produced. 5 The production line for the main line of hair dyes was fully automated and could be switched to a different dye in a minimal amount of time. It was a protable market, but Gordon's niche became a specialist range of dyes, featuring herbs and spices. Customers were prepared to pay very high prices for these speciality products. A special room was set aside in the factory unit, to mix the ingredients for 'Golden Gordon's Herbal Dyes 0'. 3' Gordon considered the optimum combination of factors of production to employ. Four alternative production methods could be employed in the room set aside for ' the herbal range of dyes, but each required a different balance of capital and labour. 8 For example, to produce his weekly target of herbal dyes, he would need to use two units of machinery and employ six staff if he used 'Production method 1'. Different combinations would be required for the three other methods as shown in Table 1- 5 Gordon tabulated the different reqrrementa of the four different methods. Unit at main-o , Quantity of Ilhnur 2 a 4 2 1 10 Gordon calculated that the weekly costs per machine would be $150. Labour costs equalled $200 per employee per week. 11 The inspiration for Golden Gordon's national breakthrough came while searching for the right shade of emulsion paint for his new flat. Gordon discovered it in the Mix and Match paint section in B&Q. If it worked for paint, why not hair dyes? 12 After much hard bargaining, a major chemist chain agreed to franchise floor space for 'Golden Gordon's Do-It-Yourself Mix and Match Hair Dye Mixing Machines O'. The early teething problems, with Gordon unable to meet the astronomical demand, only served to inflame the customers' insatiable appetite for the new product. 13 Within 3 years Gordon had retired to the Bahamas, occasionally serving and mixing cocktails in the bars of the hotel chain he now owned