To create a competitive advantage through superior efficiency, an organization must make products that are much more reliable than other available products in the market. reduce the number of inputs it requires to produce a given amount of outputs. use technology to make its product unique and different than other products in the market. conduct surveys to determine whether a product will be successful in the market. create products that will attract customers and charge a premium price for those products.

After discussing the options, the strategic management team has agreed that the pod coffee idea works well with the company's mission statement and decides that the company should move forward in exploring the pod coffee idea. in order to make sure that the pod coffee idea is a good one, and to see if there are other potential future endeavors to pursue, you must analyze the market situation and formulate a strategy. your boss asks you to start working on the pod coffee idea. what is your first stepa. your first step is to formulate a strategy for how to market the pod coffee concept. b. your first step is to consult with your boss and find out what he thinks about the pod coffee idea. c. your first step is to do some research to find out what your competitors are doing. d. your first step is to analyze the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Your project team’s recommendations to increase productivity have been approved and your team is now working on an implementation plan. in order to accomplish the plan, several subject matter experts from various parts of the organization have been brought in to assist. you have noticed friction and conflict among team members. some of the disagreement and opposition on your team supports the achievement of team goals and objectives. this type of conflict can be described as:

Oceanside marine company manufactures special metallic materials and decorative fittings for luxury yachts that require highly skilled labor. oceanside uses standard costs to prepare its flexible budget. for the first quarter of the year, direct materials and direct labor standards for one of their popular products were as follows: direct materials: 2 pound per unit; $ 11 per pound direct labor: 2 hours per unit; $ 19 per hour oceanside produced 2 comma 000 units during the quarter. at the end of the quarter, an examination of the direct materials records showed that the company used 7 comma 500 pounds of direct materials and actual total materials costs were $ 98 comma 100. what is the direct materials cost variance? (round any intermediate calculations to the nearest cent, and your final answer to the nearest dollar.)