If a company's actual results for revenues, net profits, EPS, and ROE turn out to be worse than projected, then it is usually because of some combination of three factors: (1) the company's product offering included too few models/styles of branded footwear, and/or (2) a number of rival companies unexpectedly stole sales and market by suddenly deciding to offer online buyers free shipping, and/or (3) a number of rival firms boosted the compensation of production workers to unexpectedly high levels (which had the effect of reducing the company's expected gains in labor productivity and resulted in higher-than-expected labor costs per pair produced). company managers failed to do a good enough job of lowering the company's per pair costs of branded footwear sold. the number of models/styles that company managers decided to make available for sale in the various geographic regions for branded footwear was, on balance, below the average number of models/styles offered by rival companies. company mangers failed to put enough emphasis on boosting the company's S/Q rating and increasing expenditures for brand advertising in most or all of the four geographic regions. o the competitive efforts exerted by rival companies to capture sales and market share for themselves in one or more geographic regions proved stronger than company managers anticipated, given the updates of the regional-average competitive efforts that company managers made (or failed to make) in the Competitive Assumptions boxes on the Internet Marketing and Wholesale Marketing decision screens, thus resulting in the projections of the company's profitability and overall performance being too optimistic. The managerial value of regularly consulting the data in the Year-to-Year Performance Highlights report has to do with the data provided being the quickest and best way to: o identify which of the company's competitive efforts in the branded Internet and Wholesale segments need to be increased, left as is, or decreased in the upcoming decison round. make better Competitive Assumptions on the Internet and Wholesale decision screens in the upcoming year. review the caliber of the operating results and key performance outcomes being achieved in all four geographic regions for all years completed to date--so that needed corrective actions can be taken in upcoming decision rounds. determine how to improve the company's brand reputation/image rating in the upcoming decision rounds. spot the flawed decisions made in the prior-year's decison round. OJO000000000000000 Valid reasons to open a new production facility in Latin America include o the cheaper price that has to be paid to purchase superior materials in Latin America. the lower base wages that have to be paid to production workers and supervisors in Latin America, as compared to workers and supervisors in Europe-Africa and North America. o the much weaker competition in the branded footwear segment that typically prevails in Latin America. o the higher profit margins that can be earned on branded sales in Latin America. o the strong preference that Latin American consumers have for purchasing branded footwear with a lower SI/Q rating, as compared to consumers in the other 3 geographic regions. The installation of production improvement option D which boosts worker productivity by 50% by using robots to assist in producing footwear region producing 300 or more models/styles of branded footwear with an S/Q rating of 6- stars or higher. is a very economically attractive means for reducing labor costs per pair at a production facility in the Asia-Pacific. will reduce labor costs per pair produced by the greatest amount at a newly established production facility in Latin America, as compared to the per pair reductions that can be achieved at production facilities in other regions. results in a bigger reduction in labor costs per pair produced at a production facility in the Asia-Pacific than a production facility in North America because both compensation of workers and worker productivity in the Asia-Pacific are lower than in North America. o is a more economically attractive means for reducing labor costs per pair at production facilities in North America and Europe-Africa than for a production facility in the Asia-Pacific or for a production facility in Latin America because compensation costs for workers in North America and Europe-Africa are typically much higher than in the other two regions. The managerial value of regularly consulting the data in the Year-to-Year Performance Highlights report has to do with the data provided being the quickest and best way to: o identify which of the company's competitive efforts in the branded Internet and Wholesale segments need to be increased, left as is, or decreased in the upcoming decison round. make better Competitive Assumptions on the Internet and Wholesale decision screens in the upcoming year. review the caliber of the operating results and key performance outcomes being achieved in all four geographic regions for all years completed to date--so that needed corrective actions can be taken in upcoming decision rounds. determine how to improve the company's brand reputation/image rating in the upcoming decision rounds. spot the flawed decisions made in the prior-year's decison round. nnnnn- Question 29 The most competitively effective and very likely most profitable long-term approach to reducing or eliminating the impact of paying tariffs on pairs imported to a company's distribution warehouse in Europe-Africa is to cut marketing expenses per pair sold in Europe Africa by enough to cover some/all of the tariff costs. stop selling footwear in Europe-Africa and close down all company operations in that region. build and equip a production facility in Europe-Africa and then expand it as may be needed to supply all (or at least most) of the pairs the company intends to try to sell in the Europe- Africa region. cut distribution and warehouse expenses in Europe Africa by enough to cover some/all of the tariff costs. raise the company's selling price of footwear in Europe-Africa by the full amount of the tariff and pass all tariff costs along to the purchasers of the company's footwear--this strategy has the advantage of completely eliminating the company's exposure to import tariffs in Europe-Africa Question 27 The installation of production improvement option D which boosts worker productivity by 50% by using robots to assist in producing footwear reduces labor costs per pair by the greatest amount at company production facilities in any region producing 300 or more models/styles of branded footwear with an S/Q rating of 6- stars or higher is a very economically attractive means for reducing labor costs per pair at a production facility in the Asia-Pacific. will reduce labor costs per pair produced by the greatest amount at a newly established production facility in Latin America, as compared to the per pair reductions that can be achieved at production facilities in other regions. results in a bigger reduction in labor costs per pair produced at a production facility in the Asia-Pacific than a production facility in North America because both compensation of workers and worker productivity in the Asia-Pacific are lower than in North America. is a more economically attractive means for reducing labor costs per pair at production facilities in North America and Europe-Africa than for a production facility in the Asia-Pacific n Latin America because compensation costs for workers in North America and Europe-Africa are typically much higher than in the other two regions