Questions by bjenkins - Page 35
Petersen & Peterson Company is a 6-year-old company founded by Jackson Peterson and Mary Peterson to exploit metamaterial plasmonic technology to develop and manufacture miniature microwave frequency directional transmitters and receivers for use in mobile Internet and communications applications. The technology, although highly advanced, is relatively inexpensive to implement and their patented manufacturing techniques require little capital in comparison to many electronic fabrication ventures. Because of the low capital requirement, Jackson and Mary have been able to avoid issuing new stock and thus own all of the shares. Because of the explosion in demand for its mobile Internet applications, the company must now access outside equity capital to fund its growth and the couples have decided to take the company public. Until now, Jackson and Mary have paid themselves reasonable salaries but routinely reinvested all after-tax earnings in the firm, so dividend policy has not been an issue.However, before talking with potential outside investors, they must decide on a dividend policy. Your supervisor at the consulting firm Ernst Young & Associates, which has been retained to help the company prepare for its initial public offering, has asked you to make a presentation to Jackson and Mary in which you plan to review the theories of dividend policy and discuss capital structure decisions.Explain to the Petersons the term a "distribution policy"?Describe the following theories of dividend payout preferences and how they will affect dividend policy of Peterson & Peterson Company:dividend irrelevance theorybird-in-the-hand theorytax effect theory, andinformation content hypothesis (signaling theory)
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." Margaret MeadMulticultural diversity creates simultaneous opportunities and complexities for marketers seeking to serve attractive markets. This reality is compelling innovative research focused on understanding the role of race in the marketplace. Especially promising is the work of an international community of scholars who form a Race in the Marketplace (RIM) research network to advance knowledge on consumer marketplace equity and inclusion. Understanding the impact of historical sociocultural context offers tremendous value to key stakeholders who are committed to advancing the personal and collective benefits of living in a multicultural society. What does it mean to place race at the center of marketplace research? To address this question, my colleagues and I have been involved in research focused on the meaning and measurement of race as it relates to the Hispanic demographic. Race has always been a separate question in the U.S. Census and the race of Hispanics has been identified in multiple ways. The Hispanic pan-ethnic label was invented as a result of social pressure from three significant groups in U.S. society, government, civil rights activists, and marketing media executives. This label was chosen because it was found to be the most acceptable to identify a heterogeneous population who were assumed to share certain commonalities in culture. Marketers often make extensive use of U. S. Census data as an essential part of the marketing management process. Additionally, U.S. Census categories are routinely included in consumer behavior studies based on the assumption they are indeed accurate demographic classifications. In this way, race is firmly embedded in the practice of marketing. Yet, the U.S. Census Bureau has historically struggled to identify and categorize ethnic minorities on the basis of race. In our research we argue that while multicultural markets represent unprecedented opportunities, the ambiguity involved in defining race, particularly with respect to Hispanics, presents a myriad of vexing challenges. We reject the idea that race can be objectively measured. Instead, we consider race as a social construct with associated measurement inconsistencies, and inaccuracies. Due to its size, growth potential, spending power and consumption patterns, the aggregate U.S. Hispanic consumer market ranks high among the top attractive consumer market contenders. Accurate and meaningful identification is crucial for organizations that choose to serve this market. Interestingly, our research shows that the misclassification of race has occurred whether done by observation or self-identification. For example, historically, Mexican-Americans were legally defined as white, however in practice were treated as non-white based on their appearance. With the U.S. Census Bureau implementation of self-identification in 1980 a new set of issues emerged. Today, the self-identification of race for Hispanics is much more complex than previously thought. With increasing U.S. cultural diversity a growing number of people find the current race and ethnic categories confusing. In fact, a significant number of self-identified Hispanics do not report belonging to any federally recognized race group and choose instead "some other race". To this day, the disentanglement of definitional, conceptual and methodological issues of race has yet to be adequately resolved.QUESTION:1. For effective segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) an organization must also decide which specific multicultural consumer segments it should target for its offerings, create a sustainable offering positioning strategy, and orchestrate an integrated marketing communication plan. How would you segment a heterogeneous market to build an effective marketing strategy based on race and ethnicity?