When the laptop market overtook the desktop market, Blue Tech Inc., a leader in desktop technology, was left at a competitive disadvantage. Later, Blue Tech Inc.'s management channeled all of the company's efforts and revenue to develop an efficient laptop from scratch in less than a year. However, the company failed because Blue Tech Inc.'s models were inferior to the third- and fourth-generation models its competitors were selling. In this scenario, Blue Tech Inc.'s failure can be best attributed to:

All else being equal, which is true about a firm with high operating leverage relative to a firm with low operating leverage? select one: a. a higher percentage of the high operating leverage firm's costs are fixed. b. the high operating leverage firm is exposed to less risk. c. the debt payments limit the high operating leverage firm's opportunities to turn a big profit. d. the high operating leverage firm has more debt.

Afirm's before-tax cost of debt, rd, is the interest rate that the firm must pay on debt. because interest is tax deductible, the relevant cost of debt used to calculate a firm's wacc is the cost of debt, rd (1 – t). the cost of debt is used in calculating the wacc because we are interested in maximizing the value of the firm's stock, and the stock price depends on cash flows. it is important to emphasize that the cost of debt is the interest rate on debt, not debt because our primary concern with the cost of capital is its use in capital budgeting decisions. the rate at which the firm has borrowed in the past is because we need to know the cost of capital. for these reasons, the on outstanding debt (which reflects current market conditions) is a better measure of the cost of debt than the . the on the company's -term debt is generally used to calculate the cost of debt because more often than not, the capital is being raised to fund -term projects. quantitative problem: 5 years ago, barton industries issued 25-year noncallable, semiannual bonds with a $1,600 face value and a 8% coupon, semiannual payment ($64 payment every 6 months). the bonds currently sell for $845.87. if the firm's marginal tax rate is 40%, what is the firm's after-tax cost of debt? round your answer to 2 decimal places. do not round intermediate calcu

Bridge building company estimates that it will incur $1,200,000 in overhead costs for the year. additionally, the company estimates 50,000 direct labor hours will be spent building custom walking bridges for the year at a total direct labor cost of $600,000. what is the predetermined overhead rate for bridge building company if direct labor costs are to be used as an allocation base?