PART I - INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1

Introduction and Goals of the Firm

Managerial economics is that part of economics applied to the decisions that managers must make. When managers make decisions that maximize firm profits, they simultaneously maximize shareholder wealth and promote efficient allocation of resources. Managers drift away from this objective when they concentrate on their own security. To avoid non-profit maximizing behavior, a growing number of firms are structuring compensation plans for managers that promote long-term profitability.

Shareholder Wealth Maximization

1. To align the interests of the shareholders of Salomon Smith Barney with the interests of its chairman, most of the chairman's compensation is based on the performance of the company relative to its five major competitors.

2. Executive compensation is based on Salomon' return on equity and return on equity of their competitors. The bonus can be as large as $24 million.

Managerial Economics and Economic Theory

1. Managerial Economics deals with applications of microeconomics. It is useful for making business decisions concerning pricing, production, cost analysis, market structure, and strategy.

2. Honda and Toyota both expanded capacity to produce cars in the US. The decision is either to expand (S1) or not expand (S2). Both firms believe that the capacity expansion was profitable.

3. Steps in decision making include: Establish and identify objectives, define the problem, find possible alternative solutions, select the best solution, and implement that choice.

The Role of Profits

1. Economic profit is the difference between revenues and total economic cost (including the economic or opportunity cost of owner supplied resources such as time and capital). 2. Economic cost (or opportunity cost) is the highest valued benefit that must be sacrificed as a result of choosing an alternative, which includes both explicit and implicit components.

3. Theories of why profit varies across industries:

a. Risk-bearing theory of profit. Higher profit is compensation for investing in riskier endeavors. Example: investing in the stock of Circus Circus.

b. Dynamic equilibrium (or frictional) theory of profit. Industries earning above normal profits (economic profits) will eventually find more competition. Added competition will bring profits back to normal (zero economic profits) over time. Competition directs resources to industries with the greatest profit. Example: petroleum industry profits rise when there are international wars in oil producing countries.

c. Monopoly theory of profit. Barriers, such as governmental regulations, are the source of higher than normal profits.

d. Innovation theory of profit. There is a reward for developing new ideas, new construction technologies, and for finding new markets.

e. Managerial efficiency theory of profit. Exceptional managerial skills can produce superior profits.

4. Circus Circus, a Las Vegas casino and hotel, earned exceptionally high returns in 1994, but a similar firm, Bally's, earned rather low returns. High average returns tend to occur in industries with high risk.

Objective of the Firm

1. Profit maximization as a goal implies that decisions that raise revenues more than costs or lower costs more than reduce revenues should be selected. This is a short term objective.

2. Shareholder wealth maximization as a goal implies that decisions that increase the present value of expected future profits should be selected. Even decisions that reduce today's profits, yet substantially raise future profits, may be appropriate decisions. This is a long-term business goal.

3. The price of a share of stock can be thought of as the present value of expected future cash flows per share. Cash flows are discounted at the shareholders required rate of return, ke.

5. The value of the firm, VALUE, is the price per share, V0, times the number of shares outstanding. VALUE = V0•Shares Outstanding. The price per share, V0, is the present value of future profit per share, where (t is cash flow per share in each period and ke is the investor’s required rate of return. (
VALUE = V0•Shares Outstanding = { ( (t /(1+ke) t }•Shares Outstanding t=1

6. Profit is total revenue minus total cost (TR - TC). Total revenue for a single product firm is price times quantity, P·Q. Total cost (TC) is total variable cost plus fixed cost, F. Total variable cost is the variable cost per unit, V, times the number of units, Q. Hence, ( = P·Q - V·Q - F. According, the value of the firm can also be written as the present value of all future profits: (
VALUE = = ( (Pt·Qt - Vt·Qt - Ft) / (1+ke) t t=1

7. Business decisions affect the amount and timing of revenues, costs, and the discount rate used by investors. For example, selecting a capital-intensive technology may raise fixed costs, F, but lower variable costs per unit, V.

8. If firm is perceived as less risky, then a reduction in required rate of return, ke, raises the value of the firm.

9. Expected future profits are not the same as accounting profits. Accounting profits do not consider the opportunity cost of capital invested by owners or actual cash flows collected or paid by the company. In practice, managers who base their decisions on ways to maximize the present value of cash flows, will make decisions that maximize the wealth of shareholders.

10. Profit maximization is the primary goal of William Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who has produced higher profits and higher share values than market averages over time.

Managerial Actions to Influence Shareholder Wealth

1. Economic Environment Factors include the level of economic activity (recession or boom), tax rates, competition, governmental regulations, unionization, and international economic exposure. Also Conditions in Financial Markets such as interest rates, investor sentiment, and anticipated inflation affect profitability. These are factor constrain profits, but are outside the direct control of managers.

2. Major Policy Decisions include product mix, production technology, marketing network, investment strategies, employment policies and compensation, form of organization, capital structure (use of debt versus equity), working capital management, and dividend policies. These decisions are under the manager’s control.

Separation of Ownership and Control: The Problem of Agency

1. In many corporations, the managers own very few shares. Shareholders may want profits, but managers may wish to relax. The shareholders are principals, whereas the managers are agents. Divergent objectives between these groups are called agency problems.

2. Solutions to agency problems involve compensation that is based on the performance of agents. Some firms have compensation plans that extend stock options, bonuses, and grants of stock to workers, so that employees have added incentives to increase their company's value.

3. RJR Nabisco was mismanaged. An unfriendly takeover of the firm was successful, and they sold the bad performing businesses. Also, O.M. Scott, a fertilizer company, was part of the ITT conglomerate. Once Scott Fertilizer was taken private in a leverage buyout, performance improved in inventory levels and other areas.

Implications of Shareholder Wealth Maximization

1. Critics claim that aligning compensation with shareholder interests leads to short run objectives.

2. Patents for Eli Lilly’s profitable drug Prozac were running out. Lilly hoped to find ways to extend the patents. When a federal judge blocked the extension in 2000, competitors came in with generic versions of Prozac. Lilly used short run crisis management. Longer run thinking, such as ‘scenario planning’ would have led them to bring out new generation anti-depressants before the patent terminated.

3. The Saturn Corporation offers an example of an initially successful new car company that faced meager profits over time. Its low price provided low profit margins for Saturn. Low returns lead to less reinvestment into new models. Middle-aged Saturn buyers traded up to larger Japanese imports.

4. Maximization of the present value of expected cash flows works well if the following conditions are met:

a. Complete Markets -- there are liquid markets to buy and sell the firm's inputs, contaminants (including polluting by-products), and common property resources.

b. No Significant Asymmetric Information -- buyers and sellers all know the same things.

c. Known Recontracting Costs -- future input costs are part of the present value of expected cash flows. The existence of future and forward markets in inputs can help lock-in future input costs.

Goals in the Public Sector and the Not-For-Profit (NFP) Enterprise

1. NFP organizations such as performing arts groups, most hospitals, universities, and volunteer organizations receive a substantial portion of their financial support from contributions, and some support from "clients" who use their services.

2. NFP organizations seek goals such as increased contributions. They may achieve their goals by being efficient in the services they offer or by providing meritorious services.

3. A manager of a food shelter may decide to maximize the utility of contributors or donors by selecting very "healthy foods" to give to clients; or may decide that the objective is to give out the greatest volume of food possible. They may be quite efficient in achieving their goals.

Managing a Globally Competitive Economy

1. Managerial innovations, such as "just-in-time" inventory methods, efficient transfer pricing, and total quality management concepts can be learned by observing successful competitors in the U.S. or abroad.

2. Global managers need to be up-to-date with the tools of managerial economics to compete and win in the world marketplace.

True and False Questions

Agree or disagree with the following statements, and correct the part that is erroneous.

1. The goal of shareholder wealth maximization implies that managerial decisions maximize only the current quarter's expected profits of the firm.

2. When Alan Greenspan (chair of the Federal Reserve Board) cuts interest rates, this tends to reduce the investor’s required return and raise stock prices.

3. An example of an agency problem is a store manager, who avoids taking a risk, so that he cannot be ‘blamed’ for making a bad decision.

4. If you owned and worked in your own card shop, and if you did not pay yourself a wage, then you have ignored an economic cost of running your business.

5. Decisions that do not affect the amount of revenues and costs, but change the timing of receipts and disbursement will not affect the value of the firm.

6. The amount of profits is entirely under the control of the manager.

7. Not-for-profit organizations can't earn profits, so they have no goals.

8. In the long run, all firms earn the same rate of return.

Answers
1. Disagree. Expected long run profits of the firm affects firm value. A loss in the current quarter that leads to profits later may be an appropriate strategy.
2. Disagree. Macroeconomics deals with market aggregates, such as whole countries, the market for all labor, inflation, business cycles, and unemployment.
3. True. However, stock prices are influenced by expectations of the future and many other factors besides the required return.
4. True.
5. Disagree. Timing affects the present value of the firm. Monies received sooner are more valuable than the same amount received later.
6. Disagree. Economic Environment Factors and Conditions in Financial Markets are outside the control of managers, and do affect profitability.
7. Disagree. The goals of NFP may vary, such as maximizing number of clients served or maximizing the happiness of the organization's management. But they do have goals.
8. Disagree. Barriers to free trade, as in some kinds of governmental regulations, can create monopoly. There may be differences in risk, degrees of innovation, and there may be changes in technology and tastes that create above normal, and below normal, profit rates in different industries even over long periods of time.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to ___________. a. minimize average cost b. maximize shareholder value c. maximize total revenue d. find an output where total revenue equals total cost

2. Which of the following are likely to increase the value of the firm, based on the shareholders wealth-maximization model of the firm? a. The rate of inflation increases substantially. b. A previously nonunion workforce votes to unionize. c. A technological breakthrough allows the firm to reduce its cost of production. d. the government implements strict pollution control requirements.

3. The Russian Republic has continued its sale of formerly state-run enterprises. When a steel factory is sold, the value should be based: a. mostly on the past output levels assigned it by central planners. b. primarily on the future earning potential in a competitive economy. c. on the cost of the buildings, adjusted by appropriate depreciation measures. d. in comparing the facilities with equivalent facilities in the United States.

4. The Agency Problem shows up in many different situations within a firm. Which is NOT a good example of this problem? a. Firm managers sometime want to relax on the job. b. Diversified stockholders are more eager to accept risks than are firm managers. c. Firm managers receive cash bonuses based on the performance of the firm. d. Employees sometime take items from the store in which they work.

5. Executive compensation should: a. be an increasing function of the firm's expenses. b. be an increasing function of the sales revenue received by the firm. c. create incentives so that managers act like owners of the firm. d. avoid making the executives own shares in the company.

6. Which of the following may be an example of an agency problem? a. time not spent on actual business by an employee on an out-of-state business trip. b. output of a piece rate garment worker. c. the job performance of a parking lot attendant. d. work performance of a manager of a card shop, who also owns the card shop.

7. To reduce agency costs, firms incur costs in all these areas EXCEPT: a. compensation inducements to executives to take actions that shareholders want. b. payment of payroll taxes. c. expenditures to monitor the actions of managers, including internal audits. d. bonding expenditures to protect the owners from managerial dishonesty.

8. Economics is traditionally defined as the science that: a. shows people how to get rich using the stock market. b. tries to prove how humans differ from other species. c. deals with the allocation of scarce resources among competing ends. d. provides a guide to the successful management of a personal business.

9. In the shareholder wealth maximization model, the value of a firm's stock is equal to the present value of all expected future _____________ discounted at the stockholders' required rate of return. a. cash flows b. revenues c. outlays d. costs
10. The branch of economics that deals with the analysis of the whole economy is called: a. shareholder wealth maximization. b. macroeconomics. c. gestalt economics. d. microeconomics.

11. Which of the following will improve shareholder wealth, which is implicit in the formula: VALUE = [pic]( [ Pt·Qt - Vt·Qt - Ft ]/(1+ke) t

a. larger quantity of sales, Qt, assuming price is greater than average variable cost. b. higher discount rate on equity, ke. c. higher fixed costs per period, Ft. d. all of the above.

12. Agency problems between managers and shareholders can be reduced by: a. paying managers based on the profitability of the firm. b. requiring managers to own shares of the company. c. paying managers stock options, which improve in value as the stock price rises. d. all of the above.

13. If shareholders do not mind their firm being taken over by merger or acquisition when the price is high, but managers prefer to fight takeovers, what can shareholders do? a. offer a Christmas bonus of $500 every year to management. b. offer free life insurance policies to all employees. c. offer a golden parachute contract (a very large severance package) if management loses their position in a takeover. d. offer an extra week of paid vacation to employees who have worked at this company for over five years.

14. One important difference between socialist and market economies is: a. private incentives are rewarded highly in socialist countries. b. all citizens are always wealthier in market economies than in socialist economies. c. decision making on what to produce is decentralized in socialist economies. d. decision making on what to produce is decentralized in market economies.

15. Which of the following theories of profit best reflects the surprising success General Electric has produced over the two decades while being run by the phenomenal Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) Jack Welch? a. innovation theory of profit b. dynamic equilibrium (frictional) theory of profit. c. risk-bearing theory of profit d. managerial efficiency theory of profit
16. Which of the following "theories of profit" best reflects the upward jump in the profits of manufacturers of duck tape by the announcement by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge that Americans should stock up on supplies for preparedness? c. a. innovation theory of profit d. b. dynamic equilibrium (frictional) theory of profit. e. c. monopoly profit theory of profit f. d. managerial efficiency theory of profit

17. The drug industry earned 26.5% returns, whereas other Value Line firms earned 15%. What theory of profit best reflects the performance of the drug industry? a. the risk-bearing theory of profit b. the dynamic equilibrium (frictional) theory of profit c. the over-investment hypothesis theory of profit d. the managerial efficiency theory of profit

18. O.M. Scott was a division of the conglomerate ITT. A group of managers at the Scott division borrowed money and took O.M. Scott private in an LBO (a leveraged buyout). The change in ownership is an example of: a. a way to reduce the agency problems between stockholders and firm managers b. increase the monopoly power of Scott fertilizer in the marketplace c. finding that conglomerates make the best fertilizer d. vertical integration of fertilizer manufactures and farmers working together

Answers
1. b 8. c 15. d
2. c 9. a 16. b
3. b 10. b 17. a
4. c 11. a 18. a
5. c 12. d 19.
6. a 13. c 20
7. b 14. d

Problems or Short Essays

1. With approximately 100 new satellites launched each year, who is responsible for the “space junk” that accumulates each year? How can the space-junk problem be solved?

2. Managers of publicly owned enterprises must face shareholders at annual meetings. They must report the quarterly and annual earnings for the year. If they take on projects that do not have a quick payback, they are afraid that shareholders will become angry, call their directors, and seek new management. How can shareholders reward managers who take a long-run view to profitability to avoid this agency problem?

3. The value of a firm can be represented by the present value of the stream of profits: ( VALUE = ( [ Pt·Qt - Vt·Qt - Ft ]/(1+ke) t t=1

a. If managerial decisions increase the perceived risk of the firm, what variables above increase?

b. What variables are changed in the value function above if management attempts to improve the perceived quality of their products through more precise quality control?

4. What is the value today of a single $200 cash flow in two years, if one's perceived rate of return is 15%?

Answers
1. The problem of space junk is due to “common property resources.” As no one owns orbital space, no one seems responsible for keeping the space free of costly debris. This is the same problem for air and water pollution. The solution typically requires the creation of property rights. For example, the United Nations, or other international groups, could be given orbital paths “rights”. These rights could be auctioned off, with the winner having a 99-year lease. This privatizes orbital space. Firms will be more careful not to damage their own space.

2. Tying current profitability performance to current management compensation tends to emphasize the short run.

Shareholders may wish their directors to devise compensation that pays bonuses in the future for good long-term performance. For example, stock options or warrants that expire in the distant future become more valuable as the value of the firm improves. Managers may wish to explain to shareholders that they are investing for the long run, and that current earnings are low because of the investment. If this is a true explanation of lower current earnings, most shareholders would approve.

Furthermore, when managers own shares directly, this creates incentives for management to improve shareholder wealth.

3a. Increases in the perceived risk will not change expected cash flows but it will increase the discount rate, ke. For example, if investment decisions increase the correlation of the firm's returns with returns in the market in general, the perceived riskiness of the firm may increase.

3b. The price and quantity of the improved quality product may raise both P and Q. However, the cost per unit (V) will likely rise due to more effort at quality control. There may be additional fixed cost (F) as well.
4. It is the present value of $200 in two years, which is $200/(1.15)2 = $151.23

Worked Problems

1. Menlo Boulevard Construction, Inc. expects to build seventeen garages this year and eighteen garages next year. Each garage sells for $8,900 this year and $9,100 next year. Expenses (materials and labor) are anticipated to be $3,600 per garage this year and $3,750 next year, with fixed costs of $44,200 per year for the noncancellable rental contract on trucks and equipment in both years. Assume that taxes are zero and that all revenues and expenses are received or paid at the end of each respective year. What is the present value of Menlo's expected profits at a 10% required rate of return for discounting?

Answer: Expected profits this year is: (0 = (8,900·17 - 3,600·17) - 44,200 = $45,900. Expected profits next year is: (1 = (9,100·18 - 3,750·18) - 44,200 = $52,100. Hence, the present value of Menlo's stream of profits over the two years is:

V = $45,900 + $52,100 = $84,785.12. ( 1.10 ) ( 1.10 )2

2. American Appraisal, Inc. sends you to the Russian Republic to evaluate the selling prices for formerly state-run enterprises. You arrive at a building 35 kilometers from Moscow, knowing little Russian language and no Russian or Soviet accounting methods. Through translators, you find that the building had been used to make green glass bottles for mineral water. You can count the number of 1950-vintage bottle-making machines in the building, the inventory of completed glass bottles, but there exists little information as to how many bottles could be made per day, how many workers had previously worked there, or any other record. No other bottle firms have been privatized.

a. There are three primary appraisal techniques: (1) evaluate the sale price of equivalent "businesses" or so-called comparables; (2) evaluate the replacement cost of the machinery; or (3) the discounted present value of the expected future cash flows. Which of these three appraisal techniques would you use in this situation?

Answer: We would likely select number 3.

Unlike real estate appraisal, where there are many similar properties being sold, there may be few equivalent bottle businesses that have been sold in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union. So technique (1) would be difficult.

It is also hard to imagine why one would wish to "replace" out-dated machinery, although one could find out how many bottles each machine could process per hour, and determine how many old machines are equivalent to a new machine. So technique (2) would have limited usefulness in this situation. Therefore, the only reasonably useful approach is to use a measure of the discounted present value of expected future cash flows, as in technique (3). We could find out the selling prices of new bottles, the quantity of bottles that this factory would make, and find local wage rates. This assumes that the factory continues to operate as a bottle-making operation. The value of the property could be greater or lower, if there are other uses for the building and land. In addition, we will need to check for environmental hazards left on the property, and find out the cost for a clean up.

b. A French firm that is considering selling wine in green glass bottles will use the appraisal. The French firm would invest in the purchase. What issues does this introduce when considering the appropriate discount rate to use when deciding whether to buy this bottle factory.

Answer: The discount rate reflects the cost of borrowing and compensates for the riskiness of the investment. Since the Russian political situation is not stable, there is a risk that should the French firm buy the factory; some new government that could appear in a few years may possibly confiscate it. Foreign owned properties have historically been expropriated after political revolutions. Hence, the discount rate would be higher to purchase this factory than a similar factory in France or the U.S.

Net Sources

1. Profits vary across industrial groups. Economic theory suggests reasons for variation in profitability include differences in competition and risk. For information on profitability by industry groups look at:

Market Guide Industries, a service of Yahoo Finance. It presents firm data grouped by industries on profit margins, return on assets, and other financial accounting data at: biz.yahoo.com/p/industries.html

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) - the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics at: stats.bls.gov/

Statistical Abstract of the United States provides data divided by industries as well as states. It is available in the reference section of libraries or more conveniently at: www.census.gov/statab/www/

2. Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC) are numbers assigned to industry groups. The site gives 2-digit and 4-digit SIC codes for industries. Examples include: 31 LEATHER AND LEATHER PRODUCTS 32 STONE, CLAY, AND GLASS PRODUCTS 33 PRIMARY METAL INDUSTRIES 34 FABRICATED METAL PRODUCTS To find 4-digit classifications of industries, look at: www.wave.net/upg/immigration/sic_index.html Or for the newer six-digit North American Industry Classification system, NAICS, look at: http://www.naics.com/

3. PROJECT

Compare the average ROE (return on equity) of two distinctly different industries from: biz.yahoo.com/p/industries.html. Select three firms from each industry to find the average ROE for the industry. Use average ROEs in both industries. Do the differences appear consistent with differences in risk, friction, monopoly power, innovation, or managerial efficiency (which are the five reasons for differences in profits across industries)?

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