Rate of return douglas keel, a financial analyst for orange industries, wishes to estimate the rate of return for two similar-risk investments, x and y. douglas's research indicates that the immediate past returns will serve as reasonable estimates of future returns. a year earlier, investment x had a market value of $27 comma 000; and investment y had a market value of $46 comma 000. during the year, investment x generated cash flow of $2 comma 025 and investment y generated cash flow of $ 6 comma 770. the current market values of investments x and y are $28 comma 582 and $46 comma 000, respectively. a. calculate the expected rate of return on investments x and y using the most recent year's data. b. assuming that the two investments are equally risky, which one should douglas recommend? why?

1. the political environment in india has proven to be critical to company performance for both pepsico and coca-cola india. what specific aspects of the political environment have played key roles? could these effects have been anticipated prior to market entry? if not, could developments in the political arena have been handled better by each company? 2. timing of entry into the indian market brought different results for pepsico and coca-cola india. what benefits or disadvantages accrued as a result of earlier or later market entry? 3. the indian market is enormous in terms of population and geography. how have the two companies responded to the sheer scale of operations in india in terms of product policies, promotional activities, pricing policies, and distribution arrangements? 4. “global localization” (glocalization) is a policy that both companies have implemented successfully. give examples for each company from the case.

conquest, inc. produces a special kind of light-weight, recreational vehicle that has a unique design. it allows the company to follow a cost-plus pricing strategy. it has $9,000,000 of average assets, and the desired profit is a 10% return on assets. assume all products produced are sold. additional data are as follows: sales volume 1000 units per year; variable costs $1000 per unit; fixed costs $4,000,000 per year; using the cost-plus pricing approach, what should be the sales price per unit?

Why do you think the compensation plans differ at the two firms? in particular, why do you think kaufmann’s pays commissions to salespeople, while parkleigh does not? why does parkleigh offer employees discounts on purchases, while kaufmann’s does not?