Consider the following four-step assembly operation with quality problems:

The first resource has a processing time of 5 minutes per unit and one employee doing the operation.

The second resource has a processing time of 4 minutes per unit.

It also has one employee doing the operation. However, this is a very delicate task and 80% of all products have to be scrapped after this step. Two workers are staffed for the third resource. No quality problems occur at this resource and the processing time is 20 minutes per unit. At the fourth and final resource, one operator handles the product. No quality problems exist at this step and the processing time is 12 minutes per unit.

For every unit of demand, how many units have to flow through the second step in the process?

Your company is starting a new r& d initiative: a development of a new drug that dramatically reduces the addiction to smoking. the expert team estimates the probability of developing the drug succesfully at 60% and a chance of losing the investment of 40%. if the project is successful, your company would earn profits (after deducting the investment) of 9,000 (thousand usd). if the development is unsuccessful, the whole investment will be lost -1,000 (thousand usd). your company's risk preference is given by the expected utility function: u(x) v1000 +x, where x is the monetary outcome of a project. calculate the expected profit of the project . calculate the expected utility of the project . find the certainty equivalent of this r& d initiative . find the risk premium of this r& d initiative e is the company risk-averse, risk-loving or risk-neutral? why do you think so?