The gap can be reduced by managing consumers' expectations and promising only what can be delivered or possibly even a little less.

Which of the following best explains why large companies pay less for goods from wholesalers? a. large companies are able to pay for the goods they purchase in cash. b. large companies are able to increase the efficiency of wholesale production. c. large companies can buy all or most of a wholesaler's stock. d. large companies have better-paid employees who are better negotiators.

You work as the sales manager for a company that sells office supplies to businesses of all sizes. because the profit margins are razor-thin, you need to ensure that you are getting the very best prices on paper, pencils, pens, post-it notes, and other office supplies from the manufacturers. when reviewing the quarterly profit statement, you realize that your costs are higher than they should be, and you trace the higher costs back to an employee who has been lax about getting competitive bids to ensure the lowest prices. when you conduct your research to determine the reason for the higher costs, and take action to bring those costs back down, in which of the key management processes are you taking part?

Which of the following statements is not correct? the stock of publicly owned companies must generally be registered with and reported to a regulatory agency such as the sec. when stock in a closely held corporation is offered to the public for the first time, the transaction is called "going public, or an ipo," and the market for such stock is called the new issue or ipo market. "going public" establishes a firm's true intrinsic value and ensures that a liquid market will always exist for the firm's shares. if you wanted to know what rate of return stocks have provided in the past, you could examine data on the dow jones industrial index, the s& p 500 index, or the nasdaq index.