This month, susan, the branch manager of intrepid car rentals, has heard several complaints from customers that intrepid employees do not return calls. today a good customer told susan that "my phone calls and e-mails are returned after maybe a week or so." hearing enough, susan mandated that "all customer phone calls and e-mails must be returned within 24 hours." this new directive by alice is an example of a(n)

Panera bread is a chain of cafes serving sandwiches, soups, and freshly baked breads. the company began in 1981 with stores primarily located along the east coast of the united states. since then, the firm has expanded to over 1,300 locations throughout the united states and canada. the firm has strong earnings and has been designated by business week as a "significant growth company." panera bread executives are considering the idea of expanding globally by opening cafes in asia through a franchising strategy. which of the following, if true, supports the argument that panera bread should expand into asia through franchising? a: the panera bread menu changes rapidly, and each cafe's artisan bread bakers receive regular training on new recipes. b: panera bread executives want fast access to the asian market without a significant investment of capital. c: panera bread executives want to test the asian market with a short-term commitment that allows them to make quick profits. d: the panera bread mission is to make excellent bread available to customers around the world.

Afirm's before-tax cost of debt, rd, is the interest rate that the firm must pay on debt. because interest is tax deductible, the relevant cost of debt used to calculate a firm's wacc is the cost of debt, rd (1 – t). the cost of debt is used in calculating the wacc because we are interested in maximizing the value of the firm's stock, and the stock price depends on cash flows. it is important to emphasize that the cost of debt is the interest rate on debt, not debt because our primary concern with the cost of capital is its use in capital budgeting decisions. the rate at which the firm has borrowed in the past is because we need to know the cost of capital. for these reasons, the on outstanding debt (which reflects current market conditions) is a better measure of the cost of debt than the . the on the company's -term debt is generally used to calculate the cost of debt because more often than not, the capital is being raised to fund -term projects. quantitative problem: 5 years ago, barton industries issued 25-year noncallable, semiannual bonds with a $1,600 face value and a 8% coupon, semiannual payment ($64 payment every 6 months). the bonds currently sell for $845.87. if the firm's marginal tax rate is 40%, what is the firm's after-tax cost of debt? round your answer to 2 decimal places. do not round intermediate calcu

Haley photocopying purchases a paper from an out-of-state vendor. average weekly demand for paper is 150 cartons per week for which haley pays $15 per carton. in bound shipments from the vendor average 1000 cartoons with an average lead time of 3 weeks. haley operates 52 weeks per year; it carries a 4-week supply of inventory as safety stock and no anticipation inventory. the vendor has recently announced that they will be building a faculty near haley photocopying that will reduce lead time to one week. further, they will be able to reduce shipments to 200 cartons. haley believes that they will be able to reduce safety stock to a 1-week supply. what impact will these changes make to haley’s average inventory level and its average aggregated inventory value?