Topline is a department store chain and does business in many countries. The store managers had complained that they would like to offer different goods to meet local tastes but the centralized purchasing group did not allow them to make such decisions. The president decided to give the local store managers a significant amount of authority to source much of the goods they need. This decision improves the sales and profit margins at those stores. The company has changeda. From centralization of authority to decentralization. b. From decentralization of authority to centralization. c. All of the above. d. None of the above.

Beta coefficients and the capital asset pricing model personal finance problem katherine wilson is wondering how much risk she must undertake to generate an acceptable return on her porfolio. the risk-free return currently is 4%. the return on the overall stock market is 14%. use the capm to calculate how high the beta coefficient of katherine's portfolio would have to be to achieve a portfolio return of 16%.

The owners of backstreets italian restaurant are considering starting a delivery service forpizza and their other italian dishes in the small college town where they are located. theycan purchase a used delivery van and have it painted with their name and logo for $21,500.they can hire part-time drivers who will work in the evenings from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for$8 per hour. the drivers are mostly college students who study at the restaurant when theyare not making deliveries. during the day, there are so few deliveries that the regular employeescan handle them. the owners estimate that the van will last 5 years (365 days per year)before it has to be replaced and that each delivery will cost about $1.35 in gas and othermaintenance costs (including tires, oil, scheduled service, they also estimate that onaverage each delivery order will cost $15 for direct labor and ingredients to prepare andpackage, and will generate $34 in revenue.a. how many delivery orders must backstreets make each month in order for the service to break even? b. the owners believe that if they have approximately the break-even number of deliveries during the week, they will at least double that number on fridays, saturdays, and sundays. if that’s the case, how much profit will they make, at a minimum, from their delivery service each month (4 weeks per month)?

In its 2016 annual report, caterpillar inc. reported the following (in millions): 2016 2015 sales $38,537 $47,011 cost of goods sold 28,309 33,546 as a percentage of sales, did caterpillar's gross profit increase or decrease during 2016? select one: a. gross profit increased from 26.8% to 28.6% b. gross profit decreased from 28.6% to 26.5% c. gross profit increased from 71.4% to 73.2% d. gross profit decreased from 73.2% to 71.4% e. there is not enough information to answer the question.