Oxford Plastics Company

Boer, G., & Jeter, D. (1993). What's new about modern manufacturing? empirical evidence on manufacturing cost changes. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 5, 61. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/210171196?accountid=32521

Background: This story takes place in Ruddock a town in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. In the year 1892, two men founded the Ruddock Cypress Company. They built a sawmill business and established a town to serve their business; the town became Ruddock. In 1902, the sawmill burned down and was later rebuilt. By 1910, the town had a population of 700.

Technologically more advanced than us and removed more contaminants including cryptosporidium and giardia (which we do not)

Why did Hampton repurchase a substantial fraction of its outstanding common stock? What is the impact of this repurchase on Hampton's financial performance? Critically assess Hampton's dividend policy. Do you agree with Mr. Cowin's proposal to pay a substantial dividend in December?

One assumption that should be clearly analyzed is that the collection period is of 30 days net. Not always customers have the ability and willingness to pay off their debts in 30 days, some may take more time, and some could incur in bad debt.

This haevily disguised case is set in the “nature “woodstoves business in 1986. It is not based on The Vermont Castings Company. The issue is product line strategy based on product line profitability.

Also, the cost of working capital is not being included; as a result, Trading Profit is not indicating the amount of cash and other current assets being tied up in each particular product line. We think that the opportunity cost of utilizing (tying-up) working capital is not reflected on each individual product lines’ final results, enabling product managers to utilize potentially excessive levels of working capital without poorly affecting their Trading Profit.

In a desire to increase the company’s working capital for the company’s future financial investment in a plant modernization and expansion program, Beauregard Textile Company increased the price of its Triaxx-30 product to bring its profit margins up to that of their other products. In a sequential-move game theory Calhoun & Pritchard, Beauregard’s primary rival, did not raise its price even though its costs were assumed to be similar. As a result, Beauregard’s unit sales dropped significantly as their customers purchased the cheaper competitor’s product, causing Beauregard’s profit contribution to decrease. A closer examination of Beauregard’s cost analysis revealed that it includes fixed costs, which when

The O.M Scott & Sons Company has had continued success in the grass seed and lawn care industry. The company started in 1868 as a local company in central Ohio, focused on selling grass seed only. The company saw great opportunity in the lawn care industry, so it decided tot take action. O.M Scott & Sons grew into a national company that distributed its products by mail, and eventually sold to retail stores nationwide in 1959. The company was able to grow expanding the company’s field sales force. This increase in sales force led to a continued increase in sales and profits, which allowed the company to invest in R&D more heavily. This increase in R&D led to better products, which further increased sales and profits. The objective was to service the various retailers across the U.S with adequate inventories, especially in the high seasonal peaks. This was difficult for most of the smaller sized dealers the company was selling to, so Scott had to fund the dealer inventory buildup by itself.

All the costs by a company can be broken into two categories, fixed costs and variable costs. Costs that are independent of output are called fixed costs. Fixed costs remain constant throughout the relevant range and are usually considered sunk for the relevant range. Buildings and machinery are included inputs that cannot be adjusted in the short term. They are only fixed in relation to the quantity of production for a certain time period. The cost of all inputs is variable, in the long run.

Financial results and conditions vary among companies for a number of reasons. One reason for the variation can be traced to the characteristics of the industries in which companies operate. For example, some industries require large investments in property, plant, and equipment (PP&E), while others require very little. In some industries, the competitive productpricing structure permits companies to earn significant profits per sales dollar, while in other industries the product-pricing structure imposes a much lower profit margin. In most low-margin industries, however, companies often experience a relatively high rate of product throughput. A second reason for some of the

Standardizing the cost management system companywide is an important step in improving the link between cost management and

Dixon is raising debt capital by issuing long3 and short term bonds; an interest rate of

Jensen (1986) suggests that this problem can be somehow controlled by increasing the stake of managers in the business or by increasing debt in the capital structure, thereby reducing the amount of “free” cash available to managers.

The case study talks about the problems faced by the Europe’s largest manufacturers of plastic household items, producing over 500 products in its French Factory.