In the private-label operating benchmarks section on p.7 of each issue of the FIR, the industry-low, industry-average and industry-high benchmarks for the margins over direct costs should be interpreted as representing:

A. the gross profit a seller receives on each pair of private-label footwear sold.
B. how much the company received from each pair of private-label footwear sold over and above the cost of pairs sold these dollars are automatically deposited in a seller's retained earnings account and help boost the seller's credit rating.
C. how much sellers of private-label footwear received over and above the costs per pair sold; these margins, if positive, serve to improve a seller's operating profit in the designated region (negative margins over direct cost act to reduce a seller's operating profits in the region).
D. the net profit sellers earn (or lose--in the case of negative numbers) on each pair of private-label footwear supplied to a given region's chain retailers
E. cash that can be used to pay bank loans or increase dividend payments or be deposited in the company's retained earnings (to strengthen the company's balance sheet and credit rating).

Neon light company of kansas city ships lamps and lighting appliances throughout the country. ms. neon has determined that through the establishment of local collection centers around the country, she can speed up the collection of payments by one and one-half days. furthermore, the cash management department of her bank has indicated to her that she can defer her payments on her accounts by one-half day without affecting suppliers. the bank has a remote disbursement center in florida. a. if neon light company has $2.90 million per day in collections and $1.18 million per day in disbursements, how many dollars will the cash management system free up?

Blue computers, a major pc manufacturer in the united states, currently has plants in kentucky and pennsylvania. the kentucky plant has a capacity of 1 million units a year and the pennsylvania plant has a capacity of 1.5 million units a year. the firm divides the united states into five markets: northeast, southeast, midwest, south, and west. each pc sells for $1,000. the firm anticipates a 50 perc~nt growth in demand (in each region) this year (after which demand will stabilize) and wants to build a plant with a capacity of 1.5 million units per year to accommodate the growth. potential sites being considered are in north carolina and california. currently the firm pays federal, state, and local taxes on the income from each plant. federal taxes are 20 percent of income, and all state and local taxes are 7 percent of income in each state. north carolina has offered to reduce taxes for the next 10 years from 7 percent to 2 percent. blue computers would like to take the tax break into consideration when planning its network. consider income over the next 10 years in your analysis. assume that all costs remain unchanged over the 10 years. use a discount factor of 0.1 for your analysis. annual fixed costs, production and shipping costs per unit, and current regional demand (before the 50 percent growth) are shown in table 5-13. (a) if blue computers sets an objective of minimizing total fixed and variable costs, where should they build the new plant? how should the network be structured? (b) if blue computers sets an objective of maximizing after-tax profits, where should they build the new plant? how should the network be structured? variable production and shipping cost ($/unit) annual fixed cost northeast southeast midwest south west (million$) kentucky 185 180 175 175 200 150 pennsylvania 170 190 180 200 220 200 n. carolina 180 180 185 185 215 150 california 220 220 195 195 175 150 demand ('000 units/month) 700 400 400 300 600

Spartan credit bank is offering 7.5 percent compounded daily on its savings accounts. you deposit $5,900 today. a. how much will you have in the account in 4 years? (use 365 days a year. do not round intermediate calculations and round your answer to 2 decimal places, e.g., 32.16.) b. how much will you have in the account in 12 years? (use 365 days a year. do not round intermediate calculations and round your answer to 2 decimal places, e.g., 32.16.) c. how much will you have in the account in 19 years?