After completing the reading assignments, compose a response to the following questions: How do a company’s goals, constraints, incentives and market rivalry affect its economic decision-making? To wh

• The plant manager made the switch to the lower -priced 8400 coal. 2) Did he have enough information to make a good decision?

• Yes, presumably he knew that this would reduce his output. 3) Did he have the incentive to make a good decision?

• No, because he was evaluated based on the average cost of electricity produced at his plant . ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Lesson From Coal Problem ● The plant manager should have considered all the costs of switching to the lower Btu coal • Namely, the lost electricity ● Average costs can be a poor measure of plant performance ● Need to align incentives of a business unit with the goals of the parent company ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Background: Types of Costs ● Definition : Fixed costs do not vary with the amount of output. ● Definition : Variable costs change as output changes. FIGURE 3.1 Cost Curves ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Example: A Candy Factory ● The cost of the factory is fixed. ● Employee pay and cost of ingredients are variable costs. TABLE 3.1 Candy Factory Costs ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Your Turn Are these costs fixed or variable?

● Payments to your accountants to prepare your tax returns. ● Electricity to run the candy making machines. ● Fees to design the packaging of your candy bar. ● Costs of material for packaging. ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Real Example: Cadbury (Bombay) ● Beginning in 1978, Cadbury offered managers free housing in company owned flats to offset the high cost of living. ● In 1991, Cadbury added low -interest housing loans to its benefits package. Managers moved out of the company housing and purchased houses. The empty company flats remained on Cadbury’s balance sheet for 6 years. ● In 1997, Cadbury adopted Economic Value Added (EVA) ® • Charges each division within a firm for the amount of capital it uses • Provides an incentive for management to reduce capital expenditures if they do not cover costs ● Senior managers then decided to sell the unused apartments after seeing the implicit cost of capital. ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Accounting Costs for Cadbury TABLE 3.2 Cadbury Income Statement ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Cadbury Accounting Profit ● Accounting profit recognizes only explicit costs ● Typical income statements include explicit costs:

• Costs paid to its suppliers for product inputs • General operating expenses, like salaries to factory managers and marketing expenses • Depreciation expenses related to investments in buildings and equipment • Interest payments on borrowed funds ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Cadbury Accounting Profit vs. Economic Profit ● What’s missing from Cadbury’s statements are implicit costs:

• Payments to other capital suppliers (stockholders) • Stockholders expect a certain return on their money (they could have invested elsewhere) • “Profit” should recognize whether firm is generating a return beyond shareholders expected return ● Economic profit recognizes these implicit costs; accounting profit recognizes only explicit costs ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Opportunity Costs & Decisions Definition : the opportunity cost of an action is what you give up (forgone profit) to pursue it ● Costs imply decision -making rules and vice -versa ● The goal is to make decisions that increase profit ● If the profit of an action is greater than the alternative, pursue it ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Identifying Costs ● Whenever you get confused by costs, step back and ask, “What decision am I trying to make?” • If you start with costs, you will always get confused • If you start with a decision, you will never get confused ● Apply it to Cadbury:

• The cost of the company of holding onto the apartments was the forgone opportunity to invest capital in the company’s organization to earn a higher return ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Cadbury’s Costs ● Holding on to the flats cost the company £600,000 each year. ● Unless the benefits to the company of holding onto the apartments were at least £600,000, the capital was not employed in its highest -valued use. ● The cost of the company of holding onto the apartments was the forgone opportunity to invest capital in the company’s organization to earn a higher return. ● By selling the flats, the company moved the capital to a higher -valued use. ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Relevant Costs and Benefits ● When making decisions, you should consider all costs and benefits that vary with the consequence of a decision and only costs and benefits that vary with the decision. ● These are the relevant costs and relevant benefits of a decision. ● You can make only two mistakes • You can consider irrelevant costs • You can ignore relevant ones ● Definition : The fixed -cost/sunk -cost fallacy means you make decisions using irrelevant costs and benefits ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Fixed -Cost/Sunk -Cost Fallacy Examples Football game:

● You pay $20 for a ticket. At halftime, you’re team is losing by 56 points. ● You say you’ll stay to get your money’s worth, but you can’t get your money’s worth! ● The ticket price does not vary whether you stay or leave – it’s a sunk cost and irrelevant. Launching a new product:

● You are in a new products division and will be able to distribute a new product through your existing sales force ● You will be forced to pay for a portion of the sales force ● If you believe this “overhead” is big enough to deter an otherwise profitable product launch, then you’ve committed the sunk -cost fallacy ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Hidden -Cost Fallacy Definition : ignoring relevant costs (costs that vary with the consequences of your decision) when making a decision Example: Football game (again) ● You buy a ticket for $20 ● Scalpers are selling tickets for $50 because your team is playing cross -state rivals ● You go to the game, saying, “These tickets cost me only $20.” WRONG ● The tickets really cost you $50 because you give up the opportunity to scalp them by going ● Unless you value them at $50, you are sitting on an unconsummated wealth -creating transaction ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Example: Should You Fire an Employee? ● The revenue he provides to the company is $2,500 per month ● His wages are $1,900 per month ● His office could be rented out $800 per month ● YES, you are only making $600 a month from this employee but could make $800 a month from renting his office ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Subprime Mortgages ● The subprime mortgage crisis of 2008 is a good example of the hidden -cost fallacy. ● Credit -rating agencies failed to recognize the higher costs of loans made by dubious lenders.

• Example: Long Beach Financial • Gave loans out to homeowners with bad credit, asked for no proof of income, deferred interest payments as long as possible. ● Credit ratings didn't reflect the hidden costs of risky loans. ● As a result, many Wall Street investors purchased packaged risky loans and eventually went bankrupt when the debtors defaulted. ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Hidden cost of capital ● Recall that accounting profit does not necessarily correspond to economic profit. ● Discussion : Economic Value Added • EVA ® = net operating profit after taxes minus the cost of capital times the amount of capital utilized. • Makes visible the hidden cost of capital. ● The major benefit of EVA is identifying costs.

If you cannot measure something, you cannot control it.

• Those who control costs should be responsible for them. ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Incentives and EVA ® ● Goal alignment : “By taking all capital costs into account, including the cost of equity, EVA shows the dollar amount of wealth a business has created or destroyed in each reporting period.

… EVA is profit the way shareholders define it.” ● Discussion : can you make mistakes using EVA? • Does it help avoid the hidden cost fallacy? • Does it help avoid the fixed cost fallacy? ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Does EVA ® work? ● Adopting companies of EPP’s (+ four years) • ROA from 3.5 to 4.7% • operating income/assets from 15.8 to 16.7% ● Indistinguishable from non -adopters • Bonuses increase 39.1% for EVA ® firms • But 37.4% for control group ● Interpretations • Selection bias? • NO, cheaper to use existing plans • Goal alignment, YES. ● EVA ® is no better or worse • Rival EPP’s • Bonus plans • Discussion: WHY? ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Psychological Biases ● Not enough information or bad incentives are not the only causes for business mistakes. Often psychological biases get in the way of rational decision making. ● Definition : the endowment effect means that taking ownership of item causes owner to increase value she places on the item. ● Definition : loss aversion – individuals would pay more to avoid loss than to realize gains. ● Definition : confirmation bias – a tendency to gather information that confirms your prior beliefs, and to ignore information that contradicts them. ● Definition : anchoring bias – relates the effects of how information is presented or “framed ”. ● Definition : overconfidence bias – the tendency to place too much confidence in the accuracy of your analysis. ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages In Class P roblem (1) You won a free ticket to see an Eric Clapton concert (which has no resale value). Bob Dylan is performing on the same night and is your next -best alternative activity. Tickets to see Dylan cost $40. On any given day, you would be willing to pay up to $50 to see Dylan. Assume there are no other costs of seeing either performer. Based on this information, what is the opportunity cost of seeing Eric Clapton? A. $0 B. $10 C. $40 D. $50 ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages In Class P roblem (2) You won a free ticket to see an Eric Clapton concert (which has no resale value). Bob Dylan is performing on the same night and is your next -best alternative activity. Tickets to see Dylan cost $40. On any given day, you would be willing to pay up to $50 to see Dylan. Assume there are no other costs of seeing either performer. Based on this information, what is the minimum amount (in dollars) you would have to value seeing Eric Clapton for you to choose his concert? A. $0 B. $10 C. $40 D. $50 ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Alternate Intro A necdote ● Coca -Cola in the 1980s had very little debt, preferring to raise equity capital from its stockholders. ● The company had a diversified product line, including products like aquaculture and wine. These other businesses generated positive profits, earning a ten percent return on capital invested. ● The company, however, decided to sell off these “under - performing businesses ”. ● Why?

• At the time, soft drink division was earning 16 percent return on capital • The “opportunity cost” of investing in aquaculture and wine is the foregone profit that could have been earned by investing in soft drinks • A dollar invested in aquaculture and wine is a dollar that was not invested in soft drinks • Divisions sold off and proceeds invested in core soft drink business ©2018 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. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Reference Froeb, L. M., McCann, B. T., Shor, M., & Ward, M. R. (2018). Managerial economics: a problem solving approach (5 th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.