Western assembles computers in the owner’s garage from parts the owner orders over the Internet. This industry is characterized by low barriers to entry, including few operating licenses or governmental approvals, and small investments in productive equipment or facilities.

How would you expect this situation to affect the assessment of Northern's financial condition and performance?

a. Its low barriers to entry expose Northern to decreased risk of competition, which could improve the predictability of its expected future sales revenues.
b. Although nonquantitative factors may be relevant to a company's financial evaluation in general terms, the details of this specific situation are not relevant to the firm's financial condition or performance.
c. Its low barriers to entry expose Northern to increased risk of competition, which could negatively affect the predictability of its expected future sales revenues.

Amanda rice has just arranged to purchase a $640,000 vacation home in the bahamas with a 20 percent down payment. the mortgage has a 7 percent apr compounded monthly and calls for equal monthly payments over the next 30 years. her first payment will be due one month from now. however, the mortgage has an eight-year balloon payment, meaning that the balance of the loan must be paid off at the end of year 8. there were no other transaction costs or finance charges. how much will amanda’s balloon payment be in eight years

(05.04 mc) a 2012 report from the u. s. surgeon general stated: "another common practice is strategically locating tobacco-related marketing materials where young children will be exposed to them. tobacco industry executives acknowledge that products and advertising should be placed at eye level (pollay 2007), but in california, 48% of stores had at least one cigarette marketing item at or below 3 feet from the floor (feighery et al. 2001)." it was also noted that 25% of cigarette displays were next to candy. in addition, a national study found that about one-third of the stores had tobacco ads at low heights. after california banned counter displays, some stores place cigarettes in transparent displays so product brands could still be seen. why did some stores use transparent units to display the cigarettes? (3 points) to comply with the new rules while still encouraging cigarette purchases via visual exposure to ensure children and minors are not exposed to cigarettes and their eye-catching packaging to minimize exposure to humidity, extending the shelf life of the cigarettes' tobacco to reduce the occurrence of shoplifting, since cigarettes are high-revenue items

Which external factor has enabled addition of special effects in advertisements and tracking of responses of customers over websites?