Lakeside Corporation is considering the launch of a new product. If the product goes directly to market, there is a 40 percent chance of success. For $168,000, the manager can conduct a focus group that will increase the products chance of success to 55 percent. Alternatively, the manager has the option to pay a consulting firm $383,000 to research the market and refine the product. The consulting firm successfully launches new products 70 percent of the time. If the firm successfully launches the product, the payoff will be $1.83 million. If the product is a failure, the NPV is zero.

Calculate the NPV if the manager uses a consulting firm.