Assignment: Managing Fixed and Variable Costs for Organization
Microsoft and Walmart
Purpose of Assignment
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.
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. (Microsoft) One organization must have high fixed costs and low variable costs, and the other organization (Walmart) 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 6-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 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.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.