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Individual Case Study
For this assignment, you may use a case study from the text or a problem you are attempting to resolve in your respective area/industry of business. Please remember you will not be assigned a case study so you will need to begin to identify your case study/problem as soon as possible. Case studies we have already conducted in class may not be used for group or individual case study submissions.
Requirements:
1) Provide the background of the problem you are attempting to resolve.
2) Create a mathematical equation for the problem on the first tab of your Excel Worksheet
3) Solve the problem using Solver (linear programming) on the second tab of your Excel Worksheet.
4) Provide a management report (discuss results, sensitivity analysis, and provide recommendations) for your findings in a Word Document. Students should use screenshots to insert both the Solver solution and the sensitivity analysis in the management report completed in Word.
5) Both the Solver Workbook and Word document should be submitted in Blackboard using the provided link.
6) A minimum of 8 – 10 pages written in APA (not including the title page and references) is required.
7) Students may use their own business problem; however, a comprehensive discussion on the background must be provided so that your approach to the solution and recommendations can easily be followed.
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You may use your own but I am providing additional suggestions for anyone who needs them. Suggestions for possible case studies (pick one of those listed below). Please remember you must complete your case study using linear programming in Solver per the requirements listed above.
Chapter 4 – Case Problem 1 – p. 153 – Must be completed using linear programming in Solver
Chapter 7 – p. 297 – Problem #49
Chapter 7 – p. 299 – Case Problem 1, 2 or 3
Attached case studies may also be used.
Case Study II – Retirement Planning Services
Numerous problems in the area of finance can be addressed by using the various optimization techniques. These problems often involve attempting to maximize the return on an investment while meeting certain cash-flow requirements and risk constraints. Alternatively, we may want to minimize the risk on an investment while maintaining a certain level of return. We’ll consider one such problem here and discuss several other financial engineering problems throughout this text. Brian Givens is a financial analyst for Retirement Planning Services, Inc., who specializes in designing retirement income portfolios for retirees using corporate bonds. He has just completed a consultation with a client who expects to have $750,000 in liquid assets to invest when she retires next month. Brian and his client agreed to consider upcoming bond issues from the following six companies:
The column labeled “Return” in this table represents the expected annual yield on each bond, the column labeled “Years to Maturity” indicates the length of time over which the bonds will be payable, and the column labeled “Rating” indicates an independent underwriter’s assessment of the quality or risk associated with each issue. Brian believes that all of the companies are relatively safe investments. However, to protect his client’s income, Brian and his client agreed that no more than 25% of her money should be invested in any one investment and at least half of her money should be invested in long-term bonds that mature in 10 or more years. Also, even though DynaStar, Eagle Vision, and OptiPro offer the highest returns, it was agreed that no more than 35% of the money should be invested in these bonds because they also represent the highest risks (that is, they were rated lower than “very good”). Brian needs to determine how to allocate his client’s investments to maximize her income while meeting their agreed upon investment restrictions.
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Case I – Electro-Poly Corporation
The Electro-Poly Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer of slip rings. A slip ring is an electrical coupling device that allows current to pass through a spinning or rotating connection—such as a gun turret on a ship, aircraft, or tank. The company recently received a $750,000 order for various quantities of three types of slip rings. Each slip ring requires a certain amount of time to wire and harness.
The following table summarizes the requirements for the three models of slip rings.
Unfortunately, Electro-Poly does not have enough wiring and harnessing capacity to fill the order by its due date. The company has only 10,000 hours of wiring capacity and 5,000 hours of harnessing capacity available to devote to this order. However, the company can subcontract any portion of this order to one of its competitors. The unit costs of producing each model in-house and buying the finished products from a competitor are summarized in the following table: