Technology experts in the area of process design:
1. work to make sure systems are easy to use.
2. leverage technology to make firms more efficient.
3. specialize in technology for competitive advantage.
4. focus on systems dealing with critical business data.
5. provide direction on technology-related security issues.

Goals that are overly ambitious can discourage employees and decrease motivation, yet the idea of stretch goals is proposed as a way to get people fired up and motivated. as a manager, how might you decide where to draw the line between a “good” stretch goal and a “bad” one that is unrealistic?

Alarge university wanted to study the relationship between completing an internship during college and students' future earning potential. prom the same graduating class, they selected a random sample of 80 students who completed an internship and 100 students who did not complete an internship and examined their salaries five years after graduation. they found that there was a statistically higher mean salary for the internship group than for the noninternship group. which of the following interpretations is the most appropriate? a. there could be a confounding variable, such as student major, that explains the difference in mean salary between the internship and no internship groups. b. we cannot infer anything from these data since the distribution of salaries is likely right skewed. c. you cannot draw any valid conclusions because the sample sizes are different. d. more students should complete internships because having an internship produces a higher salary.

In a fixed-term, level-payment reverse mortgage, sometimes called a reverse annuity mortgage, or ram, a lender agrees to pay the homeowner a monthly payment, or annuity, and expects to be repaid from the homeowner’s equity when he or she sells the home or obtains other financing to pay off the ram. consider a household that owns a $150,000 home free and clear of mortgage debt. the ram lender agrees to a $100,000 ram for 10 years at 6 percent. assume payments are made annually, at the beginning of each year to the homeowner. calculate the annual payment on the ram.