Three ways businesses can use creative thinking to solve business problems

Afactory owner wants his workers to produce as many widgets as they can so he pays his workers based on how many widgets they produce. however, in order to make sure that the workers do not rush and produce a large number of poorly made widgets, he checks the widgets at random at various stages of their manufacture. if a defect is found in a widget, the pay of the entire section of the factory responsible for that defect is docked. how is this factory owner seeking to solve the agency conflict problem in this case?

You have just been hired as a financial analyst for barrington industries. unfortunately, company headquarters (where all of the firm's records are kept) has been destroyed by fire. so, your first job will be to recreate the firm's cash flow statement for the year just ended. the firm had $100,000 in the bank at the end of the prior year, and its working capital accounts except cash remained constant during the year. it earned $5 million in net income during the year but paid $800,000 in dividends to common shareholders. throughout the year, the firm purchased $5.5 million of machinery that was needed for a new project. you have just spoken to the firm's accountants and learned that annual depreciation expense for the year is $450,000; however, the purchase price for the machinery represents additions to property, plant, and equipment before depreciation. finally, you have determined that the only financing done by the firm was to issue long-term debt of $1 million at a 6% interest rate. what was the firm's end- of-year cash balance? recreate the firm's cash flow statement to arrive at your answer

If a team of three workers, each making the u.s. federal minimum wage, produced these 12 rugs, what would the total labor cost be? don't forget that these workers would be working overtime.