What are direct, traceable common, and nontraceable common costs? Give an example of each.
Direct costs are costs that we can assign directly to the proper marketing entities, such as materials costs and sales-force salaries. Traceable common costs are incurred indirectly but can be attributed on a plausible basis to various marketing entities, such as rent expenses. Nontraceable common costs are costs whose assignments are highly arbitrary, such as "corporate image" expenditures.