Price/Output Determination. The City of Ithaca, New York is considering two proposals to provide its city government the service of computer maintenance. First, a national computer maintenance and sales franchise has offered to purchase the city's computer equipment at an attractive price in return for an exclusive franchise on computer maintenance. A second proposal would allow several small companies to provide the service without any exclusive franchise agreement or competitive restrictions. Under this plan, individual companies would bid for the right to provide service in a given department. The city would then allocate business to the lowest bidder.
The city has conducted a survey of its department to estimate the amount they would be willing to pay for various amounts of computer maintenance. The city has also estimated the total cost of service per department. Service costs are expected to be the same whether or not an exclusive franchise is granted.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer of Price/Output Determination. The City of Ithaca, New York is considering two proposals to provide its city government the service of computer maintenance. First, a national computer maintenance and sales franchise has offered to purchase the city's computer equipment at an attractive price in return for an exclusive franchise on computer maintenance. A second proposal would allow several small companies to provide the service without any exclusive franchise agreement or competitive restrictions. Under this plan, individual companies would bid for the right to provide service in a given department. The city would then allocate business to the lowest bidder.
The city has conducted a survey of its department to estimate the amount they would be willing to pay for various amounts of computer maintenance. The city has also estimated the total cost of service per department. Service costs are expected to be the same whether or not an exclusive franchise is granted.