ces Three different plans were presented to the Ahbhalet Corporation for operating an identity-theft scanning system. Plan A involves renewable 1-year contracts with payments of $1 million at the beginning of each year. Plan B is a 2-year contract that requires four payments of $600,000 each, with the first one made now and the other three at 6-month intervals. Plan C is a 3-year contract that entails payment of $1.5 million now and the second payment of $0.5 million 2 years from now. Assuming that the company could renew any of the plans under the same payment conditions, determine which plan is best on the basis of a PW analysis at a MARR of 6% per year compounded semiannually. The present worth of plan A is $ the present worth of plan B is $ and the present worth of plan C is $ The best plan on the basis of the present worth analysis is plan C

Furniture Forecasting Futura Furniture Products manufactures upscale office furniture for the Office of the Future. The sales division comprises regionally based sales offices made up of sales representatives and regional managers. Sales representativeswho report to the regional managersconduct direct sales efforts with customers in their regions. As part of the sales process, representatives gather information about likely future orders and convey that information back to the regional managers. Regional managers use that information to create sales forecasts, which are then used as the basis for manufacturing schedules. Sales representatives and regional managers are both compensated on a salary plus commission (percentage of revenue as pricing is centrally controlled). However, a regional managers commission is adjusted based on regional sales that exceed the forecasted budget. Corporate managers are concerned with one of Futuras key products, the DeskPod. They worry that DeskPod forecasts are inaccurate, causing extreme havoc in the manufacturing process. How are the forecasts likely to be inaccurate? What do you think is driving this inaccuracy? How might this problem be solved?

Bell Greenhouses has estimated its monthly demand for potting soil to be the following: N=400+4X where N=monthlydemandforbagsofpottingsoil X=timeperiodsinmonths(March2006=0) Assume this trend factor is expected to remain stable in the foreseeable future. The following table contains the monthly seasonal adjustment factors, which have been estimated using actual sales data from the past five years: Forecast Bell Greenhouses demand for potting soil in March, June, August, and December 2007. If the following table shows the forecasted and actual potting soil sales by Bell Greenhouses for April in five different years, determine the seasonal adjustment factor to be used in making an April 2008 forecast.

In the Southern Company Managerial Challenge, which alternative for complying with the Clean Air Act creates the greatest real option value? How exactly does that alternative save money? Why? Explain why installing a scrubber burns this option.

The forecasting staff for the Prizer Corporation has developed a model to predict sales of its air-cushioned-ride snowmobiles. The model specifies that sales S vary jointly with disposable personal income Y and the population between ages 15 and 40, Z, and inversely with the price of the snowmobiles P. Based on past data, the best estimate of this relationship is S=kYZP where k has been estimated (with past data) to equal 100. If Y=11,000,Z=1,200, and P=20,000, what value would you predict for S? What happens if P is reduced to $17,500? How would you go about developing a value for k? What are the potential weaknesses of this model?

What are some ways that someone looking for a loan might reassure a bank that is faced with imperfect information about whether the borrower will repay the loan?

Logarithms are especially useful for comparing series with two divergent scales since 10 percent growth always looks the same, regardless of the starting level. When absolute levels matter, the raw data are more appropriate, but when growth rates are whats important, log scales are better.

Why might it be difficult for a buyer and seller to agree on a price when imperfect information exists?

If a government gains from unexpected inflation when it borrows, why would it choose to offer indexed bands?

Savings-Mart (a chain of discount department stores) sells patio and lawn furniture. Sales are seasonal, with higher sales during the spring and summer quarters and lower sales during the fall and winter quarters. The company developed the following quarterly sales forecasting model: Y t=8.25+0.125t2.75D1t+3.50D3t where Y t=predictedsales(million)inquartert 8.25=quarterlysales(million)whent=0 t=timeperiod(quarter)wherethefourthquarterof2002=0,firstquarterof2003=1,secondquarterof2003=2,... D1t={1forfirst-quarterobservations0otherwiseD2t={1forsecond-quarterobservations0otherwiseD3t={1forthird-quarterobservations0otherwise Forecast Savings-Marts sales of patio and lawn furniture for each quarter of 2010.