Discuss the importance of benchmarking and setting goals. include your understanding of internal and external benchmarking.

Which of the following is false regarding the links between jit and quality? a. jit increases the cost of obtaining good quality. b. as quality improves, fewer inventory buffers are needed; in turn, jit performs better. c. jit reduces the number of potential sources of error by shrinking queues and lead times. d. inventory hides bad quality; jit immediately exposes it. e. if consistent quality exists, jit allows firms to reduce all costs associated with inventory.

Answer the following questions using the data given below. annual percent return on mutual funds (n = 17) last year (x) this year (y) 11.9 15.4 19.5 26.7 11.2 18.2 14.1 16.7 14.2 13.2 5.2 16.4 20.7 21.1 11.3 12.0 –1.1 12.1 3.9 7.4 12.9 11.5 12.4 23.0 12.5 12.7 2.7 15.1 8.8 18.7 7.2 9.9 5.9 18.9

Suppose that hubert, an economist from an am talk radio program, and kate, an economist from a nonprofit organization on the west coast, are arguing over government bailouts. the following dialogue shows an excerpt from their debate: kate: to recent financial crises, the concept of bailouts is a hot topic for debate among everyone these days. hubert: indeed, it’s gotten crazy! a government bailout of severely distressed financial firms is unnecessary because free markets will properly price assets. kate: i don’t know about that. without a bailout of severely distressed financial firms, the economy will experience a deep recession. the disagreement between these economists is most likely due todifferences in scientific judgments . despite their differences, with which proposition are two economists chosen at random most likely to agree? business managers can raise profit more easily by reducing costs than by raising revenue. central banks should focus more on maintaining low unemployment than on maintaining low inflation. employers should not be restricted from outsourcing work to foreign nations