I have been assigned - SPG Simon Property Group, Inc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Property_Group1 ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES AND TOPIC Due Date: 5 PM, 11th Sep 20 Weight: 30% Task Description and Guidelines This will be a maximum of 1,500-word report assignment to be submitted on or before September 11, 2020 at 5pm. Each student is randomly assigned to a company. The allocated company becomes available on the course website (Learning@Griffith) in the first week of the trimester. Given the weight of assignment, it is important to spend a substantial amount of time on this task and start as soon as possible. Please note that Griffith University uses text-matching software to educate students about the process of academic writing and how to avoid plagiarism. For more information, please refer to the link below: https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity/academic-misconduct Note: Please make sure that you do not share the contents of your assignment with any other people to avoid further issues. Note: For referencing, if you have copied information (ex. data) from any resource you should cite that source to avoid plagiarism. Submission of Assignment The assignment report needs to be in a Word format and is to be submitted electronically through blackboard. The data used in the assignment should also be submitted with the assignment in a excel format (important: students must clearly state each source of data in the excel file). https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity/academic-misconduct 2 Late Submission and Request for Extension of Time for Submission Late submission will attract a deduction of 10% a day. Assignments submitted more than five working days after the due date will be awarded a mark of zero. Excuses such as computer breakdown, work commitments, etc. will not be acceptable. Requests for an extension of time for submission of an assessment item must be lodged before the due date for the assessment item. Requests received on or after the due date will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. Extension requests must be made in writing to the Course Convenor and be accompanied by appropriate supporting documentation. Please refer to Griffith University Assessment Policy in the Griffith Policy Library. Length of Semester Paper The length of the semester paper is a maximum of 1,500 words excluding tables, figures or graphs and references/bibliography. For papers that exceed the limit of 1,500 words, only the first 1,500 words will be considered. Format of the Semester Paper The semester paper should be typewritten, double line-spaced, presented on A4 paper, with 4 cm left-hand margin, and with appropriate citations and referencing. Use sub-headings that you deem appropriate such as, for example: Introduction or Aims and Objectives, Conceptual Framework or Theoretical Framework, Approach or Methodology, Results, Conclusion, References. 3 The Assignment Should Be About Real-World Issues NOT hypothetical; should be analytical not simply descriptive The emphasis of the project should be on the analysis of the issue(s), not simple description of events. In its analysis, the project should clearly demonstrate the interaction between theory and real-world data. In other words, the project should analyse real world event(s) guided by concepts and theories in international finance. Thus, in this regard, purely theoretical or purely descriptive (simple discussion of data without any attempt or resort to the use of theories) will not be acceptable and therefore will not receive a passing mark. The Assignment Should Not Just Rely on Quoting the Works of Others; It Should Do Its Own Analysis Supported by Data or Information The semester paper should undertake its own analysis. In undertaking its own analysis, it should take into account the analyses done by others, but it should not just be simply re- stating the analysis done by others. Rather, it should add or extend the analysis conducted by others. Thus, the semester paper should not just be simply quoting the findings of others. It should do its own analysis of the data or information and use the results of this analysis to arrive at answers to the questions or issues that the semester paper has intended to analyse. 4 TOPIC You are doing an internship at Money Maker Ltd. The trainer asked you to conduct a foreign currency analysis on the assigned company and write a professional report. She instructed you to identify THREE currencies that the allocated company is exposed against. This can be (1) due to its business structure (i.e. location of factories, customers and suppliers, and the currency that the products/services are quoted), and (2) arising from the competition against its rivals. Your trainer asked for the rationales of your selection. Then, you need to make exchange rate forecasts, and show how sensitive the company’s value is against the change in the value of the foreign currencies that you have selected against the U.S. dollar. Note: As this needs to be a professional consultancy report, you need to provide an in-depth analysis on the company’s business activities and where the exposure against the foreign currencies might be arising from. Thus, in the introduction, you need to briefly explain the business activities and environment of the company from the perspective of foreign currency exposure. 5 The following are some suggestions to prepare the report (you do not have to structure your report in the order of the suggestions); however, students may cover beyond these suggestions in order to obtain higher marks: (1) To select foreign currencies that you believe are important to the assigned company, you may check the company’s website and/or annual report first. (2) To make foreign currencies forecasts, you may use the notions of International Fisher Effect and Purchase Power Parity. Here, you need to explain what these are and discuss the accuracy of these techniques in forecasting exchange rate. (a) In making one-year currency forecasts, for the IFE use the current spot exchange rates and the interest rates, and for the PPP use the current spot exchange rates and the inflation rate forecasts for 2020. For the IFE, if you cannot find the bond yield of government bill/note/bond rates for a relevant period, you may use the yield of a bond with a maturity date closest to 1 year from now. (3) For the foreign currency exposure, you may Obtain foreign exchange rates of the selected currencies against USD (in the notation of “foreign currency/USD”) from Jan/2010 to Jan/2020 in a monthly basis (if the selected company only has a shorter data period, then only use the available period). Obtain the stock price of the selected company for the same period in the same basis. Compute monthly percentage change of those market data. Then, (a) prepare graphs having the monthly percentage change in the stock price and the currency rate, and rationalise the results. (b) conduct a regression using the monthly percentage change in the stock price as a dependent variable and the monthly percentage change in the foreign exchange rates as the independent variables. Explain the results. (c) Discuss why or why not your initial hypotheses regarding the importance of the selected currencies are supported by the above analyses. 6 To support your arguments, ensure that you provide sufficient subjective evidence (e.g., based on the company’s business and the theoretical supports). We expect you to read at least 10 relevant articles from scholarly journals. Examples of these journals are the Journal of Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Applied Economics, Economic Modelling, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, etc. Obtaining data and information: Potential publicly available sources of information include the company and its website, financial and other publications (Business Review Weekly, Australian Financial Review, The Australian, etc.), some websites (e.g. Yahoo Finance, investing.com, tradingeconomics.com, HSBC forward rate calculator, websites of central banks such as the Reserve Bank of Australia, World Bank, the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook), and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.. In addition, useful databases available via the university library include ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest), Business Source Complete, Factiva, Informit Search (multiple databases), Annual Reports Collection, Aspect Annual Reports, Aspect Fin Analysis, Company360, Hoover's Company Records (via ProQuest), Morningstar DataAnalysis, and OSIRIS. 7 ASSIGNMENT 2 MARKING GUIDE 3209AFE International Finance Trimester 2, 2020 Criterion Sub-Criterion Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Weights Introduction/Conclusion 10 Accurately and succinctly outlines all critical elements of the document; information is tailored toward audience. Accurately outlines many important elements of the document; information is appropriate for the audience. Outlines some but not all elements of the document; information is generally appropriate for the audience. Attempts to provide an overview of the document; information shows some evidence of audience awareness Little or no attempt to provide key information; information is not tailored toward audience. The document presents a succinct and focused summary of the key points presented; drawing clear, highly insightful and well- supported conclusions The document presents a succinct and generally focused summary of the key points presented; drawing clear, insightful and well-supported conclusions. The document presents a detailed summary of the key points presented; providing supported conclusions. The document provides limited detail with no clear summary of the key points presented; drawing limited conclusions. There is little or no summary of key points presented; drawing very limited or no conclusions. Presentation of the Report 10 Paper was presented in a highly professional manner, and has virtually no grammar, spelling and/or formatting errors. Paper was presented in a professional manner, and has minimal grammar, spelling and/or formatting errors. Paper was well presented. In addition, paper has some grammar, spelling and/or formatting errors. The presentation of the paper is in a satisfactory level. Also, paper has many grammar, spelling and/or formatting. Paper was presented very poorly, and has little or no evidence of editing and revising. Bibliography 5 Completely