Sales Manager Stephen Edmonson Has Just Finished Reading a Printout

question 23

Multiple Choice

Sales manager Stephen Edmonson has just finished reading a printout of some statistics showing how his company's sales performance compares to that of competing firms. The statistics summarize a mass of raw figures into a few meaningful measures that Stephen will use to determine whether he needs to change his sales strategy. The statistics in the printout are:

• A) information, while the raw figures used to compute the statistics are data.
• B) data, while the raw figures used to compute the statistics are information.
• C) less useful to Stephen than the raw figures would have been, since summarizing the figures necessarily reduces their accuracy.
• D) an example of how managers have a tendency to oversimplify by reducing complex issues into a few simple numbers.

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Definitions:

Fixed Costs

Expenses that do not change with the volume of production or sales, such as rent, salaries, and insurance.

Logistics Department

The division in a company that is responsible for the planning, control, and management of the movement and storage of goods.

Variable Costs

Outgoings that vary precisely in accordance with the quantity of production or output.

Fixed Costs

Constant expenses that remain stable regardless of changes in the business activity level, playing a crucial role in budgeting and financial planning.