Financial managers should strive to maximize the current value per share of the existing stock because:

b. Because they have been hired to represent the interests of the current shareholders

Explanation:

Financial managers are meant to always try to maximise the stock of a company because doing so will increase the wealth of the current shareholders who are the owners of the company.

The managers owe this duty to the shareholders because they were hired to represent and pursue the interests of these shareholders. This sometime raises a conflict known as the Agency conflict because the managers might try to represent their own interests instead.

answer; ///(d); determining who competes most closely   with whom evaluating whether industry driving forces and competitive pressure favor some strategic groups and hurt others, and ascertaining whether the profit potential of different strategic groups varies due to the strengths and weaknesses in each groups respective market positions;