine
whether this segment is sufficiently attractive to commit to the necessary investment? (10 marks)
Which of the following proposals did the Ordinance of 1784 incorporate?
A.New states should be admitted to the Union in numbers equal to the older states.
B.The Union should make the western region into tributary states.
C.New states should share the same rights in the Union as the original states.
D.The great western region should be divided into twelve states.
palaces, temples, houses and factories) which attract visitors from home and abroad. Most of these tourist sites have
gift shops where visitors can buy mementos and souvenirs of their visit. These souvenirs often include cups, saucers,
plates and other items which feature a printed image of the particular tourist site.
The Universal Pottery Company (UPC) is the main supplier of these pottery souvenir items to the tourist trade. It
produces the items in its potteries and then applies the appropriate image using specialised image printing machines.
UPC also supplies other organisations that require personalised products. For example, it recently won the right to
produce souvenirs for the Eurasian Games, which are being held in Europia in two years time. UPC currently ships
about 250,000 items of pottery out of its factory every month. Most of these items are shipped in relatively small
packages. All collections from the factory and deliveries to customers are made by a nationwide courier company.
In the last two years there has been a noticeable increase in the number of complaints about the quality of these
items. The complaints, from gift shop owners, concentrate on two main issues:
(i) The physical condition of goods when they arrive at the gift shop. Initial evidence suggests that ‘a significant
number of products are now arriving broken, chipped or cracked’. These items are unusable and they have to be
returned to UPC. UPC management are convinced that the increased breakages are due to packers not following
the correct packing method.
(ii) Incorrect alignment of the image of the tourist site on the selected item. For example, a recent batch of 100 cups
for Carish Castle included 10 cups where the image of the castle sloped significantly from left to right. These
were returned by the customer and destroyed by UPC.
The image problem was investigated in more depth and it was discovered that approximately 500 items were
delivered every month with misaligned images. Each item costs, on average, $20 to produce.
As a result of these complaints, UPC appointed a small quality inspection team who were asked to inspect one in
every 20 packages for correct packaging and correct image alignment. However, although some problems have been
found, a significant number of defective products have still been delivered to customers. A director of UPC used this
evidence to support his assertion that the ‘quality inspection team is just not working’.
The payment system for packers has also been such an issue. It was established ten years ago as an attempt to boost
productivity. Packers receive a bonus for packing more than a target number of packages per hour. Hence, packers
are more concerned with the speed of packing rather than its quality.
Finally, there is also evidence that to achieve agreed customer deadlines, certain managers have asked the quality
inspection team to overlook defective items so that order deadlines could be met.
The company has decided to review the quality issue again. The director who claimed that the quality inspection team
is not working has suggested using a Six Sigma approach to the company’s quality problems.
Required:
(a) Analyse the current and potential role of quality, quality control and quality assurance at UPC. (15 marks)
developing countries. Professor James West from North America argued that one of the key needs for developing
countries was to implement rigorous systems of corporate governance to underpin investor confidence in businesses
in those countries. If they did not, he warned, there would be no lasting economic growth as potential foreign inward
investors would be discouraged from investing.
In reply, Professor Amy Leroi, herself from a developing country, reported that many developing countries are
discussing these issues at governmental level. One issue, she said, was about whether to adopt a rules-based or a
principles-based approach. She pointed to evidence highlighting a reduced number of small and medium sized initial
public offerings in New York compared to significant growth in London. She suggested that this change could be
attributed to the costs of complying with Sarbanes-Oxley in the United States and that over-regulation would be the
last thing that a developing country would need. She concluded that a principles-based approach, such as in the
United Kingdom, was preferable for developing countries.
Professor Leroi drew attention to an important section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to illustrate her point. The key
requirement of that section was to externally report on – and have attested (verified) – internal controls. This was, she
argued, far too ambitious for small and medium companies that tended to dominate the economies of developing
countries.
Professor West countered by saying that whilst Sarbanes-Oxley may have had some problems, it remained the case
that it regulated corporate governance in the ‘largest and most successful economy in the world’. He said that rules
will sometimes be hard to follow but that is no reason to abandon them in favour of what he referred to as ‘softer’
approaches.
(a) There are arguments for both rules and principles-based approaches to corporate governance.
Required:
(i) Describe the essential features of a rules-based approach to corporate governance; (3 marks)
(a) Contrast the role of internal and external auditors. (8 marks)
(b) Conoy Co designs and manufactures luxury motor vehicles. The company employs 2,500 staff and consistently makes a net profit of between 10% and 15% of sales. Conoy Co is not listed; its shares are held by 15 individuals, most of them from the same family. The maximum shareholding is 15% of the share capital.
The executive directors are drawn mainly from the shareholders. There are no non-executive directors because the company legislation in Conoy Co’s jurisdiction does not require any. The executive directors are very successful in running Conoy Co, partly from their training in production and management techniques, and partly from their ‘hands-on’ approach providing motivation to employees.
The board are considering a significant expansion of the company. However, the company’s bankers are
concerned with the standard of financial reporting as the financial director (FD) has recently left Conoy Co. The board are delaying provision of additional financial information until a new FD is appointed.
Conoy Co does have an internal audit department, although the chief internal auditor frequently comments that the board of Conoy Co do not understand his reports or provide sufficient support for his department or the internal control systems within Conoy Co. The board of Conoy Co concur with this view. Anders & Co, the external auditors have also expressed concern in this area and the fact that the internal audit department focuses work on control systems, not financial reporting. Anders & Co are appointed by and report to the board of Conoy Co.
The board of Conoy Co are considering a proposal from the chief internal auditor to establish an audit committee.
The committee would consist of one executive director, the chief internal auditor as well as three new appointees.
One appointee would have a non-executive seat on the board of directors.
Required:
Discuss the benefits to Conoy Co of forming an audit committee. (12 marks)
A.sense
B.idea
C.meaning
D.significant
Women's success in almost every field is significant because ______.
A.women have fought very hard for success
B.women have to bear and rear children
C.women have never succeeded before
D.men still carry on the sex war
A significant (proportions) of the plants and animals (of) Hawaii exists (nowhere else) in (the world).
A.proportions
B.of
C.nowhere else
D.the world