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FACTS FOR THIS POST - DO NOT ADD OR ASSUME UNSTATED FACTS.  ASSUME THE NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR WAS SITTING IN HIS YARD AND TOOK A VIDEO OF THE WHOLE THING, SO THE FACTS OF THIS HYPOTHETICAL AS RELATED CAN BE PROVED IN COURT. Victor Tremont has a classic muscle car that he fixed up and has enjoyed drag racing.  He has kept it well maintained.  Much as he loves the car, Victor finds himself in need of cash. He parks the car on his front yard, with a large sign on the windshield that says, "Cherry of a classic car, For Sale $4,900 or Best Offer. AS-IS." Gloria Goget drives by and sees the car. She is immediately enamored and stops to look at it. She is sure the car is worth more than the asking price. When she knocks on the front door, there is no response; she looks around, and decides nobody is home, so she takes her business card and on the back writes, " I will pay you $5,500 cash for your classic car."  She signs her name, and dates it, including the time, and slips the card onto the windshield of the car under the wiper blade. About a half hour later,  Victor returns. He does not see Gloria's card because he does not walk around and look at the car.  A few minutes after he is home, his buddy, Levi Lord, pulls in to look at the car. Levi has always liked the car and has gone racing with Victor. Levi offers Victor $5,000 even for the car, and Victor accepts. The two men shake hands on the deal. Victor goes in the house to get the car title while Levi writes out a check to Victor for $5,000. Victor comes out with the title in his hand. As Levi starts to hand him the check, Gloria pulls in. She has an envelope of $5,500 cash for the car. Victor says to Gloria,"sorry, but I have just sold the car to Levi here."  Gloria objects and says she already offered $5,500 earlier.   When Victor says, "No, you didn't," she marches him to the car and shows him her card. "There is my offer, I already left you before.  You weren't home and now I have the money right here," she said. Victor turns to Levi, "Sorry, she did leave this offer, I'm going to sell it to her for more money." Levi objects, stating, "You just said you already sold it to ME. We shook hands on it. You cannot back out now just because some card was floating around no one knew about. She wasn't even here! She's a loser too late!" While the three of them stand in the yard arguing, Jack Bucksworthy drives in the yard. He gets out of his Cadillac, looks at the muscle car, and moseys over to the three arguing people.  He asks, "who owns that hot rod for sale?" "I do," says Victor. "No, I do," says Levi. "It's MY Car," snaps Gloria. "I'll pay whichever of you, $8,000 for that car," says Jack,  "but only if the engine starts."  Victor answers, "Of course it starts. I accept your offer." Levi hollers, "NO! That car is no longer for sale! I bought it! It's mine! I'm not selling it!" (Waving the check in Victor's face.) Gloria stomps over to the muscle car, grabs the sign off it, and sits on the hood.  "It's my car. I was here before all of you and I have real money in hand." she yells, waving her envelope over her head.  Victor says to Jack," Pay no attention to them. I have the title -- right here. My car. Let's start the car." DISCUSSION PROMPT: YOU BE THE JUDGE. DECIDE WHO GETS THE CAR.  USING THE ABOVE FACTS, DISCUSS AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING: identify the contract issues you see here. Applying common law principles of contract, who gets the car, if anyone, and for how much? Explain your reasoning using the definitions and principles of contract provided in Lessons, required readings and any other research you do. In terms of making an offer, what is the legal significance of Jack Bucksworthy's statement, "only if the engine starts?"

Review Chapters 5 and 6 of Macroeconomics: Private and Public Choice. Review Chapter 4 of Inflation: What It Is, Why It’s Bad, and How to Fix it. Review Monetary Policy: How Central Banks Regulate the EconomyLinks to an external site.. Research and review credible sources to learn about the pros and cons of government intervention. The role of government in the economy is often debated by economists and businesspeople. The debate ranges from having little to no government intervention to having a strong government presence in both business and social settings. Research and identify two government agencies, departments, or regulations where the government is heavily involved in the economy that you agree are helpful and necessary. Then, research and identify two government agencies, departments, or regulations where the government is involved in the economy, and you disagree that involvement is necessary. Rather, in these cases, you believe the free market would be better. Be specific in your selected government agencies, departments, or regulations. It may be possible to use the same government agency, department, or regulation for both sides. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may have regulations or interventions that you both agree and disagree with. Since EPA is used here as an example, do not use it in your assignment. For each selected example (four total), Assess the government intervention, providing the pros and cons. Discuss whether you agree with the government intervention and provide facts to support your opinion. Explain thoroughly and support your rationale. Critique the influence of the political process (for example, lobbying) for each of your examples. The Role of Government and the Impact of Politics paper must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA StyleLinks to an external site. as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft WordLinks to an external site. resource. must include a separate title page with the following: title of paper in bold font Space should appear between the title and the rest of the information on the title page. student’s name name of institution (University of Arizona Global Campus) course name and number instructor’s name due date must utilize academic voice. Review the Academic VoiceLinks to an external site. resource for additional guidance. must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper. For assistance on writing Introductions & ConclusionsLinks to an external site. as well as Writing a Thesis StatementLinks to an external site., refer to the Writing Center resources. must use at least two credible sources in addition to the course text. The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible SourcesLinks to an external site. table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment. Check the Advanced Internet Search TechniquesLinks to an external site. tip sheet to research government agencies. avoid over-dependence on direct quotes. Direct quotes are a great way to strengthen your assertions and provide support. However, be sure to avoid using excessive direct quotes in lieu of original thought. Direct quotes will not meet the requirement for analysis, application, and critical thinking. You will lose points for over reliance of quoting. Review the Integrating ResearchLinks to an external site. resource from the Writing Center for additional guidance.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT  Read the case study below and then answer ALL four questions. Human Resource Development at Peak Finance The senior managers of Peak Finance, a large financial institution, recognise the importance of training and development for their staff. They have a clear policy that not only should staff be trained and developed to meet the CPD (continuing professional development) and legislative requirements that apply to their area of business, but that staff should also be encouraged and enabled to engage in other appropriate development activities. The middle managers, who largely look after staff performance and development, all welcome this policy. They have made it clear to all of their staff that development opportunities are available and can be applied for at any time. Many individual managers have therefore put together a list of courses that they think might be of interest to their staff, and make these available to staff so that individual members of staff can ‘pick-and-mix’ the courses that they feel they would like to attend. There is no restriction on the number of courses that are allowed for each staff member, and it is up to each middle manager whether to allow attendance. Common practice is that staff just mention to their manager what they would like to do, and then an administrator books the place. The staff member then receives the letter from the training provider inviting him or her to the event, which he or she then attends when the due date arrives. The performance management system at Peak Finance is good in that the process described in organisational policy and procedure is good practice, but in reality it does not happen, because managers do not have time and have not been properly trained. When a performance appraisal interview does take place, it is usually short, and development needs tend to be addressed at the appraisal interview with the question ‘What do you want to do this year?’, and then arrangements are made after listing the responses. Costs have never been a barrier because money is said to be freely available for developmental purposes. When staff are to attend a course, they are supposed to let their line manager know about their impending absence, but this does not always happen. Neither does the manager hold any pre- or post-attendance discussions, nor does the organisation have any mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of any course (or, for that matter, any mechanism for checking that the member of staff actually attended). Some courses are held in-house for those areas of specialism where there is plenty of expertise, but these do not seem to be very effective. One employee recently missed half a day of a twoday course – and no one even noticed. Some courses are particularly important to the organisation, especially those CPD (continuing professional development) courses that re-license staff to enable them to operate in their specific financial area. However, staff are responsible for their own updates and CPD – the organisation does not keep records of when events are due or attended for any except the most essential staff. Rumour has it that many update courses are boring and inessential, so that it is not actually clear whether staff are or are not attending, and therefore may or may not be fully up to date. Following a merger with a similar but slightly smaller organisation, WealthBuild, new staff are now to be incorporated into the wider organisation. In the smaller firm, training and development was of a very focused nature and a very high standard, as it had to be to keep the small firm competitive. Peak Finance is now faced with some pressing issues. The recently arrived staff appear to be expecting detailed development discussions prior to training course attendance, and a debrief of what was learned following the course. They are also complaining about the performance management system that appears to be blocking what they call proper discussion about their future, and the development needs that they have in order to position themselves to be ready when promotion opportunities arise. They have noted that training appears only to be courses, and are questioning this approach. In the meantime, Peak Finance’s shareholders have begun to ask questions about the size of the training budget when compared to the size of the dividend budget that was recently set. Managers in the wider organisation, feeling suddenly under the spotlight, are now said to be unhappy with what they see as challenges to their way of doing things by both these newcomers and the shareholders. QUESTION 1 (25 Marks) “Organisations have used human resource development (HRD) to stimulate positive behaviour in employees and impact their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to enable the organisations to increase their productivity and performance” (Kareem and Hussein, 2019). Critically discuss human resource development at Peak Finance and make recommendations for its improvement. QUESTION 2 (25 Marks) “Performance management is critical to ensure that organisational plans are being implemented, that they have the desired developmental impact and that resources are being used efficiently” (Singh and Twalo, 2014). Critically discuss Peak Finance’s approach to performance management and make recommendations for its improvement. QUESTION 3 (25 Marks) “HR plays an important role in an organisation’s change process through designing and implementing organisation development strategies and change interventions” (Mishra, Shukla and Sujatha, 2022). Critically discuss the role which the HR department should have fulfilled in facilitating the change process which was brought about through Peak Finance’s merger with WealthBuild. QUESTION 4 (25 Marks) You have been appointed as the HR Director at Peak Finance. During your first week at Peak Finance, while spending time familiarising yourself with the HR department’s existing systems and processes, you realise that the HR department has never used HR metrics. In your role as HR Director, write an email to the HR team, in which you discuss the value of HR metrics and the types of HR metrics that the HR department must use going forward. Include examples, relevant to the context of Peak Finance, in your email.

PART ONE PART TWO: REPLY TO 2 STUDENTS 

clearly define statistics giving examples.

1. Create 3 research topics that is business and women related (gaps in research; strong preference for minority women in leadership roles in the US) 2. Create a topic sentence for each one 3. Create a research question for each topic. 4. 4 peer-reviewed resources for each topic.

Market Segmentation A firm has developed a new roofing material that also produces electricity from sunlight. This material is very light and inexpensive. Besides roofing, it could also provide an inexpensive carport covering for open-air parking lots. The firm has hired you as a consultant for the successful national launch of this product. You are required to present a report to the senior management describing when and where this product should be launched. Create a response answering the following: Identify different segments of the market for launching this product. Recommend which segments of the product should be targeted first for maximum returns to the firm and support your recommendation. Be sure to properly cite your sources using APA; include your references and in-text citations. Comment on the postings of your classmates. Do you agree with their position? Why or why not? 

The Buying Center Apply the buying center concept to a firm, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency you work for, or are familiar with, for the purchase of new laptop computers for their employees. Begin by briefly summarizing your selected organization. What is it? What does it do? List the different roles in a buying center and analyze who (from your selected firm, nonprofit organization, or government agency) would occupy the different roles of the buying center. Justify the reason for selecting these job titles or departments for the various roles in the buying center. Which members of the buying center should the salesperson focus on when selling to your firm? Why? Explain how the buying process differs between organizations and consumers as it would be applied to the organization you have selected.

Module 1: Discussion BI Career Opportunities There are several possible career paths within the BI field. In this discussion, you will explore some of the career opportunities and responsibilities of someone seeking employment within this industry. For your initial post in the discussion forum, review the module lesson and address the following: Is BI a fad or a trend? Why? Search for a current listing for a BI career or employment opportunity and share a link to the listing. As a precaution, also save it by print-to-pdf and attach the pdf to your post in case the listing is taken down before your peers have had a chance to review it. In your post, be sure to cite your source, and summarize the job descriptions and salary information. What skills do you already possess that were listed as job requirements or desired skills? Is there anything you found surprising about the job responsibilities or position requirements? What areas would you need to improve or strengthen in order to feel confident applying for a position like this? Respond to at least two of your peers by reviewing their posts and then explaining if you feel compelled to pursue an employment opportunity in the BI field—why or why not? To successfully complete this assignment, view the Discussion Rubric document. Required Resources Textbook: Sharda, Delen, Delen, Turban, & Turban. (2018). Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Data Science: A Managerial Perspective (4th ed.). Pearson. ISBN10: 0134633288 ISBN13: 9780134633282 To Comment On: Response 1: BI: A Fad or a Trend? Business Intelligence (BI) is more than just a passing fad; it is a lasting trend that evolves based on companies' needs and requirements. While the tools and methodologies may change, the core concept of leveraging data to make informed decisions will continue to exist in one form or another. BI adapts to new technologies and business landscapes, ensuring its relevance across different industries and periods. BI Career Listing Position: Business Intelligence Apprentice Company: Altruist Location: Los Angeles, CA (Hybrid) Salary Range: $70,000—$95,000 per year Job Type: Full-time, Internship The Business Intelligence Apprentice will analyze data to provide insights, develop and maintain dashboards, manage databases, and create visual data representations. They will also identify process improvements and collaborate with cross-functional teams. Requirements include pursuing a relevant degree, strong analytical skills, proficiency in Excel, familiarity with BI tools like Tableau or Power BI, and knowledge of SQL, Python, and R. Excellent communication skills are also essential. Link to Job Listing: LinkedIn Job PostingLinks to an external site. Relevant Skills I Possess I currently possess several key skills that align with the job requirements for the Business Intelligence Apprentice position. These include database management, data analysis and reporting, data visualization, and knowledge of Python. These skills equip me to manage and analyze data effectively, create meaningful visualizations, and support data-driven decision-making processes. Surprising Aspects of the Job I was surprised to see the requirement of understanding data and programming alongside knowledge of visualization tools. It’s clear that companies are looking for candidates with varied skill sets, even if the requirements aren't rigid. This indicates that having a well-rounded knowledge base in data management, analysis, and visualization, coupled with programming skills, is increasingly important in the field. Areas for Improvement To feel more confident in applying for the Business Intelligence Apprentice position, I would focus on brushing up my SQL skills and gaining more familiarity with QlikView and Power BI. Enhancing my expertise in these areas would strengthen my ability to meet the job's requirements and excel in the role. BI-Posting-LinkedIn.pdf Response 2: In today’s world, data is crucial for every company as it provides valuable insights that can be used to improve customer satisfaction, enhance operations, optimize supply chains, and understand customer behavior. Extracting and analyzing these insights from data is vital for an organization's success. Data comes in various forms and is generated rapidly and in large volumes. Therefore, implementing Business Intelligence (BI) strategies is necessary to achieve effective results. The capabilities of BI tools are driving the growth of the BI market, which is expected to be worth $33.3 billion by 2025 (The Future of Business Intelligence: Trends and Predictions, n.d.). Thus, based on these factors and numbers, it is evident that BI is a trend rather than a fad. A current BI employment opportunity is Strategy Manager - Business Intelligence at Frontier Communications, Dallas, Texas. https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=f98636cd66bc03ab&utm_campaign=google_jobs_apply&utm_source=google_jobs_apply&utm_medium=organicLinks to an external site. The Strategy Manager - Business Intelligence (BI) at Frontier is responsible for accessing and analyzing data from the company's data lakes to support strategic decision-making. This role involves collaborating with IT and finance teams to create comprehensive, fact-based analyses considering quantitative and qualitative factors. The Strategy Manager will also develop insights into Frontier's market position and propose ideas to drive growth. This role is part of our purpose in Building Gigabit America: creating the country's digital infrastructure to thrive today and into the next century. Ideal candidates are strategic thinkers who enjoy problem-solving, quantitative modeling, and communicating actionable insights. They are curious, driven by impact, and take pride in their work. Responsibilities: As a Strategy Manager – BI, you'll provide essential data to support the strategy team's recommendations, develop quantitative models to assess strategic options, and communicate insights to senior stakeholders. You'll collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather input, align on methodologies, validate analysis, and contribute ideas to strengthen Frontier's competitive market position. Key competencies for the Strategy Manager – BI role include exceptional quantitative and modeling skills and the ability to clearly and concisely tell a story using data. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker who can project the long-term impacts of today's actions, possesses a structured and fact-based problem-solving approach, and thrives in ambiguous situations with high curiosity and eagerness to learn. They should also have a collaborative approach to problem-solving, a challenger mindset, and a positive 'can do' attitude. Background Requirements: Bachelor’s degree preferred Keen interest in the Telecom/Tech sector Experience providing Business Intelligence from IT systems Ability to program SQL and/or Python a plus Familiarity with Frontier’s data warehouse is a plus The salary range is $57,000 to $189,000 per year. My quantitative and modeling skills from my background in mathematics allow me to analyze complex data sets, create advanced models, and extract valuable insights. My computer knowledge helps me work efficiently with data systems, automate processes, and solve structured and unstructured problems. My tech experience enhances my strategic thinking for long-term outcomes. I found it surprising that the job responsibilities for the Strategy Manager—BI role include working in-person at the Dallas, TX, location, which is different from the increasing trend of remote work in similar roles. Along with strong quantitative and analytical skills, there is a significant focus on effectively communicating data-driven insights to senior stakeholders. The role also requires a "challenger mindset," suggesting that the company values innovative thinking and a willingness to question the status quo, which may not be as emphasized in more traditional BI positions. To feel confident applying for the Strategy Manager – BI position, I need to improve my strategic thinking and communication skills, understand financial modeling, and develop more experience in cross-functional collaboration and market analysis. Reference: The Future of Business Intelligence: Trends and Predictions. (n.d.). Synoptek. https://synoptek.com/insights/it-blogs/future-business-intelligence-trends/Links to an external site. Strategy Manager - Business Intelligence - Dallas, TX - Indeed.com.pdf

Module 1: Assignment Case Study Assignment 1.1: Sabre Helps Its Clients through Dashboards and Analytics Throughout this course, you will complete case study assignments in which you will address application-based questions about real-world scenarios. For this case study assignment, you will consider the Sabre Corporation. Based in Southlake, Texas, this technology company specializing in travel services was founded by American Airlines in 1960, but the two companies separated in 2000. Sabre began as a computer reservation system for American Airlines reservations booking services and is now the largest global air booking system in North America. Through this case, you will assess the competitive value of analytics in decision support activities by providing visualization tools that can create a 360-degree real-time view of large data sets into user-friendly dashboards. To complete this assignment, refer to the Application Case 1.1 provided below in red text or see chapter 1, page 18 in Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Data Science: A Managerial Perspective. In about one paragraph each, address the three questions associated with this case. Application Case 1.1 Sabre Helps Its Clients Through Dashboards and Analytics Sabre is one of the world leaders in the travel industry, providing both business-to-consumer services as well as business-to-business services. It serves travelers, travel agents, corporations, and travel suppliers through its four main companies: Travelocity, Sabre Travel Network, Sabre Airline Solutions, and Sabre Hospitality Solutions. The current volatile global economic environment poses significant competitive challenges to the airline industry. To stay ahead of the competition, Sabre Airline Solutions recognized that airline executives needed enhanced tools for managing their business decisions by eliminating the traditional, manual, time-consuming process of aggregating financial and other information needed for actionable initiatives. This enables real-time decision support at airlines throughout the world to maximize their (and in turn Sabre’s) return on information by driving insights, actionable intelligence, and value for customers from the growing data. Sabre developed an Enterprise Travel Data Warehouse (ETDW) using Teradata to hold its massive reservation data. ETDW is updated in near-real time with batches that run every 15 minutes, gathering data from all of Sabre’s businesses. Sabre uses its ETDW to create Sabre Executive Dashboards that provide near real-time executive insights using a Cognos BI platform with Oracle Data Integrator and Oracle Goldengate technology infrastructures. The Executive Dashboards offer their client airlines’ top-level managers and decision makers a timely, automated, user-friendly solution, aggregating critical performance metrics in a succinct way and providing at a glance a 360-degree view of the overall health of the airline. At one airline, Sabre’s Executive Dashboards provide senior management with a daily and intraday snapshot of key performance indicators in a single application replacing the once-a-week, 8-hour process of generating the same report from various data sources. The use of dashboards is not limited to external customers; Sabre also uses them for their assessment of internal operational performance. The dashboards help Sabre’s customers to have a clear understanding of the data through the visual displays that incorporate interactive drill-down capabilities. It replaces flat presentations and allows for a more focused review of the data with less effort and time. This facilitates team dialog by making the data/metrics pertaining to sales performance available to many stakeholders, including ticketing, seats sold and flown, operational performance including the data on flight movement and tracking, customer reservations, inventory, and revenue across an airline’s multiple distribution channels. The dashboard systems provide scalable infrastructure, graphical user interface support, data integration, and aggregation that empower airline executives to be more proactive in taking actions that lead to positive impacts on the overall health of their airline. With its ETDW, Sabre could also develop other Web-based analytical and reporting solutions that leverage data to gain customer insights through analysis of customer profiles and their sales interactions to calculate customer value. This enables better customer segmentation and insights for value-added services. Questions for Discussion What is traditional reporting? How is it used in the organization? How can analytics be used to transform traditional reporting? How can interactive reporting assist organizations in decision-making? To successfully complete this assignment, view the Case Study Assignment Rubric document.Download Case Study Assignment Rubric document.