What is one downside to competition in a free-enterprise system?

Lavage rapide is a canadian company that owns and operates a large automatic car wash facility near montreal. the following table provides data concerning the company’s costs: fixed cost per month cost per car washed cleaning supplies $ 0.70 electricity $ 1,400 $ 0.07 maintenance $ 0.15 wages and salaries $ 4,900 $ 0.30 depreciation $ 8,300 rent $ 1,900 administrative expenses $ 1,400 $ 0.03 for example, electricity costs are $1,400 per month plus $0.07 per car washed. the company expects to wash 8,000 cars in august and to collect an average of $6.50 per car washed. the actual operating results for august appear below. lavage rapide income statement for the month ended august 31 actual cars washed 8,100 revenue $ 54,100 expenses: cleaning supplies 6,100 electricity 1,930 maintenance 1,440 wages and salaries 7,660 depreciation 8,300 rent 2,100 administrative expenses 1,540 total expense 29,070 net operating income $ 25,030 required: calculate the company's revenue and spending variances for august.

The production manager of rordan corporation has submitted the following quarterly production forecast for the upcoming fiscal year: 1st quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter units to be produced 10,800 8,500 7,100 11,200 each unit requires 0.25 direct labor-hours, and direct laborers are paid $20.00 per hour. required: 1. prepare the company’s direct labor budget for the upcoming fiscal year. assume that the direct labor workforce is adjusted each quarter to match the number of hours required to produce the forecasted number of units produced. 2. prepare the company’s direct labor budget for the upcoming fiscal year, assuming that the direct labor workforce is not adjusted each quarter. instead, assume that the company’s direct labor workforce consists of permanent employees who are guaranteed to be paid for at least 2,500 hours of work each quarter. if the number of required direct labor-hours is less than this number, the workers are paid for 2,500 hours anyway. any hours worked in excess of 2,500 hours in a quarter are paid at the rate of 1.5 times the normal hourly rate for direct labor.

Suppose farmer lane grows and sells cotton in a perfectly competitive industry. the market price of cotton is $1.64 per kilogram, and his marginal cost of production is $1.44 per kilogram, which increases with output. assume farmer lane is currently earning a profit. can farmer lane do anything to increase his profit in the short run? farmer lane: a. cannot do anything to increase his profit. b. may or may not be able to increase his profit. c. can increase his profit by raising his price. d. can increase his profit by producing more output. e. can increase his profit by shutting down.