Scenario 5.9: Torrid Texts, a Risk-Neutral New Firm That Specializes in Making

Multiple Choice

Scenario 5.9:
Torrid Texts, a risk-neutral new firm that specializes in making college textbooks more interesting by inserting contemporary material wherever possible, is planning for next year's production and must decide how many paper producers to contract with. It knows fairly well what the general demand for textbooks is, but is uncertain how faculty will react to this new material. If faculty react very negatively, the firm expects course orders to be down. The executives at Torrid believe that the likelihood of a positive faculty response is 75%. The table below contains profit information under the different possible outcomes.
Producers Faculty Reaction Expected
Contracted Negative Positive Profit
1 $3 million $30 million $23.25 million
2 $1 million $60 million $45.25 million
-Refer to Scenario 5.9. Without additional information, Torrid Texts would

A) contract with one paper producer in order to guarantee it avoids the worst outcome, $1 million.
B) contract with two paper producers because $60 million is greater than $30 million.
C) contract with two paper producers because $61 million is greater than $33 million.
D) contract with two paper producers because $45.25 million is greater than $23.25 million.
E) not be able to come to any decision on how many producers to contract with.