1600 words MINIMUM (NOT including cover/reference pages or questions) Requirement is at least five scholarly articles, ONE maybe the course textbook BELOW.
Textbook(s)
Ferrell, O.C., & Hartline, M. D. (2017). Marketing strategy: Text and cases (7th ed.) SouthWestern/Cengage Learning.
Unit 5 Complete
General Instructions
Redstone Clayworks, Inc. is located in Sedona, Arizona and manufactures clay fire pits for patios. They are one of about two dozen firms around the world that manufacture and sell clay fire pits for retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, Front Gate, and other upscale home product chains. There is virtually no product differentiation. A clay fire pit is a clay fire pit.
Assume that the world market demand and supply curves for clay fire pots intersects at $300 per unit.
The spreadsheet below gives some of Redstone’s production cost data. A template for the spreadsheet is provided in the Course Materials.
Add columns to show, respectively, average fixed cost (AFC), average variable cost (AVC), average total cost (ATC), and short-run marginal cost (SMC). Then, add columns to show, respectively, total revenue (TR), marginal revenue (MR), total profit, average profit, and profit margin.
Place your completed spreadsheet in the Drop Box,and use it to answer questions 1-7. Your spreadsheet and calculations are worth 15 points and count as 500 words toward your word count requirement.
Your spreadsheet must include formulas showing how you arrived at the calculations. As an alternative, you may also submit a document showing your step-by-step calculations for each of the cells. You will not receive credit if you do not show your work using one of these two methods.
For Questions 2, 4, and 5, be sure to employ both of the General Rules for Implementing the Output Decision in your explanations.
A detailed explanation should be given for each question.
1. If Redstone wishes to maximize profit margin, how many units should it produce?
2. What level of output should the manager of Redstone choose to produce? Explain your choice in at least 100 words.
3. Are your output choices the same in questions 1 and 2? Why or why not? Explain using at least 100 words.
4. Make a copy of your spreadsheet and double the fixed costs. How does this change your answer to question 2? Explain in detail.
5.Make another copy of your spreadsheet and suppose that fire pits fall out of fashion causing prices fall worldwide to $85. How many units should the manager choose to produce? Explain.
6. Should the firm shut down in the short-run? Explain in detail why or why not.
7. Should the firm shut down in the long run? Explain in detail why or why not.
8. Airline industry experts generally believe that because of the “highly competitive” nature of U.S. airline markets, it is usually impossible to pass on higher jet fuel prices to passengers by raising ticket prices.
What factors do you suppose contribute to making U.S. airline markets “highly competitive”?
Accepting the premise that U.S. airline markets are indeed highly competitive, analyze in both the short run and long run the difficulty of raising ticket prices when jet fuel prices rise.
