$1.$ Bead is a product of the Baldwin company which is primarily in the Nano segment, but is also sold in another segment. Baldwin starts to create their sales forecast by assuming all policies $($R&D$,$ Marketing, and Production$)$ for all competitors are equal this year over last. For this question assume that all $1128$ of units of Bead are sold in the Nano segment. If the competitive environment remains unchanged what will be the Bead product$$s demand next year $($in $000$s$)?$

$2572$

$1286$

$1207$

$1128$

$2.$ Your team has recently experienced some difficulties and setbacks. Some of your teammates have expressed their lack of confidence in the team. Which of the following tactics is most likely to help boost your teammates$$ perception of the team$$s capability to perform well?

$$ Identify the team$$s weak links that led to the team$$s past failures.

$$ Encourage your teammates to focus on the future and not to dwell on the past.

$$ Discuss the past successes your team has had and how the team pulled together to get the job done.

$$ Allow time at a team meeting for everyone to openly share any complaints they might have about one another.

$3.$ Looking forward to next year, if Baldwin$$s current cash balance is $$17,334(000)$ and cash flows from operations next period are unchanged from this period, and Baldwin takes ONLY the following actions relating to cash flows from investing and financing activities: Issues $100(000)$ shares of stock at the current stock price Issues $$400(000)$ in bonds Retires $$10,000(000)$ in debt Which of the following activities will expose Baldwin to the most risk of needing an emergency loan?

$$ Liquidates the entire inventory

$$ Sells $$10,000(000)$ of their long$-$term assets

$$ Purchases assets at a cost of $$25,000(000)$

$$ Pays a $$5\mathrm{.}00$ per share dividend

$4.$ A productivity index of $110\%$ means that a company$$s labor costs would have been $10\%$ higher if it had not made production improvements. Assume that Chester had a productivity index of $112\%$ and that Digby had a productivity index of $103\%.$ Now refer to the Income Statements in the Annual Report for Chester and Digby. Using the labor costs shown in the Income Statements, how much more did Chester save in direct labor costs compared to Digby by having a higher productivity index?

$$ $$3,188$

$$ $$2,869$

$$ $$3,507$

$$ $$3,347$

$5.$ Investing $$2,000,000$ in TQM$\text{'}$s Channel Support Systems initiative will at a minimum increase demand for your products $3\mathrm{.}0\%$ in this and in all future rounds. $($Refer to the TQM Initiative worksheet in the CompXM Decisions menu.$)$ Looking at the Round $0$ Inquirer for Andrews, last year's sales were $$163,508,343.$ Assuming similar sales next year, the $3\mathrm{.}0\%$ increase in demand will provide $$4,905,250$ of additional revenue. With the overall contribution margin of $34\mathrm{.}1\%,$ after direct costs this revenue will add $$1,672,690$ to the bottom line. For simplicity, assume that the demand increase and margins will remain at last year's levels. How long will it take to achieve payback on the initial $$2,000,000$ TQM investment, rounded to the nearest month?

$10$ months

$$ TQM investment will not have a significant financial impact

$14$ months

$5$ months

$6.$ Assuming Digby$$s current market share for its Duck product remains the same, how many units of Duck should Digby expect to sell in the primary segment for the upcoming year?

$1503$ units

$1653$ units

$1787$ units

$1639$ units

$7.$ Bead's product manager continues to perform well in the market. However, a competing product is coming on strong and is looking to take over as the market share leader in the segment. Without sacrificing contribution margin, what can the Bead product manager do in order to improve upon the buying criteria, and thus potentially increase demand?

$$ Lower the selling price since it is the second most important buying criteria

$$ Increase MTBF by $2000$

$$ Reposition Bead to make it even smaller and higher performing

$$ Increase the promotion budget to gain greater awareness

$8.$ Digby's product manager is considering lowering the price of the Dune product by $$2\mathrm{.}50$ and wants to know what the impact will be on the product$$s contribution margin. Assuming no inventory carry costs, what will Dune's contribution margin be if the price is lowered?

$34\mathrm{.}00\%$

$31\mathrm{.}58\%$

$30\mathrm{.}00\%$

$32\mathrm{.}30\%$