Explain the significance of capital structure.

In its 2016 annual report, caterpillar inc. reported the following (in millions): 2016 2015 sales $38,537 $47,011 cost of goods sold 28,309 33,546 as a percentage of sales, did caterpillar's gross profit increase or decrease during 2016? select one: a. gross profit increased from 26.8% to 28.6% b. gross profit decreased from 28.6% to 26.5% c. gross profit increased from 71.4% to 73.2% d. gross profit decreased from 73.2% to 71.4% e. there is not enough information to answer the question.

You are an employee of an u. s. firm that produces personal computers in thailand and then exports them to the united states and other countries for sale. the personal computers were originally produced in thailand to take advantage of relatively low labor costs and a skilled workforce. other possible locations considered at that time were malaysia and hong kong. the u. s. government decides to impose punitive 100% ad valorem tariffs on imports of computers from thailand to punish the country for administrative trade barriers that restrict u. s. exports to thailand. how do you think your firm should respond? what does this tell you about the use of targeted trade barriers?

An outside manufacturer has offered to produce 60,000 daks and ship them directly to andretti's customers. if andretti company accepts this offer, the facilities that it uses to produce daks would be idle; however, fixed manufacturing overhead costs would be reduced by 75%. because the outside manufacturer would pay for all shipping costs, the variable selling expenses would be only two-thirds of their present amount. what is andretti's avoidable cost per unit that it should compare to the price quoted by the outside manufacturer?