In the late 1970s, Xerox embarked upon a benchmarking effort that was applied to all functional areas across the company. All parts of the company participated in the program. A wide range of benchmarks was established. Some examples include: Lowest cost per page of publication (among Xeroxs plants) Lowest billing error rate (among Xeroxs processing centers) Number of problem-free machines (compared to IBM) Fastest service response time (of competitors) Budgeted cost of order processing (compared to LL Bean Company) Cost of warehousing (compared to LL Bean Company)

Which of these benchmarks would Xerox use to compute direct cost variances such as those for direct materials and direct manufacturing labour?

a. Budgeted cost of order processing

b. Number of problem-free machines, fastest service response time, and the cost of warehousing

c. Least cost per page of publication d. Least cost per page of publication and lowest billing error rate

d. Least cost per page of publication and lowest billing error rate