Which of the following is NOT one of the objectives of benchmarking? to identify the best practices in performing various value chain activities to develop cross-company comparisons of the costs of performing specific value chain activities to take actions to improve a company's cost competitiveness when benchmarking reveals that its costs and results of performing an activity are not as good as what other companies have achieved to learn how best practice companies achieve lower costs or better results in performing benchmarked activities to help construct a company value chain and identify which activities are primary and which are support activities

Suppose that jim plans to borrow money for an education at texas a& m university. jim will need to borrow $25,000 at the end of each year for the next five years (total=$125,000). jim wishes his parents could pay for his education but they can’t. at least, he qualifies for government loans with a reduced interest rate while he is in school. he has a special arrangement with aggiebank to lend him the money at a subsidized rate of 1% over five years without having to make a payment until the end of the fifth year. however, at the end of the fifth year, jim agrees to pay off the loan by borrowing from longhorn bank. longhorn bank will lend him the money he needs at an annual interest rate of 6%. jim agrees to pay back the longhorn bank with 20 annual payments and the payments will be uniform (equal annual payments including principal and interest). (i) calculate how much money jim has to borrow at the end of 5 years to pay off the loan with aggiebank. a. $121,336 b. $127,525 c. $125,000 d. $102,020 e. none of the above