Question
Northwind Corporation is a small information-systems consulting firm that specializes in helping companies implement standard sales-management software. The market for Northwind's services is very competitive.
Northwind Corporation is a small information-systems consulting firm that specializes in helping companies implement standard sales-management software. The market for Northwind's services is very competitive. To compete successfully, Northwind must deliver quality service at a low cost. Northwind presents the following data for 2011 and 2012. Northwind follows a cost leadership strategy in 2012.
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| 2011 | 2012 |
1. | Number of jobs billed | 70 | 100 |
2. | Selling price per job | $56,000 | $50,000 |
3. | Software-implementation labor-hours | 35,000 | 38,000 |
4. | Cost per software-implementation labor-hour | $62 | $65 |
5. | Software-implementation support capacity (number of jobs it can do) | 125 | 125 |
6. | Total cost of software-implementation support | $475,000 | $525,000 |
7. | Software-implementation support-capacity cost per job (row 6 / row 5) | $3,800 | $4,200 |
Software-implementation labor-hour costs are variable costs. Software-implementation support costs for each year depend on the software-implementation support capacity Northwind chooses to maintain each year (that is, the number of jobs it can do each year). Software-implementation support costs do not vary with the actual number of jobs done that year.
REQUIRED
1. | Calculate the amount and cost of unused software-implementation support capacity at the beginning of 2012, based on the actual number of jobs actually done in 2012. |
2. | Suppose Northwind can add or reduce its software-implementation support capacity in increments of 10 units. What is the maximum amount of costs that Northwind could save in 2012 by downsizing software-implementation support capacity? |
3. | Northwind, in fact, does not eliminate any of its unused software-implementation support capacity. Why might Northwind not downsize? |
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