Chapter 5: Production: Managerial Economics (Bus 525) Course Convener: Dr. Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury
Chapter 5: Production: Managerial Economics (Bus 525) Course Convener: Dr. Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury
Chapter 5: Production: Managerial Economics (Bus 525) Course Convener: Dr. Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury
MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS (BUS525)
COURSE CONVENER:
DR. TAMGID AHMED CHOWDHURY
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN CONSUMER AND
PRODUCTION THEORIES
Issue Consumer theory Production theory
Managerial Economics, BUS525
Main goal Utility maximization Profit maximization through
cost minimization
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Production with Two Variable Inputs
Returns to Scale
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PRODUCTION DECISION OF A
FIRM
The theory of the firm describes how a firm
makes cost minimizing production decisions and
how the firm’s resulting cost varies with its output.
Managerial Economics, BUS525
Production decision of a firm
The production decisions of firms are analogous to
the purchasing decisions of consumers, and can
likewise be understood in three steps:
1. Production Technology
2. Cost constraints
3. Input choices
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PRODUCTION FUNCTION
Function showing the highest output that a firm can
produce for every specified combination of inputs.
q = F (K, L)
Managerial Economics, BUS525
Production functions describe what is technically feasible
when the firm operates efficiently.
Longrun and short run:
short run Period of time in which quantities of one or
more production factors cannot be changed.
●fixed input: Production factor that cannot be varied.
●long run: Amount of time needed to make all
production inputs variable. 5
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PRODUCTION
CURVE
Managerial Economics, BUS525
6
USE OF THE CURVES SHOWN
EARLIER
When to stop hiring new employees?
Ans: If marginal productivity declines, it doesn’t
Managerial Economics, BUS525
mean that we have to stop hiring new people.
Hiring may continue as long as marginal
productivity is greater than average productivity
even though MP has started declining.
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PRODUCTION WITH ONE VARIABLE INPUT (LABOR)
The Law of Diminishing
Marginal Returns: Principle
that as the use of an input
increases with other inputs
Managerial Economics, BUS525
fixed, the resulting additions to
output will eventually decrease.
Labor productivity (output per
unit of labor) can increase if
there are improvements in
technology, even though any
given production process
exhibits diminishing returns to
labor. As we move from point A
on curve O1 to B on curve O2 to
C on curve O3 over time, labor
productivity increases. 8
PRODUCTION WITH TWO VARIABLE INPUTS
AND ISOQUANT CURVE
Isoquant
Curve
showing all
Managerial Economics, BUS525
possible
combinations
of inputs that
yield the same
output.
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ISOQUANT MAP AND DMR
A set of isoquant that
describe firm’s production
function.
Output increases as we
Managerial Economics, BUS525
move from isoquant q1 (at
which 55 units per year are
produced at points such as
A and D), to isoquant q2 (75
units per year at points
such as B) and to isoquant
q3 (90 units per year at
points such as C and E).
DMR: Holding the amount
of capital fixed at a
particular level—say 3, we
can see that each additional
unit of labor generates less 10
and less additional output.
CONCEPT OF MRTS
Marginal rate of
technical substitution
(MRTS): Amount by
Managerial Economics, BUS525
which the quantity of
one input can be
reduced when one
extra unit of another
input is used, so that
output remains
constant.
(MPL ) / (MPK ) =
(change in K /change in 11
L ) = MRTS
PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS: TWO
SPECIAL CASES
1. When factors are perfect
substitutes: MRTS will be
equal (constant) at each point
of the isoquant.
Managerial Economics, BUS525
2. The Leontief production
function or fixed
proportions production
function is a production
function that implies the
factors of production will be
used in fixed (technologically
predetermined) proportions,
as there is no substitutability
between factors.
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RETURNS TO SCALE
returns to scale: Rate at which output increases
as inputs are increased proportionately.
Managerial Economics, BUS525
increasing returns to scale: Situation in which
output more than doubles when all inputs are
doubled.
constant returns to scale: Situation in which
output doubles when all inputs are doubled.
decreasing returns to scale: Situation in which
output less than doubles when all inputs are
doubled.
13
Managerial Economics, BUS525
14
RETURNS TO
SCALE
EXAMPLES
Do the following functions exhibit increasing,
constant, or decreasing returns to scale?
What happens to the marginal product of
Managerial Economics, BUS525
each individual factor as that factor is
increased and the other factor held
constant?
1. q = 3L + 2K
2. q = (2L + 2K)1/2
3. q = 3LK2
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MATHEMATICAL EXAMPLES
1. Wheat is produced according to the
production function q = 100(K0.8L0.2), where
K is capital and L is labor.
Managerial Economics, BUS525
a. Derive the marginal product of labor and
the marginal product of capital.
b. Show that the marginal product of labor
and the marginal product of capital are
both decreasing (hint: beginning with K =
4, and L = 49).
c. Does this production function exhibit
increasing, decreasing, or constant returns
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to scale?
PRACTICE EXAMPLES
The production function for the personal
computers of Company A, Inc., is given by q =
10K0.5L0.5, where q is the number of computers
produced per day, K is hours of machine time,
Managerial Economics, BUS525
and L is hours of labor input. A’s competitor,
Company B, Inc., is using the production
function q = 10K0.6L0.4.
If both companies use the same amounts of
capital and labor, which will generate more
output?
Assume that capital is limited to 9 machine
hours, but labor is unlimited in supply. In which
company is the marginal product of labor
greater? Explain. 17