The Manager of an Appliance Store Wishes to Obtain Survey

Essay

The manager of an appliance store wishes to obtain survey responses from a sample of at least 900 households regarding their future-purchase plans. The cost of mail surveys (M) is $1 each, while the cost of telephone surveys (T) is $3 per call. Response rates are 60% for telephone calls and 30% for mail questionnaires. To assure sufficient response accuracy, the manager insists on gathering at least three times as many actual telephone responses as mail responses. The manager's objective is to minimize the cost of the survey (C), while meeting the stipulated goals. Formulate and solve the firm's linear programming problem.