Question
Jim is a salesperson at the DM paper company. The utility function of Jim is given by u(w, b, e) = w + b c(e)
Jim is a salesperson at the DM paper company. The utility function of Jim is given by
u(w, b, e) = w + b c(e)
where w R is Jims weekly wage,
b is a bonus payment that is conditional on sales revenue,
and c(e) is Jims cost of effort where
c(e) = 1 if e < 10
and
c(e) = (1 /2 (e 10)^2) if e 10.
Michael is Jim's boss, who is maximising DM's profits which are given by:
(w, b, e) = R(e) w b,
where R(e) is the firms sales revenues and R(e) = 100e
Michael cannot observe Jim's effort (e) directly but observes R(e) and can set the bonus level dependent on sales revenues.
- If Michael sets w=100 and b=0, what would be Jim's effort level (e) and DM's profits? (1 mark)
- If Michael sets w=0 and b=1000 conditional on reaching a sales target of () = 5000, what would be Jim's effort level (e) and DM's profits? (1 mark)
- If Michael sets w=100 and a bonus payment of 20% of sales revenues (i.e. = 0.2 ()) what would be Jim's effort level (e) and DM's profits? (1 mark)
- What is the optimal wage (w) and bonus payment (b) as a percentage of sales revenues that maximises DM's profits? (1 mark)
Briefly discuss the potential challenges with implementing such an employment contract in a real-world setting. (1 mark)
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