“But it is only for the sake of profit that any man employs a capital in the support of industry; and he will always, therefore, endeavor to employ it in the support of that industry of which the produce is likely to be of the greatest value, or to exchange for the greatest quantity either of money or of other goods…It is his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society…By directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” According to Smith, what motive drives investors in a capitalistic economy?

to reform business
to make a profit
to provide employment
to create an industry

Garrett is an executive vice president at samm hardware. he researches a proposal by a larger company, maximum hardware, to combine the two companies. by analyzing past performance, conducting focus groups, and interviewing maximum employees, garrett concludes that maximum has poor profit margins, sells shoddy merchandise, and treats customers poorly. what actions should garrett and samm hardware take? a. turn down the acquisition offer and prepare to resist a hostile takeover. b. attempt a friendly merger and use managerial hubris to improve results at maximum. c. welcome the acquisition and use knowledge transfer to impart sam hardware's management practices. d. do nothing; the two companies cannot combine without samm hardware's explicit consent.

As the inventor of hypertension medication, onesure pharmaceuticals (osp) inc. was able to reap the benefits of economies of scale due to a large consumer demand for the drug. even when competitors later developed similar drugs after the expiry of osp's patents, regular users did not want to switch because they were concerned about possible side effects. which of the following benefits does this scenario best illustrate? a. first-mover advantages b. social benefits c. network externalities d. fringe benefits

The chromosome manufacturing company produces two products, x and y. the company president, jean mutation, is concerned about the fierce competition in the market for product x. she notes that competitors are selling x for a price well below chromosome's price of $13.50. at the same time, she notes that competitors are pricing product y almost twice as high as chromosome's price of $12.50.ms. mutation has obtained the following data for a recent time period: product x product y number of units 11,000 3,000 direct materials cost per unit $3.23 $3.09 direct labor cost per unit $2.22 $2.10 direct labor hours 10,000 3,500 machine hours 2,100 1,800 inspection hours 80 100 purchase orders 10 30ms. mutation has learned that overhead costs are assigned to products on the basis of direct labor hours. the overhead costs for this time period consisted of the following items: overhead cost item amount inspection costs $16,200 purchasing costs 8,000 machine costs 49,000 total $73,200using direct labor hours to allocate overhead costs determine the gross margin per unit for product x. choose the best answer from the list below.a. $1.93b. $3.12c. $7.38d. $2.43e. $1.73using activity-based costing for overhead allocation, determine the gross margin per unit for product y. choose best answer from list below.a. $10.07b. ($2.27)c. ($5.23)d. ($7.02)e. $7.02