The three main areas in the value chain where significant differences in the costs of competing firms can occur include
a)age of plants and equipment, number of employees, and advertising costs.
b)operating-level activities, functional area activities, and line of business activities.
c)the nature and make-up of their own internal operations, the activities performed by suppliers, and the activities performed by wholesale distribution and retailing allies.
d)human resource activities (particularly labor costs), vertical integration activities, and strategic partnership activities.
e)variable cost activities, fixed cost activities, and administrative activities.

Which is cheaper: eating out or dining in? the mean cost of a flank steak, broccoli, and rice bought at the grocery store is $13.04 (money.msn website, november 7, 2012). a sample of 100 neighborhood restaurants showed a mean price of $12.75 and a standard deviation of $2 for a comparable restaurant meal. a. develop appropriate hypotheses for a test to determine whether the sample data support the conclusion that the mean cost of a restaurant meal is less than fixing a comparable meal at home. b. using the sample from the 100 restaurants, what is the p-value? c. at a = .05, what is your conclusion? d. repeat the preceding hypothesis test using the critical value approach