The phone rings in the next room and the assistant answers it. She tells the caller, "Yes, sir, they are here." She soon hangs up, and comes in with your coffee. She tells you that it should not be too much longer and again apologizes. She explains that the CEO doesn't answer his cell phone while driving. She says he waited to pull over to call her because he is a bit old fashioned. "He has a hands-free system but has found it a hassle to use," she says. She turns to leave, but you ask her to have a seat. You have an opportunity here. What would be most beneficial to ask the assistant at this time?

In december of 2004, the company you own entered into a 20-year contract with a grain supplier for daily deliveries of grain to its hot dog bun manufacturing facility. the contract called for "10,000 pounds of grain" to be delivered to the facility at the price of $100,000 per day. until february 2017, the supplier provided processed grain which could easily be used in your manufacturing process. however, no longer wanting to absorb the cost of having the grain processed, the supplier began delivering whole grain. the supplier is arguing that the contract does not specify the type of grain that would be supplied and that it has not breached the contract. your company is arguing that the supplier has an onsite processing plant and processed grain was implicit to the terms of the contract. over the remaining term of the contract, reshipping and having the grain processed would cost your company approximately $10,000,000, opposed to a cost of around $1,000,000 to the supplier. after speaking with in-house counsel, it was estimated that litigation would cost the company several million dollars and last for years. weighing the costs of litigation, along with possible ambiguity in the contract, what are three options you could take to resolve the dispute? which would be the best option for your business and why?

You have recently been made a department head of the new regional office. in getting to know your departmental staff, you have noticed that one of your inexperienced employees is not following through on assigned tasks. she is enthused about her new job and wants to get ahead in the organization. which alternative represents the most effective leadership style: a. discuss the lack of follow-through with her and explore thealternative ways this problem can be solved. b. specify what she must do to complete the tasks but incorporate any suggestions she may have. c. define the steps necessary for her to complete the assigned tasks and monitor her performance frequently. d. let her know about the lack of follow-through and give hermore time to improve her performance.

The owner of firewood to go is considering buying a hydraulic wood splitter which sells for $50,000. he figures it will cost an additional $100 per cord to purchase and split wood with this machine, while he can sell each cord of split wood for $125. if, for this machine, design capacity is 50 cords per day, effective capacity is 40 cords per day, and actual output is expected to be 32 cords per day, what would be its efficiency?