A company offers tax preparation services through a chain of 30 small offices in Kansas. Susan, the VP of marketing, has proposed adding an online app to target college students who want to start a business while they are still in school. According to Susan's data, there has been a 200% increase in new small businesses licensed to owners aged 18 to 22 years.The company has a small information technology (IT) department that has neither the time nor the expertise to build such an app. Therefore, three alternatives are being considered:

1) Outsource the work to an app development company to build the app2) Sign up as a client of a company that already offers this type of app

3) Expand the IT department by hiring a programmer to develop the app

Kevin, the VP of Finance, believes it is more likely that the trend in college students opening small businesses will rapidly decline. He has put together the following table to show the company's estimated profit in the first two years for each alternative. Use the table to calculate the expected values

What is the highest expected value?

Alternative Decline in trend Continuing trend Likelihood: 80% Likelihood: 20% Outsource the work $4,000 $9,000 Sign up with an app $3,000 $6,000 Hire a programmer -$4,000 $18,000