The backbone of the process of identifying, studying, and implementing best practices is:
a. business process reengineering
b. a corporate culture that has a core value of operating excellence
c. benchmarking
d. six sigma quality control techniques the
e. innovative application of tqm techniques

Amathematical approximation called the rule of 70 tells us that the number of years that it will take something that is growing to double in size is approximately equal to the number 70 divided by its percentage rate of growth. thus, if mexico's real gdp per person is growing at 7 percent per year, it will take about 10 years(=70/7) to double. apply the rule of 70 to solve the following problem. real gdp per person in mexico in 2005 was about $11,000 per person, while it was about $44,000 per person in the u. s. if real gdp per person in mexico grows at the rate of 5 percent per year: how long will it take mexico's real gdp per person to reach the level that the united states was at in 2005? (hint: how many times would mexico's 2005 real gdp per person have to double to reach the u. s.'s 2005 real gdp per person?

Jose recently died with a probate estate of $900,000. he was predeceased by his wife, guadalupe, and his daughter, lucy. he has two surviving children, pete and fred. jose was also survived by eight grandchildren, pete’s three children, naomi, daniel, nick; fred’s three children, heather, chris and steve; and lucy’s two children, david and rachel. jose’s will states the following “i leave everything to my three children. if any of my children shall predecease me then i leave their share to their heirs, per stirpes.” which of the following statements is correct? (a) under jose’s will rachel will receive $150,000. (b) under jose’s will chris will receive $150,000. (c) under jose’s will nick will receive $100,000. (d) under jose’s will pete will receive $200,000.

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