2 ‘We have to get this new product out fast’, said the Operations Director. ‘Our competitors are close behind us and I believe their products will be almost as good as ours when they launch them’. She was talking about a new product that the company hoped would establish them as the leader in the market. The company had put together a special development team, together with their own development laboratory. They had spent

£10,000 on equipping the laboratory and the cost of the development engineers would be £20,000 per quarter. It was expected that the new product would be fully developed and ready for launch within 6 quarters.

It would be done through a specialist agency that charged £10,000 per quarter and would need to be in place two quarters prior to the launch. If the company met their launch date, it was expected that they could charge a premium price that would result in profits of approximately £50,000 per quarter. Any delay in the launch would result in a reduction in profits to £40,000 per quarter. If this development project were delayed by two quarters, how far would the break-even point for the project be pushed back?