Brain Teaser for the
week; the most intelligent set of response(s) stands a chance of winning a
Brian Tracy EBook containing over 20 titles…
Consider the following decision problem: As the president
of an airline company,
you have invested $10 million of the company’s money into a
research project.
The purpose was to build a plane that would not be detected
by conventional
radar, in other words, a radar-blank plane. When 90 percent
of the project is
completed, another firm begins marketing a plane that cannot
be detected by
radar and is much faster and far more economical than the
plane your company
is building. The question is, should you invest the last 10
percent of the research
funds in finishing your radar-blank plane, yes or no?
Alternatively, consider a second situation: As the
president of an airline company,
you have received a suggestion from one of your employees.
The suggestion
is to use the last $1 million of your research funds to
develop a plane that would
not be detected by conventional radar. However, another
firm has just begun
marketing a plane that cannot be detected by radar and is
much faster and far
more economical than the plane your company could build.
Should you invest
the $1 million to build the radar-blank plane proposed by
your employee anyway,
yes or no? Substantiate your answer
Yes, He should invest the last part into the project.
ReplyDeleteReason:
1. The other firm is marketing its plane. it does not mean it will be accepted; 'first-come' does not guarantee market leadership
2. If he does not complete the project then his firm has no chance at competing at all, so it is better to finish and compete in the market than for the project to die at development stage.
3. The firm could as well take an exhibition/test-ride on the other company's plane and see if it is comfortable enough, has good leg-space, conducive luggage space, etc and use that to develop a better ridar-black plane.