What is outsourcing?

Short Answer

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Answer

Outsourcing refers to the process of accomplishing the business tasks and activities by the third parties against afixed, predetermined consideration.

Step by step solution

01

Step-by-Step SolutionStep 1: Meaning of Business Activities

Business activities refer to the variety of functions performed in the business entity. Major business activities are bifurcated intooperating, investing, and financing activities.

02

Meaning of Outsourcing

In business terms, outsourcing refers to a practice in which an outsider is hired or allowed by a business entity to performplanned or existing business tasks. It facilitates the business entities to fulfill their needs from outside rather than making in-house.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Johnson Builders builds 1,500-square-foot starter tract homes in the fast-growing suburbs of Atlanta. Land and labor are cheap, and competition among developers is fierce. The homes are a standard model, with any upgrades added by the buyer after the sale. Johnson Builders’s costs per developed sublot are as follows:

Land \(50,000

Construction 123,000

Landscaping 9,000

Variable selling costs 8,000

Johnson Builders would like to earn a profit of 14% of the variable cost of each home sold. Similar homes offered by competing builders sell for \)207,000 each. Assume the company has no fixed costs.

Requirements

1. Which approach to pricing should Johnson Builders emphasize? Why?

2. Will Johnson Builders be able to achieve its target profit levels?

3. Bathrooms and kitchens are typically the most important selling features of a home. Johnson Builders could differentiate the homes by upgrading the bathrooms and kitchens. The upgrades would cost \(16,000 per home but would enable Johnson Builders to increase the sales prices by \)28,000 per home.

(Kitchen and bathroom upgrades typically add about 175% of their cost to the value of any home.) If Johnson Builders makes the upgrades, what will the new cost-plus price per home be? Should the company differentiate its product in this manner?

What is cost-plus pricing? Who uses it?

Cool Systems manufactures an optical switch that it uses in its final product. The switch has the following manufacturing costs per unit:

Direct materials \(5.00

Direct labor 3.00

Variable overhead 6.00

Fixed overhead 7.00

Manufacturing product cost \)21.00

Another company has offered to sell Cool Systems the switch for $15.00 per unit. If Cool Systems buys the switch from the outside supplier, the idle manufacturing facilities cannot be used for any other purpose, yet none of the fixed costs are avoidable.

Prepare an outsourcing analysis to determine whether Cool Systems should make or buy the switch.

Members of the board of directors of Security Team have received the following operating income data for the year ended March 31, 2018:

SECURITY CHECK

Income Statement

For the Year Ended May 31, 2018

Product Line

Industrial Systems

Household Systems

Total

Net Sales Revenue

\( 300,000

\) 330,000

\( 630,000

Cost of Goods Sold:

Variable

35,000

42,000

77,000

Fixed

210,000

63,000

273,000

Total Cost of Goods Sold

245,000

105,000

350,000

Gross Profit

55,000

225,000

280,000

Selling and Administrative Expenses:

Variable

66,000

77,000

143,000

Fixed

39,000

28,000

67,000

Total Selling and Administrative Expenses

105,000

105,000

210,000

Operating Income (Loss)

\) (50,000)

\( 120,000

\) 70,000

Members of the board are surprised that the industrial systems product line is losing money. They commission a study to determine whether the company should drop the line. Company accountants estimate that dropping industrial systems will decrease fixed cost of goods sold by \(81,000 and decrease fixed selling and administrative expenses by \)15,000.

Requirements

1. Prepare a differential analysis to show whether Security Team should drop the industrial systems product line.

2. Prepare contribution margin income statements to show Security Team’s total operating income under the two alternatives: (a) with the industrial systems line and (b) without the line. Compare the difference between the two alternatives’ income numbers to your answer to Requirement 1.

3. What have you learned from this comparison in Requirement 2?

Suppose Roasted Pepper restaurant is considering whether to (1) bake bread for its restaurant in-house or (2) buy the bread from a local bakery. The chef estimates that variable costs of making each loaf include \(0.52 of ingredients, \)0.27 of variable overhead (electricity to run the oven), and \(0.79 of direct labor for kneading and forming the loaves. Allocating fixed overhead (depreciation on the kitchen equipment and building) based on direct labor, Roasted Pepper assigns \)0.96 of fixed overhead per loaf. None of the fixed costs are avoidable. The local bakery would charge $1.78 per loaf.

Requirements

1. What is the full product unit cost of making the bread in-house?

2. Should Roasted Pepper bake the bread in-house or buy from the local bakery? Why?

3. In addition to the financial analysis, what else should Roasted Pepper consider when making this decision?

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