Alcoa Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alcoa - Assignment Example The calculated ROE is consequently higher though the assets utilization ratios are worse in 2007 than 2006. e) In the third quarter of 2007, the sales figures are lower than in the previous two quarters. This is due to lower third party sales of all product segments. This has impacted the ROE. Sales in the fourth quarter are at about the same level as the third quarter. The reported net profit for the quarter is higher due to the restructuring adjustment from the agreement to sell the packaging and consumer business of the company. f) The Balance Sheet data shows that the increase in assets is due to major additions in Properties, Plant and Equipment which suggest a major increase in production capacity. Current assets and in particular receivables and inventories are lower in 2007 compared to 2006. Data on capacity utilization would therefore be relevant. Question 2 – Net income of 3 Q- 07 compared to 3Q – 06 Alcoa’s sales in the 3Q – 2007 were significantly lower at $ 7,379 million compared to the previous two quarters which were both around $ 8,000 million. Since Net Profit Margin from sale of products is the main driver for the company’s ROE, the stock market would take the reduced sales figure as the signal of lower ROE for the year. In the previous quarters Alcoa’s stock prices must have gone up on the higher sales numbers from the corresponding quarters of the previous year. a) Primary metals with 21.4% of third party sales in 2007 and flat rolled products with 29.9% of sales make up the bulk of Alcoa’s business. Primary metals contributed 45.5% of Alcoa’s after-tax operating income (ATOI) in 2007. This segment is therefore the most important for Alcoa. Flat-rolled products had an ATOI of only 6.3% in

Challenges of quantitative research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Challenges of quantitative - Research Paper Example There are two kinds of research styles which are qualitative and quantitative researches. The values and norms of these researches are completely different (Thompson, 68-70). The application of methods which are used for applying these researches requires development of specific understanding. There have been negating views which supplement the importance of both the researches. Quantitative research methods are used by the researchers when they wish to make statements of situations which might take place in a population. This research style is based on probabilistic measures which form the basis of the theory. In this form of study the researcher has access to the data set of the population. Based on this data of the population samples are taken for pursuing the research. The concepts of data collection which form essential components of quantitative researches include sampling error method, random sampling and sampling bias method of data collection (Thompson, 68-70). Quantitative method of research is used specifically when the researchers base their studies on chance (or probability). In this report a discussion will be presented on challenges of conducting quantitative research. Specific application of research strategy based on IT education and its application for conducting a quantitative research will also be discussed. ... The analysis aids in measuring the ways in which a large population of people behave in various different situations (Bernard et al., 175-198). The quantitative data is formed on the basis of research techniques and gathering of quantitative data (Mahoney and Goertz, 227-249). The results of this data are measured as expressed in the form of percentages or either it is represented numerically, for example when the companies wish to calculate the overall brand awareness of the customers they use the quantitative style of research. The answer to this question which is a major purpose of this research will give numeric representation let’s say 15% of the respondents are familiar with the brand and its presence in the markets. The advantages of quantitative researches are that all the variable used which includes dependent and independent variables and the associated results of those variables can be analyzed independently. With the use of quantitative researches hypothesis can be tested very effectively (Smith, 6-13). The major drawback of using quantitative method of analysis is that huge sets of data are required for calculation. The collection of such huge sets of data requires a lot of work (Cohen, 155-159). CHALLENGES OF CONDUCTING QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH The challenges which the researchers most commonly have to face while conducting the researches are availability and lack of details, missing variables, relative sampling of large data and methodological limitation (Firestone, 16-21). 1. Availability And Lack Of Details Quantitative researches are criticized for lack of details as the researchers face difficulty in collecting the data. The quantitative research methods require finding public opinion with the use of