Assignment
Complete the following Application questions from Chapter 5. Using the ESSAY Format, please answer each question thoroughly. Please include details on what your readings covered and provide ideas and opinions on the overall content in the readings. Provide examples where appropriate and express opinions with research to substantiate. To substantiate your opinions you are encouraged to utilize California Southern University's Online Library and/or the Internet.
Your responses must be comprehensive, using terminology and concepts presented in the primary textbook as well as supplementary resources. Write in complete sentences and use good grammar, double-spacing, 12 point font, with one inch margins. Be sure to cite your resources and provide the references using APA format. Remember to reference all work cited or quoted by the text authors. You should be doing this often in your responses. Complete and submit the Essay.
Complete Problems and Applications 11, 12, 14, and 18 in chapter 5.
11. In an effort to stop the migration of many of the automobile manufacturing facilities from the Detroit area, Detroit's city council is considering passing a statute that would give investment tax credits to auto manufacturers. Effectively, this would reduce auto manufacturers' costs of using capital and high-tech equipment in their production processes. On the evening of the vote, local union officials voiced serious objections to this statute. Outline the basis of the argument most likely used by union officials. (Hint: Consider the impact that the statute would have on auto manufacturers' capital-to-labor ratio.) As a representative for one of the automakers, how would you counter the union officials' argument?
12. You were recently hired to replace the manager of the Roller Division at a major conveyor-manufacturing firm, despite the manager's strong external sales record. Roller manufacturing is relatively simple, requiring only labor and a machine that cuts and crimps rollers. As you begin reviewing the company's production information, you learn that labor is paid $12 per hour and the last worker hired produced 80 rollers per hour. The company rents roller cutters and crimping machines for $15 per hour, and the marginal product of capital is 110 rollers per hour. What do you think the previous manager could have done to keep his job?
14. Recently, the Boeing Commercial Airline Group (BCAG) recorded orders for more than 15,000 jetliners and delivered more than 13,000 airplanes. To maintain its output volume, this Boeing division combines efforts of capital and more than 90,000 workers. Suppose the European company, Airbus, enjoys a similar production technology and produces a similar number of aircraft, but that labor costs (including fringe benefits) are higher in Europe than in the United States. Would you expect workers at Airbus to have the same marginal product as workers at Boeing? Explain carefully.
18. In the wake of the energy crisis in California, many electricity generating facilities across the nation are reassessing their projections of future demand and capacity for electricity in their respective markets. As a manager at Florida Power & Light Company, you are in charge of determining the optimal size of two electricity generating facilities. The accompanying figure on the previous page illustrates the short-run average total cost curves associated with different facility sizes. Demand projections indicate that 6 million kilowatts must be produced at your South Florida facility, and 2 million kilowatts must be produced at your facility in the Panhandle. Determine the optimal facility size (S, M, or L) for these two regions, and indicate whether there will be economies of scale, diseconomies of scale, or constant returns to scale if the facilities are built optimally.
Baye, Michael; Prince, Jeff. Managerial Economics & Business Strategy, 8th edition (Mcgraw-Hill Economics) (Page 205). McGraw-Hill Higher Education -A. Kindle Edition.