General meters is considering two mergers. the first is with firm a in its own volatile industry, the auto speedometer industry, while the second is a merger with firm b in an industry that moves in the opposite direction (and will tend to level out performance due to negative correlation). general meters merger with firm a general meters merger with firm b possible earnings ($ in millions) probability possible earnings ($ in millions) probability $ 45 0.20 $ 45 0.15 50 0.20 50 0.30 55 0.60 55 0.55

a. compute the mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation for both investments. (do not round intermediate calculations. enter your answers in millions. round "coefficient of variation" to 3 decimal places and "standard deviation" to 2 decimal places.)
b. assuming investors are risk-averse, which alternative can be expected to bring the higher valuation? merger b correct

in 2001, dell computer became the world’s largest personal computer vendor, continuing to

gain market share and post profits in an industry struggling with slumping sales and billions of

dollars in losses. dell sells 90% of its pcs directly to the final customer, largely bypassing the

reseller channel that accounts for most of the world’s pc sales. this direct customer relationship

is the key to dell’s business model, and provides distinct advantages over the indirect sales

model. dell’s direct relationship with the customer allows it to tailor its offerings to customer

needs, offer add-on products and services, and use the internet to offer a variety of customer

services. in addition, dell’s pcs are built to customers’ specifications upon receipt of an order,

giving dell additional advantages over indirect pc vendors who must try to forecast demand and

ship products based on those forecasts. dell’s direct sales and build-to-order model has achieved

superior performance in the pc industry in terms of inventory turnover, reduced overhead, cash

conversion, and return on investment (kraemer, et al., 2000).

explanation: