BSG FINAL

The projected growth in buyer demand for BRANDED athletic footwear is: A) 3-5% annually in North America and Europe-Africa in Years 16-20 and 7-9% annually in Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions in Years 16-20. B) 6-9% annually in all four geographic regions during Years 11-15 and 4-7% annually in all four regions during Years 16-20. C) 5-7% annually in North America during the Year 11-15 periods and 4-6% annually in North America during the Year 16-20 period. D) 10-12% annually in Europe-Africa and the Asia-Pacific during Years 11-15 and 8-10% annually in these same two regions during Years 16-20. E) 6-8% annually in Latin-America and North America during the Year 11-15 period and 5-7% annually in the same two regions during the Year 16-20 period.

Which of the following statement about the IMPORTANCE of each competitor factor (most particularly influential competitive factors like S/Q ratings, models/styles, and selling prices) in determining company sales volumes and market shares in a particular geographic region is false? A) Tiny cross-company differences on a highly influential competitive factor (like S/Q ratings, the number of models/styles offered, and selling prices) nearly always have a bigger impact on company sales/market shares in a region than do large differences on less influential competitive factors. B) Big S/Q rating differences in a region always weigh heavily in accounting for company-to-company differences in branded pairs sold and market share in all four regions. C) As the spread between the company with the region's highest S/Q rating and the company with the lowest S/Q rating becomes smaller and smaller, the weaker is the unit sales/market share impact of the differences in the S/Q ratings among competing companies. D) In the rare instance that all companies should happen to have exactly the same S/Q ratings on their branded footwear in a region wholesale and internet segments, then S/Q ratings become a total competitor nonfactor and have zero impact on buyer appeal for one company's brand versus another. E) How much company S/Q rating matter in determining each company's unit sales/market share in a region is not fixed amount but rather is an amount that varies from "big" (when the differences are "small") to "zero" (when the S/Q ratings of rivals are identical)

Which one of the following is not one of the factors that affect the S/Q rating of a company's footwear? A) A company's current and cumulative spending for TQM/Six Sigma quality control programs B) The percentage size of a production facility's reject rates for branded and private-label footwear due to defective workmanship and poorly-maintained equipment. C) Expenditures for new styling/features per model D) Whether production improvement option C has been installed (this option entails investing in special production equipment that boosts the S/Q rating of all pairs produced by 1.0 star) E) Expenditures for best practices training

Which of the following statements about the impact of a company's competitive efforts in a region on its regional market share and number of branded pairs sold is false? A) Companies with more influential celebrity lineups in a region enjoy a competitive advantage in attracting buyers to purchase their brand in either retail stores or online as compared to regional rivals with less influential celebrity endorsements (or no celebrity endorsements). B) A footwear-maker achieves the biggest possible styling/quality-based competitive advantage in a given when its branded footwear has a higher S/Q rating than any other company in the region. C) A company's pairs sold and market share outcomes in a region are positively impacted when the number of models/styles it offers for sale in the region is above the regional average. D) The more a company's S/Q rating in a region is below the region's all-company average, the bigger is the company's resulting competitive disadvantage and the bigger is the resulting negative impact on the company's pairs sold and market share in the region. E) A company's pairs sold and market share outcomes in a region are positively impacted when it's brand reputation /image rating in a region is above the regional average.

Which of the following are factors in determining a company's credit rating? A) Its debt-equity ratio, current ratio, the average interest rate paid on loans outstanding, and prior-year gross profit margin. B) Its default-risk ratio, debt-asset ratio, and interest coverage ratio. C) Its loans outstanding as a percentage of net income, dividend payout ratio, and debt-equity ratio. D) Its total liabilities as a percentage of total shareholders' equity, prior-year interest payments as a percentage of net income, and prior-year return on capital investment. E) A company's current ratio, accounts payable as a percent of net income, and prior-year operating profit margin.

Which one of the following is not a way to grow a company's sales volume in the Internet segment in the Europe-Africa region? A) Refrain from bidding to supply chain retailers in Europe-Africa with private-label footwear because such sales tarnish a company's image and brand reputation in the minds of a majority of athletic footwear buyers in the region. B) Spend an amount for search engine advertising that exceeds the industry average in the Europe-Africa region. C) Offer branded footwear that has a higher S/Q rating than the industry average in the Europe-Africa region. D) Win sufficient celebrity endorsement contacts to achieve celebrity appeal ratings in Europe-Africa that are higher than the Europe-Africa industry average E) Provide free shipping to online buyers in the Europe-Africa region

Given the following data from a Comparative Competitive Effort page in the CIR (Refer to exhibit A on word doc): Based on Exhibit A data for your company, which of the following statement is false? A) Your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment was negatively impacted by your company's S/Q rating, brand advertising, celebrity appeal, and lack of a rebate offer. B) Your company's percentage competitive advantages and disadvantages on the 10 competitive factors affecting Wholesale sales and market share resulted in a net overall competitive disadvantage of a size that resulted in a below-average 9.8% market share. C) Your company's two biggest competitive advantages in the Wholesale Segment related to wholesale price and model availability. D) Your company's branded sales volume and market share in the Wholesale segment was positively impacted by your company's delivery time. E) Your company had a small competitive disadvantage in the expenditures for retailer support.

Which of the following are effective ways for managers to try to boost a company's stock price? A) Spend amounts on corporate citizenship and social responsibility that are above the industry average, boost the company's dividend payout ratio to more than 100%, charge prices for branded footwear that are below the industry average in each geographic region, and issue sufficient shares of common stock to raise the funds to pay off all long-term debt within 2 years. B) Increase the company's dividend payments to shareholders each year, keep the company's credit rating at A (or above), strive to increase the company's retained earnings each year by a minimum of 5%, and not issue more than 5,000 shares of common stock in any one year. C) Cut the dividend to zero and issue additional shares of stock so as to increase the funds available for quickly paying off all long-term debt (ideally in no more than 2 years); then the company should avoid further use of long-term debt, strive to achieve and maintain a credit rating of A or A+ and declare a dividend each year that equals projected EPS. D) Make every effort to achieve a branded market share in each geographic region that is at least equal to the industry average, keep the company's dividend payout ratio in the range of 50% and repurchase shares of common stock. E) Repurchase shares of common stock and aggressively pursue efforts to achieve annual increases in earnings per share that meet or beat investor expectations.

The factors that affect a company's S/Q rating by the International Footwear Federation include A) The size of incentive bonuses paid to workers for defect-free workmanship and the percentage use of new and refurbished footwear-making equipment. B) The number of innovative new performance features built into a company's branded model/styles and expenditures to properly maintain the performance of footwear-making equipment. C) How much is spent to inspect new-produced pairs and avoid shipping defective shoes and the size of the footwear quality incentives paid to production workers. D) The durability of a company's branded and private-label footwear models and whether shoes are 100% produced with standard materials or 100% superior materials. E) A company's current and cumulative spending for TQM/Six Sigma quality control programs; whether production improvement option C has been installed (this option entails investing in special production equipment that boosts the S/Q rating of all pairs produced by 1.0 star and expenditures for new styling/features per model.

The size of any price-based competitive advantage that a company achieves in selling branded footwear to footwear retailers in a particular geographic region depends on: A) The degree to which its average wholesale price is more than 20% lower than the region's average wholesale price-any company's average wholesale price that is within 20% of the regional-average wholesale price has a minimal priced-based competitive advantage that has no more than a 3% positive impact on the number of branded pairs it is able to sell to footwear retailers. B) How favorably the company's average wholesale price compares to the lowest average wholesale price being charged by a rival company in that same geographic region. C) Whether its average wholesale price is at least 10% below the price of the company having the highest average wholesale price in the region. D) How favorably the company's average wholesale price compares with the average wholesale price being charged by the rival company having the biggest market share of branded footwear sales in the region's footwear retailers. E) The amount by which its average wholesale price is below the region's average wholesale price; the further a company's average wholesale price is below a region average wholesale price, the greater is its price-based competitive advantage.

Which one of the following helps boost the S/Q rating of branded pairs produced at a particular production location? A) Increasing expenditures for fringe benefit packages for production workers B) Avoiding the use of overtime C) Increasing expenditures for best practices training for workers D) Increasing worker base pay by more than 5% annually E) Increasing the number of models/styles produced

A company's management team should compete seriously against rivals to win a private-label footwear contract in a particular geographic region when: A) The data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that one or more rival firms did not submit price offers to chain retailers. B) The data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that some of the companies competing to supply for private-label footwear were able to win contracts at offer prices above $25 per pair. C) It concludes that the company has more than enough production capacity to produce the needed pairs of branded footwear and based on its projections, determines that the company's profitability can be increased by competing for and winning private-label contracts. D) All the sellers of private-label footwear in the prior year had a market share under 20%(as reported in the Competitive Intelligence Report) E) The data in the latest Competitive Intelligence Report indicates that some of the winning price offers for the private-label contracts resulted in greater per pair profits than were earned for branded footwear.

Which one of the following is not a way to attract bigger numbers of online shoppers in the Latin America region to purchase a company's brand of athletic footwear? A) Offer online shoppers a number of models/styles that exceeds the industry average for Latin America B) Spend an amount on brand advertising that exceeds the industry average for Latin America. C) Charge an average retail price that is below the industry average for Latin America. D) Produce and market branded footwear with an S/Q rating that exceeds the industry average for Latin America. E) Offer a higher mail-in-rebate than most all others rivals competing in the internet segment in the Latin America region.

Which of the following statements about striving to reduce labor costs per pair produced at each of the company's production facilities is true? A) As long as labor productivity at a company's production facility is in the range of 3,400 to 3,600 pairs produced per worker, then labor costs per pair produced at that facility will closely match the labor costs per pair produced of other companies having production facilities in that same region. B) The most effective way for a company to achieve labor costs per pair produced that are below the industry average is to give workers large increases in base pay (above 10%) annually and to keep incentive pay below $0.75 per non-defective pair produced. C) Company managers each year should seek to search out a combination of base pay increases, incentive pay per non-defective pair produced, total compensation, and expenditures for best practices training at each production facility that is projected to yield the lowest feasible labor cost per pair produced. D) Companies producing branded footwear with a 7-star or higher S/Q rating are very unlikely to achieve labor cost per pair produced that are below the industry average in a given region whereas companies producing branded footwear with an S/Q rating no higher than 4-stars or less in that same geographic region are virtually assured of having labor costs per pair that are below the region's industry average. E) The easiest way for a company to achieve low labor costs per pair produced is make sure that all of it's production facilities are equipped with new footwear-making equipment rather than refurbished equipment.

Which one of the following actions is MOST LIKELY to result in HIGHER production costs per branded pair at one of your company's production facilities? A) Increasing total employee compensation by 3% at a production facility and, in turn, realizing a 5% increase in production facility and, in turn, realizing a 5% increase in production worker productivity B) Increasing spending for best practice training from $2,000 per worker to $2,500 per worker. C) Increasing expenditures for TQM/Six Sigma quality control from $1.50 to $2.00 per pair in Year 12. D) Increasing the S/Q rating of brand pairs produced from 4.5 stars to 5.5 stars. E) The installation of production improvement option B

If a company spends $80 million to build facility space sufficient to hold 5 million pairs of footwear-making equipment at a site in Latin America, then the company's annual depreciation cost for the facility space will be: A) $8,000.00 B) $3,200.00 C) $2,000.00 D) $4,000.00 E) $1,800.00

Which of the following statements about the impact of a company's competitive efforts in a region on its regional market share and number of branded pairs sold is false? A) A company's pairs sold and market share outcomes in a region are positively impacted when the number of models/styles it offers for sale in the region is above the regional average. B) Companies with more influential celebrity lineups in a region enjoy a competitive advantage in attracting buyers to purchase their brand in either retail stores or online as compared to regional rivals with less influential celebrity endorsements (or no celebrity endorsements). C) The more a company's S/Q rating in a region is below the region's all-company average, the bigger is the company's resulting competitive disadvantage and the bigger is the resulting negative impact on the company's pairs sold and market share in the region. D) The biggest possible competitive advantage a company can achieve in a given region's internet Segment is to offer free shipping and thereby capture the biggest number of pairs sold and the biggest market share of any company in that region's Internet Segment. E) A company's pairs sold and market share outcomes in a region are positively impacted when it's brand reputation /image rating in a region is above the regional average.

The plant and production benchmarking cost data in each issue of the Footwear Industry Report A) Are less useful than the operating benchmarks in determining whether a company is managing certain aspects of its plants in a cost-efficient manner. B) Provide solid evidence of whether a company is managing certain aspects of its plants cost-efficiently. C) Are more useful to company managers if the company has adopted a strategy to produce branded footwear with an 8-star S/Q rating or higher. D) Are most useful to company managers of companies that have adopted a strategy to be the low-cost provider of private-label footwear. E) Provide solid evidence of whether a company's total manufacturing costs of branded footwear (and private-label footwear, if any pairs are being produced) are low enough to enable the company to be attractively profitable.

Which of the following is a valid reason or strong signal that a company should consider changing from a low-cost/low-price strategy for branded footwear to a different strategy? A) Too many other companies in the industry are also pursuing a low-cost/low-price in the private-label segment of the athletic footwear market. B) Company managers prefer not to build a plant in Europe-Africa. C) The company's cost are far above the industry average for many of the benchmarked cost categories contained in the FIR. D) The company's market share is not the largest in at least 2 geographic regions. E) The company's profit margin per branded pair sold is not above the industry average in all four geographic regions.

Which one of the following options is usually an appealing way to try to increase a company's ROE? A) Maintaining a high (above 75%) dividend payout ratio B) Paying a minimal dividend (probably no more than $0.10 per share) so as to keep boosting retained earnings by a sizable amount every year. C) Issuing additional shares of stock and using the proceeds to retire long-term debt and avoid short-term loans D) Paying a dividend each upcoming decision round that exceeds projected EPS by $2.00 E) Not paying a dividend and using all available cash to pay down debt.

Managers are well-advised to consider whether the company can operate more profitably by selling some/all plant capacity in one or more geographic regions when

In determining whether It is economically advisable to invest $3.5 million per million pairs of capacity for a plant facilities upgrade that will boost labor productivity by 25%, it is accurate to say that the resulting drop in labor costs per pair produced. 1. will be $0.15 (from $0. 75 to $0.60) at a plant where total annual compensation per employee is currently $3,000 and labor productivity is 4,000 pairs per worker-the labor cost reduction would be a far larger $1.20 per pair at a plant where total annual compensation per employee is currently $24,000 and labor productivity is 4,000 pairs per worker. 2. will be the same for all of the company's plants because the gains in labor productivity are 25% irrespective of what other differences In labor-related conditions may exist. 3. will be greater for Asia-Pacific plants with 8-milllon pairs of capacity than for Asia-Pacific plants with 4-million pairs of capacity. 4. will be greatest at plants where total annual compensation is comparatively low and labor productivity is comparatively high. 5. will be smallest at plants where total annual compensation is comparatively high and labor productivity is also comparatively high.