A firm is about to undertake the manufacture of a product, and it is weighing three capacity alternatives: small job shop, large job shop, and repetitive manufacturing

The small job shop has fixed costs of $3,000 per month, and variable costs of $10 per unit. The larger job shop has fixed costs of $12,000 per month and variable costs of $3 per unit. The repetitive manufacturing plant has fixed costs of $30,000 and variable costs of $1 per unit. Demand for the product is expected to be 1,000 units per month with "moderate" market acceptance, but 2,000 under "strong" market acceptance. The probability of moderate acceptance is estimated to be 60 percent; strong acceptance has a probability of 40 percent. The product will sell for $25 per unit regardless of the capacity decision. Which capacity choice should the firm make?

The payoffs are as follows: small job shop, moderate acceptance = $12,000; small job shop, strong acceptance = $27,000; large job shop, moderate acceptance = $10,000; large job shop, strong acceptance = $32,000; repetitive manufacturing, moderate acceptance = -$6,000; and repetitive manufacturing, strong acceptance = $18,000. The expected value for the small job shop decision alternative is $18,000. The expected value of the large job shop alternative is $18,800. The expected value for the repetitive manufacturing alternative is $3600. The firm should choose the large job shop capacity alternative.