Schank Marketing Research Schank Marketing Research has just signed contracts to conduct studies for four clients. At present, three project managers are free for assignment to the tasks. Although all are capable of handling each assignment, the times and costs to complete the studies depend on the experience and knowledge of each manager. Using his judgment, John Schank, the president has been able to establish a cost for each possible assignment. These are summarized in the following table. CLIENT PROJECT ' GENERAL ' MANAGER HINES CORP. NBT NC. I FOUNDRY I GET TV Gardener ' $320,000 ' $300000 1 $280,000 | $290,000 Ruth man 1 $270,000 ; $320,000 1 $300,000 1 $310,000 Hardgraves . $190,000 $210,000 l $330,000 l $210,000 Schank is hesitant about neglecting NBT, which has been an important customer in the past. In addition, Schank has promised to try to assign Ruthman to a study worth at least $300,000. From previous contracts, Schank also knows that Gardener does not get along well with the management at CBT Television, so he hopes to avoid assigning him to CBT. Finally, because Hines Corporation is also an old and valued client, Schank feels that it is twice as important to assign a project manager immediately to Hines's task as it is to provide one to General Foundry, a brand-new client. Schank wants to minimize the total costs of all projects while considering each of these goals. He feels that all these goals are important, but if he had to rank them, he would put his concern about NBT first, his worry about Gardener second, his need to keep Hines Corporation happy third, his promise to Ruthman fourth, and his concern about minimizing all costs last. Each project manager can handle, at most, one new client