You have been asked to take over management of a product line by your Division Manager. Your Cost model for this product line is C = 50(x) + 59,500, where "x" represents units produced during a particular sales period and "C" represents total Costs. Upon assuming product line responsibility, you note that the price "p" of $35 per unit set by your predecessor for the past few sales periods resulted in a Revenue model of R = (p)(x) = 35(x). Provide brief answers in the space provided to parts "a" and "b" below.
a. Based on the information available, speculate on why your predecessor is no longer managing this product line.
b. If your market research department reports no limiting production or market constraints on "x", what is the minimum price "p" you would want to set in order to eventually "break even"?