A Buyer for a Large Sporting Goods Store Chain Must

question 4

Essay

A buyer for a large sporting goods store chain must place orders for professional footballs with the football manufacturer six months prior to the time the footballs will be sold in the stores. The buyer must decide in November how many footballs to order for sale during the upcoming late summer and fall months. Assume that each football costs the chain $45. Furthermore, assume that each pair can be sold for a retail price of $90. If the footballs are still on the shelves after next Christmas, they can be discounted and sold for $35 each. The probability distribution of consumer demand for these footballs (in hundreds) during the upcoming season has been assessed by the market research specialists and is presented below. Finally, assume that the sporting goods store chain must purchase the footballs in lots of 100 units.
-What is the optimal strategy for order quantity, and what is the expected profit in that case?

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Definitions:

Preeclampsia

A condition in pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure, often with fluid retention and proteinuria.

Rh Incompatibility

A condition occurring during pregnancy if a mother's Rh blood type is negative and her fetus's Rh blood type is positive, potentially leading to problems such as hemolytic disease of the newborn.

Fetus

An unborn or unhatched offspring of a mammal, in particular, a human more than eight weeks after conception.

Thalidomide

A medication that caused birth defects when it was given to pregnant women during the 1950s and 1960s, notably used initially as a sedative and for morning sickness.