Week 3 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

Measuring What Matters

There is an adage in business that says, “You get what you measure.” This suggests that we must introduce performance tracking metrics if we want to improve business results like increasing productivity, mitigating costs, or improving employee engagement.

• What is an important performance tracking metric that your company uses, and what is the likely business result they are trying to influence (such as increasing revenue, lowering costs, managing risks, etc.)?
• Briefly describe how your company calculates and communicates this metric, and share your opinion on the extent to which this performance tracking is helping to improve business results.
• Share your ideas on how else the company could improve this performance tracking process.

Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates’ initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone.​

 

• The CFO Guidebook, Chapter 5: Performance Management
• Read 10-K Reports, Item 1A Risk Factors, for Assignment 1 in Assignment Resources
• Read Morningstar Analyst Reports in Assignment Resources
• Visit www.Morningstar.com

Additional Resources

• LinkedIn Learning: Running a Profitable Business: Understanding Financial Ratios
• Performance Management: Does Your Process Serve Your Strategy?
• Performance Management: How CFOs Can Help Take It to a New Level
• 29 Popular Financial KPIs for Your Financial KPI Dashboard

1st person to respond to

Keaton,

 

• What is an important performance tracking metric that your company uses, and what is the likely business result they are trying to influence (such as increasing revenue, lowering costs, managing risks, etc.)?

One of the most important performance tracking metrics we use at Wolf Creek is First Aids and OSHA Recordable injuries. Safety is the number one concern at our site and that includes plant, personnel, and public safety. The reason we track these things is so that we can see how well we are performing against ourselves and other plants. The safer we are, the less injuries and the more likely we are managing risk in other areas.

• Briefly describe how your company calculates and communicates this metric, and share your opinion on the extent to which this performance tracking is helping to improve business results.

A weekly safety summary is sent out and a daily tracker is provided on the front page of our Operational Focus sheets that we go over every morning. Bringing safety to the front of the discussion every day in our morning meetings helps improve our work by keeping us engaged in a safety mindset. If we always have safety at the front of our minds, then the more likely we will stop when unsure and manage risk when performing daily tasks. Safety in the workplace reduces the risk of employee fatalities and injuries, as well as increase productivity (1).

• Share your ideas on how else the company could improve this performance tracking process.

The company already does a very good job with the performance tracking process. However, I think that the safety program could benefit from some incentive programs to help further engagement in the safety mentality.

Thanks for reading,

-Keaton

Reference:

1. Get HPPY. 2022.  Workplace Safety Is Important! Here Are Top 8 Reasons Why! (gethppy.com

Assignment 1: Enterprise Risk Management and Moat Strength Due Week 3, Sunday (18% of final grade)

Congratulations! You have just gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to work as a senior financial advisor for Warren Buffett. You will be responsible for conducting financial analyses on two companies Mr. Buffett is reviewing NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and providing recommendations for action to the CFOs of those companies.

Instructions In this assignment, you will evaluate several risk scenarios and make recommendations on how to position the company for success by putting in place “reasonable” protections against downsides. To prepare for the assignment: (1) download and review the latest annual reports for both companies from the Investor Relations page of each company’s website; (2) read the Shareholder Letter and the Risks section carefully, and (3) read the Morningstar Analyst Reports with particular emphasis on the Moat and Risk sections. A. Complete the Assignment 1 Worksheet to create risk profiles for both companies. The guidance for this is found on pages 27-34 of The CFO Guidebook. B. Summarize your Analysis and Recommendations by addressing the following questions: i. Where is each company in its corporate lifecycle (startup, growth, maturity, or decline)? Explain. ii. Based on your review of the analysts’ reports and the 10-K reports, which company appears to have more risk? Why? iii. Which categories of risk pose the greatest threat to each organization? Why? iv. Which company has the stronger economic moat? Explain. v. For the company that has the weaker economic moat, what two risk factors should they prioritize to improve their risk mitigation and strengthen their competitive advantage? Make specific reference to the applicable risk management tools discussed on pages 35- 68 of The CFO Guidebook

Assignment 1 Instructions: Enterprise Risk Management and Moat Strength  (Due by Sunday, midnight of your time zone in Week 3)

• Use the Assignment Workbook   (Assignment 1 tab) to complete Part A.
• Use the Assignment 1 Template  to complete Part B.

As an employer and employee, it is important to understand how a person is hired and how that impacts your relationship together. Employment at-will was devised by American judges in the 19th century. The purpose of employment at-will was to make it easier and more economical for free enterprise to expand and prosper. Why would this be important to you? Some are hired as at-will employees, whereas others have a contract and are term-employed.

Prepare a minimum 8-slide PowerPoint presentation analyzing the importance of knowing how you are employed. In doing so, include the following:

• What is at-will employment?
• What are the benefits to the employer in hiring you as employment at-will?
• What are the benefits from the point of view of an employee to be employed as an at-will employee?
• What are the exceptions to being an employee at-will?
• Does at-will employment favor the employer, the employee, or both? Why?
• Would you want to be hired as an at-will employee or an employee who has a contract?

Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

• Title slide: Remember the running head. The title should be in all capitals.
• Length: 8 slides minimum
• Body slides: This begins on the slide following the title slide and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics, except as required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your presentation for this assignment is 8 slides. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
• Reference slide: References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final slide of your presentation. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hanging indent, italics, and uppercase and lowercase usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference slide is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation.

In some manner, people have all performed project management at various times in their lives, often without even knowing that they were doing it. Project management is performing and completing a group of activities to accomplish some specific goal. Project management can be applied to something as large and complex as putting humans on Mars to as small and simple as building a tree house in your backyard. In either situation, the projects progress through the same stages.

Think about something that you have done that fits the definition of a project, and discuss how the project progressed through the different phases of the project life cycle. Submit a 3-page paper that addresses the following:

• Describe the project and how it differed from an operation.
• What activities were performed that were part of following phases?
  • Initiating
  • Planning
  • Executing
  • Closing
• How were the principles of project management applied to this project?
• What skills and knowledge of the project manager were applied to make you successful (or were lacking, which led to failure)?
• What lessons were learned in this project that could be applied to future projects?

PLEASE USE ATTACHED TEMPLATE

Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

• Title page: The title should be in all capitals.
• Length: 3 pages minimum
• Body: This begins on the page following the title page and abstract page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics, except as required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 3 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
• Reference page: References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hanging indent, italics, and uppercase and lowercase usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference page is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation.

This assignment puts all the knowledge together from previous weeks. You will focus on your research topic and write a well-developed literature review.

Assignment Instructions:

The assignment for this week is:

1. Update your work from last week per your professor’s comments and feedback.

2. Following the directions below, enhance your theoretical or conceptual framework.

3. Update your annotated bibliography to move the sources to the reference page and now merge the content from each article into logically flowing paragraphs.

4. Include in your summary at least one or two dissertation titles you reviewed and what you discovered about chapter 2.

Theoretical Framework:

• Identify the guiding framework. Present the key concepts, briefly      explain how they are related, and present the propositions that are relevant to this study.
• Explain how the framework guided the research decisions, including      the development of the problem statement, purpose statement, and research      questions.
• If more than one framework is guiding the study, integrate them,      rather than describing them independently. Do not select a separate      framework for each variable/construct under examination.
• Do not exceed two pages. A more thorough discussion of the theoretical/conceptual      framework will be included in chapter 2.

Length:  10- 15 pages

References:  Include a minimum of 15 scholarly resources.

Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.