You Are Writing a Report Analyzing Whether Your Company Should

question 18

Multiple Choice

You are writing a report analyzing whether your company should hire a new vendor to provide data-warehousing services. You have found a white paper online that looks promising. How can you best judge the degree to which the authors are unbiased?

• A) Check to see if the authors have offices in the same cities as your potential data-service vendors.
• B) Check to see if the authors work as industry-wide consultants or as contractors for specific vendors.
• C) Check to see if the authors have advanced degrees.
• D) Check to see if the authors appear to be related to each other.

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Definitions:

Negotiate Costlessly

The ability to come to mutual agreement without incurring any transaction costs or facing obstacles in the negotiation process.

Coase Theorem

Principle that when parties can bargain without cost and to their mutual advantage, the resulting outcome will be efficient regardless of how property rights are specified.

Externalities

Costs or benefits that affect parties who did not choose to incur those costs or benefits, often leading to market failures.

Polluting

The act of contaminating the environment with pollutants, such as chemicals, noise, or heat, that can harm organisms and the ecosystem.