2. Introduction Whatever be the objective of business firms, achieving optimum efficiency in production or minimizing the cost of production is one of the prime concerns of managers today. Infact, the very survival of the firms in a competitive market depend on their ability to produce at a competitive cost.
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9. Short Run Production Function : The Law of Variable Proportions Statement of the law: “ The law of variable proportions states that when more and more units of the variable factor are added to a given quantity of fixed factors, the total product may initially increase at an increasing rate reach the maximum and then decline ”.
10. Tabular Presentation of Law of Variable Proportions 47 -25 470 10 55 -9 495 9 63 0 505 8 72 24 505 7 80 50 480 6 86 62 430 5 92 98 368 4 90 100 270 3 85 90 170 2 80 80 80 1 I Stage II Stage III Stage AP MP TP Units of Labour
11. Diagrammatical Presentation of Law of Variable Proportions Assumptions of the law: State of Technology remains the same. Input prices remain unchanged, Variable factors are homogeneous. AP MP AP MP
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14. Three Stages of Law of Diminishing Returns Increasing Returns Increasing Returns Constant Returns Diminishing Returns Scale of Inputs Marginal Product