30 marks

East Coast Digital (ECD) produces high-quality audio and video equipment. One of the company's most

popular products is a high-definition personal video recorder (PVR) for use with digital television

systems. Demand has increased rapidly for the PVR over the past three years, given the appeal to

customers of being able to easily record programs while they watch live television, watch recorded

programs while they record a different program, and save dozens of programs for future viewing on

the unit's large internal hard drive.

A complex production process is utilized for the PVR involving both laser and imaging equipment.

ECD has a monthly production capacity of 4,000 hours on its laser machine and 1,000 hours on its

image machine. However, given the recent increase in demand for the PVR, both machines are

currently operating at 90% of capacity every month, based on existing orders from customers. Direct

labour costs are $15 and $20 per hour to operate, respectively, the laser and image machines.

The revenue and costs on a per unit basis for the PVR are as follows:

Selling price$320.00

Cost to manufacture:

Direct materials$50.00 Direct labourlaser process60.00

Direct labourimage process20.00

Variable overhead40.00

Fixed overhead50.00

Variable selling costs20.00240.00 Operating profit

$ 80.00

On December 1, Dave Nance, vice-president of Sales and Marketing at ECD, received a special-order

request from a prospective customer, Jay Limited, which has offered to buy 250 PVRs at $280 per

unit if the product can be delivered by December 31. Jay Limited is a large

retailer with outlets that specialize in audio and video equipment. This special order from Jay

Limited is in addition to orders from existing customers that are utilizing 90% of the production

capacity each month. Variable selling costs would not be incurred on this special order. Jay

Limited is not willing to accept anything less than the 250 PVRs requested (i.e., ECD cannot

partially fill the order).

Before responding to the customer, Nance decided to meet with Dianne Davis, the product manager for

the PVR, to discuss whether to accept the offer from Jay Limited. An excerpt from their

conversation follows:

o Nance: I'm not sure we should accept the offer. This customer is really playing hardball with its

terms and conditions.

o Davis: Agreed, but it is a reputable company and I suspect this is the way it typically deals

with its suppliers. Plus, this could be the beginning of a profitable relationship with Jay Limited

since the company may be interested in some of our other product offerings in the future.

o Nance: That may be true, but I'm not sure we should be willing to incur such a large opportunity

cost just to get our foot in the door with this client.

o Davis: Have you calculated theopportunity cost?

o Nance: Sure, that was simple. Jay Limited is offering $280 per unit and we sell to our regular

customers at $320 per unit. Therefore, we're losing $40 per unit, which at 250 units is $10,000 in

lost revenue. That's our opportunity cost and it's clearly relevant to the decision.

o Davis: I sort of follow your logic, but I think the fact that we're not currently operating at

full capacity needs to be taken into consideration.

oNance: How so?

o Davis: Well, your approach to calculating the opportunity cost ignores the fact that we aren't

currently selling all of the PVRs that we could produce. So, in that sense we aren't really losing

$40 per unit on all 250 units required by Jay Limited.

o Nance: I see your point but I'm not clear on how we should calculate the opportunity cost.

o Davis: This really isn't my area of expertise either, but it seems appropriate to start by trying

to figure out how many of the 250 units required by Jay Limited we could produce without disrupting

our ability to fill existing orders. Then we could determine how man

units we would have to forgo selling to existing customers to make up the 250-unit order. That

would then be our opportunity cost in terms of the number of physical units involved. Make sense?

o Nance: I think so. So, to get the dollar amount of the opportunity cost of accepting the 250-unit

order from Jay Limited we'd then simply multiply the number of units we'd have to forgo selling to

existing customers by $40. Correct?

o Davis: I'm not so sure about the $40. I think we somehow need to factor in the incremental profit

we typically earn by selling each PVR to existing customers to really get to the true opportunity

cost.

o Nance: Now I'm getting really getting confused. Can you work through the numbers and get back to

me?

o Davis: I'lltry.

o Nance: Thanks. And by the way, Jay Limited is calling in an hour and wants ouranswer.

Required:

1. Is Davis's general approach to calculating the opportunity cost in terms of the physical units

involved correct? Explain. (5 Marks)

2. Assuming productive capacity cannot be increased for either machine in December, how many PVRs

would ECD have to forgo selling to existing customers to fill the special order from Jay Limited?

(5 Marks)

3.Calculate the opportunity cost of accepting the special order. (5 Marks)

4.Calculate the net effect on profits of accepting the special order. (5 Marks)

5. Now assume that ECD is operating at 75% of capacity in December. What is the minimum price ECD

should be willing to accept on the special order? (5 Marks)

6. What are some qualitative issues that should be considered when accepting special orders such as

that proposed by Jay Limited? (5 Marks)