The process of discussing a marketing problem with informed sources both within and outside the firm and examining information from secondary sources is known as .
a. interpretative research
b. informal investigation
c. situation analysis
d. exploratory research

Benton company (bc), a calendar year entity, has one owner, who is in the 37% federal income tax bracket (any net capital gains or dividends would be taxed at a 20% rate). bc's gross income is $395,000, and its ordinary trade or business deductions are $245,000. ignore the standard deduction (or itemized deductions) and the deduction for qualified business income. if required, round computations to the nearest dollar. a. bc is operated as a proprietorship, and the owner withdraws $100,000 for personal use. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and the tax liability associated with the income from the sole proprietorship is $ . b. bc is operated as a c corporation, pays out $100,000 as salary, and pays no dividends to its shareholder. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and bc's tax liability is $ . the shareholder's tax liability is $ . c. bc is operated as a c corporation and pays out no salary or dividends to its shareholder. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and bc's tax liability is $ . d. bc is operated as a c corporation, pays out $100,000 as salary, and pays out the remainder of its earnings as dividends. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and bc's tax liability is $ .

Electronics assembly inc. is a contract manufacturer that assembles consumer electronics for a number of companies. currently, the operations manager is assessing the capacity requirements as input into a bid for a job to assemble cell phones for a major global company. the company would assemble three models of cell phones in the same assembly cell. setup time between the phones is negligible. electronics assembly inc. operates two 8-hour shifts for 275 days per year. cell phone demand forecast (phones/year) processing time (minutes/phone) mars 47,000 19.8 saturn 35,000 20.7 neptune 7,500 16.2 a. calculate total capacity required by line. b. determine the total operating time available. c. calculate the total number of assembly cells. (round up your answer to the next whole number.)

Suppose that xtel currently is selling at $40 per share. you buy 500 shares using $15,000 of your own money, borrowing the remainder of the purchase price from your broker. the rate on the margin loan is 8%. a. what is the percentage increase in the net worth of your brokerage account if the price of xtel immediately changes to (a) $44; (b) $40; (c) $36? (leave no cells blank - be certain to enter "0" wherever required. negative values should be indicated by a minus sign. round your answers to 2 decimal places.) b. if the maintenance margin is 25%, how low can xtel’s price fall before you get a margin call? (round your answer to 2 decimal places.) c. how would your answer to requirement 2 would change if you had financed the initial purchase with only $10,000 of your own money? (round your answer to 2 decimal places.) d. what is the rate of return on your margined position (assuming again that you invest $15,000 of your own money) if xtel is selling after one year at (a) $44; (b) $40; (c) $36? (negative values should be indicated by a minus sign. round your answers to 2 decimal places.) e. continue to assume that a year has passed. how low can xtel’s price fall before you get a margin call? (round your answer to 2 decimal places.)