LIBRARY RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT FROM: XXX XXX STUDENT NUMBER: 999-999-999 FOR: PROFESSOR KERRI SHIELDS DATE: February 1, 2015 News Positive Ethics Corporate Social Responsibility Treatment of Employees Your Impression References INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2 INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE PAGE 6 INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE PAGE 5 REVIEW: THE BALANCED SCORECARD & THE FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE SESSION LONG PROJECT STUDENT, UNIVERSITY INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE 1 PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING: MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING-BUDGETING PAGE 1 PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING: MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING-BUDGETING PAGE 3 Abstract The purpose of the Session Long Project is to give you the opportunity to explore the applicability of the module to your own life and work. This is done in a number of different ways - sometimes with cumulative papers, sometimes with practical hands-on experimentation, sometimes with reflections on a place of work or life. The common thread is personal application, aimed at demonstrating a cumulative knowledge and understanding of the course material. For this course, the Session Long Project will take the form of putting together background from each of the four perspectives for a balanced scorecard approach to an organization or organizational unit with which you are familiar. In the final module (Module 5), you will have a go at strategy mapping. You won't be building a complete Balanced Scorecard - that would be far beyond our current scope - but you’ll have a chance to see what goes into it and how it gets put together into a coordinated whole. As in the Cases, you’ll be drawing on your previous coursework to help. The Module 1 assignment has two parts. First, identify an organization in which you have access to at least some information concerning financial data, staffing and human resource systems, marketing and customer relations, information systems, and operations. While most material on the Balanced Scorecard is written from the private, for-profit point of view, it’s perfectly possible to use this approach with public or non-profit organizations as well. For the second part of this assignment, consider the organization's mission and strategy from the perspective of its financial operations (from your work on the Case, your previous coursework, and your background reading, you should be reasonably clear what such operations are). In this section of the assignment you’ll begin to identify objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. If you’re unclear on just what objectives and measures are, here is a presentation that describes what they are and how to write them: Objectives, Measures, Targets & Action Plans. When you have thought about it and made your selection, specify (in 2–3 pages): • The name of your organization • What this organization ...

1. LIBRARY RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
FROM: XXX XXX
STUDENT NUMBER: 999-999-999
FOR: PROFESSOR KERRI SHIELDS
DATE: February 1, 2015
News
Positive Ethics
Corporate Social Responsibility
Treatment of Employees
Your Impression
References
INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2
INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE PAGE 6
INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE PAGE 5
REVIEW: THE BALANCED SCORECARD & THE
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
SESSION LONG PROJECT
STUDENT, UNIVERSITY

2. INTEGRATIVE PROJECT: BALANCED SCORECARD & THE
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE 1
PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING: MANAGERIAL
ACCOUNTING-BUDGETING PAGE 1
PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING: MANAGERIAL
ACCOUNTING-BUDGETING PAGE 3
Abstract
The purpose of the Session Long Project is to give you the
opportunity to explore the applicability of the module to your
own life and work. This is done in a number of different ways -
sometimes with cumulative papers, sometimes with practical
hands-on experimentation, sometimes with reflections on a
place of work or life. The common thread is personal
application, aimed at demonstrating a cumulative knowledge
and understanding of the course material.
For this course, the Session Long Project will take the
form of putting together background from each of the four
perspectives for a balanced scorecard approach to an
organization or organizational unit with which you are familiar.
In the final module (Module 5), you will have a go at strategy
mapping. You won't be building a complete Balanced Scorecard
- that would be far beyond our current scope - but you’ll have a
chance to see what goes into it and how it gets put together into

3. a coordinated whole. As in the Cases, you’ll be drawing on your
previous coursework to help.
The Module 1 assignment has two parts. First, identify an
organization in which you have access to at least some
information concerning financial data, staffing and human
resource systems, marketing and customer relations, information
systems, and operations. While most material on the Balanced
Scorecard is written from the private, for-profit point of view,
it’s perfectly possible to use this approach with public or non-
profit organizations as well.
For the second part of this assignment, consider the
organization's mission and strategy from the perspective of its
financial operations (from your work on the Case, your previous
coursework, and your background reading, you should be
reasonably clear what such operations are). In this section of the
assignment you’ll begin to identify objectives and measures
relevant to that perspective. If you’re unclear on just what
objectives and measures are, here is a presentation that
describes what they are and how to write them: Objectives,
Measures, Targets & Action Plans.
When you have thought about it and made your selection,
specify (in 2–3 pages):
• The name of your organization
• What this organization does - its mission, vision, and
overall strategy
• The access you have to information about this
organization. Remember, you’ll need information about its
financial performance, marketing, internal operations, strategy,
and management systems.
Once you’re reasonably clear on what’s involved, think about
your organization and its finances, and then:
• Identify at least three objectives for improving the
organization's financial position and show how they relate to
the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization.
• For each objective, develop at least one meaningful
performance measure (metric).

4. • For each objective, identify at least one expected
level of performance (target).
• For each objective, identify at least one new action or
program that needs to be developed to ensure successful
implementation of the organization's strategy (initiative).
The organization under review in this module is Nike inc.
Nike Corporation is a multinational company that has
subsidiaries in several countries across the world with its
headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. The organization deals with
manufacturing and distribution of sporting apparel for men,
women, and also children. The sporting clothes manufactured
and distributed by the organization are classified into several
categories depending on the type of game is categorized and
designed to be used. For instance, the organization categorizes
its sportswear into football, basketball, running and training et
al sportswear. “To bring inspiration and innovation to every
athlete in the world” is the organization’s vision statement. The
mission statement of the organization is “if you have a body,
you are an athlete”.
As indicated in its vision statement, Nike Corporation uses
innovation as its key strategy to attain success by acquiring a
competitive advantage in the industry in which it operates. The
organization also undertakes suitable strategies that enable it to
meet the needs of its customer thereby helping it achieve
maximum satisfaction for its customers. According to Mullen &
Johnson (2012), satisfaction helps to increase customer loyalty
and hence Nike Company uses maximum satisfaction for its
customers as a strategy to increase its competitive advantage.
Besides using maximum for its customer as a strategy to
outpace its competitors, Nike Corporation also undertakes
marketing strategies to help it further enhance its
competitiveness in the industry in which it operates. For

5. instance, the organization undertakes media advertisement for
its products, a factor that has seen it acquire a large market
share in the industry in which it operates. Also, the organization
undertakes product differentiation a factor that has further
helped it to remain equally competitive in the competitive
industry in which it operates. Nike Corporation gets involved in
corporate social responsibility a factor that has helped increase
its competitive advantage. It can be noted that in the course of
undertaking corporate social responsibility the organization
further continues to advertise its products and hence this gives
the organization a competitive advantage.
From the comprehensive income statement, it is evident that the
financial performance of Nike Corporation has been increasing
over years from the year 2012. The following table shows the
net income for the organization from the year 2012 to the 2014
retrieved from
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=NKE+Income+Statement&annu
al:
Year
2012
2013
2014
Net income
2,211,000
2,472,000
2,693,000
The table shows that the organization has been increasing its
profitability over years. According to Brigham & Ehrhardt
(2013), one of the objectives of any profit making organization
is profit maximization. The fact that the profitability of Nike
Company has been increasing as indicated in the table above
makes it justifiable to say that the organization has achieved its
objective of maximizing its profitability. Nike organization can
still improve its financial position. The following table shows

6. some of the objectives that can help improve its financial
position:
Objective
Measure
Target
Action
Increase the total revenue of the organization
Percentage
20%
· Carry out extensive marketing strategies
· Enter into new distribution channels in which the products of
the organization are not saturated
· Undertaking such grant strategies as vertical and horizontal
integration
Reduce the cost of revenue
Percentage
15%
· Undertake research and development programs to learn of
suitable strategies that the organization can undertake to reduce
the cost of revenue without impacting adversely on the product
quality
· Undertake supplier appraisal to learn of the suppliers who
offer quality and yet cheaper supplies to the organization.
· Research on any possible innovation that might see the
organization reduce its manufacturing costs
Reduce the operating expenses
Percentage
10%
· Undertake innovation to help reduce the manual labor force
required and hence cut on the labor costs
The above objectives can help to increase the financial position
of the organization in several ways. For instance, increasing the
revenue of the organization can result to increased profitability.
According to Zimmerman & Yahya-Zadeh (2011), increasing

7. the volume sales of an organization increases the unit
contribution margin and hence the total contribution margin
which in turn increases the profitability level of the
organization. The objective of increasing the revenue of the
organization is related to the vision of the organization since it
calls for innovation that might the organization increase its
productivity level. According to Zimmerman & Yahya-Zadeh
(2011), reducing the cost of revenue results to maximization of
the contribution margin realized by an organization and hence
increased level of profitability. As such, the objective of
reducing the cost of revenue is justifiable as a strategy to
increase the financial position of Nike Company. It is related to
the vision statement of the organization since it calls for
innovation that might reduce the manufacturing costs. Operating
expenses have an adverse impact on the net income. Hence,
reducing the operating expenses is a justifiable course of action
to improve the financial position of the Nike Company. It is
related to the vision statement of the organization since the
organization is compelled to undertake an innovation that can
see it cut on operating expenses.

8. References
Brigham, E., & Ehrhardt, M., (2013), Financial management:
theory & practice, Cengage
Learning
Nike Corporation, (2015), Mission and Vision, Retrieved from
http://www.nikeinc.com
Mullen, B., & Johnson, C., (2013), The psychology of consumer
behavior, Psychology Press
Zimmerman, J. L., & Yahya-Zadeh, M., (2011), Accounting for
decision making and
control, Issues in Accounting Education, 26(1), 258-259
Library Research Assignment
Professor Kerri Shields, [email protected]
DUE: February 1, 2015 11:30 p.m. in eCentennial Dropbox
40 Marks - Graded as part of the In-class and homework
exercises
INSTRUCTIONS:
You have been assigned a Global 2000 Leading Company from
Fortune magazine’s annual 2014
ranking at http://www.forbes.com/global2000/ by your

9. professor. You will research this
company using the LRC resources and databases. You will use
the Msword document template
provided by your professor to input your answers to the
following questions. Remember to cite
your sources of information. Finally, you will submit your
MsWord document with filename as
“Company Name Library Research” to the eCentennial Library
Research Assignment Dropbox
by 11:30 p.m. January 27. The Dropbox will automatically add
your name to the submission
therefore you don’t need to add your name in the filename or
comments area.
RESEARCH:
1) News Article: (10 Marks)
Has the company recently, or not so recently, been in a news
scandal? If so, what was it
about? If so, what was it about and how did the company
recover its lost positive public
image? Has there been positive news? Has there been news
about a new product or an
acquisition pertaining to this company? Has the company made
a news announcement?

10. What was it? Give a summary of the news. Remember to cite
your sources.
2) Positive Ethics: (5 Marks)
Does the company have a code of ethics, a code of conduct,
good business practices, or
can you locate some discussion of positive ethical practices of
this company? What is
being said?
3) Corporate Social Responsibility: (5 marks)
What is the company doing with regards to corporate social
responsibility and
environmental sustainability? Does this company practice
philanthropy? If so, what
does it do?
4) Treatment of Employees: (5 marks)
Give an example of how this company treats its employees.
5) Your Impression: (5 Marks)
How do you feel about this company? Would you work there?
Would you shop there?

11. Why or why not?
CITATIONS: (10 Marks)
You are expected to cite your sources of information using APA
formatting. Refer to the APA
formatting guide provided by your professor as well as the
online LRC guides and any other
information provided by the librarian. You should include at
LEAST three sources – with at
least ONE being from a library database. Wikipedia is not
permitted.
NOTE: Marks will be deducted for spelling and grammatical
errors.
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.forbes.com/global2000/