Refer to the HR Reports in the Inquirer. Through past investments in recruiting and training Chester has obtained a productivity index of 109.5%. This means that Chester's labor costs would be increased by 9.5% if it did not have these productivity improvements. This is a competitive advantage that Chester can sustain or even widen further if its competitors have no HR initiatives. Now, refer to the Income Statement in Chester's Annual Report. How much did Chester's productivity improvements save it in direct labor costs (in thousands) last year?

Afinancial institution, the thriftem bank, is in the process of formulating its loan policy for the next quarter. a total of $12 million is allocated for that purpose. being a full-service facility, the bank is obligated to grant loans to different clientele. the following table provides the types of loans, the interest rate charged by the bank, and the possibility of bad debt as estimated from past experience.type of loaninterest rateprobability of bad debtpersonal.140.10car.130.07home.120.03farm.125.05commercial.100.02 bad debts are assumed unrecoverable and hence produce no interest revenue either. competition with other financial institutions in the area requires that the bank allocate at least 40% of the total funds to farm and commercial loans. to assist the housing industry in the region, home loans must equal at least 50% of the personal, car, and home loans. the bank also has a stated policy specifying that the overall ratio for bad debts on all loans may not exceed .04. formulate this problem as a linear program. define your variables clearly and write all the constraints explaining the significance of each.

What is free trade? a. trade that is not subject to taxes or fees b. trade that governments do not interfere with c. trade with a high level of government regulation d. trade between states in the u.s. b

According to management education expert ashok rao, companies can increase their profitability by through careful inventory management. a. 5% to 10% b. 10% to 25% c. 20% to 50% d. 75%