Astatewide alliance of independent hospitals has formed in order to do group purchasing of medical supplies. group purchasing allows the hospital alliance to negotiate lower prices with suppliers because of the large quantity of materials ordered. this is an example of the advantage of resulting from an alliance.
a. explicit collusion
b. distribution opportunities
c. economies of scale
d. opportunistic behavior.

Boone brothers remodels homes and replaces windows. ace builders constructs new homes. if boone brothers considers expanding into new home construction, it should evaluate the expansion project using which one of the following as the required return for the project?

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?

Oliver is the vice president of production at his company and has been managing the launch of new software systems. he worked with a team of individuals who were tasked to create awareness about a specific product and also to approach potential purchasers of the product. which department managers were part of oliver’s team?