Explain why businesses spend so much money finding out what customers want.

The gilbert instrument corporation is considering replacing the wood steamer it currently uses to shape guitar sides. the steamer has 6 years of remaining life. if kept,the steamer will have depreciaiton expenses of $650 for five years and $325 for the sixthyear. its current book value is $3,575, and it can be sold on an internet auction site for$4,150 at this time. if the old steamer is not replaced, it can be sold for $800 at the endof its useful life. gilbert is considering purchasing the side steamer 3000, a higher-end steamer, whichcosts $12,000 and has an estimated useful life of 6 years with an estimated salvage value of$1,500. this steamer falls into the macrs 5-year class, so the applicable depreciationrates are 20.00%, 32.00%, 19.20%, 11.52%, 11.52%, and 5.76%. the new steamer is fasterand allows for an output expansion, so sales would rise by $2,000 per year; the newmachine's much greater efficiency would reduce operating expenses by $1,900 per year.to support the greater sales, the new machine would require that inventories increase by$2,900, but accounts payable would simultaneously increase by $700. gilbert's marginalfederal-plus-state tax rate is 40%, and its wacc is 15%.a. should it replace the old steamer? b. npv of replace = $2,083.51

Adding a complementary product to what is currently being produced is a demand management strategy used when: a. capacity exceeds demand for a product that has stable demand.b. price increases have failed to bring about demand management.c. demand exceeds capacity.d. demand exceeds 100 percent.e. the existing product has seasonal or cyclical demand.

Mno corporation uses a job-order costing system with a predetermined overhead rate based on direct labor-hours. the company based its predetermined overhead rate for the current year on the following data: total estimated direct labor-hours 50,000 total estimated fixed manufacturing overhead cost $ 285,000 estimated variable manufacturing overhead per direct labor-hour $ 3.80 recently, job p123 was completed with the following characteristics: total actual direct labor-hours 20 direct materials $ 710 direct labor cost $ 500 the amount of overhead applied to job p123 is closest to: