西方财务会计1-4答案.doc

Chapter 1 1.The objective of most businesses is to maximize profits. Profit is the difference between the amounts received from customers for goods or services provided and the amounts paid for the inputs used to provide those goods or services. 2. A manufacturing business changes basic inputs into products that are then sold to customers. A service business provides services rather than products to customers. A restaurant such as Applebee’s has characteristics of both a manufacturing and a service business in that Applebee’s takes raw inputs such as cheese, fish, and beef and processes them into products for consumption by their customers. At the same time, Applebee’s provides services of waiting on their customers as they dine. 3. The corporate form allows the company to obtain large amounts of resources by issuing stock. For this reason, most companies that require large investments in property, plant, and equipment are organized as corporations. 4. The business strategy of KIA is a low-cost strategy. In contrast, the business strategy of Porche is a differentiation strategy. The difference in strategies is directly reflected in the prices of the autos. For example, you can purchase a KIA for under $10,000 while the entry level Porche begins at over $40,000. 5. Super Wal-Mart will compete for customers using a low-cost strategy. The size and buying power of Wal-Mart Corporation provides Wal-Mart a competitive advantage over your friend in the ability to offer low prices. Thus, your friend should attempt to compete using a differentiation strategy. For example, your friend could offer personalized service to customers such as knowing customers’ names, friendly atmosphere, home delivery of medicines, help in filing insurance forms, 24-hour call service, etc. 6. eBay offers value to its customers by developing a Web-based community in which buyers and sellers are brought together in an efficient format to browse, buy, and sell items such as collectibles, automo