Some industries, like the athletic shoe industry, are dominated by a small number of firms with strong brands. These industries are difficult to break into without spending heavily on advertising. The barrier to entry that the firms in these types of industries have erected is referred to as:

Problem 2-18 job-order costing for a service company [lo2-1, lo2-2, lo2-3]speedy auto repairs uses a job-order costing system. the company's direct materials consist of replacement parts installed in customer vehicles, and its direct labor consists of the mechanics' hourly wages. speedy's overhead costs include various items, such as the shop manager's salary, depreciation of equipment, utilities, insurance, and magazine subscriptions and refreshments for the waiting room. the company applies all of its overhead costs to jobs based on direct labor-hours. at the beginning of the year, it made the following estimates: direct labor-hours required to support estimated output 10,000fixed overhead cost $ 90,000variable overhead cost per direct labor-hour $ 1.00 required: 1. compute the predetermined overhead rate.2. during the year, mr. wilkes brought in his vehicle to replace his brakes, spark plugs, and tires. the following information was available with respect to his job: direct materials $ 600direct labor cost $ 180direct labor-hours used 2 compute mr. wilkes' total job cost. 3. if speedy establishes its selling prices using a markup percentage of 30% of its total job cost, then how much would it have charged mr. wilkes?

In the fall, jay thompson decided to live in a university dormitory. he signed a dorm contract under which he was obligated to pay the room rent for the full college year. one clause stated that if he moved out during the year, he could sell his dorm contract to another student who would move into the dormitory as his replacement. the dorm cost was $5000 for the two semesters, which jay had already paid a month after he moved into the dorm, he decided he would prefer to live in an apartment. that week, after some searching for a replacement to fulfill his dorm contract, jay had two offers. one student offered to move in immediately and to pay jay $300 per month for the eight remaining months of the school year. a second student offered to move in the second semester and pay $2500 to jay. jay estimates his food cost per month is $500 if he lives in the dorm and $450 if he lives in an apartment with three other students. his share of the apartment rent and utilities will be $404 per month. assume each semester is 4.5 months long. disregard the small differences in the timing of the disbursements or receipts. what is the cost of the cheapest alternative?

Special order carson manufacturing, inc., sells a single product for $36 per unit. at an operating level of 8,000 units, variable costs are $18 per unit and fixed costs $10 per unit. carson has been offered a price of $20 per unit on a special order of 2,000 units by big mart discount stores, which would use its own brand name on the item. if carson accepts the order, material cost will be $3 less per unit than for regular production. however, special stamping equipment costing $4,000 would be needed to process the order; the equipment would then be discarded. assuming that volume remains within the relevant range, prepare an analysis of differential revenue and costs to determine whether carson should accept the special order. use a negative sign with answer to only indicate an income loss from special order; otherwise do not use negative signs with your answers.