Mr. Blatt: Expert consultants are sought after by management because they help executives make better decisions. That is why they are worth the substantial fees they charge. Ms. Fring: Nonsense. Expert consultants are hired in order to enable executives to avoid responsibility. The more the experts cost, the more they can be blamed when things go wrong.
Which one of the following, if it occurred, would be the strongest evidence favoring Ms. Fring’s position over Mr. Blatt’s position?
(A) A company that is trying to decide whether to move its manufacturing plant hires an expensive expert to conduct a cost/benefit analysis.
(B) Two competing companies faced with very similar problems adopt different solutions, one with the help of a consultant, one without.
(C) A successful firm of expert consultants seeks to increase its volume of business by reducing its fees, but its volume of business drops.
(D) An expert consultant builds up a successful business by charging clients a substantial percentage of the amount an independent assessor judges that the consultant saved the company.
(E) A company follows a consultant’s advice to open two new stores, but both stores are only marginally profitable at first.

Daniel owns 100 shares of abc corporation's common stock. abc uses the fair value option, and recent declines in the firm's credit rating have caused the value of the firm's outstanding bonds payable to drop by 10%. daniel feels this is good news, but he wants to know what you think about the situation. which of the following represents your best response? a : "this situation may be positive for you in that the change in abc's credit standing indicates that the value of the firm's assets is likely increasing. however, the drop in bond value may negate any positive effects on your bottom line, because it means your claim on the firm's assets is simultaneously decreasing." b : "actually, this is bad news all around. the drop in the value of abc's bonds payable means shareholders' claims on the firm's assets have decreased. moreover, abc's declining credit rating means that the firm's assets are probably also dropping in value, thus magnifying your losses even more." c : "on the surface, this seems like good news because it means your claim on the firm's assets has increased. however, the drop in creditworthiness may also indicate that abc's assets are declining in value, thus offsetting any gains associated with the drop in bonds payable." d : "you're right! this is good news because it means that abc's debtholders have a decreased claim on the firm's assets. as a result, the firm's existing shareholders"like you"have seen their claim on the firm's assets increase."

Which of the following is not a characteristic of enterprise applications that cause challenges in implementation? a. they introduce "switching costs," making the firm dependent on the vendor. b. they cause integration difficulties as every vendor uses different data and processes. c. they are complex and time consuming to implement. d. they support "best practices" for each business process and function. e. they require sweeping changes to business processes to work with the software.

According to this excerpt, a key part of our national security strategy is