Purpose of Assignment

In this week, students are learning about  managing different types of economic costs. Organizations typically have  either high fixed costs or low fixed costs, and it is important to  understand how business decisions differ in organizations with high  fixed costs from organizations with low fixed costs.

Assignment Steps

Resources: Tutorial help on Excel® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft®  Office website. There are also additional tutorials via the web  offering support for Office products. Hoover’s Company Profiles by  ProQuest located in the University Library

Choose two publicly-held  organizations. One organization must have high fixed costs and low  variable costs, and the other organization must have low fixed costs and  high variable costs.

Note: A publicly-held organization is a private-sector firm  that is owned by stock holders. Companies with high fixed costs include  manufacturing companies, such as automobile manufactures, whereas  service companies, such as accounting firms, might have low fixed costs.

Create a minimum 8-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint®  presentation, including detailed speaker notes or voiceover, analyzing  the methods of managing cost depending on the cost construction.  Research the University Library for recent publications regarding each  company and the industry data. The analysis should include the  following:

• Analyze your two chosen companies’ cost construction. Do the  companies have high fixed costs or low fixed costs? Do the companies  have high variable costs or low variable costs? What evidence presents  itself to support your findings?
• In Excel®, chart the relationship between total cost and  the number of units produced (output) for each organization/company.  Plot two lines on the graph – one line for each company you analyzed.  Copy your graph from Excel® and paste it into your PowerPoint® presentation.
• Analyze currently used methods to minimize costs for the companies  and provide recommendations how to improve the process of minimizing  costs based on the available information for the industries in which the  companies operate. Note: Companies are categorized by the  industries they operate in. For example, Wal-Mart is a company operating  within the retail trade industry. Hoover’s Company Profiles by ProQuest  located in the University Library may be helpful. 

Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources.

Format the assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your PowerPoint® presentation and your Excel® file.