Which of the following is not a route to achieving a differentiation-based competitive advantage?

a. striving to create superior product features, design, and performance
b. improving customer service or adding additional services
c. pursuing production-related r& d activities
d. striving for innovation and technological advances
e. separating marketing from brand-building activities

Which of the following is an example of formal management controls? answers: a firm's culturethe willingness of employees to monitor each otherbudgeting and reporting activitiesmanagerial motivation

Parks corporation is considering an investment proposal in which a working capital investment of $10,000 would be required. the investment would provide cash inflows of $2,000 per year for six years. the working capital would be released for use elsewhere when the project is completed. if the company's discount rate is 10%, the investment's net present value is closest to (ignore income taxes) ?

Imagine us is a startup that offers high definition 3d prenatal ultrasounds for high-end customers. the service process includes four activities that are conducted in the sequence described below. (the time required for each activity is shown in parentheses): activity 1: welcome a patient and explain the procedure. (20 minutes)activity 2: prep the patient (e. g., show them to the room, apply ultrasound gel). (17 minutes) (*your id number represents the amount of time needed to complete this task)activity 3: take images. (5 minutes)activity 4: discuss diagnostic with patient. (20 minutes)at each location there are employees (servers) s1, s2, and s3. the assignment of tasks to servers is the following: s1 does activities 1 and 2.s2 does activity 3.s3 does activity 4.a. what is the capacity of this process (in customers per hour)? b. suppose 3 patients arrive every hour on average. ignoring any “start of day” or “end of day” effects, what are the utilizations of all three servers (%)? c. suppose each activity can be done by any server and any server can do any set of activities. however, each activity is done by only one server. for example, a possible assignment includes: s1 does activity 1, s2 does activity 2, and s3 does activities 3 and 4. of course, the original assignment of servers to activities is also feasible. what is the maximum capacity of the process (in customers per hour)? d. now consider the capacity measures in (c) and (a), what is the percentage change? why can you improve capacity without using additional resources? (there is no free lunch, right? )note: for all hw assignments, show your process of getting the results. only providing the final answers is not acceptable and will get 0%. if necessary, use a separate sheet of paper to show your work.