Assume that a third grocery store, Quick Stop Groceries, enters the market share and customer loyalty situation described in Section 17.1. Quick Stop Groceries is smaller than either Murphy€™s Foodliner or Ashley€™s Supermarket. However, Quick Stop€™s convenience with faster service and gasoline for automobiles can be expected to attract some customers who currently make weekly shopping visits to either Murphy€™s or Ashley€™s. Assume that the transition probabilities are as follows:

a. Compute the steady-state probabilities for this three-state Markov process.
b. What market share will Quick Stop obtain?
c. With 1000 customers, the original two-state Markov process in Section 17.1 projected 667 weekly customer trips to Murphy€™s Foodliner and 333 weekly customer trips to Ashley€™s Supermarket. What impact will Quick Stop have on the customer visits at Murphy€™s and Ashley€™s?Explain.

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To Murphy's 0.85 0.20 0.15 Ashley's 0.10 0.75 0.10 Quick Stop 0.05 0.05 0.75 From Murphy's Foodliner Ashley's Supermarket Quick Stop Groceries