TerraLoc competes in the market for global positioning devices and services. The company manufactures its own GPS units, which are smaller than those of any other competitor and include a proprietary battery that lasts 200% longer than any other competitor's battery and that TerraLoc manufacturers on-site. TerraLoc also has developed proprietary software that is much faster and more precise than that of any competitor. When developing the proprietary battery, TerraLoc decided to manufacturer the battery in-house to reduce the possibility that the company it outsourced the battery manufacturing to might reverse engineer the battery and sell a similar product to competitors. This possibility was especially troubling given that the company expected a significant increase in demand due to the improved battery life. Additionally, TerraLoc sells its products and services through its own direct sales force to ensure that its representatives highlight the longer battery life of TerraLoc's units. TerraLoc's decsion to manufacture the battery in-house is most consistent with which theory(s) of vertical integration?

a. Firm capability-based explanations
b. Alliance-based explanation
c. Opportunism-based explanations
d. Flexibility-based explanations

Sweeten company had no jobs in progress at the beginning of march and no beginning inventories. the company has two manufacturing departments--molding and fabrication. it started, completed, and sold only two jobs during march—job p and job q. the following additional information is available for the company as a whole and for jobs p and q (all data and questions relate to the month of march): molding fabrication total estimated total machine-hours used 2,500 1,500 4,000 estimated total fixed manufacturing overhead $ 10,000 $ 15,000 $ 25,000 estimated variable manufacturing overhead per machine-hour $ 1.40 $ 2.20 job p job q direct materials $ 13,000 $ 8,000 direct labor cost $ 21,000 $ 7,500 actual machine-hours used: molding 1,700 800 fabrication 600 900 total 2,300 1,700 sweeten company had no underapplied or overapplied manufacturing overhead costs during the month. required: for questions 1-8, assume that sweeten company uses a plantwide predetermined overhead rate with machine-hours as the allocation base. for questions 9-15, assume that the company uses departmental predetermined overhead rates with machine-hours as the allocation base in both departments. 1. what was the company’s plantwide predetermined overhead rate? (round your answer to 2 decimal places.) next

Oceanside marine company manufactures special metallic materials and decorative fittings for luxury yachts that require highly skilled labor. oceanside uses standard costs to prepare its flexible budget. for the first quarter of the year, direct materials and direct labor standards for one of their popular products were as follows: direct materials: 2 pound per unit; $ 11 per pound direct labor: 2 hours per unit; $ 19 per hour oceanside produced 2 comma 000 units during the quarter. at the end of the quarter, an examination of the direct materials records showed that the company used 7 comma 500 pounds of direct materials and actual total materials costs were $ 98 comma 100. what is the direct materials cost variance? (round any intermediate calculations to the nearest cent, and your final answer to the nearest dollar.)

Explain the relationship between consumers and producers in economic growth and activity