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Deepa and Divya’s Time Allocation Dilemmas: Favoring Production Possibility Frontier Approach?

CASELET, MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS
ET Cases, 6 pages
AUTHOR(S) : Vandana Jayakumar and Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary

Case Preview

Deepa and Divya’s Time Allocation Dilemmas: Favoring Production Possibility Frontier Approach?

 

“The difficulty in life is the choice”1

                                                             – George Moore


On June 16th 2015, when Deepa Sharma (Deepa) and Divya Lokhande (Divya) arrived at Bangalore School of Management (BSM), filled with excitement of being in one the best Indian B-schools. Both of them had secured good ranks in the All-India MBA entrance examination that facilitated their admission in BSM. Both of them were quite excited and apprehensive, as it was the first time that they were on their own away from home. Little did they realize that the “difficulty in life is the choice”...........

Scarcity of Time but Lots to Achieve

Deepa and Divya met each other for the first time at the hostel when they were allotted the same room. They struck an instant rapport and became comfortable in each other’s company as though they were childhood friends.

However, both of them had different outlook towards MBA. While both were career-oriented, Deepa was more focused on her studies and had little interest in extra-curricular activities. She had been a class topper throughout her school and engineering days and wanted to be the topper even in MBA. She was very keen on pursuing a career in investment banking after completing MBA.............

Opportunity Costs and Enhancing the Efficiency

The second year students were quite forthcoming in advising their juniors. They had experienced similar dilemmas almost a year ago. The group of senior students included Ashok, Raman, Shreya, Naveen and Hema.

Ashok: Why do you girls seem so worked up? It is just the first week for you.

Raman: Ashok, don’t you remember our first week. Even we were in their shoes once.

............................

Assignment Questions

I. Using the appropriate and related concepts from PPF, what would be your suggestion to Divya? How do you think she can make her decision “efficient”, if at all?

II............................

Exhibits

Exhibit I: First Semester MBA Curriculum at Bangalore School of Management



1 George Moore, The Bending of the Bough: A Play in Five Acts, De Paul University, 1969

Teaching Note Preview

Deepa and Divya’s Time Allocation Dilemmas: Favoring Production Possibility Frontier Approach?

 

Synopsis

This caselet discusses the concept of Production Possibility Frontier (PPF) by relating it to the dilemmas faced by two 1st year MBA students – Deepa Sharma (Deepa) and Divya Lokhande (Divya). The duo was perplexed about allocating the 24 hours of each day to accomplish both mandatory tasks (classroom sessions, project work and sleep) and discretionary tasks (extracurricular activities, personal errands, etc.). The caselet, by explaining the concept of PPF and other allied concepts such as scarcity, efficiency and opportunity costs, helps in solving the problem being faced by Deepa and Divya. It helps understand the properties of PPF and also gives a glimpse of the practical applications of this concept at an economy, a company and an individual level. The practical relevance of the concept of PPF is the big picture of this caselet.

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding/Before the Classroom Discussion

  • • Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus, “The Central Concepts of Economics”, Economics, 19th Edition, McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited, 2010 – To understand the concept of Production Possibility Frontier

 

Case Positioning and Setting

This caselet can be used for:

  • • MBA Program in Business Economics course – To help understand the concept of Production Possibility Frontier and its applications

 

Assignment Questions

I. Using the appropriate and related concepts from PPF, what would be your suggestion to Divya? How do you think she can make her decision “efficient”, if at all?
II. How do you think the relevance of PPF can be established in the following:

  • a. At economy level
  • b. At company level
  • c. At an individual level

 

Suggested Readings

  • • Nick Sanders, “The PPF and Gains from Trade – Examples”, UC Davis Graduate Department of Economics, http://njsanders.people.wm.edu/1A/Gains_from_Trade_Handout.pdf , 2009 (accessed date: June 24th 2015) – To have an understanding of the concept of opportunity costs

 

Preamble to the Case Analysis or Case Discussion

Production Possibility Frontier is an important economic construct that highlights the principles of scarcity, efficiency, trade-offs and the ubiquitous opportunity cost. Erroneously, most of the people presume that as they are not ‘directly’ related to the decisions, they aren’t important. However, as Deepa and Divya’s case illustrates, these are the dilemmas of any student, for that matter, any individual/executive. There may not be an ‘ideal’ solution, but the endeavor is to explore a ‘logical’ solution as every human being is supposed to be a ‘rational’ human being. Given the breadth and depth of the caselet’s information, the caselet may be orchestrated in the following suggested way (as it was done in MBA program’s Business Economics Course) [Exhibit (TN)-I].................

 

 

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Abstract


This caselet introduces the concept of Production Possibility Frontier (PPF) through the interesting story of Deepa Sharma (Deepa) and Divya Lokhande (Divya), first year MBA students at the Bangalore School of Management (BSM), one of the premier Indian B-schools. Deepa had always been a topper and was aiming to be a topper in MBA as well and pursue a career in investment banking. Divya, however, wanted to enjoy her college and hostel life alongside pursuing her MBA. She wanted to be a marketer after MBA. While Deepa wanted to devote her time largely to studies, Divya wanted to take time out for extracurricular activities as well. Given the rigorous curricular and co-curricular schedules at BSM, how could they judiciously allocate their time to achieve their aspirations? The caselet showcases the various  possibilities that Deepa and Divya could explore by allocating time as per their choices. It also explains how choices get influenced by scarcity of resources (time in this case), efficiency and the opportunity costs. The caselet highlights the practical applications of PPF at economy, company and individual level.



Pedagogical Objectives

  • To illustrate the importance and operation of Production Possibility Frontier including the underlying significance and operation of related concepts like scarcity, trade-offs and efficiency
  • To discuss and debate on how the notion of PPF works at an economy, a company and an individual level

Case Positioning and Setting

This caselet can be used for:

  • MBA Program in Business Economics course - To help understand the concept of Production Possibility Frontier and its applications


This Case Pack Includes:
 - Abstract
- Caselet
- Teaching Note (**ONLY for Academicians)


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