Gamma Corp. regularly assesses its marketing strategy. In order to devise good strategies, the company gathers information about factors such as competitors, economic conditions, technological developments, and customer choices. This activity of collecting external information illustrates .

White company has two departments, cutting and finishing. the company uses a job-order costing system and computes a predetermined overhead rate in each department. the cutting department bases its rate on machine-hours, and the finishing department bases its rate on direct labor-hours. at the beginning of the year, the company made the following estimates: department cutting finishing direct labor-hours 6,000 30,000 machine-hours 48,000 5,000 total fixed manufacturing overhead cost $ 264,000 $ 366,000 variable manufacturing overhead per machine-hour $ 2.00 " variable manufacturing overhead per direct labor-hour " $ 4.00 required: 1. compute the predetermined overhead rate for each department. 2. the job cost sheet for job 203, which was started and completed during the year, showed the following: department cutting finishing direct labor-hours 6 20 machine-hours 80 4 direct materials $ 500 $ 310 direct labor cost $ 108 $ 360 using the predetermined overhead rates that you computed in requirement (1), compute the total manufacturing cost assigned to job 203. 3. would you expect substantially different amounts of overhead cost to be assigned to some jobs if the company used a plantwide predetermined overhead rate based on direct labor-hours, rather than using departmental rates?

Google started as one of many internet search engines, amazon started as an online book seller, and ebay began as a site where people could sell used personal items in auctions. these firms have grown to be so large and dominant that they are facing antitrust scrutiny from competition regulators in the us and elsewhere. did these online giants grow by fairly beating competition, or did they use unfair advantages? are there any clouds on the horizon for these firms -- could they face diseconomies of scale or diseconomies of scope as they continue to grow? if so, what factors may limit their continued growth?

Modern firms increasingly rely on other firms to supply goods and services instead of doing these tasks themselves. this increased level of is leading to increased emphasis on management.