Your task is to determine the WACC for a healthcare organization. Your deliverable is a brief report in which you state your determination of WACC, describe and justify how you determined the number, and provide a relevant discussion of your findings. Chapter 7 covers the basic concepts of WACC. Refer to the WACC formula at the bottom of page 341: WACC = Kd(1-t)(D / V) + Ke(E/V)

Company

HCA Healthcare (Stock Ticker Symbol: HCA)

Assumptions:

HCA has a cost of debt of 6%, a corporate tax rate of 40%, and a debt weight of 60%.

HCA has a cost of equity of 11.4% and an equity weight of 40%.

Submit the following:

Write a 350- to 700-word report that contains the following elements:

· Your calculated WACC. Describe how you used the assumptions to calculate the WACC.

· What does HCA’s WACC indicate? How could decision makers use this information?

· How would an increase in equity or debt impact the WACC?

· US corporate tax rates were reduced to 21% starting in 2018. Recalculate your WACC based on the new tax rates. Describe the impact of changes in corporate tax rates on HCA’s WACC.

· Is a higher WACC good or bad? Support your answer.

Include the math used for your calculations.

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Submit your assignment.

Market research is a critical component when you’re launching a product, trying to improve your existing service, or when you’re just looking to be a step ahead of your competitors. It will provide you with all the information you need to make better business decisions. Market research and competitive analysis is crucial for a better understanding of your customers, competitors, and other important factors in the external environment, leading to better decision making and a higher probability of business sustainability.

Following what you’ve written so far, answer the following question as it relates to your personal business venture:

Who are your potential customers? Mention something about their demographics (i.e. age, income, lifestyle, etc…)

Who are your competitors and how are you differentiating yourself from them? What is your competitive advantage (i.e. cost, product/service differentiation, niche, etc…)

Finally, brainstorm potential internal attributes (i.e. strengths and weaknesses) and external attributes (i.e. opportunities and threats) as they relate to your venture.

Use what you have learned on marketing research and competitive analysis to answer these questions in narrative form. Again, your response to the above questions should be between a total of 400-600 words. You will be graded on accuracy of content/concepts used, feasibility, and finally the organization and presentation of the writing. Please refer to the rubric posted on Canvas for more detail on grading.

Assignment Content

1. 
   
   Scenario: You currently work as the marketing manager of your favorite company/organization and manage the success of one of its products or services. Your responsibility is to monitor the stages of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) and adjust the marketing strategies as needed for your product so that it can thrive for as long as possible. At each stage, you assess changes in the target market, determine changes that you need to make to the product or price strategy, and review the competition and profitability.
   Create a 10- to 15-slide (not counting cover slide or reference slide) Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi, or Microsoft Sway presentation with speaker’s notes that covers the following criteria:

   • Develop a slide that establishes the theme and goals of the presentation.
   • Define and discuss the PLC concept and its importance to marketing managers.
   • Discuss why the PLC is important to marketing managers, and provide examples of the possible implications if the PLC is not monitored.
   • Describe the selected company/organization, product/service, the target market for this product, and how the product/service is presented to the selected target market.
   • Describe how brand equity can be used to create a positive customer image of your product.
   • Describe each stage of the PLC, and analyze the implications that each stage may have on pricing, product definition, competition, and profitability for your selected product/service.

Assignment Content

1. 
   
   Scenario: You are the marketing manager for a local nonprofit charity whose funding is derived from membership fees. You have noticed a severe drop in new memberships and a decline in repeat memberships, which is threatening your organization’s ability to survive and grow. You have decided to implement the Five-Step Marketing Research Approach to help clarify the problem and develop strategies for implementation.
   Create a 10- to 15-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint®, Prezi, or Microsoft® Sway® presentation with speaker notes on the Five-Step Marketing Research Approach in which you detail the steps you will use to address the membership issue that the local nonprofit charity is facing.
   Address the following in your role as marketing manager:

   • Define the Five-Step Marketing Research Approach and discuss the importance of research in marketing.
   • Describe each step of the Marketing Research Approach in detail and create a plan of attack to explain how each stage should be implemented.
   • Define the target market that you are striving to bring into this organization and describe the methods of research that you will use to identify these groups of people.
   • Define service differentiation. Provide an example that illustrates how the local nonprofit charity in the scenario can use differentiation to help increase the target market’s interest.
   • Explain how differentiation will help position the charitable organization within its defined market.

This assignment is designed to align with specific program student learning outcome(s) in your program. Program Student Learning Outcomes are broad statements that describe what students should know and be able to do upon completion of their degree. The signature assignments may be graded with an automated rubric that allows the University to collect data that can be aggregated across a location or college/school and used for program improvements.

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is for students to demonstrate mastery of operations management concepts and tools.

Assignment Steps

Develop a 700- to 1,050-word memo to a prospective employer outlining your credentials, including: taking this class, all of the projects you have done for this class individually and with your team, and their impact on the businesses you have engaged with so a senior manager reading it would want to hire you as either an operations consultant or permanent employee.

Summarize the business case for each project.

Outline what you specifically accomplished, assuming these projects were implemented, and their estimated impacts on the business.

Utilize the learnings from Week 6 to highlight your skills in global sourcing, procurement, and outsourcing which can also be of benefit to your target firm.

Format your assignment as if you would be giving a presentation to senior management.