This course examines the basic underlying economics of business environment. This course aims to familiarize you with concepts as consumer and rival behavior, competitive markets, dynamics of competitive advantage. Those aspects will determine a “market structure” i.e. perfectly competitive, oligopolistic, monopolistically competitive or monopolistic, and the firm strategies and performances.
The course combines case discussion and analysis with lectures. The emphasis is on the ability to apply a small number of principles effectively and creatively.
The goal is for the student to be able to:
- Understand and use microeconomic concepts to perform industry and demand analysis
- Understand the advantages of using marginal units to analyze costs and revenues
- Understand that demand is responsible for the firm’s revenues but the firm is restricted in exploiting it
- Understand that firms face restrictions in setting their price; even monopolies can’t set the highest price
- Understand that the cost side is more amenable to managerial action and how it is the basis for supply
- Understand the distinctions between the 4 market structures: perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly.
