marginal revenue
Economics
(noun)
The additional profit that will be generated by increasing product sales by one unit.
Marketing
Examples of marginal revenue in the following topics:
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Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost Relationship for Monopoly Production
- For monopolies, marginal cost curves are upward sloping and marginal revenues are downward sloping.
- Therefore, the maximizing solution involves setting marginal revenue equal to marginal cost.
- The marginal revenue curve for monopolies, however, is quite different than the marginal revenue curve for competitive firms.
- Production occurs where marginal cost and marginal revenue intersect.
- Production occurs where marginal cost and marginal revenue intersect.
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Marginal Cost Profit Maximization Strategy
- In order to maximize profit, the firm should set marginal revenue (MR) equal to the marginal cost (MC).
- Marginal revenue is the additional revenue that will be generated by increasing product sales by one unit.
- Marginal revenue is calculated by dividing the change in total revenue by the change in output quantity.
- Firms will produce up until the point that marginal cost equals marginal revenue.
- This graph shows a typical marginal cost (MC) curve with marginal revenue (MR) overlaid.
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Marginal Revenue Productivity and Wages
- In a perfectly competitive market, the wage rate is equal to the marginal revenue product of labor.
- To determine demand in the labor market we must find the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL), which is based on the marginal productivity of labor (MPL) and the price of output.
- We know that a profit-maximizing firm will increase its factors of production until their marginal benefit is equal to the marginal cost.
- Thus, workers earn a wage equal to the marginal revenue product of their labor.
- The graph shows that a factor of production - in our case, labor - has a fixed supply in the long run, so the wage rate is determined by the factor demand curve - in our case, the marginal revenue product of labor.
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The Supply Curve in Perfect Competition
- The total revenue-total cost perspective and the marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective are used to find profit maximizing quantities.
- There are two ways in which cost curves can be used to find profit maximizing quantities: the total revenue-total cost perspective and the marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective.
- The marginal revenue-marginal cost perspective relies on the understanding that for each unit sold, the marginal profit equals the marginal revenue (MR) minus the marginal cost (MC).
- If the marginal revenue is greater than the marginal cost, then the marginal profit is positive and a greater quantity of the good should be produced.
- Likewise, if the marginal revenue is less than the marginal cost, the marginal profit is negative and a lesser quantity of the good should be produced .
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Monopoly Production Decision
- If we assume increasing marginal costs and exogenous input prices, the optimal decision for all firms is to equate the marginal cost and marginal revenue of production.
- Because of this, rather than finding the point where the marginal cost curve intersects a horizontal marginal revenue curve (which is equivalent to good's price), we must find the point where the marginal cost curve intersect a downward-sloping marginal revenue curve.
- Like non-monopolies, monopolists will produce the at the quantity such that marginal revenue (MR) equals marginal cost (MC).
- Calculate and graph the firm's marginal revenue, marginal cost, and demand curves
- Identify the point at which the marginal revenue and marginal cost curves intersect and determine the level of output at that point
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Deriving the Labor Demand Curve
- Firms will demand labor until the marginal revenue product of labor is equal to the wage rate.
- The additional revenue generated by hiring one more unit of labor is the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL).
- The marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) is the additional amount of revenue a firm can generate by hiring one additional employee.
- Firms maximize profit when marginal costs equal marginal revenues, and in the labor market this means that firms will hire more employees until the wage rate (marginal cost of labor) equals the MRPL.
- Explain how a company uses marginal revenue product in hiring decisions
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Marginal Analysis
- Pricing decisions tend to heavily involve analysis regarding marginal contributions to revenues and costs.
- Pricing decisions tend to heavily involve analysis regarding marginal contributions to revenues and costs.
- In the marginal analysis of pricing decisions, if marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost at some level of output, marginal profit is positive and thus a greater quantity should be produced.
- Alternatively, if marginal revenue is less than the marginal cost, marginal profit is negative and a lesser quantity should be produced.
- At the output level at which marginal revenue equals marginal cost, marginal profit is zero and this quantity is the one that maximizes profit.
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Marginal Product of Labor (Revenue)
- The marginal revenue product of labor is the change in revenue that results from employing an additional unit of labor.
- The marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) is the change in revenue that results from employing an additional unit of labor, holding all other inputs constant.
- The marginal revenue product of a worker is equal to the product of the marginal product of labor (MPL) and the marginal revenue (MR) of output, given by MR×MP: = MRPL.
- Theory states that a profit maximizing firm will hire workers up to the point where the marginal revenue product is equal to the wage rate, because it is not efficient for a firm to pay its workers more than it will earn in revenues from their labor.
- Define the marginal product of labor under the marginal revenue productivity theory of wages
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Profit
- Target revenue ($) is the corresponding figure for dollar sales.
- An alternative perspective relies on the relationship that, for each unit sold, marginal profit (Mπ) equals marginal revenue (MR) minus marginal cost (MC).
- Then, if marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost at some level of output, marginal profit is positive and thus a greater quantity should be produced, and if marginal revenue is less than marginal cost, marginal profit is negative and a lesser quantity should be produced.
- At the output level at which marginal revenue equals marginal cost, marginal profit is zero and this quantity is the one that maximizes profit.
- Since total profit increases when marginal profit is positive and total profit decreases when marginal profit is negative, it must reach a maximum where marginal profit is zero - or where marginal cost equals marginal revenue - and where lower or higher output levels give lower profit levels.
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Operating Margin
- The operating margin is a ratio that determines how much money a company is actually making in profit and equals operating income divided by revenue.
- It is found by dividing operating income by revenue, where operating income is revenue minus operating expenses .
- For example, an operating margin of 0.5 means that for every dollar the company takes in revenue, it earns $0.50 in profit.
- Furthermore, the operating margin is simply revenue.
- The operating margin is found by dividing net operating income by total revenue.