PROBLEM 19.7A Activity-Based Management at Book Web, Inc. OLO19-2, QL019-3 Book Web, Inc., sells books and software over the Internet. A recent article in a trade journal has caught the attention of management because the company has experienced soaring inventory handling costs. The article notes that similar firms have purchasing, warehousing, and distribution costs that average 13 percent of sales. Thirteen percent is attractive to Book Web management when compared to its results for the past year, shown in the following table. % of Cost Cost Driver Quantity Driver for Books % of Cost Driver for Software Cost Driver 2,000 70% 30% Activity (cost) Incoming receipts ($300,000) Warehousing ($360,000) Shipments ($225,000) Number of purchase orders Number of inventory moves Number of shipments 9,000 80% 20% 15,000 25% 75% Page 881 Book sales revenue totaled $3,900,000 and software sales revenue totaled $2,600,000. A review of the company's activities found various inefficiencies with respect to the warehousing of books and the outgoing shipments of software. In particular, book misplacements resulted in an extra 550 moves and software had 250 incorrect shipments. a. What is activity-based management (as opposed to cost-based management, for example) and under what circumstances is it useful? What is a non-value-added activity? b. How much did non-value-added activities cost Book Web this past year? c. Cite at least two examples of situations that may have given rise to non-value-added activities at Book Web. d. Will the elimination of non-value-added activities allow Book Web to achieve 13 percent as a cost percentage of sales for each of the product lines? (Show all calculations to support your answer.) e. Do either of the product lines require additional cost cutting to achieve the target percentages? How much additional cost cutting is needed and what tools (or methods) might the company use to achieve the cuts? Briefly describe them