Donut Emporium Case Summary

The elasticity of demand measures the buyer’s reaction to price as its changing. “Economists measure the degree to which demand is price elastic or inelastic with the coefficient E d, defined as E d = percentage change in quantity demanded of product X/ percentage change in price of product X” (McConnell, C. 2011). Therefore, Ed=∆Qd/∆Pd. When elasticity of demand is measured less than one, demand is considered to be inelastic. The coefficient in an inelastic range is less than one. When this takes place the percentage change in price is more than the percentage change in quantity. It can be said that when inelastic demand is present that quantity becomes less effected by price changing.

If the product coast a large percentage of the average consumer’s income, people will pay more attention to sale prices because they may be afraid of a fact that if the price keeps rising, they can’t afford it because it is expensive and costs most of their income. It is common that we spend more than $200 on one pair of Nike shoes, which are quite expensive. However, the price of bread is low. Furthermore, one pair of Nike shoes costs more percentage of clients’ income than a piece of bread. If the price declines, people would like to buy more Nike shoes because they can’t afford it in normal time. However, people won’t buy too much bread than before because the bread may go rancid quickly. So people are more sensitive to the price of Nike shoes. As a consequence, all Nike shoes sold in Canada have more elasticity than all bread sold in Canada.

Elasticity of demand is calculated by ED=quantity demanded/decrease in price. If you reduce the price of milk by 6%, and that causes an increase of quantity demanded by 9% the demand for milk is elastic (ED= .09/.06 = 1.5).

Using the simulation as a guide the price elasticity of demand is reviewed to determine the effects of pricing strategies. Demand can either decrease or increase based on price of a product or service (Colander, 2010). Consumers tend to buy products were there is a decrease in price (Colander, 2010).

A. The concept of elasticity of demand has played a major role in managerial decision-making. It has greatly helped managers in consideration of whether lowering a price will lead to an increase in demand of a certain product, and if so, to what extent and whether profits would increase as a result of doing so. In this case the concept of demand becomes advantageous in that:

1. When a firm measured price in dollars and quantity in kilograms, it estimated that the

Elasticity : rising or falling price lead changes in quantity of demand, and the quantity of supply and this so-called elasticity

Because the paint is at 2.56, this is considered to be elastic demand. This means that the demand for the good changes at a faster rate than the price change of the good. Sales fall off steeply when the price increases, but they jump sharply when the price declines.

Elasticity is a measure of the responsiveness of demand to changes in the price of a good or service. In the case of Steam Scot, when the price rises from 4 to 5, demand falls from 60,000 to 40,000 units. The original equilibrium market price of 4 pounds resulted in demand of 60,000 units and this generated revenue of 240,000 pounds. When the prices increased to 5 pounds the resulting demand is 40,000 units, and this generates total revenue of 200,000 pounds. When market price changes from 4 pounds to 5 pounds 40,000 pounds of revenue are lost in this indicates an elastic price elasticity of demand.

Based on the above description, forms of elasticity will affect business decisions and pricing strategies differently depending on the nature and type of products or services being offered. Business organizations whose product offerings have elastic and perfectly elastic price elasticities of demand should not attempt to raise prices of their products because it will cause the quantity demanded and consequently total revenues to drop drastically. Businesses can there use the price elasticities of demand to determine whether the proposed changes in their prices will raise or reduce their total revenue. The following expression may be useful in helping business organizations to determine the impacts of elasticities on their total revenues based on the suggested price changes.

To solve the equation, you plug 3000 in for x and get p(price) = 120. Yes, the unit price of $120 may seem high but because production decreased by almost half and we kept revenue the same the increase in unit price was justified. A function for the elasticity of demand would have to follow the equation E(p) = -pf’(p)/f(p). The predetermined function for f(p) = 12000-75p and taking the derivative f’(p) = -75, these can be plugged into the elasticity demand function to get E(p) = 75p/12000-75p. Using the unit price of $120 for p elasticity of demand comes out to be 3. Since 3 is greater than 1 the unit elasticity at this price is elastic. Based on this finding increasing this price would make revenue less productive and so we should keep the price of the water bottles lower to be able to produce more; however, it would make sense to increase

Elasticity of demand helps the sales manager in fixing the price of his product, deciding the sales, pricing policies and optimal price for their products. The evaluation of this measure is a useful tool for firms in making decisions about pricing and production which will determine the total

When price elasticity of demand is elastic, the coefficient will be greater than one. When a percent price change occurs quantity demanded responds strongly there will be a large change in quantities consumers purchase. There is price sensitive in this scenario. If price elasticity of demanded is inelastic the coefficient will be less than one. When a percent price change occurs quantity demanded does not respond strongly then there is a slight change in quantities consumers will purchase. There a weak price sensitive in this scenario. Lastly, if price elasticity of demanded is unit elastic the coefficient will be equal to one. Whenever there is a percent change in price there is an equally matched percent change in quantity demanded. This scenario is rare.

When the price of a good rises the quality demanded falls, if we think about how much does it falls. To figure out by how much it falls we must calculate the price elasticity of demand which is calculate by how responsive demand is to rise in price. Also, the price elasticity of supply measures the responsiveness of quantity supplied to a change in price.

If the demand for the good or services of the company is elastic then the change in quantity demanded would be greater than a change in price. Let’s say the 10 percent decrease in price will cause increase in demand for 20 percent. The effect of this changes is that customers buying more products of this company. They are buying it for lower price but the price decrease outweigh by increasing quantity of the products or services. In this case the company benefits from these changes by raising profits. On the other hand, if company would raise the prices for the product the quantity will decrease so does the profit.