CopyIT, a copy machine manufacturing company, sustains its investment in technological innovation, particularly in areas such as color science, digital imaging, and nanotechnology. These strategic investments, made only in specific areas, keep the company ahead of the competition. Which of the following messages does this example convey?a. Although many technologies are commodities, the ability to extract their value requires human imagination. b. Element Inc. manufactures a new range of smartphones to take on incumbent competitors. c. Element grabs a huge chunk of the market share in its first year because of its feature-rich smartphones. d. Element's smartphones come with bigger screen sizes, greater memory capacities, and a free online music subscription for two years.

Beta coefficients and the capital asset pricing model personal finance problem katherine wilson is wondering how much risk she must undertake to generate an acceptable return on her porfolio. the risk-free return currently is 4%. the return on the overall stock market is 14%. use the capm to calculate how high the beta coefficient of katherine's portfolio would have to be to achieve a portfolio return of 16%.

The east asiatic company (eac), a danish company with subsidiaries throughout asia, has been funding its bangkok subsidiary primarily with u. s. dollar debt because of the cost and availability of dollar capital as opposed to thai baht-denominated (b) debt. the treasurer of eac-thailand is considering a 1-year bank loan for $247,000.the current spot rate is b32.03 /$, and the dollar-based interest is 6.78% for the 1-year period. 1-year loans are 12.04% in baht. a. assuming expected inflation rates of 4.3 % and 1.24% in thailand and the united states, respectively, for the coming year, according to purchase power parity, what would the effective cost of funds be in thai baht terms? b. if eac's foreign exchange advisers believe strongly that the thai government wants to push the value of the baht down against the dollar by5% over the coming year (to promote its export competitiveness in dollar markets), what might the effective cost of funds end up being in baht terms? c. if eac could borrow thai baht at 13% per annum, would this be cheaper than either part (a) or part (b) above?

Speedy auto repairs uses a job-order costing system. the company’s direct materials consist of replacement parts installed in customer vehicles, and its direct labor consists of the mechanics’ hourly wages. speedy’s overhead costs include various items, such as the shop manager’s salary, depreciation of equipment, utilities, insurance, and magazine subscriptions and refreshments for the waiting room. the company applies all of its overhead costs to jobs based on direct labor-hours. at the beginning of the year, it made the following estimates: direct labor-hours required to support estimated output 20,000 fixed overhead cost $ 350,000 variable overhead cost per direct labor-hour $ 1.00 required: 1. compute the predetermined overhead rate. 2. during the year, mr. wilkes brought in his vehicle to replace his brakes, spark plugs, and tires. the following information was available with respect to his job: direct materials $ 590 direct labor cost $ 109 direct labor-hours used 6