utility is the benefit marketing provides by allowing the consumer to own, use, and enjoy the product.

In the 1970s, kmart used blue light specials to encourage customers to flock to a particular department having a temporary sale. a spinning blue light activated for approximately 30 seconds, and then an in-store announcement informed shoppers of the special savings in the specific department. over time, loyal kmart shoppers learned to flock to the department with the spinning blue light before any announcement of special savings occurred. if kmart was employing classical conditioning techniques, what role did the spinning blue light play?

Blue computers, a major pc manufacturer in the united states, currently has plants in kentucky and pennsylvania. the kentucky plant has a capacity of 1 million units a year and the pennsylvania plant has a capacity of 1.5 million units a year. the firm divides the united states into five markets: northeast, southeast, midwest, south, and west. each pc sells for $1,000. the firm anticipates a 50 perc~nt growth in demand (in each region) this year (after which demand will stabilize) and wants to build a plant with a capacity of 1.5 million units per year to accommodate the growth. potential sites being considered are in north carolina and california. currently the firm pays federal, state, and local taxes on the income from each plant. federal taxes are 20 percent of income, and all state and local taxes are 7 percent of income in each state. north carolina has offered to reduce taxes for the next 10 years from 7 percent to 2 percent. blue computers would like to take the tax break into consideration when planning its network. consider income over the next 10 years in your analysis. assume that all costs remain unchanged over the 10 years. use a discount factor of 0.1 for your analysis. annual fixed costs, production and shipping costs per unit, and current regional demand (before the 50 percent growth) are shown in table 5-13. (a) if blue computers sets an objective of minimizing total fixed and variable costs, where should they build the new plant? how should the network be structured? (b) if blue computers sets an objective of maximizing after-tax profits, where should they build the new plant? how should the network be structured? variable production and shipping cost ($/unit) annual fixed cost northeast southeast midwest south west (million$) kentucky 185 180 175 175 200 150 pennsylvania 170 190 180 200 220 200 n. carolina 180 180 185 185 215 150 california 220 220 195 195 175 150 demand ('000 units/month) 700 400 400 300 600

If the ceo of a large, diversified, firm were filling out a fitness report on a division manager (i.e., "grading" the manager), which of the following situations would be likely to cause the manager to receive a better grade? in all cases, assume that other things are held constant.a. the division's basic earning power ratio is above the average of other firms in its industry.b. the division's total assets turnover ratio is below the average for other firms in its industry.c. the division's debt ratio is above the average for other firms in the industry.d. the division's inventory turnover is 6, whereas the average for its competitors is 8.e. the division's dso (days' sales outstanding) is 40, whereas the average for its competitors is 30.