One of the most common decisions managers are facing in today's environment is that of what to produce when resources are scarce. Global supply chain issues along with an overall labour shortage have forced many businesses to make the difficult choice of producing only a fraction of the goods/services they could normally sell. That being said consider the question below:

A horrible growing season due to drought in California has caused a 30% reduction in tomato crops for the year. As such, the Heinz plant here in Ontario will be importing 30% fewer tomatoes than they need for optimal production. This will affect the production of three products: ketchup, salsa sauce, and soup. How should a manager working at this plant go about determining what to produce and sell when each product uses the same ingredient (namely tomatoes) with a now limited capacity?