Caterpillar is a leading firm in the construction and mining equipment industry with extensive global operations. It has approximately 114,000 employees, and its revenues were $47 billion in 2015. In addition to its manufacturing and logistics operations, Caterpillar is well known for its superb service and parts supply, and it provides retail financing for its equipment. Required:
a. What are the important relationships among Caterpillar’s value-chain activities?
b. What are the important interdependencies? For each activity, identify the relationships and interdependencies.

On december 31, 2016, the decarreau, andrew, and bui partnership had the following fiscal year-end balance sheet: cash $10,000accounts receivable $20,000inventory $25,000plant assets - net $30,000loan to decarreau $18,000total assets $103,000accounts payable $14,000loan from bui $15,000decarreaua, capital (20%) $32,000andrew, capital (10%) $23,000bui, capital (70%) $19,000total liab./equity $103,000the percentages shown are the residual profit and loss sharing ratios. the partners dissolved the partnership on january 1, 2017, and began the liquidation process. during july the following events occurred: * receivables of $18,000 were collected.* all inventory was sold for $15,000.*all available cash was distributed on january 31, except for$8,000 that was set aside for contingent expenses.the book value of the partnership equity (i.e., total equity of the partners) on december 31, 2016 isa. $58,000b. $71,000c. $66,000d. $81,000