There are numerous office supplies manufacturers. U. S.-based Esselte concentrates on selling filing products and desktop products such as staplers and pen sets. Because the Esselte brand is recognized as an innovative leader in the development of filing products and desktop items, the company can be said to have a(n): a. promotional emphasis b. economies-of-scale-based strategy c. value-based strength d. comparative advantage e. differential competitive advantage

Consider the following two stocks, a and b. stock a has an expected return of 10%, 10% standard deviation, and a beta of 1.20. stock b has an expected return of 14%, 25% standard deviation, and a beta of 1.80. the expected market rate of return is 9% and the risk-free rate is 5%. security would be considered a good buy if we include the stock in a well diversified a portfolio because a. b, it offers better alpha b. a, it offers better alpha c. a, it offers better sharpe ratio d. b, it offers better sharpe ratio

Peppy roaney believes that pizza is a much more versatile dish than most people realize. as the national marketing manager for pizza guys, he observed how consumers were delighted with barbecue pizza, hawaiian pizza, mexican pizza and other unique combinations. his suggestions for other unusual pizzas, however, were met with a negative response by his superiors. even some of his colleagues laughed at his ideas. peppy's confidence in his ability to understand the market has led him to focus on planning a business of his own. peppy realizes that he will take a risk when he leaves his job with pizza guys and embarks upon a new venture: peppy's pizzazzeria. peppy is excited about the potential of profitably catering to the unmet desires of pizza consumers. peppy is confident that peppy's pizzazzeria will be a success, but only if he has enough money to do things right. since peppy has very little personal wealth, he knows he must obtain financial assistance. in order to prepare for meetings with bankers and p

Problem 2-18 job-order costing for a service company [lo2-1, lo2-2, lo2-3]speedy auto repairs uses a job-order costing system. the company's direct materials consist of replacement parts installed in customer vehicles, and its direct labor consists of the mechanics' hourly wages. speedy's overhead costs include various items, such as the shop manager's salary, depreciation of equipment, utilities, insurance, and magazine subscriptions and refreshments for the waiting room. the company applies all of its overhead costs to jobs based on direct labor-hours. at the beginning of the year, it made the following estimates: direct labor-hours required to support estimated output 10,000fixed overhead cost $ 90,000variable overhead cost per direct labor-hour $ 1.00 required: 1. compute the predetermined overhead rate.2. during the year, mr. wilkes brought in his vehicle to replace his brakes, spark plugs, and tires. the following information was available with respect to his job: direct materials $ 600direct labor cost $ 180direct labor-hours used 2 compute mr. wilkes' total job cost. 3. if speedy establishes its selling prices using a markup percentage of 30% of its total job cost, then how much would it have charged mr. wilkes?