Choose one of the four options below. Your grade on this project will account for 20% of your first semester grade. This project is due Wednesday, January 17, 2024.

Option 1: Your Swiss Vacation
Your family came from Switzerland, and you and your parents visited relatives there back in 2007. Many years later, you want to make the trip on your own. While you’re there, you also plan to travel around and see a little more of the country. You remember that in 2007, US$1 bought 1.22 Swiss francs (Frs). You estimate that, at this rate, you can finance your trip (excluding airfare) with the $2,200 that you’ve saved. You’ve heard, however, that the exchange rate has changed. Please answer the questions below and upload in Teams.

1. Given the current exchange rate, how many Swiss francs will you get for your $2,200 U.S. dollars (you may use Google currency converter)?
2. How many Swiss francs would you have gotten for your $2,200 U.S. dollars in 2007?
3. As a U.S. traveler going abroad, are you helped or hurt by a shift in exchange rates? Why?
4. Research a different country where the U.S. dollar is stronger than that country’s currency. How much would $2,200 U.S. dollars amount to in that currency?
5. Write a paragraph stating which foreign country you would choose for your vacation. Provide supporting documentation for your choice.

Option 2: Dorm Room Rescue
You can relax and watch a steady stream of shows about how to improve your living space—such as Fixer Upper. You like the concept of these programs well enough, but you’re tired of watching them in a tiny, cluttered dorm room that’s decorated in early barracks style. Out of these cramped conditions, however, you and a team of friends come up with an idea. On graduation, you’ll start a business called Dorm Room Rescue to provide decorating services to the dorm dwellers who come after you. You’ll help college students pick colors and themes for their rooms and select space-saving furniture, storage materials, area rugs, and wall decorations. Your goal will be to create attractive dorm rooms that provide comfort, functionality, and privacy, as well as pleasant spaces in which students can relax and even entertain.

You decide to develop a plan for the HR needs of your future company. You’ll need to create a plan to address the following issues and upload in Teams:

1. Number of employees
2. Job descriptions: duties and responsibilities for each type of employee
3. Job specifications: needed skills, knowledge, and abilities
4. Recruitment plan: how and where to find candidates
5. Wages, salaries, and incentive programs
6. Benefits
7. Work schedules and alternative work arrangements
8. Retaining valuable employees

Open 3: Pitching Your Innovation
Brainstorm an innovative new product (must be different from your previous creation) and develop a PowerPoint presentation to pitch your product to our class (imagining we are potential investors). Please upload your completed PowerPoint presentation in Teams.

Draft your pitch (the items listed below should be included in your PowerPoint presentation):

1. Start with a vision. Describe what life will be like in the future as if your idea were fully realized. This should be a concise and impactful vision that is calculated to surprise and ignite interest in hearing more.
2. Describe your idea. Build on the vision and explain how your idea would allow the vision to become a reality. List ways you would solve hurdles and problems and clear the way to the impact you’ve already promised. This is where you want to use figures to show size, impact, etc.
3. List benefits/impact. Clearly describe the benefit: deliver products faster, earn a margin premium, provide better customer experience, or improve overall efficiency.
4. Analyze the competition. Demonstrate that you know the business environment by showing competing products or services and explaining why your offering is better.
5. Why are you the person to back for this idea? Describe why they should back you. This includes your background on success and challenges that you’ve had in the past.
6. Use flattery. Learn as much as possible about the people in the room and the organizations they represent. Then explain why you chose them to have this discussion.
7. Conclusion and close. In one sentence, reiterate your idea and its impact on them. Add a closing sentence where you ask for investors.

Option 4: Open-Note Exam
Take the open note exams on Exploring Business: Chapters 1-3 and Chapters 4-8.