Firms use a differentiated targeting strategy because it is better than focusing on individual or small groups of potential customers. most market segments are too small to be profitable. it is easier than mass marketing. banks are more willing to extend credit to companies with this strategic approach. it helps obtain a bigger share of the market.

Case in point 2.4 attaway airlines, part two back at attaway airlines, the morning meeting ended with no agreement between dan esposito and molly kinnon. in fact, a new issue arose. molly now says that the new accounting system is entitled to the highest priority because the federal government soon will require the reporting of certain types of company-paid health insurance premiums. because the current system will not handle this report, she insists that the entire accounting system is a nondiscretionary project. as you might expect, dan is upset. can part of a project be nondiscretionary? what issues need to be discussed? the committee meets again tomorrow, and the members will look to you, as the it director, for guidance.

Instructions: use the following information to construct the 2000 balance sheet and income statement for carolina business machines. round all numbers to the nearest whole dollar. all numbers are in thousands of dollars. be sure to read the whole problem before you jump in and get started. at the end of 1999 the firm had $43,000 in gross fixed assets. in 2000 they purchased an additional $14,000 of fixed asset equipment. accumulated depreciation at the end of 1999 was $21,000. the depreciation expense in 2000 is $4,620. at the end of 2000 the firm had $3,000 in cash and $3,000 in accounts payable. in 2000 the firm extended a total of $9,000 in credit to a number of their customers in the form of accounts receivable. the firm generated $60,000 in sales revenue in 2000. their cost of goods sold was 60 percent of sales. they also incurred salaries and wages expense of $10,000. to date the firm has $1,000 in accrued salaries and wages. they borrowed $10,000 from their local bank to finance the $15,000 in inventory they now have on hand. the firm also has $7,120 invested in marketable securities. the firm currently has $20,000 in long-term debt outstanding and paid $2,000 in interest on their outstanding debt. over the firm's life, shareholders have put up $30,000. eighty percent of the shareholder's funds are in the form of retained earnings. the par value per share of carolina business machines stock is

Consider the following two projects. both have costs of $5,000 in year 1. project 1 provides benefits of $2,000 in each of the first four years only. the second provides benefits of $2,000 for each of years 6 to 10 only. compute the net benefits using a discount rate of 6 percent. repeat using a discount rate of 12 percent. what can you conclude from this exercise?