Internet Exercise #1

The websites of selected companies appear below. Review the information about the operations of each of the companies that is provided on these websites.

• Biolea (http://www.biolea.gr).
• Evian at (http://www.evian.com).
• Ircon International Limited (http://www.irconinternational.com).
• Gulf Craft Inc. (http://www.gulfcraftinc.com).

Write a brief summary (one paragraph) about each of the four companies that includes the following:

• A brief description of the operations of the company.
• Two specific examples of possible fixed costs, two specific examples of possible variable costs, and two specific examples of possible mixed costs.

Internet Exercise #2

Wal-Mart, like most retail concerns, has a high proportion of variable costs (cost of good sold) in its cost structure. Search the Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR corporate filings data base at http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm for the annual report of Form 10-K of a major retail merchant. Using information from each of the three years included in the company's most recent Form 10-K, perform the following:

• Calculate how the corporation's costs have changed as sales have changed over the time period covered by the Form 10-K. (In particular, restate cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales.)
• Calculate the other major cost categories as a percentage of sales over the time period covered by the Form 10-K.

Report the name of the company selected, summarize the financial results and calculations made related to sales and cost of goods sold for the three most recent years, and comment on any trends noted. Show your work.

Internet Exercise #3

Perform an Internet search using the term, contribution margin, and locate an article (less than one year old) from the results of your search. (Make sure that you do not select an instructor's lecture notes or a class assignment from the results of your search.) After reading the article, write a brief paper (3 — 5 paragraphs) that summarizes and comments on the article. (Your critique should provide the appropriate citation for the article. If necessary, you may wish to refer to the following website, which includes information about citations: http://www.cod.edu/library/research/citenet.htm.)