(c) Mr Cobar, the chief executive of SHC, has decided to draft two alternative statements to explain both possible
outcomes of the secrecy/licensing decision to shareholders. Once the board has decided which one to pursue,
the relevant draft will be included in a voluntary section of the next corporate annual report.
Required:
(i) Draft a statement in the event that the board chooses the secrecy option. It should make a convincing
business case and put forward ethical arguments for the secrecy option. The ethical arguments should
be made from the stockholder (or pristine capitalist) perspective. (8 marks)
(ii) Draft a statement in the event that the board chooses the licensing option. It should make a convincing
business case and put forward ethical arguments for the licensing option. The ethical arguments should
be made from the wider stakeholder perspective. (8 marks)
(iii) Professional marks for the persuasiveness and logical flow of arguments: two marks per statement.
(4 marks)
第1题:
1 The scientists in the research laboratories of Swan Hill Company (SHC, a public listed company) recently made a very
important discovery about the process that manufactured its major product. The scientific director, Dr Sonja Rainbow,
informed the board that the breakthrough was called the ‘sink method’. She explained that the sink method would
enable SHC to produce its major product at a lower unit cost and in much higher volumes than the current process.
It would also produce lower unit environmental emissions and would substantially improve product quality compared
to its current process and indeed compared to all of the other competitors in the industry.
SHC currently has 30% of the global market with its nearest competitor having 25% and the other twelve producers
sharing the remainder. The company, based in the town of Swan Hill, has a paternalistic management approach and
has always valued its relationship with the local community. Its website says that SHC has always sought to maximise
the benefit to the workforce and community in all of its business decisions and feels a great sense of loyalty to the
Swan Hill locality which is where it started in 1900 and has been based ever since.
As the board considered the implications of the discovery of the sink method, chief executive Nelson Cobar asked
whether Sonja Rainbow was certain that SHC was the only company in the industry that had made the discovery and
she said that she was. She also said that she was certain that the competitors were ‘some years’ behind SHC in their
research.
It quickly became clear that the discovery of the sink method was so important and far reaching that it had the
potential to give SHC an unassailable competitive advantage in its industry. Chief executive Nelson Cobar told board
colleagues that they should clearly understand that the discovery had the potential to put all of SHC’s competitors out
of business and make SHC the single global supplier. He said that as the board considered the options, members
should bear in mind the seriousness of the implications upon the rest of the industry.
Mr Cobar said there were two strategic options. Option one was to press ahead with the huge investment of new plant
necessary to introduce the sink method into the factory whilst, as far as possible, keeping the nature of the sink
technology secret from competitors (the ‘secrecy option’). A patent disclosing the nature of the technology would not
be filed so as to keep the technology secret within SHC. Option two was to file a patent and then offer the use of the
discovery to competitors under a licensing arrangement where SHC would receive substantial royalties for the twentyyear
legal lifetime of the patent (the ‘licensing option’). This would also involve new investment but at a slower pace
in line with competitors. The licence contract would, Mr Cobar explained, include an ‘improvement sharing’
requirement where licensees would be required to inform. SHC of any improvements discovered that made the sink
method more efficient or effective.
The sales director, Edwin Kiama, argued strongly in favour of the secrecy option. He said that the board owed it to
SHC’s shareholders to take the option that would maximise shareholder value. He argued that business strategy was
all about gaining competitive advantage and this was a chance to do exactly that. Accordingly, he argued, the sink
method should not be licensed to competitors and should be pursued as fast as possible. The operations director said
that to gain the full benefits of the sink method with either option would require a complete refitting of the factory and
the largest capital investment that SHC had ever undertaken.
The financial director, Sean Nyngan, advised the board that pressing ahead with investment under the secrecy option
was not without risks. First, he said, he would have to finance the investment, probably initially through debt, and
second, there were risks associated with any large investment. He also informed the board that the licensing option
would, over many years, involve the inflow of ‘massive’ funds in royalty payments from competitors using the SHC’s
patented sink method. By pursuing the licensing option, Sean Nyngan said that they could retain their market
leadership in the short term without incurring risk, whilst increasing their industry dominance in the future through
careful investment of the royalty payments.
The non-executive chairman, Alison Manilla, said that she was looking at the issue from an ethical perspective. She
asked whether SHC had the right, even if it had the ability, to put competitors out of business.
Required:
(a) Assess the secrecy option using Tucker’s model for decision-making. (10 marks)
第2题:
听力原文:M: Good morning! This is a demand draft for one thousand American dollars. May I have it discounted here?
W: Sorry, immediate encashment of a foreign bill is not allowed. You may entrust it to us for collection. But it takes time.
Q: What should the man do if he wants to get the payment of the draft?
(18)
A.He has to show the clerk his passport.
B.He has to entrust the draft for collection to the bank.
C.He has to fill in some forms.
D.He has to endorse the draft.
第3题:
By the time Robert()writing the first draft of his paper, most of the other students will be completing their final draft.
A、finishes
B、has finished
C、finished
D、finishing
第4题:
(a) Contrast the role of internal and external auditors. (8 marks)
(b) Conoy Co designs and manufactures luxury motor vehicles. The company employs 2,500 staff and consistently makes a net profit of between 10% and 15% of sales. Conoy Co is not listed; its shares are held by 15 individuals, most of them from the same family. The maximum shareholding is 15% of the share capital.
The executive directors are drawn mainly from the shareholders. There are no non-executive directors because the company legislation in Conoy Co’s jurisdiction does not require any. The executive directors are very successful in running Conoy Co, partly from their training in production and management techniques, and partly from their ‘hands-on’ approach providing motivation to employees.
The board are considering a significant expansion of the company. However, the company’s bankers are
concerned with the standard of financial reporting as the financial director (FD) has recently left Conoy Co. The board are delaying provision of additional financial information until a new FD is appointed.
Conoy Co does have an internal audit department, although the chief internal auditor frequently comments that the board of Conoy Co do not understand his reports or provide sufficient support for his department or the internal control systems within Conoy Co. The board of Conoy Co concur with this view. Anders & Co, the external auditors have also expressed concern in this area and the fact that the internal audit department focuses work on control systems, not financial reporting. Anders & Co are appointed by and report to the board of Conoy Co.
The board of Conoy Co are considering a proposal from the chief internal auditor to establish an audit committee.
The committee would consist of one executive director, the chief internal auditor as well as three new appointees.
One appointee would have a non-executive seat on the board of directors.
Required:
Discuss the benefits to Conoy Co of forming an audit committee. (12 marks)
第5题:
第6题:
One of your customers has decided to deploy location-based services in addition to existingwireless services. The customer requires that the additional access points to be deployed in monitor-onlymode. The most likely reason for this requirement is that the customer has which of these existingwireless devices?()
第7题:
For added security, a network administrator has decided to lock down the wireless network. Which of the following are ways to accomplish this? ()(Select TWO).
第8题:
A new application has been added to a system which needs to automatically be started at system startup. The system administrator has decided to accomplish this by using the /etc/inittab file. Which command would be used to accomplish this in a supported manner?()
第9题:
Disable all 802.11 traffic
Disable the SSID from broadcasting
Disable WPA
Enable Bluetooth only communication
Change the default admin password
Disable WEP
第10题:
ballast
reserve buoyancy
displacement
rolling periods
第11题:
Data Collection
802.11b/g VoIP
802.11b and g clients
RFID tags
第12题:
take off
take out
take from
take on
第13题:
The purchaser of a draft/documents presented under a straight documentary credit only has the right ______.
A.to protest the issuing bank
B.to present the drafts/documents on behalf of the beneficiary
C.to purchase the beneficiary's drafts/documents
D.to present the draft/documents by himself
第14题:
听力原文:If a customer informs his bank that a draft which has been issued to him has been lost, the drawee bank should be noticed immediately.
(8)
A.The customer should first notify the drawee bank of the loss of his draft.
B.The customer should first notify the drawer bank of the loss of his draft.
C.The customer should first notify the remitting bank of the loss of his draft.
D.The customer should first notify the collecting bank of the loss of his draft.
第15题:
Tony: Eric has decided to quit drinking.
David: Again? ______
A、It's a difficult decision to make.
B、Alcohol-addiction is dangerous.
C、I wonder how long it will last this time.
D、He's an alcohol addict.
第16题:
A double male coupling is one that ______.
A.has left hand twist
B.has inside threads on both ends
C.has outside threads on both ends
D.takes two men to operate
第17题:
One of your customers has decided to deploy location-based services in addition to existing wireless services. the customer requires that the additional access points to be deployed in monitor-only modE. The most likely reason for this requirement is that the customer has which of these existing wireless devices?()
第18题:
Which one of the statements below correctly describes the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), which is being used in the Company network to provide redundancy?()
第19题:
Krstin has created a page in the videos application .which one of the following statements about pages is not true ?()
第20题:
the government who decided
what has the government decided
only the government has decided
what the government has decided
第21题:
第22题:
data collection
802.11b/g voip
802.11b and g clients
rfid tags
第23题:
A VRRP group has one active and one or more standby virtual routers.
A VRRP group has one master and one or more backup virtual routers.
A VRRP group has one master and one redundant virtual router.
None of the other alternatives apply