Beale management has a noncontributory, defined benefit pension plan. on december 31, 2018 (the end of beale's fiscal year), the following pension-related data were available: projected benefit obligation ($ in millions) balance, january 1, 2018 $ 480 service cost 82 interest cost, discount rate, 5% 24 gain due to changes in actuarial assumptions in 2018 (10 ) pension benefits paid (40 ) balance, december 31, 2018 $ 536 plan assets ($ in millions) balance, january 1, 2018 $ 500 actual return on plan assets 40 (expected return on plan assets, $45) cash contributions 70 pension benefits paid (40 ) balance, december 31, 2018 $ 570 january 1, 2018, balances: ($ in millions) pension asset $ 20 prior service cost–aoci (amortization $8 per year) 48 net gain–aoci (any amortization over 15 years) 80 required: prepare a pension spreadsheet to show the relationship among the pbo, plan assets, prior service cost, the net gain, pension expense, and the net pension asset.

Minolta inc. is considering a project that has the following cash flow and wacc data. what is the project's mirr? note that a project's projected mirr can be less than the wacc (and even negative), in which case it will be rejected. wacc: 10.00% year 0 1 2 3 4 cash flows -$850 300 $320 $340 $360

The leading producer of cell phone backup batteries, jumpstart, has achieved great success because they produce high-quality battery backups that are not too expensive. even so, another company that produces lower-quality batteries at the same price has also achieved some success, but not as much as jumpstart. also, in general, the price of backup batteries has declined because of economies of scale and learning. in addition, jumpstart has added complementary assets, such as a carrying case. considering all of these factors, the backup battery industry is most likely in the introduction stage. growth stage. shakeout stage. maturity stage.

Ajustification for job training programs is that they improve worker productivity. suppose that you are asked to evaluate whether more job training makes workers more productive. however, rather than having data on individual workers, you have access to data on manufacturing firms in ohio. in particu- lar, for each firm, you have information on hours of job training per worker (training) and number of nondefective items produced per worker hour (output). (i) carefully state the ceteris paribus thought experiment underlying this policy question. (ii) does it seem likely that a firm’s decision to train its workers will be independent of worker characteristics? what are some of those measurable and unmeasurable worker characteristics? (iii) name a factor other than worker characteristics that can affect worker productivity. (iv) if you find a positive correlation between output and training, would you have convincingly established that job training makes workers more productive? explain.