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PowerPoint Slides prepared by: Andreea CHIRITESCU Eastern Illinois University

The Mechanics of Profit

Maximization

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CHAPTER 14

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Golden Rule of Profit Maximization

  • Profit maximization

Continue expanding output until

The value society places on the last unit sold

Just equals the amount spent on resources to produce that unit of output

Marginal revenue = Marginal cost

MR = MC

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Table 14.1

Characteristics of Selling Environments

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Selling Environments: Market Structure

  • Perfect Competition

A very large number of firms

Whatever any one firm does has no effect on the market

All firms sell an identical product

Anyone can begin a business or leave the business without difficulty

No cost to the consumer of going to a different place to make the purchase

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Selling Environments: Market Structure

  • Monopoly

Only one firm supplies a good or service

No firm can enter the business and begin competing with the monopoly

  • Monopolistic Competition

A large number of firms

Easy entry

Differentiated products

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Selling Environments: Market Structure

  • Oligopoly

Just a few firms provide the good or service

Each firm is large enough to significantly affect the other firms

Differentiated

Or identical products

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The Graphics of Profit Maximization

  • Market

Sum of all firms and all consumers

Downward-sloping demand curve

Upward-sloping supply curve

  • Firm in a perfectly competitive market

Must sell its goods and services at the price determined in the market

“Price taker”

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

The Graphics of Profit Maximization

  • Firm in a perfectly competitive market

Horizontal demand

Marginal revenue = price

Demand curve = Marginal revenue curve

Maximize profit

Select the quantity where MR = MC

Demand = Price = Marginal revenue

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Figure 14.1

The market demand and supply dictate the demand for the single firm in the perfectly competitive or commodity market.

The Commodity Market and Single Firm

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The Graphics of Profit Maximization

  • Firm in a market that is not perfectly competitive

Demand curve slopes down

To sell more the price must be lower

Firm has some degree of “market power”

Maximize profit:

Select the quantity where MR=MC

*

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Figure 14.2

Profit is maximized at the point where the marginal revenue and marginal cost are equal.

Revenue, Cost, and Profit

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Figure 14.2

Profit is maximized at the point where the marginal revenue and marginal cost are equal.

Revenue, Cost, and Profit

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Simple Mathematics of Profit Maximization

  • Demand function

Function of variables that influence consumer spending

  • Qx = f(Px, I, Py, T, Pex, N)

Px is the price of good x; I is income

Py is the price of other goods

T is tastes and preferences

Pe is the expected price of good x at some point in the future

N is the number of consumers

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Business Insight
Effects of Determinants of Demand

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Price Elasticity

  • Point elasticity

Price changes that are extremely small

= ∂lnQ/∂lnP = [∂Q/∂P][P/Q]

  • Arc elasticity

Price changes over some range of values that may be quite large

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Marginal Revenue

  • Demand equation

Quantity demanded - a function of price and the determinants of demand

Q = g − hP

g and h are parameters

P is the product price

P = a − bQ

a is the vertical intercept

–b is the slope of the demand curve

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Marginal Revenue

  • Total revenue, TR = P × Q

TR = P × Q = (a − bQ) × Q = aQ − bQ2

  • Marginal revenue

Change in total revenue divided by the change in quantity

∂TR/∂Q = MR = a − 2bQ

a is the vertical intercept, same as the demand function

-2b is the slope of MR, twice the slope of the D curve

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The Calculus of Profit Maximization

  • Profit, π = TR − TC = TR(Q) − C(Q)
  • Maximize profit: MR = MC

∂π /∂Q = ∂TR(Q)/∂Q − ∂C(Q)/∂Q = 0

∂TR(Q)/∂Q is the marginal revenue

∂C(Q) /∂Q is the marginal cost

  • Perfectly competitive firm

Price does not depend on the quantity

∂PQ/∂Q − ∂C(Q)/∂Q = P − MC = 0

P = MC

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

The Calculus of Profit Maximization

  • Firms not in a perfectly competitive market

Price does depend on the quantity, P = P(Q)

MR = ∂TR/∂Q = ∂P(Q)Q/∂Q = P + Q(∂P/∂Q)

MR = MC

P > MR, MR = MC

P > MC

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Business Insight
Convexity

  • Assumption: convexity
  • A convex set

Property that a collection that contains two items also contains an average of these two items

  • Convexity – problem

When goods are indivisible

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Business Insight
Convexity

  • In a convex environment

Minor adjustments, trial and error, and piecemeal improvements

Tend to make things better

  • Assumption of convexity

Reasonable but does have weaknesses

There are no benefits from specialization

Management would move in increments

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Operating Rules

  • Minimize loss

Select quantity where MR = MC

The loss is short run

  • Compare revenue with variable costs

If P > AVC, operate

If P < AVC, shut down immediately

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Figure 14.3

Profit is maximized or loss is minimized at the point where the marginal revenue and marginal cost are equal.

A Loss

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Operating Rules

  • Breakeven

When total revenue equals total cost

Total Cost: TC = TFC + TVC

Total Variable Cost, TVC = AVC * Q

TC = TFC + AVC * Q

Total Revenue, TR = P * Q

TR = TC: P * Q = TFC + AVC * Q

Breakeven output level: Q = TFC/(P − AVC)

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Operating Rules

  • Breakeven

P – AVC = the contribution margin per unit

Portion of the selling price that can be applied to cover the fixed costs of the firm and provide for profit

Shutdown point: P = AVC

If P > AVC, the firm will be operating

If P < AVC, the firm will shut down

*

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Sales Maximization

  • Maximize total sales (total revenue)

Find the quantity and price where marginal revenue is zero

  • If MR > 0

Additional sales could be obtained by lowering price

  • If MR < 0

Additional sales could be obtained by raising price

*

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Sales Maximization

  • A firm’s market share

Percentage of the market’s sales (or revenue) constituted by that firm

market share = revenue/market size

∂market share/∂Q = 0

Yields ∂TR/∂Q = 0

Assuming market size constant

If one firm increases its sales other firms lose sales

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Figure 14.4

The quantity at which revenue is maximized is the quantity where MR = 0.

Revenue Maximization

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Oligopoly

  • Oligopoly

Presents special problems because of the interdependence of firms

The Cournot Model

The Kinked Demand Model

The Cartel Model

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The Cournot Model

  • Assumptions

Two firms selling an identical good

MC = 0

Each firm, while trying to maximize profits

Decides that the other firm holds its output constant at the existing level

  • Result

Each firm moves and then countermoves

Until an equilibrium is reached

Each supplies one-third of the market

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The Cournot Model

  • Market demand: Q = a − bP

b = 1 and zero total costs

  • Firm A’s decision to supply

Depends on what firm B does

Supply one-half of the difference between Q = a and the amount offered by firm B

QA = (a −QB)/2

  • Firm B – the same: QB = (a −QA)/2
  • QA = QB = a/3

*

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The Kinked Demand Model

  • Firms in an oligopoly

May not know the shape of the demand curve for their product

The shape depends on how their rivals react to one another

Have to predict how their competitors will respond to a price change

To know what their demand curve looks like

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Figure 14.5

The price and quantity for the firm pictured is given by the point where MR = MC, price P1, and quantity Q1. The marginal cost declines, so the firm decides to lower price. Since other firms match the price decrease, sales don’t increase, whereas without the other firms following the price decline, sales would increase from Q1 to Q2.

The Kinked Demand Curve

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The Cartel Model

  • Cartel

Arises when rival firms agree to cooperate

And determine price and quantity

To maximize joint profits

Knowing firms’ demand and marginal cost functions

Knowing market demand function

Calculate cartel’s marginal cost function

Horizontally sum the marginal cost functions

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The Cartel Model

  • Cartel

Calculate MR for the cartel

Find profit maximizing quantity for the cartel: MR = MC

Find price from the demand equation

Optimal output for each firm

Substitute the cartel’s equilibrium MC into the individual firm’s MC functions

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