Green Energy Inc., is a manufacturer of wind turbines. In the annual meeting, the directors are discussing the next year's operation plans. With the country's GDP growing at an impressive pace, overall energy demand is expected to increase by 10 percent annually over the next few years. Wanda Hill, the Director of Sales, claims that the firm is already enjoying economies of scale and so should install new capacity and hire more workers to expand production. However, Edward Sanchez, the Managing Director of the firm, is not in favor of increasing capacity. He is of the opinion that the firm is currently operating at the minimum efficient scale and any further expansion will increase costs.
Which of the following issues is most relevant to the argument above?:
A. whether the current cost of producing an additional unit of the output is less than the per-unit cost
B. whether the firm increased wages in the recent past
C. whether the firm sells a substantial proportion of its annual production in the international market
D. whether the annual fixed cost of the firm exceeds the variable costs
E. whether the firm's installed capacity exceeds that of its rivals