Breakfast cereal maker General Mills periodically gives lump-sum payments to employees. The amount depends on job performance, with more productive employees receiving a larger sum than less productive employees. This motivational tool is

Burke enterprises is considering a machine costing $30 billion that will result in initial after-tax cash savings of $3.7 billion at the end of the first year, and these savings will grow at a rate of 2 percent per year for 11 years. after 11 years, the company can sell the parts for $5 billion. burke has a target debt/equity ratio of 1.2, a beta of 1.79. you estimate that the return on the market is 7.5% and t-bills are currently yielding 2.5%. burke has two issuances of bonds outstanding. the first has 200,000 bonds trading at 98% of par, with coupons of 5%, face of $1000, and maturity of 5 years. the second has 500,000 bonds trading at par, with coupons of 7.5%, face of $1000, and maturity of 12 years. kate, the ceo, usually applies an adjustment factor to the discount rate of +2 for such highly innovative projects. should the company take on the project?

Organizations typically rely on schedules, such as hourly wages and annual reviews and raises.

Financial markets and channel to . they also channel money from individuals who want to for the future to those who need cash to spend today. a third function of financial markets is to allow individuals and businesses to adjust their risk. for example, , such as the vanguard index fund, and , such as spdr's or “spiders,” allow individuals to spread their risk across a large number of stocks. financial markets provide other mechanisms for sharing risks. for example, a wheat farmer and a baker may use the to reduce their exposure to wheat prices. financial markets and intermediaries allow investors to turn an investment into cash when needed. for example, the of public companies are because they are traded in huge volumes on the . are the main providers of payment services by offering checking accounts and electronic transfers. finally, financial markets provide information. for example, the of a company that is contemplating an issue of debt can look at the yields on existing to gauge how much interest the company will need to pay.