The Oriental Trading Company uses a cost leadership strategy. It has a "110% Lowest Price Guarantee," which says that if a customer can provide an advertisement with a lower price from another company, the Oriental Trading Company will refund 110% of the difference in price. The Oriental Trading Company will be more effective if it has structure. Which of the following reasons explain this? Check all that apply. Decentralized decision making allows for greater flexibility in meeting customer needs. Centralized decision making allows the organization to place tighter controls on the way work is done and, in the process, achieve economies of scale. Shorter chains of command and horizontal communication allow for increased innovation. Functional structures create highly trained, specialized employees who are extremely efficient at what they do.

Which of the following statements is correct? a. two firms with identical sales and operating costs but with different amounts of debt and tax rates will have different operating incomes by definition. b. free cash flow (fcf) is, essentially, the cash flow that is available for interest and dividends after the company has made the investments in current and fixed assets that are necessary to sustain ongoing operations. c. retained earnings as reported on the balance sheet represent cash and, therefore, are available to distribute to stockholders as dividends or any other required cash payments to creditors and suppliers. d. if a firm is reporting its income in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, then its net income as reported on the income statement should be equal to its free cash flow. e. after-tax operating income is calculated as ebit(1 - t) + depreciation.

What is marketing’s contribution to the new product development team? a. technical expertise needed to translate designs into an actual product/service. b. deep customer insight that leads to product ideas. c. ability to assess financial viability d. feedback on design as well as how customers will actually use the product e. technical expertise needed to translate concepts into product/service designs.

Bandar industries berhad of malaysia manufactures sporting equipment. one of the company’s products, a football helmet for the north american market, requires a special plastic. during the quarter ending june 30, the company manufactured 35,000 helmets, using 22,500 kilograms of plastic. the plastic cost the company $171,000. according to the standard cost card, each helmet should require 0.6 kilograms of plastic, at a cost of $8 per kilogram. 1. what is the standard quantity of kilograms of plastic (sq) that is allowed to make 35,000 helmets? 2. what is the standard materials cost allowed (sq x sp) to make 35,000 helmets? 3. what is the materials spending variance? 4. what is the materials price variance and the materials quantity variance?