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Chapter 25: Q25-16RQ (page 1373)

What questions should managers answer when considering dropping a product or segment?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Answer

When considering dropping a product or segment, managers must answer some major questions, such as the impact of dropping theoverall contributionand avoidable fixed costs factors associated with such segment or product.

Step by step solution

01

Step-by-Step SolutionStep 1: Meaning of Contribution

Contribution refers to the profit left in the hands of a business entity after recovering all its variable costs from the sales revenue. It is computed by taking the difference betweenselling price per unit and variable cost per unit.

02

Factors to be answered when dropping a product or segment

Manager must answer the following questions when dropping a product or a segment:

  • First of all, managers must answer whether dropping a segment or product will result in an improved contribution.

It is the responsibility of managers to consider the factors associated with the contribution margin before dropping aproduct or segment. If the product has a negative contribution, it shows that the same will not be able to cover its variable costs, which will result in decreased overall contribution and vice-versa.

  • Managers should verify whether such a product or segment has anyavoidable fixed cost.

If there is any avoidable fixed cost, then dropping a segment or product generally improves the company'snet income. This is one reason why managers must consider avoidable fixed costs before dropping a product or segment.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Green Thumb operates a commercial plant nursery, where it propagates plants for garden centers throughout the region. Green Thumb has \(5,300,000 in assets. Its yearly fixed costs are \)625,000, and the variable costs for the potting soil, container, label, seedling, and labor for each gallon-size plant total \(1.70. Green Thumb’s volume is currently 490,000 units. Competitors offer the same plants, at the same quality, to garden centers for \)4.00 each. Garden centers then mark them up to sell to the public for \(9 to \)12, depending on the type of plant.

Requirements

1. Green Thumb’s owners want to earn an 10% return on the company’s assets. What is Green Thumb’s target full product cost?

2. Given Green Thumb’s current costs, will its owners be able to achieve their target profit?

3. Assume Green Thumb has identified ways to cut its variable costs to \(1.55 per unit. What is its new target fixed cost? Will this decrease in variable costs allow the company to achieve its target profit?

4. Green Thumb started an aggressive advertising campaign strategy to differentiate its plants from those grown by other nurseries. Green Thumb does not expect volume to be affected, but it hopes to gain more control over pricing. If Green Thumb has to spend \)135,000 this year to advertise and its variable costs continue to be $1.55 per unit, what will its cost-plus price be? Do you think Green Thumb will be able to sell its plants to garden centers at the cost-plus price? Why or why not?

Priscilla Smiley manages a fleet of 250 delivery trucks for Daniels Corporation. Smiley must decide whether the company should outsource the fleet management function. If she outsources to Fleet Management Services (FMS), FMS will be responsible for maintenance and scheduling activities. This alternative would require Smiley to lay off her five employees. However, her own job would be secure; she would be Daniels’s liaison with FMS. If she continues to manage the fleet, she will need fleet management software that costs \(9,500 per year to lease. FMS offers to manage this fleet for an annual fee of \)300,000. Smiley performed the following analysis:

Retain in-house Outsource to FMS Difference

Annual leasing fee for \(9,500 \)9,500

Software

Annual maintenance of

Trucks 147,000 147,000

Total annual salaries of

Five laid-off employees 185,000 185,000

Fleet management

Service’s annual fee \(300,000 (300,000)

Total differential cost of

Outsourcing \)341,500 \(300,000 \)41,500

Requirements

1. Which alternative will maximize Daniels’s short-term operating income?

2. What qualitative factors should Daniels consider before making a final decision?

Sea Blue manufactures flotation vests in Charleston, South Carolina. Sea Blue’s contribution margin income statement for the month ended December 31, 2018, contains the following data:

SEA BLUE

Income Statement

For the Month Ended December 31, 2018

Sales in units 32,000

Net Sales Revenue \(608,000

Variable Costs:

Manufacturing 96,000

Selling and Administrative 108,000

Total Variable Costs 204,000

Contribution Margin 404,000

Fixed Costs:

Manufacturing 124,000

Selling and Administrative 94,000

Total Fixed Costs 218,000

Operating Income \)186,000

Suppose Overboard wishes to buy 4,600 vests from Sea Blue. Sea Blue will not incur any variable selling and administrative expenses on the special order. The Sea Blue plant has enough unused capacity to manufacture the additional vests. Overboard has offered \(15 per vest, which is below the normal sales price of \)19.

Requirements

1. Identify each cost in the income statement as either relevant or irrelevant to Sea Blue’s decision.

2. Prepare a differential analysis to determine whether Sea Blue should accept this special sales order.

3. Identify long-term factors Sea Blue should consider in deciding whether to accept the special sales order.

Skiable Acres operates a Rocky Mountain ski resort. The company is planning its lift ticket pricing for the coming ski season. Investors would like to earn a 10% return on investment on the company’s \(270,000,000 of assets. The company primarily incurs fixed costs to groom the runs and operate the lifts. Skiable Acres projects fixed costs to be \)31,000,000 for the ski season. The resort serves about 725,000 skiers and snowboarders each season. Variable costs are about \(8 per guest. Currently, the resort has such a favorable reputation among skiers and snowboarders that it has some control over the lift ticket prices.

Requirements

1. Would Skiable Acres emphasize target pricing or cost-plus pricing? Why?

2. If other resorts in the area charge \)85 per day, what price should Skiable Acres charge?

Mary Tan is the controller for Duck Associates, a property management company in Portland, Oregon. Each year, Tan and payroll clerk Toby Stock meet with the external auditors about payroll accounting. This year, the auditors suggest that Tan consider outsourcing Duck Associates’s payroll accounting to a company specializing in payroll processing services. This would allow Tan and her staff to focus on their primary responsibility: accounting for the properties under management. At present, payroll requires 1.5 employee positions—payroll clerk Toby Stock and a bookkeeper who spends half her time entering payroll data in the system.

Tan considers this suggestion, and she lists the following items relating to outsourcing payroll accounting:

  1. The current payroll software that was purchased for \(4,000 three years ago would not be needed if payroll processing were outsourced.

  2. Duck Associates’ bookkeeper would spend half her time preparing the weekly payroll input form that is given to the payroll processing service. She is paid \)450 per week.

  3. Duck Associates would no longer need payroll clerk Toby Stock, whose annual salary is \(42,000.

  4. The payroll processing service would charge \)2,000 per month.

Requirements

1. Would outsourcing the payroll function increase or decrease Duck Associates’ operating income?

2. Tan believes that outsourcing payroll would simplify her job, but she does not like the prospect of having to lay off Stock, who has become a close personal friend. She does not believe there is another position available for Stock at his current salary. Can you think of other factors that might support keeping Stock, rather than outsourcing payroll processing? How should each of the factors affect Tan’s decision if she wants to do what is best for Duck Associates and act ethically?
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