Shoals Corporation puts significant emphasis on cash flow when planning capital investments. The company chose its discount rate of 8 percent based on the rate of return it must pay its owners and creditors. Using that rate, Shoals Corporation then uses different methods to determine the most appropriate capital outlays.

This year, Shoals Corporation is considering buying five new backhoes to replace the backhoes it now owns. The new backhoes are faster, cost less to run, provide for more accurate trench digging, have comfort features for the operators, and have 1-year maintenance agreements to go with them. The old backhoes are working just fine, but they do require considerable maintenance. The backhoe operators are very familiar with the old backhoes and would need to learn some new skills to use the new backhoes.

The following information is available to use in deciding whether to purchase the new backhoes:

Old Backhoes

New Backhoes

Purchase cost when new

$90,000

$200,000

Salvage value now

$42,000

Investment in major overhaul needed in next year

$55,000

Salvage value in 8 years

$15,000

$90,000

Remaining life

8 years

8 years

Net cash flow generated each year

$30,425

$43,900

Instructions

1. Evaluate, discuss, and compare whether to purchase the new equipment or overhaul the old equipment. (Hint: For the old machine, the initial investment is the cost of the overhaul. For the new machine, subtract the salvage value of the old machine to determine the initial cost of the investment.)

• Calculate the net present value of the old backhoes and the new backhoes.
• Discuss the net present value of each, including what the calculations reveal about whether the company should purchase the new backhoes or continue using the old backhoes.
• Calculate the payback period for keeping the old backhoes and purchasing the new backhoes. (Hint: For the old machines, evaluate the payback of an overhaul.)
• Discuss the payback method and what the payback periods of the old backhoes and new backhoes reveal about whether the company should purchase new backhoes or continue using the old backhoes. Calculate the profitability index for keeping the old backhoes and purchasing new backhoes.
• Discuss the profitability index of each, including what the calculations reveal about whether the company should purchase the new backhoes or continue using the old backhoes.

2. Identify and discuss any intangible benefits that might influence this decision.
3. Answer the following: Should the company purchase the new backhoes or continue using the old backhoes? Explain your decision.

This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:

• Analyze the financial condition of a company using vertical, horizontal, and ratio analysis to make informed decisions.

 3 page of content apa 

Fertilife is an American company doing business in the United States and Canada. They specialize in creating fertilizers that make plants grow faster and bigger than usual. Given the laws protecting the environment and citizens in the U.S. and Canada, the company is limited as to how inventive it can get with the process for creating the fertilizers. Given this situation, the company wants to expand its business into a country that has fewer regulations. They discover that there is currently a fertilizer plant in Mexico that is struggling financially. Fertilife representatives travel to Mexico and make a deal with the current owner of the plant. In that deal, the owner will be paid a modest sum for the plant, its current supplies and methods, but he asks that as part of the deal the company retain all of the current employees in their current positions and with their current benefits. Retaining the employees is not part of the written contract, but the company’s agents assure the owner that their word is sufficient. The owner agrees to the contract, and receives his modest payment.

For the first month the plant remains the same. However, Fertilife decided to bring some of its employees from the United States and Canada to do the managerial work. They demoted all of the Mexican employees in the managerial positions and put them to work with the rest of the employees. They also decided to make a few cut backs in what the lower-ranked employees would receive. For instance, the previous owner cared about all of his workers and provided drinks and ice for them to enjoy during their hard day of working at the plant. Fertilife decided they could no longer afford these luxuries. They also began a program where the lower-ranked Mexican employees would have to sleep in the plant in tiny quarters from Monday to Saturday and could only go back home on Sunday mornings and come back on Sunday nights. The food the lower-ranked Mexican employees were given was subpar, and their sleeping quarters were very small and damp. The American and Canadian employees, on the other hand, had many paid benefits, were allowed to travel home on a regular basis, and had a huge mansion where they got to sleep and were provided with the best food available. Additionally, the regulations in Mexico regarding waste disposal are very low in comparison to those of the United States and Canada. Fertilife is complying with the minimum requirements under Mexican law by throwing the substances into the river found behind the plant and running into a nearby town (which is much cheaper than other alternatives); however, the chemicals are killing the wild life inside the river, and the people in the nearby town (who have always used the river as their main water source) are getting massively sick after drinking the water from the river.

You are an employee of Fertilife and the company public relations department asks you to conduct research and to write a report for the company addressing the following issues: 

(a) what are the ethical implications of the company’s behavior in regards to the employees, 

(b) using the theoretical perspectives that you have found through your research and/or learned in this course, describe whether what the company is doing in regards to the employees is permissible and/or right, or whether it must and/or should change its behavior, 

(c) what are the ethical implications of the company’s behavior in regards to the waste disposal, 

(d) using such theoretical perspectives describe whether what the company is doing in regards to the waste disposal is permissible and/or right, or whether it must and/or should change its behavior,

(e) make sure to discuss the economic/financial motivations, environmental considerations, health, emotional and moral considerations that the company must take into account for both topics (treatment of employees and waste disposal).

A major assignment for this class is the selection of an adaptation plan for a case study. The case study proposal must follow the following guidelines to receive full credit!

The proposal must  #1 introduce which climate change adaptation plan  you have chosen to study and #2 why you have decided it will be a useful study that #3 complements the course material covered in class. This introductory paragraph for you final report should be between 300- 400 words.

You must list as sources at least one adaptation plan and at least one other additional relevant paper or article that you will use as the sources you will reference in your final report . This relevant material can be about the plan itself and what is the progress or problems in the planning process, or publications relevant to the topic targeted by the adaptation plan, without being specifically about adaptation. For example: a publication or article about the projected population affected by the adaptation plan, the future sea level rise for a coastal plan, the projected increase in temperature for the area adapting to increasing temperatures, etc. You can always add additional references and the more you have, the better.

Keep in mind that the tentative questions to answer in this case study include the following: What kind of approach does the adaptation effort take? What climate change impact does it address? What strategies are used? Who were the parties involved in developing the plan? What type of vulnerability assessment was used, or was there one? Has there been any effort to assess how effective the adaption plan has been? Who are the parties whose needs are being addressed and who is left out?

Here is some additional information on where to look for adaptation plans. Internet searches for resources can help, as well as the university library online.

To look at developing countries there are National Adaptation Plans of Action:

 https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/NAPC/News/Pages/national_adaptation_plans.aspxd 

National efforts are listed extensively in the National Climate Assessment chapter from your first reading assignment, the full report can be accessed here:

https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/downloads/ (Links to an external site.)

Additional national and international efforts at these links:

• https://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do
• http://www.ecoadapt.org/programs/state-of-adaptation
• http://www.ecoadapt.org/library/5/__details/action-plans

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report ( chapters 14-17 on adaptation) can be accessed here:

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/

Chapter 15 of the 5th assessment report has many references that refer to existing to adaptation plans underway, as that is the entire topic of this chapter: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap15_FINAL.pdf

Watch the documentary 13th on Netflix and answer the following questions as you watch the film. I recommend pausing as you watch. 

• Why is the film called 13th? What connection is the filmmaker finding between incarceration and the constitution?
• Slavery was an economic system. When slaves became free, what happened? Why did they enter incarceration?
• How did this create a mythology of black criminality?
• What was the impact of the early “Birth of a Nation” film? (include at least three major points)
• Why are the phrases “a war on crime” and later “a war on drugs” considered dog whistle politics?
• What is the Southern Strategy laid out by Nixon and Lee Atwater? How does this sound similar to the aftermath of this election?
• What effect did the mandatory sentencing on crack have on communities of color?
• How did the three-strikes law in CA come into being? And what impact did that have on incarceration?
• “Over 90 percent of criminal prosecutors are white.” Why is this important when it comes to the three-strikes law and truth of sentencing?
• What happened to many of the black leaders of the 1960s? Since there weren’t many prominent black leaders in the late 1970s and early 1980s, how did that impact mass incarceration laws?
• Explain ALEC and its impact on incarceration.
• What is the conflict with CCA in lowering crime?
• Why do the poor, accused population often not go to trial?
• How does the movie prove that wealth not guilt shapes outcomes in the criminal justice system?

Information and Stats from the film that you might want to use for your essay. 

When open terrorism against blacks became illegal, segregation grew. Civil Rights activists, who we now laud, were considered criminals.

In the late 80s, black men were over represented in the media as criminals. (Shows like COPS were very popular) Four innocent black kids and one Hispanic kid were wrongly convicted in the Central Park Jogger and incarcerated 6-11 years until DNA evidence cleared them. H

1970   357, 292 US prison population,

1980   513, 900 US prison population

1985   759, 100 US prison population

1990    1,179, 200 US prison population

2000    2,015, 300 US prison population

2014    2,306, 200 US prison population (1 million are African American)

2001   878, 400 African American Prison Population

• 1 in 17 white men will be incarcerated
• 1 in 3 black men will be incarcerated
• 5 US population in African American, but 40.2 percent of the US prison population.

Internal Controls 

Activity Context 

Revisit the MBA Course Alignment Map to review how all activities assist you in achieving the course competencies and overall program outcomes. 

Activity Instructions

There is an ongoing debate about the cost-benefit relationship of internal controls and their ethical implications. Find one recent news article (published within the past three years) relating to internal controls over cash. Search Web sites like those of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Then write a 1–2 page analysis of the particular situation, and discuss the ethical implications of the internal controls in that context. Apply what you know and have learned about the ethical standards of accounting practices to analyze the situation. Include a cover page and references in APA format.

Submission Requirements 

o Written communication: It should be free of errors that detract from the overall message. 

o APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting. 

o Length of paper: 1–2 pages, not including cover page and references. 

o Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point. 

Refer to the scoring guide for this assignment to ensure that you meet all of the grading criteria before submitting your document for instructor feedback and evaluation.

Resources

o Internal Controls Scoring Guide. 

o Resources: APA Style and Format. 

o MBA6014 Course Alignment Map