Vernon theorizes that as the market in the United States and other advanced nations matures, becomes the main competitive weapon.

The hawthorne works was a large western electric factory with 45,000 employees. during the 1920s and 1930s, hawthorne works was the site of some well-known industrial studies. in one of the studies, researchers investigated the impact of different working conditions on worker productivity. prior to the start of the study, researchers secretly measured workers' productivity for several weeks. then researchers chose two workers, who then chose their own teams. the teams were separated from the general workforce and completed their work in different experiment rooms where the researchers could observe them more easily. over a 5-year period researchers manipulated the structure of the workday for each team (number and duration of breaks and number of hours per shift). for each of these changes in working conditions, the researchers measured the effect on productivity. for some conditions, such as frequent short breaks, workers rebelled by intentionally decreasing productivity. why did the researchers secretly measure the workers' productivity before creating the two treatment groups? a, to create similar treatment groups so that a cause-and-effect relationship could be establishedb, to draw conclusions about the productivity of all workers in the plant based on the test groupsc, to directly control for confounding variablesd, to provide a baseline for measuring worker productivity

For each of the following cases determine the ending balance in the inventory account. (hint: first, determine the total cost of inventory available for sale. next, subtract the cost of the inventory sold to arrive at the ending balance.)a. jill’s dress shop had a beginning balance in its inventory account of $40,000. during the accounting period jill’s purchased $75,000 of inventory, returned $5,000 of inventory, and obtained $750 of purchases discounts. jill’s incurred $1,000 of transportation-in cost and $600 of transportation-out cost. salaries of sales personnel amounted to $31,000. administrative expenses amounted to $35,600. cost of goods sold amounted to $82,300.b. ken’s bait shop had a beginning balance in its inventory account of $8,000. during the accounting period ken’s purchased $36,900 of inventory, obtained $1,200 of purchases allowances, and received $360 of purchases discounts. sales discounts amounted to $640. ken’s incurred $900 of transportation-in cost and $260 of transportation-out cost. selling and administrative cost amounted to $12,300. cost of goods sold amounted to $33,900.a& b. cost of goods avaliable for sale? ending inventory?

Miami incorporated estimates that its retained earnings break point (bpre) is $21 million, and its wacc is 13.40 percent if common equity comes from retained earnings. however, if the company issues new stock to raise new common equity, it estimates that its wacc will rise to 13.88 percent. the company is considering the following investment projects: project size irr a $4 million 14.00% b 5 million 15.10 c 4 million 16.20 d 6 million 14.20 e 1 million 13.42 f 6 million 13.75 what is the firm's optimal capital budget?