1. Roshima is researching universities where she could study for her MBA degree. She is considering 3 major attributes that she considers important in her choice: ranking, price, and location. The value she places on each attribute, however, differs according to whether she remains full-time employed during her studies or quits her job and focuses on her degree. If she continues to work full time and takes all her courses online, then ranking is the most important attribute, twice as important as price and three times as important as location. If she quits her job and attends school full time, then location becomes three times as important as ranking and twice as important as price. She is considering two universities, respectively, the MBA program at Arizona State University (ASU) and the MBA program at University of Phoenix (UOP), both of which are priced at approximately $25,000. She has rated each attribute on a scale of 1 to 100 for each of the two schools.
Attribute
ASU
UOP
Ranking
Location
Price
80
50
45
70
70
45
a. Which of the two options should Roshima pursue of she wants to keep her full-time job? (Calculate the total expected utility from each school option and compare. Graph is not required)
b. Which of the two options should she pick if she plans to quit her job and dedicate to her studies?
c. Which option should she pursue if the probability of being laid off and unable to find a new job is estimated as 0.6? Show your calculations and explain your reasoning.
2. The demand function for Einstein Bagels has been estimated as follows:
Qx = -15.87 - 40.73Px + 84.17Py + 0.55Ax
where Qx represents thousands of bagels; Px is the price per bagel; Py is the average price per bagel of other brands of bagels; and Ax represents thousands of dollars spent advertising Einstein Bagels. The current values of the independent variables are Ax=216, Px=0.85, and Py=0.79.
a. Calculate the price elasticity of demand for Einstein's Bagels and explain what it means.
b. Derive an expression for the (inverse) demand curve for Einsteins's Bagels.
c. If the cost of producing Einstein's Bagels is constant at $0.10 per bagel, should they reduce price and thereafter, sell more bagels (assume profit maximization is the company's goal)?
d. Should Einstein Bagels spend more on advertising?