Ask Microeconomics Expert

Part 1

Applebee's is the largest casual dining chain in the world with 1,970 locations throughout the United States and nearly 20 other countries worldwide. The menu features beef, chicken, and pork items as well as burgers, pasta, and seafood. The Applebee's CEO wants to make the restaurant more profitable. The CEO believes that customers will pay for a "tastier menu" which will generate more profits. (Management Information Systems, 13th edition, page 480).

However, Applebee's must deal with rising costs for labor and restaurant operating expenses such as insurance, taxes and utilities. Transportation and gasoline costs have risen and food products are more expensive. And, today's consumer is more aware of spending habits.

Assume you are the food service manager at a local Applebee's restaurant or you are a midlevel manager in one of the Applebee's regional offices. You have been assigned to a team of people to work on this "tastier menu" initiative.

Put your decision making skills to good use and respond to the following points and questions:

1. From a manager's perspective (which may be different from the CEO's perspective), briefly identify the problems identified by the CEO.

2. Do you see any problems other than just the menu in making the restaurant more profitable?

3. What pieces of data would Applebee's need to collect to earn more profits?

4. How might you use social media to collect data and information?

5. What kinds of reports would be useful to help your management make decisions on how to improve menus and profitability?

6. How would your team determine the success or failure of this initiative?

Part 2

Where you an entrepreneur during your early school years, or did you know someone who was? Perhaps you didn't have your own store, but maybe you or a friend worked as a babysitter, a news delivery person, or perhaps mowed lawns for families in your neighborhood. While you may not think of these jobs as being small businesses, that is exactly what they are.

Think of yourself, or someone you knew, and answer the following questions in your initial post:

1. What type of business did you (or someone you knew) operate? What was the market type (perfectively competitive, monopolistic, oligopoly, monopolistically competitive)?

2. How did you decide what price to charge for your services? Did you think the price was worth more than the effort you put into it?

3. Think about the competitive situation you faced in the business. Try to determine why the prices received by you or your friend were so low?

4. What was the opportunity cost of the business? Was it worth it?

Part 3

The Federal Government is extending the regulatory reach of federal agencies. State governments impose regulations upon businesses and industries within their boundaries and local governments have regulations that affect businesses and industries.

There is a huge debate over how much government intervention and control should exist in a free market system. For this discussion, in your initial post:

1. State the name of the company in a key industry and determine the type of market you believe it to operate in (perfectively competitive, monopolistically competitive, oligopoly, monopoly).

2. Next, consider the federal, state, and local government regulations applicable to this firm and discuss the following: (Be sure you explain your answers)

  • How is this business or industry affected by regulation by a government agency?
  • Should this industry have more government regulation or less? Support your opinions.
  • Do businesses/industries want to be regulated by some government agency?
  • Does government regulation increase costs to those being regulated?
  • Do government regulations affect employment?
  • Do government regulations have a positive or negative impact upon economic activity?

Microeconomics, Economics

  • Category:- Microeconomics
  • Reference No.:- M91518846
  • Price:- $30

Priced at Now at $30, Verified Solution

Have any Question?


Related Questions in Microeconomics

Question show the market for cigarettes in equilibrium

Question: Show the market for cigarettes in equilibrium, assuming that there are no laws banning smoking in public. Label the equilibrium private market price and quantity as Pm and Qm. Add whatever is needed to the mode ...

Question recycling is a relatively inexpensive solution to

Question: Recycling is a relatively inexpensive solution to much of the environmental contamination from plastics, glass, and other waste materials. Is it a sound policy to make it mandatory for everybody to recycle? The ...

Question consider two ways of protecting elephants from

Question: Consider two ways of protecting elephants from poachers in African countries. In one approach, the government sets up enormous national parks that have sufficient habitat for elephants to thrive and forbids all ...

Question suppose you want to put a dollar value on the

Question: Suppose you want to put a dollar value on the external costs of carbon emissions from a power plant. What information or data would you obtain to measure the external [not social] cost? The response must be typ ...

Question in the tradeoff between economic output and

Question: In the tradeoff between economic output and environmental protection, what do the combinations on the protection possibility curve represent? The response must be typed, single spaced, must be in times new roma ...

Question consider the case of global environmental problems

Question: Consider the case of global environmental problems that spill across international borders as a prisoner's dilemma of the sort studied in Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly. Say that there are two countries ...

Question consider two approaches to reducing emissions of

Question: Consider two approaches to reducing emissions of CO2 into the environment from manufacturing industries in the United States. In the first approach, the U.S. government makes it a policy to use only predetermin ...

Question the state of colorado requires oil and gas

Question: The state of Colorado requires oil and gas companies who use fracking techniques to return the land to its original condition after the oil and gas extractions. Table 12.9 shows the total cost and total benefit ...

Question suppose a city releases 16 million gallons of raw

Question: Suppose a city releases 16 million gallons of raw sewage into a nearby lake. Table shows the total costs of cleaning up the sewage to different levels, together with the total benefits of doing so. (Benefits in ...

Question four firms called elm maple oak and cherry produce

Question: Four firms called Elm, Maple, Oak, and Cherry, produce wooden chairs. However, they also produce a great deal of garbage (a mixture of glue, varnish, sandpaper, and wood scraps). The first row of Table 12.6 sho ...

  • 4,153,160 Questions Asked
  • 13,132 Experts
  • 2,558,936 Questions Answered

Ask Experts for help!!

Looking for Assignment Help?

Start excelling in your Courses, Get help with Assignment

Write us your full requirement for evaluation and you will receive response within 20 minutes turnaround time.

Ask Now Help with Problems, Get a Best Answer

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps even

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps, even when the institution is exposed to significant interest rate

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and coupon bonds. Under what conditions will a coupon bond sell at a p

Compute the present value of an annuity of 880 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 880 per year for 16 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As

Compute the present value of an 1150 payment made in ten

Compute the present value of an $1,150 payment made in ten years when the discount rate is 12 percent. (Do not round int

Compute the present value of an annuity of 699 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 699 per year for 19 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As