0
What action would a profit-maximizing firm take if marginal revenue is less than marginal cost?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
You have four choices:
1 - Do not accept any additional orders.
2 - Raise prices until Demand equals current Sales levels.
3 - Find a way to reduce marginal costs.
4 - Determine at what point marginal revenue will exceed marginal costs and create a strategy to increase sales to at least that level.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
If the market price for a chair is 24 and the marginal cost for the chair is 7 the marginal revenue from the chair would be . 24 17 31 7?
17
Why can price be substituted for marginal revenue in the MR equals MC rule?
It can be substituted because the industry would become purely competitive.
Why does a Perfect Competition firms demand curve is also its marginal revenue curve?
AnswerFor a perfectly competitive firm with no market control, the marginal revenue curve is a horizontal line. Because a perfectly competitive firm is a price taker and faces a horizontal demand curve, its marginal revenue curve is also horizontal and coincides with its average revenue (and demand) curve. Yes - what you must remember is that a firm's demand curve in perfect competition is its average revenue curve. Average revenue = price x quantity / quantity = price. The demand curve shows the quantity demanded at varying prices and this is exactly what the average revenue curve will do.Because there are so many sellers in the market, no one firm has enough market power to influence price (if a firm tried to raise price consumers would move to different suppliers; nobody would buy the good), therefore price is determined by industry supply and demand, and a firm can produce any quantity at this price . This means that the firm faces a horizontal average revenue (demand curve) and if average revenue is constant, this means total revenue is increasing at a constant rate, and therefore marginal revenue is constant as well.
Profit maximization theory?
the fact that total profit reaches its maximum point where marginal revenue equals marginal cost.Contents[show] 1 Basic definitions2 Total revenue - total cost perspective3 Marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective4 Case in which maximizing revenue is equivalent5 Changes in total costs and profit maximization6 Markup pricing7 Marginal product of labor, marginal revenue product of labor, and profit maximization8 See also9 Notes10 References11 External linksBasic definitionsAny costs incurred by a firm may be classed into two groups: fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs, which occur only in the short run, are incurred by the business at any level of output, including zero output. These may include equipment maintenance, rent, wages of employees whose numbers cannot be increased or decreased in the short run, and general upkeep. Variable costs change with the level of output, increasing as more product is generated. Materials consumed during production often have the largest impact on this category, which also includes the wages of employees who can be hired and laid off in the span of time (long run or short run) under consideration. Fixed cost and variable cost, combined, equal total cost. Revenue is the amount of money that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services (as opposed to monies from security sales such as equity shares or debt issuances).Marginal cost and revenue, depending on whether the calculus approach is taken or not, are defined as either the change in cost or revenue as each additional unit is produced, or the derivative of cost or revenue with respect to the quantity of output. For instance, taking the first definition, if it costs a firm 400 USD to produce 5 units and 480 USD to produce 6, the marginal cost of the sixth unit is 80 dollars.Total revenue - total cost perspectiveProfit Maximization - The Totals Approach To obtain the profit maximising output quantity, we start by recognizing that profit is equal to total revenue (TR) minus total cost (TC). Given a table of costs and revenues at each quantity, we can either compute equations or plot the data directly on a graph. The profit-maximizing output is the one at which this difference reaches its maximum. In the accompanying diagram, the linear total revenue curve represents the case in which the firm is a perfect competitor in the goods market, and thus cannot set its own selling price. The profit-maximizing output level is represented as the one at which total revenue is the height of C and total cost is the height of B; the maximal profit is measured as CB. This output level is also the one at which the total profit curve is at its maximum.If, contrary to what is assumed in the graph, the firm is not a perfect competitor in the output market, the price to sell the product at can be read off the demand curve at the firm's optimal quantity of output.Marginal revenue-marginal cost perspectiveProfit maximization using the marginal approach An alternative perspective relies on the relationship that, for each unit sold, marginal profit (Mπ) equals marginal revenue (MR) minus marginal cost (MC). Then, if marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost at some level of output, marginal profit is positive and thus a greater quantity should be produced, and if marginal revenue is less than marginal cost, marginal profit is negative and a lesser quantity should be produced. At the output level at which marginal revenue equals marginal cost, marginal profit is zero and this quantity is the one that maximizes profit.[1] Since total profit increases when marginal profit is positive and total profit decreases when marginal profit is negative, it must reach a maximum where marginal profit is zero - or where marginal cost equals marginal revenue - and where lower or higher output levels give lower profit levels.[1] In calculus terms, the correct intersection of MC and MR will occur when:[1]The intersection of MR and MC is shown in the next diagram as point A. If the industry is perfectly competitive (as is assumed in the diagram), the firm faces a demand curve (D) that is identical to its marginal revenue curve (MR), and this is a horizontal line at a price determined by industry supply and demand. Average total costs are represented by curve ATC. Total economic profit are represented by the area of the rectangle PABC. The optimum quantity (Q) is the same as the optimum quantity in the first diagram.If the firm is operating in a non-competitive market, changes would have to be made to the diagrams. For example, the marginal revenue curve would have a negative gradient, due to the overall market demand curve. In a non-competitive environment, more complicated profit maximization solutions involve the use of game theory.Case in which maximizing revenue is equivalentIn some cases a firm's demand and cost conditions are such that marginal profits are greater than zero for all levels of production up to a certain maximum.[2] In this case marginal profit plunges to zero immediately after that maximum is reached; hence the Mπ = 0 rule implies that output should be produced at the maximum level, which also happens to be the level that maximizes revenue.[2] In other words the profit maximizing quantity and price can be determined by setting marginal revenue equal to zero, which occurs at the maximal level of output. Marginal revenue equals zero when the total revenue curve has reached its maximum value. An example would be a scheduled airline flight. The marginal costs of flying one more passenger on the flight are negligible until all the seats are filled. The airline would maximize profit by filling all the seats. The airline would determine the conditions by maximizing revenues. Changes in total costs and profit maximizationA firm maximizes profit by operating where marginal revenue equal marginal costs. A change in fixed costs has no effect on the profit maximizing output or price.[3] The firm merely treats short term fixed costs as sunk costs and continues to operate as before.[4] This can be confirmed graphically. Using the diagram illustrating the total cost-total revenue perspective, the firm maximizes profit at the point where the slopes of the total cost line and total revenue line are equal.[2] An increase in fixed cost would cause the total cost curve to shift up by the amount of the change.[2] There would be no effect on the total revenue curve or the shape of the total cost curve. Consequently, the profit maximizing point would remain the same. This point can also be illustrated using the diagram for the marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective. A change in fixed cost would have no effect on the position or shape of these curves.[2] Markup pricingIn addition to using methods to determine a firm's optimal level of output, a firm that is not perfectly competitive can equivalently set price to maximize profit (since setting price along a given demand curve involves picking a preferred point on that curve, which is equivalent to picking a preferred quantity to produce and sell). The profit maximization conditions can be expressed in a "more easily applicable" form or rule of thumb than the above perspectives use.[5] The first step is to rewrite the expression for marginal revenue as MR = ∆TR/∆Q =(P∆Q+Q∆P)/∆Q=P+Q∆P/∆Q, where P and Q refer to the midpoints between the old and new values of price and quantity respectively.[5] The marginal revenue from an "incremental unit of quantity" has two parts: first, the revenue the firm gains from selling the additional units or P∆Q. The additional units are called the marginal units.[6] Producing one extra unit and selling it at price P brings in revenue of P. Moreover, one must consider "the revenue the firm loses on the units it could have sold at the higher price"[6]-that is, if the price of all units had not been pulled down by the effort to sell more units. These units that have lost revenue are called the infra-marginal units.[6] That is, selling the extra unit results in a small drop in price which reduces the revenue for all units sold by the amount Q(∆P/∆Q). Thus MR = P + Q(∆P/∆Q) = P +P (Q/P)((∆P/∆Q) = P + P/(PED), where PED is the price elasticity of demand characterizing the demand curve of the firms' customers, which is negative. Then setting MC = MR gives MC = P + P/PED so (P - MC)/P = - 1/PED and P = MC/[1 + (1/PED)]. Thus the optimal markup rule is:(P - MC)/P = 1/ (- PED)orP = [PED/(1 + PED)]×MC.[7][8] In words, the rule is that the size of the markup is inversely related to the price elasticity of demand for the good.[7]The optimal markup rule also implies that a non-competitive firm will produce on the elastic region of its market demand curve. Marginal cost is positive. The term PED/(1+PED) would be positive so P>0 only if PED is between -1 and -∝ -that is, if demand is elastic at that level of output.[9] The intuition behind this result is that, if demand is inelastic at some value Q1 then a decrease in Q would increase P more than proportionately, thereby increasing revenue PQ; since lower Q would also lead to lower total cost, profit would go up due to the combination of increased revenue and decreased cost. Thus Q1 does not give the highest possible profit.Marginal product of labor, marginal revenue product of labor, and profit maximizationThe general rule is that firm maximizes profit by producing that quantity of output where marginal revenue equals marginal costs. The profit maximization issue can also be approached from the input side. That is, what is the profit maximizing usage of the variable input? [10] To maximize profit the firm should increase usage of the input "up to the point where the input's marginal revenue product equals its marginal costs".[11] So mathematically the profit maximizing rule is MRPL = MCL, where the subscript L refers to the commonly assumed variable input, labor. The marginal revenue product is the change in total revenue per unit change in the variable input. That is MRPL = ∆TR/∆L. MRPL is the product of marginal revenue and the marginal product of labor or MRPL = MR x MPL.
Difference between average revenue and marginal revenue?
"Average revenue", for a specific level of sales, is the total revenue divided by the number of units sold, or in other words, revenue per unit, or, simply, "price". This average is over the entire sales in a given time period, market, etc. "Marginal revenue" is "average revenue" evaluated at every possible level of sales. You see, the more you sell, the lower the price will be, according to the law of demand. If you sell 1,000 widgets, you may get $1 apiece for them, but if you sell 10,000 of them, you may have to lower the price to 90 cents to sell them all. Of course, if the market is perfectly competitive (you have lots of competitors selling widgets), then you alone can't affect the price very much with your change in output, and the Marginal Revenue is, essentially, constant, at least over the relevant range of level of sales. However, even in perfect competition, you could, theoretically, increase your sales so much that you dominate all of your competitors, and then you would have to lower your price to sell all of your widgets. The thing is, under perfect competition, everyone is operating exactly at the level of sales where marginal cost is equal to marginal revenue, so if your marginal revenue goes down, your marginal profit becomes negative. So you won't do that. In fact, this concept of marginal revenue (when compared to marginal cost) is exactly the mechanism that ensures you don't try to dominate a perfectly competitive market. (If the market is a monopoly, or oligopoly, however, all bets are off. For that matter, even if a market is otherwise perfectly competitive (large number of firms) but entry and exit are not free (say, large start-up costs), a firm with deep enough pockets can put everyone else out of business by over-producing for a while and driving the price down to where all firms are losing money, then raise the price back up, to even above the previous price, once it becomes a monopoly.)
If the market price for a chair is 24 and the marginal cost for the chair is 7 the marginal revenue from the chair would be .?
17
If the market price for a chair is 24 and the marginal cost for the chair is 7 the marginal revenue from the chair would be . 24 17 31 7?
17
Why can price be substituted for marginal revenue in the MR equals MC rule?
It can be substituted because the industry would become purely competitive.
Why does a Perfect Competition firms demand curve is also its marginal revenue curve?
AnswerFor a perfectly competitive firm with no market control, the marginal revenue curve is a horizontal line. Because a perfectly competitive firm is a price taker and faces a horizontal demand curve, its marginal revenue curve is also horizontal and coincides with its average revenue (and demand) curve. Yes - what you must remember is that a firm's demand curve in perfect competition is its average revenue curve. Average revenue = price x quantity / quantity = price. The demand curve shows the quantity demanded at varying prices and this is exactly what the average revenue curve will do.Because there are so many sellers in the market, no one firm has enough market power to influence price (if a firm tried to raise price consumers would move to different suppliers; nobody would buy the good), therefore price is determined by industry supply and demand, and a firm can produce any quantity at this price . This means that the firm faces a horizontal average revenue (demand curve) and if average revenue is constant, this means total revenue is increasing at a constant rate, and therefore marginal revenue is constant as well.
Profit maximization theory?
the fact that total profit reaches its maximum point where marginal revenue equals marginal cost.Contents[show] 1 Basic definitions2 Total revenue - total cost perspective3 Marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective4 Case in which maximizing revenue is equivalent5 Changes in total costs and profit maximization6 Markup pricing7 Marginal product of labor, marginal revenue product of labor, and profit maximization8 See also9 Notes10 References11 External linksBasic definitionsAny costs incurred by a firm may be classed into two groups: fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs, which occur only in the short run, are incurred by the business at any level of output, including zero output. These may include equipment maintenance, rent, wages of employees whose numbers cannot be increased or decreased in the short run, and general upkeep. Variable costs change with the level of output, increasing as more product is generated. Materials consumed during production often have the largest impact on this category, which also includes the wages of employees who can be hired and laid off in the span of time (long run or short run) under consideration. Fixed cost and variable cost, combined, equal total cost. Revenue is the amount of money that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services (as opposed to monies from security sales such as equity shares or debt issuances).Marginal cost and revenue, depending on whether the calculus approach is taken or not, are defined as either the change in cost or revenue as each additional unit is produced, or the derivative of cost or revenue with respect to the quantity of output. For instance, taking the first definition, if it costs a firm 400 USD to produce 5 units and 480 USD to produce 6, the marginal cost of the sixth unit is 80 dollars.Total revenue - total cost perspectiveProfit Maximization - The Totals Approach To obtain the profit maximising output quantity, we start by recognizing that profit is equal to total revenue (TR) minus total cost (TC). Given a table of costs and revenues at each quantity, we can either compute equations or plot the data directly on a graph. The profit-maximizing output is the one at which this difference reaches its maximum. In the accompanying diagram, the linear total revenue curve represents the case in which the firm is a perfect competitor in the goods market, and thus cannot set its own selling price. The profit-maximizing output level is represented as the one at which total revenue is the height of C and total cost is the height of B; the maximal profit is measured as CB. This output level is also the one at which the total profit curve is at its maximum.If, contrary to what is assumed in the graph, the firm is not a perfect competitor in the output market, the price to sell the product at can be read off the demand curve at the firm's optimal quantity of output.Marginal revenue-marginal cost perspectiveProfit maximization using the marginal approach An alternative perspective relies on the relationship that, for each unit sold, marginal profit (Mπ) equals marginal revenue (MR) minus marginal cost (MC). Then, if marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost at some level of output, marginal profit is positive and thus a greater quantity should be produced, and if marginal revenue is less than marginal cost, marginal profit is negative and a lesser quantity should be produced. At the output level at which marginal revenue equals marginal cost, marginal profit is zero and this quantity is the one that maximizes profit.[1] Since total profit increases when marginal profit is positive and total profit decreases when marginal profit is negative, it must reach a maximum where marginal profit is zero - or where marginal cost equals marginal revenue - and where lower or higher output levels give lower profit levels.[1] In calculus terms, the correct intersection of MC and MR will occur when:[1]The intersection of MR and MC is shown in the next diagram as point A. If the industry is perfectly competitive (as is assumed in the diagram), the firm faces a demand curve (D) that is identical to its marginal revenue curve (MR), and this is a horizontal line at a price determined by industry supply and demand. Average total costs are represented by curve ATC. Total economic profit are represented by the area of the rectangle PABC. The optimum quantity (Q) is the same as the optimum quantity in the first diagram.If the firm is operating in a non-competitive market, changes would have to be made to the diagrams. For example, the marginal revenue curve would have a negative gradient, due to the overall market demand curve. In a non-competitive environment, more complicated profit maximization solutions involve the use of game theory.Case in which maximizing revenue is equivalentIn some cases a firm's demand and cost conditions are such that marginal profits are greater than zero for all levels of production up to a certain maximum.[2] In this case marginal profit plunges to zero immediately after that maximum is reached; hence the Mπ = 0 rule implies that output should be produced at the maximum level, which also happens to be the level that maximizes revenue.[2] In other words the profit maximizing quantity and price can be determined by setting marginal revenue equal to zero, which occurs at the maximal level of output. Marginal revenue equals zero when the total revenue curve has reached its maximum value. An example would be a scheduled airline flight. The marginal costs of flying one more passenger on the flight are negligible until all the seats are filled. The airline would maximize profit by filling all the seats. The airline would determine the conditions by maximizing revenues. Changes in total costs and profit maximizationA firm maximizes profit by operating where marginal revenue equal marginal costs. A change in fixed costs has no effect on the profit maximizing output or price.[3] The firm merely treats short term fixed costs as sunk costs and continues to operate as before.[4] This can be confirmed graphically. Using the diagram illustrating the total cost-total revenue perspective, the firm maximizes profit at the point where the slopes of the total cost line and total revenue line are equal.[2] An increase in fixed cost would cause the total cost curve to shift up by the amount of the change.[2] There would be no effect on the total revenue curve or the shape of the total cost curve. Consequently, the profit maximizing point would remain the same. This point can also be illustrated using the diagram for the marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective. A change in fixed cost would have no effect on the position or shape of these curves.[2] Markup pricingIn addition to using methods to determine a firm's optimal level of output, a firm that is not perfectly competitive can equivalently set price to maximize profit (since setting price along a given demand curve involves picking a preferred point on that curve, which is equivalent to picking a preferred quantity to produce and sell). The profit maximization conditions can be expressed in a "more easily applicable" form or rule of thumb than the above perspectives use.[5] The first step is to rewrite the expression for marginal revenue as MR = ∆TR/∆Q =(P∆Q+Q∆P)/∆Q=P+Q∆P/∆Q, where P and Q refer to the midpoints between the old and new values of price and quantity respectively.[5] The marginal revenue from an "incremental unit of quantity" has two parts: first, the revenue the firm gains from selling the additional units or P∆Q. The additional units are called the marginal units.[6] Producing one extra unit and selling it at price P brings in revenue of P. Moreover, one must consider "the revenue the firm loses on the units it could have sold at the higher price"[6]-that is, if the price of all units had not been pulled down by the effort to sell more units. These units that have lost revenue are called the infra-marginal units.[6] That is, selling the extra unit results in a small drop in price which reduces the revenue for all units sold by the amount Q(∆P/∆Q). Thus MR = P + Q(∆P/∆Q) = P +P (Q/P)((∆P/∆Q) = P + P/(PED), where PED is the price elasticity of demand characterizing the demand curve of the firms' customers, which is negative. Then setting MC = MR gives MC = P + P/PED so (P - MC)/P = - 1/PED and P = MC/[1 + (1/PED)]. Thus the optimal markup rule is:(P - MC)/P = 1/ (- PED)orP = [PED/(1 + PED)]×MC.[7][8] In words, the rule is that the size of the markup is inversely related to the price elasticity of demand for the good.[7]The optimal markup rule also implies that a non-competitive firm will produce on the elastic region of its market demand curve. Marginal cost is positive. The term PED/(1+PED) would be positive so P>0 only if PED is between -1 and -∝ -that is, if demand is elastic at that level of output.[9] The intuition behind this result is that, if demand is inelastic at some value Q1 then a decrease in Q would increase P more than proportionately, thereby increasing revenue PQ; since lower Q would also lead to lower total cost, profit would go up due to the combination of increased revenue and decreased cost. Thus Q1 does not give the highest possible profit.Marginal product of labor, marginal revenue product of labor, and profit maximizationThe general rule is that firm maximizes profit by producing that quantity of output where marginal revenue equals marginal costs. The profit maximization issue can also be approached from the input side. That is, what is the profit maximizing usage of the variable input? [10] To maximize profit the firm should increase usage of the input "up to the point where the input's marginal revenue product equals its marginal costs".[11] So mathematically the profit maximizing rule is MRPL = MCL, where the subscript L refers to the commonly assumed variable input, labor. The marginal revenue product is the change in total revenue per unit change in the variable input. That is MRPL = ∆TR/∆L. MRPL is the product of marginal revenue and the marginal product of labor or MRPL = MR x MPL.
Difference between average revenue and marginal revenue?
"Average revenue", for a specific level of sales, is the total revenue divided by the number of units sold, or in other words, revenue per unit, or, simply, "price". This average is over the entire sales in a given time period, market, etc. "Marginal revenue" is "average revenue" evaluated at every possible level of sales. You see, the more you sell, the lower the price will be, according to the law of demand. If you sell 1,000 widgets, you may get $1 apiece for them, but if you sell 10,000 of them, you may have to lower the price to 90 cents to sell them all. Of course, if the market is perfectly competitive (you have lots of competitors selling widgets), then you alone can't affect the price very much with your change in output, and the Marginal Revenue is, essentially, constant, at least over the relevant range of level of sales. However, even in perfect competition, you could, theoretically, increase your sales so much that you dominate all of your competitors, and then you would have to lower your price to sell all of your widgets. The thing is, under perfect competition, everyone is operating exactly at the level of sales where marginal cost is equal to marginal revenue, so if your marginal revenue goes down, your marginal profit becomes negative. So you won't do that. In fact, this concept of marginal revenue (when compared to marginal cost) is exactly the mechanism that ensures you don't try to dominate a perfectly competitive market. (If the market is a monopoly, or oligopoly, however, all bets are off. For that matter, even if a market is otherwise perfectly competitive (large number of firms) but entry and exit are not free (say, large start-up costs), a firm with deep enough pockets can put everyone else out of business by over-producing for a while and driving the price down to where all firms are losing money, then raise the price back up, to even above the previous price, once it becomes a monopoly.)
A manager urgues that output should be expanded so long as average revenue exceeds average cost Does this make sense to you?
This strategy is incorrect because they should decide the optimal quantity on the marginal revenue and marginal costs rather than the average revenue and average costs. It may not hold that the average revenue being higher than the average cost would lead to profits for the firm. To decide if they should produce an additional product, the firm should consider the additional cost involved with the production of this extra cost and the additional revenue incurred from the sale of this product. If this marginal revenue exceeds the marginal cost, then the firm should produce that additional unit. This decision is to be taken at all levels of output, and the firm should produce until the point where MR=MC.
How might firms BEST use marginal analysis to determine price and output when there are additional costs related to hiring a new worker?
Marginal analysis would allow the company to identify how much more money they would have to make in order to afford another employee. It would help them figure out if hiring a new worker is the best course of action.
How a monopoly firm will not achieve allocative efficiency?
They produce at a different point than a competitive firm, a monopoly produces at a point where marginal revenue= marginal cost, where a competitive firm equates price to marginal cost. The marginal cost curve is lower than the demand curve, but the monopoly charges the price at the demand curve, which is a higher price and a lower quantity than a competitive market would produce.
How do you compute the Marginal Cost of Capital schedule?
Marginal or incremental cost of capital is cost of the additional capital raised in a given period
Distinction of income taxs from revenue?
Revenue would be income. Income taxes would be a liability.
How does production influence revenue?
Revenue is directly proportional to the production. Higher the production, more the revenue would be.
