Answer & Explanation:Here are 5 economic articles, choose 2 articles. And to write 2 brief papers for two of the articles. Each paper should be double spaced with 12 pt. font and no longer than 2 pages. Each paper should contain a synopsis of the article, address the problem the article presented, determine if the economic agent in the article had enough information to make the correct decision, and propose alternative answers to the problem at hand. Make sure to point out any concept in chapter 7 that can be applied. Froeb3e_07a(1).ppt You will want to keep in mind that some articles may not have a problem or the problem may not be obvious. If there doesn’t appear to be a problem, put yourself in that person’s shoes and ask yourself what potential problem could arise and how would you attempt to answer it.1. Monday afternoon links – Breweries https://www.aei.org/publication/monday-morning-links-28/2. Why you should always buy the men’s version of almost anything https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/22/women-really-do-pay-more-for-razors-and-almost-everything-else/3. Why Walmart Can Pull Off ‘Everyday Low Prices’ http://www.businessinsider.com/why-walmart-can-pull-off-everyday-low-prices-while-everyone-else-keeps-failing-2012-94. ‘Evenings’ at Starbucks http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/08/14/evenings-starbucks-coffee-shop-sell-wine-craft-beer-small-plates/31713183/5. On Asian Airlines’ Radar: New Offbeat Routes http://www.wsj.com/articles/on-asian-airlines-radar-new-offbeat-routes-1412273077
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11
Chapter 7
Economies of
Scale and Scope
1
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 7 – Summary of main
points
• The law of diminishing marginal returns states that as
you try to expand output, your marginal productivity (the
extra output associated with extra inputs) eventually
declines.
• Increasing marginal costs eventually cause increasing
average costs and make it more difficult to compute
break-even prices. When negotiating contracts, it is
important to know what your costs curves look like;
otherwise, you could end up accepting contracts with
unprofitable prices.
• If average cost falls with output, then you have increasing
returns to scale. In this case you want to focus strategy
on securing sales that enable you to realize lower costs.
Alternatively, if you offer suppliers big orders that allow
them to realize economies of scale, try to share in their
profit by demanding lower prices.
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 7 – Summary (cont.)
• If your average costs are constant with respect to output,
then you have constant returns to scale. If average costs
rise with output, you have decreasing returns to scale or
diseconomies of scale.
• Learning curves mean that current production lowers
future costs. It’s important to look over the life cycle of a
product when working with products characterized by
learning curves.
• If the cost of producing two outputs jointly is less than
the cost of producing them separately—that is,
Cost(Q1,Q2) < Cost(Q1) + Cost(Q2) — then there are
economies of scope between the two products. This can
be an important source of competitive advantage and
shape acquisition strategy.
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Anecdote: Rayovac Company
• Founded in 1906, three entrepreneurs started a battery
production company that grew to rival Energizer and Duracell.
• In 1996, The Thomas H. Lee Company acquired Rayovac –
taking advantage of easy credit availability the company then
bought many other battery production companies as well. A move
the company said they made to take advantage or efficiencies
and economies of scale.
• They expected that as they produced more of the same good,
average costs would fall.
• The company also bought many unrelated companies at the
same time as the battery binge – the reasoning being that
because of synergies, if they centralized the production of many
different goods the costs of production would be lower.
• By February 2009 the new conglomerate was bankrupt
• Moral of the story? In business investments if you hear the
words “efficiency” or “synergy,” hold on to your money.
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Increasing marginal costs
•
Definition: The law of diminishing marginal returns: as you try
to expand output marginal productivity eventually declines.
• Diminishing marginal returns ➔ marginal
productivity declines
• Diminishing marginal productivity ➔
increasing marginal costs
• Increasing marginal costs eventually lead to
increasing average costs
• Some causes of diminishing marginal
returns
• Difficulty of monitoring and motivating a large work force
• Increasing complexity of a large system
• The “fixity” of some factor, like testing capacity
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Cost
Graph 1: Marginal cost
Area of increasing marginal costs
(diminishing marginal returns)
Marginal
Cost
Output
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Graph 2: marginal vs. average
cost
Cost
• Increasing marginal costs eventually lead to increasing
average costs.
Marginal
Cost
Average
Total Cost
Output
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Increasing marginal cost (cont.)
• Break even analysis with increasing MC
• Discussion: Akio Morita and the Sony Transistor radio
• Mr. Morita’s radio would cost more to produce
if he exceeded his target output of 10,000
•
$20 for 5K
•
$15 for 10K
•
$40 for 100K
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Economies of scale
• Definition: short run “fixity” vs. long run “flexibility”
• i.e. factors that are fixed costs in the SR but
become variable in the long run
•
If long-run average costs are constant with respect to
output, then you have constant returns to scale.
•
If long run average costs rise with output, you have
decreasing returns to scale or diseconomies of scale.
•
If average costs fall with output, you have increasing
returns to scale or economies of scale.
• Discussion: Category Killer stores & economies of scale
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning curves
• Discussion: Every time an airplane manufacturer
doubles production, marginal costs decrease by 20%.
Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Marginal
Cost ($M)
100.0
80.0
70.2
64.0
59.6
56.2
53.4
51.2
49.3
47.7
Total Cost
($M)
100.0
180.0
250.2
314.2
373.8
429.9
483.4
534.6
583.9
631.5
Average
Cost ($M)
100.0
90.0
83.4
78.6
74.8
71.7
69.1
66.8
64.9
63.2
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning curves graph
120.0
100.0
$M
80.0
60.0
Marginal
Cost ($M)
40.0
Average
Cost ($M)
20.0
0.0
0
2
4
6
8
10
Quantity
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Anecdote: guitar fingerboards
• Firm X produces guitar fingerboards
• Rosewood is used for budget guitars
• Ebony is used for high-end guitars
• However, there is a decreasing supply of ebony
• Brown streaks in ebony are seen as a blemish for highend guitars, but a step up from rosewood.
• The streaked ebony can be used on budget guitars
• Better than rosewood➔ cost and quality advantage
• Simple formulas, e.g., Cost=Fixed +(mc)*quantity,
don’t work with economies of scope or scale.
• Discussion: Un-integrated guitar producers?
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Economies of scope
• If the cost of producing two products jointly
is less than the cost of producing those two
products separately then there are
economies of scope between the two
products.
• Cost(Q1, Q2) < Cost(Q1) + Cost(Q2)
• Discussion: Company X is a small familyowned company that makes, sells, and
distributes a popular breakfast sausage.
• Can this firm realize economies of scope?
• Discussion: Scope economies in your
company.
• Implication?
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Anecdote: pet food production
• A pet food company has 2,500 products
(SKU’s) with 200 different formulas
• They receive a lot of pressure from large
customers like Wal-Mart to reduce prices.
• To respond to Wal-Mart, the company shrinks it
product offerings
• 70 SKUs w/13 formulas
• This led to a 25% savings for the company because of
reduced production costs (see graph)
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Pet food production graph
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Diseconomies of scope
• Production can also exhibit
diseconomies of scope when the cost
of producing two products together is
higher than the cost of separate
production.
• This was true for the pet food company –
producing so many different products in
one factory was more expensive than
producing each food in a different factory
would have been because of the cost of
set-up, clean-up and transition times
associated with producing each different
pet food
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
In class questions
• Learning curves: every time you double production,
your costs decrease by 50%. The first unit costs you $64
to produce. On a project for 4 units, what is your breakeven price?
• You can win another project for 2 more units. What is
your break-even price for those units?
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Answer
Q
1
2
3
4
5
6
MC
$64
$32
$21
$16
$13
$11
TC
$64
$96
$117
$133
$146
$157
AC
$64
$48
$39
$33
$29
$26
• The break-even price for 4 units is $33.
• The extra costs for the fifth and sixth units is only
$24, so break-even is $12/unit for those two.
• If the project were for six units total, break-even
would be $26/unit for those six.
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Alternate intro anecdote
• As part of its promotional efforts, Department Store X
produces 100 small-scale promotional signs per month
at each of its 75 retail stores.
• On average, monthly production costs are estimated to
be $5,000 per machine at each location: $1,000 for
installation, $3,000 for printing, and $1,000 for
maintenance. Production costs company-wide total
approximately $375,000 per month.
• The retailer would benefit by consolidating this
operation. This would allow the company to take
advantage of the reduced costs that come from
centralized production.
Copyright ©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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