A Laptop Manufacturer Is Considering Designing and Marketing a Left-Handed

question 58

Essay

A laptop manufacturer is considering designing and marketing a left-handed laptop, with the keyboard rearranged to better suit left-handed people. The CEO is left-handed and has pointed out to senior management that over 10 percent of the population is left-handed. It will be expensive to design this new model, so the laptop manufacturer wants to make sure that this is an attractive segment. For each of the five criteria of segment attractiveness, list a question the laptop manufacturer will want to consider in evaluating the attractiveness of "left-handed laptop users" as a segment.

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Definitions:

Direct Labor-hours

Direct labor-hours are the total hours worked by employees directly involved in the manufacturing process, used as a measure for allocating labor costs to products.

Predetermined Overhead Rate

The rate estimated at the beginning of a period to allocate overhead to products or job orders, calculated based on expected overhead costs and an allocation base.

Machine-hours

A measure of production activity that quantifies the total hours that machinery is in operation during a given period.

Manufacturing Overhead

All indirect costs related to the manufacturing process, including materials, labor, and expenses not directly tied to the production of goods.