Figure 6
The horizontal axis lists “Cost Estimation”, “Supplier Representation”, “Equipment Obsolescence Risk”, “Utilization Potential”, “Equipment Uniqueness”, and “Benefit”. “Equipment Obsolescence Risk” has two sub-categories: “After sales service” and “Model Age”. “Benefit” has three sub-categories: “Teaching”, “Research Utilization”, and “Service Provision”. The vertical axis is labeled “Utility Function” and ranges from 0 to 1 in increments of 0.1 units. The legend identifies “Equipment 3” as a red line and “Equipment 4” as a yellow line. A vertical dashed line separates “Cost Estimation” from “Supplier Representation”, and another separates “Utilization Potential” from “Equipment Uniqueness”. For equipment three, values rise from 0.3 at cost estimation to 0.8 at supplier representation, drop to 0.3 at after sales service, fall to 0 at model age, increase to 0.7 at utilization potential, peak at 0.9 at equipment uniqueness, remain around 0.8 across teaching and research utilization, and rise to 0.9 at service provision. For equipment four, the utility begins at 1 at cost estimation, drops to 0.4 at supplier representation, decreases to 0.3 at after sales service, rises to 0.6 at model age, and 0.7 at utilization potential, peaks at 0.9 at equipment uniqueness, drops to 0.2 at teaching, and increases to 0.8 at research utilization and 0.9 at service provision.Value curve for the point-to-point comparison between equipment 3 and 4