Download Managerial Economics

Managerial Economics
ninth edition
Thomas
Maurice
Chapter 11
Managerial Decisions in
Competitive Markets
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Managerial Economics, 9e
Managerial Economics, 9e
Copyright © 2008 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Managerial Economics
Perfect Competition
• Firms are price-takers
• Each produces only a very small portion
of total market or industry output
• All firms produce a homogeneous
product
• Entry into & exit from the market is
unrestricted
11-2
Managerial Economics
Demand for a Competitive
Price-Taker
• Demand curve is horizontal at price
determined by intersection of market
demand & supply
• Perfectly elastic
• Marginal revenue equals price
• Demand curve is also marginal revenue curve
(D = MR)
• Can sell all they want at the market price
• Each additional unit of sales adds to total
revenue an amount equal to price
11-3
Managerial Economics
Demand for a Competitive
Price-Taking Firm (Figure 11.2)
Price (dollars)
Price (dollars)
S
P0
P0
D = MR
D
0
Q0
Quantity
Panel A –
Market
11-4
0
Quantity
Panel B – Demand curve
facing
a price-taker
Managerial Economics
Profit-Maximization in the
Short Run
•
In the short run, managers must make
two decisions:
1.
Produce or shut down?


If shut down, produce no output and hires no
variable inputs
If shut down, firm loses amount equal to TFC
2. If produce, what is the optimal output
level?


If firm does produce, then how much?
Produce amount that maximizes economic profit
Profit =   TR  TC
11-5
Managerial Economics
Profit Margin (or Average Profit)

( P  ATC )Q
Average profit  
Q
Q
 P  ATC  Profit margin
• Level of output that maximizes total
profit occurs at a higher level than the
output that maximizes profit margin (&
average profit)
• Managers should ignore profit margin
(average profit) when making optimal
decisions
11-6
Managerial Economics
Short-Run Output Decision
• Firm’s manager will produce output
where P = MC as long as:
• TR  TVC
• or, equivalently, P  AVC
• If price is less than average variable
cost (P  AVC), manager will shut down
• Produce zero output
• Lose only total fixed costs
• Shutdown price is minimum AVC
11-7
Managerial Economics
Profit Maximization: P = $36
(Figure 11.3)
TotalProfit
revenue
=$36 x -600
= $21,600
$11,400
= $21,600
= $10,200
Total cost = $19 x 600
= $11,400
11-8
Managerial Economics
Profit Maximization: P = $36
(Figure 11.4)
Panel A: Total revenue
& total cost
Panel B: Profit curve
when P = $36
11-9
Managerial Economics
Short-Run Loss Minimization:
P = $10.50 (Figure 11.5)
Profitcost
= $3,150
Total
= $17 -x$5,100
300
= -$1,950
= $5,100
Total revenue = $10.50 x 300
= $3,150
11-10
Managerial Economics
Irrelevance of Fixed Costs
• Fixed costs are irrelevant in the
production decision
• Level of fixed cost has no effect on
marginal cost or minimum average
variable cost
• Thus no effect on optimal level of
output
11-11
Managerial Economics
Summary of Short-Run Output
Decision
• AVC tells whether to produce
• Shut down if price falls below minimum
AVC
• SMC tells how much to produce
• If P  minimum AVC, produce output
at which P = SMC
• ATC tells how much profit/loss if
produce
•   ( P  ATC )Q
11-12
Managerial Economics
Short-Run Supply Curves
• For an individual price-taking firm
• Portion of firms’ marginal cost curve
above minimum AVC
• For prices below minimum AVC,
quantity supplied is zero
• For a competitive industry
• Horizontal sum of supply curves of all
individual firms; always upward sloping
• Supply prices give marginal costs of
production for every firm
11-13
Managerial Economics
Short-Run Producer Surplus
• Short-run producer surplus is the
amount by which TR exceeds TVC
• The area above the short-run supply
curve that is below market price over
the range of output supplied
• Exceeds economic profit by the
amount of TFC
11-14
Managerial Economics
Computing Short-Run
Producer Surplus (Figure 11.6)
Producer surplus  TR  TVC
 $9 110  $5.55 110
 $990  $610
 $380
Or, equivalently,
Producer surplus = Area of trapezoid edba in Figure 11.6
= Height  Average base
 80  110 
 ($9  $5)  

2


 $380
$380 multiplied by 100 firms  ($380  100)  $38, 000
11-15
Managerial Economics
Short-Run Firm & Industry Supply
(Figure 11.6)
11-16
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Profit-Maximizing
Equilibrium (Figure 11.7)
Profit = ($17 - $12) x 240
= $1,200
11-17
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Competitive Equilibrium
• All firms are in profit-maximizing
equilibrium (P = LMC)
• Occurs because of entry/exit of
firms in/out of industry
• Market adjusts so P = LMC = LAC
11-18
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Competitive
Equilibrium (Figure 11.8)
11-19
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Industry Supply
• Long-run industry supply curve
can be flat (perfectly elastic) or
upward sloping
• Depends on whether constant cost
industry or increasing cost industry
• Economic profit is zero for all
points on the long-run industry
supply curve for both types of
industries
11-20
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Industry Supply
• Constant cost industry
• As industry output expands, input prices
remain constant, & minimum LAC is
unchanged
• P = minimum LAC, so curve is horizontal
(perfectly elastic)
• Increasing cost industry
• As industry output expands, input prices
rise, & minimum LAC rises
• Long-run supply price rises & curve is upward
sloping
11-21
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Industry Supply for a
Constant Cost Industry (Figure 11.9)
11-22
Managerial Economics
Long-Run Industry Supply for an
Increasing Cost Industry (Figure 11.10)
Firm’s output
11-23
Managerial Economics
Economic Rent
• Payment to the owner of a scarce,
superior resource in excess of the
resource’s opportunity cost
• In long-run competitive equilibrium
firms that employ such resources earn
zero economic profit
• Potential economic profit is paid to the
resource as economic rent
• In increasing cost industries, all long-run
producer surplus is paid to resource
suppliers as economic rent
11-24
Managerial Economics
Economic Rent in Long-Run
Competitive Equilibrium (Figure 11.11)
11-25
Managerial Economics
Profit-Maximizing Input Usage
• Profit-maximizing level of input
usage produces exactly that level
of output that maximizes profit
11-26
Managerial Economics
Profit-Maximizing Input Usage
• Marginal revenue product (MRP)
• MRP of an additional unit of a variable input is
the additional revenue from hiring one more unit
of the input
TR
MRP 
 P  MP
L
• If choose to produce:
• If the MRP of an additional unit of input is
greater than the price of input, that unit should
be hired
• Employ amount of input where MRP = input price
11-27
Managerial Economics
Profit-Maximizing Input Usage
• Average revenue product (ARP)
• Average revenue per worker
TR
ARP 
 P  AP
L
• Shut down in short run if ARP < MRP
• When ARP < MRP, TR < TVC
11-28
Managerial Economics
Profit-Maximizing Labor Usage
(Figure 11.12)
11-29
Managerial Economics
Implementing the ProfitMaximizing Output Decision
• Step 1: Forecast product price
• Use statistical techniques from
Chapter 7
• Step 2: Estimate AVC & SMC
11-30
•
AVC  a  bQ  cQ
•
SMC  a  2bQ  3cQ
2
2
Managerial Economics
Implementing the ProfitMaximizing Output Decision
• Step 3: Check shutdown rule
• If P  AVCmin then produce
• If P < AVCmin then shut down
• To find AVCmin substitute Qmin into
AVC equation
Qmin
b

2c
2
AVC min  a  bQmin  cQmin
11-31
Managerial Economics
Implementing the ProfitMaximizing Output Decision
• Step 4: If P  AVCmin, find output
where P = SMC
• Set forecasted price equal to
estimated marginal cost & solve for Q*
P  a  2bQ  3cQ
*
11-32
*2
Managerial Economics
Implementing the ProfitMaximizing Output Decision
• Step 5: Compute profit or loss
• Profit = TR - TC
 P  Q*  AVC  Q*  TFC
 ( P  AVC )Q*  TFC
• If P < AVCmin, firm shuts down &
profit is -TFC
11-33
Managerial Economics
Profit & Loss at Beau Apparel
(Figure 11.13)
11-34
Managerial Economics
Profit & Loss at Beau Apparel
(Figure 11.13)
11-35