Ulta Beauty has built a fast-growing hair and Cosmetics Empire in America's strip malls and is ready to go-toe-to-toe with the big department stores (Macy's and Nordstrom). The company owes success to an all-inclusive ethos, selling everything from mass-marker brands to high-end cosmetics to professional hair-care products, all in a format that lets customers try before they buy. In 1994, Ulta was one of the first to offer consumers a rewards program, and this was a relatively new concept in retail at the time. The program is called Ultamate, and is one of the nation's biggest loyalty programs, with 20.6 million members - and members account for an astounding 80% of the firm's sales. Loyalty programs are an example of .

Pennewell publishing inc. (pp) is a zero growth company. it currently has zero debt and its earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) are $80,000. pp's current cost of equity is 10%, and its tax rate is 40%. the firm has 10,000 shares of common stock outstanding selling at a price per share of $48.00. refer to the data for pennewell publishing inc. (pp). pp is considering changing its capital structure to one with 30% debt and 70% equity, based on market values. the debt would have an interest rate of 8%. the new funds would be used to repurchase stock. it is estimated that the increase in risk resulting from the added leverage would cause the required rate of return on equity to rise to 12%. if this plan were carried out, what would be pp's new value of operations? a. $484,359 b. $521,173 c. $584,653 d. $560,748 e. $487,805

Florence invested in a factory requiring. federally-mandated reductions in carbon emissions. how will this impact florence as the factory's owner? a. her factory will be worth less once the upgrades are complete. b. her factory will likely be bought by the epa. c. florence will have to invest a large amount of capital to update the factory for little financial gain. d. florence will have to invest a large amount of capital to update the factory for a large financial gain.

The textbook defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group,” and specifically as the standards one uses to decide what their conduct should be. to what extent do you believe that what happened at bp (british petrolium) is as much a breakdown in the company’s ethical systems as it is in its safety systems, and how would you defend your conclusion?