Question

Viking InterWorks is one of many manufacturers that supplies memory products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of desktop systems. The CEO recently read an article in a trade publication that reported the projected demand for desktop systems to be:

Qd_desktop = 1600 - 2P_desktop + 0.6M (in millions of units), where P_desktop is the price of a desktop system and M is consumer income.

The same article reported that the incomes of the desktop system’s primary consumer demographic would increase 4.2 percent this year to $61,300 and that the selling price of a desktop would decrease to $980, both of which the CEO viewed favorably for Viking. In a related article, the CEO read that the upcoming year’s projected demand for 512 MB desktop memory modules is:

Qd_memory = 11,200 - 100P_memory - 2P_desktop (in thousands of units), where P_memory is the market price for a 512 MB memory module and P_desktop is the selling price of a desktop system.

The report also indicated that five new, small start-ups entered the 512 MB memory module market bringing the total number of competitors to 100 firms. Furthermore, suppose that Viking’s CEO commissioned an industry-wide study to examine the industry capacity for 512 MB memory modules. The results indicate that when the industry is operating at maximum efficiency, this competitive industry supplies modules according to the following function:

Qs_memory = 1000 + 25P_memory + N where P_memory is the price of a 512 MB memory module and N is the number of memory module manufacturers in the market.

Viking’s CEO provides you, the production manager, with the above information and requests a report containing the market price for memory modules and the number of units to manufacture in the upcoming year based on the assumption that all firms producing 512 MB modules supply an equal share to the market.

Instructions: Enter your responses rounded to two decimal places.

Market price for memory modules: $

Number of units to manufacture: thousand


How would your report change if the price of desktops were $1,080?

Market price for memory modules: $

Number of units to manufacture: thousand


What does this indicate about the relationship between memory modules and desktop systems?

Answer 1