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An Introduction
to Decision Theory 20

BLACKBEARD’S PHANTOM FIRE- LEARNING OBJECTIVES

WORKS is considering introducing When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to:

two new bottle rockets. The company LO20-1 Identify and apply the three components of a decision.
can add both to the current line, LO20-2 Analyze a decision using expected monetary value.
neither, or just one of the two. The LO20-3 Analyze a decision using opportunity loss.
success of these products depends on LO20-4 Apply maximin, maximax, and minimax regret
consumers’ reactions. These reactions strategies to make a decision.

can be summarized as good, fair, LO20-5 Compute and explain the expected value of perfect
information.
or poor. The company’s revenues are
LO20-6 Apply sensitivity analysis to evaluate a decision subject
estimated in the payoff table in to uncertainty.
Exercise 11. Compute the expected LO20-7 Use a decision tree to illustrate and analyze decision
monetary value for each decision. making under uncertainty.
(See Exercise 11a and LO20-2 .)
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20-2 CHAPTER 20

INTRODUCTION
A branch of statistics called statistical decision theory that uses probability has been
developed since the early 1950s. As the name implies, the focus is on the process of
making decisions and explicitly includes the payoffs that may result from selecting a
particular decision alternative. In contrast, classical statistics focuses on estimating a
parameter, such as the population mean, constructing a confidence interval, or conduct-
ing a hypothesis test. Classical statistics does not address the financial consequences.
Statistical decision theory is concerned with determining which decision, from a
set of possible alternatives, is optimal for a particular set of conditions. Consider the
following examples of decision-theory problems.
• Ford Motor Company must decide whether to purchase assembled door locks for
the 2014 Ford F-150 truck or to manufacture and assemble the door locks at its
Louisville, Kentucky, plant. If sales
of the F-150 truck continue to in-
crease, it will be more profitable to
manufacture and assemble the
parts. If sales level off or decline, it
will be more profitable to purchase
the door locks assembled. Should it
make or buy the door locks?
• Banana Republic developed a new
line of summer rain jackets that are
very popular in the cold-weather re-
gions of the country. It would like to
purchase commercial television time during the upcoming NCAA basketball final.
If both teams that play in the game are from warm parts of the country, it esti-
mates that only a small proportion of the viewers will be interested in the jackets.
However, a matchup between two teams who come from cold climates would
reach a large proportion of viewers who wear jackets. Should it purchase com-
mercial television time?
• General Electric is considering three options regarding the prices of refrigerators
for next year. GE could (1) raise the prices 5%, (2) raise the prices 2.5%, or
(3) leave the prices as they are. The final decision will be based on sales estimates
and on GE’s knowledge of what other refrigerator manufacturers might do.
In each of these cases, the decision is characterized by several alternative
courses of action and several factors not under the control of the decision maker. For
example, Banana Republic has no control over which teams reach the NCAA basket-
ball final. These cases characterize the nature of decision making. Possible decision
alternatives can be listed, possible future events determined, and even probabilities
established, but the decisions are made in the face of uncertainty.

LO20-1 ELEMENTS OF A DECISION

Identify and apply the
three components of a There are three components to any decision: (1) the choices available, or alternatives;
decision. (2) the states of nature, which are not under the control of the decision maker; and
(3) the payoffs. These concepts will be explained in the following paragraphs.
The alternatives, or acts, are the choices available to the decision maker. Ford
can decide to manufacture and assemble the door locks in Louisville, or it can decide
to purchase them. Banana Republic has two advertising alternatives: to purchase
commercial television time or not. GE is considering three pricing alternatives regard-
ing the marketing of refrigerators. To simplify our presentation, we assume the decision
maker can select from a rather small number of outcomes. With the help of computers,
however, the decision alternatives can be expanded to a large number of possibilities.
The states of nature are the uncontrollable future events. The state of nature that
actually happens is outside the control of the decision maker. Ford does not know
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-3

whether demand will remain high for the F-150. Banana Republic cannot determine
whether warm-weather or cold-weather teams will play in the NCAA basketball final.
GE does not know how competitors will price refrigerators.
A payoff is needed to compare each combination of decision alternative and state
of nature. Ford may estimate that if it assembles door locks at its Louisville plant and the
demand for F-150 trucks is low, the payoff will be $40,000. Conversely, if it purchases the
door locks assembled and the demand is high, the payoff is estimated to be $22,000.
Banana Republic needs to estimate the payoffs for purchasing commercial television
time given estimates of the potential audience for the rain jacket. GE needs to estimate
the payoffs for each pricing alternative given estimates of competitors’ pricing.
The main elements of the decision under conditions of uncertainty are identified
schematically:

Explanatory Statements

兵
Uncertainty regarding future demand.
Event State of nature (future demand) unknown.
Decision maker has no control over state of nature.

兵
Two or more courses of action open to decision maker.
Act Decision maker must evaluate alternatives.
Decision maker selects a course of action based on certain criteria.
Depending on the set of circumstances, these criteria may be
quantitative, psychological, sociological, and so on.

兵
Outcome
Profit.
Payoff
Breakeven.
Consequence
Loss.

In many cases, we can make better decisions if we establish probabilities for the
states of nature. These probabilities may be based on historical data or subjective
estimates. Ford may estimate the probability of continued high demand as .70. Ba-
nana Republic may estimate a probability of .75 that the commercial will reach the
targeted audience. GE may estimate the probability to be .25 that Amana and other
manufacturers will raise the prices of their refrigerators.

LO20-2 DECISION MAKING UNDER CONDITIONS

Analyze a decision using
expected monetary OF UNCERTAINTY
value. We begin this section with an example of decision making under uncertainty. The pur-
pose of the example is to explain a logical process to evaluate a set of alternatives
and select an alternative as the decision. The first step is to set up a payoff table.

Payoff Table
Bob Hill, a small investor, has $1,100 to invest. He has studied several common
stocks and narrowed his choices to three, namely, Kayser Chemicals, Rim Homes,
and Texas Electronics. He estimated that, if his $1,100 were invested in Kayser Chem-
icals and a strong bull market developed by the end of the year (that is, stock prices
increased drastically), the value of his Kayser stock would more than double, to
$2,400. However, if there was a bear market (i.e., stock prices declined), the value of
his Kayser stock could conceivably drop to $1,000 by the end of the year. His predic-
tions regarding the value of his $1,100 investment for the three stocks for a bull mar-
ket and for a bear market are shown in Table 20–1. This table is a payoff table.
The various choices are called the decision alternatives or the acts. There are
three in this situation. Let A1 be the purchase of Kayser Chemicals, A2 the purchase of
Rim Homes, and A3 the purchase of Texas Electronics. Whether the market turns out
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20-4 CHAPTER 20

TABLE 20–1 Payoff Table for Three Common Stocks under Two Market Conditions

Bull Market, Bear Market,

Purchase S1 S2
Kayser Chemicals (A1) $2,400 $1,000
Rim Homes (A2) 2,200 1,100
Texas Electronics (A3) 1,900 1,150

to be bear or bull is not under the control of Bob Hill. These uncontrolled future events
are the states of nature. Let the bull market be represented by S1 and the bear mar-
ket by S2.

Expected Payoff
If the payoff table was the only information available, the investor might take a
conservative action and buy Texas Electronics to be assured of at least $1,150 at
the end of the year (a slight profit). A speculative venture, however, might be to
buy  Kayser Chemicals, with the possibility of more than doubling the $1,100
investment.
Any decision regarding the purchase of one of the three common stocks made
solely on the information in the payoff table would ignore the valuable historical records
kept by Moody’s, Value Line, and other investment services relative to stock price
movements over a long period. Suppose a study of these investment services re-
vealed that during the past 10 years stock market prices increased six times and de-
clined only four times. According to this information, the probability of a market rise is
.60 and the probability of a market decline is .40.
Assuming these historical frequencies are reliable, the payoff table and the prob-
ability estimates (.60 and .40) can be combined to arrive at the expected payoff of
buying each of the three stocks. Expected payoff is also called expected monetary
value, shortened to EMV. It can also be described as the mean payoff. The calculations
needed to arrive at the expected payoff for the act of purchasing Kayser Chemicals are
shown in Table 20–2.

TABLE 20–2 Expected Payoff for the Act of Buying Kayser Chemicals, EMV (A1)

Probability of Expected
State of Nature Payoff State of Nature Value
Market rise, S1 $2,400 .60 $1,440
Market decline, S2 1,000 .40 400
$1,840

To explain one expected monetary value calculation, note that if the investor
had purchased Kayser Chemicals and the market prices declined, the value of the
stock would be only $1,000 at the end of the year (from Table 20–1). Past experi-
ence, however, revealed that this event (a market decline) occurred only 40% of the
time. In the long run, therefore, a market decline would contribute $400 to the total
expected payoff from the stock, found by ($1,000)(.40). Adding the $400 to the
$1,440 expected under rising market conditions gives $1,840, the “expected” pay-
off in the long run.
These calculations are summarized as follows.

EXPECTED MONETARY VALUE EMV(Ai ) 5 © [P(Sj ) ? V(Ai, Sj )] [20–1]

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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-5

where:
EMV(Ai ) refers to the expected monetary value of decision alternative i. There
may be many decisions possible. We will let 1 refer to the first decision,
2 to the second, and so on. The lowercase letter i represents the entire
set of decisions.
P(Sj ) refers to the probability of the states of nature. There can be an unlimited
number, so we will let j represent this possible outcome.
V(Ai, Sj ) refers to the value of the payoffs. Note that each payoff is the result of a
combination of a decision alternative and a state of nature.
EMV(A1), the expected monetary value for the decision alternative of purchasing
Kayser Chemicals stock, is computed by:
EMV(A1 ) 5 [P(S1 ) ? V(A1, S1 )] 1 [P(S2 ) ? V(A1, S2 )]
5 .60($2,400) 1 .40($1,000) 5 $1,840
Purchasing Kayser Chemicals stock is only one possible choice. The expected
payoffs for the acts of buying Kayser Chemicals, Rim Homes, and Texas Electronics
are given in Table 20–3.

TABLE 20–3 Expected Payoffs for Three Stocks

Expected
Purchase Payoff
Kayser Chemicals $1,840
Rim Homes 1,760
Texas Electronics 1,600

An analysis of the expected payoffs in Table 20–3 indicates that purchasing

Kayser Chemicals would yield the greatest expected profit. This outcome is based on
(1) the investor’s estimated future value of the stocks and (2) historical experience with
respect to the rise and decline of stock prices. It should be emphasized that although
purchasing Kayser stock represents the best action under the expected-value crite-
rion, the investor still might decide to buy Texas Electronics stock in order to minimize
the risk of losing some of the $1,100 investment.

Verify the conclusion, shown in Table 20–3, that the expected payoff for the act of purchasing
Rim Homes stock is $1,760.

SELF-REVIEW
20–1

E X E R C I S E S 1. The following payoff table was developed. Let P(S1) 5 .30, P(S2) 5 .50, and P(S3) 5 .20.
Compute the expected monetary value for each of the alternatives. What decision would
you recommend?

State of Nature
Alternative S1 S2 S3
A1 $50 $70 $100
A2 90 40 80
A3 70 60 90
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20-6 CHAPTER 20

2. Wilhelms Cola Company plans to market a new lime-flavored cola this summer. The deci-
sion is whether to package the cola in returnable or in nonreturnable bottles. Currently, the
state legislature is considering eliminating nonreturnable bottles. Tybo Wilhelms, president
of Wilhelms Cola Company, has discussed the problem with his state representative and
established the probability to be .70 that nonreturnable bottles will be eliminated. The fol-
lowing table shows the estimated monthly profits (in thousands of dollars) if the lime cola is
bottled in returnable versus nonreturnable bottles. Of course, if the law is passed and the
decision is to bottle the cola in nonreturnable bottles, all profits would be from out-of-state
sales. Compute the expected profit for both bottling decisions. Which decision do you
recommend?

Law Is Law Is Not

Passed ($000), Passed ($000),
Alternative S1 S2
Returnable bottle 80 40
Nonreturnable bottle 25 60

LO20-3 OPPORTUNITY LOSS

Analyze a decision using
opportunity loss. Another method to analyze a decision regarding which common stock to purchase is
to determine the profit that might be lost because the state of nature (the market be-
havior) was not known at the time the investor bought the stock. This potential loss is
called opportunity loss or regret. To illustrate, suppose the investor had purchased
the common stock of Rim Homes, and a bull market developed. Further, suppose the
value of his Rim Homes stock increased from $1,100 to $2,200, as anticipated. But
had the investor bought Kayser Chemicals stock and market values increased, the
value of his Kayser stock would be $2,400 (from Table 20–1). Thus, the investor
missed making an extra profit of $200 by buying Rim Homes instead of Kayser Chem-
icals. To put it another way, the $200 represents the opportunity loss for not knowing
the future state of nature. If market prices did increase, the investor would have
regretted buying Rim Homes. However, had the investor bought Kayser Chemicals and
market prices increased, he would have had no regret, that is, no opportunity loss.
The opportunity losses corresponding to this example are given in Table 20–4.
Each amount is the outcome (opportunity loss) of a particular combination of acts and
a state of nature, that is, stock purchase and market reaction.
Notice that the stock of Kayser Chemicals would be a good investment choice in
a rising (bull) market, Texas Electronics would be the best buy in a declining (bear)
market, and Rim Homes is somewhat of a compromise.

TABLE 20–4 Opportunity Losses for Various Combinations of Stock Purchase and Market Movement

Opportunity Loss
Purchase Market Rise Market Decline
Kayser Chemicals $ 0 $150
Rim Homes 200 50
Texas Electronics 500 0

Refer to Table 20–4. Verify that the opportunity loss for:

(a) Rim Homes, given a market decline, is $50.
(b) Texas Electronics, given a market rise, is $500.
SELF-REVIEW
20–2
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-7

E X E R C I S E S 3. Refer to Exercise 1. Develop an opportunity loss table. Determine the opportunity loss for
each decision.
4. Refer to Exercise 2, involving Wilhelms Cola Company. Develop an opportunity loss table,
and determine the opportunity loss for each decision.

Expected Opportunity Loss

The opportunity losses in Table 20–4 again ignore the historical experience of mar-
ket movements. Recall that the probability of a market rise is .60 and that of a
market decline .40. These probabilities and the opportunity losses can be com-
bined to determine the expected opportunity loss. These calculations are shown
in Table 20–5 for the decision to purchase Rim Homes. The expected opportunity
loss is $140.
Interpreting, the expected opportunity loss of $140 means that, in the long run,
the investor would lose the opportunity to make an additional profit of $140 if he de-
cided to buy Rim Homes stock. This expected loss would be incurred because the
investor was unable to accurately predict the trend of the stock market. In a bull mar-
ket, he could earn an additional $200 by purchasing the common stock of Kayser
Chemicals, but in a bear market an investor could earn an additional $50 by buying
Texas Electronics stock. When weighted by the probability of the event, the expected
opportunity loss is $140.

TABLE 20–5 Expected Opportunity Loss for the Act of Buying Rim Homes Stock

Probability Expected
Opportunity of State of Opportunity
State of Nature Loss Nature Loss
Market rise, S1 $200 .60 $120
Market decline, S2 50 .40 20
$140

These calculations are summarized as follows:

EXPECTED OPPORTUNITY LOSS EOL(Ai) 5 © [P(Sj) ? R(Ai, Sj)] [20–2]

where:
EOL(Ai ) refers to the expected opportunity loss for a particular decision alternative.
P(Sj ) refers to the probability associated with the states of nature j.
R(Ai, Sj ) refers to the regret or loss for a particular combination of a state of
nature and a decision alternative.
EOL(A2), the regret, or expected opportunity loss, for selecting Rim Homes, is com-
puted as follows:
EOL(A2) 5 [P(S1) ? R(A2, S1)] 1 [P(S2) ? R(A2, S2)]
5 .60($200) 1 .40($50) 5 $140
The expected opportunity losses for the three decision alternatives are given in
Table 20–6. The lowest expected opportunity loss is $60, meaning that the investor
would experience the least regret on average if he purchased Kayser Chemicals.
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20-8 CHAPTER 20

TABLE 20–6 Expected Opportunity Losses for the Three Stocks

Expected
Opportunity
Purchase Loss
Kayser Chemicals $ 60
Rim Homes 140
Texas Electronics 300

Incidentally, note that the decision to purchase Kayser Chemicals stock because
it offers the lowest expected opportunity loss reinforces the decision made previ-
ously, that Kayser stock would ultimately result in the highest expected payoff
($1,840). These two approaches (lowest expected opportunity loss and highest ex-
pected payoff) will always lead to the same decision concerning which course of
action to follow.

Referring to Table 20–6, verify that the expected opportunity loss for the act of purchasing
Texas Electronics is $300.

SELF-REVIEW
20–3

E X E R C I S E S 5. Refer to Exercises 1 and 3. Compute the expected opportunity losses.

6. Refer to Exercises 2 and 4. Compute the expected opportunity losses.

LO20-4 MAXIMIN, MAXIMAX, AND

Apply maximin,
maximax, and minimax MINIMAX REGRET STRATEGIES
regret strategies to make Suppose several financial advisors believe the decision to purchase Kayser Chemi-
a decision. cals stock is too risky. They note that the payoff might not be $1,840, but only $1,000
(from Table 20–1). Arguing that the stock market is too unpredictable, they urge the
investor to take a more conservative position and buy Texas Electronics. This is called
a maximin strategy: it maximizes the minimum gain. On the basis of the payoff table
( Table 20–1), they reason that the investor would be assured of at least a $1,150 re-
turn, that is, a small profit. Those who subscribe to this somewhat pessimistic strat-
egy are sometimes called maximiners.
At the other extreme are the optimistic maximaxers, who would select the stock
that maximizes the maximum gain. If their maximax strategy was followed, the inves-
tor would purchase Kayser Chemicals stock. These optimists stress that there is a
possibility of selling the stock in the future for $2,400 instead of only $1,150, as advo-
cated by the maximiners.
Another strategy is the minimax regret strategy. Advisors advocating this ap-
proach would scan the opportunity losses in Table 20–4 and select the stock that
minimizes the maximum regret. In this example, it would be Kayser Chemicals stock,
with a maximum opportunity loss of $150. Recall that you wish to avoid opportunity
losses! The maximum regrets were $200 for Rim Homes and $500 for Texas
Electronics.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-9

LO20-5 VALUE OF PERFECT INFORMATION

Compute and explain the
expected value of perfect Before deciding on a stock, the investor might want to consider ways of predicting the
information. movement of the stock market. If he knew precisely what the market would do, he could
maximize profit by always purchasing the correct stock. The question is: What is this ad-
vance information worth? The dollar value of this information is called the expected value
of perfect information, written EVPI. In this example, if perfect information is available,
Bob Hill would know what will happen in the future and whether the stock market will rise
or decline. If Bob had this information, he would always make the best decision. The
question is: What is the most that Bob should be willing to pay for perfect information?
An acquaintance who is an analyst with a large brokerage firm said that he would
be willing to supply Bob with information that he might find valuable in predicting mar-
ket rises and declines. Of course, there would be a fee, as yet undetermined, for this
information, regardless of whether the investor used it. What is the maximum amount
that Bob should pay for this special service? $10? $100? $500?
The value of the information from the analyst is, in essence, the expected value of
perfect information because the investor would then be assured of buying the most
profitable stock.

VALUE OF PERFECT INFORMATION The difference between the maximum

expected payoff under conditions of certainty and the maximum expected
payoff under uncertainty.

In this example, it is the difference between the maximum value of the stock at the
end of the year under conditions of certainty and the value associated with the opti-
mum decision using the expected-value criterion.
To explain, the maximum expected value under conditions of certainty means
that the investor would buy Kayser Chemicals if a market rise were predicted and
Texas Electronics if a market decline were imminent. The expected payoff under con-
ditions of certainty is $1,900. (See Table 20–7.)

TABLE 20–7 Calculations for the Expected Payoff under Conditions of Certainty

Probability
of State of Expected
State of Nature Decision Payoff Nature Payoff
Market rise, S1 Buy Kayser $2,400 .60 $1,440
Market decline, S2 Buy Texas Electronics 1,150 .40 460
$1,900

Recall that if the actual behavior of the stock market was unknown (conditions of
uncertainty), the stock to buy would be Kayser Chemicals; its expected value at the
end of the period was computed to be $1,840 (from Table 20–3). The value of perfect
information is, therefore, $60, found by:
$1,900 Expected value of stock purchased under conditions of certainty
21,840 Expected value of purchase (Kayser) under conditions of uncertainty
$ 60 Expected value of perfect information
In general, the expected value of perfect information is computed as follows:

EXPECTED VALUE OF PERFECT INFORMATION

EVPI 5 Expected value under conditions of certainty [20–3]
2 Expected value under conditions of uncertainty
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20-10 CHAPTER 20

It would be worth up to $60 for the information the stock analyst might supply.
In essence, the analyst would be “guaranteeing” a selling price on average of
$1,900, and if the analyst asked $40 for the information, the investor would be as-
sured of a $1,860 payoff, found by $1,900 2 $40. Thus, it would be worthwhile for
the investor to agree to this fee ($40) because the expected outcome ($1,860) would
be greater than the expected value under conditions of uncertainty ($1,840). How-
ever, if his acquaintance wanted a fee of $100 for the service, the investor would
realize only $1,800 on average, found by $1,900 2 $100. Logically, the service
would not be worth $100 because the investor could expect $1,840 on average with-
out agreeing to this financial arrangement. Notice that the expected value of perfect
information ($60) is the same as the minimum of the expected regrets (Table 20–6).
That is not an accident.

Payoff Table
Purchase Bull Market Bear Market Expected Value
Kayser $2,400 $1,000 $1,840
Rim 2,200 1,100 1,760
Texas 1,900 1,150 1,600

Opportunity Loss Table

Purchase Bull Market Bear Market Expected Value
Kayser $ 0 $ 150 $ 60
Rim 200 50 140
Texas 500 1,150 760

The output for the investment example using the Excel system is shown above.
The expected payoff and the expected opportunity loss are the same as reported in
Table 20–3 and Table 20–6, respectively. We used the Excel Formula Bar (the fx key) to
find the expected values. In a larger problem, this would be helpful. The calculations
in the preceding investment example were kept at a minimum to emphasize the new
terms and the decision-making procedures. When the number of decision alternatives
and the number of states of nature become large, a computer package or spread-
sheet is recommended.

LO20-6 SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Apply sensitivity analysis
to evaluate a decision In the foregoing stock selection situation, the set of probabilities applied to the payoff
subject to uncertainty. values was derived from historical experience with similar market conditions. Objec-
tions may be voiced, however, that future market behavior may be different from past
experiences. Despite these differences, the rankings of the decision alternatives are
frequently not highly sensitive to changes within a plausible range. As an example,
suppose the investor’s brother believes that instead of a 60% chance of a market rise
and a 40% chance of a decline, the reverse is true—that is, there is a .40 probability
that the stock market will rise and a .60 probability of a decline. Further, the investor’s
cousin thinks the probability of a market rise is .50 and that of a decline is .50. A com-
parison of the original expected payoffs (left column), the expected payoffs for the set
of probabilities suggested by the investor’s brother (center column), and those cited
by the cousin (right column) is shown in Table 20–8. The decision is the same in all
three cases—purchase Kayser Chemicals.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-11

TABLE 20–8 Expected Payoffs for Three Sets of Probabilities

Expected Payoffs
Historical Experience Brother’s Estimate Cousin’s Estimate
(probability of .60 (probability of .40 (probability of .50
Purchase rise, .40 decline) rise, .60 decline) rise, .50 decline)
Kayser Chemicals $1,840 $1,560 $1,700
Rim Homes 1,760 1,540 1,650
Texas Electronics 1,600 1,450 1,525

Referring to Table 20–8, verify that:

(a) The expected payoff for Texas Electronics for the brother’s set of probabilities is $1,450.
(b) The expected payoff for Kayser Chemicals for the cousin’s set of probabilities is $1,700.
SELF-REVIEW
20–4

A comparison of the three sets of expected payoffs in Table 20–8 reveals the best
alternative would still be to purchase Kayser Chemicals. As might be expected, there
are some differences in the expected future values for each of the three stocks.
If there are drastic changes in the assigned probabilities, the expected values and
the optimal decision may change. As an example, suppose the prognostication for a
market rise was .20 and for a market decline .80. The expected payoffs would be as
shown in Table 20–9. In the long run, the best alternative would be to buy Rim Homes
stock. Thus, sensitivity analysis lets you see how accurate the probability estimates
need to be in order to feel comfortable with your choice.

TABLE 20–9 Expected Values for Purchasing the Three Stocks

Expected
Purchase Payoff
Kayser Chemicals $1,280
Rim Homes 1,320
Texas Electronics 1,300

Is there any choice of probabilities for which the best alternative would be to purchase Texas
Electronics stock? (Hint: This can be arrived at algebraically or by using a trial-and-error
method. Try a somewhat extreme probability for a market rise.)
SELF-REVIEW
20–5

E X E R C I S E S 7. Refer to Exercises 1, 3, and 5. Compute the expected value of perfect information.

8. Refer to Exercises 2, 4, and 6. Compute the expected value of perfect information.
9. Refer to Exercise 1. Revise the probabilities as follows: P(S1) 5 .50, P(S2) 5 .20, and P(S3) 5 .30
and use Expected Monetary Value to evaluate the decision. Does this change the decision?
10. Refer to Exercise 2. Reverse the probabilities; that is, let P(S1) 5 .30 and P(S2) 5 .70 and
use Expected Monetary Value to evaluate the decision. Does this alter your decision?
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20-12 CHAPTER 20

LO20-7 DECISION TREES

Use a decision tree to
illustrate and analyze An analytic tool introduced in Chapter 5 that is also useful for studying a decision situ-
decision making under ation is a decision tree. It is a picture of all the possible courses of action and the
uncertainty. consequent possible outcomes. A box is used to indicate the point at which a deci-
sion must be made, and the branches going out from the box indicate the alternatives
under consideration. Referring to Chart 20–1, on the left is the box with three branches
radiating from it, representing the acts of purchasing Kayser Chemicals, Rim Homes,
or Texas Electronics.

60) $2,400
t rise (.
$1,840 Marke
1 Marke
t drop
(.40)
er
Kays $1,000
Buy
0) $2,200
rise (.6
$1,840 $1,760 Market
Buy Rim
2 Marke
t drop
(.40)
Buy
Tex $1,100
as
0) $1,900
rise (.6
$1,600 Market
3 Marke
t drop
(.40)
$1,150

CHART 20–1 Decision Tree for the Investor’s Decision

The three nodes, or circles, numbered 1, 2, and 3, represent the expected payoff
of each of the three stocks. The branches going out to the right of the nodes show the
chance events (market rise or decline) and their corresponding probabilities in paren-
theses. The numbers at the extreme ends of the branches are the estimated future
values of ending the decision process at those points. This is sometimes called the
conditional payoff to denote that the payoff depends on a particular choice of action
and a particular chance outcome. Thus, if the investor purchased Rim Homes stock
and the market rose, the conditional value of the stock would be $2,200.
After the decision tree has been constructed, the best decision strategy is found
by what is termed backward induction. For example, suppose the investor is consid-
ering the act of purchasing Texas Electronics. Starting at the lower right in Chart 20–1
with the anticipated payoff given a market rise ($1,900) versus a market decline
($1,150) and going backward (moving left), the appropriate probabilities are applied to
give the expected payoff of $1,600 [found by .60($1,900) 1 .40($1,150)]. The investor
would mark the expected value of $1,600 above circled node 3 as shown in Chart 20–1.
Similarly, the investor would determine the expected values for Rim Homes and Kayser
Chemicals.
Assuming the investor wants to maximize the expected value of his stock pur-
chase, $1,840 would be preferred over $1,760 or $1,600. Continuing to the left toward
the box, the investor would draw a double bar across branches representing the two
alternatives he rejected (numbers 2 and 3, representing Rim Homes and Texas Elec-
tronics). The unmarked branch that leads to the box is clearly the best action to fol-
low, namely, buy Kayser Chemicals stock.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-13

The expected value under conditions of certainty can also be portrayed via a de-
cision tree analysis (see Chart 20–2). Recall that under conditions of certainty the in-
vestor would know before the stock is purchased whether the stock market would rise
or decline. Hence, he would purchase Kayser Chemicals in a rising market and Texas
Electronics in a falling market, and the expected payoff would be $1,900. Again, back-
ward induction would be used to arrive at the expected payoff of $1,900.

ayser $2,400
Buy K
$2,400
Buy Rim
$2,200
Buy Te
e (.60) xas
et ris
$1,900 Mark $1,900

Mark
et dr r
op (. ayse $1,000
40) Buy K
Buy Rim
$1,100
Buy Te
$1,150 xas
$1,150

CHART 20–2 Decision Tree Given Perfect Information

The monetary difference based on perfect information in Chart 20–2 and the deci-
sion based on imperfect information in Chart 20–1 is $60, found by $1,900 2 $1,840.
Recall that the $60 is the expected value of perfect information.
Decision tree analysis provides an alternative method to perform the calculations
presented earlier in the chapter. Some managers find these graphic sketches help
them in following the decision logic.

C H A P T E R S U M M A R Y
I. Statistical decision theory is concerned with making decisions from a set of alternatives.
A. The various courses of action are called the acts or alternatives.
B. The uncontrollable future events are called the states of nature. Probabilities are assigned
to the states of nature.
C. The consequence of a particular decision alternative and state of nature is the payoff.
D. All possible combinations of decision alternatives and states of nature result in a payoff
table.
II. There are several criteria for selecting the best decision alternative.
A. In the expected monetary value (EMV) criterion, the expected value for each decision al-
ternative is computed, and the optimal (largest if profits, smallest if costs) is selected.
B. An opportunity loss table can be developed.
1. An opportunity loss table is constructed by taking the difference between the opti-
mal decision for each state of nature and the other decision alternatives.
2. The difference between the optimal decision and any other decision is the opportu-
nity loss or regret due to making a decision other than the optimum.
3. The expected opportunity loss (EOL) is similar to the expected monetary value. The
opportunity loss is combined with the probabilities of the various states of nature for
each decision alternative to determine the expected opportunity loss.
C. The strategy of maximizing the minimum gain is referred to as maximin.
D. The strategy of maximizing the maximum gain is called maximax.
E. The strategy that minimizes the maximum regret is designated minimax regret.
III. The expected value of perfect information (EVPI) is the difference between the best ex-
pected payoff under certainty and the best expected payoff under uncertainty.
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20-14 CHAPTER 20

IV. Sensitivity analysis examines the effects of various probabilities for the states of nature on
the expected values.
V. Decision trees are useful for structuring the various alternatives. They present a picture of
the various courses of action and the possible states of nature.

C H A P T E R E X E R C I S E S
11. Blackbeard’s Phantom Fireworks is considering introducing two new bottle rockets. The
company can add both to the current line, neither, or just one of the two. The success of
these products depends on consumers’ reactions. These reactions can be summarized as
good, P(S1) 5 .30; fair, P(S2) 5 .50; or poor, P(S3) 5 .20. The company’s revenues, in thou-
sands of dollars, are estimated in the following payoff table.

State of Nature
Decision S1 S2 S3
Neither 0 0 0
Product 1 only 125 65 30
Product 2 only 105 60 30
Both 220 110 40

a. Compute the expected monetary value for each decision.

b. What decision would you recommend?
c. Develop an opportunity loss table.
d. Compute the expected opportunity loss for each decision.
e. Compute the expected value of perfect information.
12. A financial executive for Fidelity Investments lives in Boston but frequently must travel to
New York. She can go to New York by car, train, or plane. The cost for a plane ticket from
Boston to New York is $200, and it is estimated that the trip takes 30 minutes in good
weather and 45 minutes in bad weather. The cost for a train ticket is $100, and the trip
takes an hour in good weather and two hours in bad weather. The cost to drive her own car
from Boston to New York is $40, and this trip takes three hours in good weather and four in
bad weather. The executive places a value of $60 per hour on her time. The weather fore-
cast is for a 60% chance of bad weather tomorrow. What decision would you recommend?
(Hint: Set up a payoff table, and remember that you want to minimize costs.) What is the
expected value of perfect information?
13. Thomas Manufacturing Company has $100,000 available to invest. John Thomas, the pres-
ident and CEO of the company, would like to either expand his production, invest the
money in stocks, or purchase a certificate of deposit from the bank. Of course, the un-
known is whether the economy will continue at a high level or there will be a recession. He
estimates the likelihood of a recession at .20. Whether there is a recession or not, the cer-
tificate of deposit will result in a gain of 6%. If there is a recession, he predicts a 10% loss
if he expands his production and a 5% loss if he invests in stocks. If there is not a reces-
sion, an expansion of production will result in a 15% gain, and stock investment will pro-
duce a 12% gain.
a. What decision should he make if he uses the maximin strategy?
b. What decision should John Thomas make if the maximax strategy is used?
c. What decision would be made if he uses the expected monetary value criterion?
d. What is the expected value of perfect information?
14. The quality assurance department at Malcomb Products must either inspect each part in a
lot or not inspect any of the parts. That is, there are two decision alternatives: inspect all
the parts or inspect none of the parts. The proportion of parts defective in the lot, Sj, is
known from historical data to assume the following probability distribution.

State of
Nature, Probability,
Sj P(S j)
.02 .70
.04 .20
.06 .10
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-15

For the decision not to inspect any parts, the cost of quality is C 5 NSj K. For inspecting all
the items in the lot, it is C 5 Nk, where:
N 5 20 (lot size)
K 5 $18.00 (the cost of finding a defect)
k 5 $0.50 (the cost of sampling one item)
a. Develop a payoff table.
b. What decision should be made if the expected value criterion is used?
c. What is the expected value of perfect information?
15. Dude Ranches Incorporated was founded on the idea that many families in the eastern and
southern areas of the United States do not have a sufficient amount of vacation time to
drive to the dude ranches in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain areas for their vacations.
Various surveys indicated, however, that there was a considerable interest in this type of
family vacation, which includes horseback riding, cattle drives, swimming, fishing, and the
like. Dude Ranches Incorporated bought a large farm near several eastern cities and con-
structed a lake, a swimming pool, and other facilities. However, to build a number of family
cottages on the ranch would have required a considerable investment. Further, the owners
reasoned that most of this investment would be lost should the ranch–farm complex be a
financial failure. Instead, they decided to enter into an agreement with Mobile Homes Man-
ufacturing Company to supply a very attractive authentic ranch-type mobile home. Mobile
Homes agreed to deliver a mobile home on Saturday for $300 a week. Mobile Homes must
know early Saturday morning how many mobile homes Dude Ranches Incorporated wants
for the forthcoming week. It has other customers to supply and can only deliver the homes
on Saturday. This presents a problem. Dude Ranches will have some reservations by
Saturday, but indications are that many families do not make them. Instead, they prefer to
examine the facilities before making a decision. An analysis of the various costs involved
indicated that $350 a week should be charged for a ranch home, including all privileges.
The basic problem is how many mobile ranch homes to order from Mobile Homes each
week. Should Dude Ranches Incorporated order 10 (considered the minimum), 11, 12, 13, or
14 (considered the maximum)?
Any decision made solely on the information in the payoff table would ignore, however,
the valuable experience that Dude Ranches Incorporated has acquired in the past 4 years
(about 200 weeks) actually operating a dude ranch in the Southwest. Its records showed
that it always had nine advance reservations. Also, it never had a demand for 15 or more
cottages. The occupancy of 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 ranch cottages, in part, represented fami-
lies who drove in and inspected the facilities before renting. A frequency distribution show-
ing the number of weeks in which 10, 11, . . . , 14 ranch cottages were rented during the
200-week period is found in the following table.

Number of Number of
Cottages Rented Weeks
10 26
11 50
12 60
13 44
14 20
200

a. Construct a payoff table.

b. Determine the expected payoffs, and arrive at a decision.
c. Set up an opportunity loss table.
d. Compute the expected opportunity losses, and arrive at a decision.
e. Determine the expected value of perfect information.
16. The proprietor of the newly built White Mountain Ski and Swim Lodge has been considering
purchasing or leasing several snowmobiles for the use of guests. The owner found that
other financial obligations made it impossible to purchase the machines. Snowmobiles In-
corporated (SI) will lease a machine for $20 a week, including any needed maintenance.
According to SI, the usual rental charge to the guests of the lodge is $25 a week. Gasoline
and oil are extra. Snowmobiles Incorporated only leases a machine for the full season. The
proprietor of Ski and Swim, knowing that leasing an excessive number of snowmobiles
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20-16 CHAPTER 20

might cause a net loss for the lodge, investigated the records of other resort owners. The
combined experience at several other lodges was found to be:

Number of Snowmobiles Number of

Demanded by Guests Weeks
7 10
8 25
9 45
10 20

a. Design a payoff table.

b. Compute the expected profits for leasing 7, 8, 9, and 10 snowmobiles based on the cost
of leasing of $20, the rental charge of $25, and the experience of other lodges.
c. Which alternative is the most profitable?
d. Design an opportunity loss table.
e. Find the expected opportunity losses for leasing 7, 8, 9, and 10 snowmobiles.
f. Which act would give the least expected opportunity loss?
g. Determine the expected value of perfect information.
h. Suggest a course of action to the proprietor of the Ski and Swim Lodge. Include in your
explanation the various figures, such as expected profit.
17. Casual Furniture World has had numerous inquiries regarding the availability of furniture
and equipment that could be rented for large outdoor summer parties. This includes such
items as folding chairs and tables, a deluxe grill, propane gas, and lights. No rental equip-
ment of this nature is available locally, and the management of the furniture store is consid-
ering forming a subsidiary to handle rentals.
An investigation revealed that most people interested in renting wanted a complete
group of party essentials (about 12 chairs, four tables, a deluxe grill, a bottle of propane
gas, tongs, etc.). Management decided not to buy a large number of complete sets be-
cause of the financial risk involved. That is, if the demand for the rental groups was not as
large as anticipated, a large financial loss might be incurred. Further, outright purchase
would mean that the equipment would have to be stored during the off-season.
It was then discovered that a firm in Boston leased a complete party set for $560 for the
summer season. This amounts to about $5 a day. In the promotional literature from the
Boston firm, a rental fee of $15 was suggested. For each set rented, a profit of $10 would thus
be earned. It was then decided to lease from the Boston firm, at least for the first season.
The Boston firm suggested that, based on the combined experience of similar rental
firms in other cities, either 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, or 46 complete sets be leased for the season.
Based on this suggestion, management must now decide on the most profitable number of
complete sets to lease for the season.
The leasing firm in Boston also made available some additional information gathered from
several rental firms similar to the newly formed subsidiary. Note in the following table (which is
based on the experience of the other rental firms) that for 360 days of the total of 6,000 days’
experience—or about 6% of the days—these rental firms rented out 41 complete party sets.
On 10% of the days during a typical summer, they rented 42 complete sets, and so on.

Number of Number of Number of Number of

Sets Rented Days Sets Rented Days
40 0 44 2,400
41 360 45 1,500
42 600 46 300
43 840 47 0

a. Construct a payoff table. (As a check figure, for the act of having 41 complete sets
available and the event of renting 41, the payoff is $410.)
b. The expected daily profit for leasing 43 complete sets from the Boston firm is $426.70;
for 45 sets, $431.70; and for 46 sets, $427.45. Organize these expected daily profits into
a table, and complete the table by finding the expected daily profit for leasing 41, 42,
and 44 sets from the Boston firm.
c. On the basis of the expected daily profit, what is the most profitable action to take?
d. The expected opportunity loss for leasing 43 party sets from the Boston firm is $11.60;
for 45 sets, $6.60; for 46 sets, $10.85. Organize these into an expected opportunity loss
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DECISION THEORY 20-17

table, and complete the table by computing the expected opportunity loss for 41, 42,
and 44.
e. According to the expected opportunity loss table, what is the most profitable course of
action to take? Does this agree with your decision for part (c)?
f. Determine the expected value of perfect information. Explain what it indicates in this
problem.
18. Tim Waltzer owns and operates Waltzer’s Wrecks, a discount car rental agency near Cleveland
Hopkins International Airport. He rents a wreck for $20 a day. He has an arrangement with
Landrum Leasing to purchase used cars at $6,000 each. His cars receive only needed
maintenance and, as a result, are worth only $2,000 at the end of the year of operation. Tim
has decided to sell all his wrecks every year and purchase a complete set of wrecks from
Landrum Leasing.
His clerk-accountant provided him with a probability distribution with respect to the
number of cars rented per day.

Numbers of Cars Rented per Day

20 21 22 23
Probability .10 .20 .50 .20

Tim is an avid golfer and tennis player. He is either on the golf course on weekends or
playing tennis indoors. Thus, his car rental agency is only open weekdays. Also, he closes
for 2 weeks during the summer and goes on a golfing tour.
The clerk-accountant estimated that it cost $1.50 per car rental for minimal mainte-
nance and cleaning.
a. How many cars should he purchase to maximize profit?
b. What is the expected value of perfect information?
19. You sign up for a cell phone plan and are presented with this chart showing how your plan
“automatically adjusts” to the minutes you use each month. For example: If you select Option 1
and you use 700 minutes the first month, you’ll only pay $79.99. If your usage then goes down
to 200 minutes the second month, you’ll only pay $29.99. You guess your monthly usage will be
100, 300, 500, or 700 anytime minutes. Assume the probabilities for each event are the same.

Option 1— Starting at $29.99 per Month

Anytime Minutes Cost
0–200 $29.99
201–700 $5 for each 50 minutes
Above 700 Additional anytime minutes only 10¢ each
Option 2 — Starting at $34.99 per Month
Anytime Minutes Cost
0–400 $34.99
401–900 $5 for each 50 minutes
Above 900 Additional anytime minutes only 10¢ each
Option 3 — Starting at $59.99 per Month
Anytime Minutes Cost
0–1,000 $59.99
1,001–1,500 $5 for each 50 minutes
Above 1,500 Additional anytime minutes only 10¢ each

a. Create a payoff (cost) table for this decision.

b. Using the expected monetary value principle, which decision would you suggest?
c. Using the optimistic (maximax cost) approach, which decision would you suggest?
d. Using the pessimistic (maximin cost) strategy, which decision would you suggest?
e. Work out an opportunity loss table for this decision.
f. Using the minimax regret strategy, which choice would you suggest?
g. What is the expected value of perfect information?
20. You’re about to drive to New York. If your car’s engine is out of tune, your gas cost will in-
crease by $100. Having the engine tested will cost $20. If it’s out of tune, repairs will cost $60.
Before testing, the probability is 30% that the engine is out of tune. What should you do?