The Fundamentals of Financial Statement Analysis as Applied to the Coca-Cola Company

$21.99

One reason for the exacerbation of recent stock market crises is a lack of understanding by investors of financial ratio analysis and what it can reveal about the way companies operate. Stock markets are efficient in that they incorporate, and even anticipate, information about companies based on financial accounting data that is provided by companies. However, market efficiency results from extensive analysis performed by financial analysts. Much of this financial analysis is based on the analysis of company-provided financial information that is then analyzed using financial ratio analysis. The goal of this book is to provide a detailed step-by-step demonstration of how to download data from Internet sources, transfer the data into a spreadsheet, and conduct a financial ratio analysis. The company selected for financial analysis is Coca Cola but the same process outlined in the proposed book could be applied to any company. The data retrieved from the financial statements is copied to a worksheet and used to compute and to graph the financial ratios. The ratios and graphs are used to determine the performance drivers of Coca-Cola. The proposed book can be used as a supplement to basic courses in Corporate Finance, Financial Statement Analysis or in a variety of executive education courses dealing with financial accounting and corporate finance.

Learning Macroeconomic Principles Using MAPLE

$21.99

Traditional macroeconomic principles textbooks are theoretically based, and require students to apply definitions, analyze charts, graphs and tables, and use logic and reasoning skills to evaluate the effects of economic shocks or policy changes. Recognizing how challenging this is, economics instruction has adopted video, simulation, and other methods to aid in learning. These methods, however, while possibly stimulating students’ imagination, may also stifle it and contribute to a dependent learning style. It may also fail to connect topics and models in cohesive and meaningful ways. This book presents macroeconomic principles in a logical and concise order, and uses the Maple? mathematics program to build and analyze macroeconomic models. The method outlined in this book teaches readers with basic algebraic skill levels how to build a model of the macro-economy from the ground up. The method uses models derived from typical principles textbooks using Maple as a platform. Maple’s interface is as easy to use as typing a simple math problem in Microsoft Word using keys on a standard keyboard. The Maple syntax is kept simple, which allows readers to be proficient in Maple in a matter of minutes. In short, this book allows executives, advanced degree students, undergraduate students, business executives, managers, policy makers, and others to gain a fuller understanding of how the macro-economy works. Topics covered in the book range from individual demand and firm supply to aggregate demand and supply, and fiscal and monetary policy from the Austrian to Keynesian schools of thought.

Fashion Marketing: Influencing Consumer Choice and Loyalty with Fashion Products

$21.99

Fashion is everywhere! Fashion transcends domains and applies to almost any kind of product (e.g., apparel, cars, digital devices, food, literature, trips, music, house decoration, personal wellness). Fashion greatly influences public interest, media coverage, and product success. The global fashion apparel industry, for example, is one of the most important in terms of investments, trade, and employment while depending upon unpredictable demand. In the world of fashion, companies face a dilemma: On one hand, they create products with shorter life cycles; on the other hand they expect such products to repeatedly reap large profits. One of the main challenges fashion product managers face is to create and launch fashion products that will continuously meet the same success with customers. For example, will the long skirt have the same success than the skinny jean, or will the high heel prevail over the flats? Moreover, the fashion industry deals with products that greatly impact personal appearance, seduction, thus, relationships with others. Indeed, a fashion dress is more than just a dress, as it can change one’s appearance and reveal the consumer’s identity. Consequently, fashion managers not only are responsible for their product lines, but also for the symbolic image they help customers convey. This book focuses on the fashion apparel and accessories industry. It introduces the concept of fashion equity–the value fashion adds to products–a key concept to explain fashion products attractiveness and success, despite their constant renewal. This book will help managers answer the following questions: Why and how fashion products consistently appeal to consumers despite their renewal? What symbolic and experiential benefits fashion products bring to consumers and how fashion product managers can leverage them better? What marketing strategy and tactics companies should use to increase fashion products success while managing customers’ image? How companies can maintain customers’ loyalty and generate higher profits with fashion products? Based on deep analyses of manufacturers and retailers’ best practices, customers’ and companies’ interviews, and the latest academic research on fashion marketing, this book will assist companies to manage the value fashion adds to products, extract larger profits despite their shorter life cycles, and help them create long-term loyal customers.

Leader Evolution: From Technical Expertise to Strategic Leadership

$21.99

Most individuals who move into leadership positions experience the modern day version of trial by ordeal. It’s sink or swim. To reduce the learning curve and create a more effective process, Leader Evolution describes a roadmap for leadership development, a series of four stages that expand personal competence as well as a broader impact on the organization or business. Each stage also requires two unique changes: one in thinking and perspective taking, and one in behavior. The book takes self-motivated individuals who want to take control of their professional development through concepts, tools, techniques, and assignments to help develop leadership effectiveness where it counts the most – on the job.

In addition to new and existing managers, the book is ideally suited for professionals and leaders in technical organizations who are looking to develop critical leadership behaviors. These include individuals who are advancing their careers through their technical expertise rather than a managerial track. The broad application of concepts and techniques also makes this book appealing to organizations developing their leaders as part of broad change initiatives. While the content is directed towards the individual for on-the-job application, the book can also serve as an organizational and leadership development resource for Executive MBA programs and a blueprint for in-house leadership development programs.

Doing Business in Emerging Markets: Roadmap for Success

$21.99

“This book provides a good review of the challenges facing business in the emerging markets and initiates the discussion of the roadmap necessary for success. I found it thought-provoking and recommend it to anyone with a desire to take their business from local to global.” —Jayshree Pandya, Founder Risk Group LLC (http:// www.riskgroupllc.com) and author of the book, The Global Age: NGIOA @ Risk
“This book provides a complete review about political and economic impacts in developing business abroad. It shows a very interesting historical review with recent facts clearly punctuated. You will enjoy it.” —Osvaldo Costa, Senior HR Manager at Tigre S.A., Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Corporate Valuation Using the Free Cash Flow Method Applied to Coca-Cola

$21.99

The value of a corporation is the discounted present value of future cash flows provided by the company to the shareholders. The valuation process requires that the corporate financial decision maker determine the future free cash flow to equity, the short-term growth rate, the long-term growth rate, and the required rate of return based on market beta. The book discusses the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the weighted average cost of capital. The objective of this book is to provide a template for demonstrating corporate financial management using a real company – Coca-Cola. The data used in this book comes from the financial statements of Coca-Cola available on EDGAR. Other data are from SBBI, Yahoo! Finance, the U. S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation, Market Results for 1926 -2010, 2011 Yearbook, Classic Edition, Morningstar, and US Department of the Treasury.

Healthcare Supply Chain Management: Basic Concepts and Principles

$21.99

According to the health data released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States spends more per capita on healthcare than any other OECD country. Currently, U.S. healthcare spending constitutes $2.5 trillion, or 17.3 percent of GDP, with healthcare costs increasing 9 percent annually. To reverse this alarming trend, the Obama administration recently led the effort to dramatically reform healthcare policy, laws, and regulations. This book provides you (whether a healthcare policy maker, hospital administrator, pharmaceutical company manager, or other healthcare professional) with practical guidance for leveraging supply chain principles to better manage healthcare resources and control healthcare costs. It introduces basic supply chain management concepts, terminologies, and tenets. Other included topics are strategic alliances among healthcare partners, value analysis of healthcare services and products, the impact of healthcare reforms on healthcare supply chains, and the development of performance metrics for the healthcare supply chain and benchmarking.

Emerging and Frontier Markets: The New Frontline for Global Trade

$21.99

“Goncalves and Alves’ work is a very interesting and promising book for the development themes of emerging markets. The style and quality of the material is worthy of respect, providing a clear analysis of the international markets and global development of various economic and commercial relations and trading routes.” —Yurii Pozniak, International Management Consultant at Ukroboronservis, Kiev, Ukraine.
“‘Emerging and Frontier Markets: The New Frontline for Global Trade’ brings together a collection of insights and a new outlook of the dynamics happening between the emerging and the advanced markets. The book provides also an excellent, easy to read and straight-to-the point economic and political description of the MENA, BRICS, ASEAN, and CIVETS markets. A description that should interest every person willing to invest, work or just acquire a deep understanding of the emerging markets economic and political conditions.” —Reda Massoudi, BU Director Management and Transformation Consulting, LMS Organization & Human Resources. Casablanca, Morocco.

Surprise!: The Secret to Customer Loyalty in the Service Sector

$21.99

Modern consumers are being bombarded with information from every angle. They can’t absorb it all and, consequently, tune-out large portions of the information. Therefore, in order to gain their full attention, firms must find ways to surprise them during transactions. They must spawn mental script deviations for them. Research indicates that these script deviations can cement their loyalty. Therefore, Surprise! The Secret to Customer Loyalty in the Service Sector details how to create a surprise culture in a service firm. Any owner or manager competing in one of the many service sectors would benefit from implementing the information contained within these pages.

Creating a Pathway to Your Dream Career: Designing and Controlling a Career Around Your Life Goals

$21.99

What do you want your life to be like when you’re 25? 35? 55? Do you want a job that will feed you and your family or do you want a career that will be an integral part of your life–a career that will feed your passions, enable the lifestyle you choose, and be a continual source of engagement and pride? But do you really have the luxury of even considering your dream job in an era in which more than 40 percent of college graduates can’t even get jobs that require college degrees, much less jobs in their field? Not only should you think about your dream job–you owe it to yourself to do so. You just need a plan. This book will help you develop that plan by first examining how the careers of the future will differ from those of the past, where these jobs and careers will and won’t be, and the range of skills (many of which are not taught in schools) they will require. With this context, it then lays out a three-stage, 20-step plan that will help you: * Objectively assess and develop your skills and align them with your passions * Assess the career opportunities that will best utilize these skills in pursuit of your passion * Expand your career options and hedge your bets by identifying complementary ‘safety careers’ * Evaluate your post-high school education options and create an education plan that is best suited to you and your career choice * Prioritize the factors you should consider in targeting your critical first career-track job and use that job to expand your long-term career options.