A shareholders' group, in lodging a protest, claimed that the mean tenure for a chief executive officer (CEO) was at least nine years. A survey of companies reported in The Wall Street Journal found a sample mean tenure of x = 7.07 years for CEOs with a standard deviation of s = 6.38 years.

(a) Choose the correct hypotheses that can be used to challenge the validity of the claim made by the shareholders' group.

H₀: _________ ( = OR OR ) ______ years

H_a: _________ (= OR > OR <) ______ years

(b) Assume that 85 companies were included in the sample. What is the p value for your hypothesis test? If required, round your answer to four decimal places. ____________

(c) At = 0.01, what is your conclusion? We (Select your answer): reject OR fail to reject the null hypothesis. We (Select your answer): can OR cannot conclude that the mean tenure for a CEO is shorter than nine years.