Final answer:
The tool designed to eliminate all waste in value creation processes is Lean Manufacturing. It aims to reduce materials, time, or effort wastage while maximizing productivity. The choice of production technology should be based on the lowest total cost and adjust to capital and labor cost changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The tool developed to eliminate all waste in value creation processes is called Lean Manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing is an approach focused on minimizing waste within manufacturing systems while simultaneously maximizing productivity. Waste can refer to materials, time, or effort that does not generate value for the customer.
Concerning the provided scenarios about production possibility frontiers, productive efficiency occurs when an economy or a production process can no longer produce additional amounts of one good without sacrificing the production of another good. This is visually represented by being on the Production Possibility Frontier (PPF) curve itself. Allocative efficiency, on the other hand, reflects the optimal distribution of goods and services, taking into account consumer preferences. It is reached when the mix of goods being produced represents the mix that society most desires.
Choices K, L, and M, are likely to represent points on or within the PPF curve, indicating different degrees of productive and allocative efficiencies. Without specific values, it's difficult to determine which choice between K and L or K and N is better as it would depend on societal value preferences. The choice likely to represent command-and-control environmental policy might be more rigid and dictated by regulations, while a market-oriented environmental policy would allow for market mechanisms to more dynamically achieve environmental quality.
When considering production technologies, a firm should choose the one with the lowest total cost, allowing for efficient resource allocation. An increase in machine cost is likely to cause a firm to opt for a labor-intensive technology, while a decrease in machine cost would favor capital-intensive technology.