Piechocki Corporation manufactures and sells a single product. The company uses units as the measure of activity in its budgets and performance reports. During May, the company budgeted for 6,300 units, but its actual level of activity was 6,250 units. The company has provided the following data concerning the formulas used in its budgeting and its actual results for May: Data used in budgeting:

Fixed element per month Variable element per unit
Revenue - $ 33.80

Direct labor $ 0 $ 5.80
Direct materials 0 13.40
Manufacturing overhead 33,000 1.30
Selling and administrative expenses 25,100 0.50
Total expenses $ 58,100 $ 21.00

Actual results for May:

Revenue $ 212,300
Direct labor $ 35,730
Direct materials $ 85,600
Manufacturing overhead $ 41,500
Selling and administrative expenses $ 30,430

The activity variance for direct labor in May would be closest to

Which of the following is a disadvantage of equity alliances when compared to non-equity alliances? 1. they are reflective of weaker ties between firms.2. they do not permit the exchange of explicit knowledge.3. they are more likely to bring about lack of trust and commitment.4. they require significantly higher levels of investment.

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?

A$100 million interest rate swap has a remaining life of 10 months. under the terms of the swap, the six-month libor is exchanged semi-annually for 12% per annum. the six-month libor rate in swaps of all maturities is currently 10% per annum with continuous compounding. the six-month libor rate was 9.6% per annum two months ago. what is the current value of the swap to the party paying floating? what is its value to the party paying fixed?