Production, marketing, and financial decision making in a dynamic and stochastic environment /

Production and marketing decisions from value-added

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stokes, Jeffrey R. (Jeffrey Ronald)
Format: Thesis Book
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] ; 1994.
Subjects:
Online Access:http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=741945551&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Description
Summary:Production and marketing decisions from value-added
production processes and the management of financial
structure are modeled in a dynamic and stochastic framework.
First, the optimal production and marketing decisions for a
representive nursery operation producing ornamental plants
from container-based production systems are determined and
factors influencing the decisions are analyzed. A stochastic
dynamic programming model is developed to capture the
existence of a value-added serial-stage production process
with multiple products and intrayear dynamics. The results
suggest three-gallon production is generally preferred to
one-gallon production because of the price premiums
associated with three-gallon production. Further, taxes play
an important role in determining the optimal production and
marketing decisions while discounting plays a minor role.
Markovian analysis indicates the transition probability
matrices are periodic making long ran generalizations of the
decision process difficult. The specified production process
is determined to be the cause of the periodicity. Second, the
optimal level of debt capital for risk averse sole
proprietors operating in a dynamic and stochastic environment
is investigated. Using stochastic optimal control theory, a
series of models are developed, analytically solved, and the
control and state time paths simulated. The results indicate
the importance of including a motive for bequest and choosing
the appropriate type of relative risk aversion in accurately
characterizing the dynamic behavior of the state and control
paths. Additionally, because wealth changes are endogenized
in the specified models, it is determined the Pratt
definition of risk aversion is no longer a single argument
function with a spatial interpretation. Contrary to the
literature, a changing relative risk aversion model
specification can capture the empirical regularity of a
concave time path of debt use.
Item Description:Vita.
"Major Subject: Agricultural Economics".
Physical Description:viii, 130 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references.