The goal of prototyping is to iterate as much as possible through build-and-learn or problem-solution-experiment cycles. This brief note provides some definitions and a strategy to employ when working on prototyping.
This note provides an introduction to cost behavior, or how a cost changes in response to changes in activity. It covers variable costs, fixed costs, mixed costs, and step-fixed costs and discusses several methods of estimating cost functions, including scatterplots, the high-low method, and linear regression.
This is a Spanish translation of the April 4, 2016 version of UVA-F-1743. This technical note provides an overview of capital structure policy. Through a series of hypothetical situations and real-world examples, students will gain an understanding of the benefits and costs of debt and equity financing. This note explores the value and cost of capital implications of capital structure policy with
Drawing upon the concepts of relevant costs and benefits presented in "Relevant Costs and Benefits in Decision-Making: An Introduction" (UVA-C-2512), this note discusses how those concepts apply to certain short-term decisions that managers might encounter.
This note presents an introduction to relevant costs and benefits—those costs and benefits that differ between two alternatives in decision-making. The note provides important terminology around this concept and an example to illustrate this idea in action.
This note discusses cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis, an analytic took that uses the relationships among compensation of the profit equation—price, volume, cost structure, and profit—to assess the financial impact of alternative management decisions.
This technical note provides a step-by-step approach to process analysis through an iterative framework. The framework begins with defining a high-level objective that is aligned with competitive strategy, followed by mapping and analyzing the current state of the process. The framework then offers methods for identifying bottlenecks and implementing improvements while accounting for associated tr
This note discusses the concept of cost allocation, focusing specifically on allocating overhead, or indirect, costs to products and services. It presents a four-step process to designing cost-allocation systems and applies those steps to allocating overhead costs in both traditional and activity-based costing systems.
This note process a brief overview of managerial accounting, placing it in the context of three sets of books: managerial books, financial books, and tax books. It includes these books’ different audiences, objectives, rules, and rule-making authorities.
This note highlights the importance of costs in management decision-making, focusing specifically on the notion that costs that should be considered when making decisions depends on the decision at hand. Several cost classifications are discussed: direct and indirect costs, product and period costs, and variable and fixed costs.
This technical note explores the concept of culture within an organizational context—what it is, how it functions, how it shows up, how it differs, and more importantly, how one effectively influences it. By reconciling Edgar Schein’s iceberg model with Ann Swidler’s toolkit metaphor, the note encourages managers to assess and understand organizational culture through six artifacts: symbols, stori
Carbon markets represent a vibrant development contributing to the economic transition necessary to achieve global climate goals. This technical note delves into the fundamentals of carbon markets, including their history and evolution; compliance and voluntary carbon markets; recent developments and trends; and implications for global businesses.