How well is costco performing from a strategic perspective? does costco enjoy a competitive advantage over sam’s club? over bj’s wholesale? if so, what is the nature of its competitive advantage? does costco have a winning strategy? why or why not?

Jennifer purchased a house in a brand new development in the outskirts of town. when her house was built, the nearest fire department was nearly 20 miles away. as her neighborhood developed, the density of the community called for a new fire department 1.5 miles away. what effect will the new fire station have on her homeowners insurance premium? a. a new fire department will be more demanding on local taxes. her annual premium will go up. b. the location of a fire department has no bearing on the value of her house. her annual premium will stay the same. c. the new fire department will reduce the risk of financial loss in her home. her annual premium should decrease. d. with a fire department so close (less than 5 miles), financial risk on jennifer’s home practically disappears. she will not need to pay insurance anymore.

In december of 2004, the company you own entered into a 20-year contract with a grain supplier for daily deliveries of grain to its hot dog bun manufacturing facility. the contract called for "10,000 pounds of grain" to be delivered to the facility at the price of $100,000 per day. until february 2017, the supplier provided processed grain which could easily be used in your manufacturing process. however, no longer wanting to absorb the cost of having the grain processed, the supplier began delivering whole grain. the supplier is arguing that the contract does not specify the type of grain that would be supplied and that it has not breached the contract. your company is arguing that the supplier has an onsite processing plant and processed grain was implicit to the terms of the contract. over the remaining term of the contract, reshipping and having the grain processed would cost your company approximately $10,000,000, opposed to a cost of around $1,000,000 to the supplier. after speaking with in-house counsel, it was estimated that litigation would cost the company several million dollars and last for years. weighing the costs of litigation, along with possible ambiguity in the contract, what are three options you could take to resolve the dispute? which would be the best option for your business and why?

During january 2018, the following transactions occur: january 1 purchase equipment for $20,600. the company estimates a residual value of $2,600 and a five-year service life. january 4 pay cash on accounts payable, $10,600. january 8 purchase additional inventory on account, $93,900. january 15 receive cash on accounts receivable, $23,100 january 19 pay cash for salaries, $30,900. january 28 pay cash for january utilities, $17,600. january 30 firework sales for january total $231,000. all of these sales are on account. the cost of the units sold is $120,500. the following information is available on january 31, 2018. depreciation on the equipment for the month of january is calculated using the straight-line method. the company estimates future uncollectible accounts. at the end of january, considering the total ending balance of the accounts receivable account as shown on the general ledger tab, $4,100 is now past due (older than 90 days), while the remainder of the balance is current (less than 90 days old). the company estimates that 50% of the past due balance will be uncollectible and only 3% of the current balance will become uncollectible. record the estimated bad debt expense. accrued interest revenue on notes receivable for january. unpaid salaries at the end of january are $33,700. accrued income taxes at the end of january are $10,100