Read the following case and determine the form of business ownership or ownerships strategy Abby attended a party at a friend's house. At the party, a sales representative presented
a line of high quality, decorative baskets in an array of shapes and sizes. Abby has been a
collector of the baskets for a long time. When the sales representative approached her
about becoming a representative for the company, Abby told the representative that she
would be very interested in becoming a distributor.

Panera bread is a chain of cafes serving sandwiches, soups, and freshly baked breads. the company began in 1981 with stores primarily located along the east coast of the united states. since then, the firm has expanded to over 1,300 locations throughout the united states and canada. the firm has strong earnings and has been designated by business week as a "significant growth company." panera bread executives are considering the idea of expanding globally by opening cafes in asia through a franchising strategy. which of the following, if true, supports the argument that panera bread should expand into asia through franchising? a: the panera bread menu changes rapidly, and each cafe's artisan bread bakers receive regular training on new recipes. b: panera bread executives want fast access to the asian market without a significant investment of capital. c: panera bread executives want to test the asian market with a short-term commitment that allows them to make quick profits. d: the panera bread mission is to make excellent bread available to customers around the world.

The 39 percent and 38 percent tax rates both represent what is called a tax "bubble." suppose the government wanted to lower the upper threshold of the 39 percent marginal tax bracket from $335,000 to $208,000. what would the new 39 percent bubble rate have to be? (do not round intermediate calculations. enter your answer as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places,e.g., 32.16.)

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?