IA05: Reflect on a Guest Speaker

         Bill Mooney spoke to our class to explain finance. He started his financial career in Los Angeles, where he worked as a Assistant National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Comptroller of the Currency is a part of the U.S. Treasury Department. He then switched industries by becoming a financial analyst, cost accounting manager and assistant controller for a private industry. This private industry was for an electronic component manufacturer and agribusiness. He moved in the company to Senior Vice President-Finance and then onto President of records management business. As President of records management business, Mooney completed acquisitions and divestitures of business. He then served seven years as the Chief Financial Officer of the publicly traded company, Sylvan Inc. Sylvan Inc. is a NASDAQ traded agribusiness. It also has a global presence in biological products industry. He then served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Calgon Carbon Corporation, FEI Company, and Michael Baker Corporation. Calgon Carbon Corporation is a global producer of water treatment products. FEI Company is a global producer of equipment for the semiconductor industry. Michael Baker Corporation is an engineering and oil field services company. He eventually retired from his finance career as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Transfield Services North America and Fenner Dunlop Americas. At this company, he completed multiple acquisitions to support each of the company’s business expansion into the Americas.
          Professor Mooney spoke to us about finance, which is anything that includes planning for, obtaining and managing a company's funds, in relation to business. He talked about different careers in finance, such as commercial banking, corporate finance, investment industry and or graduate education or certification. In corporate finance, which is what Mooney's career was, you analyze industry trends, evaluate corporate investment, financial planning, evaluate acquisitions and review top managers' needs. Mooney explained how a financial manager's job is to determine the amount of money a company needs, how and where it will gather the funds for those needs and how and when the company will repay those funds. Mooney described is journey throughout the business world, where he started at McDonald's, went to US Treasury, worked for a private industry, then worked as records management, then became a publicly traded company CFO, a subsidiary CFO and finally worked in consulting and instructing of finance. He went on to explain how the different parts of his journey applied to his curriculum in school. This was beneficial because as a student, sometimes you believe that the curriculum will not aide you in your career. He also added what roles finance played in his journey through the business career. He talked about bank regulations, where periodic examinations should occur every 2 years or more frequently. He explain his acquisitions and the differences between equity financing and debt financing.
       This lecture related to the finance chapter in the book. The financial manager has many roles. First, the financial manager has to create a financial plan, which is a document that calculates the amount of funds a company needs for a specific period of time and has a strategy to gather those funds (Collins, 2014). The financial manager also has to estimate funds that the company possesses (Collin, 2014). There are several ways to obtain the funds a company needs for a specific period, such as personal assets, loans from family and friends, or several different types of bank loans (Collins, 2014).  There are two types of financing, which are equity financing and debt financing (Collins, 2014). Equity financing is raising the needed capital through a sale of stock, whereas debt financing is raising the capital by selling bonds (Collins, 2014). Stock could be common stock or preferred stock (Collins, 2014). The one thing that Mooney left out that is important to finance is budgeting. There are cash budgets, which project the flow of cash and capital budgets, which shows the expenditure for major equipment (Collins, 2014).
       In the article, "Measure Profit to People-All People," Michael O'Leary describes how companies can earn millions of dollars in revenue while at the same time losing millions of dollars. He examines if these companies are truly profitable and to whom they are profitable for (O'Leary, 2017). Profit is generally a business expenses subtracted from its revenue (O'Leary, 2017). He states that public companies make profit not for the company itself, but rather its investors (O'Leary, 2017). He explains how traditional financial accounting measures treat wages similarly to raw materials and how this needs to change, so they business can be profitable for its people, which are its employees rather than investors (O'Leary, 2017). To do this, he describes how traditional methods can be used along with the addition of salaries and benefits to the companies employees. O'Leary (2017) states. "Profit to people can show the full financial impact a company has." But one problem with focusing of profit for the people is that the profit for investors, which determines the financial health of a company, is lost (O'Leary, 2017). This relates to Bill Mooney's guest lecture because it shows the people side of finance instead of just the business side. When making financial decisions, the best financial decisions for the company are made. What happens to the people? Are they affected at all? An important decision for financial officers to make are acquisitions and mergers, but how does that affect the current employees and the employees of the company they are acquiring or merging with? This article also relates because it states how important profit for investors is important for financial health of the business. 

Collins, K. (2014). Exploring business(Vol. 2.1) [V2.1]. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from         
   https://scholar.flatworldknowledge.com/books/22211/collins-ch15_s03/read

O'Leary, M. (2017, April 7). Measure Profit to People-All People (SSIR). Retrieved April 25, 2017,      from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/measure_profit_to_peopleall_people

IA04: Practice Professional Networking

The professional business event I attended was a Chatham Marketing Association club meeting. Chatham Marketing Association works to provide its member with valuable important on the marketing and business world. They host events such as the "Holiday Market Bazaar" or bake sales. I attended the Holiday Bazaar, to which I had thought it was a great idea. It included craft-like items. I bought handmade coasters from there as a Christmas present. The members of this club prepare work to present at regional and national AMA (American Marketing Association) contest. Chatham Marketing Association also help provides its members with networking. At the meeting I attended, the club talked about the STAR Method of Behavioral Interviewing. This topic was discussed because interviewers will often ask behavioral questions to give the interviewer insight on your behavioral skills other than technical skills. Behavioral skills are the skills you use when you interact with customers or other coworkers. Some of these situations include an angry employee, upset or unhappy customer or emergency situations. Behavioral skills also can indicate your personality with how you may respond to certain situations. 

           The STAR method to behavioral interviewing can help students conquer these difficult questions that are asked during the interview and can allow students to think quickly. The 'S' stands for situation and 'T' stands for task. For this, the strategy is to describe the situation or task the needs to be accomplished. It is important for the interviewee to clearly describe their course of action in detail. It is important to derive this information from previous work or school experiences. The 'A' stands for action. For this, it is important to talk about your actions and not the action of others. Your examples of your actions can derive from any opportunity the relates to the question asked by the interviewer. The 'R' stands for results achieved from the situation and actions taken to deescalate the situation or task. Here is where he ending of the event, what you accomplished and what was learned from the situation or task. Also, the results can add to your response by being a guide to how you would respond differently or improve your response to the same situation or task.

       Interviewing tasks lie within the Human Resource department of a company. When looking for employees, the HR department must create a job analysis or descriptions of the tasks, responsibilities, skills and knowledge of the job that is needed (Collins, 2014). The job analysis breaks down into two components, which are the job description and job specification (Collins, 2014). Job description allows the individual seeking employment to know responsibilities that are required of the job (Collins, 2014). Also, the job specification states the required skills and knowledge to be able to successfully complete the job (Collins, 2014). Forecast hiring (and firing) is another task for the HR department (Collins, 2014). The steps for this are 1.) Identify the human resources that the company currently possesses 2.) Forecast the human resources that are needed to achieve the missions and objectives of the company and 3.) measure the gap that is presented between steps 1 and 2 (Collins, 2014). If an individual is being brought in for an interview the demand for labor must be greater than the supply (Collins, 2014). When finding individuals to apply and interview for job openings, the HR department goes through the recruiting process to find suitable individuals for the job (Collins, 2014). Once the applicant goes through the processes of selection, application, and employment tests, the interview is next (Collins, 2014). The interview process judges the applicant on their answers to specific questions and how they communicate orally (Collins, 2014). This is where the STAR method comes in. The STAR method breaks down the response to behavioral questions into easy steps. Having the STAR method can make the applicants answers better and have them confidently communicate orally. 

       In the article, "Hiring Incentives Won't Solve America's Talent Problem," Johnathon Hasak (2017) explains how the government must create new ways for companies to source their employees. He states that the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce way working on incentives to give opportunities to youth to be hired by companies that are seeking their talent (Hasak, 2017). Representative Bobby Scott explains, "Increased employer investment in opportunity youth is a win-win position for youth and businesses" (Hasak, 2017).  Hasak (2017) writes that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that there are more than 35 million youth (16-29) are not employed nor in training nor in education across 35 different countries. This is because of the failure of the talent in the marketplace is due to the extreme competitiveness of companies (Hasak, 2017). For example, employers struggle to fill positions that require more education than a high school diploma, but less than a 4-year college degree, even though there are millions of unemployed workers (Hasak, 2017). Employers have actually recognized that the current hiring processes do not bring forth the talent and skills they wish to have (Hasak, 2017). Hask (2017) states, "But if employers are open to changing their perception of talent, they will need to start changing their legacy of hiring practices." The STAR method may help those seeking employment to put forth their talent and skills to increase their chances of getting hired. The STAR method relates to behavioral interviewing, which grants the employer access to the skills of the interviewee other than what is written on a resume. Compared to this article, I think the STAR method may help those who are seeking employment to find employment. Also, I think that it is also important to understand that companies may run their recruiting processes differently in the future. It is important to keep up-to-date with current hiring practices as they constantly changing. 

Collins, K. (2014). Exploring business(Vol. 2.1) [V2.1]. Retrieved April 22, 2018, 
    from https://scholar.flatworldknowledge.com/books/22211/collins-ch07_s01/read

Hasak, J. (2017, August 21). Hiring Incentives Won't Solve America's Talent Problem (SSIR).         

   Retrieved April 22, 2018, from       

   https://ssir.org/articles/entry/hiring_incentives_wont_solve_americas_talent_problem

IA03: Create A Personal Business Plan

Mission Statement: To provide others with caring and considerate help and motivation, so that they can become their best selves.

Business Environment:
Specifically for "Company Me," it is a sole proprietorship, which is a business owned by a single person. In most cases, the physical therapist runs the business. "Company Me" provides a service to my customers. I will be competing in the healthcare industry, specifically pertaining to physical fitness or physical therapy. The healthcare industry varies globally on how it is developed and used in different countries, but people exist globally and the healthcare industry relies on people. Physical therapy differs in titles from country to country, in some country's physical therapy is known as physiotherapist or kinesiologist ("Description of physical therapy," 2018). There are national physical therapy associations that define the roles of physical therapist with regards to the way the nation's healthcare industry is serviced, such as legislation, regulation and recognition, and the international guidelines established by the World Confederation of Physical Therapist ("Description of physical therapy," 2018). A the population grows older the demand for physical therapist is expected to rise, but the amount of supply varies ("Project the Supply and Demand," 2017). There were three different percentages used to determine a range of shortages or surplus of physical therapist by the year 2025 ("Project the Supply and Demand," 2017). One scenario used an attribution rate of 3.5% and predicted the expected a shortage of 26, 560 physical therapists ("Project the Supply and Demand," 2017). Another scenario used an attribution rate of 2.5% predicted an expected shortage of 9,592 physical therapists ("Project the Supply and Demand," 2017). The third attribution rate of 1.5% predicted a surplus of 8, 696 of physical therapist ("Project the Supply and Demand," 2017). The economic sources that determine the supply and demand would focus on costs. The supply would focus on the cost of education because the physical therapy profession requires a doctoral degree, which takes an abundance of money to complete. The more expensive the cost to earn a degree could create a shortage of physical therapist. The surplus of physical therapist could pertain to a high number of individuals entering the career.

Entrepreneurship and Strategy: 
I envision the lack of patients as a challenge to promote "Company Me" and "Product Me." Lack of patients would be a challenge because I would have no patients to rate their experience of "Company Me" and "Product Me." Another challenge would be the acquisition of equipment needed, such as exercise equipment, ice machines, pillows, towels and etc. I would try to use networking as my strategy. Being in a health profession, networking is the best strategy. If "Company Me," provides my patients with kind and quality physical therapy care, my patients can mention me to others. Also, using doctors offices to mention my physical therapy services can also be a good strategy. I will also use business cards and TV ads to get "Company Me" out there. To get an inflow of patients, I would link my services with an orthopedic doctor's office, so that will guide people to choose my services. Also, linking my services with a doctors office can help lower the costs. I could use space in the doctors office as the location of "Company Me" to lower rent cost or rid the cost of buying a building. To get equipment, I would have to see if I could get equipment donated or I would have to take out loans to purchase the necessary equipment. I would also have to hire some other staff, such as a secretary to handle phone calls, appointments and patient check-ins and check-outs.

Management:
I will start my planning process for "Company Me" through strategic planning, which will establish my overall course of action. My mission statement will lead the planning of "Company Me." The core values of "Company Me" are compassion, commitment, construction. Compassion is a core value because it is important for our patients to know we care for them and we want the best for them. Our core values add to our foundation which will help "Company Me" be successful an dbe able to withstand any changes (Granville, n.d.). Commitment is another core value because it is important to keep our patients committed to there exercises and getting better. Also, it is important for the workers of "Company Me" to be committed to their job and their patients. The goals for "Company Me" are to 1.) Achieve 95% customer satisfaction rate at the end of the first 2 years, 2.) Produce a high-quality product, 3.) achieve 10% profit return on sales in the first 2 years. My objective to achieve goal 1 is to have customers takes surveys on compassion, quality of care and effectiveness of care. My objective to achieve goal 2 is to have sales of $40,000, with a profit of $4,000 for the first 12 months of operation. My objective to achieve goal 3 is providing friendly care to patients in one-on-one circumstances. So the organizational structure of "Company Me" will involve me as the top manager. In most physical therapy clinics, the physical therapist is in charge of the operations of the clinic. I will hire an physical therapy assistant and an athletic trainer to be the first-line managers. Physical therapy assistants and athletic trainers have similar skills to a physical therapist, so that makes them qualified to run similar operations, such as directing exercises for patients. "Company Me" is just starting out, so middle managers are not needed yet. I will hire a secretary to help with booking appointments and signing patients in and out. The secretary will be supervised by the first-line managers. "Company Me" will have specialization. As the physical therapist, I will specialize in setting the hours of operations, creating the exercises for the patients and I will set the guidelines and procedures for the other employees to follow. The physical therapy assistant and athletic trainer will be specialized to carry out the exercises with patients when I am not available. Also, they will work on cleaning the linen and making sure the equipment is organized. The secretary will be specialized to take care of any office duties, such as receiving and making phone calls, dealing with co-pays, booking appointments and signing patients in and out. I will also further my education so I can become a teacher for my employees (Granville, n.d.).

Marketing:
I would promote "Product Me" by being kind to my customers. I will try and understand there needs and I will help them reach their best selves through ways that are comfortable to them. I will create business cards and advertisements, so my customers are aware of my services. My potential customers are people of all ages. I can provide my physical therapy services to anyone, kids through senior citizens, who was injured or have an injury or disability that effects their everyday lives. The main groups of people who need physical therapy services are senior citizens and athletes. To create switching costs and customer loyalty, I will link my services with a specific orthopedics and sports medicine doctors office, so that it is easier for the patients doctors and information to be transferred between the doctors office and my physical therapy clinic. Also, I will provide transportation services, free of charge, for those who cannot drive or need assistance because of their injury or disability. Not many physical therapy clinics offer this service, so it will definitely make "Product Me" have switching costs and make it more innovative. Another marketing strategy is networking. Individuals constantly suggest different health care professions to their family and friends. If one patient has a good experience they can tell another potential patient about the great experience they had. To make "Product Me" innovative, I will provide patients with an unique service, where attention is undivided to each patient. I will make physical therapy an experience to be enjoyed rather than dreaded. I will tailor each patients exercises to their needs and likes. Networking not only creates professional relationships, but also emotional relationships along with intel on my business industry ( Granville, n.d.).

Accounting and Finance:
For "Company Me," I will create a financial plan. I will use management accounting for "Company Me." I will use this because the decisions are made inside the company by the owners. I will have to adhere general accepted accounting principles for this. I will use my own personal assets, loans from friends and family and bank loans. For my bank loan, I will use an intermediate loan because it is a loan for 5 years and I hope "Company Me" will be profitable by then. I will create a budget to organize my money for "Company Me." I will need to make a cash budget and a capital budget. This will provide cash-flow management for "Company Me."

Balance Sheet
Assets:
-Cash: $10,000
-Inventory: 0
-Buildings: 0
-Accounts Receivable: 0
Total Assets: 10,000

Liabilities: $10,000
-Amount to suppliers
-Loans from bank: 0
-Accounts payable: 0

Owners Equity
-Capital stock
-Retained earnings

Total L + OE = $10,000

Information Systems and Operations:
For my information systems, I will use a transaction processing  system because it does the day-to-day data (Collin, 2014).  I will also use electronic health records because they provide easy access for patients information ("Electronic Health Care," 2018). This also makes it easy for patients information to be transferred if needed ("Electronic Health Care," 2018).

References
A Model to Project the Supply and Demand of Physical Therapist 2010-2025. (2017, April 17). 
    Retrieved April 17, 2018 from https://www.apta.org/WorkforceData/ModelDescriptionFigures/

Collins, K. (2014). Exploring business(Vol. 2.1) [V2.1]. Retrieved April 20, 2018, from 
      https://scholar.flatworldknowledge.com/books/22211/collins-ch15_s03/read

Granville, K. (n.d.). How to Manage Your Career. Retrieved April 18, 2018 from 
     https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/manage-your-career?smid=fb-
     nytimes&smtyp=pay&smvar=guides

What is an electronic health record (EHR)? (2018, May 21). Retrieved April 17, 2018, from 
    https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr

Policy statement: Description of physical therapy. (2017, April 18). Retrieved April 17, 2018, from 
     https://www.wcpt.org/policy/ps-descriptionPT

IA02: Finding A Role Model

          For my "Find A Role Model" assignment, I chose my former manager and current friend Derek Partsch. Derek graduated from Cal U with a degree in sports management in 2010. Since then, he has worked for the Pirates, Planet Ice and the Johnstown Tomahawks. Professionally, he is a sales and marketing guy by trade. "I'm very people-oriented so I can easily have conversations with anyone, making me fit for the sales world." At Planet Ice, he was more managerial over staff than any other job he has had, although he was also responsible for over $100,000 in sponsorship sales. 

"I didn't mind managing people, but I do feel I'm better at sales and event planning than managing people." On the event planning side, he is the cofounder of Second Chance Fundraising, a nonprofit organization based in Johnstown. "We are dedicated to the second chance at life that organ donation can bring. In the two years of our existence, we have raised and donated over $50,000 and registered over 125 new organ donors."

          Good studying strategies helps college students succeed. Without good studying habits students would not be able to succeed in their classes and ultimately get their degree. Also, good studying habits lead to good grades, which can be a factor when applying for certain internships, graduate school or even careers. Every student studies in a different way, but it does not hurt to lean studying strategies from those who have been in that position before."To me, I prefer to isolation when I need to focus. Turning off all devices and minimizing distractions is also key." Building a good portfolio or resume in regards to how to find good campus or off-campus jobs that help build the resume for the profession that students are pursuing is another key factor in student success. A good portfolio or resume sets you ahead of other students applying for the same job. Also, have a strong resume for on-campus or off-campus during your college career can help build you an even stronger one for when you graduate."This one is pretty basic. For me, I found jobs related to sports and worked at them from the time I was 17. I wanted to be around sport, so I found the places that offer full time employment in my field and then asked them how I can help them out on a PT basis. For example, if you wanna be a doctor, perhaps working as a PT medical assistant would be beneficial so you can see how an office runs, etc. Advice would be find the full time jobs and then ask the company what PT help they need." 

      Students can also benefit from various campus events and mixers that provide them with networking and discovering information that they could potentially need. Networking is a surefire way to get a career during or after your college career. Networking can also aide in a quality internship. The only way to network is to go out an experience the different events and mixers that the different departments host. These departments host these events to help students."Everyone has a different college experience. At campus events and mixers, simply showing up and talking to one person can change your entire life. College should be spent making connections because at the end of your time, your friends there will all be headed in different directions and you never know what connections you will need down the road." Internships are very important for a student's future career, but many students forget the time and effort it takes to secure a quality internship. Career Development can help students find internships, prepare their resume and the student for interviews. Utilizing the multiple resources available to students is important. "Line them up early. If you need a summer internship in 2018, begin that search in the fall of 2017. Internships can be hard to come by, especially if they're paid. Early bird gets the worm in a sense. This also allows you to use the courses you have in the interim to prep for the internship." Participation in meaningful projects, competitions, or activities can aide student into developing strong skills over time that can carry over into their profession. Also, this participation can make your resume more appealing to employers and can set a student apart from the others in a good way. "A sure fire way to get this experience is to plan one yourself. For SCF, we planned our first 5K run in 2016. Had never planned one before. It was baptism by fire and we learned a lot.  You will make mistakes that will allow for skills to develop over time. I spoke to students at Cal in Feb 2017, and inspired them to plan a fall event that will serve as a fundraiser for the UPMC Cancer Center. I am serving as an event advisor and helping the students along the way."

    My interview had some similarities and differences when compare to the "Internship Spotlight: Anh Nguyen, BA Marketing and Economics '19," written by Corey Doeing from the Chatham Business Insight. I personally know Derek Partsch, so there was not any awkward or nervous feelings as it might have been with the article from Chatham Business Insight. Also, since Derek and I both have very busy schedules and I am at school in Pittsburgh and unable to go home, the interview was conducted via email, since we could not find an appropriate time for the both of us to interview over the phone. The Chatham Business Insight interview was most likely conducted in person rather than over the phone or via email. My summary I think is similar to the summary written in Chatham Business Insight. In the Chatham Business Insight article, Corey seemed to describe the different topics that Anh was asked questions about. This helped me better understand the type of internship Anh was participating in. In my summary, I described the concepts I interviewed Derek about, so the reader understands why I am asking these questions.