QUESTION 1 [SOMARKS)
(a) A home gardener has a 250-gallon capacity family garden watering tank, initially empty,
meant to water the home garden during drought. Consider the following water quantity
needed and the prices during probable four levels of drought severity:
DROUGHT SEVERITY
Mild Drought (MD)
Average Drought (AD)
Severe Drought (SD)
Prolonged Drought (PD)
WATER STORAGE NEEDED
110 Gallons
180 Gallons
230 Gallons
250 Gallons
WATER PRICES PER GALLON
N$1.00
N$1.85
N$2.00
N$3.00
Formulate a game model and employ the Minimax criterion technique to determine the
gallons of water storage the gardener should have at the current price of N$1 per gallon
to avoid wastage and to maximise his saving.
(22 Marks)
(b) Consider a competition between two companies, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and assume the
former is thinking of cutting the price of its iconic soda. If it does so, Pepsi may have no choice
but to follow suit for its cola to retain its market share. This may result in a significant drop in
profits for both companies. Let's assume that the incremental profits that accrue to Coca-Cola
and Pepsi are as follows: If both keep prices high, profits for each company increase by $500
million (because of normal growth in demand). If one drops prices (i.e. defects) but the other
does not (i.e. cooperates), profits increase by $750 million for the former because of
greater market share and are unchanged for the latter. If both companies reduce prices, the
increase in soft drink consumption offsets the lower price, and profits for each company
increase by $250 million.
(i) Considering the above as an example of applications of Prisoner's dilemma problem,
construct the payoff matrix for each company and for the game model, taking Coca-
Cola as the row player.
(16 Marks)
(ii) What should each company do?
(7 Marks)
QUESTION 2 [30 MARKS)
A construction company is bidding for the building of a new College Hostel or its Classroom
Block or a combination of both. The construction company must submit a bid proposal, which
costs money to prepare, and there are no guarantees that it will be awarded the contract. If
the company bids on the Hostel, it has a 35% chance of getting the contract, and it expects to
make $162,000 net profit. However, if the company does not get the contract, it loses
$11,500. If the company bids on the Classroom Block, there is a 25% chance of getting the
contract, and it would net $140,000 in profit. However, if the company does not get the
contract, it will lose $5,750.
(a) What should the construction company do?
(14 Marks)
Applied Operations Research (AOR802S)
l'tOpportunity November 2023
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