$"3.$ You and some ODU colleagues of yours have decided to start a new

business, with a heavy emphasis on engineering, science, and technology. A few

members of your team have strong backgrounds in QA$/$QC and know all about the

manufacturing business. However, others on your team are very sharp design

engineers with skillsets in analytics and modeling. Initially, you all decide to work

together, but you can$$t decide whether to start a manufacturing business or an

engineering consulting company.

After weeks and weeks of research, several all$-$night debates, and copious energy

drinks, you and your team have come up with the financial estimates presented

below. In addition to the financial estimates, your team reached out to an elite team of business management consultants to help you make an informed decision with regard to risk. The business consultants ranked the alternatives with a $$Risk Score,$$ which takes into account a multitude of financial and non$-$financial considerations. Overall, the Risk Score represents the likelihood of failure, and is based on a scale of $0$ to $10,$ with $0$ being the least risky and $10$ being the most. All of these estimates are highly defensible and everyone agrees they are the best basis to make an informed decision.

The team has left it to you to crunch the numbers to determine which alternative

makes the most financial sense. What will you tell your team?"