Horizontal integration differs from vertical integration in that it
a. combines different businesses involved in all phases of a product’s development.
b. merges stocks from multiple businesses into a new organization.
c. consolidates many firms involved in the same business into one giant company.
d. requires investment from a number of people who share ownership in the firm.

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?

Abank provides its customers mobile applications that significantly simplify traditional banking activities. for example, a customer can use a smartphone to take a picture of a check and electronically deposit into an account. this unique service demonstrates the bank’s desire to practice which one of porter’s strategies?

Thomas kratzer is the purchasing manager for the headquarters of a large insurance company chain with a central inventory operation. thomas's fastest-moving inventory item has a demand of 6,000 units per year. the cost of each unit is $100, and the inventory carrying cost is $10 per unit per year. the average ordering cost is $30 per order. it takes about 5 days for an order to arrive, and the demand for 1 week is 120 units. (this is a corporate operation, and the are 250 working days per year.)a) what is the eoq? b) what is the average inventory if the eoq is used? c) what is the optimal number of orders per year? d) what is the optimal number of days in between any two orders? e) what is the annual cost of ordering and holding inventory? f) what is the total annual inventory cost, including cost of the 6,000 units?