Assignment 1 - Discussion

Topic: A recent article in Forbes suggests that the alleged bribes that Wal-Mart paid to local officials in Mexico may actually be permissible under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, since the act allows for "facilitating payments." Do you agree? Even if Wal-Mart did not commit a crime, do you think it behaved in an unethical way by making the payments? Compare the ethics of Wal-mart's conduct in Mexico with Newmont's conduct in Peru and Chiquita's conduct in Colombia. Answer the questions using up to 500 words.

Assignment 2 - LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES

REQUIRED -

1. Conduct a DuPont decomposition of Lucent's ROE by quarter. What factors contributed to the differences in Lucent's performance between those quarters?

2. Evaluate the seasonally adjusted change (i.e., quarter i in year t to quarter i in year t-1) in Lucent's: Sales, Accounts Receivable, Inventory and Gross Margin for the five quarterly periods: December 1998 through December 1999. Be sure to include an evaluation of the Footnote disclosures regarding Lucent's inventories in your examination. Does the explanation for the earnings shortfall provided by Lucent's managers make sense in light of your analysis?

3. Based on your analysis:

a) When might you have determined that Lucent would be unable to maintain its streak of record earnings?

b) Do you think the class-action lawsuits have merit?

c) Would you expect Lucent's earnings to 'recover' by the second quarter of 2000? What obstacles to Lucent's earnings recovery present themselves?

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar