A baby boomer decides to purchase a BMW to impress others with her success. This illustrates the importance of understanding the role of in the marketing process.

Who is better at multi-tasking? in business, employees are often asked to perform a complex task when their atten-tion is divided (i.e., multi-tasking). human factors (may 2014) published a study designed to determine whether video game players are better than non–video game play-ers at multi-tasking. each in a sample of 60 college stu-dents was classified as a video game player or a non-player. participants entered a street crossing simulator and were asked to cross a busy street at an unsigned intersec-tion. the simulator was designed to have cars traveling at various high rates of speed in both directions. during the crossing, the students also performed a memory task as a distraction. two variables were measured for each student: (1) a street crossing performance score (measured out of 100 points) and (2) a memory task score (measured out of 20 points). the researchers found no differences in either the street crossing performance or memory task score of video game players and non-gamers. “these results,” say the researchers, “suggest that action video game players [and non-gamers] are equally susceptible to the costs of dividing attention in a complex task”

Amanda rice has just arranged to purchase a $640,000 vacation home in the bahamas with a 20 percent down payment. the mortgage has a 7 percent apr compounded monthly and calls for equal monthly payments over the next 30 years. her first payment will be due one month from now. however, the mortgage has an eight-year balloon payment, meaning that the balance of the loan must be paid off at the end of year 8. there were no other transaction costs or finance charges. how much will amanda’s balloon payment be in eight years

Conor is 21 years old and just started working after college. he has opened a retirement account that pays 2.5% interest compounded monthly. he plans on making monthly deposits of $200. how much will he have in the account when he reaches 591 years of age?