Price difference between switches

[Bigdogbmx]

I have a fairly basic question about the prices of networking hardware. Basically for my course we have been asked to present a proposal to an imaginary company telling them to upgrade to a 100mbps network. The thing that im stumped on is the huge difference in prices between managed and unmanaged switches. For example, an 8 port unmanaged normal switch costs about £20. However an 8 port Cisco C2960 costs around £300. How can I justify the cost of the more advanced switches in my proposal?
Any answers welcome, Thanks, George.

 

[Bigdogbmx]

Thanks for the replies people, that made things a lot easier justifying the more expensive hardware.