Strategic offensives should be based ona) those areas of strength where the company has its greatest competitive advantage over targeted rivals. b) implementing and executing chosen strategy efficiently and effectively. c) satisfying employees and creating a stable work environment in order to increase long-term profits and reduce turnover. d) sizing up an organization's internal and external situation. e) the creation of high profits and the reduction of costs.

There is a cost associated with each source of financing. discuss the cost of debt, preferred stock, common stock, and retained earnings in detail. which source of financing is typically less expensive? why? why do financial managers try to determine the optimal capital mix? be specific.

“wonderful! not only did our salespeople do a good job in meeting the sales budget this year, but our production people did a good job in controlling costs as well,” said kim clark, president of martell company. “our $11,150 overall manufacturing cost variance is only 3% of the $1,536,000 standard cost of products made during the year. that’s well within the 3% parameter set by management for acceptable variances. it looks like everyone will be in line for a bonus this year.” the company produces and sells a single product. the standard cost card for the product follows: standard cost card—per unit direct materials, 4.00 feet at $4.00 per foot $ 16.00 direct labor, 1.1 direct labor-hours at $13 per direct labor-hour 14.30 variable overhead, 1.1 direct labor-hours at $2.40 per direct labor-hour 2.64 fixed overhead, 1.1 direct labor-hours at $6.50 per direct labor-hour 7.15 standard cost per unit $ 40.09the following additional information is available for the year just completed: a. the company manufactured 20,000 units of product during the year.b. a total of 77,000 feet of material was purchased during the year at a cost of $4.25 per foot. all of this material was used to manufacture the 20,000 units. there were no beginning or ending inventories for the year.c. the company worked 24,000 direct labor-hours during the year at a direct labor cost of $12.50 per hour.d. overhead is applied to products on the basis of standard direct labor-hours. data relating to manufacturing overhead costs follow: denominator activity level (direct labor-hours) 19,000 budgeted fixed overhead costs $ 123,500 actual variable overhead costs incurred $ 64,800 actual fixed overhead costs incurred $ 120,900required: 1. compute the materials price and quantity variances for the year. (round standard price and actual price to 2 decimal places. indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero 2. compute the labor rate and efficiency variances for the year. (round standard rate and actual rate to 2 decimal places. indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero 3. for manufacturing overhead compute: a. the variable overhead rate and efficiency variances for the year. (round standard rate and actual rate to 2 decimal places. indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero b. the fixed overhead budget and volume variances for the year. (indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero

Calculate the cost of each capital component—in other words, the after-tax cost of debt, the cost of preferred stock (including flotation costs), and the cost of equity (ignoring flotation costs). use both the capm method and the dividend growth approach to find the cost of equity.calculate the cost of new stock using the dividend growth approach.what is the cost of new common stock based on the capm? (hint: find the difference between re and rs as determined by the dividend growth approach and then add that difference to the capm value for rs.)assuming that gao will not issue new equity and will continue to use the same target capital structure, what is the company’s wacc? e. suppose gao is evaluating three projects with the following characteristics.each project has a cost of $1 million. they will all be financed using the target mix of long-term debt, preferred stock, and common equity. the cost of the common equity for each project should be based on the beta estimated for the project. all equity will come from reinvested earnings.equity invested in project a would have a beta of 0.5 and an expected return of 9.0%.equity invested in project b would have a beta of 1.0 and an expected return of 10.0%.equity invested in project c would have a beta of 2.0 and an expected return of 11.0%.analyze the company’s situation, and explain why each project should be accepted or rejected g